“Imagine all the blinds closed on the windows of a dimly lit room. Twenty leaders from different churches in the area sat in a circle on the floor with their bibles open. Some of them had sweat on their foreheads after walking for miles to get there. Others were dirty from the dust in the villages from which they had set out on bikes early that morning. They had gathered in secret. They had intentionally come to this place at different times throughout the morning so as not to draw attention to the meeting that was occurring. If they got caught, they could lose their land, their jobs, their families, or their LIVES.” -Radical By: David Platt
Take away the comfy chairs, the air conditioning, the lights, the stage, the band…Would you still go to church? We wait in hour long lines to ride rides, meet celebrities, and watch people throw a ball around a field, but; would you wait hours in line to meet Jesus? We gage the value of our lives based on material items and accumulation of valuable “things” we store up. The bible tells us in Matthew “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” But what if your life was all you had? People all over the world are sacrificing their lives for the sake of the Gospel. But what about those who haven’t heard the good news?
God beckons storm clouds, and they come. He tells the wind to blow and the rain to fall, and they obey him IMMEDIATELY. He speaks to the mountains, you go there, and he says; you stop here, and they do it. Everything in all creation responds in obedience to the creator, until we get to you and me. We have the audacity to look God in the face and say. No.
I however am choosing to say YES. Yes to a life of uncertainties, unfamiliarity, and discomfort. Is it worth it?
Two-thirds of the world’s population (4 billion people) live in the 67 nations of the 10/40 Window. 10 degrees above the equator and 40 degrees below it, often called “The Resistant Belt,” this specific region, encompasses the majority of the world’s Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists – billions of spiritually impoverished souls. Billions of people who are in need of a Savior. “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news(Romans 10:14-15)”
It is our job to go tell them. There are over 300,000 churches in the United States, almost 65% of Americans believe in Jesus, and there are over 50 translations of the Bible in English alone. Lets not be keepers of the aquarium, lets share the gift that has been given to us. The gift of Eternal life. If we don’t go, who will? The price is certainly high for people who don’t know Christ and who live in a world where Christians shrink back from self-denying faith and settle into self-indulging faith. While Christians choose to spend their lives fulfilling the American dream of giving their lives to proclaiming the kingdom of God, literally billions in need of the Gospel remain in the dark.
Our role is shepherding the people of God, on the mission of God, for the glory of God. That entire role revolves around preaching his word. In Matthew 28:19 he commissions us to “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” We owe Christ to the WORLD. To the least person, and to the greatest person, to the richest person, and the poorest person, to the best person, and the worst person. WE are in debt to the nations. Disciple making is not a call for others to come to us to hear the Gospel but a COMMAND for us to go to others to share the Gospel.
You and I can choose to continue with business as usual in the Christian life and in the church as a whole, enjoying success based on the standards defined by the culture around us. Or we can take an honest look at the Jesus of the Bible and dare to ask what the consequences might be if we really believed him and really obeyed him. In our American dreams where self reigns as King/Queen, we have a dangerous tendency to misunderstand, minimize, and even manipulate the Gospel in order to accommodate our assumptions and our desires. As a result, we desperately need to explore how much of our understanding of the Gospel is American and how much is Biblical.
The modern-day Gospel says, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Therefore, follow these steps, and you can be saved. Meanwhile, the Biblical Gospel says “You were an enemy of God, dead in your sin, and in your present state of rebellion, you are not even to see that you need life, much less to cause yourself to come to life. Therefore, you are radically dependent on God to do something in your life that you could never do.
That’s just it. WE cant do this. We cant do anything without Christ. But thankfully he paved the way, he set a path before us, and gives us the tools we need to live a holy, meaningful, purposeful life, and we GET to choose to say YES. People always ask me why go? Aren’t you scared? How are you going to do that? I chuckle and respond, I cant do this. This is far outside my reach. BUT with Christ I can do all things through him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13) God has given me this calling, God has shown me the way, God has provided the money, and God will be faithful to completion. Its going to take faith, perseverance, trust, and full dependence on him alone.
I’ve been very convicted lately, while reading the book of Acts. I read about these apostles who dedicated their whole lives to preaching the Gospel. They were stoned, flogged, and beheaded for their faith. Now that is radical abandonment. Somewhere along the way we missed what should be radical about our faith by replacing it with what is comfortable. We tithe our ten percent, pray before our meals, give to local charities, and go on a few mission trips a year. We do our routine Christian duties and call ourselves devout Christ followers. Peter, John, and Paul traveled by sea and by foot to deliver the message of Jesus to everyone they met. They weren’t consumed by social status and valued by earthly things. They were persecuted, mocked, ridiculed, and put in jail. Radical obedience to Christ is not easy…It’s not comfort, not health, not wealth, and not prosperity in this world. Radical obedience to Christ risks losing all things. But in the end such risk finds its reward in Christ, and he is MORE than enough. We are settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves. So when asked…
Why Go? My question in return, is Why NOT Go?
