Jesus Did Not Die the Cross to Protect Your Lifestyle!

I think it's time to name an elephant in the evangelical Christian world.  And I do so recognizing that I am the first one guilty of what I am about to identify.  Many who would seek to be followers of Jesus want to do so without making a single dent in our lifestyle.  We want to enjoy the same pleasures, have access to the same amount of money, pursue the same recreation and leisure, stockpile the same amount of stuff, and have the same amount of control over what pleases us personally and what does not.  We want Jesus to put His stamp of approval on this so that we can see it all as the "blessings" he wants us to have.   It's like we believe that Jesus died on a cross to protect our lifestyles.

In contrast to this, I offer the words of the prophet Rick Warren.  Yes, I intentionally typed "prophet". A prophet is one who humbly speaks on behalf of God, whether it is popular or not.  And, yes, I know all the stuff flying around about the lead and founding pastor of Saddleback Church.  I know all the rumblings about Rick inviting BOTH presidential candidates to interviews at Saddleback.  I know the ugly innuendos and judgmental comments that floated around following the tragic, self-inflicted death of his son.  And I know the ridiculous urban cyber-myth about Rick promoting the Koran.
All of that aside, Rick is a man after God's own heart.  He is on fire about winning people to Jesus and building strong discipleship in a way about which most of us haven't thought.  Thousands walk with Christ because of his leadership and his writing.  Able to live like billionaire if he chose to, he instead chooses to leverage that considerable financial power for the Kingdom.  Rick Warren walks the walk, period.

Rick writes this in a foreword to Jon Walker's book, COSTLY GRACE: A Contemporary View of Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship.  "Sadly, millions of Christians are confused about what it means to surrender to Jesus and so they go on living their lives without ever changing the way they live.  The 'cheap grace' Bonhoeffer describes...has so deeply saturated our congregations that, despite our evangelical theology, the idea of surrender is as unpopular and misunderstood as the idea of submission.  Surrender implies losing, and no one wants to be a loser. Yet Jesus says we must be losers, losing our lives in order to find life in him.  (Matthew 16:25-28)"

Jesus did not die on the cross to preserve my standard of living.  He died to save me and to transform me, and that will mean living differently than I would otherwise.  I can serve Him or my lifestyle, not both.  That's it.  I'll see you around the next bend in the river.