Wimps for Jesus?

From certain points of view, a person could conclude that Christianity is a religion for wimps, that church is a gathering spot for the whiners and the weak. There are those congregations organized around bland programs that promote ‘nice,’ governed by committees of kind ladies whose life purpose is to have a nice church dinner with pretty centerpieces, and led by pastors whose highest goal is to find the lowest common denominator in pursuit of ‘non-offense’ in all proclamations. Prayers, if one could call them that, in that kind of church are all about Aunt Tilly’s infected toe and Uncle Joe’s latest bout with gout. Somewhere in that church, you will likely find that ubiquitous portrait of Jesus Christ that portrays Him as an effeminate man smiling wanly as if life is about to overwhelm Him.

Don’t get me wrong! Churches should promote harmony, be concerned with those marginalized by society, and care for the sick! But, that’s not all we do, nor does such a mission begin to define the true nature of the powerful faith given to us by Our Lord Jesus Christ! Your faith and mine is given to us for more than making us nice people who live quietly comfortable lives that intentionally avoid seeing the needs of the world, sated by endless pleasure seeking.

We are called into the service of the Lord of Heaven and Earth, commissioned to engage Evil, equipped with the armor of the Spirit and sent out to change the world by giving our lives for the Call. I’m not ready to die for a committee organizing church suppers, but I am ready to give myself to the One Who can use me to rescue men and women from death and Hell, that will stand up to tyrants, that will fight for those who are enslaved by the Devil and those who do his terrible work here.

We need to re-read the Gospels without our ‘gentle Jesus, meek and mild,’ filters in place. Yes, He was a loving Man, who blessed children, and fed multitudes. And, He was a powerful Man who compelled sinners to consider their ways, who took on the powerful hypocrites that had turned faith into a money-making scheme, who walked courageously to the Cross to offer Himself as the Sacrifice for the sins of the world. His prayers were not little poems to inspire. In them He met with God and wrestled with the Devil and sweat blood! He was not timidly suggesting that those who wanted to follow Him should set aside 15 minutes a day to think happy thoughts and gather, if it was convenient, once a week for an hour or so for a nice program!

He demanded that they give up their lives for Him. In fact, one day when He was explaining that He must give His life, Peter tried to speak up and earned this rebuke from the Master. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” He followed up with this challenge – that we need to hear again and again! Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:22-26, NIV)

Christianity is the hope of the world. For two millennia, this Gospel has transformed individuals and entire cultures wherever it was preached by fearless men and women who were captivated by the beauty of the Lord, whose love for Him was not romanticized, but deep and compelling. Wimps for Jesus will not have a voice in this present darkness. Only those prepared to die (perhaps not literally, but certainly to their own purposes and pleasures) will.

Rich Mullins penned the song, “Awesome God,” in which he captured something of the true nature of our God. May his words stir you today.

When He rolls up His sleeves,
He ain't just puttin' on the ritz.
Our God is an awesome God.
There is thunder in His footsteps
And lightning in His fists.
Our God is an awesome God.
And the Lord wasn't jokin'
When He kicked 'em out of Eden.
It wasn't for no reason
That He shed His blood.
His return is very close,
And so you better be believin'
That our God is an awesome God.

When the sky was starless
In the void of the night,
Our God is an awesome God.
He spoke into the darkness
And created the light,
Our God is an awesome God
The judgment and wrath
He poured out on Sodom;
The mercy and grace
He gave us at the cross.
I hope that we have not
Too quickly forgotten
That our God is an awesome God.

Our God is an awesome God.
He reigns from heaven above;
With wisdom, pow'r and love,
Our God is an awesome God.

Awesome God
Mullins, Rich© 1988 BMG Songs, Inc. (Admin. by BMG Music Publishing)
CCLI License No. 810055