Would you die for your faith? I’m serious, would you die for Jesus?
That is a pretty chilling thought I have to admit, but I think it says a lot about one’s commitment to Christ. Many say they would be willing to lay down their life, but I’m not sure they really mean it. Where the rubber meets the road and we are actually confronted with a life and death situation for our faith would we be found faithful…even unto death?
I hope I am never faced with that decision and I pray that I would be worthy of the test, but I don’t think any of us can really know until we are faced with the reality of that choice. Deny Jesus and live… or confess Him and die. How would you respond?
Luke 22:31-32 “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”
Whoa…..Peter, who had been one of the Lord’s closest disciples, was NOT CONVERTED. For three years he had been part of Jesus’ team, one of his confidants, a follower of the Lord, yet somehow Jesus knew that this loud mouthed blow-hard was more bark than bite.
You see, there is a difference between being a follower of Jesus and being a convert. It is my contention that today, just like in Jesus’ day; there are plenty of followers and very few converts.
Just what is a convert? To convert is “to change in character”, “To transform by conversion.” A follower is “a person who imitates, copies, or takes as a model or ideal.” After three years of watching Jesus, Peter was a follower. He admired Jesus, he imitated him, and he modeled his ideals, but Peter had never been converted. He had never been transformed to a point where there was a change in his character. He had never reached the point where he “loved not his life even unto death.” He had a head-change, but not a heart-change.
How about you? Are you a follower or a convert?
Two decades ago I began to study further what I felt the Spirit was showing me. “Okay Lord, if Peter wasn’t converted before the crucifixion when was he converted? He was one of the three disciples that you handpicked to pray with you in the garden. Even after you had warned him that he was about to be ‘sifted’ you still invited him to the garden. You chastised him for sleeping while he should have been praying. He had promised you that he was ‘ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death’. But he clearly was not. Lord, when was Peter converted?”
If you follow the crucifixion story you will find that shortly after Jesus was arrested all the disciples deserted him. (Matt 26:56), Yet Peter, who was about to deny him, “followed him from afar” (58) to watch the action, sitting outside the palace waiting for the verdict (69) where he proceeds to deny three times that he knew the Lord. Mathew 26 ends with these words, “And he went out and wept bitterly.
Is this when Peter was converted?
Do you “follow Jesus from afar?” Have you wept bitterly over your denial of the Lord? Are you brokenhearted over the calloused condition of your heart? Have you repented of your cold-heartedness towards the unrepentant sin masquerading as Christianity? Are you, as Paul alleged “ashamed of the Gospel? Do you deny Him before men?
“And when thou art converted…” Are you a convert or a mere follower?
What is the purpose of your Christianity? Was the purpose of Christ’s death and resurrection merely to purchase you a get-out-of-hell-free card? Did he suffer and die merely to give you a better life? If push comes to shove are you ready to lay down your life for Jesus? When He told us that greater love has no man than this that he lay down his life for his friends, was he referring only to HIS death and HIS friends?
End-time eschatology is all of the rage. Churches love to study the signs of the times and many are convinced that the imminent return of Jesus is at the door. It has caused a plaque of apathy in the church. To fight evil, is to fight against the Lord. God has it all under control. He has not appointed us unto wrath.
Failure to speak against sin is a denial of Jesus no less than the denial by Peter.
Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Ez.3:17.
Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? Ps. 94:16
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Gal. 2:20
How about you? Are you willing to be hated for Him? Are you ready to be persecuted for Him? Are you prepared to die for Him? Do you love Yourself more than you love the Lord? Better dig in. Tough times are coming…sheep and goats are being separated.
“And when you are converted…..”
