Comfort or the Cross?

I've now finished David Platt's Counter Culture. Wow. I don't know how to do it justice in summing it up. I just want to say please read it- it is such a relevant, necessary, hard hitting book. It would be a great one to study in a book group. I want to quote masses from it but annoyingly I only have a paper copy and can't find the time to type lots out. But I do want to share parts from the last chapter called, "The Gospel and the Unreached". It sums up the whole book and Platt's passion comes through so very powerfully. At a time of discouragement it was just what I needed to hear. Platt asks the reader three questions taken from Luke 9.57-62 when three men told Jesus they would follow him, but....

Question 1 : Are we going to choose comfort or the cross?

"The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head" (Lk 9)

The road Jesus walks ...starts with a demand for self-denial (Lk 9.23).

It is not possible to love the poor and live in unabated luxury. It is not possible to care for the orphan and the widow without major implications for the makeup of your family. It is not possible to confess gospel convictions about marriage and sexuality without being criticized. It is not possible to profess gospel truth at all and remain popular among all.

Jesus promised this, "A servant is not greater than his master" (John 15.20) When you ask how the world responded to Jesus, the answer you come to is a cruel, bloody cross...we anticipate that the more we ground our lives, families, and churches in God's Word, the more we will distance ourselves from the culture in which we live and the harder it will become for us in this world.

When we observe our churches today, do they look like groups of people who gather  with one another as they give their lives to spreading the gospel among unreached people, impoverished communities, abandoned orphans, lonely widows, dying babies, sex slaves and suffering brothers and sisters around the world? Sadly, I don't believe that's the picture we portray...What in the world are we doing? Or better put, what in the Word are we doing? ...I can't help but wonder what might happen if we put aside our personal preferences, let go of extrabiblical traditions,laid down our cultural comforts, and organised ourselves solely and sacrificially around God's Word and gospel mission.

Are we going to choose comfort, or are we going to choose the cross?

The other two questions to follow....