A LIFE WITHOUT MEASURE

“For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:19-21

I’ve been thinking a lot about the cost of living. And I’m not talking about the soaring price of petrol and having to take out a mortgage on a carton of eggs. As Christian persecution rises on the earth, I wonder if the West is as ready for its imminent arrival on our doorstep, as much as we seek to ready our assets for an impending economic meltdown.

I was on a video call early this year with a man who works with the persecuted church in Iran. He told us many stories that were just as sobering as they were inspiring, but towards the end of the call…he said something that I have thought of every single day since. 

He said “Every day, when they leave their homes, these people face the threat of being beaten, arrested or even killed for their faith in Christ…and they don’t know which one that might be. But before they walk out that door, they must ask themselves the question...’whatever the price, is Jesus worth it today?’ Now, you and I in the West don’t have to ask ourselves that question…but we should.” 

The weight of those words both convicted me and crushed me at the same time. 

The truth is, the places where the Church is most truly flourishing and multiplying are in the very places where people don’t get a choice as to what price they will pay for their allegiance to Christ…they don’t get a choice to wear some insults or punches but take a hall pass on imprisonment and death. There is only a YES or NO answer. …not a question of how much that YES will weigh. These people do not give their lives to Jesus in measure. They have already decided He is worth it all.

What we see in the persecuted Church today is blatantly reminiscent of the accounts in Acts 5….the apostles moving in signs, wonders and miracles…multitudes healed and delivered…all upon a canvas of prison bars, beatings and raging plots to kill them. These things co-existed because these people had entered into a life that was not their own. They had left their life of flesh behind like the abandoned fishing boats Jesus had called so many of them from. And they went on their way, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.

I wonder if we too could rejoice in such things, what realities of heaven we might see in our midst? What might happen if our ‘yes’ wasn’t so carefully measured out  …If we didn’t hang our Christianity on a scale and pursue balance like it was the fourth member of the Trinity.

The Bible says those who belong to Jesus have crucified the flesh. Not suppressed it, not balanced it out ….CRUCIFIED. You can’t be half crucified. Yes, crucifixion is a slow and gradual death, but it is a complete one.

I’m not saying that the total measure of our YES looks the same for everyone. When people challenge me about my life of obedience being extreme …even a little ridiculous ( though it seems unhinged to call my sacrifice of comforts “extreme” compared to those who have shed their blood) … I often point to the intimate conversation that Peter had with the resurrected Christ.  Jesus explained to Peter the cost that he would one day pay for following Him…that he would have to give his life for it. Peter’s response was to point to his mate John, and ask “Well, what about him?” to which Jesus essentially replied that it was none of his business what he might ask of another…he simply looked Peter in the eyes and repeated once again….”FOLLOW ME”. 

The truth is, like Peter,  I won’t answer to Jesus for what he asked of anyone else, but to what He has asked of me. That, is the measure of my life. And like Peter, when I have sat face to face in secret, lovingly restored by the very one I betrayed…I simply have no desire to deny Him again.  When people call my life extreme…I remind them that the cross was extreme, and it is the cross I am called to.  It’s the cross we are all called to, and following Jesus will cost us everything. That everything will look different for each of us…but there is only one measure.. and only one answer. 

Am I saying that everyone has to give up their job and possessions? No. Am I saying you will have to die physically? No.  But are you willing to give up your comfort? Are you willing to worship Him when it costs more than you would like to pay.  When the price is different to those around you? Are you yielded? That whatever He would ask, or whatever may be placed upon you for His name’s sake …is your answer already the decided YES you gave on the altar? Because that is the devoted bride he is coming back for.

Jesus made it plain and clear that the cost of living was dying. He never sold us another story. But the price you might have to pay tomorrow, doesn’t weigh so much when you are already dead. And I guess that’s what splits the difference between many of us and our persecuted brothers and sisters. They have already died to themselves in this life. They have already made their decision…and each and everyday they choose it again…while many of us still have that question sitting in tension on the scales.

How can we attain to the full measure of the stature of Christ who gave everything, and surrender only part of ourselves? This is the divided worship which Elijah confronted on the mountain ….He was there to draw a line on Lordship…to explain to people that this wasn’t a buffet…you can only have 1 deity…and if Yahweh be God - then you must follow Him wholeheartedly. All throughout scripture, The Lord reaffirms his desire to have all of us…no mixture…hot or cold was never about temperature it was about purity.

Because in purity there is potency.

See that’s the good news…(Yes, I know you were waiting for it after all that talk of death) that the life we enter into through this death of self, is not just any life...it’s His. It’s impenetrable and indestructible. It can’t be imprisoned by walls or bars, it can’t be killed with weapons crafted by the worst of humanity nor the bowels of hell. It is peace beyond comprehension, unreasonable joy and unshakable faith….and it is eternal. There is no scale for the infinite. There is no balance. There is no glass half full …there is only ‘my cup runneth over”.  This is the life He came to throw open the door to. This is the great supply of the Spirit of Jesus

I don’t do what I do to earn this abundant life, I do it because He asked.  But as I obey Him without letting my preference set the price…. I find myself entering in to this great supply more and more. Sacrifice for an outcome is religion…it places the demand on our actions…. actions that will never measure up. Jesus tipped the scales before I ever placed my life in the balance. He gave me the keys to the house long before I ever ran home. My cup is only full because  He drank from the one I couldn’t. Anything I can give up, will never outweigh His immeasurable love and mercy. He gave His life without measure, so I could have a life beyond it.

Jesus confronted the pharisees for shutting up the Kingdom in people’s faces because they themselves refused to enter. How can we stand with one foot on either side of the threshold and usher people into a Kingdom we ourselves have not stepped into, welcome them in to a place we do not abide. And yet that is what we so often do in Western Christianity….telling both mountains and people to bow to the same word we refuse to bend to, and calling it faith.

To be completely raw with you…the more I give up, the more I am confronted by how many idols I still have in my heart, how many comforts I still cling to. It’s when you start cleaning out your basement, you realise the hoarder you truly are. And like David, I find myself praying so often  “Lord, give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.” I am simply determined that my YES would be total.. that it would be given without division or measure.

The abundant life is discovered by the one who is not threatened by death. Such is the resurrection life. As Paul wrote “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  The more I put this fleshly life to death, I enter into a life without limits by the same spirit given to Christ without measure. And it is a life worth dying for. Stephen gazed into heaven as they stoned him and saw the glory of God. Maybe if we keep our gaze on heaven and not on the price tag of our discipleship, we will see it too.

Your YES will look different to mine. We cannot compare the 80 years of Noah building a boat in the absence of rain, to Moses’ decades in the desert. All that mattered was that the Lord asked…and they let their YES be one not without hesitation, but without limit. And it brought about deliverance, not only for them, but for their generation.

Let’s give our lives to Him without measure….not without thought or intention - count the cost, feel the weight, clean the basement of your life from preference and excess, and simply ask the question …”no matter the price… is Jesus worth it today?”