Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

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This is the third message in our Letters to Brock series. In this series, I’m writing letters to our new son, Brock, who is now four weeks old. I’m writing them as open letters so I can share them with you and then spend some time exploring the truth behind the letters that I’ve written.

The central verse for this series is Proverbs 22:6. “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” (NIV)

We’ve been saying all along that this should be the dream of every Christian parent. More than your dreams that your child will go to college, more than your dreams that your child will enter a lucrative career field, more than any dream you have for your children, this should be the king of them all. Raising your children in a godly way so that they will never leave their relationship with God all the days of their life. That ought to be the primary plan and dream of any parent who professes to follow Christ.

And so to that end, I’ve been spending some time in prayerful thought about how I’m raising my boys. And it prompted me to write these letters that Brock will read when he is older. In these letters, I’m simply pouring out my heart about how I want to raise my sons. How I want them to live. What being a disciple of Jesus is really all about.

Let’s spend a minute in prayer and then I’ll read the third letter in the series.

Dear Brock,

Even though you are only four weeks old as I write this letter, I am already living with an eye toward the future. I am weighing heavily the burden of raising you from boyhood to manhood. Everything I do as your dad is done with the knowledge that what I’m really trying to do is to make you need me less and less. In other words, to raise you into a man.

You currently depend on your mom and me for everything. That will continue for a while. Everything you have, you will receive from us…including your faith. Your initial faith in God will come directly from us. But there will come a point when mom and dad’s faith can no longer sustain you. You will have to own it yourself.

As you go through that process, you will have a lot of different Christian people to learn from. There are some who simply use their faith to make themselves feel good. It’s a faith of comfort and convenience. It actually requires very little faith to live like this, and these people are missing out on so much of what God really wants for their lives.

But then there are others…people who live with a strong, bold, courageous faith. People who won’t settle for a mediocre walk with God but instead are always striving for more. People who set ridiculous goals because they believe that their God is really that big. People who are always seeking to know God more, to follow Jesus more, to have more impact for God’s Kingdom.

Many Christians will look at these believers as “radical” or “dangerous.” Those words are actually compliments because it means that they’re living like Jesus. Jesus was radical. Jesus was dangerous. If he weren’t, the religious leaders would have never sought to crucify him.

Brock, erase any thought that following Jesus is about your comfort or convenience. Delete any notion that being a disciple of Christ is safe and secure. It is not. To truly live the life that Jesus has called you to live, you will have to sacrifice security for the unknown. You must opt for risk instead of comfort. But when you live your life that way, you give God the room he needs to act.

God wants to work powerfully in our lives. But we short-circuit that when we live in such a way that we really don’t need him. If we never take a risk, we never have to have faith. If we never make courageous choices, we never need to trust God to be there for us.

As you grow in your faith, I pray that it will be a faith of courage, conviction, and strength. Some people may think you’re radical or even crazy, but God will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Love,

Dad

This letter might sound counterintuitive to some parents. It seems as if I’ve got it backwards. Most parents dream of safety and stability for their children. I told Brock to live with courage, to take risks. That’s hard for me as a parent because I want my boys to be safe. But more than that, much more than that, I want them to follow Jesus. And there are times when being safe and following the Lord stand in opposition to one another.

When you think about the heroes of the Bible, it’s hard to find one of them who didn’t have to live with courage, who didn’t have to take a big-time risk.

God used Abraham to start the entire Old Testament nation of Israel. We know how it turned out, but think about what Abraham had to be feeling at the beginning of this journey.

Look at what God commanded him to do. “The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1, NIV)

Leave your country, your people, your family now…and then I’ll show you where you’re going…later. How many of us would say, “Ok God. I’ll leave everything familiar, everything that I’ve ever known, and I’ll just trust you to tell me where I’m going later.” That sounds like a crazy proposition, but Abraham trusted God more than he trusted his own fears.

Or think about the prophet Hosea. Look at what God called him to do.

“When the LORD first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the LORD and worshiping other gods.”

So Hosea married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she became pregnant and gave Hosea a son.” (Hosea 1:2-3, NLT)

Here’s poor Hosea, just minding his own business. God shows up and says, “Hosea, I’ve got something I want you to do.”

“Ok God, I always try to serve you and please you. What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to get married.”

“Cool! I’ve been looking for that someone special but haven’t had any luck yet. Do you have someone picked out for me?”

“Yes I do.”

“Sweet! Tell me about her.”

“Well, Hosea, she’s…a prostitute.”

“Say what?”

“She’s a prostitute.”

“You want me to marry a…”

“A prostitute. Right. I want you to marry a prostitute.”

“Why?”

“Because my people have been unfaithful to me, and I want to use your marriage as an illustration to show them their unfaithfulness.”

“Ok, let me get this straight. You want me to marry a prostitute as a sermon illustration?”

“Basically, yes.”

“Um, can I at least ask her name?”

“Her name is Gomer.”

“Oh come on!”

Can you imagine the step of faith that it was for Hosea to carry out God’s will for his life? It was an incredible risk.

The list can go on and on about people who took a faith-risk because they valued God more than their own comfort and security.

A faith that is devoid of risk is never pictured in the Bible. Following the Lord has always required the courage to step into the unknown. To leave comfort, and safety, and security behind.

That’s a far cry from the faith of some believers today. You turn on the TV and hear a preacher tell you that God wants to make you healthy. He wants to make you wealthy. He wants you to live a life of complete comfort and security. And it’s no wonder why people flock by the thousands to hear them preach and their books sell by the millions. The message is so attractive…but it’s not consistent with the teaching of Scripture. I’m not saying that these men aren’t brothers in Christ, but there are times when they are just flat wrong.

People ask me my opinion of Joel Osteen all the time. He’s the most popular preacher in America today. He’s so winsome and positive. People are just drawn to him. You can buy his books anywhere from a Christian bookstore to Wal-Mart or Target.

I don’t dislike Joel Osteen. I’ve heard him say some things that have encouraged me and challenged me. But I’ve also heard him say some things that made me stop and say, “Now wait a minute. That doesn’t jive with some things I know from Scripture.”

I want to show a video clip actually involving two preachers. One is Joel Osteen, the other is a guy named Mark Driscoll. I was hesitant to show this clip for a couple of reasons. One, it’s pretty long. I never use videos longer than a minute or two in my preaching, but I’m making an exception today because this one is worth it.

I also don’t want to give the impression that I criticize and condemn other Christians here on the stage at our church. I don’t. So let me say upfront that Joel Osteen is not only a quality speaker and author, but from everything I’ve read about him, he’s a man of God. I’ve read people that know him personally who say that Joel Osteen is a great guy. I don’t doubt that a bit. I’ve never heard anything even remotely scandalous about him, and that’s no small feat when you pastor a church the size of Lakewood Church and when you’re a world famous author.

I’m not criticizing Joel Osteen the man, but I do have some issues with some things that he has preached. Mark Driscoll showed a clip of Joel Osteen at the church where he preaches: Mars Hill Church in Seattle. And then Mark goes on to give us a lot to chew on as we consider these issues. So it’s a little longer than our normal videos, but it’s something we all need to ponder. Let’s check it out.

The point is not that Joel Osteen is always wrong and Mark Driscoll is always right. Neither of those are true. The point is that the Bible has called us to raise our children “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4b, ESV) As we teach and disciple our kids, we’ll have to separate fact from fiction when it comes to following Jesus. And the prevailing notion that being a Christian brings health and wealth and comfort and security is just plain wrong. If we teach our children that this is true, then what will they do when they hit a rough stretch in their lives? They’re going to bail on their faith because we’ve taught them a lie.

Instead, our kids need to be taught that following Jesus isn’t about comfort or safety. It is an adventure. It involves risk, it takes courage, it requires 100% commitment, there are times when it’s incredibly difficult and painful…and that’s why so many people refuse to truly follow Jesus with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

I want to look at something that God said to Joshua. It’s right in the beginning of the Old Testament book of Joshua. Moses had recently died. That left a void of leadership in the Old Testament nation of Israel. God chose to fill that void with Joshua. So God is commissioning Joshua to take the reins of leadership once held by Moses. Here’s a little bit of what God told him.

“Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:6-9, NIV)

In three verses, God told Joshua be strong, be courageous, do not fear, five times. Five times in three verses. Let me give you a simple method of understanding Scripture. When God repeats something, sit up and pay attention because he really wants you to get it. God knows that we don’t always get it, we’re not always that bright, so a lot of times he will repeat something to make a point. When he repeats a principle five times in three verses, we definitely need to sit up and take notice because God is pulling out all the stops to drive this point home.

The point is that a biblical faith is marked by strength and courage. And some of you are saying, “Dude, that is so not me.” You tiptoe through life. You’re tentative. Your fear of making a mistake can cripple you from doing anything at all. You’re scared. You live in fear. You worry. How can you live with courage?

God gives us some principles in these verses. He knows Joshua is scared to death about taking over as leader of the nation of Israel. Who wouldn’t be? Yeah, God has promised to deliver the Promised Land to them, but they’re not going to just waltz in and take it. There will be battles. Warfare will be a way of life. There will be tough times. Hard times. Times of disappointment. Times of loss. And when Joshua stops to weigh the risks, it would be very easy to say, “You know God, I think I’ll pass. I’ve got a few other job offers that seem a little more stable and secure. Great benefits, good retirement package. So, thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass.”

That would have been the easy road for Joshua, but God tells him to be strong. To have courage. And he not only tells him to do that…he tells him how.

The first thing God tells Joshua is that we can live with courage when we are living within the Lord’s will. Contrary to the health and wealth gospel that is so prevalent today, courage isn’t found in a busting bank account. It isn’t found in perfect health or perfect relationships or a perfect life. Those things are fairytales because we live in a very imperfect world marred by the presence of sin. Living courageously is found when we know we are living in the center of God’s will. How do you know if you are living in God’s will? Look at what the Lord said to Joshua.

“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (Joshua 1:7-8, NIV)

The courage Joshua needed came from living in the will of God that was revealed in the Scripture. A lot of people are stumbling through their lives asking, “What is God’s will? What is God’s will for my life?”

The answer is that he has revealed his will in his Word. The Bible is the revealed will of God. It gives us everything we need to form us into the kind of people that God has called us to be.

Yeah, but the Bible doesn’t tell me which job I should take, which school I should go to, or anything like that. People are looking for God to tell them what to be, but God is telling them who to be. The what doesn’t matter nearly as much as the who.

And that’s actually really good news for us. We can’t control what happens in our lives, but we can control who we are becoming. And did you notice what God told Joshua? If you read my Word and follow it, if you become who I want you to be, then you’ll be prosperous and successful. But it’s not the kind of success that we generally think of. The promise is that if we follow God’s principles in our lives, then we’ll succeed at seeing God’s will accomplished in our lives. We’ll prosper in that we’ll see the work we’re doing for God succeed. God isn’t promising that we’ll get rich, never be sick, or any of that other nonsense. He is saying that we can live courageously for him when we know we are living in his will that he has revealed in the Bible.

Listen to these two Proverbs. “Many are the plans of a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” (Proverbs 19:21, NIV)

“There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.” (Proverbs 21:30, NIV)

This is why we can have courage if we’re living in God’s will. It’s not because there is no risk in following him. It’s not because he has guaranteed us 100% success in everything we do if we follow his will, but rather he promised that if we live outside of his will, we’re going to crash and burn. Our lives will be a train wreck.

As you raise your kids, are you drilling these principles into their heads and hearts and lives? Sure, they need to think about what they’re going to do…but much more than that, they need to ponder who they’re going to be. Are they going to live with the courage of a person who is living within the will of God? Are you modeling that as their mom or dad?

And then God gives Joshua one more principle to live courageously. We can live with courage when we are living with the Lord’s presence. The key to courage in tough times is the knowledge that we’re not going through that tough time alone.

God told Joshua, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9, NIV)

In the toughest of battles, in the lowest of moments, Joshua could bank on this promise of God. God promised to go with him wherever he went. And that same promise has been given to you and to me.

Emily Caldwell is a member of my home church in Georgetown. Emily is currently spending a year on the mission field in Mali, West Africa ministering to the women there. It’s an incredible challenge. Sixty one percent of the women are illiterate. Only one percent of the population is Christian. If someone in the culture accepts Christ, the extended family will often try to take their children away from them. It’s not a culture that receives missionaries with open arms…especially new ones like Emily.

On her blog, Emily admits that there are mornings when she would rather hide under her pillow than to go out and face the challenges of the day. The one reason she can face the risks and challenges of her mission is because God is with her.

And he is with you, too. What is the one risk for God that you’ve been avoiding because it’s…well…too risky? That person that you’ve wanted to share your faith with for so long but you haven’t done it because you’re afraid. That mission trip you’ve been dying to take but you don’t know where to start. The relationship you need to mend, the forgiveness you need to offer, the tithe you need to give, the sacrifice you need to make.

This is the courageous faith that God desires for you. Following Jesus can be risky business. Is your faith one that is marked by strength and courage? Is this the faith that you’re passing along to your kids? Or is the faith they see in you something that is all about security and safety? Do they see you doing anything risky or dangerous for God’s Kingdom? Parents, the faith example you set for your children will likely be the faith that they carry for the rest of their lives. It’s time to show them the courage that comes from living within the Lord’s will and living in the Lord’s presence.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: Letters to Brock, faith, health and wealth gospel, Hosea, Joshua, risk