The Call

 35The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" 37When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means "Teacher"), "where are you staying?" "Come and see" He said." John 1:35-39....."Christianity calls people to ways of living that are uncool, politically incorrect, and just plain weird." Brett McCracken...."The mark of the Gospel is not health and wealth, but nails and blood." Adam McHugh

The two disciples had no idea as to what Jesus was inviting them to. Maybe they wouldn't have come if they did, for He was inviting them to follow the path He walked, and that path led to the cross. It led to a life that cannot be lived out apart from the manifest grace of God. It was the life He called them to, and if we claim to be His, it's the life He calls us to as well. We want to know where He is, and where He is leading. He will tell us no more than He did them. He will simply say, "Come and see." Will we take Him at those words?

McCracken makes a statement that ought to be part of every real invitation given in our inviting people to faith in Christ. It's an invitation into a life that will be counter to the world system in which it exists. It's a call to a life that will not fit into the ideals of popular culture. It's a life that if lived out, will invite ridicule and disdain. Jesus said that His Kingdom was not of this world. If we come to Him, we must take up citizenship in that Kingdom, and that Kingdom will always be in conflict with the kingdoms of this world. There will be a clash of kingdoms, and as history has proven many times over, the clash will oftentimes be violent.

The church has been spending a large part of the last 100 years or so seeking to ingratiate itself with the worldly culture surrounding it. In seeking to bring people to Christ, we have wanted them to accept us on their terms. Instead of being a set apart people for Him, we've wanted to be a people who are a part. Instead of being a counterculture, we're part of it. The result is that the average professing believer doesn't look much different than his unbelieving neighbor. Chris Tiegreen says that we're to see ourselves as "Kingdom outposts in hostile territory." Jesus said, "If they have hated Me, they will hate you." To be fully in love with Him, to follow Him with all our hearts, is to run the risk of being hated because of it. In fact, it's more than a risk. It will be a reality.

It's true that there are too many professing believers who have earned disdain because of their approach to the culture, bringing the same kind of hostility, anger, and even hatred that exists in it. That is never to be our witness. We are to be witnesses of the transforming love and power of Christ. We are also to be bearers of His Gospel message, which in its fullness will always clash with the world we bring it to. That message calls us to die to ourselves, put others before ourselves, live in the knowledge that this world is passing away and that His eternal Kingdom is more real than this world we find ourselves in. It is also a message that proclaims that salvation is found in Christ alone, that we cannot work our way to Him, that we're hopelessly lost apart from the saving grace of God, and that the human race's problem is the human race itself. We're fallen and held in the grip of sin. Only Christ can free us, and then, we're called to live pure and holy lives. This will, as McCracken says, make us very uncool, politically incorrect, and weird in the eyes of the world. Such a calling, such a life, is not attractive to those more at home in the world than in His Kingdom.

Many have spoken of the culture wars currently going on in our society. They're real, but even more real is the spiritual war taking place, and which is at the root of that conflict. It is His Light against the enemy's darkness. There is no neutral zone for the people of God. There is no place to be a "conscientious objector."

The portrait of Christ as the loving Shepherd who loves us too much to ever discipline us or confront us in our sin, and who offers a comfortable, rewarding, and cost free life, is a false one. Such a Christ doesn't exist. Brother Yun, a much tortured Chinese Christian said, "The cross of Christ is soaked in His blood. If we choose to follow Him, it will be soaked in ours as well." Such days are upon the church. Are we prepared for them? Are you and I prepared for them? I think we will soon be finding out the answer to those questions.

Blessings,

Pastor O