Sometimes people try to avoid the complexities of life.  As the story goes, an American businessman named Wilson, tired of the Great depression, rising taxes and increasing crime, sold his home and business in 1940 and moved to an island in the Pacific. Balmy and ringed with beautiful beaches, the island seemed like paradise. Its name? Iwo Jima ¹. Inadvertently, we try to live out our Christianity the same way. We try to play it safe. Reduce every possible risk. But, following Jesus is not the place to skimp when it comes to risk. That’s the nature of faith.

Giving Jesus Everything is Risky Business

• Understand that stepping out on faith to do something that He has asked you to do as a feeling of risk attached to it.
• Give anybody everything is risky business.
• Jesus states without apology that He wants everything of your life (Matt 22:37).
• He wants you to trust Him with it.
• He wants all of your heart.
• He wants all of your soul.
• He wants all of your might.
• Here is the thing we have to settle within ourselves.
• We must trust Him enough to know that if we give Jesus everything that everything is going to turn out alright.
• Fear will try to speak to you and tell you that things will not turn out right if you give everything to Jesus.
• So, how can we know that if give Him everything, if we say ‘Yes’ to His will that everything will turn out?
• Here’s actually how you can know.
• Remember this fact, you already trusting Him with the most important part of your life.
• You are trusting Him for salvation.
• If you can trust Jesus to save you from a devils’ hell, if you can have faith that He will carry you to heaven when you die, then you already have what it takes to step out on anything that He might ask you do while you are your way to heaven.
• You are already trusting Him for the biggest thing ever!
• But know that to the degree that you that you shrink back from following Him and do not commit your life, to that degree you have a failing Christian life.
• Now, let’s look at the word ‘risk’ in the Bible because we are talking about stepping out, doing something radical, pulling ourselves out of the comfort zone.

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The Word ‘Risk’ is a Bible Word.

Acts 15:24–26 (ESV)
24 Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, 25 it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 16:3–4 (ESV)
3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well.

DEFINITION: risk/ὑποτίθημι/hypotithēmi – to expose oneself to the possibility of death.

• When you take a risk, you expose yourself.

Philippians 2:26, 29–30 (ESV)
25 I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, 29 So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, 30 for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.

• People understand the idea of the word ‘risk’ or the phrase ‘taking a risk’.
• People who invest in the stock market target today understand risk.
• They take a risk for the potential of a reward.
• At the same time, they are cognizant of the fact that they could take a loss.
• In the stock market, you can win some, but you can also lose.
• There is no risk without the possibility of loss.
• So, when we talk about following Jesus is risky business, what exactly is the loss potential?
• What exactly would you lose by giving Jesus everything?
• What would you lose by stepping out on the particular Word that He has spoken or witnessed to your heart?
• What would the loss be if you stepped out on the dream that you have inside of you?

Matthew 10:38–39 (AMP)
38 And he who does not take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conforming wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also] is not worthy of Me. 39 Whoever finds his [lower] life will lose it [the higher life], and whoever loses his [lower] life on My account will find it [the higher life].

• According to Matthew 10:38-39, the loss would be your lower life.
• But, what would be the potential reward?
• You would gain the higher ‘zoe’ life of God.
• What is the higher life?
• One component is being dead center in the will of God.
• There is nothing like that on planet earth.
• There is nothing like being in the will of God.
• Nothing like it.
• It beats the condemnation of not being in His will to smithereens.
• You can lay down at night and your conscious is not bothering you because you know you are obeying Him.
• This is another word, in connection with the word ‘risk’ that we should look at.
• It is the English word ‘adventure’.

DEFINITION: adventure – “To put at risk,” “to dare,” referring always to an undertaking attended with some peril in the hopes of a favorable outcome.

•  In Acts 19:23-24, Demetrius, a shrine maker for the Temple Diana, (Artemis is the Greek virgin goddess originally of hunting and animal fertility. ² ) stirred up the people into a frenzy over the loss of revenue surrounding the Temple.
• People were giving their lives to Jesus and no longer buying shrines or visiting the Temple.

Acts 19:28–31 (KJV)
28 And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. 29 And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre. 30 And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not. 31 And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre.

• Adventure here is archaic language for the word ‘venture’; i.e. take the ‘ad’ off the front.
• What was Paul’s friend’s saying to him?
• They were saying, “Paul, don’t expose yourself to risk at the hands of this mob.”
• Adventures can be risky.
• There is nothing easy about adventuring in God.

Bible Adventures in God

• What is Bible reading?
• Isn’t Bible reading sharing other people’s adventures?
• Aren’t you reading the adventures of others that have stepped out on God?
• Isn’t that what some of the Bible, is about, people taking a risk in God?
• The Bible is a book full of people who had adventures with God.
• What about Gideon’s adventure?
• What about Jonathans adventure?
• What about some of Paul’s adventures?
• Adventure is where action takes place.
• It is not the boring place of do-nothing.
• We have already mentioned Moses.
• Did Moses not take a risk going to see Pharaoh and saying to him ‘Let my people go?’
• Couldn’t Pharaoh have killed him right on the spot?
• Moses put his life at risk by obeying God.
• One unknown person said, “Sometimes you must go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.”³
• But how about just not reading about or hearing about other people’s adventures in God.
• How about having some yourself?
• In the Bible, God communicates His message to us.
• As we listen and respond to what God says, the message of the written Word becomes an adventure with the Living Word, Jesus Himself!
• Studying the Bible leads to adventures in God.
• Meditating the Word of God leads to explorations in God.
• Listening to the Holy Spirit leads to exploits in God.
• Oh forget that careful, calculated boring secure lifestyle.

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Helen Keller on Security
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

ILLUSTRATION: Adventurer’s Wanted
The following ad once appeared in a London newspaper: “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful.” The ad was signed by Sir Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic explorer. Amazingly, the ad drew thousands of respondents, eager to sacrifice everything for the prospect of meaningful adventure.⁴

• The great offer of Jesus, the great ad that appears in the pages of the Bible for you today, is to come and have an adventure with Him.

Matthew 4:19 (ESV)
19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

• Why does He have to ‘make you’ a fisher of men?
• Because, you do not have the ability.

Adventures Take You Into The Realm Of The Unknown.

• Some people want to know everything and how everything is going to turn out before they start.
• Nothing in God works that way!
• Nothing in God’s economy works with you knowing everything before you start.
• In fact, probably the only person that you act that way with is God.
• He is the only one we do that with.
• We didn’t do that with our spouse when we got married.
• Did you know everything about the person you were marrying before you married them?
• Did you know how everything was going to turn out before you said, “I do?”
• Or were you willing to take a risk?

Call to Action:

Has marriage been an adventure for you? Being hooked with deity has a few of the same risk components. There is always an element of mystery that surrounds these areas. All true adventures have elements of suspense and mystery. Examine your life. Are you too careful where Jesus is concerned? Make the adjust and take the leap of faith.

Question: Have you ever taken a risk for God? Please, share your adventure in the comments section below.

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