It was said of the people who murdered the first Christian martyr that "when they heard [what he was saying], they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth." (Acts 7:54) What a picture of madness! And it is the same picture that we see in friends and relatives as well as in the general public today.
The only way that we can have some measure of friendly conversation with most of these people is to remain silent about the teachings of Jesus. They will go to any lengths to escape meaningful thought or conversation about the demands that Jesus makes of his followers.
Everywhere we find people engaged in almost any topic or activity that will numb their conscience to the fact that they are running away from the truth about life. The saddest thing is that what they are running away from is not all the horror that they imagine. All that Jesus taught is aimed at making our lives meaningful, happy, exciting, and worthwhile.
What draws us together as a fellowship is simply that here is one little corner of the world where we can talk openly about the teachings of Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. We cannot do this in any religious environment we know of anywhere in the world today.
We have friends who continue to maintain contact with churches. But they never invite us to attend with them. Some are honest enough to ask us frankly to stay away from their church or their church friends, or to hide the fact that we are associated with them.
Why?
Because church today has become one monstrous cover-up for seared consciences... closed minds to all that Jesus taught. The church is full of people with fingers in their ears, pretending that they cannot hear what we and Jesus are saying. And it is only a matter of time before their madness drives them to become murderers too.
Any time we do or say something that brings them too close to the uncomfortable truths that they seek to escape, their brains shut down. They change the subject, walk away, or burst into irrational ravings. Yet all they need do is to humble themselves before God and yield to the teachings of his Son.
Many of you who are reading this right now fall into this category. You praise his name but fight his teachings. You may have been able to plead ignorance at some time in the past. But now you know. What are you doing with what you know? You will have all of eternity to lament the fact that you were ashamed of the teachings of Jesus... ashamed of those who have taken those teachings seriously... and afraid to put those teaching into practice in your own life.
But if you would stop your fighting and fall on this Rock... if you would let his teachings break you, you could end this madness and come into God's glorious light. You could discover sanity in an insane world, peace in the midst of the world's confusion.
Sure, Jesus asks you to forsake everything that you own for him, to go into all the world preaching the gospel, to lay down your life in love for others. And yes, in our flesh this is often difficult to do. But he offers his grace to all who will at least try. It is your trying that shows your faith. And it is your faith that makes God's grace available: grace to forgive you when you fall short, but also grace to enable you to do things you never thought were possible.
One day you are going to die. At that time you are going to lose all that Jesus has asked you to turn loose of now. All of your clutching will cease then. But there will be no reward for such a death. God asks you to die now, in advance, by forsaking it all willingly before death takes it from you. Why not make a decision now, to give what you cannot keep, in order to gain what you cannot lose?
Please, for the sake of your own soul, won't you stop fighting Jesus, and give him total control of your life? Everywhere are people who have rejected the teachings of Jesus. But all who will receive him will receive the power to become God's children. (John 1:12) Please stop resisting him, and receive him into your life today.
(See also Accept Jesus!.)
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