You Dare Meh?

Honestly, I wish it was a plea instead of a dare. But Christ himself was unapologetic in this tour-de-force of counter-culture. 3 chapters out of the 1189 chapters in the Bible: that’s just a small fraction. 0.25231 % to be exact. Yet, the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is Christ saying potently “See, this is how you should live. This is the pattern of your Legacy”.

The question is: “You dare meh?”

You dare meh? To capture the SHOCKING SPIRITUALITY of being blessed for things that are weak and useless; of the poor in spirit, of the mourners, of the persecuted. (Matt 5:1-16)

You dare meh? To pursue the AUTHENTIC RIGHTEOUSNESS where anger and lust spell murder and adultery, where exacting justice meets its match in God’s perfection in loving even our enemies. (Matt 5:17-48)

You dare meh? To possess an AUTHENTIC RELIGION of no more charades and masks, but only to stand alone before your Father in giving, prayer and fasting. To possess a heavenly treasure and leave behind earthly worries. (Matt 6:1-34)

You dare meh? To enjoy AUTHENTIC RELATIONSHIPS with men and with God to “do to others what you would have them do to you”. (Matt 7:1-20)

You dare meh? To embrace AUTHENTIC COMMITMENT and choose the small road and the narrow gate, to build your life on, and ONLY on, the foundation of Christ. (Matt 7:21-29)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s (1906-1945) study of the Sermon on the Mount carried the title “The Cost of Discipleship”. It was to cost him his life as he died in a Nazi prison for daring to be counter-culture. Prevailing culture with its blend of materialism and moral relativism does not parade itself as blatantly as what Bonhoeffer had to stand up to, yet Marva J. Dawn recognises how this culture creeps into our lives and the life of the church. She lists some of its effects: Postmodern Pluralism, The Loss of Truth in Postmodern Times, The Loss of Authority and Mentoring in Postmodern Times, The Loss of Community in Society, The Quick-Fix Mentality and the Breakdown of Disciplines and Practices and The Rejection of the Actuality of “Sin” (M.J. Dawn, Unfettered Hope, 2003). Run a checklist of these with our lives, it sounds awfully too familiar, doesn’t it?

It’s time to live Counter Culture, Christ has shown us how, but it’s going to cost us. It’s going to cost us being popular, common, conventional, regular, standard and usual. The Sermon on the Mount provides a blueprint for leaving a true legacy behind: a shocking, peculiar and authentic legacy. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:21a). Will you READ it? STUDY it? LIVE it? You dare meh…?