Driven

We really like being comfortable.  Each of us defines comfort differently, but the vast majority of the time we will gravitate towards something that puts us in our personal comfort level no matter where we go.  For some, comfort means seeking out that American restaurant when traveling abroad.  Maybe comfort is only listening to our favorite music or reading a particular genre of book.  Whenever I travel, I always want to know where the closest Caribou Coffee (1.5 miles from my current location) and Chick-fil-A (12 miles from my current location) are.  By the way, did you know Chick-fil-A didn’t invent the chicken, just the chicken sandwich?  What a wonderful thing, that Chick-fil-A sandwich…

Being comfortable makes us feel good, but can also become a distraction.  There is a reason your office chair has a cushion but isn’t a La-Z-Boy – when we become focused on comfort, we cease being productive.  Something Mark Driscoll said during a workshop at the Gospel Coalition national conference inChicagoreally got me thinking; “Some of you have developed a theology that justifies fruitlessness.”  I love Mark Driscoll; I think he has a great balance of a firm foundation in biblical truth and authority with an insightful cultural awareness.  However, my first reaction to this was that this was not a very fair statement.  The gospel isn’t about measurable results; it’s about faith, right?  However, as I thought about what Driscoll said, a couple of thoughts came to mind.  First was the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control (Gal5:22-23).  These are fruit that grow in our lives from the Holy Spirit – and we can see fruit grow!  This fruit is not measurable with a ruler, but if we take time to honestly self-evaluate, we should be able to see the effects of God’s hands on our heart and in our lives.

This lead to my second thought: “…faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (Jas 2:17,ESV)  There is certainly no intent by James to minimize the importance of faith here, but I believe he is emphasizing the importance of faith by weeding out the fakers – if there are no works, if there is no fruit to accompany professed faith, their faith is dead.  Martin Luther said, “We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.”  There must be something that changes in our lives, fruit that grows, signs of the changes that God is making in and through us – these are not works that earn salvation, but they are signs of that salvation that we have received in Christ.

We like being comfortable and more often than not that pesky Holy Spirit wants to push us into places where we are not comfortable, and we resist.  Then we stop seeing that fruit grow.  But we are too smart for our own good, so we try to justify the lack of fruit in our lives, emphasizing the evil world in which we live and the depravity of humanity and the decline of our country.  We will spend hours talking about the struggles all around us, of the poor who are in need and the ministries that need support in helping them.  We will add them to our prayer chains and tell the ministry workers, in effect, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” (Ja2:16) because to do anything more would require too much effort and sacrifice on our parts.

By random chance (by the way, I don’t believe in random chance), this week I was reading the chapter titled, “Serving leftovers to a holy God” in Francis Chan’s Crazy Love in preparation for Sunday School with a group of the youth at my church.  In the chapter, Chan decides to just tell it like he sees it (I like it when people do that).  This is what he says;

Churchgoers who are ‘lukewarm’ are not Christians.  We will not see them in heaven…Jesus’ call to commitment is clear: He wants all or nothing.  The thought of a person calling himself a ‘Christian’ without being a devoted follower of Christ is absurd.

In speaking of the church in Laodicea referenced in Revelation 3:14-22 Chan writes, “They were comfortable and proud.  Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”  I think reading that should make us pretty uncomfortable.  Not bearing fruit, living lives that lack any actual growth, is not an option for a Christian.  Jesus did not command us to “go therefore and try to make disciples…”  Check out Matthew 28:19-20 and see if you feel as convicted as I do.

A lot of people get eschatology, or beliefs on the end times, wrong.  Really wrong.  We argue and fight over pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, and post-tribulation rapture (orwhether there really will be a rapture).  We point and laugh (or yell) at those close-minded pre-millennials or those wacky a-millennials.  Even many of you who have read some of these terms and don’t really know what they mean still have a strong opinion, you just put it in different terms.  I know it was a shock for me when I realized that things may not happen exactly the way they were set out in those Left Behind books – who knew Tim LaHaye could be wrong!

I don’t think people get end times theology wrong because their viewpoint doesn’t agree with mine.  I’m not sure I agree with my viewpoint on end times theology!  They get it wrong because they think that figuring out when Christ is coming back is the point.  It’s not.  While talking about the end times in 1 Thessalonians, Paul says, “So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and sober.” (5:6,ESV)  We are to be attentive, to remember that we have not been put on this earth to wander aimlessly, but to accomplish tasks that God has put before us.

Too often we live purposeless lives, wandering from task to task, going to school, going to work, going to church, all without really thinking about why we are doing these things.  Before Christ returned to heaven, he told his disciples that they had work to do.  “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matt 28:19-20)  He does not tell them to “Go try to make disciples” or “When it is convenient, make disciples.”  There is an expectation placed on Christ’s followers, and results aren’t just hoped for; they are expected.

So what about when this doesn’t happen?  What happens when Christians just let these commands slide, when they become unfocused and forget that they are on this planet for a reason?

I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.  For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.  -Rev 3:15-17

I think sometimes we try to convince ourselves that this statement doesn’t have as strong a command attached as it actually does.  These “Christians” are simply lukewarm…not hot, not cold, just sort of a comfortable medium.  They think things are going well; they have what they need for life, they are comfortable and happy.  God says they are “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”  I sure don’t want God to describe me like that!  I don’t ever want quote marks to be used when I am labeled “Christian.”  I don’t think “Christians” get to go to the same place when they die that Christians go to (see Matt7:21-23).

As Christians, we need to be driven.  Our lives should have a trajectory, we should be accomplishing something for the Kingdom of God, and there should be a purpose to what we do.  I do not mean that we should be meeting some sort of quota or that a specific set of measurable accomplishments must be met.  I do mean we should have an expectation that God is going to use us to bring Him glory and to point others in this world towards Him.  Our jobs, our hobbies, and our friendships should all be purposely used to bring glory to God.  We don’t work just to make money; we use the opportunity to share Christ with our coworkers.  Our hobbies aren’t just to waste extra time, they are to honor God with the gifts and opportunities He has given us, to enjoy His creation, and to share experiences with others.  Our friendships are not centered on what we can get from others, but on the love that we can share with those whom we come into contact, all because of the absolutely incredible love that God and poured out onto us.  We see this purpose in our lives, and we go for it, not as a nice opportunity but as a reason for our being – bringing glory to God through the life that He has given each of us.

There is a classic Monty Python sketch where a group of less-than-intelligent men are lined up for a race.  As the starting pistol fires and the race starts, one of the runners takes off to the far right, two others start spinning around, and the remaining runners awkwardly run in the general direction that they are supposed to be going, while the first runner crosses their path, still running in the wrong direction.  Do you ever get the sense that this is how we are pursuing Christ?  As silly as this may seem, we do get sidetracked and forget that we are running a race towards a goal.  That is why Paul reminds us to “run that you may obtain [the prize].” (1 Cor9:24)  It is for this reason that we have been created.  This is why we are have been put in this place at this time.  Are you driven?