The Call to Faith, In Just 2 Words

And [Jesus] said to him, "Follow me."

Luke 5:27

I do feel that we are living in a day where faith is dominant but minimal.

On the one side, that's all you hear preachers preaching. Ministers pound home that "You just gotta believe." It is good that we have such an emphasis on faith. But it seems to be a twisted version of the protestant doctrine of faith alone. It seems to come across as a faithless faith.

What people in the pews come to hear is "Just walk this aisle and you got a free ticket to heaven." Or the gospel call to faith becomes nothing more than "Raise your hand if you want to accept Jesus into your heart." But there is no content to that kind of faith. There is no life in that faith. It is like you just put a bumper sticker on your car and drove away. It really doesn't mean much.

It's basically the same kind of faith that the demons have. The only difference is that the demons believe and shudder.

So faith is dominant, but at the same time it is minimal. Preachers are preaching, "Faith, faith faith." But there is hardly any real faith.

It falls into what may be called, easy believism (I think that Bonhoeffer coined that term). I think it could be put like this: It is the faith that says yes to all that Jesus gives, but no to all that he demands. Well, maybe that's too strong. How about, "It's the faith that says yes to all that Jesus gives, but ignores all that he demands."

But Jesus' call to faith was not like that at all. Jesus' call to faith came in two words, "Follow me." It's not walk the aisle or raise your hand. It is "Get out of your chair and go where ever I go, listen to all that I say, do it, and teach others to do the same."

"Follow me" was the way they did school back then. A person would follow their teacher around, and study under him. It might be compared to an apprenticeship. They would follow in order to be trained and do.

More than that this is a call to repentance. "Follow HIM." Levi shows us exactly what Jesus meant when he got up from his table and left without even turning in his resignation or giving a two weeks notice. He quit his life and began a new one right at that instant. He stopped living for Levi and started living for Christ.

His was a real faith. Faith alone in Christ, but his faith was not alone. His faith was active and its action could very well be seen. His faith had content--it was most certainly a faith in Christ.