Living the Strange Life
Matthew 16:24 – “Whoever wants to be My Disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.”
Mark 8:34 – Then He called the crowd to Him along with His Disciples and said, “Whoever wants to be My Disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.”
Luke 9:23 – Then He said to them all: “Whoever wants to be My Disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me.”
Jesus Did Some Strange Things
Those who have honestly and sincerely read the New Testament will admit that Jesus said and did some strange things. Even the Scripture text is a strange invitation for people to follow Christ by taking up their cross. The cross means to die to self in order to live for God. That is a strange invitation. But that is not the only unusual thing that Jesus did. When He delivered His first public sermon, He did not preference His message by repeating what others were saying, nor did Jesus get His information from other earthly sources. Our Lord repeatedly stated, “You have heard that it was said by them of old, but I say …” He addressed a number of topics like murder, adultery, taking oaths, saying prayers, loving your enemies, fasting and prayer, and the Kingdom of God and never once did He take His authority from anyone else other than God. The crowds were amazed at His teachings, but the religious leaders called Him a heretic and a deceiver. Whether they appreciated Him or not, there was nothing about Jesus that was “usual or ordinary.”
Jesus said some strange things and there were many who were offended at His doctrine. When our Lord entered the town of Nazareth where He grew up, He began teaching them about the Kingdom of God. The Bible said, they became so angry at Jesus that they drove Him out of town to a cliff and tried to destroy Him by throwing Him over the cliff, but He escaped from among them. See Luke 4:28. Why did they feel that way? In their minds, Jesus was strange and they certainly did not appreciate Him telling them the Truth. Even the folks in Jesus’ hometown thought that He was strange because of the things He said and did. You would think that perhaps they just did not understand, and that was true in part, but the reality was that Jesus came to present the Kingdom of God and no one on earth knew anything about it nor were they anxious to hear God’s Truth. For that reason, Jesus said, “No one can come to Me except My Father draw them.” John 6:44. The only way that any of us can be a Disciple of Jesus Christ is that we surrender to God’s Plan and be drawn by the Holy Spirit into a new life. Please understand that when that step is taken, life will cease to be normal. A person who lives by faith in God has entered into a new world, a new walk, and a new way of life.
When we consider that Jesus spoke a strange doctrine, performed some strange signs and wonders from God, and spoke boldly about His relationship with the Father, you and I have been called to be His Disciples. Do we think that the world will view us any differently once we truly take following Christ to heart? So, what I am asking you to do is to accept Jesus’ invitation into this strange way of living.
When God is directing you, the obedience to Christ is unquestionable. As a matter of fact, you will accept Christ being strange because He is One of a kind anyway. Strange means unique, special, and unusual. Here is the point of this message. Don’t expect to be a follower of Jesus Christ and your life to be normal. Don’t expect to follow Jesus’ teachings and for your life to not be impacted by the Truth. Don’t expect to fall in love with Jesus and the world to embrace you as one of its own. You have been called into a strange way of living and that means things will radically change.
The Believer’s Strange Life
Please consider five basic reasons why the Christian life is a call to strange living that people may not have anticipated. First, you believe in something that cannot be seen with the natural eye. Some skeptics have a heyday with the very idea that we believe in the Invisible God. Skeptics also think we are strange because we talk with God in prayer. As followers of Christ, we know that believing in God is an act of faith. To take this a step further, God has given to us the gift of faith according to Romans 12:3. Jesus also commanded us to have faith in God. Mark 11:22. It is that supernatural gift of faith that makes God known to us.
Another reason why Christians are considered strange is the fact that we do not practice the world’s sinful ways. 1 Peter 4:4, they are surprised (count it strange) that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. True believers are mocked because they choose to live godly. Believers are scorned because they have chosen a lifestyle that promotes honesty, clean living, and respect for one another based on the Bible. For that reason, people consider us strange.
To add to that, the world definitely considers us strange when we talk about the coming Judgement of God on the world. I have even had people to tell me that I am freaking out or even copping out when I speak of such doom’s day predictions. The truth is, we are only speaking of what the Bible says will happen in the end times. Acts 17:31, Because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man Whom He has ordained, whereof He has given assurance unto all men, in that He has raised Him from the dead. The Apostle Peter warns that the world will melt with fervent heat on that great day of the Coming of the Lord. But the world has dismissed this as a hoax since it hasn’t happened in two thousand years that it won’t happen now. Jesus warned that when that Day of the Lord comes, men will be eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage as they were during the days of Noah. Strange as it may seem, one day God will judge the world for its sinfulness and for rejecting the Gospel that would have delivered them from their wickedness.
Yes, Christians are considered strange by the world’s standard. It is just as Jesus said it would be. The world does not know or understand us because it did not understand our Lord. For that reason, we are counted strange or should I say as strangers. But that is exactly what a “pilgrim” is considered. They are aliens to this world because they belong to another world. As citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, there is a fourth reason why Christians are considered strange. This has to do with persecution. When Christians are persecuted, we are to consider it pure joy. Jesus commanded us to rejoice and be exceeding glad for that is the way they persecuted the prophets who were before us. In the letter of James, we are told again to count it “all joy.” We maintain that joy because we know that no matter what the trial, God’s love for us will never change. We maintain that joy because we know that God has made us a promise that He will never leave us nor will He forsake us. For that reason, we consider it pure joy. Our joy is not something we must conjure up or fabricate with our own mind. God gives that joy as a fruit of the Spirit. While the world considers us strange, I think they are strange because when their problems come, they have no one to take their burdens. For us “strange believers,” we can cast all our cares on the Lord.
The fifth reason for Christians to be considered strange is our praise. When believers lift their voice or use other expressions of gratitude and worship for the Living God, the world says we are out of our mind. Some think that praise is excessive and unnecessary. Yet, the same people who criticize believers for expression excitement over God’s kindness and love, will often show excessive emotions at sports events, concerts, or even when they meet a celebrity. As true worshippers of God, we would be denying the Lord something that He expects of us: our gratitude. While there is no singular way for believers to worship and praise God, I believer there are some definite things that our worship should include. First, heart-felt thanks to God for His Goodness. If the praise does not come from the heart, it really has no meaning. Second, the praise should give a testimony of what the Lord has done. We thank God because of the amazing things that He has done. Third, the praise should be noticeable to all who would ask for a reason that we have such hope. For Daniel, he praised and honored God by opening his windows towards Jerusalem. For Abraham, he built altars throughout the land. For Nehemiah and the returning captives to Jerusalem, they bowed their heads with their faces to the ground and worshipped God. For the woman with the alabaster box of ointment, she poured her perfume on Jesus’ feet and wiped it with her hair. Praise may come from the heart as a personal expression of love for God, but it is also something that others will take note of that we have been with God.
Yes, as Christians, we are considered strange by the world’s standard. But when we seek to live our lives to the glory of God, God is pleased and uses our life as a witness to those who are lost. That is the way that our life becomes a light in a dark world.
God bless you.