When Following Jesus Became Optional . . .

When following Jesus became optional . . .

We began to study Scripture for information instead of transformation.

We made ourselves, our happiness, and our comfort the focus of our lives.

We depended on elaborate church structures, staffs, and organization to make up for what the disciple of Christ used to do.

We justified rebellion and sin and called it dysfunction.

We focused on our past hurts and struggles instead of focusing on the Cross and Resurrection of Christ.

When following Jesus became optional . . .

We cared more about filling our churches with empty people instead of filling empty people with the Holy Spirit.

We lived for this world and our own kingdoms instead of the Kingdom of God.

We convinced ourselves that we needed to want to obey God before we obeyed and it was the job of the "church leadership" to get us to desire obedience.

We were changed by the world instead of living to change the world.

We became comfortable with saying "No" to God.

We began using grace as a cover for rebellion.

We became legalistic and defined righteousness as actions that had little to do with following Jesus.

We stopped praying about anything but ourselves.

We stopped praying even for ourselves.

When following Jesus became optional . . .

We thought we were spiritual if we went to church and knew stuff.

It became easy to overlook people different from us and ignore them.

It became easy to forget about the poor, the needy, the sinners, and the outcast.

We judged others for all of their failures and stopped looking at our own lives.

We compared ourselves to others instead of comparing ourselves to Christ.

We were overwhelmed by the desires and troubles of this world.

We were full of fear and anxiety and depression.

We stopped sharing the gospel with anyone and started making excuses about how we were too busy to do so.

We lost our spiritual passion and we filled our lives with other things (idols).

At some point in our lives, following Jesus became optional. Following Jesus implies movement, motion, following the Leader. If we are following Jesus, we never arrive. We are always changing, always repenting, always being transformed, always being conformed to His likeness. If we are following Jesus, He is always messing with our stuff and we are never allowed to get comfortable and establish our own autonomous kingdom. But, at some point, instead of believing in God enough to obey Him, we started saying "NO" to God. A time came when we felt like God asked too much. He wanted too much of our time, our energy, and our focus. He tried to take away our sinful behavior. We wanted the benefits of forgiveness, adoption into God's family, eternal life, and heaven, but at some point, we just wanted to live our lives and be happy. At some point, we wanted to be safe, comfortable, and satisfied. For some, that meant that we lodged ourselves in a comfortable religious world where we could find a church that "met our needs" and enabled us to have a good marriage and family. For others, it meant that we were assured of heaven while simultaneously feeling the freedom to engage in whatever sin that we were tempted with. Everyone struggles, right?  So, following Jesus became secondary to the Christian life and He was pushed to the side, replaced by our own happiness and satisfaction as the chief goal of our lives.

I think that we have made following Jesus optional and it is killing us. We are spending millions of dollars a year to pay for religious structures that exist to do what we could do at next to nothing if we would just all take the commands of Jesus seriously and follow Him.

Why don't we? Because we fall for the lie that we will be happier if we do not follow Jesus. We have come to believe that happiness, pleasure, peace, and joy IS NOT found in Christ, but rather, it is found in the things that we choose apart from Him. Sure, we are happy that we are forgiven and going to Heaven. Jesus takes care of what I cannot and I know that I can't get myself to Heaven. But, for my daily life, I become convinced that the things I choose are better than what Jesus would have me do. Following Christ and laying down my life for Him, reorienting myself to become Christ-centered instead of me-centered, becomes such a hassle and is completely irrelevant to the life I want to live.

I hate to put things so bluntly, but we are dealing with life and death issues here. I'd rather be clear about it than beat around the bush. This is what I've found to be true and I want to give witness to that. If we settle whether or not we are going to follow Jesus by actually obeying Him, then amazing things open up to us. Our lives becomes ordered and focused. We have power with God and men. We pray not to get things but to be in God's presence and take on His life. We see things as they really are and do not run after every new thought that barges in on us. We experience shalom in the midst of storms. Jesus said that if we hear his words and PUT THEM INTO PRACTICE, we are like a man who built his house on the rock. The wind and waves did not destroy it. But, if we hear the words of Christ and do not put them into practice, we are like a man who builds his house on sand. The wind and waves tear us apart. 

We have to become convinced that living like Christ, following Him, and doing what He did in His power is what life is about. This is what worship is. Jesus is better than the other things I choose. 

Following Jesus is not optional. Whenever we came to believe that it marked the beginning of the end of our fruitfulness. Praise God for grace and the gift of repentance, though. Every day is a new day.  

Comments

[Kevin]

Good word!

[Mich]

Excellent post--Ive been reading "Christless Christianity," and he makes similar points.

Do you feel there is a connection---we overemphasize Christ as our personal savior, without any connection to the body of Christ? This in turn produces a Gnosticism where 500 Christians have 500 different Gods or vision of God?

I agree with you 100% that we need to preach the Gospel and hear it preached daily. We need to accept Christ on our knees and pick up our Cross and follow him, but folks don't seem to get that in Church--leading to emergent church movement, etc.

I also think this is why Internet communities are springing up--such as yours. If you believe your Church isnt preaching the Gospel--what do you do? Go to your Pastor and say I want MEAT!!

Internet communities seem to foster more give and take and questioning in an irenic loving environment--of course I don't visit Monergism.com much!

:-)

[Alan Cross]

Good thoughts, Mich. I've read Horton's book as well. Good stuff.

I don't know what to say if your church is not preaching the gospel. I don't know your situation, but a church needs to preach the Word of God. If is isn't, then you need to try and encourage change. I'd talk with your pastor.

Thanks for your feedback. I always appreciate it.