The Most Unsettling Call
In this series of blogs, Jesus Christ—Unassuming or Unsettling, I’ve intended to show that living the Christian life will challenge your cocoon of comfort. If you intend to sincerely follow Jesus as a way of life (is there really any other way?), it will prove to be unsettling to a passive, unassuming and indifferent Christian expression. Far beyond getting your ticket punched for heaven and then waiting for paradise as the world blows by, following Jesus calls for a willingness to die to self by living for Christ and others. The voice of Jesus speaks into the deepest regions of your heart as he compels you to set aside your comfort and enter the fray of human brokenness. It persuades you to renounce selfishness and serve others in the name of Jesus. Today, I will unfold what is perhaps the most unsettling call of Jesus upon the lives of his followers.
JESUS REQUIRES DEATH
If you're truly hearing Jesus and following him, then you'll recognize that Jesus requires death. Here’s the context of that bold statement. It’s found in Matthew 16:21-25…
21 From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day, he would be raised from the dead. 22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
There are three enlightening statements contained in these verses that give insight into the unsettling call of Jesus upon the lives of his followers:
1. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
Peter was appalled by the prediction of Jesus that he would suffer and die. This scenario wasn’t in Peter’s depiction of the Savior’s future. Suffering? Death? No! That was messy. It was radical. There had to be an easier way to unleash the Kingdom of God into the world! Peter was looking for a tamer Savior. He felt he needed to domesticate Jesus and help him become more unassuming. But Jesus would have nothing of it. He says to Peter, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
Jesus would say the same to you and me if we choose to take a version of Christianity that’s tamer, easier and more culturally acceptable. He would say...
“Stop seeing things from a human view. Stop making me more appetizing for public consumption. Stop promoting me as something that can be defined and accepted only from a human point of view. Stop looking for the comfortable, trouble-free, stress-free, tranquil version of Christianity. That’s not who I am and not who I made you to be.”
The call of Jesus upon the life of a follower is profound. It’s an “all-in” proposition that’s often counter-intuitive and counter-cultural in its application. After all, following Jesus is a call that originates from God. It’s defined by him, for his purposes, and results in his glory. Jesus doesn’t need your help to define his mission of seeking and saving those who are lost. He doesn’t need you and me to redefine how his love, compassion, grace, and kindness is freely given. He doesn’t need slick marketing to make him more acceptable to a consuming culture. He doesn’t need his call to salvation to be watered down or dressed up. Jesus has all that and more under his control. What he desires are followers who are genuinely representing and living out his true nature and transforming truth each day.
2. “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.”
If you’re going to follow Jesus into his kingdom, if you’re truly spiritually transformed, you’ll need to confront the way you've been taught to define life, the way you’ve naturally come at life. Yes, you must give up your own way! The self before Jesus entered your life has to die. It has to be lost. It has to be named, nailed and nullified. And that will be painful. Living for Jesus demands profound humility and courageous perseverance—the kind we see in Jesus as he carries his cross. Following him will cause periods of terrible thirsting for the things of this world. There will be times when you'll long for substances that used to satiate your thirst. There will be times when you’ll feel that God has forgotten you, just as Jesus felt as he hung on the cross (“My God…why have you forsaken me?). Following Jesus will put you in a place of temporary vulnerability before the mocking crowds of this world. Following Jesus will leave you linking with your spiritual family the way Mary and John clung to each other as they stood at foot of the cross. You need the upholding strength of the church as you represent Jesus each day.
Following Jesus is a call to a daily commitment of your spirit into the Father's hands for care and empowerment. It’s a trusting obedience through the valleys. It’s dying to self and living for Jesus as a way of life. It’s clinging to Jesus until God's work in and through you is completed and you can say: "It is finished." Give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow Jesus.
3. "If you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.”
Taking up the cross of Jesus is a price entirely worth paying. It’s the path to intimate communion with God in this life. It’s the road to an internal peace and fullness of life. It’s the only way to gain an unshakable faith, an unconquerable hope, and a life-changing world-view more treasured than anything the crowds chase after. But this is what Jesus makes clear: This life doesn't come from simply wearing a cross; it comes from bearing a cross. You must die before you live. You must give up your life and then you save it.
When he might have elected otherwise, Jesus chose to take up his cross, to pay the ultimate price for human sin, so that you and I could be forgiven and live forever with God. The Father didn’t force his son. Jesus chose to pay the penalty for your sin and pass you the hope of salvation. The Father will not force you to choose him. However, if you have never taken hold of what Jesus offers, grab hold of it today. Lose your old life and find the new life God intended for you from the beginning of time. Let Jesus him wrap you in the blanket of his family. Invite him to guide and direct your life each day.
Don't let the cross be merely a symbol of the death of Jesus, or a sign that you'll end up in heaven. Let it be a signpost to the life Christ calls you live in this world. Step into the life of the kingdom of God. You know the way. It's the way marked out by Jesus, and by every person in every home, workplace, marketplace, and church who keeps making the difficult choice: “If you would come after me, you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.”
NEXT STEP
1. Have you been hanging on to the old self, fearful of giving yourself completely to Jesus? I get it. The unknown seems daunting, intimidating and unsettling. It comes down to who or what do you believe. You can take Jesus at his word and find real life in him, or keep hanging on to your version of life and lose all that God offers. Yes, it comes down to a step of faith. Take it. Trust Jesus. Say “yes” to him today.
2. Maybe you have received Jesus as Savior but are still living life more in the world than you are in the Kingdom of God. James 1:6 says, “…be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.” Living with one foot in the world and one in the Kingdom is unsettling. Jesus desires all of you. Today, stop straddling and walk fully into a relationship with Jesus. He loves you. He knows you. Don’t be afraid. He will not call you to anything you are not capable of doing (with his presence and power working in and through you).
