S4 E27 - Stop Pouring Oatmilk On Jesus

I recently started drinking Mushroom Coffee, and it is as bad as you can imagine. It's hard to swallow. I thought about just quiting, but I decided to try and doctor it up with oatmilk and honey and found that is much more enjoyable. I don't taste the rougher things anymore. 

Sadly, many people treat Jesus this way. They don't like his teachings that are hard to swallow, so they just abandon him. Or, for others, they preach a Jesus that's doctored up the way that they want and that they like. But that's not what leads to life. We have to take him exactly as he is. 

#SetYourMindAbovePodcast

Transcript

What if I told you that God could be seen in the most ordinary things every day? 

What if I told you that every day, ordinary events could teach us extraordinary eternal truths? Would you believe me? 

Welcome back to season 4 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! My name is BJ Sipe, and I am a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. And I’m excited to share a few moments together with you learning some important lessons from the simplest things. Thanks for tuning in! 

Have you ever had an advertisement pop up on your social media feed time and time again that you simply never found any interest in? I frequently wonder what exactly is behind the algorithm of some of these platforms, because some of the things they think I might have interest in are a complete swing and a miss. That being said, if something is shoved in your face over and over again, it has the tendency to wear you down. This is exactly what happened with me and mushroom coffee. Yes, you heard that right – mushroom coffee. Those that know me also know that I absolutely love all things coffee, and that I also enjoy trying different kinds of coffee – so long as it’s good quality. So, it’s no wonder that about a year ago I started getting advertisements for something called Ryze Mushroom Coffee. Now don’t get me wrong, I love some good sauteed mushrooms. But mushroom coffee? That had absolutely no appeal to me at all. So for months, I ignored the bombardment of advertisements I would receive on the product. But the more it popped up, the more I became curious. So I started reading reviews – what exactly is in this stuff? Well…about six different kinds of mushrooms that are all proven to help with different aspects of one’s health. Cordyceps for increased energy. Reishi for help with stress relief. Lion’s Mane for laser sharp focus. Shiitake to boost immune support. Turkey tail to assist with healthy digestion. And finally, king trumpet, known to fight oxidative stress. Customer testimonials were almost five stars across the board. Folks talked of weight loss, less stress, feeling much more alert and having far more energy than normal.  Well…that all sounded pretty good. But still…mushroom coffee? I just didn’t know. Well, what finally pushed me over the edge was seeing someone walking out of my gym that I’m a part of with a bag of it. I asked them about it, and they raved about how incredible it was and what a difference it has made for them. Well, that was the final straw. So, I waited for a decent sale and snagged my first bag which came in earlier this week. The instructions were simple: add one tablespoon of the mushroom blend to 8-10 oz of hot water, stir and enjoy. So I poured my powdered mushrooms. Added my water. Stirred…and under no circumstances enjoyed. Was I drinking dirt? I’m being as honest as I possibly could be – it tastes as bad as you might imagine it would. Yuck. I really wanted to keep drinking it for the benefits, but I just couldn’t swallow it as is – so I went back online and started reading reviews of how others made their mushroom coffee at home. Not shockingly, I was not the first person to not enjoy it straight up, so you have to add other things in order to mask the taste. After some more reading and seeing what we had on hand, I added some vanilla oatmilk and some honey to the hot blend of mushroom coffee. Ahhh…now that was much, much better. I didn’t taste any of the bits that were hard to swallow anymore, I just tasted the things that I liked. Maybe I can stick with this after all. 

While that’s all fine and good with something like mushroom coffee, the problem is this is the same principle that many have applied to Jesus. When you look at the teachings of Jesus, there are a lot of things that he taught that are simply hard to swallow. Things that are not easy to practice, not easy to explain, and not easy to wrap our minds around as disciples. Let’s just look at a few of these for example. Jesus would teach in the sermon on the mount, “You have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:43-45) Or what about when he said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:          26-27) Or even Jesus’ teaching to his disciples on the difficulty of riches in this life in Matthew 19:23-26? “Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were utterly astonished and asked, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

We can spend a good bit more time discussing the very difficult teachings of Jesus if we so desired, the point is that not everything Jesus taught is easy or enjoyable. So, what do you do in the face of such difficult teaching? Well, for some, their answer is to just stop following Jesus. In John 6:60-66 we read the following dialogue between Christ and some early disciples after some particularly tough teaching, “Therefore, when many of his disciples heard this, they said, “This teaching is hard. Who can accept it?” Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, asked them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to observe the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some among you who don’t believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning those who did not believe and the one who would betray him.) He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father.” From that moment many of his disciples turned back and no longer accompanied him.” Just like I was tempted to just stop drinking mushroom coffee after my first taste, there are many who treat Jesus this way. They are on board with all the good things about hope and eternal life, but as soon as they catch wind of the harder things Jesus says – they give up. His teaching is just too hard to swallow at face value. 

For others, their answer is a little different. They likewise do not enjoy the hard teachings of Jesus, so what if they doctored him up and packaged him the way that they enjoyed and wanted? For many, this is the answer: to pour oatmilk on Jesus. To get rid of all the difficult things like teaching on hell, church discipline, loving our enemies, self-denial, and contentment. Instead, in many churches Jesus is packaged as this rabbi who only spoke on love, joy, peace, acceptance, and encourage others to simply remain as they are in their sin because God loves them just the way they are. That’s a Jesus that is much easier for others to swallow. Jeremiah faced a similar situation as is recorded in his book, chapter 6:14-15, “They have treated my people’s brokenness superficially, claiming, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably? They weren’t at all ashamed. They can no longer feel humiliation. Therefore, they will fall among the fallen. When I punish them, they will collapse, says the Lord.” The people had accumulated false priests and prophets that spread only a message of affirmation and peace which was easy, and left out all the calls for repentance and judgment from God. They preached a diluted, watered down message that did not represent God and his will at all. Sadly, this is what so many continue to do with our Lord to this day. 

So what are we do to with Jesus? We would do well to return to the gospel of John and see Peter’s response to the Lord asking if the twelve were ready to abandon him too because the things he taught were not easy. Read again in John 6, now in vv. 67-68, “So Jesus said to the Twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?” Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” Not everything that Jesus says is easy to understand, easy to practice, or easy to teach. Jesus never promised that it would be easy. But you know what? Hard or not, he is the only way to the Father. We have to take Jesus exactly as he is, not the way that we want to receive him. And when we do so, when we follow Jesus in even the hardest of things, that is the way that leads to life. So I ask you again…what will you do with Jesus? 

This has been the Set Your Mind Above Podcast, season 4 episode 27 – and I’m so thankful that you decided to tune in today! A new episode is dropped most Fridays, so be sure to tune in next week.  Also, if you’re able to, go ahead and like and subscribe to the podcast, as well as share it with someone else – it would help me greatly in trying to reach others. And more than anything, always remember the following: know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.