Are You Too Comfortable to Follow Jesus?

Austin: I think a lot of people get in that mindset of, “I’m never doing enough for God”. So how do we break free from this sufficiency mindset and rest in the fact that He did the work for us? How do we get there?

David Platt: Oh, that’s good. Well, one, just like where you landed that, just always come back to the gospel. And you quoted from Ephesians 2, “By grace saved through faith, not from your works. It’s a gift of God.” So to rest in the finished work of Jesus, that our approval before God is not based on what we do. It’s based on the righteousness of Jesus bought for us at the cross. So to rest in that, like we should be the most, in this sense, restful, free people because we have acceptance before God, totally not based on our work, but based on trust and the work of Jesus. That then frees us up to do work not in an attempt to earn approval from God but at an overflow of God’s grace in our lives. And then, so the prayer I, I pray a lot, is “God help me to do only and all that you call me to do”, both those words.

I want to do all that God calls me to do in my life and only what God calls me to do. God’s not called me to do everything, or you to do everything. We’ve each got unique parts to play and to rest in that, there’s a humility and a dependence on God that’s just, “Okay, I’m trusting in you to lead me, and I just want to play my part”. And the beauty is in the body of Christ to encourage others who are playing their part, to see yourself as just encouraging other brothers and sisters of Christ who are doing a million things that are beyond what you could do.

I think about one conversation I had today with somebody who’s in a really unique place, and I won’t use specifics, but in a company as a believer, just shining gospel light in a strategic way. And I just was looking into their eyes like, “Go for it, you’re doing it, stay steadfast, stay bold.” It’s not easy for that person in that company to do this, but they’re doing it. And I just want to speak into their life, and not feel like, okay, I need to be doing the same thing as them. No, that’s the beauty, God’s doing that through them. Let me speak that encouragement for us to do that with each other in the body of Christ, I think also helps us rest in who God’s called us to be, what God calls us to do, and celebrate what God calls others to do in this big picture of making Him known.

Austin: Yeah, no, that’s so good. I just come back to the idea of rest. Like Psalm 23, “Rest, that the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.” I have everything that I need, for He is my rest. He’s where I can find the ultimate joy. And I love that earlier in the day, you shared Psalm 16:11, which is a verse that’s super impactful to my life. That, “You make known to me the path of life. In your presence, there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” It’s like I have to keep returning to that. Amidst the trials and the tribulations of my life, I can count it all in joy, like James says, “Knowing that the tests through my faith produces steadfastness, that it would produce a completeness that I may be lacking in nothing.” But none of that can happen without me coming to rest in Him first, to abide in the vine; nothing, no fruit can be borne after my own works. It’s all Him.

David: You know what else comes to my mind along those lines? So I was, earlier this morning, in Philippians 4:13. So that’s where Paul is like, “I have the secret of being content in whatever situation.” So I think about this a lot. Because we talk a lot about 3 billion people have never heard the gospel, and how can we make our lives count, like following Jesus and making Him known in this world. That could easily lead to a lifestyle that’s just never content. I mean, there are billions of people without the gospel. But Paul clearly had passion to see Jesus proclaimed where He’s not yet known, but he says, “I’m content in any situation.” And specifically the context there because in prison, he’s saying, “Whether I have plenty, whether I want, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” So he has this inward sense of peace, joy, strength that supersedes circumstances in the world.

So God, and this is one of those paradoxes in the Christian life, God’s called us to live content, like just satisfied in the sufficiency of Jesus. The Lord’s my Shepherd, I shall not want, and basically because He’s my Shepherd, what else do I need? I am content, and at the same time I’m running. And Paul, to use the language from 2 Timothy 4, “I’m fighting a fight.” “A spiritual battle,” Ephesians 6. “But out of the overflow of contentment,” this is Matthew 11:28–30, “come all who are weary and burdened, I’ll give you rest.” And then out of overflow of that rest, you will lead others by the power of Jesus in you, strength of Jesus in you, peace, joy of Jesus in you, you want to lead others to life in Him. “By the power of His,” Colossians 1, “energy working within you.” So anyway, to be restful and relentless in making Jesus known at the same time, this is the Christian life.

Austin: That’s so good. I mean, it’s ultimately dependence on Him, right? We reference Paul so much, but I mean,1 he practically wrote half the New Testament. But one of my favorite verses is comes from 2 Corinthians 12 where Paul is, again, in prison. He has a thorn in his flesh, and whatever that means, we can take that and talk about that later. But he pleads with God three times, “Please remove this from me.” But God says, “My power is made perfect in weakness.” Then, so Paul concludes that, “Okay, then therefore I will boast of my weakness knowing that the power of Christ will rest upon me. So I’m content with insults, hardships, calamities, persecution, for when I’m weak, then I’m strong”. And it’s just like that has to resonate with the Christian who wants to make their life count, who wants to follow Jesus and make Him known.

Because if that doesn’t resonate with you, if there’s no burden for the things of God, for the lostness of his people, then that’s where we get, these people who maybe just show up to a Sunday service every now and then. And man when the service is out, they talk about sports and it’s not about Jesus, but we have to keep Him at the center. Like a verse that you even shared, I keep reflecting on this too in Revelation. It’s the lamb in the middle of the throne, in the midst of the throne with the spring of living water running out. He’s in the middle. He’s at the center of everything.

And that’s the most beautiful picture of what we’re going to see someday. It’s Him, it’s His face. It’s Him being at the center. Man, I guess when we’re talking about this feeling comfortable in our lives, we’ve referenced people who have 9 to 5 jobs, who maybe have a nice house and a nice family, and there’s comforts in our lives. What would you say to someone who is maybe feeling guilty about their comfort? And they’re feeling like, man, I want to live radically, I want to let go of some of these comforts, but how do I also pursue the things of God while also stewarding and taking care of my family or not being unfaithful to my job and the people around me? What would you do? What would you say to that type of person who wants to let go of comforts but also knows that some comforts aren’t necessarily bad?

David: Yeah, sure. I love the way, even just your phrase question. So, even just, let’s start with guilt because well, to the extent with which the Holy Spirit is convicting us of sin, opening our eyes to sin in our lives, according to God’s Word, not according to other standards that we or others might set up for us. But according to God’s Word, we need the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin, open our eyes to our need for grace, confess that before the Lord. At the same time, and that’s the beauty, as we confess that before the Lord, we receive grace, and obedience is the overflow of grace, not of guilt. But I would not say having this or that comfort is necessarily a picture of sin in your life. I kind of caveat that a little bit, necessarily because I have, I’ve met people who have bought a car that was much more expensive than they needed, and they felt convicted about it, and they went and gave the car back and got the money back.

So if the Holy Spirit’s doing that, like, okay, listen to the Holy Spirit. But just because you have a car that can drive your six kids, I don’t think that’s wrong. I mean, that’s where we have all these commands in the Bible. Yes, follow Jesus, make Him known, part of following Jesus is being a good husband, being a good dad, taking care of your kids. Now in a really affluent culture like we live in in the world, we have to… Well, one, our lives are going to have comforts that many people in the world don’t have. And it’s not that that’s bad in and of itself. This is where I think 1 Timothy 6, the kind of framework that Paul gives there, is there’s a contentment. Paul says, “If I have food and clothing, then I’m content.” And that’s where he starts talking about how the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and plunges us into destruction if we’re not careful.

So that’s not saying money in and of itself is bad, comfort in and of itself is bad, but seeking money, seeking comfort over the things of God and what God is calling us to do with the resources we have been entrusted by Him with, then okay, we need to be really careful. And that’s the way I’ve talked about it ever since I wrote the book Radical was, okay, what is our level of enough. To really be intentional to say, okay, in a world that says more and more nicer and nicer, newer and newer, better and better, I just keep getting more. I don’t think that’s what Jesus is calling us to live according to. So, how do we put a limit on those things?

And there’s no steadfast rule for what that looks like. C.S. Lewis said, “I don’t know how to define that. I would say that the follower of Jesus should be making sacrifices.” He just kind of used that general language. But I mean, even what does that look like? But I think that’s true. I mean, the essence of what it means to follow Jesus is to die to ourselves. Yes, we make sacrifices to follow Jesus and make Him known, but that might look different even for different people’s lives. Some people have a conviction that leads to an enough level here. Some people might have a conviction that leads to enough level here, and I think that’s where we, as the body of Chris,t need to help each other think through. I need brothers and sisters in Christ to help me think through, “Hey, is this an unwise way to live? Is this a wise way to live?”, and help process that through the framework of, we’re followers of Jesus, making Him known among the nations, we want to live for what matters forever.

So how do I do that as a husband, as a dad in this part of the world? And yeah, I don’t trust myself enough in that, I need the body of Christ around me and us working together to do that with each other. All of that to come back to, though, like, zeal to make Jesus known in the world should not be the overflow of guilt in our lives, that’s not… It’s grace in our lives, it’s mercy in our lives, it’s the power of Jesus in us that leads to zeal for the spread of Jesus’ love to the people around us and people around the world. And we need to make sure it’s not guilt that’s driving that.

Austin: Because we would just burn out fast.

David: Yes, it would be so unhelpful on so many different levels. It misses the core of the gospel, and yeah, it won’t last. It’s not sustainable. Grace, gospel grace, is the only sustainable motivation for following Jesus and making Him known in the world with reckless abandon.