In a recent sermon, our pastor said something to the effect that Following Jesus is Always Simple But Never Easy. It was a very good sermon. The simple part was trust. The part that wasn’t easy was both trust and taking up your cross and follow me.
We talk a lot about what we believe. By that, we often mean a system of theology. Statements dealing with what we believe is truth about the Bible, God, Jesus and Salvation. Some of that can get quite complicated and theologians of various groups have argued for centuries without coming to a conclusion on some of it. When Jesus said we were to believe it was not to accept a systematic theology or a certain list of dogma. It was basically to believe that he was the Messiah, God in the Flesh and to trust him. Trust was related to an action, Following Him.
Much of the time we feel pretty smug thinking that our particular group has the right belief system. Which often results in a “we have it but that other group doesn’t” attitude. Us and Them. We baptize the correct way! We dunk them and hold them under “till they bubble” as the comic said. Those others just dribble a little water on their heads so we are not really sure it counts. We are even better than the group who dunks them three times.
I am Baptist so you know which one I follow. But does it really matter? I know that will make some of you mad. But far more important than which belief system we believe in or how we baptize is the question of whether we are TRUSTING and FOLLOWING JESUS.
Christianity is far more than a belief system. It has to do with Jesus and whether or not we trust him and follow him. We may have all the correct theology but Jesus wants us to live in a loving, trust relationship with him. That’s simple. We can make it complicated and can miss out on the essentials. Much of the time when we talk about “trusting him” we are talking about trusting him to get us to heaven not about what we are doing today. Trusting Jesus has to do with our daily everyday life and that trust translates into following Him.
Jesus` invitation to the disciples based on trusting him it was “follow me“. It could be restated as be with me, be my traveling companion, be involved in what I am involved in. Again an invitation to an ongoing relationship.
I can imagine the adventure of it. The disciples get up in the morning and ask one another, where do you think Jesus will take us today? I wonder what we will get to see him do today. Maybe he will heal someone, or feed some people. Every day must have been an adventure. If they got too comfortable and settled in they may have missed something because Jesus had moved on and they had not followed.
Jesus was constantly on the move. They had to follow to have an ongoing experience of Jesus. Not only were they on a physical journey of following Jesus. Primarily it was a spiritual journey of following Jesus. Jesus was showing them what life was like lived in relationship with God.
Sometimes I forget that journey aspect of following. The disciples were constantly in a new place with new circumstances and worse, new ideas. Constant change. I don’t like that. I want to get comfortable, settled in familiar places (Physically and Spiritually) with ideas in concrete. When I do that, I am not following. Jesus is someplace else, doing something new, showing me what God is like, giving me new ideas.
That is why following is not easy. To follow Jesus Spiritually I must give up my comfort. Give up my preferences. Get out of my rut. Get off my butt and exert some energy, open my mind(Maybe read a book that challenges my ideas.) and go where Jesus is going or I will be left behind.
One of the problems I have is that Jesus goes to people and places that make me uncomfortable. If I am following Jesus I have to go there also. I prefer people like me. Jesus loves people like me but he loves people very different from me. I find it hard to believe but someone told me he even loves Republicans and Democrats, Methodist and Catholics, Liberals and Fundamentalist, Muslims, Hindus, Atheist. He even loves that man that shot my dog. (I really don’t have a dog but that was as mean an act as I could think of).
What am I to do?
I have to decide if I am following Jesus or picking my own route and people. If I pick my own route, I am not following Jesus and will miss out on all the lessons he has for me about the God that loves me. If I pick my own route, place or people I am “playing christian” not really being one. I may go to church on Sunday, teach a Bible class or even preach a sermon but if I am going down my own path and not following Jesus, I am not really trusting him regardless of what I say about my faith and what I believe.
To be a Christian means that I trust Jesus to pick the path for me and then follow Him. Loving those he loves.
A prayer I often hear is “Jesus be with us”. We miss the point. Jesus is not to be with us. We are to be with Jesus. We trust and follow him. He doesn’t follow us on a path of our choosing.
It’s not a belief system. It’s not a bunch of religious stuff. It is trust and follow Jesus. That is simple, but not easy.