Do you REALLY?
Do I REALLY?
I stumbled upon a book online yesterday called Radical by David Platt. I'm only just barely into it but also listened to a sermon by him this morning by the same title.
He goes through Luke 9 and how 3 people say they will follow Jesus, he tells them the cost to follow him and they turn away.
As a Christian who struggles to tell people about God, I'd be OVERJOYED to have somebody just walk up to me and say they want to follow Jesus. GREAT! Here's what you do: say a prayer to God, ask for forgiveness, repent of your sins, confess Jesus as Lord and.....YOU'RE IN! But Jesus essentially turns these people away. Because he knows...you're in or you're out. There is no halvsies here.
David Platt brings up a good point. We are essentially molding Jesus into who we want him to be as opposed to who he actually is. Do you disagree? Because Jesus talks about selling everything we have and giving it to the poor. We rationalize it and say that "he was only talking to that specific man". Or that "we're not ACTUALLY rich and we need to take care of ourselves and our families. Besides, that guy coveted his money, and since I donate money to others and don't splurge very often, I'm fine."
Living in North America demands a certain lifestyle. I totally get that we need to work, pay bills and take care of our families. This is what God calls us to do. But how much do we have that others need. For example, retirement savings. According to the world, it is very smart to save up for retirement. You'd be an idiot if you didn't save and could of. I realize some people scraped by and were not able to save - that's a different story. HOWEVER, take a look at this passage:
Luke 12:13-21
The Parable of the Rich Fool
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
Where in this passage does God say save up money for the future? Save for a rainy day? Ya it's wise to save money so if your car breaks or your heater than you have money to fix it. Ya it's wise to save money for retirement so you're not left wondering how you'll pay for things. But who says you'll even live to retirement? Who says you'll even live long enough for your car to break? What about that person who is hungry TODAY? Save for a rainy day?? Well it's a rainy day for somebody right now.
And giving to the poor and how we use our money is only one way that shows we do or don't follow Jesus' instructions.
What about our time? Watch TV? Me too. I like watching Survivor and The Amazing Race. It's estimated that 1/3 of the world is Christian. This is a generous amount too. Because some people claim to be Christian because their parents are or for political reasons. So EVEN if 1/3 of the population is Christian....that means approximately 4 billion people don't know Jesus. Do you REALLY have time to watch TV? Do I REALLY have time to watch TV?
I know I'm sounding harsh - and that is SO not my goal. I just want us to think for a minute. Because most of us, (including me!!) follow the Jesus WE make up in our minds, not the Jesus of the Bible.
If we TRULY follow Jesus then we might be homeless, we might have no retirement savings, we might not get the luxury of watching TV or wasting time on the internet.
Count the costs.
When Jesus walked the earth, he was reasonably popular. Sometimes he had crowds of 5000 plus listening to him preach. He had THOUSANDS of followers. Then came the true test. His death and being associated with him. When Jesus died - he had 120 followers. Read it in Acts. Out of thousands, 120 remained. If Jesus demanded more of us today (which he DOES and we ignore), then how many people would be left following him? Out of the billions...how many?
Will you be one of them? Will I?
