"---the serious living of this faith. I bear in my body scars from my service to Jesus." (Paul-"A Jesus is worth it" Christ Follower-from Galatians 6:17; MSG)
You and I say we are Christ followers. How serious are we about that statement? SERIOUSLY...how serious are you about Jesus, the Son of God, the Crucified and Risen Savior?
Paul was radically, "Jesus is worth it" serious about His Messiah! Today, as in his day, so many people are concerned and wrapped up in how we present ourselves on the "outside". We are so concerned about what everyone thinks about us as if they are gods. We live for the thoughts of people. We have become people pleasers. We want to be impressive. "I've got to be clean cut...tuck your shirt in...don't offend anyone...bla..bla...bla." Paul did not care about that dog manure. That's right, dog MANURE! The greek word is "skubala". Paul refered to it when he said the NIV word, "rubbish" (Philippians 3:8). He considered all things rubbish...dog excrement...skubala, in comparison to knowing Jesus and gaining Christ and being found in Him. Sorry if the word, "excrement", is too strong, too "offensive", not "user-friendly", "politically correct", "nice-boy Christianity", but we've got to start getting serious about Jesus! Christ is worth it!
I'm tired of all the "impressive" talk. I do this...I don't do that...then, on the inside of our souls, we don't pray; we don't read the Scripture; we don't share Jesus in normal conversation...we gossip and criticize...we're not "wasting" our lives on Jesus (Mark 14:1-11)...we're not Matthew 25:31-40 Christians...we skip over Luke 14:26-27... We look so "good" to society on the "outside", but on the "inside" of our homes, we don't love our wives, we neglect our children by letting them watch TV and play video games all day; forget about a family devotional time because we are "too busy" doing something obviously more important than taking care of our children's souls! We even do this on the "inside" of our church walls...which by the way, is where Christians are spending too much time...on the inside! We want to talk "impressive talk"..."We've got this many people coming on Sundays...baptism should be done by sprinkling...I don't think so, baptism should be done by dunking....we're right, you're wrong....we've got contemporary music...don't drink...don't smoke, don't dance...did you see how long his hair was...oh ma gosh....we've got to look "good" for our neighbors or people will not come...let's all be "do-gooders" and "people-pleasers...weeee!" Paul would tell us today...you guys are ridiculous! You are all concerned about looking good outwardly and not doing a darn thing about changing inwardly.
That's what he was telling the people in Galatians 6. They were all wrapped up circumsion. An "outward" mark. They didn't want to be persecuted for the Cross of Christ. Paul did. In fact, he was. Paul said, "You want an "outward" mark"; I'll give you an outward mark...I bear on my body the marks of Jesus (NIV)." Paul was so close...so identified with the Crucified One, that people beat him for it...he had the marks to show (see 2 Corinthians 11:23-29). Paul's readers would have identified these marks with slavery...slaves in the ancient world were sometimes "marked" with the insignia of their master as a sign of identification!
We may not receive marks from beatings like Paul, but have we been clinging so close to Christ that we are truly identified with Him? Are we clinging so close to Jesus, that His Crucified marks have become ours? Or are we more concerned about how nice our hair looks when we walk into our church and into our world? Paul did not care about his shirt being tucked in and freshly starched; He preached and lived to pleased God, not people, and was stoned for it. We need more preachers, more Christ followers like that today. Are we serious enough about bearing Jesus' marks, whatever that may mean for you and me...or have we put our cross' in our closets because it does not match our outfits?
Take a look at this parody...Christian or Christ Follower? You can copy and paste this address into your browser or scroll down and look under our 'Fusion' logo for the actual link for "Christian or Christ Follower?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYdD-Qc7lbY&feature=related
