Episode #64 - Free Trial Christian

I love watching the big games when comes time, but I have never paid for the big sport packages. I usually watch it at a friend's house who does, or I sign up for one of those "free trial" offers to watch the game and then cancel before I am charged. I'm a cheapskate fan, I want all the benefits of watching the big games without any of the costs. Well...sometimes we can be like that in our faith. Jesus warned about this in the parable of the sower when he addressed the rocky ground. We are all on board with following Jesus or being a part of a church until things get hard. That's not real faith. Don't be a free trial Christian. 

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Transcript

Welcome back to all of our listeners! I’m BJ Sipe, and you’re listening to the Set Your Mind Above podcast – where everyday ordinary events teach us extraordinary eternal truths. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today, I am excited to share my life and my faith with you, and I sure hope that you’ll do the same with me along the way. 

If you want to know that I’m a cheapskate without me actually saying that I’m a cheapskate, the following will pretty much confirm that for you. Obviously, football season is back and I love getting to watch a game or two each week when I have the time. However, never in my life have I ever been willing to pay for an expensive television package that would include all the sports that I like. Those packages are anywhere from $50-100 a month, and we have better things to spend our money on with two kids to feed. I do pay $5 a month for ESPN+ and that gives me a fair amount of games, both football and baseball, but not the big games that I look forward to watching. So for the most part in the past I have either joined someone else who gets the game to watch it or I have taken advantage of one of the many “free trial” offers that many television programs offer. Programs like Hulu with live TV, Sling TV,  Fubu TV and many more all currently or have in the past offered a 7 day free trial at no cost to you. It’s really a great marketing plan, because their hope is that you will love having access to so many programs and sporting events that you’ll just stay and end up paying for their services. However, they also know that there are people like me who will simply enjoy taking them up on their free trial offer and then cancel the service without ever having to pay anything. In fact, that’s exactly how I watched the Oregon vs Ohio State game last Saturday (go Ducks btw, what a game that was!), and it will also be how I’m watching the Alabama vs Florida game tomorrow. I signed up for the one week free trial of Fubu TV which I’ve never done before and will cancel my service before I am charged so that I can watch the games I would like. It’s funny because they even know many will use their services to this effect, because as you’re signing up one of the options you can select for “Why are you signing up for our free trial?” is “I just want to watch a specific game”. Maybe one day once we are empty nesters I will splurge and get me one of those amazing sport packages each month and pay to watch all the games I would like to see, but until then I’ll just keep going over to a neighbor’s house or singing up for one of the many free trial offers until I finally run out of turns. I guess you can call me a free trial fan – I want all the benefits of watching the best games without any of the cost that normally comes along with it.  

While being a free trial fan might run the risk of being given a hard time by your friends who think you’re a cheapskate, nothing compares to the risks involved with trying to be a free trail Christian. What exactly do I mean by that? Well, a free trial Christian is not all that different from a free trial fan: they want all the benefits of Christ and the church without any of the cost or sacrifice. In fact, Jesus warns about this in his very powerful parable of the Sower that is recorded in Mark 4:1-20. It is a lengthy passage, but let’s read all of it together to understand it’s full effect and then discuss it together. “Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that “ ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’ ” And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” If you are like me, this parable is not new to you and you perhaps have heard countless lessons about how each soil reflects a different kind of heart. But instead of digging into all of them, let’s look at the second soil – the rocky ground. Jesus explains the purpose of his illustration, of a seed immediately sprouting but having no root so that it would wither when the sun rose. He says that this is like the person who hears the word of God and from all appearances seems 100% locked in. They talk the talk and to start walk the walk, they are excited to follow Christ. That is until things get hard and their faith is tested, exposing that they are not grounded in their faith because they immediately go from commitment to Jesus to shrinking back away from him. I call this soil the “free trial Christian” – it’s someone who wants all the blessings that come with being a child of God but is not willing to suffer for the sake of him. A spiritual cheapskate, such an individual does not endure in their faith, but are gone as quickly as they came. Sometimes people will even do this with local churches too. They will be involved and active as members until things get difficult – then suddenly they jump ship and go to another church. They are never one place longer than a few months or a few years. My friends, having this kind of faith will never produce fruit in your life, nor will you ever truly be able to follow Jesus. Jesus told us that discipleship comes at a great cost, as he taught, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23). One of my favorite authors named Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” That does not sound like as appealing of an offer as a free trial, but it is the only offer that results in eternal life. Following Jesus comes at a great cost, but it is not worth comparing to the cost of only following Jesus until things get hard. We must be committed, willing to sacrifice and suffer for the cause of Christ as he did for our cause. Don’t be a free trial Christian, it’s time to buy in all the way with your faith in Jesus. 

Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Tune in, Tuesday-Fridays, as a new podcast episode will be uploaded each day. Also, be sure to follow the Facebook page for the Set Your Mind Above podcast for future announcements and video sessions. As you have the opportunity, share these thoughts with your friends and family, and share with me what important lessons you are learning from every day, ordinary events. Until next time know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.