The Phil Files

This week’s Hearlight.org article, “The Power to Risk,” furnishes the background for this post. I would encourage you to read the article and please, I’d love to get your input into this discussion.

So frequently, our first reaction to anything that calls for risk in churchland is to pull out the old and often repeated maxim: “I’d rather be safe than sorry.” This maxim — or more accurately, this excuse — places anything new into the spiritually questionable category. Little by little, this mentality can so pervade a group that it gets to the point that it are afraid of doing anything for fear it might mess something up. The group gets so afraid of messing up, that it ends up doing nothing and thinking that it should be should be rewarded for simply existing. The Master, however, in Jesus’ parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30, makes clear that the those who use this “play it safe” mentality with what God’s has entrusted to them are “evil and lazy.”

I love this Frances Chan piece on this principle that dramatically brings home the foolishness of the “play it safe” mentality:

So what are you called by Jesus to risk for the Kingdom? Have you thought about it? I would love for you to put down some specific things for you to risk for the Lord. (There are questions that follow the very end of this post to help you consider these things.

And as you try to discover that one calling Jesus is challenging you to embrace, view this sarcastic piece written to make us laugh and maybe get a little bit angry as we peer into a community called  Bubble Creek Canyon. We would probably feel spiritually protected here, but I am not sure how much good we would be able to do for the Kingdom.

LIFE Questions to Consider:

Why do you think so many Bible-believing followers of Jesus approach life and their discipleship with the idea, “I would rather be safe than sorry.”

Read the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 and discuss the following questions:

• Is the theme of this parable using our talents?

• Look at verses 18 and verses 24-30: what was the problem with this servant?

• How did his view of God effect his decision to just bury his “bag of gold” (his talent)?

• How did this servant practice the “better safe than sorry” principle in his use of what the master entrusted to him?

• What was the verdict of the master on this servant and why?

Jesus called His followers to be His witnesses – to tell all that He had done in their lives and in His ministry – to the whole world (Acts 1:8).

• Why do you think it is so hard for folks to “witness” to what Christ has done in their lives today?

• When is the last time you heard a follower of Jesus say, “We cannot help but speak of what we have seen and heard”? (cf. Acts 4:18-20)

Do you think that most of Jesus’ modern followers’ inability to witness to Him is tied to their unwillingness to risk for Him and need His presence in their lives?

What promises about Jesus’ presence in our lives can you remember and what are they tied to in our lives? (Here are so examples to get you started:)

• Matthew 28:18-20
• Hebrews 13:5-6
• Romans 8:32-39
• Matthew 25:31-46

Risk for God! It’s not a suggestion, it’s a way of life … the way of life God called us to embrace!

Folks are off and headed out for Spring Break campaigns — I’ve got kinfolks headed out of the country and last year I went to Uganda with Compassion International myself. All of these folks are jumping in and serving and risking and doing great things for God. Others I know are involved with church planting efforts and house church efforts. One brother in Christ and his family left business and went back to school to prepare himself to be a church planter.

Far too often we try to play it safe and never really do what our hearts call us to do and spirits hunger for us to do. The tottering economy and a host of other things intimidates us and backs us down from the adventure of faith. So for the next several days, I’d like to nudge us in the direction of taking risks for the Kingdom and give you some interesting things to think about and see — from passages of Scripture to Heartlight.org articles to video resources to check out.

For some reason, those who take a biblically conservative view of Scripture often fear risking anything — risking their point of view, their physical safety, their approval from God — and playing it safe. However, the more literally we take the words of Jesus and the examples of the early followers of Jesus, the more we should be willing to risk almost everything for the sake of the Kingdom.

So … today, I want to point you in the direction of a Heartlight.org article and a video.

The article is entitled “Step into the Water” and calls us to have the kind of faith the children of Israel had to cross the Jordan River. It’s worth a peak!

The video is entitled “Uncontrollable Current” is available on Highway Videos.