Disrupted By Jesus

By Sam Machaka

The worst thing that can happen to you is to be stopped when you are on the track of getting what you have so desired to get all your life; It is to be told that you cannot or you may not get it now or ever in this life. Whatever that maybe we do not want to be disrupted while we are on the way to our success. Many people today would rather shun negative people, people who do not speak anything positive which encourages them or that makes them “better”. They want to surround themselves with people who affirm and lift them up and I think it is the most natural thing for anyone to desire. No one has ever said they long for anyone to pull them down or someone to change the trajectory of their intended success. Enter Jesus. He is nothing but disruptive. He caused disruption wherever He went. If He did not cause commotion in their politics, He did in their economics and if He did not cause it in these two, He caused it in their religious, cultural, intellectual and emotional being. That is just who He is. You cannot come to Jesus and exclaim “I never needed anything from Him” or “He never changed anything in my life”. When Jesus comes, He disrupts every single area of our lives. He is that kind of God.

Starting from the Old Testament we see how God disrupted the building of the Tower of Babel [Genesis 11:5-9]. You see if we are left to our own devices, we will all go from bad to worse and we will not stop. This is because of sin in us. Many people blame God for things that man has done but they do not see that many times God restrains evil from continuing. “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law” [Proverbs 29:18, ESV]. Now, prophetic vision does not mean every age needs a ‘prophet’ like ones we have today. A prophetic word is a word which comes from God and God has given us His word the Bible from which we can hear and know His will. 

The danger we have in the world today is that it is greatly becoming intolerant of Christianity. This is especially true in the more developed nations. There is a trajectory that the world has taken and it can be a result of increasing idolatry going on everywhere be it entertainment, media, business, marriage what have you. God is seldom acknowledged and people are love material things more than Him. He has or is being banished from schools and the preaching of the gospel is being vehemently resisted. Reluctantly [2 Peter 3:9] God brings judgment at the end of the day. Tim Keller in his book “Counterfeit Gods” says, ‘In the book of Romans, Saint Paul wrote that one of the worst things God can do to someone is to “give them over to the desires of their hearts’ [Romans 1:24]. So many times, God restrains people from ongoing sin and rebellion by warning them of impending disaster. And one way He does it is to use the church to proclaim His word. He did it during the time of Jonah where Nineveh was destined to destruction but the Lord sent a man to warn them [Jonah 1:2]. And thank God the whole city repented and God relented from destroying the people and everything that belonged to them [Jonah 3:10]. God had to disrupt their way of life in order for them to be saved. This is what He is doing even today.

We have several examples of how Jesus interrupted and disrupted the lives of people in the New Testament. We also have examples of His disciples doing the same when they proclaimed His name and we will look at a couple of these and give a number of references. His birth caused no small concern in Jerusalem [Matthew 2:3] and the religious leaders and the Jews were all disturbed by Him. ‘Some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a Man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them’ [John 9:16] as it happened to the Jews; “There was again a division among the Jews because of these words” [John 10:19]. But He Himself said, “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three” [Luke 12:51-52].

The moment one comes to union with Jesus, he divides with those that are not united with Him and this division is first and always a spiritual division and it may or may not manifest in physical division on this earth but it will eventually for eternity for that matter. But it most definitely divides the way we think and do life. The moment one comes to Christ he becomes born again and if you want to know if you are born again, look at your taste buds. If the taste buds for life and sin did not change then you're not converted. If you still love and cherish the sinful things you used to do then there is nothing new that has happened in you; your life was never disrupted. But if you now loath your sin and want out of it, if you now crave for and desire God, if you now want to be closer to Him each day; then your taste buds have been transformed. If you now desire His word, to glorify Him by doing it and enjoy it, then you sir, and you madam are born again. You have put your faith and trust in Jesus and He disrupted your whole life because "… if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" [ 2 Corinthians 5:17]

Jesus disrupted a piggery project in the Gadarenes [Matthew 8:32] and I am sure there was great loss of income there. Also the preaching of Jesus by the disciples disrupted the idol-god-making industry at Ephesus since many of them as well as the witchdoctors in Europe [sin’angas, sangomas] turned to God [Acts 19:19-20]. The reason the worship of Diana went ahead was because it had some economic benefit to some people “For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.” When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” [Acts 19:24-29]. 

Both the pagan religious leaders and the Jewish religious leaders’ programs were disrupted by Jesus. He was no respecter of people [Luke 20:21]. Many of the people believed the pharisees and the Sadducees were the righteous ones but Christ came in and disrupted their thinking. He even warned them to beware the Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees [Matthew 16:6; Matthew 23:5-7; Mark 12:38-39; Mark 8:15; Luke 11:43; Luke 20:45-47, Luke 12:1,]. Because He disrupted their way of worship and how people saw them, the Jewish leaders had to plot His death. This is exactly what they would do to Jesus if He were here today. After all they are stifling and suppressing the preaching of Him because He comes to disrupt their program.

No matter what the cost is, where Jesus is faithfully preached, be it in the church or the community, you must be sure of one thing; He will disrupt the way people do church and life respectively. He disrupts the whole of what is known as life today and there is no area where one can say He does not disrupt. He disrupts your finances, culture, thinking, relationships, and the things you value. He makes everything new. 

The worst disruption that Jesus causes in your life is the best thing to ever happen to you.

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About The Author:

Pastor Sam Machacka is co-founder of Brink Ministries Southern Africa. A wonderful colleague and good friend. Equipping Pastors and Church leaders in Southern Africa. He grew up in Harare, Zimbabwe with his beautiful wife Mildred and they are blessed with three lovely children namely Samantha, Munashe and Joshua but they are now serving as missionaries in Malawi since August 2018

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