John 15:4: “Abide in me, and I in
you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the Vine,
neither can you, unless you abide in me.”
“Be careful.”
An overused phrase that I’ve recently begun to wrestle with
in my own life.
I'm struggling to find Jesus telling his disciples in
conversation (if ever He says it) to “be careful.” Rather I find Him demanding
the opposite, “Take great risks for my name!”
It seems everything in my life is too easily becoming about safety
and being comfortable.
The question that I have been wrestling with this week after
reading John 15:4 is: Doesn’t bearing more fruit require greater risk? Isn’t it
that the more deeply we abide in the Vine, the more we pursue Jesus, the more
He prunes us, the more fruit we bear, the GREATER the risks we will be asked to
take?
Isn’t abiding deeply in the Vine and letting Jesus go to the
deepest and darkest places of our hearts for surgery outright dangerous? Isn’t
our relationship with Him the most beautiful, greatest, “safest”, risk we will
ever take?
Disclaimer:
I’m not saying we in any way forsake wisdom in the process
of taking risks. I am NOT saying that taking risks means to “follow your heart”
or pursue sin! I’m not saying we should be stupid and claim the name of risk
taking and Jesus.
But, I am saying that maybe this phrase “be careful” and “be
safe” needs to be reconsidered.
Consider the following from the Apostle Paul:
“And now, behold, I am going to
Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there,
except that in every city that imprisonment and affliction await me. BUT I DO
NOT COUNT MY LIFE OF ANY VALUE not as precious to myself, if only I may finish
my course…” (Acts 20:22-24)
“Five times I received at the hands
of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once
I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at
sea…danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles,
danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers…” (2
Corinthians 11)
I think Paul must have missed the memo about being careful.
“Behold, I am sending you out as
sheep in the midst of wolves, so be WISE as serpents and innocent as doves. …they
will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues…and you will
be hate by all for my name’s sake.” (Matthew 10)
Interestingly, I’m not seeing anything about being safe or
comfortable in the words of Jesus either.
If you live gladly to make others glad
in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be
full. This is not a book about how to avoid a wounded life, but how to avoid a
wasted life. Some of you will die in the service of Christ. That will not be a
tragedy. Treasuring life above Christ is a tragedy.” John Piper
A good friend of mine started telling me “Take risks Gerb.”
I wish I remembered that more often.
I need to start taking some more risks.
Some risks at loving people. With the gospel. In
sacrificing. In prayer. In worship. With my time.
And yes, my heart might get broken in the process. And the
journey will most likely NOT be safe or comfortable. In fact, there’s a very
good chance it must end just like Paul’s.
So why take risks? What’s the benefit? What’s the purpose?
John 15:8 “By this my Father is
glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
The greater risk I take in Jesus, the more of Jesus I get.
The more of Jesus I get, the more fruit I bear, and the Father is glorified.
The more fruit, the more glory, the more joy.
It’s not (as I used to struggle with thinking) Jesus
standing there saying, “Come take risks with me and I’m going to rip your guts
out and leave you dying on the road.”
No, but rather ….
“Come, come take risks with Me. Come walk and abide deeply
in Me. Let me do an incredibly painful but BEAUTIFUL work in your heart that
when all is said and done is going to be worth every second of surgery. Come,
lose yourself and find Me. Find me for all that I am. Your good shepherd, your living
water, your bread of life, your wine, the way and truth and LIFE. Come take
risks with Me and find my goodness and mercy in ways you never will if you stay
safe and comfortable. Come join me in bringing my glory to the ends of the earth.
The darkest streets, dangerous ghettos, broken small towns, empty suburban’s, lifeless
slums, and searching campuses. Come join with Me in becoming a part of the
greatest story ever told to mankind.”
And so I would ask, please don’t tell me to “be safe” but
rather “take some risks for Jesus today.”
And may my life be someday said to
be that of those in Acts 15:26:
“Men who risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus
Christ.”
