NOBODY FOLLOWS JESUS
(So Why Should You?) (the blog)
Nobody follows Jesus anymore. Just look around,
and you’ll see what I mean. How often do you ever see
someone show love to a person who is in their face? Have
you ever once heard of anyone chasing a thief down the
street screaming, “Hey, you forgot my DVD player!” or
witnessed a person who has just been slapped in the face
turn their head to offer the other cheek? I doubt it.
That’s my point. Jesus had some pretty radical
teachings; Love your enemies, pray for those who abuse
you, give to those who steal from you, lend without
expecting anything in return, and bless those who curse
your name.
He doesn’t stop there. No sir. Jesus even goes so
far as to say that those who follow Him must deny
themselves and take up their own cross (an instrument of
brutal torture and death). In fact, He says if you don’t do
this, you “cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27).
Even the most casual glance at the words and
teachings of Jesus will tell you this guy had unreasonable
expectations of those who would dare follow Him. It was
almost as if He was trying to thin the crowd by raising the
bar so high.
No wonder no one follows Jesus anymore. Now,
I’m not suggesting people don’t believe in Jesus anymore.
There are millions and millions of people out there who
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really do believe a guy named Jesus actually lived 2,000
years ago. They believe that He was the Son of God, and
God the Son, and that He lead a sinless life, died on the
cross for their sins and rose bodily from the grave after
three.
Yep. They believe all that. But, those people
don’t necessarily follow Jesus, not the way He expected
them to.
Maybe that’s why Jesus wondered out loud,
“When the Son of Man returns, will he find faith on the
earth?” (Luke 18:8). Maybe He knew after 2,000 years of
Christianity, we would have just given up on following
His specific example of how to live.
G.K. Chesterton once said, “It’s not that
Christianity has been tried and found wanting; it’s that it
has been found difficult and left untried.”
You see, I think Jesus really did expect His
followers to live extravagant lives of love as He
commands in Luke 6:27. He wasn’t kidding around.
Jesus makes it pretty clear that the kind of love
the world has is nothing special. “If you love those who
love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love
those who love them. And if you do good to those who are
good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do
that” (Luke 6:32).
Jesus was trying to get His potential followers to
understand they were expected to model a standard of love
that went far, far beyond what anyone living on this planet
had ever encountered or dreamed of before.
Once you understand this, it starts to make more
sense. Jesus calls His followers to this kind of life for a
reason—so we can show those who aren’t aware of the
kindness of God what it means to be loved, forgiven and
shown mercy.
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Yes, Jesus expects us to actually do these things.
Yes, it will hurt.
Can you think of a better way to show those who
are far from God that He really loves them?
Imagine a world where we all actually did this
stuff on a daily basis. Would it change the world? Would
it change everyone’s idea of Christianity? Of Christ?
Would it set the teachings of Jesus apart from every single
other religious figure who had ever lived?
Isn’t it ironic to think the most radical thing a
modern Christian could do today would be to simply do
exactly what Jesus says?
Yeah, it’s really a shame that no one really
follows Jesus anymore. But, I still can’t help but imagine
what would happen to the world we live in if even a few
people actually did.
Jesus promises those who actually do put His
words into practice that they will be blessed and have life
abundantly.
Maybe it’s time to start following Jesus? Maybe
it’s time to take Him seriously?
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of
mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who
built his house on the rock”- Jesus, (Matthew 7:24).
It is sort of sad, but we can’t help but face the
awful truth that Jesus doesn’t seem to inspire followers the
way He used to.
Christian author Dallas Willard once said,
“There is absolutely nothing in what Jesus himself or his
early followers taught that suggests you can decide just to
enjoy forgiveness at Jesus' expense and have nothing more
to do with him.”
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Noted theologian A. W. Tozer once remarked
that “a notable heresy has come into being throughout
evangelical Christian circles—the widely—accepted
concept that we humans can choose to accept Christ only
because we need Him as Savior and that we have the right
to postpone our obedience to Him as Lord as long as we
want to!" (From his book I Call It Heresy)
He goes even as far as to suggest, "that salvation
apart from obedience is unknown in the sacred
scriptures."
What we have in modern American Christianity
is a brand of religion that says to its founder, "I'd like a
little of your blood to cover my sins, but I don't care to
follow you or take your teachings seriously. If you would
please excuse me, I’ll get on with my life. See you in
heaven." Dallas Willard calls those kinds of people
“Vampire Christians” because all they want is some of
Jesus’ blood, but none of His leadership.
Does this sound to you like what Jesus had in
mind for His church? I wonder why would anyone align
themselves with someone as radical as Jesus and then
totally ignore His teachings?
I ask you to consider what you’d think if you met
a man who said he was a Muslim, but after interviewing
him you discovered that he didn't read the Koran, didn't
attempt to live his life in obedience to Mohammed, and
didn't seek to become more like a person who modeled
Islam. In what way would that guy be a Muslim? You
could say the same of a Buddhist or a Mormon or a Jew.
Clearly, Jesus taught and expected that those who
followed Him would put His words into practice and
respond with obedience.
“We know that we have come to know Him if we
obey His commands. The man who says, ‘I know Him,’ but
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does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is
not in him. But if anyone obeys His word, God's love is
truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are
in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus
did. (1 John 2:3)
According to this verse, and many others in the
New Testament, the way to know whether or not you’re a
follower of Jesus depends on whether you’re obedient to
Him or not.
Jesus did spend a lot of time on the subject of
obedience. He seemed to really stress it. He seemed to
really expect that we would obey Him and seek after Him
and encourage each other to do the same.
I've been looking at the verses at the end of
Matthew chapter 25, where Jesus speaks to those on His
right and on His left at the Judgment seat. Both sides call
Him "Lord", and both sides did the same works, but only
one group was allowed into the Kingdom— the group that
showed compassion to the sick, the hungry, the poor and
that "knew" Jesus. (Suggesting that they did these acts of
mercy BECAUSE they truly "knew" Jesus and were
responding out of a heart of love).
Jesus was also careful to warn us that just
because we call Him “Lord” doesn’t mean that we’ll
actually see the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus says, “Not
everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my
Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)
The Great Commission that Jesus left to his
church had discipleship and obedience built into it.
“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, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you.”- (Matthew 28: 19- 20)
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How many churches do you know of that offer
classes like “How To Love Your Enemies”? Virtually no
church on the horizon has any real, practical method of
actually training their flock on how to go about obeying
the teachings of Christ, and yet, this is exactly what Jesus
left us to accomplish.
It makes one wonder, what are we doing with our
time? What is the church about if not training us to be
followers of Christ himself?
I have to be fair. As I think about how many
people I know who have actually lived out the teachings
of Christ and I do realize there are those who really do
follow Jesus.
My good friend David Haliburton used to be the
Children’s pastor at a church where my family attended.
He and his wife helped my family get through a very
difficult year and a half when I was without gainful
employment after I was laid off. That alone was an
amazing thing for me, but then David and his wife did
something that astounded me even more.
Even after seeing the difficulty we were going
through, they willingly quit their jobs, sold everything
they owned and entered the mission field, taking their
three children with them. I can’t think of anything else
more amazing than that.
For a follower of Christ to take Jesus so seriously
that they would enter a life of complete surrender and
submission like that astounds me. It blesses me. It
challenges me.
Over the years I’ve met others who have taken
the calling to follow Jesus seriously. I’ve witnessed
amazing humility, incredible sacrifice, and sacrificial love,
and this gives me hope.
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Maybe there’s hope yet for this generation.
Maybe there really are more followers out there who are
willing to take Jesus seriously, and to willingly surrender
themselves to His authority.
I pray their tribe will increase.
I want to be in that tribe.
***
NOBODY FOLLOWS JESUS
(So Why Should You?)
Volume One (the book)
By Keith Giles
This book collects articles previously published online in
the free, weekly e-newsletter known as [Subversive Underground].
Some articles also appeared online at
RelevantMagazine.com, TheOoze.com, Ginkworld.net
and SeedStories.com.
Copyright 2007 by Keith Giles
Find out more at www.keithgiles.com
FREE EBOOKS Free Download - This Is My Body:Ekklesia As God Intended [eBook]
Free Download - Subversive Interviews, Vol.1 [PDF]
Free Download - The Gospel:For Here Or To Go?, Foreword by Neil Cole, [PDF]
Free Download - Nobody Follows Jesus (So Why Should You?), [PDF]
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