Are you Radical or Nominal? (Part 3)

A genuine disciple is known by his or her zeal for what they are convicted about. Look at disciples of fundamentalist Muslims and extremist Hindus who are willing to fight and go all the way to entrench their beliefs in any location they stake a claim to, even at the risk of their lives. Proponents of the LGBTQ agenda and Pro-choice abortionists publicly declare their stance on the matters at hand while Christians cower in fear. Have you watched the fans who paint their faces and scream themselves hoarse at soccer games while cheering on their favourite teams? What about environmentalists who spend endless dollars campaigning to cut down carbon emission, protect trees and preserve animals that are threatened by extinction? What zeal for their cause!

Where’s the zeal for the cause of Christ?

Do we not have radical disciples who care not for their own lives but pour it out for the sake of that glorious name – JESUS?

Where are the young men and women who will not hold tightly to their college degrees but gladly surrender personal ambitions in order to advance gospel where Christ is not known? Why is it so hard to find willing missionaries among today’s youth? Could it be that the gospel they have received it skewed to produce self-serving believers who profess faith in Christ but have no intention to go all the way with Him?

We have to make up our minds to be like Christ and raise up people who resemble Him. He alone is the pattern of discipleship. If we avoid putting in ALL the ingredients that Jesus used in discipleship (including the ones that seem rough and hard) we will produce a product that doesn’t resemble what Jesus intended. That would be a wasted life poured on an agenda that is self-sponsored and temporal: made of substance that will not endure eternity.

One of the biggest enemies of discipleship is culture. This is because we have elevated culture above Kingdom lifestyle causing us to water down the demands of the kingdom so that they can fit in to the culture. We tend to be mindful of culture and want to create a balance between culture and Kingdom while the truth is that Jesus never taught anything about balance. Christ Himself was obedient not balanced. The priority of a believer should be the kingdom and righteousness not balance. There is no way a believer in the kingdom can be balanced i.e. advancing the kingdom yet not being offensive to the systems of this world. Those who seek balance yet are in the Kingdom, soon compromise.

God will not tolerate luke-warmness. That means we can’t make excuse for it. How can the same Spirit that was operating in Christ be the same Spirit that is operating in luke-warm believers? The ultimate end of such believers will be to be cut off from the vine that is Christ. However, God is not asking us to do what He can’t do through us. It is Him that is at work in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13) and it is His pleasure to have willing and radical people whose lives are not dear to themselves. He desires to produce such kind of people through you and me.

Let us run our race with wisdom and perseverance because time is limited.

Mark Kolo serves as International Team Leader for Global Activation, a mission organization committed to mobilizing Kingdom change agents and catalyzing Disciple Making Movements