From my experience, Christians are often like teenagers who go to high school but get their diploma first and then receive the education.  In other words, many believers initially declare themselves such due to some euphoric moment in a particular worship service or being swooned by some charismatic person in a moment of feeling lost and worthless or being swept up in promises of future happiness beyond measure.  Often such experiences begin one’s faith journey and precede the full understanding of it, especially the ultimate sacrifices following the Way of Jesus will call upon one to make. It’s as if we declare ourselves “believers” first before we know exactly what it is we’re supposed to believe—and do about it.  We get the diploma and then go to school and find out what the diploma—i.e., our “commitment to Jesus”—really stands for.  And it ain’t a pretty sight.

No, this guy we claim to believe in and swear to follow left his family and friends high and dry to hitchhike around the country, a vagrant hippie depending on handouts from others, proclaiming a message the established and comfortable culture from which he came found most disagreeable.  When his family actually comes to meet up with him on the road, he denies them by saying, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” excepting his disciples.  Here is a guy who, when a faith-filled man ready to walk the road with him asks first to be able to bury his just-deceased father, replies, “Let the dead bury their own dead.”  Meanwhile this “Savior” has plenty of negative things to say about my big subdivision four-bedroom house, my big car with big tires, my big appetite for burgers and fries, and my skipping worship when the weather is nice when I wouldn’t dare miss American Idol or Nascar.

A lot of us get tricked into Christianity.  We ought to get the schooling first: the years of supervised Bible study, the hours of supervised prayer practice, the accounts of supervised sacrificial acts and offerings, the records of supervised worship experiences, and after all that, get asked the question—Is this what you had in mind?  Is being a Christian what you really want?  If not, that’s ok.  But if you do want to claim Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, if you do want to graduate, get the diploma that says you’re licensed to practice and claim the title “Christian, open for business,” this is what it will cost you.  Let us not ever make the mistake of saying “Nobody told me so.”

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him;

but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem.

When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’

But he turned and rebuked them.

Then they went on to another village.

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’

And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’

To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’

But Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’

Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’

Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’

 

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.

For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’

If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.

For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.