A Theology of Safety

When did we begin thinking that the life of a Christian should be marked by safety and security? “Is it safe?” It is a question that I have been asked a lot in the last several years.

When a group from our church went to the middle of the Red Light District of Mumbai, trying to bring light to those who live in the darkness of sex trafficking, I was asked if sending a team there is safe.

When we to Kenya and found ourselves in a mosque where the conversation about Jesus led things to get heated and caused people to get in our faces, I was asked why we would do something so unsafe?

When about 20 Muslims that we had befriended from a local mosque visited our service, we were accused of putting our church, family and life at risk by doing something so unsafe.

I’ve come to realize that for Christians in America, safety has become a prerequisite for doing the will of God.

The only problem with that thinking is the Bible and the history of Christians in the Church.

As we survey the Scriptures and consider the body of Christ in different parts of the world, what we see is example after example of Christians who lived out their faith through great suffering and sacrifice. Stories of those who have regarded their own safety and security as not being the most important thing. Stories of those who have died to themselves in a thousand ways.

I was reading recently about Moravians believers who would pack their luggage in coffins as they went out to the nations of the earth. Sometimes they even sold themselves into slavery to reach ‘unreachable’ slaves for the Kingdom. These followers of Jesus didn’t expect to come back home.

They had one expectation of themselves: obedience regardless of cost.

They had one expectation of God: their obedience would be used for His glory.

Let me be clear: living an unsafe life doesn’t make you more righteous or better than someone that doesn’t take risks for the gospel. Our only source of righteousness is in Christ alone.

But if your goal in life is to simply maintain a certain level of safety and security, there may be a god in your life vying for your worship. A god who has convinced you that his will is greater than that of the true God. A god who has convinced you that safety and security can be found apart from the One who, in fact, sovereignly controls all things.

But that god is a liar.

The truth is that following Jesus requires us to take risks. It will require us to engage in conversations that are hard. It will require us to take steps that will prove difficult. It will require us to move forward in faith without any guarantee of safety or security in this life.

Pastor John Piper reminds us: “The basis of that demand for sacrifice and risk is the absolute, God-given assurance that in the end there is no ultimate risk. We risk life now that we may gain it forever. Risk persecution for Christ’s sake ‘for your reward is great in heaven’ (Matthew 5:12). Risk the loss your goods, ‘for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just’ (Luke 14:14). Risk being treated unjustly, for ‘vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’ (Romans 12:19). Risk being counted as sheep for the slaughter for nothing ‘will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Romans 8:36, 39).”

To see a movement of gospel-centered, multiethnic churches planted by or among Indian Americans will require a sacrifice and risk.

This will be hard. This will require sacrifice. It comes with no promise of safety or security.

But in the end, it is for our good and for the glory of God.

And so we reject our need for safety and security and bank our lives on the promises of Christ. Instead of pouring our lives into something temporal, let’s thank God for the incredible privilege of pouring our lives into something of eternal significance.