Stand Up and Be Counted

John Mellencamp on Scare Crow sings: “You’ve got to stand for something, or you’re gonna fall for anything.” To be a follower of Jesus means to stand up and be counted. But, sadly, too many professing Christians won’t. According to market researcher George Barna, the lifestyles, attitudes and beliefs among Christian and non-Christian are “virtually identical.” Christians are conforming to societal standards, not the Bible.

Today, we live in a culture that’s lost direction. The world view is that life is a product of matter-plus-time-plus-chance and, therefore, meaningless. In the area of morals and values, everything is relative. Each individual has become his or her own authority. What is needed is a radical Christianity that will stand against the spirit of our age. We are either for Jesus or against Him!

1 How much does salvation cost us to obtain?
Ephesians 2:8, 9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no-one can boast.”

2 How much did providing salvation cost Jesus?
Philippians 2:5-8 “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God . . . being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!”

3 What is the response of those who accept the gift?
Psalm 40:8 “I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
Jesus said of those who would be His, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

4 What prayer did Jesus pray in Gethsemane, when He faced death for our sins, that should be the attitude of every follower of Jesus?
Matthew 26:39 “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will but as you will.”
When our will conflicts with God’s will, we choose God’s will no matter how difficult it may appear for us.

5 What counsel does the writer of Hebrews give to Christians as they approach Jesus’ second coming?
Hebrews 10:23-25 “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching [Jesus’ coming]” (v 25).
Christians risk losing their faith when they neglect fellowship. But the Bible says in the end the world will be divided into two groups: those who worship the beast and those who worship God and are loyal to Him (see Revelation 14:9-12).

6 How is the One whom we are called to worship described?
Revelation 14:7 “Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

7 To which of the Ten Commandments does Revelation 14:7 refer?
The fourth (Exodus 20:8-11): “Remember the Sabbath day . . .” (v 8).
The Sabbath reminds us of our need for fellowship and worship.

8 To what does Paul say we should not be “conformed”?
Romans 12:2 “. . . this world . . .”

9 While we’re saved by God’s grace, not by works, how do we show our faith?
James 2:14-18 “What good is it . . . if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? . . . Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. . . . Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.”

No-one has made a greater difference than Jesus. To be His follower means to make a difference. Jesus is calling us to be radical Christians—to stand against a secular culture.

Francis Schaeffer said: “One of the greatest injustices we do to our young people is to ask them to be conservative. Christianity today is not conservative, but revolutionary. To be conservative today is to miss the whole point. . . . Today we [true Christians] are an absolute minority. If we want to be fair, we must teach the young to be revolutionaries, revolutionaries against the status quo” (The Great Evangelical Disaster).

The counterculture of the 1960s has become the culture of today. Christianity should now be the counterculture. To be committed Christians is to be “salt” and “light” to this culture (see Matthew 5:13-16).
The greatest need is for consistent Christian living in sharing the good news about Jesus. The way we live and act says more about Christianity than all the preaching. Believers are challenged to stand and be counted, and to make a difference in this world for Jesus.

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