No More Mr. Nice Guy: Saying Goodbye to Doormat Christianityනියැදිය

The Price of Boldness

Do we really want to be bold? When the Christian gets serious about Christian boldness, there is a price to pay. What Jesus said about discipleship needs to be said about boldness: “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’” (Luke 14:28-30 NKJV).

Let’s talk about the price tag.

Risk sometimes ends in failure. Christian boldness presupposes that you will sometimes fail because you are required to risk. In Matthew 25, Jesus talked about a man who refused to risk. Jesus said that before a certain master went away on a journey, he called his servants and gave them his goods. He gave one man five talents, another two, and another one. When he returned from his journey, he called his servants to give an account. The servant who had received the five talents had made five talents more, and the servant who had been given two talents also doubled his amount. But the man who had received the one talent went and hid it in the ground. The master responded with, “You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. Therefore you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents” (Matthew 25:24-28 NKJV).

Some people won’t like you. If you decide to be a bold Christian, you have to face the reality that not everyone is going to like you. Most of us have a great need to be loved, and because of that need many of us sell our souls. We commit some of our worst and most sinful acts because we want to be loved.

You might lose your peace. “Wait,” you say, “I thought that Jesus gave peace in the midst of turmoil. The least I could expect is personal peace in the conflict.” Yes, that is true, but you need to know the kind of peace about which Jesus spoke. The principle: The peace this side of conflict is not worth a hill of beans. The peace this side of conflict is not biblical peace at all; it is simply apathetic contentment. The peace on the other side of conflict, though, is worth anything it costs you.

I want you to go with me to the garden of Gethsemane, where a Man by the name of Jesus was about to die. He knew He was going to die, and He knew that the death He faced was going to be horrible. When a man is frightened, he wants someone with him. Jesus was God, but He was also a man, and He asked His disciples to stay with Him as He prayed. Matthew told the story in Matthew 26:36-39. The physician Luke with his practiced medical eye said, “And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. And His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44 NKJV).

If you think Jesus felt peace in that garden as He prepared to face the cross, I have some swamp land to sell you in Florida. He was not peaceful, and if Jesus was not peaceful when He was in the center of the will of God, why in the world do you think we should feel peaceful when we are in the center of the will of God?

But on the other side of the conflict we see a peace that is nothing less than supernatural. When Jesus was dying, He prayed for those who killed Him to be forgiven, and His final words were, “Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit” (Luke 23:46).

If you decide to be different, to stand, to risk, the resultant “feeling” might well be, “I wish I had kept my mouth shut. How could I have been so stupid?” But as time passes, there will be a peace that you have never known, a peace that says, “I didn’t like what I did. It made me feel out of sorts and anxious. But I did what God said.” At night, in those few minutes just before sleep, you will be able to “rest easy” and “sleep clean” with the peace of one who has been faithful.