The Radical Call of a Christian

By: Raul and Jodi Collado

January 13, 2020

“Whosever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:33)

I (Raul) was born in the Dominican Republic and lived there until I was eleven years old. At that time I moved to Rhode Island, USA. I had to leave the lifestyle I was accustomed to behind me. Life in America was very different than the structure of life I had known before. While in the Dominican Republic I lived in poverty without running water or a toilet in our one-room home. If you are an American, you can well imagine how significant a life change like this would be. For me, the change was radical.

What does the word radical mean? It describes something new and different than what is considered traditional. You could say a radical person is someone who is a nonconformist to their culture.

When Jesus was speaking and he said, “whosever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be My disciple,” to the hearers, these words were radical. If believed and exercised in the listener’s life, these words would produce nothing less than a radical experience.

So what about hearers today? Upon hearing these words, why does the majority of the church still appear to be conformed to the practices and pleasures of the world? We know that Christians are to be in the world, but not of the world. Today, most Christians are like the ancient Greeks. In ancient Greece, they made up their own gods. Likewise, many Christians, even though unaware, have invented their own Jesus. The Greeks conformed their gods to their interests. Many Christians today are trying to conform Jesus to their worldly interests, pleasures, and ambitions. Sadly, although we cannot not read the hearts of men, we see publicans remaining publicans and harlots remaining harlots still under the dominion of sin and void of true freedom while professing to be Christians.

Today, many professed Christians have their own Christ. But who is the real Christ? The real Jesus Christ is radical. His life, His example, His message–is radical. His life was entirely different from the standards of the Jewish culture during His physical time on earth. His Divine nature was wholly good and pure–completely contrary to the human nature of those around Him whom He mingled with. Brothers and sisters, it is evident that many Christian brethren are not following after Jesus Christ with their whole heart because they are lulled to sleep in false carnal security of ease and comfort. Remember the text we began with, saying, “Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:33) Forsaking all that you have does not only entail having a willing attitude to give up any material and monetary possessions. It includes forsaking your own opinions, wants, desires, ideas, and thoughts. It requires yielding your whole entire self to follow after Jesus and His will for your life. To many, a full surrender such as this seems an unpleasant task and the comforts and ease of one’s life may have the appearance of a happier path to follow, but this is not true. Why? Because Jesus Himself promised the following: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) What a wonderful promise! Jesus promises that His yoke is easy and His burden is light! Why? Because what is included in forsaking all that one has includes forsaking your fears, worries, cares, anxieties, heartbreaks, sins, and casting them upon the Burden Bearer. When you give yourself wholly to Jesus and your heart is not divided you can have peace knowing you are under the guardianship of One who is All-Knowing, All-Powerful, and infinitely Loving.

In this sinful world we live in, whatever is true, honest, just, and pure are foreign to this world and rejected by it. All power of hell seeks the destruction of these said traits. Christ’s life exemplified purity and truth. His character and lifestyle were foreign to those around Him, and the world hated Him because His pure works testified of their evil workings. (John 7:7) The Bible tells us that Jesus is a life-giving Spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45) Those who receive Jesus into their heart and receive His Spirit (His own divine-human life) will experience to the slightest degree what their Savior suffered through persecution. We are confirmed of this in 2 Timothy 3:12: “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” We see this in the life of Jesus’ early disciples. All of them were put to death except one. The Christians of the early church also suffered severe persecution.

Let us now examine the scriptures in Luke 9:56-60. In this passage, Jesus tells of His mission and His message. “For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” What did Jesus have to do to save men’s lives? He had to lay down His very own life. May we ask ourselves the question, which Jesus do I follow? The True Jesus who leads me in the narrow way of self-denial to my Heavenly home that excludes all pride, self-seeking, and praise from man, or a Jesus that requires no cross-bearing and self-denial for the sake of my salvation and others in the human family? The second leaving me lost on the broad pathway of destruction…

One of Jesus’ hearers said to Him, “Lord, I will follow Thee withersoever Thou goest.” Jesus responded by saying, “The Son of Man hath nowhere to lay His head.” This was indeed a radical answer. In the secular world today when people are job hunting, often the benefits, salary, and retirement promised them will influence their choice of a workplace. Though some may sacrifice a pay cut for one reason or another, say to have a friendlier boss or to have more family-friendly work hours. Nevertheless, there are still benefits promised to the employee in exchange for their labor. In the realm of Christianity, when a believer desires to pursue laboring with an established ministry, oftentimes the organized ministry will make arrangements for an incoming missionary; whether that be housing, food, a stipend, etc. This is rightfully so because the Bible says “the laborer is worthy of his reward”(1 Timothy 5:18). Let us look again at Jesus’ response to the hearer who wanted to follow Him and His ministry. He said: “The Son of Man hath nowhere to lay His head.” Jesus, the Creator of the earth, walked as a nomad with no place to call His own. He abode with dirty fisherman on their boats and in the homes of those who received him. Jesus made no promise of comfort or financial gain to the one pursuing to follow Him. He simply shared with this hearer the example of His own life to show what he would be following after. Jesus did not have a bank account, a church building, employee benefits, insurance, or retirement. Well, that was over 2,000 years ago, one may say. Yes it was, but looking at the life of Jesus from the scriptures we see He didn’t even have His own donkey, boat, or as He stated, a place to lay His head. He trusted solely on His Heavenly Father to provide and care for Him as He earnestly labored to seek and save the lost.

In regards to following Jesus, let us look at two other’s responses:

“Another said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father” and Jesus responded, “let the dead bury their dead.” (Luke 9:59)

And in Luke 9:61 we read: “let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.” Jesus replied saying, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

We see from these accounts that following Jesus requires Him and His cause to be supreme in our lives; to follow Him and not turn back, to forsake all that we have for Him.  

The solemn truth is that Jesus “made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant.” (Philippians 2:7) Jesus’ mission while on this earth was to reveal the character of God to man and to make disciples who would follow after Him to be “fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19)

At the end of Jesus’ life, while He was gathered with His disciples to observe the Passover feast, He knew that shortly He would be delivered up to die. But, despite this fact, Jesus’ priority during this time was to commune with and minister to His beloved disciples. As Jesus was gathered with His disciples in an upper room, the disciples were waiting for the servant to arrive and wash their feet (a common custom in their culture). They were shocked to see Jesus stoop down and wash their dirty feet. Jesus was showing His disciples the spirit of selfless service He wanted to impart to them–the very same spirit He wants to impart to every believer today.

How will we as Christians respond to the radical call of Christ’s service? The highest calling any individual can have is to be a follower of Jesus Christ. No career, vacation, hobby, sport, house, marriage, vehicle, reputation, social group, or anything can be esteemed above the One who left the Royal Courts of Heaven because He didn’t want to be there without us. He’s calling us each individually today to follow Him and receive life eternal. How will we respond?

“If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).

“For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)

Photo by Alexander Ramsey on Unsplash