I've really begun to notice lately that Christianity is becoming far too domesticated and civilized. Most of our churches are more focused on comfort and satisfaction than they are focused on reaching people for Christ and creating true disciples out of them. In fact it seems that Jesus is being lost in a religion bearing his name. We've lost sight of what the call of Jesus Christ looks like. We have this picture in society today that Once we become a Believer in Christ, all of our troubles and worries are supposed to disappear. Life suddenly becomes easy and carefree. All of our debts have been paid, so why do we have to do anything at all ever again? I'm justified, right? My salvation has been bought, now I want to live the life of luxury. This is the idea of Christianity that is prevalent in most American Churches today.
When Jesus walked among us on Earth, who did He choose to represent Him? Fishermen, a tax collector, women. None of these were the top class of the Jewish society at the time. In fact, most were outcasts, and would have been incredibly unpopular in high class society. Why did He call them? Probably for a lot of reasons, but the most practical is probably that they did not have a high place in society to lose by eing controversial.
Let's go a step farther, and look at who God chose to use to prepare the way for Jesus. John The Baptist. When the grown Up John is introduced in Matthew Ch. 3, what do we learn about him? He lived in the wilderness, ate locusts and wild honey, and wore clothes made of camel hair. In case you are not a historical expert, his diet and clothing choice was not popular, not even in Jesus' day. But this was the guy chosen to proclaim Jesus to the world. He was the one baptising people in the wilderness, and he always told thme that he was baptizing with water, but someone else was coming who would baptize them with the spirit of God. John, this strange outcast in society, this weird man who ate bugs and honey, this long haired man who came out of the woods; he was the one God chose to Baptize His son Jesus. And when he did, he got to see one of the most glorious things imaginable. John saw the heaven's open, and he saw the spirit of God descend on Jesus and heard a voive saying "this is My son, with Him I am well pleased." An unforgetable experience... or was it.
A Short time later John the Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus with a question. What was that question? Ask him This: "Jesus, are you 'the one'? Or should we be waiting for someone else?" John had baptized Jesus and watched the spirit of God come down on Him. How could he question Him later? Because John was stuck in prison, and he heard about Jesus doing all these miraculous things, healing people, encouraging people, but doing nothing for him. Jesus was not getting him out of prison; a place John had been thrown into for doing What God had commanded him to do. What was Jesus' reply to john? "After all these good things have been done in front of you, you will be blessed if you do not fall away." Normally this response would have us scratching our heads right? I mean seeing miracles and good works done is not normally the type of thing that would make you fall away, if anything they would strengthen your faith and bring you closer to God. But John saw all these things happening, and Nothing was being done for him. So he began to question his faith, just like we do when things aren't going the way we think they should be going. Jesus' response to him mean this: "John, I'm not coming through for you this time. I am not going to get you out of prison. I am not sparing your life. Yes I have done these things for other people, but the plan I have chosen for you is different, and you will be blessed if that doesn't cause you to fall away.
Jesus knew all about John's situation, and the fate John would face. But Jesus knew that he came to save us, not from suffering and pain, but from a life of meaninglessness. John was exactly where he needed to be, fulfilling God's purpose for his life. Why on Earth would Jesus want to rescue him from that?
This is radically different from the more civilized picture of Chriatianity we get in most church circles. The tamed down version we get is this: "Jesus died and rose from the dead so that you could live a life of endless comfort, endless security, endless indulgence, and endless safety." Or maybe we like the even simpler version: "If you will simply confess that you are a sinner, and believe in Jesus, you will go to heaven when you die." Either case is ridiculous if you think about it. One waits for a life that starts after you die, and completely ignores the life you are living now (making it meaningless). The other one makes a complete mockery out of the life you are living by telling you that you'll no longer have trouble of any kind. Come on. do we really believe either one of these?
The call of Jesus is much more barbaric than this. Jesus always said "come, follow Me." He never lied about the danger or the cost that could follow. He told them up front, "I am sending you out as sheep among wolves" (Matthew 10:16)
The danger of civilized faith is that we get comfortable, and we become blind to the spiritual nature of life around us. when did we ever see Jesus call people to a pristine life in a golden Religion? When did Jesus ever say believe in me, and then act prim and proper and better than everyone else? Never. It was a barbaric call to a barbarian way. "Come, leave your boats, leave your life, leave your families, leave your jobs, follow Me."
So Jesus took the conversation deeper. Here He warned Peter, "I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself, and went where you wanted; but I tell you when you are old, they will stretch out your arms, and dress you, and someone else will lead you where you do not want to go." Jesus said this to him to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Jesus had only one invitation for Peter; only one path for Him to Chose. There was only one way for Peter to truly follow Jesus, and that was for Peter to step out of his comfort zone and lead...and eventually die. Jesus Never watered down the cost of following Him in hopes that He might fool Peter into choosing to follow Him. If Peter chose to follow Jesus, it would mean that one day he would be dragged off and killed. It Would cost him his life. And just like Peter, each of us is called to a walk with Jesus that is filled with uncertainty, mystery, and risk.
So how did Peter respond? He turned to John, the disciple closest to Jesus, and made him the focus. Peter says, "Lord, What about him?" I know what Peter is doing here. He is doing the same thing that we would do, reacting the same way we would. He's thinking "If I have to die, I want to make sure everyone else has to die, too; especially those close to You. No special treatment! That's NOT FAIR! After all, if this is a barbarian call, shouldn't it turn out the same way for all of us? Won't we all have to suffer hardship and die a brutal death? But it just doesn't work that way. Some will. Some won't.
Here is how Jesus answered him, "If I want John to remain alive until I come back, what is that to you? You must follow Me." I am sure that this angered Peter at first, and if we put ourselves in his place, it probably would have angered us, as well. But Peter is not as wise as Jesus, and neither are we. There is a reason Jesus chose this path for Peter and not for John, and it has little, if anything, to do with his love or personal feelings for either of them. It simply comes down to this. There is a plan that needs to be accomplished, and the person who will be set on course for that plan will be the person who has the best gifts to accomplish it and bring God the most glory. In this case it was Peter, not John. John's gifts were suited for a different plan.
Is it fair? Probably not. At least not by our standards. but you will never be happy or content if you turn down the path god has chosen for You.
The problem with civilized Christianity is that it claims to offer this group plan that has already been negotiated with God. An of course, the plan is always the premium package of - get rich, get comfortable, get secure, get safe, get healthy, get married, get 2 and a half kids, get a house, get all you could ever want when you get God. Everybody get's the John package; nobody get's the Peter package. But a life of ease and comfort was never promised, we just set out to make it that way.
All Jesus ever said was "follow Me." the good news, though, is that when you follow Jesus, it doesn't matter how dangerous or turbulent it gets. Jesus is there with you. After all, you have been following Him, right? Our problem is that we try to do everything ourselves, and we tend to shut Jesus out and not rely on His power. But Christianity wasn't designed for us to do it on our own.
There are a few lies That we have come to believe as truth in Christianity, and I want to talk about a couple of them today. The first lie is that we can do it on our own. Most of us are on this lie right now. You are ready to go! "I'm gonna do it! I'm going! I'm doing this! I'm doing that! I can do it!"
No you Can't! It's a lie! The truth is, you and I can't live the Christian life. I'll prove it to you.
- Do you have incredible success an consistency in your time alone with God?
- Are you having incredible success in your devotion to prayer?
- Do you find that you are incredibly consistent in loving the hard to loving the hard to love people in your world?
- Are you doing well at not being yourself and full of God all the time?
- Are you consistantly sharing Christ with the lost and dying world around you?
- Are you having incredible success and consistency in fighting off temptation of any kind?
Do you feel like crap yet? I do. Ask around, we are all a bunch of miserable failures at the Christian life! We can't even do the basic things, much less go and die for the cause of Christ around the world.
Well I've got news for you. If you've ever thought the Christian life was difficult... you thought "this isn't as easy as I thought it was gonna be, I mean I came to some church thing, and everybody was singing this song, and I felt cool, and I met Jesus, and they gave me a Bible, and I thought WOW! This Is GREAT! Then I got home and after about a day, I realized This Thing is REALLY HARD!"
Well I have news for you. The Christian life isn't hard. The Christian life isn't even difficult. The Christian life is impossible. There's only one Guy who has ever been able to pull it off. and He was so good at it, they named it after Him." There has only been one person that ever successfully pulled off the Christian life. It's not you, and it certainly isn't me. But Jesus, Thank God, lived the Christian life. And He's still living it now.
And the Joy is, God isn't saying "you an do it!" God is saying to you: "I'm not asking you to do it. If you think you are going to do it on your own, Look Out! You are about to fall!"
"I'm not asking you to do it! I know you can't do it! I know how hard it is! I know it's impossible! I know you, and this isn't gonna work for You!"
But it has worked once. And the good thing about the fact the Christ did live the Christian life, is that He is still with us. Meaning, He is still living the Christian life. Jesus Is still living the Christian life. God is saying to you today I am not asking you to go and live the Christian life, I'm saying you can't live the christian life. But I know who can, and I have an idea:
I'm going to put the One who can live the Christian life inside of the one who can't live the Christian life, so that together the One who can live the Christian life can live the Christian life through the one who can't live the Christian life.
That is the mystery of the gospel.
Paul wrote these word to the church in Colossae (Colossians 1:26)
"The mystery of the gospel was kept hidden, but is now being made known to the saints." Meaning- David, Daniel, Moses, Jonah, Abraham, they didn't know this, but you are going to get to know it.
Verse 27, "This is the mystery, which is Christ in you, the Hope of Glory."
You see God knew we couldn't do this on our own, and He didn't just give us an example to follow. He gave us His son Jesus, to come and live life through us. And God's saying "I'm not talking about believing in someone so you can go somewhere when you die. I'm talking about receiving something that becomes , in you, a power source for when you live."
We have this famous question in Christianity: If you were to die tonight, do you know for sure that you would go to heaven? Most of you have probably heard this question at some point in your life. Now don't gte me wrong, I am not knocking the question, it is a fair question, and you should have an answer for that question in your own heart. But what about this question: If you don't die tonight, (which I think we will all agree is more likely) do you have the hope and confidence in a power source that will allow you to live triumphantly tomorrow? Because most of us, Lord willing, are not going to die tonight. that is why God gave us Jesus to be our power source. God gives us, not the belief in someone named Jesus, He gives us Jesus to come and live in us, and be God in us, and be His Righteousness in and through us.
Galatians 2:20- I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me.
Let's go back to Colossians. I want to make sure that you didn't miss something. They Mystery of the Gospel is "Christ IN you. the hope of glory." Notice the word in. You should praise God that it does not say and. You see we've had this belief system for so long that Christianity is Christ and me, Christ and you. Like it's me and Jesus, and we are gonna storm the gates of Hell! We're a team! A dynamic Duo just like Batman and Robin! We're gonna knock em' out!
And Jesus is looking at you like uhhhhh.... I guess I can work with you. But it's not Me and you. That's not the hope of glory.
Christ and you is not the hope of glory.
Christ and me is not the hope of glory.
Christ and anybody is not the hope of glory.
Christ is the hope of glory!
Christ in you! Not Christ and you! Not your effort plus His effort equals victory. But Rather, He is victory in you.
Some of you have believed the lie that you can't stop sinning. Most of this all has to do with the fact that we don't know who we are. Many of you have believed the lie that you are just a "sinner saved by grace."
Stay with me before you check out and call me a heretic. This is the biggest identity crisis we have as believers. We think- Of course we are just sinners. Just a beggar trying to help another beggar find bread. I'm JUST a sinner. Emphasis on the "Just" word. Like, "That's what I am. I'm Just a sinner!... Oh, saved by grace." We tag that on as the afterthought. But our identity point is "SINNER."
So that when we sin, we have a fallback strategy... "Well what did you expect? I'm a sinner!"
I mean why not just wake up in the morning and haul off and do a big one and get it out of the way?
If your mentality is that you are a sinner, then you are going to find it completely ordinary for you to sin.
But it's a lie, you are not just a sinner. you are: a sinner, worse, a rebel, worse, an enemy of God, an alienated person from God, Hostile towards God, a Reviler of God, whom God found in your sinfulness and redeemed, restored, forgave, cleansed, and made holy in Jesus Christ. You are now one of the Colossians people, these Philippians people, these Ephesians people that paul wrote to. You are now a saint!
What's entertaining to me is that Paul's letters all start out the same way: "To the Saints...." Then he goes on to talk about their horrible sinful lives. Stop Sinning! Stop Being Idolaters! Stops being sexually immoral! Stop hating each other! Stop the gossip! Stop the slander! Stop Backstabbing!
But he opens each letter with "Dear saints, dear Holy ones" Why doesn't paul just start with "You big fat Bunch of Wretched Sinners!... saved by grace." Why not? Because that's not who they are, and it is not who we are either.
I want to talk about what most of us have made the most comforting verse in the Bible. And it is because our eyes are on each other and not on God. If I were to ask you what verse comforts you the most, I'd get things like John 3:16, or Philippians 4:13, or Jeremiah 29:11, or John 16:33, And a few more that I got from people Sunday morning. But this verse comforts us more, and we don't even realize it.
Romans 3:23. I bet you know it. I bet most of you could quote it. "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," You get all kinds of Amen's in a church with this verse. And then everybody goes out and sins, and feels good about it. Why? Because that is what we think we are.
if there is a period at the end of that verse, you either put it there yourself, or someone has played a really mean trick on you. This is one of the coolest commas in the bible, because it completely changes our identity. I'll bet there are not 5 people who read this who can confidently keep talking without going to look up the verse. And I'll tell you why. It's because we have been sold half of the gospel, and we thought that was enough.
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."
God has freely Justified us by forgiving our sin. All of our sins. Christ isn't on the installment plan. It's not "I died for all the sins you have commited up until now, and after that you ask Me, and I'll forgive again, you ask Me, and I'll forgive again, you ask Me, and I'll forgive again, and so on and so forth" No! Christ died one time for all sin. And whe I come to Him for forgiveness, He doesn't just dole it out on a daily basis. No, He gives it out in one overflowing tide that washes me and cleanses me from all of my sin past, present, and future. He covers me, and calls me forgiven. Jesus has come to live inside of us, and be God in us. through Christ we have become the righteousness of God. Isn't it time we started acting like it?
I want to challenge you to pay special attention to your life this week. First, remember who you are: you are a Saint who makes a mistake and sins, not a sinner who can sometimes do good things.
Second pay attention to your convictions this week. don't just dismiss them like you normally do. Stop a minute and think about it when you are faced with the decision of being a person of integrity, or just taking the more appealing, simple, and easy way out. Live up to your convictions this week, and see how different your life feels.
