Hi everyone, its been too long...almost a month. A combination of selling our house, packing our house, closing our house, preparing to move across the country, weddings, wrapping up the ministry year, and a general lack of inspiration are all partly to be blamed for this but I have a few minutes here and want to share with you/visually work through a passage that has been on my mind for over 2 weeks now. Quick disclaimer, this may be my most scatter-brained and least polished blog yet from me as I am still wrestling with this in my mind right now so I would love some input and grace!
Here goes nothing:
Matthew 10:34-39 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy than me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
Pretty sobering stuff huh?? I would be lying if I said that this passage hasn't haunted me at all the past few weeks and here are a couple quick thoughts that I have been working through:
1. This passage kills the "Hippie Jesus" misconception.
There is a common belief among many evangelicals and non-believers that Jesus was a good guy who love people, pushed for social justice, loved the weak, and was a cool dude with great hair but not necessarily the Son of God or only way of salvation.
You cannot read this passage and not take a make a decision on Jesus. He proclaims that unless we make him the pre-eminent figure in our lives we are not worthy of him and do not have a part in him. Just like in Revelation where Jesus spits out the lukewarm church, Jesus demands that we live out are faith in painfully real ways on a daily basis. What has kept this passage ingrained in my brain is the fact that when I look around I see an ocean of lukewarm water.
C.S. Lewis best describes Jesus when he says that he is either "a liar, lunatic or Lord" and the problem is that so many people call Jesus Lord but have no intention of carrying his or her cross. I think this tendency lives inside all of us and this passage should sober us up as we irradiate areas of sin and selfishness in our hearts.
2. What does it mean to be worthy of Jesus?
In this passage we see the word "worthy" used a lot. The idea of being found worthy of Jesus is ingrained into our heads as Jesus says "you need to make me first in all aspects of your life to be found worthy of me."
So the question becomes how do live a life that is worthy of Jesus Christ?
This is a dangerous question to ask because it is so easy for the legalist and pharisee in us to scream out "what we do makes us worthy". What happens then is we set up a list of extra-biblical rules and guidelines that determine our "worthiness".
Things like: (lame) CCM music, only seeing (increasingly lame, false health and wealth gospel) Christian movies, knowing Greek, only associating with Christians, going to a Christian school, ect. all become non negotiable to "being worthy" and anyone who doesnt do exactly what we do is clearly a sinner who isn't "worthy" of Jesus
This type of thinking is not only arrogant, wrong and sinful but is exactly what Jesus hated about the pharisees, which is the idea" what i do by myself makes God love me" Romans 6 clearly outlines that Jesus is our salvation, our righteousness, and our good works. When God looks at me he sees not me, but Jesus Christ's work on the cross on my behalf.
So while we should reject the idea that legalism = worthiness, it is equally dangerous to say "well all I have to do is pray a prayer and Jesus will save me because he has to and I can do whatever I want." This is the category that I have seen in so many friends in the church that is devastating to me. In Matthew 10:34-39 Jesus tells us more or less that if we proclaim Christ, we need to man up and live for him....
But what does that mean?
As I have meditated and thought through what this means and looked through scripture the best example of the type of worthy life that Jesus is talking about is found in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 where Paul says that even though he is free from all he has chosen to make himself a servant to all people "for the sake of the gospel" that more may know who Jesus Christ is. Paul was willing to do whatever it took to show people the saving grace and forgiveness that was offered only in Jesus Christ.
I think this is the best description of a life dedicated to the sole purpose of making the name of Jesus great above all things. Every conversation we have, every interpersonal relationship, what we do in our free time, how we treat family, how we conduct business, ect all need to be drenched in the gospel and our love for Jesus cant be something we turn on and off but has to radiate through our entire being.
This is hard and something we will never have down perfectly which is why Paul in Philippians 2 says "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" because this is something that we will constantly need to evaluate and re-evaluate over and over again as we seek to become more like Jesus Christ! Passages like Matthew 10 serve to remind us of this sobering fact.
Hope that made sense, if not, my apologies and next time you will hear from me I will be living over 1000 miles away from where I am living today!
God is good, and life is exciting...
cal
I think you make a great point. Living for Jesus is making him the hero of all aspects of your life, social or private. When i'm in public, do i go with the flow in the conversation or do I try to gravitate making Jesus the hero of that conversation, even if it is with a complete stranger. I just had this opportunity the other day while getting my oil changed. I could have just done the normal small talk and hoped not to stir the pot. But, more and more i'm convicted about doing that. If someone who is a complete stranger is actually giving me the light of day, which is getting more and more rare in our society, why wouldn't I use that platform to say why Jesus is the hero in my life? Is it possible to do this without getting spit in the face? Yes, but don't be alarmed or deterred if you do. A few "closed minded" things I said the other day at the oil change place caused both of the complete strangers i was with to grit their teeth. I could care less about their dental care, but care most about the TRUTH of Christ being the ONLY way.
ReplyDeleteGreat thoughts Cal! Thanks for blogging again, I was getting withdrawls. ;-)
You are so right about the pendulum swing, Cal. Either we are way too legalistic or way too "free in Christ" - won't it be wonderful to have our sinful flesh gone and not have to wrestle with the pendulum anymore? It all comes down to a proper view of God and a proper view of self. If those two things are in line, then understanding that He did all the work naturally causes a physical, active response. But too often we think too highly of ourselves, we take for granted that every breath is a gift from God, and we lessen His interest which in turn diminishes our accountability.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, it is good to read you again...drive safely next week...