Civilized Christianity

In reading Erwin McManus' book, The Barbarian Way, I've been encouraged that I'm not crazy. Throughout the book, Erwin talks about how Christianity has become a civilized religion and how that seems like the polar opposite of the call to follow Jesus. He portrays the call to follow Christ as the call to live as a barbarian. It's an excellent read and confirmed to me that I'm not the only one out there that thinks the current state of the church is a bit off from how Christ would have it. Here's a passage that really spoke out to me:

"Somewhere along the way the movement of Jesus Christ became civilized as Christianity. We created a religion using the name of Jesus Christ and convinced ourselves that God's optimal desire for our lives was to insulate us in a spiritual bubble where we risk nothing, sacrifice nothing, lose nothing, worry about nothing. Yet Jesus' death wasn't to free us from dying, but to free us from the fear of death. Jesus came to liberate us so that we could die up front and then live. Jesus Christ wants to take us to places where only dead men and women can go. I wonder how many of us have lost our barbarian way and have become embittered with God, confused in our faith because God doesn't come through the way we think He should. Is it possible that the transforming power of the church has been lost because we keep inviting people to step into the comfort , safety, and security of Jesus Christ? We've created a religious culture in which - even though we're the most blessed society in the history of the planet - our best-selling literature still focuses on how we can be more blessed. Maybe we need to step way back to the beginning of this movement. The original call of Jesus was so simple, so clean, so clear: 'Follow Me.' He wants us to surrender our lives to Him and follow Him into the unknown. And if it means a life of suffering, hardship, and disappointment, it will be worth it because following Jesus Christ is more powerful and more fulfilling than living with everything in the world minus Him. Have we forgotten this? Have we become so refined and so civilized that the benefits of our faith have become more precious and more valuable to us than the Benefactor of our faith?"