Go into all the world

Familiarity breed contempt

As the saying goes, “familiarity breeds contempt.” The more accustomed we are to someone or something, the easier it is for us to be unimpressed. We can even become cynical.

Put yourself in their shoes

Gossip, complain, bitter, I’m guilty of it too

The context of the Great Commission is a miracle. And this has to inform how we read the passage. Our victorious Lord commands his followers to proclaim the victory.

The fact that he has defeated the greatest enemies possible means that his mission is unstoppable.

Let’s be honest: this isn’t an easy sell. Humility goes against our natural grain. People aren’t willing to admit that they’ve sinned, let alone say they are a sinner. Many others would rather die than say there’s a God they are accountable to. The gospel message says we are guilty, unrighteous, and unable to do anything about it ourselves. But God, being rich in mercy and love, provided salvation in Jesus Christ. If we believe in him, trusting and treasuring him above all, then we will be saved from our sin. This begins the new life of obedience where we submit to the Bible and gather together with other believers who believe the same things. It’s not an easy sell.

Thinking like entrepreneurs or fishermen, we might conclude it’s better to pack up and go home. Maybe we should do something else.

Burrito Church

But church shouldn’t be about being perfectly understood and met in our comfort zone; it should be about understanding and knowing God more, and meeting him where he’s at.

It’s about becoming like “living stones” that are “being built up as a spiritual house,” focused on and held together by Jesus, the stone the builders rejected who became the cornerstone (1 Pet. 2:4–7).

Imagine if Yahweh had bailed on Israel the minute they said or did something offensive, opting instead to “shop around” for a new people (Canaanites? Philistines? Egyptians?). Imagine if God were as fickle and restless as we are.

We don’t grow spiritually from Chipotle-style “build your own” comfort faith, consuming church as it suits our hunger and hankerings. We grow by committing to a community that pursues Jesus, developing together a taste for the bread of life.

Idolatry of Comfort

Because it is so widespread and subtle, this framing doesn’t often seem so deadly. But it turns Christianity into a product akin to a smartphone app: something the “user” can opt in or out of as is convenient, or appropriate as needed but only insofar as it suits them. If it is in any way uncomfortable or costly, the “app” is easily deleted.

But a Christianity that’s accessed only as it suits us, only when it’s comfortable and on our terms, is not really Christianity. To truly follow Jesus is to flip the cultural script on comfort. It is to shift one’s gaze away from a consumer self and toward our worthy God; from an inward, self-help orientation to an outward, others-helping orientation. Healthy Christians are always wary of easing into comfortable Christianity.

C. S. Lewis once said, “I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”

Why is it important that we avoid falling into comfortable Christianity? Because comfortable Christianity is far from the costly, inconvenient, idol-crushing, cross-shaped path for disciples of Jesus. Comfortable Christianity has little prophetic to say to a comfortable, consumerist world. Comfortable Christianity has little urgency in mission and little aptitude for growth.

Uncomfortable Christianity, however, leads to life and transformation. It leads us to rely on God and not on ourselves; to serve rather than be served; to live lives marked by sacrifice. It leads us to do hard things, to embrace hard truths, to do life with hard people for the sake and glory of the One who did the hardest thing. It may be uncomfortable, but it will be worth it. On the other side of discomfort is delight in Christ.

Be flexible and ready to move when mission and evangelistic opportunities arise. Be willing to sacrifice comfort and the familiar when the Spirit is at work and the gospel is advancing

So what do we do?