Cheering Costly Obedience
This week I encouraged two young friends to pursue ministries in uncommon and dangerous places. One girl hopes to one day bring Jesus to strippers and another to imprisoned drug addicts. They each seemed surprised when I whole-heartedly encouraged them. Despite their young faith and curiosity as to where to begin, I see God’s providence leading these specific women as witnesses in both strip clubs and jail cells.
Both of these women have pasts they were thankful to walk away from and they are grateful God sought them out and saved them for himself. So naturally, they want to cross the lines into the enemy’s territory for the sake of Christ. For those of us with prettier, more socially-acceptable pasts, we don’t often feel the same burden to seek and save the lost. Instead, many get stuck serving in only the safe ways; tithing dollars into offering plates, bringing a few canned goods to the food pantry, or volunteering at a shelter once a week. While all of these are good endeavors and any act of humble service honors God and can be used for good and eternal purposes, we must ask how frequently our safe services are pushing back the darkness and bringing the light of Christ to those who haven’t heard. Are we asking God to call us into the less-comfortable, more risky, life-giving avenues of self-abandonment for the sake of gospel ministry?
Our Friend Paul
We could all learn from our friend, the Apostle Paul. This guy lived and breathed evangelism, discipleship, and self-sacrifice. But Paul wasn’t blindly zealous for God’s kingdom; he knew the cost and he valued it above all else. In Acts 20:22-24 as he prepared to head into the dangers that lay before him in Jerusalem, he wrote this message to the Ephesian elders who begged him to stay:
“And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”
The Ephesians longed for Paul to stay with them – to continue ministering to them in public and in their homes, testifying of repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ with all humility and with tears. Paul was a man who stirred those around him to love and follow Christ. But he couldn’t stay, he longed to reach those who hadn’t heard the message of the cross. He couldn’t sit still, he wanted to be in the game.
Like Paul, we too should long to go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – even when it isn’t safe or comfortable. It might mean joyfully going into sketchy places, sacrificing your time and freedom, missing out on the American dream, being misunderstood or having your desires called into question. And that’s alright. When Jesus called his disciples and said “follow me,” he also said it would mean leaving nets, families, and livelihoods behind.
Encouraging Risk & Waving Good-bye
When our brothers and sisters in the faith share the ways they are following the Father into the fields ripe for harvest, are we cheering them on? Or are we hesitantly talking them into sitting still and staying with the status-quo? Are we threatened by their sacrifice or encouraged by it? Over the years, when God has called friends around me to step out in faith and follow Him into the unknown, I have divided. In turn, I have spoken both words of faithless warning and words of faith-filled encouragement. While sound words of wisdom should have a place in Godly counsel, I must guard myself from counseling others away from risky, cost-filled obedience. Impending affliction isn’t reason enough to counsel believers away form taking the gospel of grace to all people.
After Paul spoke with the Ephesian elders, he knelt down and prayed with them before his departure. They wept together, they embraced, they kissed, and they were sorrowful because they knew they wouldn’t see his face again (Acts 20:36-38). But then, they accompanied him to the ship. They knew Paul had to go. Like the Ephesian elders, we can grieve and weep over the impending affliction of our friends, or what their risk means for our own lives, but ultimately – let’s walk them to the ship. Let’s encourage them and walk beside them as they head towards faithful obedience. And as we see them off, let’s be challenged and encouraged by their obedience and ask ourselves which ships we should consider boarding for the gospel cause.
I’ve been stagnating recently; I don’t leave much behind. I am comfortable with offering plates, Bible studies with believers, and blog posts with little risk. This realization has led me to take inventory of what I need to let go of in order to forge forward to my own versions of Jerusalem. Where is risk right? Where is my safety and security becoming idolatrous and treading water sinful? What about you? Where are your Jerusalems?
