Is Your Comfort Zone Costing Your Soul?
Most of us have arranged our lives to be as comfortable as possible. And it makes sense — we’re tired, we’re busy, and comfort feels like wisdom. But somewhere under all that comfort is a nagging feeling that Jesus might have had something very different in mind for us.
In this episode of the Everyday Disciple Podcast, we’re going to get honest about what a life of comfortable faith actually costs — and what it’s costing the people around you. This isn’t guilt. It’s an invitation. Jesus called us to a mission, and that mission was never guaranteed to be easy.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- 7 signs your faith has slipped into comfortable and complacent
- The areas of life where comfort quietly crowds out mission
- What the Gospel actually says about comfort and risk
- How to take your next honest step toward a missional life
From this episode:
“If we want a comfortable faith, we best not give ourselves to Jesus Christ. Seeking a life of comfort is missing the point. Seeking Jesus and his glory in all of life — that’s the goal.”
Each week the Big 3 will give you immediate action steps to get you started.
Download today’s BIG 3 right now. Read and think over them again later. You might even want to share them with others…
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Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Coaching and Mentorship in Missional Living by Caesar and his wife Tina
Resources for missional living and group training – Missio Publishing
The Gospel In Everyday Life Workshop Register Now FREE
Transcript
We live in a culture oriented entirely toward comfort, and the church is not immune from this allure.
Speaker:Are we just dissatisfied consumers helping to find our perfectly customized dream, job, dream house, dream, vacation, and even our dream church, and a perfectly comfortable dream life?
Speaker:When Jesus said that we would do the things he has done and even greater things, I'm reminded of a savior who endured the discomfort of the cross to bring us new life.
Speaker:And then send us out on his mission.
Speaker:Could it be that we're already living too comfortably for the mission that Jesus called us, his church, his disciples to live out?
Speaker:Welcome to the Everyday Disciple Podcast, where you'll learn how to live with greater intentionality and an integrated faith that naturally fits into every area of life.
Speaker:In other words, discipleship as a lifestyle.
Speaker:This is the stuff your parents, pastors and seminary professors probably forgot to tell you.
Speaker:And now here's your host, Caesar Kalinowski.
Speaker:Here I am.
Speaker:Here you are.
Speaker:Here we are
Speaker:together again.
Speaker:Together again for another episode that's of Life School.
Speaker:I'm good.
Speaker:I'm real good actually.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:I was just, uh, I was just informing you of my flooding and uh,
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:Oh,
Speaker:stinky problems that are now mitigated, but yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker:Walked in to see your whole downstairs where we record.
Speaker:Just ripped apart carpet, missing walls.
Speaker:Uh, yeah, fun, fun times.
Speaker:But you
Speaker:know.
Speaker:Anything else Fun recently?
Speaker:First
Speaker:world problems.
Speaker:Maybe you're living too comfortable on mission.
Speaker:We're gonna talk about that.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:So yeah, let's get into it, right?
Speaker:But before we start the show, we wanna read a review that came in from L Label, be 1981, who said, Hmm.
Speaker:Love the truth and freedom that has communicated so well in this podcast.
Speaker:Thank you for your father's hearts and commitment to see the truth and power of what God has provided for us to be reality in every area of our lives, as well as to create sincere, authentic, God-loving communities in our world.
Speaker:You bring hope and clarity to a very confused church.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:Thanks l label be
Speaker:That's so kind.
Speaker:You can start to hear some of the gospel fluency coming back to us and the emails we get and Facebook posts, you know, I mean, it's cool.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Like, like just like we sound like a different church these days a little bit.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I'm loving it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I love it too.
Speaker:If only there was more,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And, and where else?
Speaker:We're seeing it as on Everyday Disciple Podcast group on Facebook where people are actually going in and like.
Speaker:Discipling each other's heart and speaking the truth to one another.
Speaker:And love and yeah.
Speaker:Pushing the four Gs into each other's lives.
Speaker:Nothing exploded with people a while back when I was doing the, uh, everyday Disciple challenge.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And, um, I'll talk more about this later, but I'm getting ready to do another training.
Speaker:Cool.
Speaker:Different content and a bunch of deep training.
Speaker:'cause it was so fun.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's so, we made so many new friends and so I'll, I'll tell everybody about that a little bit later.
Speaker:But that's coming too.
Speaker:So get in while the getting's Good in the Facebook group.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Facebook group.
Speaker:Join us for that.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:Hey, so today we're talking about the question, are you too comfortable?
Speaker:To live on mission.
Speaker:Uh, and let's talk about this a little bit because I wanna provide a narrative of what we mean when we actually say living too comfortably.
Speaker:What do you mean by that?
Speaker:I guess what that question belies in my own heart is, is your, is my, are our lives arranged in such a way that, you know, we've kinda set everything up to provide maximum comfort and flexibility.
Speaker:But for me, you know, in other words, who.
Speaker:Is the focus of this comfortable life I've built for myself and my family, and I and I. This isn't really a downplay on being comfortable.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:You know, like, Hey man, you got new lazboy recliners.
Speaker:What's, what's your problem?
Speaker:I thought you loved Jesus.
Speaker:You know, it's, we're not saying that, but it's like, what's the focus?
Speaker:Of my scheduling and my comfort and, you know, the walls I build.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And sure.
Speaker:I, we all have things that we want to change and, and I know some of our friends listening to this right now are thinking that they lack a lot of comfort in key areas of their life.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:And probably most people listening to the podcast right now with us are I.
Speaker:Like me and my flooding issue, it's like it's a first world problem.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:It's like, it's not like my whole house flooded, by the way, if everybody's wondering, it's like safe, had a bath, bathroom, overflow.
Speaker:It's all Yeah.
Speaker:But, um, but, but really what we're talking about is have we maybe as the church and that, that caught myself, I count you, we, you know, we're the church.
Speaker:Uh, but have we organized our lives?
Speaker:And many of us, I think, have in such ways that we're just too darn comfortable to make disciples and really live on mission.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And we've been kind of told it's okay, it's kind of wrapped up in this American dream life and all that.
Speaker:But I wanna, I wanna look at and discuss some of the types of things that I'm thinking here.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Because I'm not just talking about having a house full of comfy furniture and TVs in every room.
Speaker:I think there's other things that we get very comfortable with and I don't wanna change it.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Make sense?
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:So how about like our budget?
Speaker:You know, the way we spend our money, I don't know of almost anybody who ever says like, I got a whole lot of extra, you know, just sitting around every month, my wife and I don't know what to do.
Speaker:So we walk the streets and kinda handle five, $5 bills, you know,
Speaker:throw some at us.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:But yeah, exactly.
Speaker:But how the way we spend our money
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Uh uh is that managed for our comfort primarily?
Speaker:And then maybe we would consider blessing others.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Or using it for discipleship and Missional to build the church and see the kingdom of God extend.
Speaker:How about our personal time?
Speaker:Are we real comfortable with what I do with my personal time?
Speaker:You know, well on Mondays we do this and Wednesdays and that, and then Saturday's a day with, you know, this, and then while the kids have baseball or you know, soccer all, absolutely.
Speaker:You know, like that's something that we can get real comfortable with.
Speaker:My personal time, my boundaries and all that, that might be keeping us from mission.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:I would agree.
Speaker:So I'm too comfortable with the way I use my time that I, it's just gonna be a bridge too far.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:I'd have to change too.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Um, or how about our homes?
Speaker:We're too comfortable with our home that, you know, we don't wanna messed up.
Speaker:We've talked about before, real life conversations that I've had with people who are, I'm all about mission and discipleship.
Speaker:Like, oh, I don't want those people over here.
Speaker:They got kids and I don't want my VS broken.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:You see, we just kept finally got the new tv.
Speaker:What if they throw something through it and it was like, oh my goodness.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:How about where you live?
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Uh, I can't tell you how often, like real often, weekly, maybe, you know, monthly.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:We'll get emails from people or have conversations where people are saying, well, you know, where we live, there just isn't enough people around.
Speaker:Or it's, this neighborhood isn't, you know, this, that, or the other for mission.
Speaker:Why do you live there then?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Oh, you should see the house we got.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:It's like, well, it's a great house, or, well, it's just, it's only 15 minutes from work or something.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:It's like, are you so comfortable with where you live?
Speaker:That you wouldn't move towards the mission.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Or to be, you know, amongst the people God's calling you to.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Maybe you've never even asked.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:How about where you work or your job or your income level?
Speaker:You
Speaker:know, a lot of people live right up to their income level and they're not even comfortable with it.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:Like, God, if I can only make more.
Speaker:If I can make more.
Speaker:But the truth is, you know, we've all had raises.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:we acclimate to that raise.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Boom.
Speaker:You
Speaker:start
Speaker:buying to that level.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:You changed, you know, jobs and careers a little bit in the last year.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, you got a little bump in the upgrade there.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:But I'm guessing you just don't have like thousands of dollars in your wallet now.
Speaker:Like, I don't even know what to do with all this.
Speaker:We, we eat a lot more sushi than we did in the past,
Speaker:but, you know, think about it like.
Speaker:You know, do we get so comfortable with that, that it's like, well, I'd have to, I'd have to lose the commute and that's like an hour and 15 minutes away.
Speaker:So I'd have to change jobs if we're gonna really invest in our neighborhood and make disciples here.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:You get to, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:How about meal times?
Speaker:Like, well, you know, we have a small group, but we never really move towards family life or doing meals because that just goes too late.
Speaker:And then, you know, my kids are used to eating at five and if we go late, you know, it's like, what?
Speaker:What?
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:Are we just too comfortable with our schedule when it comes to our, you know, our kids, um, meal times?
Speaker:How about who our kids play with?
Speaker:I've actually had people tell me that, you know, like, well.
Speaker:There's some families in the church that we just don't agree with, and we don't like our kids being with them.
Speaker:And there's neighborhood kids that I'd never let my kids play with, you know?
Speaker:And you're like, whoa.
Speaker:Whose kids are they are, you know?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And so these are, they're, again, these are things that maybe we've grown.
Speaker:Super comfortable with, because the heart behind it is I, it's my way.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:I've, I've organized all this.
Speaker:Your bedtime of your kids, you know, people are like, oh, I, I have to leave strictly at eight.
Speaker:You're like, but we're deep into this discussion with these people and they're super broken and they're finally pouring their hearts out.
Speaker:Yeah, but I gotta get up at six, you know?
Speaker:Like, well, I don't know.
Speaker:You were up for the final four, you know, watching, you know, March Man as you were up super late.
Speaker:You
Speaker:can make exceptions.
Speaker:Somehow you managed to live through that extra.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Well, it's just a week.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:It's just a night.
Speaker:So, um, what you do on holidays, some people vacate for the holidays.
Speaker:They're very comfortable with the rhythm.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We get this lake house, da, da da.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Well, like maybe you're too comfortable to actually be with your neighbors then.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, it's, I don't know.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Um, the list kind of goes on and on.
Speaker:Maybe how many activities your kids are involved in.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, that's a huge
Speaker:one
Speaker:at school or in sports, like we're real comfortable with that.
Speaker:It just leaves no time.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Everybody tells me they're so busy and I'm like, I could just look down this list and say you're very, very comfortable.
Speaker:Well, I'm actually not that comfortable.
Speaker:Well, then, then really lose it.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:Then really rid of it, you know?
Speaker:Um, some of us are very comfortable not having the opinions of others come into our life, meaning, well in community, people push on you.
Speaker:And they push on your house and you have to get your house ready and I'm not that good at cook.
Speaker:And you know, an on we go, right?
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And so we're actually comfortable protecting our own little sovereignty and other people's opinions of us by not engaging in the Missional discipleship.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Well, but I'm a, I'll go to church, I mean, of Christian.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You're sitting in silence though, most of that time.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And in rows, well, I serve in the children's ministry too.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They hand you a pack at ut, but like where Yeah.
Speaker:Where do you actually have the opinions of others pushing up against you?
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:And, and, you know, moving you from unbelief to belief, but, well, I'm, but I'm, I'm a good person.
Speaker:I'm comfortable with where I'm at.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:That's, and that's sort of the big point here of are we too comfortable in some areas of our life for, for the mission.
Speaker:Jesus said in Luke 14.
Speaker:He says, um, well, it says in Luke, it says, large crowds were traveling with Jesus and, and turning to them.
Speaker:Jesus said, if anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes.
Speaker:Even their own life and stuff, such a person cannot be my Disciple.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me, cannot be my Disciple.
Speaker:And then that's verse 27.
Speaker:Then it jumps ahead to 33.
Speaker:He says, those of you who do not give up everything you have.
Speaker:Cannot be my disciples.
Speaker:Now that sounds pretty harsh, you know?
Speaker:And now we're not gonna have the time today to get into a big, deep study of Luke 14.
Speaker:Jesus is not saying, Hey, you know what?
Speaker:You know what Christians do?
Speaker:They hate people, they hate their parents.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:The whole thing is what he's talking about.
Speaker:And in verse three, three, I think really sums it up.
Speaker:Those of you who do not give up everything you have, cannot be my Disciple.
Speaker:Where are you finding your comfort in?
Speaker:And if it's not me, and my plans and my mission, and my sovereignty and my protection, my provision all fill it all up.
Speaker:If you don't give that up,
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:Then you can't be my Disciple.
Speaker:'cause you're lowered over your comfort, you're lowered over all that stuff in your life.
Speaker:It reminds me of something.
Speaker:That's what
Speaker:Jesus is getting at.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It reminds me of a quote from CS Lewis who said that if we want a comfortable faith, we best not give ourselves to Jesus Christ.
Speaker:But if we want a faith that's grounded in ultimate reality and one that matures and therefore en ennobles us, then Jesus is indeed the way, the truth and the life.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Exactly, and I think perhaps, I don't know, you know how much these days, this is true.
Speaker:Maybe it's a lot in certain churches, but I think that often.
Speaker:We have a very man-centered gospel.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:That's really about your comfort.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Oh, well, you're experiencing pain in your life.
Speaker:Accept Christ.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, say this prayer and, and then, you know, Jesus, take the wheel.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well that's true.
Speaker:Jesus wants to be Lord of your life and take, you know, sure.
Speaker:Take sovereignty and rule and reign of your life, but not just so you can get out of the, a muck and mess that you Exactly.
Speaker:You know, you know, you made so you can feel more comfortable.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:You know, you know that's what's going on.
Speaker:And I think, I think that quote that you're referencing from CS Lewis is exactly what he's saying is that Christianity is this, this life that Christ lived, and I'm reminded of a savior who endured the discomfort of the cross to bring us new life, his life.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And then send us out on his mission to, to replicate his life and, and invite others into this, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I, I mean this is, uh, this idea of how comfortable we are and who's Lord ruling over this comfortable life and comfortable faith is, um.
Speaker:I don't think it's classic historical Christianity.
Speaker:It doesn't remind me of the life of Christ who owned nothing and gave everything
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And calls us to come and die with him, you know?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And, and I'm thinking as you even, we're going through that huge list, it's really easy for us to wanna, uh, strategically go after and attack certain areas, which we get to do, but ultimately we talk a lot about the thing behind the thing, like what's actually driving us to.
Speaker:To become complacent or to become comfortable or to become,
Speaker:build this world of comfort around us.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Around us.
Speaker:And then be, and I'm not willing to touch it or change it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And if we don't go after that heart, then we're gonna just, it'll, it'll always shift to something else, right?
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:And so what do you think is going on when we settle into this life of complacency, uh, and protected comfort in these areas?
Speaker:What do you think we're not believing is true about God on a heart level?
Speaker:I think that's exactly where we have to look.
Speaker:'cause otherwise we would, we'll just take a BB gun and start picking off ding ding, all this stuff.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But then I'll pick your list off first because like, I don't know why you need like that big a screen of tv.
Speaker:He, he, you know, whatever, you know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right,
Speaker:right.
Speaker:I think, I think the, the, the thing here is we're not actually believing that God is good and that his life lived would be the better life than our own.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Like, I believe with all my heart Heath, that Jesus lived the absolute best human life that any human has ever lived.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:I mean, I, I have to, how can you not, how do you not agree with that?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And he died and then rose again that we might be brought to new life, his life.
Speaker:And I don't think we believe it.
Speaker:I think, you know, you know, like I look at that, you know, sandals and a robe and the scratchy beard, and I go, no thanks.
Speaker:This world of comfort I've built for myself with a little Christianity punched in there.
Speaker:It's better, it's gooder.
Speaker:I don't think we believe God is good, and so we start looking everywhere else for our satisfaction, for our comfort, for our protection, for our provision, for our boundaries, all that stuff.
Speaker:I really think that's, that's the thing behind the thing.
Speaker:We don't believe God is that good and that the life of Christ that he offers would even just on a purely pragmatic level, be better than the lives we currently live.
Speaker:We don't believe it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We believe he's a good addition.
Speaker:Like, like he's salt on the meal, right?
Speaker:Like.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:He's not the ultimate feast.
Speaker:He's
Speaker:or he might be good to get my ticket punched outta hell and into heaven.
Speaker:So that's, you know, that's why I said that prayer when I was in middle school.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Or whatever, or last month.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Whatever.
Speaker:So he's good.
Speaker:If I can get my comfort worked out from him in that sense, but not that I would want his life.
Speaker:So I don't, I, I think that's the thing.
Speaker:We had to think, we don't believe he's good.
Speaker:That his life would be good.
Speaker:Would be better, you know,
Speaker:you know, I'm one of the verses that just keeps coming to my mind right now, and I could be pulling it outta context completely, but it's back from Proverbs 29, uh, verse 18, where it says, where there's no vision that people perish.
Speaker:And I've heard that talked about different ways, like where there's no vision, people lose hope, they lose direction.
Speaker:Uh, do you think that often, uh, our comfortableness comes from losing sight of the ultimate vision and mission?
Speaker:Of us being able to, to enter into that incarnation.
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:I, it's super insightful.
Speaker:I was just talking to a guy today on a, like a coaching call who said something pretty profound, just kind of in passing almost.
Speaker:But he's a counselor and Yeah, super brainiac dude.
Speaker:And he, he said like, when our goals in life, okay, or vision for where we're trying to head is not clear and it's not compelling, then we sort of just crumble.
Speaker:Into complacency and lethargy and, you know, nothing quite, we're not stoked about it.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And, and I think this goes back to this man-centered gospel that was really primarily about me and my comfortable afterlife, but it kinda leaves this life up to me, and we've talked about it before.
Speaker:It kinda leaves it as sin management or behavioral modification.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:And I, I'm a pretty good guy and look at how comfortable I am.
Speaker:So, you know, um, I, I think because we have not been taught.
Speaker:The eternal plan of God is to fill the world with his glory.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And that the mission that Jesus gave us, his church accomplishes that making disciples who make disciples fills the earth with Jesus, who is God's glory.
Speaker:The exact repre representation of the Father scripture teaches us.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And I don't think that when we are, quote, signing up new believers when people are coming into community.
Speaker:And starting to walk with Jesus.
Speaker:They understand the high calling that we've been given.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:As, as co heirs in Christ, the identity, the authority, the privilege we have.
Speaker:And you think about it, if I signed up for something that I feel like I no longer have a problem with.
Speaker:Because it's, you know, I like the guys came and they scrubbed out my bathroom, that overflowed to sleep and it's all done.
Speaker:I'm not thinking about it.
Speaker:But the night that it, the day that it happened and before it was mitigated, literally I barely slept.
Speaker:'cause I was like, wow, what am that?
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:But if now the rest of my life, I'm supposed to be stoked, you know, about the mitigation of that problem.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And it's already covered.
Speaker:I, I'm gonna start to just shift back to other lesser.
Speaker:Loves.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And so I think it absolutely is this, without vision, the people perish.
Speaker:That verse we, you know, we take it like, well, vision for what?
Speaker:So like we cast huge visions for the church.
Speaker:We're putting on a new youth wing and you know, something like that, you know?
Speaker:Um, but I'm thinking like, no, without the vision of God's eternal purpose, Paul calls it the mystery reveal without understanding that we were.
Speaker:Created and now recreated in Christ and empowered by his own spirit, a part of this eternal filling the world with God's glory, but not as some sort of like lowly, you know, broken down, whipped slave servants.
Speaker:Though we we're slaves in that sense that Christ is, but no, as co-heirs as sons and daughters.
Speaker:Like that's our identity.
Speaker:And I think that without that vision and that understanding of the gospel and how everything feeds into that, I think we do begin to perish in the sense that we just go, well, I'll just build my own little kingdom and castle over here and get more and more comfortable in, yeah, wait
Speaker:for the next game of Thrones next week.
Speaker:You know, it's just, you kind of lose it.
Speaker:I'm living for that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So can you maybe give us some ways to identify like if we've grown maybe too comfortable or complacent in our faith?
Speaker:Uh, or some things that might be keeping us from experiencing life on mission as Jesus called us and commanded us to live.
Speaker:What are some ways or some metrics that we, we can use?
Speaker:I, one of the first things I think of is maybe listening more to the spirit.
Speaker:After all.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:He was sent to us as a guide, right?
Speaker:Like
Speaker:mm-hmm.
Speaker:I notice in, in seasons of my life where I'm not trying, I'm not intentionally pursuing listening to the spirit, I tend to lose some of that vision.
Speaker:Um, is it using metrics to judge how we're living?
Speaker:How, how can we identify this and move past this?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Let me, let me underscore what you said there.
Speaker:I think listening to the spirit in this is, is always gonna be the top line answer, but sometimes we, we need that push to even know what we're asking of the spirit, you know?
Speaker:And I, what am I listening for?
Speaker:And so let me give us seven signs here that we may have slipped into a comfortable and complacent faith.
Speaker:And some of these I've gleaned from a book by Brett McCracken called Uncomfortable the Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Pretty cool book about like, hey,
Speaker:sure.
Speaker:Christian community.
Speaker:A lot of thorns in there.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:For your good in God's glory.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:But, but so some of those are from this, but lemme just give you seven signs that you may have.
Speaker:And all of these, I would say pray over to go back to, you know, the thing, so first sign, um, that you may have slipped into a comfortable faith, complacent faith is you still believe that your faith in Christianity is primarily about your afterlife.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:You're still there.
Speaker:You still think like, no, I said that prayer and I'm over it.
Speaker:So now I get to just be a good guy and try to sin last, you know, take, well, not as bad as she is, you know?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So if, if you remember sealing the deal with Jesus that one time when you said a special sinner's prayer, you know the one that you won't find in scripture and now you're comfortable waiting for Jesus to return or waiting to someday get to heaven, while avoiding the messiness of this world, which is a real big part of, uh, building this world of comfort around us, then you're probably too comfortable for the mission.
Speaker:Jesus died, that we might truly live living his life here and now, like we just said, in the kingdom of God and showing others the way back home.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:That's good, man.
Speaker:So that's, that's a huge sign.
Speaker:I mean, and that's a global one.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:If, if that's what you think this is about, you've probably lost your vision and you've started to perish in, in comfort.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Second thing is, um, a sign right is there, there's no paradoxes or tensions or unresolved questions.
Speaker:That you have.
Speaker:Hmm?
Speaker:Like if you never ponder or wrestle with some of the mind-boggling truths of Christian theology, things like the Trinity, or the incarnation, or atonement theology, or the Spirit's presence, you know, just to name a few, then your faith's probably too comfortable.
Speaker:Because it's big and it's deep and the word of God is, is like you can't search it all.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:I mean, it's like, oh my gosh, we have eternity to discover.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:This mind blowing God.
Speaker:Um, this our faith, Christianity, this life in Christ is a faith that leaves you restless and wants to, you wanna know more and.
Speaker:You're not satisfied with Pat answers and, and you're not sure that you've grasped all that God has for you.
Speaker:So you, you're after it.
Speaker:But if you're living with no paradoxes or tension, you're like, yeah, I'm good.
Speaker:I just, I don't know.
Speaker:You
Speaker:know, it's funny, as you said that is, it is.
Speaker:Just today at lunch we had, I had lunch with our mutual friend, William Turville, and you wanna talk about a guy who's constantly challenging me and, and pushing my thoughts.
Speaker:Just had
Speaker:dinner last night.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And he said the same thing.
Speaker:He is like, I had crazy conversation with Cesi last night.
Speaker:I'm having crazy conversation with you.
Speaker:But I always walk away going, I, I don't have this nearly as figured out Yeah.
Speaker:As I thought I did.
Speaker:I, and I think that's good.
Speaker:We're not comfortable with where we're at.
Speaker:Like, eh, I gotta, eh, it's good to go.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um, here's another sign.
Speaker:Uh, in your faith, you're never challenged.
Speaker:You're only affirmed.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:So if, if you're Christian, faith and community, rarely, if ever confronts your idols, challenges your sin or habits and beliefs, but only ever affirms you as you are, this is probably a sure sign that you're in too comfortable a place.
Speaker:Your faith.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Because healthy community doesn't just celebrate you as you are with the goal of everyone being seen as nice and everybody likes everybody, so we won't challenge or push on much.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:But consistently instead, molds and refines you into the likeness of Christ through proclaiming the gospel over you and serving each other and all that, that life and community is meant to be.
Speaker:What gets to be.
Speaker:That is beautiful, but it's necessary.
Speaker:It's uncomfortable at times that process, right?
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:absolutely, man.
Speaker:Okay, so if you're never challenged and only affirmed and you don't like putting yourself in those things, probably too comfortable for the mission.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Fourth one, another one.
Speaker:Um, a sign that you may be too comfortable for the mission.
Speaker:Your friends, coworkers, and neighbors are surprised to learn you're a Christian.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:You know, it's a sure sign your faith is too comfortable is if, if nothing in your life sets you apart.
Speaker:You know, there's your life does not demand a gospel explanation ever.
Speaker:You know, and nothing sets you apart as a follower and Disciple of, of Jesus to the point that even those who know you pretty well don't, can't really tell you're a Christian unless you bring up like, I went to church on Easter, or, you know, so a comfortable Christian is one who easily blends in looking and talking and acting just like his or her, not yet believing neighbors in pretty much every way.
Speaker:That's really good man.
Speaker:But it is weird.
Speaker:Four kinda leads to five, but, but very few of your relationships you invest in are actually with non-believers.
Speaker:That's another Sure sign.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You don't, if all your friends are Christian, if you've friends, but they don't know your, they don't even know, like people at work and neighbors don't know you're a Christian.
Speaker:But then on the side, yeah.
Speaker:All your friendships are with Christians.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Or you don't have many, in fact, you're not even sure of or very interested in where you could hang out to build relationships, not yet believers.
Speaker:And start to discover who the People of Peace are in your life.
Speaker:Those people that God has for you to, to journey with and help walk with him.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:And when we spend a lot or most of our free time within some sort of a holy bubble, holy huddle.
Speaker:Our ability to relate to and bear with and communicate effectively with people outside of our particular Christian tribe starts to diminish.
Speaker:Yep, you're absolutely right, man.
Speaker:You know, so that's five.
Speaker:Here's, here's a couple more.
Speaker:Uh, next one, A sign that maybe you're too comfortable for the mission.
Speaker:Your schedule is set based on your priorities, and it rarely changes to accommodate others.
Speaker:Or the mission of discipleship.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:So faith church and Christian community, hopefully gospel center, Missional Community is sort of just fit into your schedule rather than your life and rhythms being molded by your life in Christ and his mission.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We have a, we have some close friends that we just, they have the same desire to actually live really intentionally in their neighborhood.
Speaker:You wanna have a, you wanna schedule time with them and it, I'm not joking, it's two months out.
Speaker:Two to three months out.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:'cause it's like, no, we got this and we have this and then we gotta do this.
Speaker:And then,
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:Too comfortable.
Speaker:You're actually killing it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Too comfortable.
Speaker:It can't, I mean, it can't be, what if someone knocks on your door and they got a problem?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But your brother's crying.
Speaker:Your sister's in a mess, you know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And in number seven, which may actually be the top sign, you know, that you're too comfortable for living on mission, is you still see discipleship as knowledge acquisition.
Speaker:Versus a lifestyle apprenticeship with Jesus in community, and you're just fine with where you're at.
Speaker:Ugh.
Speaker:So if you've read a lot of books and sat, sat through, you know, loads of Sunday school classes, maybe even taught a few.
Speaker:But you've never engaged your faith or worked out where the gospel speaks into and transforms everyday life.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:That's what a Michel community's about.
Speaker:Then your comfort and confidence, in your knowledge has kept you from experiencing life and discipleship and community the way that Jesus hopes and died to give us all.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:So, but it doesn't have to stay that way.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It doesn't have to stay that way.
Speaker:We are all where we are in life, and God loves us.
Speaker:He understands this.
Speaker:He's not surprised by it, but we get to choose to engage this amazing mission of God and discipleship in, in deeper ways every day.
Speaker:Starting now if we want to, we get to, uh, and I wanna encourage people to get off the pew or off the couch and get into the game.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:Well, let's get to the big three for this episode.
Speaker:And these are the three big takeaways that we want you to leave with.
Speaker:If nothing else, like, don't miss these points.
Speaker:And if you want a, a free download of what Caesar's about to give us today in the big three.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:All you have to do is go to everyday Disciple dot com slash big three and we'll get you the notes right away.
Speaker:Caesar, what are the big three?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:It, it comes outta that quote from CS Lewis that you'd laid on us.
Speaker:Man, if we want a comfortable faith, we best not give ourselves to Jesus Christ.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:But also as Cs I like to call him reminded us.
Speaker:If we want a faith grounded in ultimate reality, not our sort of dream world, you know, American dream, world life thing, and one that matures us and others in community, then Jesus is indeed the way of the truth and the life.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Seeking a life of comfort.
Speaker:Is missing the point even in our afterlife that that's God's glory, seeking Jesus and His glory in all of life is our goal.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Amen, man.
Speaker:Second one, God loves us right where we are comfortable or not.
Speaker:But he's not content.
Speaker:He'll just leave us there.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And, and I just wanna remind everybody, God's not more pleased, nor does he have greater affection for Christians who are less comfortable in life.
Speaker:You know, sometimes we think, like when making a choice, let me pick the horrible one.
Speaker:Let's Sure, let's pick the hardest thing for my family.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:No, God loves you the same.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Um, he and he, and he doesn't have greater affection for those who are seriously engaged with their family and friends and mission of making disciples.
Speaker:But the father sent his son.
Speaker:To not only display the life we now get to live, but to empower us by his Holy Spirit to embrace this life so in love.
Speaker:This is his ultimate desire for all of his kids.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:That's you and me.
Speaker:It's beautiful, man.
Speaker:Third of the big three, don't miss this.
Speaker:Is choose to engage the mission of God with God by the power of.
Speaker:Lemme say it again.
Speaker:Choose to engage this mission, like move from comfort to engagement, but engage it with God and by the power of God, a life on mission's, not something that we just are supposed to muster up, you know, and gr our teeth and endure it, and, okay.
Speaker:I'm not as, as comfortable as I used to be, you know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Having that guy over, you know, ask God to guide you into next steps with family and friends, to, to move, you know, to more deeply engage your faith in the gospel in all of life.
Speaker:Get the training and equipping and guidance that you need to get started or restarted right away.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:If you wanna download what Caesar just gave us, again, you can get it for free by going to everyday Disciple dot com slash big three.
Speaker:Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker:For more information on this show and to get loads of free discipleship resources, visit everyday Disciple dot com and remember, you really can live with a spiritual freedom and relational peace that Jesus promised every day.