“Then said Jesus unto [H]is disciples, If any man will come after [M]e, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow [M]e.”  (Matthew 16)

 

What part of the above directive from our/your Lord sounds comfortable? The answer is obvious, there is no part of Christ’s directive, instruction, command, or demand that is comfortable. The terms and conditions of following Christ, ie. Salvation are not comfortable.

I am about to begin reading a book (DV) called “Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Chritian Community” by Brett McCracken. I am not recommending this book as I have not read it yet but if it meets with my expectation I would recommend it. Some of the contents include, Embrace the Discomfort, The Uncomfortable Cross, Uncomfortable Comforter, Uncomfortable Worship, Uncomfortable Authority, and Uncomfortable Commitment. These are only some of the contents and not all.

I am choosing to write on the topic of the uncomfortable Christ-ian life now and before I read this book so that I am not influenced by said book and am not ever charged with plagiarism. Never preaching another man’s book is a preaching standard I hold as I have seen and heard many a sermon based solely on a human authored book.

To use a human authored book as one’s message is to deny the Holy Spirit and the gift of preaching God has given. To preach another man’s book is to be a lazy preacher and a fraud unless credit is given to the author of the book turned sermon. Having said that, Let me say this, everything one reads becomes a part of one’s self. With that being said much of what one preaches has been taught to him. The preacher has been taught by man at a school, by man through books, and the fortunate man is taught by God Himself, through the Bible and books of men and books recommended by authors either outright or by quoting these men in their books. This is different from using another man’s book as one’s sermon.

To be sure, preaching is a high calling. No preacher who is called by God would exchange his calling for a higher paying job in the world or easier job in the world. This doesn’t happen. The preacher and his life is defined by God’s calling.

We know a preacher who, one day took (50) fifty years of sermon notes, and burned them all up. He did so because he found himself relying on the notes and not God.

This writer preaches in a style called expositional and extemporaneous. This means we preach Scripture line by line and notes are not used. We use no notes save a few Scriptural references. We do not preach the same message/sermon twice. We do not write out our sermons/messages. We are not boasting; we are showing Scripture to be inexhaustable, we are showing that a man must be gifted by God if man is to preach.

The above was uncomfortable to write but in order to give God Glory we wrote what we wrote and you can think of us as you will. God knows my heart.

Methinks we have gone off track, forgive me.

The life of the Christ-ian should be uncomfortable or rather must be uncomfortable if the Christ-ian life is being lived right. The Christ-ian must not be comfortable in this world that has (s)atan as it’s god.

What do I mean by uncomfortable? By uncomfortable we mean, the Christ-ian is not comfortable with the ways of the world, ie. with one’s own sin and the sins of others. The Christ-ian should not be comfortable with dirty words, with dirty movies, with dirty living. The Christ-ian should not be comfortable in the presence of another person’s sin. The Christ-ian should not be comfortable with others using the Lord’s Name as a curse word.

HOWEVER……………………..The Christ-ian is comforted in this uncomfortable world. It is a great paradox, the Christ-ian can be comforted by the uncomfort they feel in this world. Our discomfort speaks to a better more comfortable place.

C.S. Lewis put it this way [paraphrasing]… a fish does not think about flying like a bird, this is because the fish is where it belongs. But we humans dream and fantasizes about better places, this is because, we are meant for a better place…this better place is Heaven and one can enter Only through Christ.

In some Christ-ian camps or circles if you will, they define worldliness with certain unBiblical standards. This writer defines worldliness or rather Unworldliness as not being comfortable in this “whole world that lies in wickedness” and not loving this “present evil world.” But this writer also believes that Christ-ians should take full advantage of what this world offers, except sin. The Christ-ian should use the world’s systems to their benefit and to God’s Glory. On the other hand, the Christ-ian must not be used by the world to dishonour God.