Radical Christianity

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”  Matthew 16:24

When Jesus assembled the twelve along with an audience of several thousand individuals, He delivered His manifesto. We call it “The Sermon on the Mount,” but actually, it wasn’t a sermon. It was a statement. He began by challenging logic and popular wisdom. Repeatedly He said “You have heard it said...” but then He challenged the status quo with “But I say unto you...” Yes, that’s radical – pretty radical.

“I say unto you,” said Jesus, challenging their views on murder, adultery, divorce, taking oaths, doing the same thing to the other person that he has done to them, and loving their enemies. Yes, His whole thinking was radical.

Are authentic Christians just as radical as Jesus was? Yes, unquestionably. They are out of sync with their culture that says, “More is better; if it works, do it; as long as you don’t get caught, it’s okay – everybody else is doing it” and so forth.

Radical Christianity causes people to actually take a tenth of their income and put it into God’s work. It causes men and women to walk away from high-paying jobs and serve overseas in hospitals, orphanages, schools, outstations, and a hundred other locations. Radical Christianity touches the untouchables and chooses to believe the impossible.

Jesus challenged, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). He invites you to join the elite who dare to be different, to go for it.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how radical is your Christianity?

“What should we do then?” the crowd asked. John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.” The tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely – be content with your pay.” Luke 3:10-14