12/17/06 Sermon: “The Least is the Greatest



11/11/12 Sermon: “The Cost of Living for Jesus”

(Texts: 1st Peter 4:12-16 & 19; Matthew 5:10-12; Luke 9:57-62)

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The title for today’s sermon is: “The cost of following Jesus.” Please understand. The forgiveness and eternal life that Christ gives us costs us absolutely nothing. Salvation is a free gift from God. We don’t deserve it. We can’t earn it. Jesus gives it to us as a gift. It costs us nothing.

However, receiving these gifts by faith means that we get to live for Jesus in this sinful world – and living for Jesus in this sinful world comes at a cost. Living for Jesus in this world will mean personal sacrifice. However, the benefits of living for Jesus far outweigh any trials or persecutions we may have to face as we live for Him.

With that said, today’s Gospel reading begins with these words: “As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’” What’s going on here? Why does Jesus give such a strange answer to someone who says he wants to follow Him wherever He goes?

Well, remember WHERE Jesus is going? Luke 9:51 reads: “As the time approached for [Jesus] to be taken up to heaven, [He] resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” Jesus will ascend to heaven! But before that happens He will go to Jerusalem so He can be nailed to a cross where He will suffer and die in our place of damnation.

As Jesus continues to proclaim this message, more and more people reject Him and want nothing to do with Him. Rather than people welcoming Jesus into their homes because they believe His preaching, they refuse to offer Jesus any hospitality. As Jesus said: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

Jesus is reminding this man and US that following Jesus and living for Him in this sinful world is no guarantee that life will be a bed of roses. In fact, the opposite may be the case. As Jesus said in our reading from Matthew, there may be times when we will be persecuted because we follow Him. Our reading from 1st Peter makes the same point.

Jesus does not want us to have any delusions about what it means to live for Him in this world. There are Christians in other nations who know the cost of following Jesus. In some nations Christians are second class citizens at best or persecuted and killed at worst.

Now, even though we American Christians might not yet have to face death for following Jesus, we are finding that being faithful to Jesus in our culture also comes with a cost. In the United States there are people who ignore us, mock us and even hate us because we follow Jesus and proclaim the Truth of His Kingdom. Living for Jesus comes with a cost.

But it’s worth it, Christian friends! Whatever persecutions or trials we may endure as we live for Jesus in this world, they simply mean nothing compared to the forgiveness, love and the hope of eternal life Jesus has given us. In fact, we should pity the unbelievers who persecute us and we should pray for them – because they have no hope as long as they refuse to repent of their sin and see no need for Jesus.

The next part of our Gospel reads as follows: “[Jesus] said to another man, ‘Follow me.’ But the man replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’”

So, what’s up with this? Jesus sounds so unreasonable! All this guy wants to do is first bury his father. Why does Jesus seem to refuse this reasonable request?

Please understand! Jesus is not teaching that if you want to live for Him you can’t plan a funeral for a close family member. I took a week off from being a pastor back in April of 2009 so I could help plan my father’s funeral. Jesus doesn’t condemn me for that - and He doesn’t condemn you for planning funerals for your loved ones, either.

So, then, what IS going on here? Please notice that Jesus does NOT say that this man CAN’T go and bury his father. Instead, Jesus says: “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” What does Jesus mean?

First, when Jesus mentions “the dead” He is referring to this man’s family. But why does Jesus call this man’s family “the dead?” He calls them “the dead” because they are SPIRITUALLY dead! In other words, this man’s family are unbelievers. They have rejected Jesus and His preaching.

Jesus knows that this man’s family will tempt him to reject Jesus, too. They think that this man’s father has the hope of heaven because he was good enough and obeyed God’s laws. They do not see their need to confess their sins and trust in Jesus for salvation. They do not believe that Jesus is their only hope in the face of death.

So, Jesus essentially says to this man: “Let your family reject Me and preach false teaching at your father’s funeral if they want to, but I want you to speak the truth in love; I want you to proclaim repentance and the forgiveness of sins through faith in Me; I want you to proclaim the Kingdom of God.” Simply put, Jesus wants this man to proclaim the Kingdom of God to his unbelieving family rather than affirming their unbelief.

You see, even though God wants us to love our family, He also teaches that we should not love them MORE than Him – especially if they are unbelievers! In other words, we should not let unbelieving family members or unbelieving friends influence us and keep us from following Jesus. Instead, we should do our best to influence them by speaking God’s Truth in love to them.

Of course, living for Jesus when your family or friends reject Jesus comes with a cost. Your unbelieving family and friends may ignore you or, worse yet, they might even resent you for what you believe and how you live. At the very worst, they might even persecute you or kill you. Former Muslims who now believe in Jesus can tell you how their unbelieving families have disowned them and even want to kill them.

But as a former Muslim and new believer in Jesus once told me: “Even though my earthly family has rejected me, God has given me a heavenly family that will love me forever!” You see, even if our unbelieving family and friends resent us or reject us because we follow Jesus, we do not despair. When Jesus saved us He gave us a NEW family – our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

We who believe in Jesus are blood relatives because the blood of Jesus has rescued us from a life of unbelief and brought us into the family of God – a family that will love us for all eternity.

Finally, let’s hear the last part of our Gospel reading: “Still another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.’ Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’”

Once again, Jesus sounds so unreasonable! Is Jesus saying that if we believe in Him we must cut all ties with our family and not even say good-bye to them? Of course not! God’s Word teaches we should honor our father and mother, care for our children, and husbands and wives are to love and respect each other. Jesus wants us to love and serve our families!

So, then, what IS Jesus saying to this man? First, please notice Jesus does NOT say that this man CAN’T say good-bye to his family. Instead, Jesus warns this man that he won’t be able to live for Jesus if he doesn’t keep his focus on Jesus. That’s why Jesus uses the analogy of plowing a field.

You see, when people in Jesus’ say were plowing their fields, they would fix their eyes on some object in front of them and never look away. This would help them to plow a straight row. But you can’t plow a straight row if you’re looking behind you rather than fixing your eyes on some object in front of you.

Very likely, this man’s family were also unbelievers – just like the previous man’s family. Jesus knows this man’s family may try to keep him from following Jesus. Jesus knows that this man may have second thoughts about Jesus and His preaching.

Therefore, Jesus warns this man that He can’t love his former life of unbelief and follow Jesus at the same time. This man can’t allow his unbelieving family to keep him from focusing on Jesus and living for Him.

In the same way, Jesus knows that we will be tempted to look back. In other words, Jesus knows that there are many evil things in this world that will tempt us to take our eyes off of Jesus; Jesus knows that there are many evil things in this world that can keep us from living for Him.

In Luke 9:23 Jesus says: “If anyone would come after me, He must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Simply put, following Jesus costs us something. Following Jesus means crucifying our sinful loyalties and dying to a life of unbelief and self-worship. We can’t pretend to worship God for 1 hour on Sunday and then live as unbelievers the rest of the week. Being a Christian is a 24/7 faith relationship with Jesus that defines every moment of our lives.

Therefore, as we live for Jesus we must keep our eyes fixed on Him because He is the only one who will keep our faith alive so that we can follow Him every moment of every day – rejoicing in His forgiveness, basking in His love, and living to His glory.

Listen to these words from Hebrews chapter 12: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning it’s shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you might not grow weary and lose heart.”

My Christian friends, trusting in Jesus and living for Him comes with a cost. Not only do we have to battle with the evil desires of our own sinful natures every day. On top of that, we daily face the temptations so prevalent in this evil world. In addition, there are times when we may face mockery and persecution because we live for Jesus. No wonder we grow weary and lose heart. We can’t do it on our own.

That’s why we must listen to Jesus and fix our eyes on Him, because He paid the cost for our salvation when He went to the cross with joy in His heart. That’s right! Jesus had joy in His heart when He hung on that cross because He knew He was saving you so that you could belong to Him for all eternity.

This same Jesus conquered death for you and now reigns for you at the right hand of the throne of God! Living for Jesus in this world may be very difficult at times, but we will never look back because Jesus paid the ultimate cost for us so that we could live in His love for all eternity.

The Apostle Paul knew the cost of following Jesus. His family rejected him. The Pharisees who used to admire him now despised Him. Paul was constantly facing suffering and persecution because he was living for Jesus.

But listen to what Paul says about the cost of following Jesus. In Philippians chapter 3 Paul writes: “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ … I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings … our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Therefore, my brothers, … that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!”

Did you hear that? Whatever the sacrifice or cost may be as we live for Jesus, it’s worth it! Jesus forgives all our sins and rescues us from eternal hell. Jesus fills us with His everlasting love and peace. Jesus gives us certain hope in the face of death itself – the certain hope of the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come where we will live with our loving God forever!

We can endure the cost of living for Jesus because Jesus paid the ultimate cost for our salvation when He died on the cross for us. Amen!

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