We Want a Customizable Savior, But We Need a Savior King
Notes from the message preached by Nate Bush at New City Church in Albuquerque, NM, on June 28, 2026.
There is a version of Jesus that many people have accepted without truly receiving Him. It is a version shaped by personal preference, cultural comfort, and the desire to feel enough. But the Jesus of the Bible is not a product to be customized. He is a king to be followed.
What Was Jesus Actually Teaching About?
When Jesus taught beside the sea in Mark chapter 4, He was not simply telling a story about farming. He was revealing the secret of the kingdom of God. That was His message. That was the center of everything He proclaimed.
After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming: "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel." - Mark 1:15
The whole point of the Gospels is to tell the story of how God became king on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus is not just a Savior promised in the past or expected in the future. He is king right now.
How Has Christianity Reduced the Gospel?
Every culture has found a way to take the gospel and reshape it to fit its own values. The church moved to Greece and became a philosophy. It moved to Rome and became an institution. It moved to Europe and became a culture. And when it moved to America, it became an enterprise.
In American Christianity, the gospel has often been reduced to a transaction: believe in Jesus, improve yourself, get to heaven. This strips the message of its present power. It turns a revolutionary king into a passive Savior whose main job is to secure your afterlife and validate your choices.
When the first followers of Jesus called Him Christ or Messiah, they were making an explosive political and theological claim. They were saying this carpenter from Nazareth was the promised king Israel had been waiting for. Somewhere between the first century and the twenty-first century, that meaning has been lost.
What Is a "Controlling Story" and Why Does It Matter?
Everyone has a controlling story. It is the narrative that tells you where to spend your energy and what to organize your life around. If you want to know what yours is, ask yourself: Where do I feel most tired? What does my mind drift toward most often? What causes me the most anxiety?
Those answers reveal what sits at the center of your life.
Our religion, in the truest sense, is whatever we rely on for what might be called "enoughness." It is the thing we pursue that makes us feel like we are enough, that we have done enough, that we have finally arrived.
Why Do We Feel Like We Are Never Enough?
The feeling of not being enough is not a modern invention. It goes all the way back to the garden. When Adam and Eve sinned, they were saying with their actions: we are enough, we do not need you anymore. They wanted the power to determine right and wrong for themselves.
But God never designed humanity to be self-sufficient. He made people to be dependent on Him, on relationship, on community. The feeling of not being enough is actually a signal pointing toward something true: we were never meant to be enough on our own.
As Proverbs 14:12 warns: "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death."
What Is the Good News of the Gospel?
The good news is not that Jesus will help you become enough. The good news is that Jesus is your enough.
He lived the life you could not live. He died the death you should have died. He rose from the grave and conquered sin and death. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 puts it: "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
That is substitution. He took your place. Everything you failed to do, He succeeded in doing. Every way you fell short, He exceeded. And because of that, you do not have to keep striving to be enough.
What Are the Four Soils and What Do They Mean?
The parable of the sower in Mark 4 is not primarily a lesson about how to improve your own heart. It is a message for sowers, for those who share the good news. Jesus is telling His followers what to expect when they spread the message of the kingdom.
The Hard Heart (The Path)
The seed lands on the surface but never goes in. The person hears the message but remains closed. They are still looking for another story, another way to become enough. The enemy floods the world with counter-narratives, and the seed is quickly taken away.
The Shallow Heart (Rocky Ground)
This person receives the message with joy but has not truly received Jesus as king. They like the salvation part but are not sure about the "take up your cross and follow me" part. There are those who will accept salvation by the cross and reject a life shaped by the cross.
The Divided Heart (Thorny Ground)
This person hears the word but is pulled in too many directions. The cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things choke out the message. As Jesus said: "No one can serve two masters." You cannot serve God and the things of this world at the same time.
The Receptive Heart (Good Soil)
This person hears the word, accepts it, and bears fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. Scholars note that the average yield in Jesus' day was about 7.5 heads of grain per seed. Thirty, sixty, and a hundred is extraordinary. It is a sign of God's phenomenal blessing when the word takes deep root.
One of the clearest signs that someone has truly received the good news is that the hunger for enoughness is finally satisfied. Jesus said: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." - Matthew 11:28
Why Should We Share the Gospel If Most People Won't Receive It?
Because life change is real, and it is worth it. People are being crushed under the weight of trying to be enough. They are exhausted, anxious, and searching. They need to hear a better story.
It is not your job to decide what kind of soil someone else is. Do not determine someone's unbelief for them before you have even shared the message. Your job is to sow the seed. God's job is the life change.
As Mark 4 describes: "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how." - Mark 4:26-27
Earthly kingdoms grow through force. Jesus' kingdom grows through life-giving seed. It is an invitation to receive a better story. And it changes people from the inside out, through faith, not force.
How Can You Sow the Seed in Everyday Life?
Pray for the people around you who need to hear the good news.
Listen to their stories and what is going on in their lives.
Share meals and build genuine relationships.
Serve them in practical ways.
Share the good news message when the door opens.
You cannot control the outcome. But you can be faithful to sow. Sharing the word is your business. Life change is His.
Life Application
This week, identify one person in your life who is carrying the weight of trying to be enough. Maybe they are exhausted from striving, anxious about measuring up, or searching for meaning in things that cannot satisfy. Commit to praying for them every day this week and look for one natural opportunity to share a meal, offer a kind word, or simply listen to their story. You do not have to have all the answers. Your job is to sow the seed.
Ask yourself these questions as you reflect on this message:
What is my controlling story right now, and is Jesus truly at the center of it or just an addition to it?
Have I received Jesus as king, or have I been treating Him as a customizable Savior who fits around my life?
Is there someone in my life I have already written off as unreachable, when really it is not my job to decide their soil?
Where in my life am I still striving to be enough instead of resting in the truth that Jesus is enough for me?
