THE CALL FOR REVOLUTIONARIES
FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE. In order to fight the battle for your soul and for the souls of others you will be required to be serious about your walk with Jesus and with others who are following Jesus. The call to follow Jesus is a call for selflessness. This call has to do first with your heart and then how you care for others. It's really a call for those who are willing to sign up to be revolutionaries. To be a revolutionary you must learn to love. Based upon God's unconditional love for you, there are two tracks of love that Jesus makes clear are most important. What's interesting to me is that they are foundational to anyone's life and possibly the simplest approach to your life ever. There are three different occasions where Jesus teaches these two love tracks. FIRST in Matthew 22:38-40 Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment of the Law is. Jesus answers: "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." In this first instance Jesus does not really answer the question. He doesn't give the questioner one commandment, but gives him two-love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind AND love your neighbor as yourself. NOTE what He says about these two love tracks of loving God and loving your neighbor. The entire Law and the Prophets are dependent upon these two. SECOND in Mark 12:32-34 Jesus is again asked what is the foremost commandment. After answering, the scribe said to Jesus: "Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM; AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE'S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." The scribe was right on! He even added to the two commandments. He said they are much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. Note what Jesus said back to the scribe: When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." The THIRD instance is found in Luke 10:26-28- And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE." So, first, the entire Law and the Prophets depend on loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. Then, if you love God and love your neighbor as yourself, you can be assured that you are not far from the Kingdom of God. Finally, Jesus says if you love God and love your neighbor as yourself, then you will live! Note the progression is pretty dynamite! So, a Jesus revolutionary is one who practices loving God and loving his neighbor. There is one thing that will keep you from committing yourself to being a revolutionary and practicing the two most important revolutionary principles of Jesus. This one thing is an addiction of sorts. It's the problem of sin. Sin is basically missing the mark-falling short of God's standard. Sin is not living the Kingdom principles; it's not following Jesus. So, instead of being Jesus centered, it's being self-centered. It's the condition of mankind-the universal dilemma of self-centeredness that has plagued men/women from the beginning. Sin is the 'something broken' that can't be fixed or corrected by all the success, effort, money, sex, power, or ability in the world. This brokenness or separation is experienced as a haunting and fearful sense of being separated and unworthy and expresses itself in feelings of fear, anger, shame, guilt, or pain. We search the world over for someone or something we can control that will take away these painful feelings of inadequacy and we will become strongly attached or even addicted to any person, substance, behavior, or goal that promises to relieve or blot out our pain and sense of alienation. The only possibility of removing the condition of sin is Jesus. He is the only one who can transform your heart away from your natural self-centeredness and into the two love tracks: love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. The devil and his demons know this, so they are committed to keeping you off-focus and off-message with respect to Jesus. Whatever problems you encounter may not be caused by the devil and his demons, but you can be certain they are there voting against you in your struggle and piling on. This is why it takes a committed revolutionary. IF JESUS IS GOING TO DO HIS WORK IN YOUR LIFE IN HIS WAY, THEN YOU MUST RESIST THE DEVIL AND STAND AS A REVOLUTIONARY RIGHT ALONGSIDE JESUS.
