Archive for Discipleship Resources
Jesus just isn’t cool
Just imagine for a moment that Taylor Swift, Lady GaGa, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie became Christians…
Imagine it – these famous people as real sincere, dedicated followers of Jesus… They start to tell the gospel and love the Bible and go to church. These super cool, famous – and let’s face it – beautiful people all of a sudden make Jesus their number 1.
What would happen?
Or what about that super cool, gorgeous girl or guy at school that everyone wants to be recognised by… what if they all of a sudden became Christians?
What would happen?
As a teenager I would often think this would be the greatest thing to ever happen. I even remember praying that God would convert some famous and popular people so that everyone would see that following Jesus and being a Christian is actually really, really cool.
It seemed to be a pretty straight forward equation: Everybody loves the cool popular person, therefore, if the cool popular person starts to follow Jesus everybody will think following Jesus is a cool thing to do and then being a Christian would be popular. I wouldn’t have to feel just that little bit embarrassed anymore when people found out I was a Christian, and it wouldn’t be awkward inviting people to church because church would be cool too. Easy! It’s such a fail-proof logic, except for one thing…
Jesus isn’t cool
Of course, Jesus is cool to Christians, but really, in the world we live in, Jesus just isn’t cool. He never has been. And he never will be.
Why is this so? Well it’s because the world hates Jesus. That may sound a bit harsh, but it’s true. This is how Jesus puts it when he refers to himself as the ‘light’ in John 3:19-20.
“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. All those who do evil hate the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.”
This is why Jesus isn’t cool: because he exposes people for what they are, and no one wants to be exposed as a wicked sinner! This is also one of the very reasons why the religious leaders of the day wanted to kill Jesus (have a look at Mark 12:12).
The world hates Jesus followers
And don’t just think that the hatred is only restricted to Jesus, because the world hates anyone who is even associated with him. Jesus knew this would be the case because this is how the world treated him, so he warned his disciples about it in advance.
Jesus said, “if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” (John 15:18-20)
There you have it. In the world we live in, Jesus is just not cool and neither is anyone who wants to associate themselves with him.
So what are you going to do about it? Well, you could try your hardest to make Jesus cool… but people who take this line often end up following a Jesus that is nothing like the Jesus in the gospels (a fake, friendly, plastic Jesus).
Or you could try and be a cool Christian yourself – but if Jesus couldn’t do it, then you’re not likely to succeed either, at least not without compromising what it means to follow Jesus and his values.
In the end there’s really only 2 options left:
1) You can either give Jesus the flick and concentrate on forging your own path to coolness. This is the “Jesus isn’t cool… so don’t let him cramp your style!” option.
OR
2) You can stick with Jesus and be content to cop whatever persecution the world wants to dish out. This is the “Jesus isn’t cool… but I’m cool with that!” option. After all, it doesn’t matter if the world thinks Jesus is cool or not. He’s still the only person to rise back to life from the dead never to die again, and he’s the only one who can give life to world full of dying people.
I know Jesus isn’t cool. But I’m cool with that!
Written by Mike Dicker | fervr.net
Can you hear God speak to you?
Yes – you’ve just got to know how to listen.
Why does God seem silent? Why is it that when life gets harder as a Christian, God seems more distant? How come I hear some people say things like “God told me …”, or “God spoke to me and said …”, but I hear nothing? Why doesn’t God just turn up and tell us that he’s real?
These are all questions that I’ve asked myself over the last 14 years of being a Christian. Sometimes they’re just theoretical kind of debates with myself, other times they are really deep and sometimes painful to ponder.
Hebrews starts out with a loud and clear answer: God has spoken. And if it seems like I can’t hear him, then it’s not God who needs to speak louder, or more often. It’s me who needs to listen more carefully. Hebrews was written to a group of Christians who were facing persecution and they were tempted to give up. I guess the silence of God must have been deafening for them.
But how does God speak to us? Hebrews 1:1-2 says, God spoke to us in the past through the Prophets, and now he has spoken to us in Jesus. Jesus is not just some dude, he is God in the flesh, the complete revelation of God. It’s all recorded for us in the Bible. So if you want to hear God speak … go to the Bible!
Does that seem kind of lame though?
There’s a superhero called the Black Canary. She’s good at martial arts, she’s brave and all that … but her superpower is the Sonic Scream. Now THAT sounds lame. But it’s not lame at all! The Sonic Scream can shatter stuff … Joel A Moroney tells me that it can even knock down buildings! (and I thought my daughter could scream loud).
So the Sonic Scream isn’t lame … and neither is the Bible. The power of the Bible is that it transforms your life! I’ve read a lot of books, and no book I’ve ever read has been as life-changing as the Bible. Heck, the more I read it, the more it changes me, and I can’t ever see that coming to an end.
So God has spoken to us through prophets, through Jesus, and it’s all there for us in the Bible. Now what? READ THE BIBLE! Not just read it, but get into it! Read it by yourself, read it with your mates, memorise bits of it, think and talk about how it changes your life, and do it!
Because it’s not that God is distant or silent. He has spoken loud and clear. If you want to hear God speak, get into the Bible, pay more careful attention to it. It might seem lame, but it’s life-changing. And if you want to stick with Jesus for all of your life, then it’s so vital.
Written by Matt Jacobs | fervr.net
Is it arrogant to claim Jesus is the ONLY way to God?
Not if it’s true
Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:5-7)
Jesus says he’s the only way to God! No one comes to the Father except through him.
If that is true, Jesus is saying that the only true religion is Christianity and that all other religionsare false.
Does this make Jesus arrogant?
Not at all! If Jesus really is the only way to the Father – the most loving thing that Jesus (and his followers) can do is tell people the truth. There’s no point pretending there’s lots of ways to God, if God himself tells us there is only one way.
Just before the bit quoted above, Jesus says he is going to prepare a place for his followers in his Father’s house. I used to picture Jesus going into each room and making the bed and placing a towel and soap on the end of each bed. That’s a little bit silly.
So how does Jesus prepare a place for people in heaven?
He goes via the cross. Jesus’ death for sinners and resurrection to new life is the way that he makes access to God possible. Trust him.
What do you think, is Jesus really the only way? Should Christians make this claim, or is it arrogant? Leave your comments below.
Written by Dave Miers | fervr.net