Crossing the Line: Settling the Jesus Question

“There’s a line and I’ve crossed it.  Some will say that I’ve lost it.”  These are the words of a song that I recently listened to that gripped me in a way few things have in recent years.

 

A line.

God has drawn a line in the sand and invited us to step across.  Will we, excuse me, will I heed that call? 

What’s the line?

The line is Jesus!  The line is the call to follow Jesus.  At the crux of this entire “being Christian thing” is Jesus.  Our belief about Jesus, who he is, His claim upon our lives, and what He’s calling us to is the single most pressing issue in our lives.  Have you settled the Jesus question? 

Jesus is the HINGE on which all of human history swings.  One of the earliest “line-crossing” statements made in the Scriptures regarding Jesus comes from the mouth of Peter in Acts 4, “…for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”  This is what settling the Jesus question means.  Do you believe that?  This has been one of the most hotly contested statements throughout history and especially in our modern times.  Jesus is THE WAY to TRUTH, LIFE, WHOLENESS, and HOPE. 

This is not an exclusionary statement as though we are purposefully trying to keep people out.  No, the Jesus movement is the most inclusive movement in all of history.  Jesus didn’t differentiate amongst women or men, religious or sinner, poor or rich, alien or stranger, broken or self-righteous.  Jesus issues a call to all.

This is not a statement of pride as though I’ve figured something out that many in the world have missed.  No, I didn’t figure anything out.  In fact I wasn’t looking for Jesus at all.  I was a miserable wretch of a man who was one day accosted by Jesus at 25 years old in a chapel in Macedonia.  I wasn’t looking for Him, He came looking for me. 

This is not simply a Heaven/Hell question.  The minute someone says, “Jesus is the only way,” others will begin to ask, does that mean “so and so” won’t be in Heaven.  There is one thing in this world that I’m deeply thankful for and that’s not being in charge of who gets “in” Heaven or who ends up “in” hell, whatever that might mean.  What it does mean, however, is that if anyone gets “in” Heaven, no matter who they are (including me – wait, especially me) it’s because there was a cross on a hill on a Friday afternoon that became the altar on which both death and sin were defeated and an empty tomb on a Sunday that pointed Humanity to redemptive hope. 

Jesus is the line. 

He’s the line.  His call to follow is our call to cross the line.  That’s where things get difficult.  Oh, if it were only about getting “in” to Heaven.  If it were only about a magical prayer, once prayed, meant guaranteed bliss somewhere in the future.  But it’s the call to follow that gets us.  Because that means something now.  The call to follow is a costly call. 

We are wired for cost-benefit analysis.  How can I maximize the benefits for the absolute minimum in cost?  That doesn’t work with Jesus.

See on top of being the HINGE, the Bible seems to suggest that He is LORD.  To suggest that He is Lord means that to settle the Jesus questions means settling the Lordship question.  Does Jesus have full, unrestricted, unhindered reign in my life?  Is my life shaped by full allegiance to Jesus? 

Careful here…not so fast.  No flippant “Yes, of course he does” will work here!  If Jesus is Lord of your life, that means He is jacking up your life each and every day.  The Lordship question means we understand that we can’t serve two masters.  We can’t call Him Lord and serve our Greed.  We can’t call Him Lord and serve our Safety.  We can’t call Him Lord and serve our Prejudice and Pride.  We can’t call Him Lord and serve our Comfort.  We can’t call Him Lord and serve our ____________ (you fill in the blank.)

No, stepping across the line affects everything.  Crossing the line will put you at odds with the side out which you just stepped.  It’s in the line of the song…”Some will say that we’ve lost it.”  Those that stay safe from Jesus on the other side of the line won’t get you.  They can’t, they are serving other masters.  Even some who seem to be of the same religious tribe will be confused.  Jesus is ok in our culture as long as He’s a privatized spiritual guru alongside Buddha that teaches us to behave well or the one who endorses and baptizes our agendas and political schemes, subservient to our Constitution and political parties.  But when Jesus becomes LORD!  Well, look out.  Some will think that you’ve lost it.

Because Jesus doesn’t seem to care all that much about…

Our constitutional rights
Our economic flourishing
Our comfort
Our American dream
Our privilege
and the list could go on…

No, Jesus appears to have a higher priority!  That priority is the coming of His Kingdom.  To cross the line is to step from this world and into His Kingdom and that will mess up everything.  It will mess up what you do with your checkbook, your political decisions, your aspirations and ambitions, your job, your family, and who you keep company with.  It will push you into places of deep compassion, sacrificial love, the anguish of forgiveness, silly generosity, time-consuming prayer, dangerous hospitality, and a myriad of other postures that aren't easy.  

It’s not comfortable.

It’s not safe.

Remember the One that calls us to cross the line spent 3 years hanging out with a bunch of hooligans, one of which was a terrorist (look up Judas the Zealot if you doubt me), made space at tables for all the wrong kinds of people, whose good work landed Him on a cross, and who even in His dying breath was blessing a scoundrel hanging next to Him. 

    

Some will say that we’ve lost it. 

If we cross the line I mean. 

See, here’s the tricky part.  You can’t hang out with Jesus long without at some point being confronted by the Jesus question.  You can avoid it, try to rationalize it away, attempt to diminish its impact, or try to get as close to the line and its blessings without crossing it.  But the line is still there. 

I’ve been guilty for two long of straddling that line.  But no longer. 

There’s a line, and by the grace of God and the power of His Spirit at work in me, I am crossing it.  I want nothing more than the Kingdom, I yield forever more to my Lord.  I long to align my life with the priorities of Jesus. 

For years, I pastorally and piously prayed, “Break our hearts for what breaks yours, God.”  Did I mean it?  I thought so.  But maybe what I meant is “Break our hearts for what is convenient and doesn’t cost much, what is safe and comfortable, what will give me the sense that I’m doing enough without actually pushing me over the line.”  Maybe that’s what I meant.  But no longer. 

I’m taking the risk.

I’m crossing the line.

Some will say that I’ve lost it. 

But…

The next line of the song goes something like this, “Who cares what they say. I have found my joy, the joy of knowing You, Jesus.”