Fool or Sign for Jesus?

I am thinking again. Thinking hard about this thing called Christianity. I start to think about Christianity when I drive behind a car and see the bumper sticker which says "I love Jesus", or "God is Love", or one of my favorites "Real men love Jesus!" Is this the way that we display our faith? Sharing our faith now is now a bumper sticker, a T-Shirt, or seeing some crazy man yelling out scriptures on the corner. Even the homeless people have caught on to the hype. You'll sometimes see their signs saying "Need food, God bless!" What? Has Christianity turned into the era of the sign? If I want to show the world I am a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ; make a sign so they can see I have religiosity.

The definition of redeemed in the American church has come to put-it-on-your-shirt mentality. No one then can see that you don’t read your bible, live your faith and suffer for the namesake of the Lord Jesus anymore. To hide from the persecution and looking unsuccessful as a Christian, write a blog, make a sign and be sure to sound as Christian as possible. You don’t want to bring to much attention to yourself. You can say “God”, or “the Lord told me”, but don’t say things like the LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Is this what God intended for us who say we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ?

For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. (1 Corinthians 4:9-13 KJV)

Now this is what God wants for us. He wants us to be fools for the Lord Jesus Christ. Am I willing to give up this nice job I have, great wife and family, nice African American suburban neighborhood, and become a fool for the Lord Jesus Christ? When I say give up I mean, am I willing to look foolish for the Lord Jesus in where I am at? I pose this question because Christ is saying “Yes, be a fool for Me!”

Looking at the word spectacle in the Greek transliteration (theatron theh'-at-ron), this word is defined as meaning: a place for public show ("theatre"), i.e. general audience-room; by implication, a show itself (figuratively):--spectacle, theatre. This word is like the gazing stock of Hebrews 10:33. My life in Jesus Christ is placed before the world to see, and they see it as foolishness and mock. Yet the Word of God teaches this is what pleases the Almighty God. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord and Example, did this:

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:25)

And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. (Luke 23:33-35)

This is also how the apostles live their lives, and it was told to Paul this would happen:

But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. (Acts 9:15-16)

As open theatres of their lives, not once do I hear in the Scriptures of Jesus Christ, Paul, or Peter, making a sign to say that they are God’s chosen. In fact Paul stated it well:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:16-17)

So now looking at the American Christianity, is there a public display of our lives for Christ. We’re not being persecuted like those in China, Africa, India, or Turkey. Are our lives being made a spectacle for all to see? Yes, for the true believers, but for the so-called sign makers, no! These so-called Christians are not doing anything but trying to draw attention to them. “Hey look at me, I am an apostle!” “Look, my church has a catchy sign, and if you come in it, we have nice comfy seats, plush carpet, and a children’s center for your kids to run around in reading Rick Warren bible stories!” Oh yeah, this is the attention being drawn. Even the angels that watch (1 Peter 1:12), are they seeing fools for Jesus Christ?

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:27-31)

Oh my, have we forgotten this in America? The Lord has not chosen us to be in high positions but in low estate, to be foolish looking for our Lord Jesus Christ. To be like John who wore the stinky looking clothes and dieted on locust (Mark 1:6). I wonder, when the Christians were being hauled out to be eaten by wild beast, did they think; “I better get a cross around my neck so these Romans can see I’m a Christian, Go Jesus Go”? No way, they were probably smiling, rejoicing, singing and saying this:

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)

Would American Christianity sing that? No, because as spoiled rotten brats, we just put on a T-Shirt, wear a cross around our neck, or slap a bumper sticker on the car, and that’s enough. We want this kind of show:

But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. (Matthew 23:5-7)

See that kind of religion doesn’t cost us a nothing! It’s not this kind of servanthood:

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:24-26)

Do you want to be made spectacles and look foolish? So I think on my friends. May His grace be with you as you true Christians continue to look foolish before this world! I think on and say this scripture below on my heart to Jesus. Oh yes this is something to praise God about. :

<> Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away. O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee. Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel. Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me. When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them. They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards. But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily. Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies. Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all before thee. Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake. Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. But I am poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high. I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs. The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God. For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners. Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein. For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession. The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein. (Psalms 69:1-36)