Are Christians in denial about these words?

Question

From Luke 9:23Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? 26If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

How is there any excuse for not understanding that this means we need to all drop our possessions and go out into the mission field......how is it we got to the point of ignoring Jesus' and the disciples' examples?

THere is no excuse...no justification for not abandoning all and going out to find the lost. Christians justify their fattened lifestyle and think they are still doing God's Will...it makes me furious that so many are so unwilling to give all for God....HE gave all for us.

Answer 1

Don't you know that the whole bible can be safely ignored, except those passages that talk about gays?

Answer 2

Friend first of all you don't have the right interpretation of the scriptures. Not one time did the Apostles have to stop their work, Peter was a fisherman & he still was when Jesus walked on water, Luke was a doctor, Now if you want to literally use a scripture without knowing what it means, Then you should leave your job, You wife or husband & have nothing to do with anyone in this world, Now if you want to see the correct Interpretation of these verses, Jesus was saying that he comes first in all of our lives, but he did not literally meant to sale everything you had & not have a job to make a living,If you had to sell everything you had, don't you think it would look strange claiming to be a Christian & running around naked, in fact friend you run into trouble not interpreating the scriptures correctly, Because the bible also says if a man Can not provide for those of his household he is worse than an infedel.& he denies the faith. Now I am not referring to a man that is disable.

Answer 3

Friend, these are awesome words. There is no doubt. It's a call by Christ to reject the love of money and of possessions and to live for the Kingdom of God. But, the question comes: How can each of us best serve the Kingdom? And more importantly, where is God working and how can we be a part of it?

Does this mean we should sell everything except the clothes on our back and move to the third-world country of our choice? Not unless God specifically calls us to do so. Instead, I use my possessions and money to, first, provide for my family. I believe that God has made the ministry of fatherhood and motherhood first priority. Then, I use the possessions and money that I have to be able to serve God in other ways. In my case, I minister to teenagers at a local church. But, how responsible of me is it to "drop our possessions and go out into the mission field?"

I don't understand your post. Don't you recognize that the life in which you live IS the mission field?

Answer 4

That is not what this is saying. This is saying we should daily try to follow Christ's teachings. We should focus on God and not on money. It does not say live in poverty. It just tells us where our focus should be. It tells us not to be ashamed of Christ. Talk about him openly, pray to him freely. Do not worry if others say you are foolish or crazy, follow Christ. You can deny yourself and still live here. Yes, if we are called we should go and work as a mission, but there is a lot of work to be done here as well.

Also, in your anger I noticed you are online, on a computer, in the middle of the day. Are you in the mission field. Have you truely forsaken all earthly posessions to spread the word of Christ? If so great. I mean maybe you are in a library in France or South America typing on a computer, but then are you not being a little prideful? It is easy to judge and complain. Stop being angry. Love even your enemies. Be joyful in the Lord. Show that love and joy with every word and every action, and when someone asks you why, tell them your testimony. Anger and self righteousness only damages our credibility.

God Bless

Answer 5

Actually - there was no mention of going out the mission field. Possessions are only a hinderance if you are attached to them...however, if you are a good steward - then you are only taking care of possessions that are not yours (which is alright).

Jesus and the disciples did live a renunciates life (much the same as many hindu sages)...but you can also live a renunciate's life while still having a home, family, job, possessions, etc.

Hence the good steward.

~ Eric Putkonen

Answer 6

That is not what Jesus is saying, that all Christians have to sell their possession and go out to the mission field. If you feel called to do that then you do it. People can serve Christ in all walks of life, they don't have to live in a mud hut in Africa to demonstrate the love of Christ. You are being judgemental and placing Christians under the law. We are not to live only for riches, but that does mean we have to live like homeless people. You are misunderstanding this scripture verse. The best you can give the Lord is your heart and love.

Answer 7

How dare you?! People serve the Lord in various different ways. Not eveyone is called into the mission field. You are sounding just a tad self-righteous. Not everyone's perception is the same. Some people are lucky enough to have employment, where they serve the Lord daily. It's what's in the heart, not everyone interprets things so literally. I can consider myself serving the Lord in my employment, by unselfishly serving and ministering to the sick. There are lost people everywhere, you don't need to travel far, sometimes in your own home.

Answer 8

I think you are forgetting that not all are called to the same calling. Some evangelize, some teach, some preach, some pastor, some are support for all the others,. If we all chucked everything and marched around the country poor, hungry and penniless we would be considered fools and the word of God would be considered joke.
The Bible condemns me if I don't take care of my family. If I live a prosperous, comfortable lifestyle and still maintain my dedication to God and openly profess His bountiful blessings, then my life becomes a testimony of God's reward and blessing.

Answer 9

You are taking scripture very literally. Jesus taught in parables remember?

For you to be "furious" shows me right there your judgement and anger for your own kind. People you don't even know! What happened to love thy neighbor?

Are YOU out in the mission field? Have YOU given up all your worldly possessions? How is it that you have time to be on the computer with all your mission work to do?

The Bible also speaks of tongue talking (Acts 2:38). Have you done that?

Answer 10

Agreed.

The mission field is everywhere we go; not necesarily a different country.

Christians have become very complacent.

If about a dozen men could change the world through the most famous man in history, why can't "2.1 billion" believers do it?

We're not being real.

These are the end times, and the harvest is coming!

Answer 11

This means not to go out and try to take the whole world and put it into your pocket and forsake your soul by denying Jesus and God in order to do so.

So let me ask you this, are You with out sin that you can Cast a stone?
Can you in fact sit there behind your shield and tell me that you in fact will not have a Stone hit you back?