I get a kick out of bumper stickers. Whenever I see an interesting one I always take a glance at the person who is driving the car. I want to get a glimpse of the person who would drive around with a crazy bumper sticker. I’m sure I am not the only one who has ever done that!
Here are a few bumper stickers that I have seen or heard about over the years that always make me laugh:
- What If The Hokey Pokey Is What It’s All About?
- Driver Carries No Cash — He’s Married!
- I’m Retired — Go Around Me!
- Normal People Scare Me!
- Save Our Planet — It’s The Only One With Chocolate!
- I Get Along With God Just Fine; It’s His Fan Clubs I Can’t Stand!
- Do You Follow Jesus This Close? (for the English teachers, it should read “closely”)
That last one is a good one. It’s funny but like all good humor there is an element of truth to it. From time to time we need to examine how closely we are following Jesus. We talk a big game about Jesus. We ask, “What would Jesus do?” We want to be like Christ. We claim to be followers of Christ but how closely are we following him and what does it mean to follow him?
Mark’s account of the Transfiguration is a good example of how misguided we can sometimes be about following Jesus. Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a mountain for a spiritual retreat. Jesus started to glow and Elijah and Moses appeared to them. Peter thought it would be a good idea for all of them to stay up on that mountain and he even offered to help build a house for all of them. It’s kind of funny when you think about it. Peter must have thought it was cool to be up there with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Why not stay there forever and not deal with the realities of life? What Peter did not realize was that the special moment on that mountain was not about escaping the world on a retreat; it was about God confirming once again that Jesus was his Son and he would die and then rise from the dead. As they followed Jesus back down that mountain he tried to tell them, but they still did not understand. They did not understand that they were following a man who would die and then live again and if they were serious about following him, they would have to die too.
Following Jesus is the greatest thing in the world but it is also the hardest thing in the world to do. Following Jesus is more than showing up to worship one hour a week. Following Jesus is more than throwing money in the plate every once in a while. Following Jesus is more than reading the Bible occasionally. Following Jesus is more than letting someone in front of you in traffic. Most people don’t realize that when Christ calls people he calls them to come and die. What many don’t understand is that to experience the abundant life in Christ, we have to take up a cross and die.
Jesus was clear about this from the very beginning. Huge crowds followed Jesus wherever he went. There was this certain energy about him. More than likely, he had charisma. He had a way with words. He performed miracles. He challenged people in authority. He loved everyone, especially the left out, thrown out, and the down and out. Who wouldn’t love a guy like that?
One day Jesus looked over a huge crowd that was following him and he wondered if they really knew what it meant to follow him. Then with no regard for what is taught in a Dale Carnegie course on “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” Jesus spoke some of the hardest words we find any-where in the gospels. He said, “Do you really want to follow me? Consider what it is going to cost you. You must give up everything that is dearest to you, take up a cross, and follow me. Unless you do that, you cannot be my disciples.”
That is not what the crowd wanted to hear. They thought this magnetic man was on his way to his own empire. They hoped that if they followed him they would share in his power and glory. What they did not realize was that when Jesus said these words he was on his way to Jerusalem — to the cross, and to follow him meant you were also willing to take up a cross. The Bible does not mention it one way or the other but I imagine that after Jesus spoke these words most people in the crowd fell back from Jesus, disappointed and dejected.
I suspect that most of us are like that crowd. Most of-ten we follow Jesus from a distance. We seek Jesus for the perks and benefits. We want to be on the hopeful side of things. We want to have good morals and values. We want to have someone we can pray to when we need help or need a miracle. We want our eternal salvation to be secure. To be sure, there is nothing wrong with any of these things, but we are not always prepared to follow Jesus closely because we know it will cost us.
The truth is that important, sacred, and virtuous things in life have a cost. The glowing bride and excited groom stand before me at the altar. The bride is thinking, “Oh, this is the man of my dreams. He is going to bring me flowers every day. He is going to know what I am thinking and know exactly what to say. He is going to hang on my every word and always be patient with me. He will always just want to cuddle. He is going to rub my feet whenever I ask and surprise me with breakfast in bed.” The groom is thinking, “Oh, this is the woman of my dreams. She is always going to look this young and beautiful. She will always meet my needs. She will always greet me when I get home with a wink, my favorite meal next to my lazy boy, and ESPN on the television. She will always tell me how strong, brilliant, and gifted I am. And she will never nag me.”
As the bride and groom are having these thoughts they are paying no attention to me when I say, “Marriage is not to be entered unto unadvisedly, but reverently, discreetly, and in the fear of God.” The bride and groom are not really paying attention when I ask them to repeat the words, “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health.” Then, sooner or later, one of them disappoints the other by not living up to expectations and real marriage begins. One of them gets sick or one of them becomes difficult to live with and real love and commitment begin. Acceptance, forgiveness, and mutual understanding are born.
Perhaps the couple dreams about having children. They think about little people that look just like them. They think of giggles and bubble gum breath. They think of Christmas, ball games, and ballet classes. They think of their need of being needed. Then children come and they are definitely needed, and the real sacrifice of parenthood is required. They get up in the middle of the night with a crying baby. They lose sleep. Their children develop minds of their own, talk back, and rebel. Their children stay out all night and worry mom and dad sick. Shallow illusions die and real love is born.
All the important things in life cost us. We should not be surprised to find that when the most important person who ever lived spoke about the most important thing we could ever do, he said that sacrifice is required, a cross is required, and death is required. Why? Jesus put it poignantly, “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).
What did Jesus mean by that? What did Jesus mean by all this death business? One of the best illustrations of this for me is seen through an experience of one of my closest friends. His name is Allen Johnson and he is a United Methodist minister. He is also married to a minister. However, there was a time when Allen had other plans for his life. He thought of being a vet. He thought of the kind of woman he would marry, the kind of money he would make, and the kind of life he would lead. None of these thoughts ever included being a pastor or being married to one either!
Allen’s life took a different path than he had anticipated. He gave up his plans to be a vet. He gave up his ideas on the money he wanted to make and the lifestyle he would have, and he became a pastor. You would think that would be the end of the story, right? You would think that he made a good decision and was happy and fulfilled, right? Allen felt the cost of his decision one day. He was serving his second appointment as chaplain of Florida Southern College. He was walking around a lake one day and said to himself, “I am in my mid-thirties. I didn’t go to vet school. I am not married. I am not making any money. Here I am, a chaplain of this school — a pastor. I am listening to kids complain about life.” Then Allen, who is not one to go on about such experiences, said that he felt God speak to him in that moment. Do you know what Allen felt God say to him? After all his complaining about all the things he had given up, Allen said he heard God say, “Allen, now we can get started.”
Jesus said, “If a grain of wheat does not fall on the ground and die, it will not bear fruit.” Jesus said, “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
You see, real life begins when we die to ourselves — when we die to control — when we die to our selfish desires and trivial plans. Real life in Christ begins when we surrender our ego, our pride, and our stubbornness. God can get started on us when we come to the place where we are free from the bondage of trite preoccupations and recognize that our only need is God. This is what it means to die.
There are many who never accept this. This is why there are people who have been Christians all their lives who are never spiritually fulfilled. This is why there are Christians who never grow in their faith. They have never made the decision to be a disciple. Until you become a disciple you will never experience the abundant life. Until you carry a cross and die you can never really live.
If we want God to use us, we must make ourselves avail-able, empty our lives of the things that have become more important than God and allow God to cleanse us and renew us. We must come to the place where we pray, “God, I am tired of doing things on my own. I am tired of thinking I know what is best. I am tired of doing the same things expecting to get different results. I want you to take over my life. I hand all of it over to you. I let go of the things that I have made more important than you and ask you to fill me up. Use me!” If that is your honest prayer, God will move like a tidal wave in your life!
I recall doing a hospital call while I was in seminary that reminded me of the spiritual death that is required of all disciples. I had just started seminary and was visiting patients with a supervisor who was rather unorthodox. He had a way of getting to the truth of things without being abrasive, which is good if you are making your living as a chaplain! We were visiting a patient who was recovering from a drug overdose. The patient was a prominent man in the community. He said to my supervisor, “I have lost everything — my job, my reputation, my livelihood… I have lost it all. This is the end for me.” My supervisor responded, “Oh, that’s interesting because I see this as just the beginning.” The patient responded, “What do you mean, the beginning?” My supervisor said, “Well, you said you have lost everything? Everything?” The patient said, “Yes, everything that really mattered to me.” My supervisor replied, “Well, that means God has you all to himself. Just think what he can do with you now.”
Come and die. Your life is waiting. Amen.