Many of us have done a disservice to Jesus Christ.

Not only do we tame and soften Him, we also understand His message to be addressed primarily to our needs of comfort, safety and convenience. We have been telling people that if they come to Jesus they will live a safe and comfortable life: “He’ll be your rock and fortress, and He’ll protect you from the dangers around you.” Some even insist that Jesus wants nothing more than to heal you, bless you financially and make your life carefree.

Jesus does heal, of course, and bless us financially. But that is not even close to what it means to follow Jesus. If you follow Jesus, you follow the most radical man who ever existed. He marches into the world with kindness, peace and love, and offers people a whole new way of looking at the world and living within it. He turns everything upside down and calls us to do likewise. Jesus is not vitally committed to our comfort and safety; He is committed to the advancing of His kingdom revolution in the hearts of people everywhere.

In talking about what His kingdom is like, Jesus announced, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.” (Matt. 11:12 NIV) In other words, God is doing something so powerful and dangerous that only those who are willing to embrace it with violent intensity may take hold of it.

The revolution of Jesus isn’t for the faint of heart or the middleof-the-road. It isn’t safe. It isn’t comfortable. It costs us a great deal to say yes.

RISK MANAGEMENT
There is a church near me that promotes itself with this invitation: Biblical Principles to Maximize Your Life and Living. I’ve got nothing against biblical principles. If we all followed biblical principles, we would surely be better off. My beef with this slogan is that it does not come close to the invitation of Jesus.

If you are content with your life and comfortable in this world, then I suppose biblical principles will suffice. I guess that’s why we have so much teaching and reading of the

three-steps-to-a-better-marriage or five-principles-of-success variety. Jesus supposedly makes me a better spouse, child, friend or coworker. According to this view, He enhances my life.

But for those of us who see the darkness in our souls and the wickedness in our hearts, who feel the desperation and pain of this broken world, biblical principles aren’t enough. I don’t need enhancement; I need a new heart and a new mind. I need Jesus to invade my life and take it over. I don’t want principles or religion or piety; I want Him. I’m desperate, I’m empty, and I am not content simply to be my same old self “new and improved.” I want to be something else entirely.

What keeps us from a life of such faith is that we have become very good at assessing and minimizing risk. Our culture is all about risk management. We want to hedge our finances against future market downturns, and we have home insurance, life insurance, car insurance, fire insurance, flood insurance and earthquake insurance. Athletes and entertainers can insure parts of their bodies against injury. We have health plans to protect us when we are sick. We wear seat belts and helmets.

I see the need for most of these things, but we have become people who focus on minimizing risk everywhere we see it.  We love the illusion of danger but not the real thing. We want Jesus to be the same way: all reward, no risk. We don’t give ourselves fully to Him because we are afraid He will send us to China or ask us to become poor. We want the illusion of faith, as long as we are safe. But walking with God is not a no-risk proposition; it is one of the most dangerous things you can do. Risk is inherent in the life of faith.

We are seldom afraid of opposition that is much smaller than we are. When we keep our challenges manageable, we not only manage our fear of risk but also squelch our faith. When God calls us to something, His call invokes both faith and fear. It should. God always summons us to something bigger than ourselves. He loves waiting until all other hope has failed and our human resources are exhausted. When He calls us to battle, the opposition will always be greater than the strength we have. When the odds are in our favor, we may be tempted to give the credit to ourselves. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 4:7: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (NIV).

This is why God allowed the Israelites to be trapped between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army. This is why He asked Gideon, the weakest member of the weakest tribe, to whittle his army down from 30,000 to 300 so that God could receive the glory. This is why God sometimes allows us to get in so far over our heads that only He can save us. We are promised victory, not tranquility.

A WILD AND DANGEROUS GOD
We have a part to play in this life of risk and faith. Jesus calls us beyond our comfort level to step into obedience and watch God do great and might things. We say to God, “Show me and I’ll believe.” Instead, God says to us, “Believe, and I’ll show you.” This is the life of following Jesus Christ. God isn’t looking for a bunch of  I-should-do-this-because-that’s-what-good-Christians-do kind of people. He is looking for I-wouldn’t-miss-thisfor-the-world kind of people.

So what is the gospel? It certainly is the good news about Jesus reconciling everything to God through His sacrifice. It certainly is the joy of being forgiven and receiving a new identity. It certainly means spending forever in God’s presence.

But it most certainly does not mean a life without risk or danger. The life of faith solves many problems but introduces new (and more difficult) ones. It answers many questions but leads to many more. It forces us to trust the wild and dangerous God who cannot be boxed into our theologies, language, or experience. Far too many new followers of Jesus have had their faith shipwrecked because they were sold the lie that life with Jesus is trouble free.

This, too, is the invitation of Jesus: to abandon ourselves to Him with no hope that we’ll be able to control or manage Him. He will sustain us; the victory is ours because it is His, and yet the battle still rages. We must fight for the life He offers. Jesus doesn’t want a blind, naïve commitment from followers who expect only blessings. He was quite clear about the costs of following Him. My request is that we be just as faithful.

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Mike Erre is pastor of teaching at Rock Harbor Church, a 4,000-member congregation in Costa Mesa, California. Mike holds an M.A. in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics from Talbot

School of Theology in California. He is the proud husband of Justina Erre and father of Nathaniel Carl.