Are you comfortable? When someone is trying to take care of you, they might ask you that question.

• If a person is ill and in bed, the caretaker might ask “Are you comfortable?”
• If you are a guest somewhere, your host might ask “Was your room comfortable?”
• If someone is trying to tend to your needs and serve you, he or she will ask “Are you comfortable?”

As God’s people, should we be comfortable? Do you feel safe and secure as a follower of Jesus. I sure hope so!  You should. Comfort and peace are blessings from God. God wants you to be comforted by His grace and mercy and promises.

• Isaiah 40:1 Comfort, Comfort my people, says your God.
• When Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, one of the descriptive titles he gave Him was “The Comforter”
• Jesus tells us that through faith you and I are the sheep of His pasture and that we are safe and secure and no one can snatch us out of His hand (John 10:27-28).

God wants His people to be comforted with the message of forgiveness and life and salvation that is yours in Christ Jesus. You have the assurance that His perfect life made up for your lack of perfection. His horrible death satisfied the judgment that rightly stood against you. His resurrection is your guarantee of life everlasting. God wants you to be comforted in knowing who you are as a forgiven, redeemed, dearly loved child of God. The Lord’s Supper we share together in worship is one way in which that comfort and assurance is given to us. God wants you to be comforted. But does God want you to be comfortable?

Are you in the church to be taken care of, or are you to be taking care of others? What is the primary mission of the church? I can tell you what it is not – it is not the mission of the church to make her members comfortable. Sometimes we behave as though that is our primary concern. We exert the bulk of our time and effort tending to the needs and wants and desires of those who are already in the kingdom. Members will gripe and complain about everything from whether or not we are ushered out after worship to what color carpet is in the sanctuary and what hymns we did or did not sing. It is so easy to place our own personal preferences and desires over and above everything else. But that has nothing to do with the task Jesus has given us as His disciples. Jesus did not tell us to go into the world and make disciples of some people and then concentrate all our time and effort on making sure those folks are comfortable. What did He say? We have been tasked with making disciples of all nations — everyone. And the command Jesus gave us has to do with us loving others the way Jesus loved us. (John 13:34)

Jesus was not one for playing it safe. He was out there living on the edge as far as the people of his day were concerned. He was introducing things that were radical and out there and scoffed at by the established religious leaders.

• Love your enemies
• Pray for those who persecute you
• Turn the other cheek

This stuff didn’t make a lot of sense. And because Jesus was so far out there, among the tax collectors and sinners, the outcasts of society, he was often misunderstood. He made the good, upstanding righteous people of His day uncomfortable. So did those who followed Him. And there was a reason His disciples were like this.

Acts 4:13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

Spending time with Jesus changes you. At least it should. If you follow His example and His teachings, you will find comfort and at the same time make the world uncomfortable.

More on this tomorrow.