$3 Worth of God

God is our greatest treasure, and our lives will count on earth

only when we invest them in His kingdom for eternity.”  David Platt 

Some years ago Wilbur Rees wrote the following convicting description of the average Christian’s view of the Christian life:

I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.  

Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, 

but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk

or a snooze in the sunshine. 

I don’t want enough of God to make me love a black man 

or pick beets with a migrant. 

I want ecstasy, not transformation. 

I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth. 

I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. 

I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.

  It’s disturbingly familiar, isn’t it? If we’re honest, we find it very convicting. I know that I do. We want to believe that there is a good and gracious God who loves and accepts all people. But then, suggest that this same perfect Being might also be moral, holy, righteous, and pure; or that He may ask something of us in return and suddenly our enthusiasm to know and serve Him begins to wane.

  Yet, as we read the New Testament, it’s clear that what the Lord Jesus has called us to is not to just get “our ticket punched for heaven.” Being a Christ-follower is a surrendered life. Jesus, Himself told us what the cost is: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24; Luke 9:23). The call of salvation, the call of God for each man and woman is to a surrendered life. He calls us to come to Him, to embrace Him – all of Him and then having been with Him to go from His presence to be an agent of change in the world.

  When Jesus carried His cross up Golgotha to be crucified, no one was thinking of the cross as symbolic of a burden to carry. It wasn’t jewelry or wall decoration. To someone in the 1^st century, taking up your cross was a one-way trip. It meant one thing – death by the most painful and humiliating means human beings could develop.

  Two thousand years later, Christians view the cross as a cherished symbol of God’s love, atonement, forgiveness, and grace. But in Jesus’ day, the cross represented nothing but torturous death. Because the Romans forced convicted criminals to carry their own crosses to the place of crucifixion, bearing a cross meant carrying their own execution device while facing ridicule along the way to death. “Take up your cross and follow Me” means total surrender. It means being willing to die to self in order to follow Jesus. It’s a call to absolute surrender.

  A hen and a pig saw a church sign announcing the sermon: “What Can We Do to Help the Poor?” The hen suggested that they feed them bacon and eggs. The pig thought about it and replied, “There’s one thing wrong with your idea: for you it requires only a contribution, but for me it requires total commitment!” That’s what Jesus has called us to – total commitment.

  After each occasion that Jesus commanded cross bearing, He said, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” (Luke 9:24-25). Though the call is costly, the reward, both in this life and in eternity is incomparable.

  Read the Gospel accounts and you’ll find that Jesus often sought to discourage would-be followers by pointing out the high price of being a Christ-follower. How different from the typical gospel presentation of today. How many people would respond to committing their life to Christ if it was also shared, “Come follow Jesus, and you may face the loss of friends, family, reputation, career, and possibly even your life”? The number of false converts would quickly decrease. Yet, that’s exactly what the Lord Jesus meant when He said, “Take up your cross and follow Me.”

  If you wonder if you’re ready to take up your cross, consider these questions: Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing some of your closest friends? Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means alienation from your family? Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means the loss of your reputation? Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing your job? Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing your life? Because that’s what it meant for believers throughout most of the history of the Church. In many places in the world, those consequences are still true.

  Notice the question is phrased, “Are you willing?” Following Jesus doesn’t necessarily mean all these things will happen but are you willing to take up your cross? If there comes a point in your life when you’re faced with a choice—Jesus or the comforts of this life—which will you choose?

  Commitment to Christ means taking up your cross daily, giving up your hopes, dreams, possessions, even your very life if need be for the cause of Christ. Only if you willingly take up your cross can you be called His disciple (Luke 14:27). Yet, the reward is worth the price. Jesus followed His call of total sacrifice and death to self with the gift of life, eternal life, in Christ: “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it” (Matt. 16:25-26).

  When we read Jesus’ words we have a hard time understanding the word “lose.” We live in a culture that’s programmed into us that winning is good and losing is bad. When athletes lose a big game or a salesman loses a big account. they lose sleep as a result. Have you ever seen a car with a bumper sticker that says, “My child is a loser”?

  Our world’s attitude is: “Winner Takes All.” Jesus’ words fly straight in the face of this obsession with winning. He says instead that, “The real name of the game is ‘Loser Takes All.’” His statement about losing and gaining is a paradox. To help us understand this we should substitute some other words and phrases for the word “lose.” Jesus said, “Whoever wants to save (play it safe) his life will lose (waste) it, but whoever loses (surrenders) his life for Me will find it (be rewarded).”

  Instead of talking about losing, it’s really about the wasted life versus the surrendered life. The bottom line is that those are the only two ways you can choose to live – take up our cross or $3 worth of God. My friend, which one will you choose? 

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.