Matt Chandler has delivered a sobering warning to comfortable churchgoers: attending services, singing worship songs and trying to behave morally may make someone look Christian without giving that person a genuine relationship with Jesus.
The Village Church pastor introduced the striking phrase "Christian adjacent" during his August 16 sermon on spiritual discipline. Preaching from Hebrews, Chandler argued that some people remain near Christianity for years without ever surrendering themselves to Christ.
"You go to church, you sing the songs, you kind of know some things that are true, and you try to be a good person," Chandler said. "Well, that's just Christian adjacent. None of those things make you a Christian."
The warning grew out of the testimony of a man named PJ, who had reportedly spent his entire life around church. PJ attended regularly, served alongside his wife and remained heavily involved in Christian activities. Yet when Chandler invited him into a men's group and began asking about his spiritual life, PJ admitted that he was still "on the fence" about Jesus.
Then came the question that haunted Chandler: "Is this it?"
PJ had experienced the routines of Christianity but apparently found them spiritually empty. Chandler said the testimony left him wondering how many other people inside The Village Church-and evangelical churches generally-are quietly asking the same question.
He said he was "low-key shocked" by how many people appeared to possess only a low-grade version of Christianity: enough religion to imitate believers, but not enough relationship with Christ to produce love, trust and obedience.
Chandler did not soften his diagnosis.
"You have no real relationship with Christ, no real trust in his reign," he declared. "You're trying to use him for heaven."
He then delivered perhaps the sermon's most provocative line: "Heaven isn't a place for people who are afraid of hell. It's a place for those who love God."
Chandler's point was not that Christians earn salvation through discipline. In fact, he attacked that idea directly. Attempting to improve one's moral behavior so that God will offer love and acceptance, he said, "is not the gospel."
Instead, Chandler distinguished religious discipline from a relationship that produces discipline. Christians do not obey to persuade God to love them; they obey because they have already encountered God's love and grace through Jesus Christ.
"When you're not in love, it's just discipline," Chandler explained. "But if you've cultivated a love relationship with the Creator God of the universe through Christ, then discipline doesn't feel like a heavy lift."
He illustrated the point by discussing his marriage to his wife, Lauren. Chandler admitted that their first seven years included a "really rough run" as two different lives and sets of expectations collided. Even apparently trivial issues-loading the dishwasher, making the bed and deciding where to leave a wet towel-required deliberate effort.
As their marriage healed and deepened, however, Chandler said those actions stopped feeling like burdens. He began doing things because they pleased Lauren and he loved her.
The pastor applied the same principle to Christian obedience. What initially feels demanding can become desirable as a believer's love for God grows.
But Chandler insisted that many Christians want the benefits of salvation without its cost. They want Jesus to rescue them from hell and bless their preferred lifestyle while requiring no suffering, sacrifice or surrender.
"Can I just live the life I want, and won't He just bless that?" Chandler asked, describing the attitude he believes has infiltrated evangelical culture. "It is dang sure an issue in evangelical culture, and it's definitely an issue in this church."
Drawing upon Hebrews 5, Chandler described spiritual immaturity as resistance to costly discipleship. The problem is not simply insufficient biblical knowledge, he argued, but hearing God's truth without allowing it to shape one's life.
The sermon became even sharper when Chandler addressed "delayed obedience"-the habit of promising to obey God eventually while continuing to resist Him in the present.
"That's just disobedience dressed in a pretty color," he said.
According to Chandler, postponing obedience reveals that a person believes he or she possesses better judgment than God. A believer may never say those words aloud, but the refusal to follow a clear scriptural command communicates the same conviction.
Yet Chandler differentiated conviction from shame. Shame condemns people and turns them inward, he said, while genuine conviction invites them toward greater intimacy and obedience.
"All conviction is invitational," Chandler explained.
His message was ultimately a challenge to people who have become comfortable standing close to Christianity without allowing Christ to rule their lives. Religious activity, moral effort and fear of hell are not substitutes for knowing and loving Jesus.
The haunting question "Is this it?" may therefore expose something deeper than boredom with church. For Chandler, it could reveal that a person has embraced Christian culture without embracing Christ.
The entire sermon, titled "Discipline," is available through The Village Church.
