Take a Risk for Life and Fruitfulness

What I’m about to say to you has grown out of four convictions.

1. Taking a risk for the glory of Christ is biblical.
2. God often uses risk-taking to set people free from long-standing fruitlessness.
3. Christians are often pushed over the line to take a Christ-honoring risk just because somebody comes along and says, “I think you should seriously consider taking a risk.”
4. Many of you in this room are at a fork in the road, and you need to take the risky path.

My prayer is that, because of what I say, great blessing will come to you on that path and will also spill over onto PassionLife, this ministry that we are celebrating tonight. Yes, in financial support — especially for the Spice and Curry India initiative. Yes, in prayer support. But I have in mind the inscrutable ways that God may cause your life to intersect with PassionLife that neither you nor they can predict or explain.

Risk for Freedom

So let me go back and explain what I mean by my second conviction; namely, God often uses risk-taking to set people free from long-standing fruitlessness. From about the age of twelve to the age of twenty, basically my teenage years, I was not physically able to speak in front of a group. It wasn’t your ordinary butterflies or shaky knees. My shoulders stiffened. My throat closed off. My heart pounded. And the fear of shame was overwhelming.

I recall, once in eighth grade, that every student was required to read one paragraph in front of the class to explain our projects. As my turn approached, I left the room and went to the bathroom and cried. In the tenth grade, Mr. Vermilion the civics teacher said, “Everyone will give an oral book report.” I told him after class I couldn’t do it. He said, “You have to do it. If you don’t do it, the best grade you can get in this class is a C.”

I said, “That’s fine.” I didn’t do it. And so it went. My parents were distressed and took me to a psychologist, which didn’t help.

Then came the summer of 1966. I’m in summer school at Wheaton College between my sophomore and junior year. I am as frozen and fearful as ever. Chaplain Evan Welch approaches me and says, “Johnny, would you be willing to pray in summer school chapel?” That would be in front of about five hundred students. Inexplicably, I heard myself say, “How long do you have to pray?” He said, “Thirty seconds? A minute?” And in a moment of risk, which to this day I cannot account for, I said, “Yes.” You probably cannot imagine how terrifying this felt to me; I would rather have gone to war.

“Fruitful ministries and fruitful lives come into being through risk.”

I walked back and forth on front campus, praying, and for the first time in my life I made a vow to God. I said, “Father, if you will just get me through this, I will never again in my life say no to a speaking opportunity for you out of fear.” And he did. I had asked to be rescued hundreds of times before, and his answer, as I see it now, was always, “Not yet.” Perhaps I had never been willing to take a big enough risk. But friends, something broke that day. And I’ve seen it in other lives.

And so, I say to you: God often uses risk-taking to set people free from long-standing fruitlessness.

Risk for Life

Every one of you in this room is facing a fork in the road, or you will face one sooner or later. And one path will seem easy and safe and risk-free. And the other path will seem hard and risky. God has sent me here tonight simply to say, “I think you should seriously consider taking a risk.”

Where do you think PassionLife came from? Where does every fruitful ministry come from? Where does every fruitful life come from? Before John Ensor was the president of PassionLife and a global leader in the cause of magnifying Christ and rescuing the unborn, he was a pastor in Boston. He invited me to a conference he was putting together in October 1987 called “Fueling the Burning Heart.” Even then, almost forty years ago, we were dreaming about the relationship between local ministry and global impact for the cause of life, both eternal and temporal.

Something was brewing in those days. Risk was brewing. We were both involved in the rescue movement. On Monday, March 6, 1989, I wrote this in my journal:

I just talked to John Ensor who had just gotten out of jail today at 5:00 PM after two and a half days of internment for participating in a rescue in Boston. He was ecstatic. He had preached on Sunday [in the jail] to forty men. He said it was like a men’s retreat, only on the front lines.

It wasn’t long before John Ensor was overseeing five new crisis pregnancy centers in Boston. Then he moved to do the same kind of thing in Miami. And then he moved to Atlanta, PassionLife came into being, and today over thirty countries feel the impact of this Christ-exalting, God-centered ministry. Where did it come from?

The very first line in the PassionLife brochure tonight says, “The challenge before us is hard, costly, and occasionally dangerous.” Fruitful ministries and fruitful lives come into being through risk. 

What Is Risk?

So, let’s take a few minutes and think biblically about risk. The first conviction that I mentioned at the beginning, out of which this message has grown, is this: Taking a risk for the glory of Christ is biblical. It’s right.

Let’s begin with a definition: A risk is an action that might expose you, or others with you, to loss or injury. If you take a risk, you could lose money, or reputation, or health, or job, or home, or your life. I’m saying that’s a good thing. I don’t mean that all risks are good — you know that’s not the case. Paul escaped out of Damascus in a basket (Acts 9:25). The angel told the wise men to go back another way (Matthew 2:12). Jesus said, “Let those who are in Judea flee” (Matthew 24:16). So I don’t mean that every risk is commendable. But more of them are than you think. That’s true even though it exposes you to loss and injury. As Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose” (Shadow of the Almighty, 15).

Did you notice the word might in my definition of risk? A risk is an action that might expose you, or others with you, to loss or injury. The reason for that word is that the only people who can take risks are people who don’t know what a course of action is going to cost them. If you know that throwing yourself on this grenade is going to cost you your life, you don’t call it a risk. You call it a sacrifice. When Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem, he did not say, “This is risky. It might be costly.” He said, “They will mock me and spit on me and flog me and kill me. And after three days I will rise” (see Mark 10:34). This was not risk. This was fully aware sacrifice.

This implies, as you can see, that God does not and cannot take risks. Only people who are ignorant of the future can take risks. Not only is God not ignorant of the future, but he performs the future.

I am God, and there is no other;
     I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
     and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, “My counsel shall stand,
     and I will accomplish all my purpose.” (Isaiah 46:9–10)

Job finally confesses, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). Omniscience and omnipotence cannot risk. God can send his only Son into the world to die, but he cannot cross his fingers and wonder how it’s going to turn out. He knows how it’s going to go. He planned it. He performs it. We will come back to this, because the glorious fact that God cannot risk is the great reason why we can and should — fearlessly.

Lessons in Risk

Consider a few inspiring biblical examples of risk.

Joab and Abishai

The Ammonites and the Syrians have united to come against Israel. Joab is the commander of Israel’s army, and his right hand is his brother Abishai. What are they to do with this pincer movement coming against them? In the early days of my ministry as a pastor, I was tremendously inspired by this moment and the kind of camaraderie for the cause of God that it represents. Joab and his men were arrayed against the Syrians; Abishai and his army against the Ammonites. Here’s what Joab said to his brother:

If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me, but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come and help you. Be of good courage, and let us [play the man] for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him. (2 Samuel 10:11–12)

What does that mean? “May the Lord do what seems good to him.” It means Joab doesn’t know how this is going to turn out. He knows one thing: We are going to fight for the cities of our God no matter what. No matter what!

“Because God cannot risk, neither can his faithful children — not ultimately.”

I remember in the early days of my ministry saying to the Deacon Council, “Come on, brothers; let’s do this. Let’s fail at something.” You can’t do anything worthwhile if you don’t risk failure. If your whole mindset is to protect yourself from failing, you can’t do anything. It’s paralyzing — comfortably, safely, fruitlessly paralyzing.

Esther and Mordecai

Let’s go to the book of Esther. This is in Babylon. Mordecai has a young cousin, and her name is Esther. He adopted her. She was an orphan, and he raised her up. She was a beautiful woman, and she became the queen to King Ahasuerus. She was also a Jew, and he didn’t know it. Haman persuaded him to decree that all the Jews should be exterminated. Mordecai heard of this and said to Esther, “You can save us. Go to the king and tell him you are a Jew and your people are about to be slaughtered.” But there was a law that if you went unbidden into the king’s presence, you would die if he didn’t lift his golden scepter.

And so, Mordecai said, “You have to do that. Your people are all about to be slaughtered. I know you could lose your life, but we’re going to lose ours anyway.” So, here’s what she said in Esther 4:16:

Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.

Oh, I love Esther, and I love Joab. There are Joabs and Esthers in this room, and I am here to call you out. There is much to be done — through PassionLife or on another path that God is going to put in front of you at that fork in the road.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

And then there are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3. Nebuchadnezzar had built a ninety-foot image and said, “Anyone who doesn’t bow down to it will be burned alive in the furnace.” But these three young men were faithful to God and refused. Here’s what they said:

O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. (Daniel 3:16–18)

They said, “We know our God can deliver us. We know his will is that we not bow down. We do not know if he will rescue us from this fire. If not, he will rescue us in heaven, but we’re not bowing down.” That’s a risk. They took their lives in their hands. And they did what was right. It was a huge risk.

We used to teach these things to our children. Do we still? Do we want to raise a generation who will risk their lives for the sake of the gospel — for the sake of life, in India?

Paul and Agabus

Let’s look at one more biblical example: the apostle Paul. I remember several points in my life where Paul’s words of farewell to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 moved me very deeply. He said,

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. (Acts 20:24)

In other words, better to lose your life than to waste it. And everything in me said, and says, “Amen.” So, he headed to Jerusalem for one last time, carrying a gift for the poor. Just before he got there, in Caesarea, a prophet named Agabus took Paul’s belt and bound his own hands and said,

Thus says the Holy Spirit, “This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.” (Acts 21:11)

But what about after that? Would he be killed? Would he be kept in prison for the rest of his life? Would he be banished? Paul didn’t know. And for him it didn’t matter. Because he said,

What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. (Acts 21:13)

In other words, “If I perish, I perish. May the Lord do what seems good to him.”

Fearless Risk

I promised we would return to the fact that God cannot take risks. And I said the glorious fact that God cannot risk is the great reason why we can and should — fearlessly.

Here’s the connection between why he can’t and why we should. God can’t because he knows and governs all things. Nothing surprises God. Nothing is outside his control. Add to that the stupendous truth that when Christ died, he absorbed the wrath of God against us, he covered our sins, and he brought us into the very family of God. All of God’s wisdom and all of God’s power now stand in the service of his mercy toward those who trust him, so that all things — all things, no matter the risk — work together for our good.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:35–37)

This means, amazingly, that because God cannot risk, neither can his faithful children — not ultimately. In the short term, yes; in the long term, no — which is why in the PassionLife brochure it says, “If you have faith that God is watching over you, then you know that nothing bad can happen to you that isn’t good for you.”

Well said, PassionLife. You have served us well, and the nations, and the children — and the gospel. May God give you decades of fruitfulness as you continue to take risks for the cause of life. And all of you, as you face the next fork in the road, consider the risky path for Christ’s sake.