Kingdom Harbor

Last night a handful for MainStreeters gathered on Ash Wednesday to watch the movie “Paul, Apostle of Christ.” We all came away amazed at what it cost to be a Christian in first century Rome — that is, often your very life! Better than any Bible film I’ve seen, this one beautifully portrays how the early Christians gathered widows, orphans and cast-asides, and created a new family unit. This week in my “With God Daily” devotional, Skye Jethani is exploring the idol of family in the American church. As we begin the season of Lent and travel the CrossRoad, may we all come to a deeper understanding of what it might cost us to truly follow Jesus, as well as a greater appreciation for the new family God has given us in the church. Enjoy Skye’s challenge. -JB

As a teen, I was very skeptical of faith and frequently argued with friends who attended church regularly or who parroted warm sentimentalities they picked up from listening to Christian music. I recall attending a city-wide Christian youth rally in downtown Chicago one evening where the speaker ended with an altar call. With eyes closed and heads bowed, he urged us to make a decision for Jesus. “It’s the most important decision you will ever make,” he said with conviction and urgency. That’s the part that gnawed at me in the church van as we drove back to the suburbs after the rally.

“If it’s really the most important decision I’ll ever make,” I said to my friends in the back benches of the van, “then shouldn’t I really think about it for a while? I mean, picking a wife is a pretty important decision, and none of us would do that without thinking it through. If following Jesus is even more important why do I have to walk the aisle right now?” I’m glad the youth pastor was driving and couldn’t hear me de-converting half the kids in the back of his van.

Even as a teen I found the evangelist’s message contradictory. Either following Jesus is the most important decision and therefore should be entered into with thoughtful intent and careful deliberation, or it’s not that important and can be decided with no more forethought than ordering at the drive-thru. But it cannot be both.

Once home I found a Bible to see for myself what Jesus said on the matter. I eventually stumbled upon Luke 14 where Jesus challenged the crowds to “sit down and count the cost” of being his disciple. He warned them not to start down the path of following him if they could not finish the course. Ah ha! I thought. Here’s proof from Jesus himself that the evangelist’s call was wrong. Jesus didn’t tell people to make an impulsive decision to follow him. He told them to slow down, think it over, and be sure they understood the cost involved.

My smugness over being right, however, soon shifted into horror as I kept reading.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27).

Good grief, I thought, the evangelist didn’t say anything like this at the rally. And I quickly understood why. If he’d told 2,000 teenagers that following Jesus required them to renounce their parents, give up their suburban American dreams, and deny their consumer desires, I’m not sure any would have walked the aisle. I found the evangelist’s message to be offensive, but Jesus’ call was much, much worse. Did the other kids in the church van have any idea what they had gotten themselves into?

It turns out my unease with Jesus’ message was exactly his point. As C.S. Lewis noted, this teaching of Jesus is “profitable only to those who read it with horror.” Lewis said, “The man who finds it easy enough to hate his father, the woman whose life is a long struggle not to hate her mother, had probably best keep clear of it.” In other words, Jesus meant to shock his potential followers with this call, and it was a reoccurring theme of his preaching.

Earlier, in Luke 9, wannabe disciples asked to say goodbye to their families before following him. Jesus would have none of it. “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Even as a teenager I was getting the message. You either think Jesus is the most valuable thing in all the world or you don’t. Either he’s more important than even your family or he isn’t. Either you’re ready to give up everything to follow him or you’re not. There is no middle ground.