What Does it Really Mean to Be a Radical Follower of Jesus?

In Faithlife today is being discussed what it rally means to be "a Radical Follower of Jesus".

Do you feel that your life is pleasing to God—almost? When you hear about pastors, missionaries, and popular speakers, do you feel just a bit second-class, as if your life appears lukewarm and not as radical as theirs?

You’re not alone. A vague sense of guilt is common in the church. We know God’s grace is the key to eternal life, but it’s so much more than that—it’s the key to a joy-filled walk with Him every moment. Josh Kelley shows why you don’t have to give away everything you own to be a fully committed follower of Jesus Christ.


What is Jesus worth to you? It’s easy for American Christians to forget how Jesus said his followers would actually live, what their new lifestyle would actually look like. They would, he said, leave behind security, money, convenience, even family for him. They would abandon everything for the gospel. They would take up their crosses daily . . . but who do you know who lives like that? Do you?

In Radical, David Platt challenges you to consider with an open heart how we have manipulated the gospel to fit our cultural preferences. He shows what Jesus actually said about being his disciple—then invites you to believe and obey what you have heard. And he tells the dramatic story of what is happening as a “successful” suburban church decides to get serious about the gospel according to Jesus.

Finally, he urges you to join in The Radical Experiment—a one-year journey in authentic discipleship that will transform how you live in a world that desperately needs the Good News Jesus came to bring.

Start appreciating life’s small moments

Our obsession with bigger and faster is spinning us out of control. We move through the week breathless and bustling, just trying to keep up while longing to slow down. But real life happens in the small moments, the kind we find on Tuesday, the most ordinary day of the week. Tuesday carries moments we want to hold onto—as well as ones we’d rather leave behind. It hold secrets we can’t see in a hurry–secrets not just for our schedules but for our souls. It offers us a simple bench on which to sit, observe, and share our stories.

For those being pulled under by the strong current of expectation, comparison, and hurry, relief is found more in our small moments than in our fast movements. In Simply Tuesday, Emily P. Freeman helps readers

· stop dreading small beginnings and embrace today’s work
· find contentment in the now–even when the now is frustrating or discouraging
· replace competition with compassion
· learn to breathe in a breathless world

Jesus lived small moments well, slow moments fully, and all moments free. He lives with us still, on all our ordinary days, creating and redeeming the world both in us and through us, one small moment at a time. It’s time to take back Tuesday, to release our obsession with building a life, and believe in the life Christ is building in us—every day.

How is it that Christ pleased God so perfectly?

Why was God so happy with His son?

It is because Jesus was the ultimate example of the faith God calls us to in Hebrews 11. Jesus’ faith in God was so strong that he was willing to give over his entire life in complete trust to his Father. Jesus states,

    “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life.” (John 10:17)

Jesus understood what it meant to have complete faith in God. As a result he spent his life sacrificing his own will to the will of his father.

Most crucially, Jesus had faith enough to submit to God’s command that he give up his life on the cross. Jesus had the faith to believe God could raise him up again from the dead and that God would reward him for his faithfulness. He said,

    “I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.” (Acts 2: 25 – 28, quoting Psalm 16:8-11)

God calls us to follow Jesus’ example. The Bible tells us,

    Be imitators of God therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

    Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)

In order to please God, we need to sacrifice our own lives to God just as Christ did. And how do we live our lives as a sacrifice like Christ did for us?
We need to sacrifice our own will to the will of God. We need to stop thinking of what is best for us and think instead of fulfilling God’s larger purpose with the Earth. Jesus’ faithful life of service and willing crucifixion are the perfect living examples of the faith God is calling us to have. It isn’t until we give ourselves fully to God, rather than our own selfish desires, that we will begin to understand what it is God wants from us.

But it wasn’t just in Jesus’ death on the piece of wood that he sacrificed his life to God. Jesus’ entire life was an act of sacrifice. He spent his days caring for others and teaching them God’s word. He put the needs of everyone else above his own. His entire life was an act of faith in God as he exchanged his own will and desires for those of his Father.

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Hoe heeft Jezus zulk een plezier voor God gedaan

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2013 update + 2016 update:

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• The Finished Work of Christ
• The Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
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• 30 Days Of Faith (Day 18)
• Prophesying To Your Children
• Martyria - Exaudi Sermon 2013
• No Fear
• Rooted in Love
• Brokenness Aside

Belief of the things that God has promised

Faith

"The first step along the way of life, ... , is belief of the things that God has promised. This is enjoined by Jesus when he gave his last commission to the apostles: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be condemned " (Mark 16:15, 16). "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Matt. 28:18-20). When men are so "taught" by the word of God, they manifest faith in the things He has promised. Without this faith men are not well pleasing to God (Heb. 11:6). In support of their teaching the Apostles turn to the Old Testament to find in Abraham an outstanding illustration of the way to secure God's approval. "Abraham believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6). The whole of the fourth chapter of Romans is devoted to unfolding the implication of this statement; and at the end of the chapter Paul declares that it was "not written for Abraham's sake alone, but for us also, to whom righteousness shall be imputed, if we believe on God" (Rom. 4:23, 24). "The gospel is the power of God unto salvation", but it is ineffective unless it is believed; so Paul adds "to everyone that believeth" (Rom. 1:16)

In Acts, Chapter 10, we read of a centurion, Cornelius, described as a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, devoted to almsgiving and to prayer, who was told by the angel of God to send men to Joppa for Peter: "he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do" (Acts 10:6). As we think of the exemplary character of the man, judged by human standards, we might wonder what he lacked to be approved of God. His devoutness and goodness in themselves were evidently not sufficient. The phrase, "What thou oughtest to do", has the authoritative ring of a divine imperative. With the angel's assurance that he "shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved" (11:14). Cornelius accordingly sent for Peter. When Peter arrived, Cornelius informed him: "We are all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God" (10:33). Peter then recounted the work of Jesus, showed that it was witnessed by the writings of the goodness and declared that "whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins" (verse 43).

When a person "believes" or has "faith" in the Bible sense, he is fully persuaded of the truth of those things which are taught in the Scriptures. Belief is based on knowledge -- in the absence of knowledge there is no true faith: and Paul makes the emphatic declaration, truly reasonable when all the facts are considered, that without faith it is impossible to please God; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Heb. 11:6). To believe He is "a rewarder" presupposes an understanding of those "exceeding great and precious promises by which we might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Peter 1:4). "Ye are saved by grace through faith" (Eph. 2:8); for, in the words of both Old and New Testaments, "the just shall live by faith"."

- John Carter
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God's Way
Chapter 10
The Way of Life
Part I - God's Conditions

Dutch translation / Nederlandse vertaling > Overtuiging voor de dingen die God beloofde