So before we tackle the more specific parts of what day to day relationship with the Lord looks like, I feel like I first need to get this verse out in the air.
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8:16?-?17 ESV
This is Paul speaking to the Roman church, and is addressing our identity and essentially, our salvation. He says that in order for us to be glorified with Christ, we must first suffer with him. For so much of my life, I have missed the weight of this and what it means for my walk with God. Learning to understand what this means has perhaps been my biggest revelation of the Race and even this past year. So, I know it’s a big question, the question of salvation, but I feel that I need to share what I’ve learned in this area before I hit anything else.
So here’s the background: You have an eternal, omnipotent, all powerful, perfectly good God. He creates us out of love, and his garden in its perfection allowed us freedom, the freedom to follow him or not. We chose the latter. Because of our sin, and rebellion against him, we must be separated from him, otherwise he couldn’t be truly good. We were alienated from God, who is the only one who is truly good, and were subjected to his wrath and anger. But then, while we were still sinners, Christ, God in the flesh, died for us and his anger was taken away (Isaiah 12, Romans 6). Because of our state, there is nothing we can do on our own to be reconciled to him, as Paul says our righteousness is as dirty rags. Job similarly talks about how even the innocent mortal cannot contend with a holy God. But by grace we have been saved, and this is not from ourselves but is a gift from God, so that no one can boast. So nothing we can do can reunite us, but Christ did the work and through the cross there is no longer condemnation for those who are him (Romans 8:1). It’s a beautiful story.
Trouble is, even though I grew up knowing and hearing all of those things, I believe that I have entirely missed the point of Christianity. For me, and lots of others I know, I got to a point where I decided that I didn’t want to go to hell when I die but heaven instead. Therefore I prayed the Sinners prayer, got baptized, and went to church regularly. As far as I knew or at least believed, that was enough. I had my salvation secure and could live pretty much as I wanted as long as I didn’t do anything too bad and kept doing the American Christian things. My life didn’t look that much different than my unbelieving friends. I was, simply put, a Lukewarm Christian. Referring back to that Romans 8 verse, I was perfectly ready to be glorified/exalted with Christ, but wasn’t aware of or ready to suffer with him first.
But last winter, something changed for me. Through my first semester of college, my desire to know the Lord grew. I decided that Matthew would be a good place to start. I resolved that I would read through the whole thing, not letting a single verse slip by without processing it. And to my genuine shock, I got absolutely wrecked by it. Reading through it, I was constantly overwhelmed and confused by Jesus’ teachings and lifestyle, I felt as if I had been fed false information my whole life. It was a hard road, but it was actually a huge contributor to my decision to put my life on hold for a year and chase the Lord on the race, and I’m so glad I did. So here are some of the verses that hit me the hardest (there’s a lot, but I think the weight of the quanitity is important).
But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.
Matthew 3:7?-?10
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 6:14?-?15 ESV
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Matthew 7:13?-?14 ESV
So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Matthew 7:17?-?19 ESV
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Matthew 7:21?-?23 ESV
And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
Matthew 8:19?-?22 ESV
What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10:27?-?28 ESV
So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 10:32?-?33 ESV
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 of 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.
Matthew 10:37?-?39 ESV
And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
Matthew 12:32 ESV
I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Matthew 12:36?-?37 ESV
While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
Matthew 12:46?, ?48?-?50 ESV
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Matthew 13:44 ESV
Well, that’s only halfway through Matthew, but I think you get the point. The kind of stuff God asks for and demands from his followers was terrifying to me. The call of Christ is so much greater than our comfortable American lives have let on: He says that if you love your family or friends more than him, you’re not worthy to be his disciple. I sure know I spent more energy, time and money on family and friends at that point. And he says the kingdom is like a treasure worth selling all you have joyously for. I sure knew I didn’t think God was worth selling all my things for. Not for real. And then there are the really scary things:
• If I don’t forgive then I won’t be forgiven (that is, reconciled to God. How can you go and be with God in heaven if you aren’t forgiven?)
• The way of Christ is hard and not that many people enter by it (surely not the full 90% of Americans who say they are Christian)
• If I deny Jesus here he will deny me before God,
• And perhaps the scariest, which I mentioned last time, that not everyone who acknowledges Christ as Lord and even does powerful things in his name will go to heaven, but those who do his will and have relationship with him. My goodness, could I look at my life and honestly say I’m doing God’s will and have a relationship with him? Yikes.
Since then, I have wrestled even more Scripture that supports and resembles a lot of the themes of these Matthew verses. But in all this, I think the crux of it is this: Christianity is about more than getting a get-out-of-hell-free card and living normally, it’s about giving up your past life and making radical changes in order to fully receive the good things God has for us. In other words, if your main focus in your Christian walk is avoiding hell, you are missing the point. The point is rich and deep relationship with the Lord, the only true God, the Creator of the Universe, the Beginning and the End, the Good Shepherd. If you enter into that relationship, of course you will share in eternity, but we do it to for God, not simply to save ourselves.
God’s massive plan for history and immense sacrifice on the cross was meant to bring us abundant life, which is not our our own life, but his. Instead I feel like lots of us have acknowledged Christ simply for piece of mind, and then have gone onto live our own lives. Or in my case, I gave God some parts of my life, but left out others, and I wondered why things weren’t getting better. But in order for us to be truly changed by the Spirit and thus prove the integrity of our faiths, we must fully surrender our own lives and everything in them (family, finances, career, hobbies, future plans, friends, etc.). By doing so we will receive Christ’s life in full, and will move toward a path which leads to perfection, and nothing less (Matthew 5:48). In so doing Paul says that we become a brand new creation entirely (2 Corinthians 5:17). If we simply surrender parts of our life, the transaction will not work. It is a life for a life.
And all of that leaves us in a difficult place. First off, we have to give up all the things we hold closely, even things that are good. We have to begin choosing God above all other things and putting to death the desires of our own flesh (Romans 8:13). But even if we can do that successfully, living the life of Christ is not easy. Jesus lived a hard life, marked by suffering and persecution. He walked for miles from town to town, and didn’t even have a place to rest his head. He was mocked, ridiculed, and plotted against. And more than that, he died a brutal death, perhaps the most brutal death you can receive (watch the Passion of the Christ if you have doubts).
All this to say, I have learned that the cost of being a true believer is quite high, much higher than I ever thought it was. The question that remains is this: “Is it all worth it?” And I think now, as I surrender more and more to God, I can confidently say it’s more than worth it. But, I’ll leave unpacking that till next week. For now, let the weight of Christianity hit you. Have you surrendered everything to Christ? Are you willing to suffer with him in order that you can share in his glory?
In other news, these days in Africa have been quite nice. The past few weeks, I have spent a lot of time doing construction with some local workers. We have painted, laid concrete, and made bricks to finish a training center for people who would otherwise have no access to education and to build a bathroom in the children’s village. I also spend quite a bit of time playing soccer and cards with the kiddos on campus, loving them the best I can. God has been so gracious, he has been doing a lot.
