Living in the extremes

Luke 14:25-33 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶ "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-- yes, even his own life-- he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸ "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? ²⁹ For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, ³⁰ saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' ³¹ "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. ³³ In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

Our culture doesn’t like extremes, or extremists. When it comes to the weather, we want it neither too hot nor too cold. When it comes to politics, electability means being neither too far left or too far right. When it comes to schools, give my child homework, but not too much homework. Make my job challenging, but not too challenging. And even (or maybe especially!) in matters of faith, don’t be too much of a zealot. Don’t go too far to one side or the other. The middle is better. It is safer. It is more comfortable. Because in the middle you’ll offend less people. Think both-and, not either-or. That’s the wisdom of the world.

And truthfully, we like being in the middle. Even as Christians, we’ve bought into this. We’ll travel some distance for God, but not as far as Abram. We’ll carry our cross for Jesus, as long as it is a little one. We are all one in mission, until someone offends me or their child bullies my child, then all bets are off. Worship is great, as long as it is under an hour and the sermon is less than 15 minutes. The church should care, but not pry. The pastor should be relevant, but shouldn’t hit too close to home. God can expect a commitment from me, as long as it fits into my schedule.

Isn’t that our Christianity in a nutshell?

Extremes are dangerous. That’s why we like it much more in the safe confines of the middle, with both extremes as buffers. But that’s why Jesus’ words in Luke’s Gospel are so hard for us to hear. Such lukewarm Christianity is rejected by Jesus. According to His words, there is no middle ground. You either are or you aren’t. You’re in or you’re out. You’re in Jesus or you’re not.

That’s why Jesus teaches: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-- yes, even his own life-- he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

We hear these words of Jesus, of commitment, of challenge, and we’re convicted. So we jump in whole hog. We think we can accept Jesus’ challenge. We believe we are committed to following Him. We suppose that we are strong enough to carry a cross. We move to the extreme. … Until life happens. Then we find out it’s harder than we thought – to put God before our family; to stand out and let people take potshots at us; to stand firm and not cave in.

When Jesus says “hate” your family members, the Greek word doesn’t carry the emotion of our English word hate. A closer parallel would be “renounce.”

Examples might be the grade school child who wants to sing in church with his class, but the parents only want the ethics of a Lutheran school, not the Christianity. Or the parents who exclude their adult child from certain family gatherings to display their displeasure of their child’s adulterous lifestyle. Or the recent convert to Christianity who removes himself from the post-game festivities at the bar because his lifestyle has now changed for Christ. They are all renouncing family and friends in favor of Christ.

But that’s too hard to do constantly and consistently, so we give up and give in. Then we move to the opposite extreme, which is sometimes called “cheap grace.” Sinning and allowing for sin, because we know we have a forgiving God. Using God’s sovereignty as an excuse for my laziness. Content with being a Christian with no accountability or cost at all. … But we know that’s not right, either. So we finally settle into the mushy middle, where we can become satisfied Christians, bored Christians, neutered Christians, unsalty Christians. Which is really no Christianity at all. … Which is just how Satan likes it.

So, what are we to do? If the middle is not right, nor either extreme is preferable to us, then how can we live as Christians? How can we be Jesus’ disciples?

The answer is to live, not in our idea of the extremes, but in God’s idea of extremes. God’s extreme of the Law exposes what abject failures we are as Christ’s followers. The Law reveals that the Enemy and his army are too strong for us. The Law points out we will always prefer convenience over the cross.  The Law establishes that we are bound for hell because of our many and varied sins.

But then there is God’s extreme of the Gospel. The Gospel tells us that Jesus, the Son of God, counted the cost of your salvation, and considered you worth the price of His blood. He went into battle – not outnumbered 20,000 versus 10,000, but outnumbered by the forces of Satan, the world and our sinful flesh against Him alone. He renounced His own life, laying it down for sinful humanity.

The Gospel proclaims God’s love for you knows know bounds. Though you are unable to give yourself over to God completely, Jesus has given Himself over completely, entirely for you. He knows the sinful flesh that you were born with prevents you from being a faithful follower – that’s why He is faithful to you. He knows you don’t love Him alone, but place Him as one of many gods in your life – that’s why He loves you with a sacrificial love that caused Him to live, suffer and die for you. He knows that you are not able to carry your cross to follow Him, because all your sins and burdens are too heavy to bear – that’s why He carried His cross for you and invites you to place your sins and burdens on Him.

The Gospel proclaims that God knows you. He knows you have a heart that wanders where it ought not. A love that is fickle and fades. And He dies for it. He forgives it with His own life-giving blood and innocent suffering and death. Where we are faithless, He is faithful. We, who have hearts that wander, have a Lord, whose heart is steadfast and resolute. He does not turn from us, even when we turn from Him. When we reject Him or deny Him, He does not forsake us to our idols. Rather, He calls you, He goes after you, He welcomes you with open arms. He is God who was born of flesh and blood. He became like you, so that you, through faith in Him, might become like Him.

The Gospel proclaims that Jesus came for us, because we, in our sin, could not go to Him. He served us, because we could not serve Him. He loved us, because we could not love Him. And He died for us, so that we could live with Him and for Him. Because we are born filthy with sin and children of Satan, Jesus washes our sins away and makes us children of God through the waters of Baptism. Because we easily fall prey to Satan’s temptations, Jesus feeds and strengthens our faith through the bread and wine, the body and blood of the Lord’s Supper. Because you are only willing to give part of yourself to Him, He gave all of Himself for you. That through His death and resurrection you can be salty again. Not re-formed, but re-created. Made new. Taken back to the beginning, to Eden, just as if all that Satan, sin, rebellion and death stuff never happened at all!

Because we sin so much in thought, word and deed, Jesus forgives our sin and absolves us of any wrongdoing. Then, through this gracious forgiveness and working of the Holy Spirit in us, we can begin to do the things we could not do before. To be His disciples. To follow Him. To carry our cross. To renounce those who would drag us back into the mire of our sin and unbelief. To live in the extreme of a life lived for Jesus Christ alone.

Though our American culture doesn’t like extremes, as Christians, it is OK for us to be extreme in Jesus. After all, Jesus went through the extreme of cross, hell and grave for us. Amen.