Dangerous Faith: What’s Your Passion?

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Hebrews 12:1-3

Zach Hunter is 17 years old, and he’s a modern day abolitionist. He began the Loose Change to Loosen Chains initiative (LC2LC) to help end slavery in our world. (By the way, more people were enslaved  in 2007 than were enslaved in all the years of the transatlantic slave trade combined!) He has also written a book on the subject entitled Be the Change. Check out this video about him from a few years ago. Or, for a more updated look at other books Zach has written and what he is up to these days, go to www.zachhunter.me.

Pretty cool huh? Zach seems like a great kid, and only seventeen, but there’s really nothing - and I repeat nothing - extraordinary about him. He just followed his heart and his passion. That’s all. Zach was a shy twelve year old when the Lord put this passion, or should I say compassion, on his heart. He was no different than any other kid, so why is Zach speaking to stadiums of people about ending slavery when most other kids his age are trying to perfect their "Halo" skills?

The difference is that Zach decided to act on the compassion that he felt for these people. He decided to follow that desire, that passion that he felt rising up inside him instead of stifling it like most of us do. Why do we do that anyway? We stifle it because passion and compassion are dangerous emotions. They push us outside of our comfort zone. They threaten to change not just other parts of the world but our little part of the world too. We see this in life of Jesus. Constantly in the gospels we read that Jesus was moved by compassion to act. He healed the sick and fed the multitudes. He restored sight to the blind and healed leprosy all because He had compassion on people. Ultimately His compassion moved Him to give up even His own life for you and for me.

This is the kind of life that you and I are called to live. We are called to enter into other people's suffering (like Christ did) and bring the joy and the freedom of the Lord along with us. We are called to run to the dark places of the world and shine the light of the Gospel into the hearts of those who have no hope. So like the author of Hebrews I implore you to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and… run with perseverance the race marked out for [you].” In order to do that, we have to beat our bodies into submission (I Corinthians 9:27) and take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23). We have to have the courage to take a risk and act on our passion.

So I ask you, what’s your passion? There are many, many great needs in our world today, and certainly no single person can undertake to eradicate them all. And I don’t think that the Lord expects you to eradicate them all by yourself, but maybe you can help make a dent in a handful of them. Don't wait for God to drop a billboard sign on your head telling you to defend the widows, orphans, helpless and weak. He has already told you to do that (check out Psalm 82:3-4 and James 1:27). We don’t have to be “called” in some special and super personal sense. This burden belongs to all of us as Christians because the Bible tells us it does. All we need to do is follow our God-given compassion and passion. So I ask again, what’s your passion? What need in our world tugs at your heart? What need is tugging at your heart even now?

  

For further reading this week…

• I Corinthians 9:24-27: Beat our bodies into submission.
• Revelation 3:14-22: God hates a lack of passion when it comes to obeying Him.       
• Matthew 14:14, Matthew 15:32, Matthew 20:34, and Mark 1:41: Check out how Jesus was moved to act by his compassion.
• Psalm 82:3-4 and James 1:27: We are commanded to care for the weak.

Dangerous Faith: Zeal

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will…Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Romans 12 1-2, 9b-18 (emphasis added)

Last week we looked at Paul’s life and realized that the first step toward dangerous faith is extreme love for God. Paul was willing to forsake everything in order to know his Lord more intimately. He had found that knowing God brought him more joy than anything else in life. That includes money, prominence, and comfort. None of them could compare to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord. 

It is this type of extreme love for God that I want to take a closer look at this week, and I want to suggest that it is related to what the Bible calls 'zeal.' Now ‘zeal’ is kind of an Old Testament word so let’s see if we can update it to a 21st century context. We’ll start by looking at a most excellent definition for the word I came across recently:

Zeal in religion is a burning desire to please God, to do His will, and to advance His glory in the world in every possible way…A zealous man in religion is pre-eminently a man of one thing… He only sees one thing, he cares for one thing, he lives for one thing, he is swallowed up in one thing; and that one thing is to please God. Whether he lives, or whether he dies,—whether he has health, or whether he has sickness,—whether he is rich, or whether he is poor,—whether he pleases man, or whether he gives offense,—whether he is thought wise, or whether he is thought foolish… for all this the zealous man cares nothing at all. He burns for one thing; and that one thing is to please God, and to advance God’s glory. If he is consumed in the very burning, he cares not for it,—he is content… he has but done the work for which God appointed him… This is what I mean when I speak of “zeal” in religion.
(Bishop J.C. Ryle. Practical Religion, 1959 ed., p.130)

I love that definition! Something about it speaks to me deep down in my soul. It stirs me. It challenges me and convicts me. And this is what I want each of us to move toward, to run after with all our might.

If we “draw near to God, He will draw near to us” (James 4:8)! And while we are in His presence we will be “transformed into His likeness” (II Corinthians 3:18). We will become passionate about the things that He is passionate about. We will become zealous for His glory. We will be moved to defend the cause of the fatherless, the widow, the downtrodden and the outcast (Jeremiah 22:16).

If you are tired of pretending to know God, if you are tired of boring religion and are ready to actually know Him, then try this. Seek Him! The Bible promises that if you seek Him you will find Him. Instead of relying on your pastor to tell you what the Bible says, pick it up, dust it off and read it yourself. Don’t live your relationship with God through your pastor or anyone else. Enter into relationship with God yourself. Pray to Him. Read your Bible. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you. Going to church is important and your pastor can really help you understand the Bible but that is just the beginning of your relationship with your Savior. Like in any relationship the most special moments with our Lord are those that we share with no one else but Him.

For further reading this week...

• James 4:8: Draw near to God...
• Jeremiah 22:16: What it means to know God.
• II Corinthians 3:7-18 & Exodus 34:29-35: Like Moses the more time we spend in His presence the more we begin to reflect His glory.
• I Kings 18-19: The great prophet Elijah was both zealous and fearful.
• John 2:12-17: Jesus' zeal for His Father's house.

Dangerous Faith: Running Toward Relationship

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Philippians 3:7-11

Jesus is calling. He is calling out for disciples who are willing to take up their crosses everyday and follow him. He is calling for those who are willing to live dangerously for the Lord. Over the next few months, we are going to study what it means to have a “Dangerous Faith.” My hope is that we would accomplish two things: First, I want us to leave boring religion and dead rules behind and run after a living relationship with God. Second, I want us to be moved to a place of great passion in our Christian walk. I want us to love God and to show that love by obeying Him with reckless abandon.

In the above passage, we find that Paul accomplished both of these objectives. He was fully surrendered. He tells us that he was willing to give up EVERYTHING for the sake of Christ. Why? He was willing to give everything up because he considered everything to be of no more value than trash when compared to knowing Christ. Don’t miss that! That’s big. For Paul nothing compared to the immeasurable joy he found in his relationship with God. So, if we hope to attain this level of full surrender to God, then we have to begin by running toward relationship with Him.

But you might ask, “Didn’t Paul have a little bit of an upper hand on us ordinary Christians? I mean he did see Jesus in divine form on the road to Damascus...” NO! The joy of knowing God is a promise that is open to and expected of all God’s children. We may not have a vision like Paul did, but we can know God just as intimately (see Hebrews 10:19-22 and Ephesians 3:12).

But for many of us the idea of knowing God intimately and hearing His voice is surrounded with a lot of confusion. We don’t know what it means to know God intimately, and we aren’t sure what it is supposed to feel like. We hear stories about people’s super-spiritual visions or dream-like trances and we feel embarrassed or ashamed that we haven’t experienced the same. We may even wonder if we know God at all.

Somewhere along the way we have gotten distracted. We have moved away from relationship with God and have moved into religion and duties, to the point that now most of us doubt whether or not the kind of relationship Paul talked about is really even available. If you want to know God and are surrounded by confusion on what it means to be in relationship with Him, then here’s the solution. Are you ready?

Just ask! The Lord has promised us intimacy with Him, IF we seek it (Deuteronomy 4:29, Jeremiah 29:13, Luke 11:9). Jesus died to secure this intimacy for us. God will not withhold it from you. You may have to persevere to get it. God doesn’t always work on our timetables. You may have to seek after it and sacrifice your time and priorities to receive it, but the Lord will not withhold it from His children for long. In fact, He longs for us to have intimacy with Him, it is His heart. 

 

The problem isn't that God withholds this intimacy from us; it is that we expect the wrong things. We expect some sort of spiritually induced acid trip to heaven. Although Scripture bears witness to visions and even trips to heaven, most often the Spirit of God works much more consistently and quietly in our hearts. He works when we read the Bible, when we pray, when we worship Him, and when we spend time with His people. In those times He fills our hearts with love, joy, and peace (Galatians 5:22-23).

I challenge you this week… ask the Lord to draw you closer into relationship with Him and then seek after Him. Forsake other things for the pursuit of Him. He will not keep you at arm’s length for long. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9).

For further reading this week…

• Hebrews 10:19-22 and Ephesians 3:12: You can know God.
• Deuteronomy 4:29 and Jeremiah 29:13: If you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him.
• Luke 11:1-13: Persevere in prayer!
• Galatians 5:22-23: This is what the Spirit produces in a person's life.

Mr. Rogers in the Electric Chair?

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Luke 14:25-34

What do you think Jesus was like? If you had to describe Jesus to a friend, what would you tell them about Him?

Most likely one of the first things you would say is that Jesus loved people. He loved people that even the other religious people wouldn’t. And you might say that He was compassionate or kind. You may even say that He was a charismatic leader. But I’m guessing that you wouldn’t say He was dangerous.

The truth is that we have taken the edge off of Jesus. We have diluted Him down to the warm cuddlies and made Him safe so that He comes off as a 1st century version of a children’s TV show host. But as J.R. Briggs says “What government would execute Mister Rodgers?” (When God Says Jump, p.20) Jesus wasn’t crucified for telling people to love their neighbor. He was crucified because He was dangerous! And He was dangerous because “[He] didn’t fit into anybody’s categories. Nobody could slap a label on Him, and that’s because He didn’t care if people didn’t like Him or if His life were on the line. He challenged the religious and the irreligious. He comforted the disturbed and disturbed the comfortable. He spoke truth that ticked people off. Jesus ripped people’s security blankets in two- not to be a jerk but to expose people to the idea of life, real life, which was His purpose for coming.” (When God Says Jump, p.20)    

Jesus was a one man countercultural movement. Yes, He was loving and compassionate far beyond all others, but He was also courageous and willing to risk it all for God beyond all others. Jesus was a radical man, zealous for the things of God. I am becoming more and more convinced that everywhere Jesus went He lovingly and compassionately made people feel uncomfortable. He did this because He was challenging their paradigm (the way they viewed the world), and He was calling them to live a new life, a different life, a radically changed life. The question is, "Are you ready to live that life?"

We have watered Jesus down so much that many of us can't imagine what that life would look like. We think that all God requires of us as Christians is to “believe” certain things that the Bible says and maybe refrain from doing some other things that the Bible tells us not to do. But that’s not right, Jesus is still calling out to those who have “ears to hear” and who are willing to follow Him, and He is calling them to live a radically changed life.

If we were really like Christ, if we were dangerous and radical and willing to “take up our cross and follow” the Lord wherever He leads us, then and only then would we see people start to want what we have. I like the way the Mike Yaconelli put it. He says, “Faith has been reduced to a comfortable set of beliefs about God instead of an uncomfortable encounter with God.”

This is my desire for you: that you would encounter God and that you would be changed! You cannot enter into the presence of God and leave unchanged, so if your life hasn’t changed at all then you haven’t encountered God. I know that none of us like to be uncomfortable, but we are so attached to this world and to trying to blend in that our Father has to make us uncomfortable. He has to slowly and tenderly unclench our grasp on the things of this world so that we can grab on to the infinitely better things that He has to offer us.

Over the coming weeks and months we are going to be looking at what it means to live our lives fully surrendered to God. We are going to ask ourselves the question, “Am I willing to do whatever God tells me to do?” And we are going to earnestly seek after something extraordinary. We hope to leave bored, tired religion behind and grab hold of a vibrant, challenging relationship with the Lord. We are going to attempt to make a difference in the lives of those around us. We are going to try to leave our mark on history. So I want you to begin to ask yourself now, “How far am I willing to go with this? How far am I willing to follow the Lord?” Jesus followed Him all the way to the cross. Will you stop at comfortable?

For further reading this week…

• Romans 12:1-2a: Living sacrifices. 
• Luke 9:23-26: Take up your cross. 
• Daniel 3: An O.T. countercultural movement. 
• Genesis 22: Lay him on the altar. 
• Mark 10:17-31: The last will be first.