Episode 29: Are We Using God When It’s Convenient?

In this episode, I react to the Brandon Lake and Nick Jonas collab and unpack why it initially made me uncomfortable. But the more I sat with it, the more I realized this conversation is bigger than one song or one celebrity.

We’ll talk about convenience Christianity, lukewarm faith, our tendency to love the comforting parts of Scripture while resisting obedience and surrender, and what it actually means to follow Jesus.

Through passages like Mark 9:38–40, Revelation 3:15–16, and Romans 8:28, we’ll wrestle with a hard but important question:

Does our life actually reflect the Christ we claim?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Rooted with Emily Talento, where we explore who Jesus is through context, culture, and covenant. Today we're going to be unpacking my reaction to the Brandon Lake Nick Jonas collab. Now, right off the bat, when I heard about it, or when I started hearing clips of the song, my initial reaction was skepticism and frustration. Now, what a lot of that was based in is the fact that obviously the Jonas brothers were raised in the church and obviously have not so secretly drifted pretty far. At the same time as I was seeing clips promoting the song, I was also seeing clips from interviews where Nick Jonas was talking about how proud he is that his daughter is being raised in a multi-religion home with Hinduism from her mother and Christianity from her father. And he went on to discuss how much he has embraced and learned from Hinduism, how beautiful of a religion it is. So you can imagine my discomfort in hearing and seeing all this, and also hearing and seeing his song that's supposed to be a Christian song. At the core of my frustration was the question: why does Christianity sometimes become something that we could pick up when it benefits us? And so we're gonna claim God. Nick Jonas is gonna claim God because we like the feel-good messaging of it. We're not gonna necessarily talk about the difficult, offensive parts of the gospel. It's this idea of Christianity without the cost. You have this faith language without the surrender. It's not actually requiring us to change anything about our lives, but we get to benefit from all the parts that make us feel good. Now, that was the initial response. That was my gut reaction, but then I was reminded of a verse, a passage in scripture in Mark chapter 9, verse 38. And in it you have a similar situation. Jesus is talking to his disciples, and there are other people that are not with them that are performing miracles in Jesus' name. And the disciples come to Jesus very concerned. Oh my gosh, where is this verse? I swear I know how to look through my Bible. Okay, here it is. Okay. Um, verse 38. John said to him, Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us. But Jesus said, For no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us. Remembering this verse immediately interrupted my thought process of skepticism and frustration, because it reminded me that we're all broken vessels. God works in messy situations and we're all on a journey. And so it challenged me to see maybe this isn't as black and white as I once thought. Maybe God's doing something in it. And it took my eyes off the situation, Nick Jonas of it all, and was able to zoom out and look at God and the fact that his purposes, his plans are above ours, and we don't always know what he's doing. What it also did is it reminded me that this isn't about Nick Jonas. My hope for this episode is that this is just a jump-off point because the reality is this is all of us. Nick Jonas is literally every single one of us because nobody lives in perfect alignment with the Lord. There's areas where we all fall short. And so it actually brings up what I believe is one of the biggest threats in the church today. I mean, there's so many things that we could say are, oh my gosh, the biggest challenge to Christianity, the biggest thing that the church is confronting. The biggest one of, again, I don't want to say it's the biggest, but one of the biggest things that we are experiencing right now is the danger of convenience Christianity. The idea, and this is a term that comes from the Bible, we're actually going to read about it. This idea of being a lukewarm Christian. In Revelation 3, John writes to the church of Laodicea. And in it, he gives this explanation, also background. The church in Laodicea was known for hot, hot, hot water. And so that was something they took pride in. That was something that, again, they were known in the region for. And so the fact that John would write to them and say, Revelation 3, verse 15 and 16, it says, I know your works. You were neither cold nor hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. What is the text saying? The text is saying that it's better to be piping hot or freezing cold. There's purpose for the water when it's hot, and there's purpose for the water when it's cold, but there's no purpose when it's lukewarm. And it's the same thing in our relationships with God. It's better, obviously it's the best, to be on fire for God. However, after that, you would think that, okay, the middle is not bad. No, the middle is the most dangerous place to be because there's this perceived safety. It's the most dangerous thing because we could be even lying to ourselves. We're outwardly, we're doing all of the right things. We're serving a church, we're doing everything we're supposed to be doing. And yet on the inside, we remain unchanged. Lukewarm Christianity can be described as wanting comfort without surrender, wanting identity without obedience, and wanting Christian culture without the transformation. We love going to church. We love being with like-minded people, we love the encouragement that it gives us, the inspiration, the vague spirituality of making us feel like we're a part of something that's ancient and bigger than ourselves, the idea that God has a plan and that everything happens for a reason. Those are all comforting concepts. But we resist the other side of the coin, which is repentance, holiness, sacrifice, the dying to self, the obedience when it costs us something real. That's the side of things that make us uncomfortable. True Christianity is actually the most unbelievably easy thing there is. It is available to every and all people, which is insane. But at the same time, as it being so accessible and easy, it is also the most challenging and difficult thing that we have access to. Again, like I said, anybody from any background can come to know the Lord. However, it requires us to have an accurate view of ourself, an accurate view of our sin, our act, an accurate view of our need for a savior, and then the surrender, the ability to die to self and live in obedience to Christ. That's hard because it isn't a one-time thing. It isn't a one and done. Okay, I made a decision, surrendered my life to God, now I get to do whatever I want. Obviously, not. However, we as the American church have made convenient Christianity kind of the main thing that we all know Christianity to be, which is really sad. So we can claim Christ publicly, which is great. We can attend church, which is great. We can post Bible verses, which is awesome. We can have this Christian identity, but that's as deep as it goes. We live in a place where there's no real persecution. Nick Jonas isn't being condemned for coming out with this song. Think about that. That is so crazy. He's not making some stance. Because at the end of the day, I would argue that most Christians probably do identify as some level of Christian. What that looks like is between them and God. Obviously, we know that most people aren't actually followers of Jesus. So that's not the argument I'm making. But the concept of God isn't offensive. Like I said, it's comforting to many. However, the concept of Jesus is offensive because he came to turn everything on its head. However, it's not convenient. Nothing about his messaging is easy. So we like all these elements of Christian culture, except does that align when the doors are closed in our private lives? Are we making decisions when nobody's looking that align with the teachings of the Bible? Do we follow Jesus when it costs us something? Again, most of us don't even know what that means. And we think about, I mean, I think about these believers in other parts of the world. I think of the Christians in Nigeria who are actively being targeted because of their faith. And we in America just like have absolutely no concept of what that looks like. So who are we and who are we serving when nobody's watching? What I think it boils down to, or part of what it boils down to, there's a few pieces, is we're all tempted towards selective obedience. None of us are exempt from it. It's something we all have to actively fight against every day. Because obedience is not in alignment with our human nature. So there's a verse that I find that brings a lot of comfort to people. I often hear it quoted, but I hear it quoted out of context. I mean, there's a lot of verses like that. But Romans 8, 28, I think, is a big one. Have you heard it? It's or the part that I often hear quoted is God works all things out. But what's the whole verse? The whole verse is, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose. Now we're really gonna zero in on the first half of that, right? And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. What's the requirement? The requirement is for those who love him. He's actively working all things for good. So what does it mean to love him? Because obviously that's an important part. We all want things to work out for good, but are all of us loving him? Now remember, we we know that loving is not a feeling, although you could feel love for God. I do feel love for God, but more times than not, love is an action. Love is something that it is shown through surrender, through obedience, through alignment with God. We can see this play in John 14, 15. It says, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. That's so clear. You will do what I called you to do. Christianity is not vague belief in God, it's allegiance to Christ that is reflected in every area of our lives. Now, another example of this is Jeremiah 29:11. I won't even flip there because I have it memorized, but it says, you know the verse. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Now that's a great verse. Who doesn't like that verse? It's comforting. There is a personal element of it that God has a plan for you specifically. Who doesn't love that? However, we don't often read that verse in context. That verse in Jeremiah was given to the Israelites while they were in exile. Now, they were in exile because of judgment that they were experiencing as a consequence of their disobedience. God gave this promise to his people through Jeremiah in the middle of discipline. Now, we often want the promise without the repentance. We want the hope without the surrender. We want the blessing without the obedience. We like the parts of Christianity that soothes us, but we struggle with the parts of Christianity that confronts us, that calls us to live differently. The reality is, none of us are ever going to be able to live fully and completely in alignment with God. That's just a part of our human nature. David gives an unbelievable example of how we ought to live. Because if I will let's read the verse first. Now, if you read that and you know David's story, it's a little puzzling because it's like, wow, David messed up pretty royally, continually. He messed up so bad. You have adultery, you have murder, you have abuse of power, you have poor parenting, you just have so many missteps, so many failures, and yet God doesn't view or hold David to his sin. Why? We can see throughout the Psalms that David was very quick in his failure to repent, to turn from his evil ways, to reorient himself towards God, to humble himself before the Lord, to return to God. There is a very distinct difference between struggling with sin and comfortably living in rebellion. David grieved his sin. In Christianity, we're not called to sinless lives. It's impossible. But we are called to continual repentance and reorientation towards God. That's what it really comes down to. And that is what really makes Christianity distinct from anything else out there. I want to pause here and I just want to make sure we're all on the same page because this isn't about legalism. This isn't about just doing the right things because that's the rules and that's what we're told to do. Living in alignment with God and living obedient lives for Him is for our best interest. He is the one who created life. He is the one who designed things the way that they work best. Why wouldn't we want to live in accordance with the instruction manual that the creator gave us? I don't know anything. I don't know what I'm talking about, but God does know what he's talking about. And he wrote down for us the best way for us to live for ultimate success. And when I say success, I don't mean worldly success. I mean having a blessed life, having a life that is in alignment with our God. We were created for relationship. And the other, arguably the more important, is we were designed, we were created to be in relationship with our God. And part of being in relationship with our God is living in alignment with Him. So when we're not living in alignment with Him, that relationship breaks. There is a divide that begins to exist. We cannot fix the separation ourselves. It is only fixed through Jesus' blood. However, we can create more distance as we continue to live in disobedience with our God. That relationship does not function smoothly. We are not allowing him to be in every area of our lives as he created us to live. From the garden, we could see that God intended us to live life with him. And when we are not living in alignment, when we are sinning, and even if we're saved, we're not living obediently, then we're not living life with him. He might be there, he is there, but we're not inviting him into what we're doing. That creates separation, which is not how we were intended to live. And so if we're actually to live out our purpose, which is to live a life with God, we have to be doing everything in our power to not continue in our old ways. Again, the work is through Jesus, it's only through his blood, truly. However, we will be held accountable for the choices that we make, especially now that we know better. So that was a little time out. Time in, circling back to this lukewarmness and the dangers of it. What makes it so dangerous is it keeps up the Christian appearance while completely losing surrender. Because Christianity becomes almost an aesthetic. It's a part of culture. And honestly, I don't care what anybody says, Christianity is a part of Christian culture in a very convenient sense. Exactly the type that I'm saying that is so dangerous. It's inspirational, it's an identity maker. However, what Jesus is calling us to is not a banner to hold up, but rather a transformation that happens internally. He calls us to obedience and repentance. Again, this isn't about perfection. It's a heart posture. It's okay, so you did mess up, you did fail, you did miss the mark. Okay, so what now? How quickly are we going back to God and saying, I'm so sorry, I am now reorienting myself back towards you? Because that's what the question becomes. Are we orienting ourselves toward God or away from God? I again, I really want you to hear when I say the issue isn't struggling, the issue is comfort with disobedience, the issue is convenience over surrender. And again, this is something we see so often in our culture today, but Christianity without cost. That's the real danger. Okay, so you might be asking, why does this even matter? Why is she so obetrue on this? It matters because one day each and every one of us are going to be standing before God and we're gonna have to make an account for every single decision that we made in our lives. God has blessed us with so many blessings and gifts that we are to be good stewards of. And the more blessings and gifts that he gives us, the more accountability that we have. In Luke chapter 12, verse 48, it says, Everyone to whom much was given of him, much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. Us, those of us who are Christians, those of us who claim Christ, are held to a different standard because we are representing Christ. Obviously, Jesus' blood covers our sin, right? However, if we are leading people astray in any capacity, that will not be taken lightly, especially those with influence. Obviously, we're all accountable for our interactions with each other. You could lead people astray that way. But if you have a platform, I mean, James 3, we just talked about it last week. James 3 says that not everyone should be teachers. You're going to be held to a higher standard. I think the same thing could be said for worship leaders. Anybody who's claiming Christ is going to. Be held to a higher standard. 2 Peter 2, verse 20 through 21 is scary, actually of the scariest in the Bible. It says, For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. The responsibility that we have after coming to a place of understanding, after God gives us understanding, if we are to return to our old ways and God forbid we lead people astray in it, it says it would be better that we wouldn't have understood it at all. That's so serious. We are accountable for what we know, especially when we publicly attach ourselves to Jesus. And also, God forbid we're leading people astray in that. The reality is the closer that we place ourselves to truth, the greater the responsibility to live in alignment with it. That's weighty, that's heavy. Again, that's why James says not everyone should become teachers. None of this is meant as condemnation. None of us live this life perfectly. And this is something that we all wrestle with at different parts of our walk. Now, to full circle, bring this back to Nick Jonas. I truly believe that, like all of us, he is on his own journey, and obviously he was raised in the faith. I pray that this is more than just some kind of nostalgia. I pray that this is the Lord actually knocking on his heart, and I pray he responds fully, not just in convenience, but in true obedience. I pray that he takes Jesus seriously and that he continues to grow in his relationship with God in a way that impacts his entire family for generations to come. For the rest of us, I really do hope this episode was able to put a mirror up to your face, to be able to really think through and acknowledge and ask the question how much of my faith is convenience Christianity and how much of it is true obedience to our God. We all have areas where we struggle being obedient, but the hope, the goal is that as we continue to walk closely with the Lord, those areas continue to shrink. Not that they'll ever be zero, but they do get better over time. So I encourage you to continue seeking God in that. Asking, God, what areas am I struggling with obedience? And my suspicion is that some of us know. I know the areas that I struggle with obedience. And so to continue proactively giving those areas to Him every day, no matter what, even as it's hard. So I hope this episode was helpful for you in how we view convenience, Christianity. If you could like, comment, share, subscribe, any of the things that you would do for any of the other podcasts that you like to show support, I would really appreciate it. You could also follow me on Instagram at Emily Talento and at rooted with Emily Talento. I would also really appreciate that. And I will see you next time.