Something is Wrong

I am constantly thinking about what it means to be saved. I look out at America and see that 80% of people claim to be Christians and yet very few are really following. They prayed a prayer. They know the stories and verses. They dress up nice. They come to church every Sunday. Yet they haven’t been transformed. I struggle through what to think of this. I am tired of seeing this complacent, comfortable, non-transforming, fake religion drag the name of Christ through the dirt.

I think most of us know that something is wrong. We read about Jesus, what He said and did, and we read about the early church and we see one thing. Then we look at American Christianity and see a whole other thing. The Barna Group does studies on Christianity in America and after recent studies guess what they had to say when they looked at “Christians” and at outsiders of the faith. There is “no difference” (pg 47, UnChristian).

Most people seem to want to talk about how being saved is all about grace, and that works don’t matter much as far as salvation goes. This heresy was going on even in the early church; it’s called Gnosticism. They believed that as long as you have a special knowledge or got to a certain point, then how you lived your life didn’t matter all that much. Paul hated this. And James spoke out against it saying, “as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:26).

Then there are some who want to say that being saved is about what you do, or works. We know we can’t earn salvation because Paul says “All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one" (Romans 3:12). We can’t come close to earning salvation because we are unable to do any good apart from Christ.

We must see that God does a mighty work in our hearts in order to save us, but if that work is not displayed in our lives by continual transformation, constant death to self, and persistence in leaving our sin behind then there was no salvation that took place in our lives. You can’t earn it, but things change when it happens. You are “born again”; implying difference.

As a basketball coach I think it is helpful for me to look at it like this. At Marietta College there are guys that are on the basketball team and there are guys that are not on the basketball team. As a coach, there is no confusion about which guys are which. The ones that have been invited by the coach, made the decision to be on the team, and are committed to coming to practice every day and working hard for their team and their coaches are on the team. The ones that don’t are not on the team.

Don’t get me wrong, there are guys that are not on the team that play basketball. I see them on the recreation courts shooting around, or playing a pick-up game, or even playing on an intramural team. Some lift weights and work out to stay in shape so that they can play well. Some of them possibly even work harder than the guys on the basketball team, though it’s not very likely. Many of them think they are better than the guys on the team and think they could put together a group of guys that aren’t on the team to take on the guys that are.

But they aren’t on the team.

See here’s the thing: it doesn’t matter how good you are, just that you are on the team.
But don’t for a second think it is easy to be on this team. Jesus does not have a basketball team. He doesn’t have two hour practices six days a week. He doesn’t recruit people that will slack off in practice or not be ready to play in the games.

He has a team of soldiers. The battlefield is not a physical one, but rather a mental and spiritual one (2 Cor. 10:4-6). The training is constant, hard, and grueling (see book of Martyrs). Anyone is welcome to join, but the cost is high. You give over all rights to your life (Luke 14:27). Everything that you once thought was yours is handed over. Relationships (Luke 14:26). Possessions (Luke 12:33). Heart (Mark 12:30). Mind (Mark 12:30). Soul (Mark 12:30). Strength (Mark 12:30). All of it.

Oh, and there is no quitting this team once you join; it’s all or nothing, no looking back (Luke 9:62), so you better figure out if you have what it takes to go all the way (Luke 14:28-30).

Still interested?

See the life that you have right now isn’t even worth saving, and if you do try to hold onto it, you will eventually lose it. The only way that you can keep your life forever is by giving it up to be on this team (Matthew 16:25).

So guess what, you may not be very good, but that’s exactly why you would join the team. You join the team because you recognize that the Coach of this team is perfect and knows how to make you better. You join the team because you see what your own training and teaching (or lack thereof) from either yourself, your culture, or others is worthless. You join the team because you know that this perfect Coach wants you on the team and you owe it to Him. You join the team because you were created to play under this Coach and be the best you can be in submission to Him, not in your own self.

The crazy thing is that most people think they are on the team. What we have is a few that really are and a lot that are faking it. Why do so many people try to pretend like they are on the team? Well think about it. Why do millions of fans cheer for their favorite NFL team when they aren’t actually on it? We like to live vicariously through others who do the things that we can’t.

In the case of the Kingdom of God, we live vicariously through others who do the things that we won’t. We want to be on the team without the commitment. You see only a select few actually have the talent or ability to make it to the NFL if they really try. All have the opportunity to follow Christ.

Yet so many refuse to do it on Jesus’ terms. Francis Chan said it well in his book Crazy Love, “When I was in high school, I seriously considered joining the Marines; this was when they first came out with commercials for ‘the few, the proud, the Marines.’ What turned me off was that in those advertisements, everyone was always running. Always. And I hate running. But you know what? I didn’t bother to ask if they would modify the rules for me so I could run less, and maybe also do fewer push-ups. That would’ve been pointless and stupid, and I knew it. Everyone knows that if you sign up for the Marines, you have to do whatever they tell you. They own you. Somehow this realization does not cross over to our thinking about the Christian life. Jesus didn’t say that if you wanted to follow Him you could do it in a lukewarm manner. He said, ‘Take up your cross and follow me.’” (page 80).

This sort of half-hearted involvement on the team, whether through being a fan or trying to pretend that you are on the team when you haven’t really given all up to join, is an absolute offense to the Coach. I mean think about it. Think about Francis’ example. If you were to come to try-outs for a team and tell the coach, “I know that you have these expectations and tell me I have to give it all up to be on this team, but I’m not going to do that. I’ll show up when I have free time and I’ll work hard when I have the opportunity. These are my conditions.” How do you think this Coach would respond?

I know how: “Get out. Come back when you are ready to give it all.”

Does this sound mean? Does this offend you? Check out what Jesus said to thousands of people following Him:

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out” (Luke 14:26-35).

Jesus says if you aren’t willing to go all the way, if you won’t count the cost and get on the path towards completion, then you are tasteless salt and you will be thrown out.

If you won’t join this team, you will be thrown out. It doesn’t matter how good you are in intramurals or open gym. Yet He is so good as to accept anyone that would come and join. He wants to forgive you more than you want to be forgiven. He is the initiator of this relationship. You can be the worst player or person or whatever; there are no tryouts, only a sign-up sheet called the Book of Life.

So are you on the team?