If You Have Run With Footmen...

I have begun to realize that the further and further I have lived from that experience of basic training the easier it was to choose the path of least resistance.

I made choices that resulted in quick gain, even when I could see that the choice would ultimately cost me gravely. I would choose what seemed easier for today and say let tomorrow worry about itself.

I remember my first days as a Christian, I remember hearing God call me to do hard things. To forgive others of debts they owed me, and to walk away from money and power and influence that I had gained through sin. I remember the hard days that followed, being afraid that I might lose my life because of those choices but believing that if that was the path God had me on then I would either be safe by the power of his hand or be present with Him in Heaven.

I remember going to the mission field-still in so many ways a baby Christian, already a pastor but new to ministry. I remember believing that God would make a way for us, he would support us even when I didn't know very many christians aside from those in our sending church. I remember God providing in miraculous ways, I remember God doing physical miracles, healing people and fixing machines and pushing us to relearn all we thought we knew about life.

And the truth is the further and further I get from those extraordinary experiences the easier it gets to choose the path of least resistance. And not that the choices I am making are not so life and death it is easy to choose pleasure and comfort. I want to get real for a minute because I believe that no one is saying this, I mean I think that all of us are different and some of you work out and you are so disciplined with what you eat. And some of you work hard and are so disciplined with your finances, and some of you are so disciplined with your life you make wise choices even when the cost is high. But what happens when our relationship with Jesus costs too much? Does it become more palatable to recreate god, into something that is easy?

We are the children of churches that have told us that God's sole desire is that we have a happy life. The only problem with that theology is that it is not Biblical- every command that Jesus gives us is hard, really hard. He commands us to love our enemies, and to turn the other cheek and to give up our families for his sake, and to lay down our lives. How can I rectify those commands with the comfort giving, pleasure loving god I worship?

Oh of course we aren't that honest with ourselves are we? Instead we say things like, I would love to share the gospel but I have a helps gifting or a hospitality gifting. God would have made me an evangelist if he would have wanted me to talk to people. We say things like God would not want me to go to bars or places where homeless people are or prostitution goes on. I need to keep my spirit clean for him.

We say those things and we justify why we do not follow him.

I want to be very clear so there are no misunderstandings, this sermon is not about salvation it is about discipleship. It is about being a follower of Christ.