When God calls us to do something and we step into alignment with that, then there is what Jesus called, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Anyone who has ever decided to co-operate with God and enter into the idea of moving the needle will take flack. If they’re not, wherever they are, they should ask the Lord, “Why am I not taking flack? Why is no one calling me names – or wanting to debate me? Could it be that they’ve not stepped into the invitation of Christ to bear their cross every day where they live, work, and play?
There is a cross to bear. In the 1930s, Dietrich Bonhoeffer took a stand against the rising Nazi Party in Germany. He spoke out against Hitler and his regime. Bonhoeffer’s church didn’t listen to him when he preached about the coming evil. They thought he was just a young upstart pastor who had written some books. After an intense, scorched-earth sermon, the congregation simply left and went to lunch. Nobody paid any attention to him, but, not long afterward, Hitler became Chancellor and dictator of Germany.
Bonhoeffer was imprisoned and tortured and then hanged just three weeks before the end of the war with Germany. He had written a book called The Cost of Discipleship in which he warned about “Cheap Grace”: preaching forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. “Cheap Grace” is grace without discipleship. “Costly Grace” is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. “It’s costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.”
Are we in the end times? Is this the end of days? Yes – ever since Matthew, chapter twelve – but we are nearer than we were, and we must have our senses tuned in. This is not a time to be crazy, it’s a time to be wise. If there’s any urgency in this day, it’s that we are found doing exactly what Jesus told us to do – hands to the plow – sharing the Gospel, and telling people our Gospel story – sharing our faith – doing the work of the ministry – being awake.
What does it look like to be awake? – it’s to live our lives with our eyes wide open – to be aware of our situation because we live in unprecedented times. It’s getting dark out there – a darkness has settled in. Wherever salt is not being salty, and light is not shining brightly – where the Church has capitulated, and abdicated its position, evil quickly fills the void. We get upset with the darkness in this world, but we as the Church need to own our part in trying to be “Switzerland” – stepping back and trying to be neutral and playing it safe in the name of building a large church and congregation.
Then we are being “attractional” and soft-pedaling the Gospel, which was called by one pastor, “easy believism” – where people are no longer challenged to be disciples or to speak the truth that could cost them everything to follow Jesus – even their own lives. Why? – because we’ve had it soft here in America – we’ve had it good, and we’ve had a good run – but that season is over.
We’re not looked upon by our culture now with warm fuzzies and nostalgia. Young people are deconstructing their faith as fast as they can, and they’ve determined that they were spiritually abused if anyone ever told them what to do – if a pastor ever spoke into their life, or a youth pastor called them out for being a knucklehead during a service. Now – it’s abuse – “spiritual abuse” is a popular term. The culture is not sympathetic to us any longer, and it’s only a matter of time, as they have turned their hatred towards Jewish people, that they will also turn their hatred towards us.
Romans 13:11-14 NIV
“And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation [rescue or deliverance of his bride – the Church] is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”
Jesus said we are to be light – to be light-bearers. Why? – because light and darkness cannot occupy the same physical space, neither can spiritual light and spiritual darkness. When light shows up, darkness has to flee. And, is it “decent” for a transvestite group to go to an elementary school and perform a dance routine for them? – or for your first act in America to be coming over the border illegally? We have to address these things.
We are called to love God and to love people, but we also must engage the culture. The Great Commission: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) – that is engaging the culture – that’s what we are called to do. We start by behaving decently. One of the reasons the world doesn’t believe us is because we haven’t been behaving decently. Our kids think we’re hypocrites – because we are – by what we watch on TV and how we live out our lives in front of them.
If we are not utterly sold out to Jesus, then there’s no reason that anyone should believe our testimony. The Bible talks a lot about the Lordship of Christ – “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord [literally – Master]…” (Philippians 2:10,11). “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” (1 Corinthians 6:19,20).
We don’t even own ourselves. The moment we said “Yes” to Jesus was the moment we were supposed to give over everything we are and have to him. Whereas now, we should live our life saying, “Jesus, what do You want me to do today?” – in this hour?” The problem is that we have so dumbed this thing down, that we just say, “You know what? Just be good – just do your darned best. God will welcome you right into his kingdom.” …or, will he? Jesus had strong words for people who just did their “darndest”
“Dissension” is in the same list as orgies, sexual immorality, and debauchery, yet we have churches full of people who are divisive by nature, and we just look past it like “Oh, that’s just the way he is.” We have tolerated too much for too long – indecency in the body of Christ – all in the name of “being nice”, “love”, and “compassion”.
When we have empathy for someone, we’re entering into their emotions, feeling their pain. But, empathy is subjective and causes us to lose our ability to speak Truth and to speak the truth in love, because, as we feel what they feel, then Truth and our beliefs get superseded by our emotions. On the other hand, compassion, the Bible says, moved Jesus in his gut, when he looked out over Jerusalem, and he wept. He had compassion for the people.
The Bible also tells us that “Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.” (John 2:24,25 NKJV). He had compassion, which is objective, and allows us to enter into a situation and have sympathy versus empathy. As we listen to the news and what’s happening in our culture – as we engage culture ourselves – there will be people who bring things to us, and we’ll be tempted to enter into empathy in the conversation.
But, we need to stay compassionate and objective and stand in Truth. We need to ask, and even challenge ourselves, “What authority do we imagine that we’re living under?” There are only two answers: 1] the authority of the Kingdom of God, where Jesus Christ is Lord; or, 2] the authority of the kingdom of Satan. If time is as short as we think it may be, then we have some things that need to get done. We have some friends and family members who need to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
That means they will go to hell if they’re not born again – if they haven’t given their life to Christ – they’ve not received the gift of Salvation and what Jesus did for them. They’re not getting a free pass because they’re associated with us – they must decide for themselves. This is sobering, but we need to be awake and aware – we need to live “alive”.
Theologian Bob Dylan wrote: “You may be a construction worker working on a home – You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome. You might own guns and you might even own tanks. You might be somebody’s landlord. You might even own banks, but you’re going to have to serve somebody, yes indeed. You’re going to have to serve somebody. Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you’re going to have to serve somebody.”
There is no middle ground. To serve ourselves is to serve the devil. Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” There is no third option – no gray area. Have we imagined that we can be neutral and just live a quiet life – be a good person – do good things – keep our head down – and surely God will welcome us into his heavenly kingdom when it’s all said and done? “After all, I’m a good person and good people get to be with God, and bad people will have to go be with the devil.”
But, apart from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we’re all lost – humanity is lost – culture is lost [no more giving way to church folks – they’re done with us]. So it’s a different day, and, if there was ever a time for us to get it right, and to realign our lives with Jesus Christ, it’s now. We could very well be seeing the end of an empire called the United States of America.
Much of what we’ve known to be America is fast evaporating around us. We can see that if we’re aware, awake, and alive, and if we’re reading, listening, and paying attention. This is our moment, and we need to say “Yes” to Jesus and make him the Lord of our lives. If he’s not Lord of all then he’s not Lord at all. We, as believers, need to re-up, re-enlist, and re-engage the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives.
Prayer
Holy Spirit, we acknowledge You right now. We’re asking You to move in our hearts. Stir us to respond. Jesus, we choose You, and we stand with You. Dear Jesus, we need You to be the Lord of our lives. We’ve been busy, distracted, and indifferent. We’ve imagined that You’re letting us get away with things because we don’t feel any consequences right now – but we know that judgment begins with the house of God – it starts here – with us.
Lord, be the center of our universe. Be Lord of our life. God, give us the courage and the compassion to stand for You and for Truth, and to be aligned with You …no matter what! In Jesus’ name. Amen
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on The Bridge
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