“Exploding the Myth of Safety”
Phil. 2:29-30 - “So receive [Epaphroditus] in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.”
This passage has been one of my favorites for years. It is so convicting and challenging! In it, Paul praised the willingness of Epaphroditus to risk his personal health and well-being in order to lovingly minister to him.
I thought about Epaphroditus again as I read a mini-book during a cross-country flight. The book was called, “Risk is Right”. The author was addressing the common desire we all have to feel safe. However, he made the point that the Christian life is not one of promised earthly ease, instead it is a life of loving sacrifice and faithfully facing risks. It was in that book where I discovered the phrase, “exploding the myth of safety”. If you’re like me, I need to have that myth exploded right now. I have struggled to organize my thoughts on all of this, so let’s start with defining “risk”.
RISK DEFINED
It would be helpful to clarify what we mean when we talk about risk. There is a world of difference between irresponsible risk-taking and faithfully facing risk.
One person defined risk as, “an action that exposes you to the possibility of loss or injury.”
That is a helpful definition! By that definition all of us face risk every day.
Every time we travel, whether the mode is by car, train, bike or plane, we face the possibility of an accident that could lead to some kind of physical loss.
Every time we interact with another person, we face the possibility of being hurt or rejected.
Every time we compete in a sport we face the possibility of not winning.
Every time we leave the house we face the possible risk of coming into contact with someone or something that may lead to us getting sick.
A life of faith will evaluate potential risks, then make the decision that getting in a car, building friendships with others, and friendly competitions are worth the possible losses or injuries.
The life of faith is not blind to the possibility of loss, but honestly acknowledges it, and out of fervent love for God and others decides that the right thing to do is to risk the loss.
THE IDOLATRY OF SAFETY
The idol of earthly safety can be so alluring, and is heavily promoted right now. But, what Biblical principles, promises or examples can be made to guarantee that Christians get to enjoy long or safe lives? Maybe we’ve been too influenced by our culture, or health and wealth religious leaders. Consider passages like the following:
John 16:33 - "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
1 Cor. 7:28 - “But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that.”
Matt. 10:34 - “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
If a life of safety and ease is what Christians expect here on earth, then Paul should have been severely disappointed (Acts 9:16; 2 Cor. 4:7-10, 11:21-33).
The possibility of earthly loss is the reason that Jesus told potential disciples they needed to honestly count the cost of following him, and reassured them that whatever they lost was worth it (Luke 14:25-34).
“The life of faith is not blind to the possibility of loss, but honestly acknowledges it, and out of fervent love for God and others decides that the right thing to do is to risk the loss.”
Let’s summarize these passages as they pertain to earthly safety: (1) God has not guaranteed anyone a life of ease or safety, (2) he actually taught the citizens of his kingdom to expect life to be potentially harder and more costly. Since all of this is true, then trying to make sure that my life is risk-free is actually idolatrous! “Bubble-wrapping” my life is not the most important thing I should be thinking about; faithfully loving God and serving others should be (Matt. 22:23-40).
EVALUATING RISK
If we take Jesus’ instruction to count the cost of following him seriously, then there are a lot of risks that we may encounter and we need to be prepared for that.
We may face the loss of our reputation.
We may face the loss of earthly freedom.
We may face the loss of relationships.
We may face the loss of our physical lives.
People of the world will set things like these as the ultimate priorities of their earthly lives. But Christians know better. We know that the most important thing is our relationship with God and our eternal destiny! All these other things are secondary. Things like these are worth risking in order to please God and lovingly serve others. People of the world will not understand…but our faith in God and love for others will lead us to face these risks and more, just like Jesus did.
3 THINGS TO HELP US FACE RISK
Faith - “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven” (Col. 1:3-5).
“Risk is possible because we don’t know how things will turn out…This is what I mean by risk. It is the will of God that we be uncertain about how life on this earth will turn out for us” (Risk is Right).
Since we do not know how things will turn out, faith calls us to place our trust in a sovereign, omniscient, omnipotent God and in spite of potential risks, step out in faith to obey him and serve others!
Love - “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven” (Col. 1:3-5).
God provided the ultimate motivation for facing loss and injury, when that risk is taken in order to benefit someone else. God did that for us when out of love he sent Jesus (Jn. 3:16; Rom. 5:8). His great, risk-taking love motivates us to be willing to do the same for others (Jn. 13:34-35).
Hope - “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven” (Col. 1:3-5).
“Hope is the great power to love people in the face of serious danger. God-given hope creates the power to risk for the sake of others” (Risk is Right).
The ultimate hope of the Christian is not in avoiding risk, difficulty or disease in this life. Our hope is fixed on a future day when we get to join an innumerable heavenly host enjoying the glorious presence of God forever! Since that is our ultimate hope, then we should be willing to risk our reputations, ease or physical safety if that is what faithfully serving God and others requires.
THE PATH OF FAITHFULLY FACING RISK IS WELL-WORN
Thankfully, we are not alone and we are not the first in facing the risks of loving God and serving others! From all the men and women of the Old Testament, to Jesus and early disciples like Epaphroditus, God has provided us with powerful examples to imitate as well as others to avoid. I think it’s instructive that Paul told the Philippians to honor men like Ephaphroditus. They weren’t to honor him in order to give Epaphroditus a big head, but to help show others what it looks like when Christians face risk with faith. May we learn to overcome the paralysis of fear, and out of love face risk for the glory of God!
