Luke 19: The True Church Always Goes Against the Current

Q: What does "the true Church goes against the current" mean?

For Benjamin Lamotte-Augris, the Church (ekklesia) is the congregation of those whom God has called out of the spirit of the world. It remains in the world to announce the Gospel, but it does not follow the world's currents: it stays anchored in the Word and lets God, not human logic, decide how it lives.

Introduction

"What did you go out into the wilderness to see?" Benjamin Lamotte-Augris, pastor at the Église Évangélique Paris Métropole (EPM), opens his message with this question Jesus asked the crowds who had listened to John the Baptist. He turns it on the congregation in his turn: what did you come here to do this morning? Or rather, who did you come to see?

Not the people on the platform. Not only the brothers and sisters you haven't seen in a long time, even if that is good. We come to see our Savior, the one who lives in us all week long by his Spirit, and we come together to lift up a fragrant offering to him.

From there, the pastor develops a conviction he carries for his Church, which is heading toward its 90th year: the true Church always goes against the current, because its head, Jesus, goes against the current. He follows this theme through the Acts of the Apostles, through Church history, and then in Luke 19, with Zacchaeus and the parable of the minas.

Outline of the Message

1. From a Congregation of the Redeemed to a Congregation of Servants

Jesus asks the crowds what they went out into the wilderness to see: a reed shaken by the wind? No, a prophet, the voice crying in the wilderness after four hundred years of silence (Luke 7:24-26).
The Church was launched by the Holy Spirit as the continuation of Jesus' ministry. Where the world is chaos, God wants to restore order, as in Genesis: "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
We love to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, because he said: "Do this in memory of me" (Luke 22:19). But the life of the Church does not stop there. It is not only a congregation of the redeemed, it must become a congregation of servants.
God's plan was not to live out Pentecost and then take everyone up to heaven. If we are still on earth, it is to proclaim and extend the kingdom of God. This mandate applies to the universal Church and to every local church.

2. A Model Received from God, Not a Market Study

Church life is not the same in the city and in the suburbs: the EPM has two campuses in Paris and two in the suburbs, with different habits. You have to understand your context and the specific missions God gives.
At his first general assembly, the pastor heard a brother ask why the church did not buy a big hall to bring everyone together. The answer: that is not what God asked. The vision is to stay human-sized, not to go beyond about 300 people per location, and to create campuses that keep a family spirit.
This model was not chosen by the pastoral team. In the sermons from different eras, notably under the ministry of Pastor Fillatre, when the services were multiplying, you hear a Church searching for how to welcome this growth and receiving the vision of a "tent Church."
Many churches try to blend into their context, run market studies and follow a human logic. In the end, what dominates is no longer Jesus Christ but the name of the church: it has become a brand. The pastor does not say that everything there is false, but he wants a Church that listens to the voice of God, "because we have a God who goes against the current."

3. Ekklesia: Called Out of the Spirit of the World

In Greek, the word for church is ekklesia: "ek," out of, and the idea of calling. The Church is the congregation of the redeemed called out of the world, or rather out of the spirit of the world.
Jesus does not ask the Father to take his disciples out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one (John 17:15). Justified, washed and cleansed by his blood, we are set apart to walk in sanctification, not to go back to the mud from which the Lord pulled us.
We are no longer of the world, but we are still in the world. Hence a double mission: an outward mission, announcing the Gospel, and an inward mission, truly living as a Church that goes against the current.
The world is crossed by a thousand currents, unstable, always stirred up, at the mercy of the winds. The perseverance of Acts 2:42 is like roots that make us a tree planted by a stream of water (Psalm 1:3). But these currents can also enter our thoughts as Christians and our way of being a church.

4. The Early Church, a Church That Disturbs

Acts 2: filled with the Holy Spirit, the disciples leave the upper room and go down into the street. Peter preaches, thousands come to faith, and the people look on them with favor, even if some mock, saying they are full of sweet wine.
Acts 3: Peter and John heal the lame man at the temple gate. They disturb an established order, the habit of a man who could not go in. A beautiful picture of salvation: God restores and brings us into the temple.
Then the problems begin: too much preaching, too many healings, too much commotion. Arrests in Acts 4, then boldness once more. In Acts 5, with Ananias and Sapphira, the Church must remain in the truth, without superficiality or hypocrisy.
After the death of Stephen, "There arose on that day a great persecution against the assembly which was in Jerusalem. They were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles" (Acts 8:1). The Gospel then spreads from house to house, as Jesus had taught when he sent out his disciples (Matthew 10:7-8).
The disciples had been ordered not to leave Jerusalem before the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-8). Perhaps they had clung to it. It took persecution to scatter the Church, and visions given to Peter to open it to the Gentiles (Acts 10). The enemy's work meant to destroy, but when God steps in, it turns around: the Church did not die, it exploded.
The EPM building was acquired around 1968. If God has not said to leave it, it means there is still light to shine there. But he also said to go to République, to Montparnasse and to eastern Paris: hence the name Paris Métropole, a Church called to radiate across the metropolis.

5. When the Church Follows the Current

Around the year 300, the pastor recalls, the emperor Constantine made Christianity the religion of the state. For the pastor, this is where the problem of the false Church begins: you cannot decree that an entire country will be Christian. Persecution ends, temples and cathedrals are built, and the Church lets itself be absorbed by the ways of the world.
It took men and women to say: "There is a problem." When people were having their eternity bought through indulgences, Luther posted his 95 theses. It took great courage. Either I follow the current of the group without saying anything, or I take a stand and go against the current.
The Desert Fathers, the Waldensians, the Puritans, the Protestant Reformation, the Pentecostal revival: each time, adjustments in response to what had settled into the Church without coming from God. The Assemblies of God are the fruit of such stands.
What was called into question: tradition taking precedence over Scripture, comfort, wealth, worldliness, faith worn as a label by the mayor or the village doctor. During an internship in a church that held services in several languages, the pastor saw culture take precedence over worship. He also recalls that part of the Church was not present when it was needed, during the Shoah or segregation in the United States.
Even today, we are not safe. We can be tempted to put on a real show on Sunday morning to impress. When he is asked to explain the difference between Catholics and Protestants, the argument offered is often that it is more joyful among Protestants. "That is not the reality of our faith." We are not looking for the most beautiful music or the best YouTube video, because it is God who draws us with cords of love (Hosea 11:4).
Wanting the biggest church and avoiding any persecution weakens the message: we stop talking about what might shock. The Bible announces a time when people will heap up for themselves many teachers to hear pleasant things (2 Timothy 4:3). "My brother, my sister, you need to get used to it": the true Church will always go against the current.
Like Moses, the pastoral team does not want to take a single step if God does not walk with them (Exodus 33:15). For it was Jesus who said: "I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18).

6. Jesus Against the Current: The Slain Lamb and Zacchaeus

The congregation had just ended the time of praise with a song to the slain Lamb. For someone coming for the first time, this seems strange. We would never have thought of sending our only son to the cross to save humanity: we would have imagined a thousand other ways, special effects coming from heaven. God's salvation goes against the current of our thoughts.
Jesus' ministry did too: people expected a Messiah who would deliver them from the Roman occupier, with a great army and a king on a throne. He was the Messiah, but without ever matching those expectations.
Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector who filled his pockets, is too short to see Jesus in the crowd. He climbs a tree. Against all expectation, Jesus stops: "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house" (Luke 19:5). He knows his name. If you are coming for the first time, know that God knows you, your past, your future, down to the number of hairs on your head.
"When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, 'He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner'" (Luke 19:7). In the eyes of the crowd, Jesus should have gone to a teacher of the law, someone of his own level. He goes against the current, because he knows the sick heart of Zacchaeus, who thinks he will be satisfied with every gain and never is.
Despite the murmuring, Zacchaeus receives him with joy. The pastor speaks to those who were told "careful, it's surely a cult": you are free to come and free to leave. What you have been looking for a long time is found in Jesus, and not only in this church: wherever you can pray to him.
Zacchaeus does not only want to believe, he wants to follow: he will pay back four times what he took. "Today, salvation has come to this house" (Luke 19:9). The pastor prays that salvation will enter our lives and our homes.
Hence the importance of house groups. You sometimes hear: "I come to the service, but the house group interests me much less." Yet around the year 70, there was no longer a temple, and the Church met in homes. If persecution ever came to close our buildings, this network of mutual help and fellowship would already be in place. If the internet and communications were to go down, what would be left except knowing where my brother and sister live? Christians in Ukraine and in persecuted countries know this need.

7. The Parable of the Minas: Serving While Awaiting His Return

Still in Zacchaeus' house, Jesus adds a parable, "because he was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the Kingdom of God would be revealed immediately" (Luke 19:11). It resembles the better-known parable of the talents in Matthew 25. The kingdom will not come right away: first there will be the time of the Church, then the end and the judgment.
A nobleman goes into a far country to receive for himself authority as king and entrusts minas to his servants. To give a sense of scale, the pastor calculates that ten minas represent about a thousand days of work, roughly 68,000 euros at the current minimum wage. When he returns, the master settles accounts: those who made the money grow are rewarded, the one who did nothing is stripped of what he had.
This is the picture of Jesus, who went up to heaven to be clothed with royal authority, the Lamb who will return in all his glory. In the meantime, we are not called to sit still, but to walk in the works he prepared for us.
At 14, a year after his conversion, the pastor heard at a youth camp: "Seek God's will for your life." The next day, he came out of the tent, opened his Bible and landed on Mark 16:15: "Go into all the world and preach the good news to the whole creation." He was painfully shy, almost antisocial, full of complexes. Nobody would have bet on him. Faithfully, over the years, the Lord confirmed this calling and took his shyness away.
Whatever your age or your job, lay everything on the table before the Lord: "What do you want to do with my life now?" Perhaps change jobs, enter ministry, go on mission, or faithfully serve your Church with the little you have. You might not have woken up this morning: what will you do with it?
They say that in church, 20% of people serve and 80% do nothing. The pastor calls the EPM to step out of that statistic. The little we give to the Lord, he multiplies.
Even in the parable, there is a going against the current: "But his citizens hated him, and sent an ambassador after him, saying, 'We don't want this man to reign over us'" (Luke 19:14). The servants do not look for confrontation, it is the world that comes against them. Their role is to stay attached to the Word, built on the rock, and to bear fruit.
Otherwise, the Lord prunes and cuts off (John 15:2, 6). To the Church in Ephesus, he says: "But I have this against you, that you left your first love," and threatens to remove their lampstand (Revelation 2:4-5). The lampstand is the mission entrusted to a church. Some grow, then drift away from it, decline and stagnate.
In the metro, between Châtelet and line 1, there were three moving walkways: the two on the sides were running, the one in the middle was stopped but open. Everyone was following everyone. The pastor took the middle one and found himself walking between two crowds, exposed. "That is the Church today." A Church attached to the Word becomes that city on a hill that cannot be hidden (Matthew 5:14), and people say to themselves: there is something there that I don't have.

In conclusion, the pastor prays for a Church that gathers people in the midst of prevailing individualism, that breaks the spirit of consumerism and the usual statistics, and that serves "with zeal, passion and love," even in homes. "We do not want to be the generation that destroys what the fathers built," but a generation of builders, until the day the Lord says: "Enter into the joy of your lord" (Matthew 25:21). For we were saved to serve.

Key Takeaways

The Church is not only a congregation of the redeemed: it is called to become a congregation of servants.
The ekklesia is called out of the spirit of the world, while remaining in the world to announce the Gospel.
Each time the Church let itself be absorbed by the world, God raised up men and women to go against the current.
Jesus himself goes against the current: through the cross, through his ministry, and by entering Zacchaeus' house despite the murmuring.
While awaiting his return, each person must make what has been entrusted to them bear fruit, so as not to lose the lampstand.

Personal Application

When you come to the service, who do you come to see first: the people on the platform, your friends, or your Savior?
Which currents of the world have slipped into your thoughts or into the way you live your faith?
Like Zacchaeus, are you ready to receive Jesus with joy despite what others may say?
Have you ever laid your whole life on the table before the Lord, asking him: "What do you want to do with my life now?"
Are you among the 20% who serve or the 80% who watch? What small step can you take this week, at church or in a house group?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "the true Church goes against the current" mean?

For Benjamin Lamotte-Augris, the Church (ekklesia) is the congregation of those whom God has called out of the spirit of the world. It remains in the world to announce the Gospel, but it does not follow the world's currents: it stays anchored in the Word and lets God, not human logic, decide how it lives.

Why did Jesus go to Zacchaeus' house?

According to Luke 19, everyone murmured because Jesus was lodging with a sinner. The preacher sees this as a gesture against the current: Jesus knew the sick heart of Zacchaeus, whom money never satisfied. Zacchaeus received him with joy, and his life changed to the point that he wanted to pay back four times what he had taken.

What does the parable of the minas teach in Luke 19?

Jesus tells it because people believed the kingdom of God was about to appear immediately. While awaiting his return, his servants are not called to sit still, but to make what has been entrusted to them bear fruit. The master will return and ask each one for an account.