Jesus, Etc.

Once, a friend of mine was at a concert at a church where a well-known singer was playing. Her friend in high school had come along with her and had been asking people questions about following Jesus. When he asked this visiting singer (on his way to the stage), “What does it cost to follow Jesus?” the answer was: “You have to give up everything.” My friend, who was the only other person present at the conversation, said, “I didn’t appreciate him saying that! I really lost a lot of respect for the performer. My friend might have come to Christ if that singer had not said that! You don’t just tell a lost person that you have to give up everything when they ask!”

Or do you…?

When someone says, “I’m not ready to give up everything.” We essentially say, “Well, just give up as much as you can right now, maybe later God will help you to be willing to surrender more.” That’s not Biblical.

We’re just so casual about our worship, about our service…Minimum standards and thinking like that. “What’s the least that I can do to get by?” is the question we ask. If you look at His words, Jesus didn’t say anything to cushion the blow. In fact, Jesus seems bent on driving people away.

He talked about hating your father and mother when comparing your love for them to your love for Him:
Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”
He continued in the passage to talk about counting the cost of following Him.

He spoke of putting your hand to the plow and the necessity of not looking back:
Luke 9:62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

He spoke to the rich young ruler and told him to sell at that he had:
Mark 10:21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me."

When the disciples left their nets, we find that “left” was a word that meant “to totally forsake” something. They left them to follow Him.

Why, why then do we expect our lives to be any less radical?

Maybe it’s because we like comfort, or maybe we like to “keep our options open.”

That applies to our acceptance of Biblical teaching as well. When I teach, I sometimes have some likely (well-meaning) people make comments to me that run something like this: “You don’t really appeal to many people because you break down the verses. You should try to teach the Scripture in a pure narrative format; people want to hear stories. Because if you say that the Bible is completely authoritative you’re going to scare some people off. Nobody wants to feel confronted with a truth they have to line up with; people need to feel relaxed, like you’re sitting across from them drinking a cup of coffee sitting on a comfy sofa, just having a comfortable conversation, no pressure, nothing expected, no authoritative truth brought up. Just tell how it applies to your life, but don't suggest that there are universal truths…That’s what will really engage people. You should be that casual about it.”

How do we expect to worship God in the way He calls us to worship Him, yet refuse to listen to Him and apply His truth if it runs contrary to our schedules, desires, prejudices, plans and our pre-determined way of thinking?

We make Him out to be less than the King of the Universe, then blame Him for His perceived shorcomings or His apparent inability to make things comfy for us.

“Where does God fit into what I’m doing?” is the question many ask. That’s the acme of selfishness. “Where do I fit into what God is doing?” is the real question.