Preaching Our Purpose: 

Part 3 Guiding toward Total Devotion 

Luke 14:25-35 

PSBC 1/23/00

In a nutshell: If we are going to make a difference in this world for Jesus Christ, we must commit ourselves to the challenge of being disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus challenges us to be disciples in our personal relationships, in our personal goals and desires, and with our personal possessions.

I. Introduction

A. A string of thought-stretching quotes

1. Few sermons have affected me more than Bishop Richard Snyder's powerful message given at the 1995 Free Methodist General Conference in Anderson, Indiana. The thing that Bishop Snyder said that most affected me in his 1995 message was this...(on the front of your bulletin.)

"We must be a discipled...people. It is absolutely essential for us to return to a thorough study of the Scriptures. Pop-theology, found in so many of the easy-to-read and popular books has left the church with a generation of believers who have little knowledge of the Word of God... We are calling the church to purposeful, serious attention to God's Word. Without this, we will miss His Way and we will starve spiritually. Neglect of this is the one and only thing that will take us away from our roots and spoil our fruitfulness."

2. Another statement along this same line, that carries with it the weight of a prophet, is one made by Dr. Charles Swindoll, who, after a number of years as the successful pastor of Fullerton Evangelical Free Church, and is now the president of Dallas Theological seminary. He states in an article in Christianity Today magazine, entitled, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity... A number of religious groups have climbed on the yuppie bandwagon. They tell us, "If you want anything bad enough, you just claim it and God will give it to you. He's a good God, and He's certainly a prosperous God. He owns the cattle on every hill. He'll sell some and make it possible for you to enjoy whatever you really want in life." Sounds so appealing, so right. But when we examine it closely we find that it is light-years removed from everything Jesus taught and modeled. The kingdom He represented and urged His followers to embrace was a kingdom altogether different from the me-ism world of today.

3. Finally, I want to share two sentences with you from the man that was said to be C. S. Lewis' favorite Christian author, G. K. Chesterton. He said...

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult, and left untried. (G. K. Chesterton in What's Wrong with the World. Christianity Today, Vol. 39, no. 1.)

B. Transition

Now, friends, I wanted to make you aware of what these giants of modern evangelical Christianity have said, in order to get you to begin thinking about the third statement of our new church purpose statement that says this...

(We will) Guide each person toward total devotion to Jesus Christ.

According to Bishop Snyder, that process is called discipleship. According to Chuck Swindoll, this process is something very different than current culture, and most churches are willing to teach. And According to G. K. Chesterton, because it's not an easy road, not enough Christians are willing to take up the challenge of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Over the next 17 years, until I retire, I and the teachers who I influence at this church will open the Word of God to you in Sunday School classes, in Flock groups and in worship services, and in other Bible study opportunities to teach you with an eye on the final goal of you becoming a totally devoted follower of Jesus Christ.

Now, saying that, I think it would be a good idea to show you the final outcome of what we hope to produce in you when you are fully taught. So, that is what we are going to be doing the rest of this morning. Turn in your Bibles to Luke 14 (p. 1623 in the Large Print Bibles in the chair racks)

II. The Challenges of discipleship

A. The setting

The passage we are going to look at this morning, in Luke 14, is set somewhere in the middle of Jesus' ministry here on earth. Jesus was speaking to the people who were following Him. Huge throngs of people were crowding Jesus wherever he went. They wanted to see Him perform miracles. They wanted to see Him heal sick people. They wanted to see Him do spectacular stuff. They wanted to be around a celebrity.

But Jesus wasn't looking for fame or notoriety or prestige from people–He wasn't looking for "Jesus Groupies"–He was looking for disciples–people who would commit their lives to being like Him–people who were totally devoted to Him and His mission on earth.

In this context, with this great potpourri of followers mingling around Him and talking and joking with each other, Jesus stops along the road, and thins out this huge crowd ...by challenging them about what it means to be a totally devoted follower of His–in other words, to be His disciple.

B. The Challenges

There are three broad categories that Jesus identifies as being crucial to come under His control if we are going to be totally devoted followers. These will form the first part of this mornings message. The areas are: Our personal relationships; Our personal goals and desires; and Our personal possessions. Let's look at each of these as Jesus mentions them...

1. Personal Relationships

The first challenge of total devotion is that we are to place our relationship with Christ above all others.

Luke 14:26 26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-- yes, even his own life-- he cannot be my disciple.

Hold it, Jesus! Isn't that a violation of the ten commandments, all of Gary Smalley's books, all that Focus on the Family tells us, and all that Promise Keepers stands for? Are we supposed to literally hate our families, in order to be your disciple?

The answer is, "No!" What he is saying is that we have to place our love for Him above all other loves in our lives--even our family and our selves.

Illustration: I was up all night, one night during the winter, in our home in Wheaton, Illinois, wrestling with some issues in my ministry area of responsibility. I was sitting in our living room, where we had this magnificent flag stone fireplace. I had built a fire in it, and as the night was coming to an end, and dawn was just beginning, I watched the embers die away... There was only this gray heap of ashes, topped with glowing embers.

I remember that one burning coal stood out brilliantly from all the rest because it was red hot. My gaze was fixed on it. Suddenly that brilliant red-hot coal turned completely black. It happened so suddenly, that I remember being startled.

What had caused the instant change? As I looked around, I noticed that the drapes were parted slightly and a shaft of bright sunlight from the rising sun had shot into the room and landed directly on the burning coal. Even though the ember was still glowing hot, the greater light of the sun had made the lesser light of the ember look black by comparison.

That is what Jesus is demanding of followers who are totally devoted to Him. This is what personal relationships look like in comparison to our love and devotion for Him. Our love and devotion for Him must be so complete that the deepest love we have for our dearest loved one, fades in comparison to our love for God. Do you love the Lord Jesus like that? If you don't–or aren't willing to–Jesus says, you cannot be His disciple.

2. Personal Goals and Desires

The second challenge Jesus gives to the crowd about being His disciple is disciples are required to crucify their personal goals and desires for the sake of Jesus.

Luke 14:27 27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Illustration: Here Jesus calls on a very vivid site that most of these people had seen at one time or another. The crucifixion crosses of Jesus day were not quite like the crosses we have pictured in most of our church architecture. It was more in the shape of a capital "T", rather than a lower case "t".

So He was asking them to remember when they had seen a convicted criminal stumbling up a hill of execution with the top cross timber of the crucifixion cross on his back. On that piece of timber, that criminal was going to be nailed, and hung, and crucified to death. It was a shameful thing to carry that cross timber. It was the symbol of death. It was the symbol of guilt. It was a symbol of that person's rebellion that was being squashed by the Roman authority.

What Jesus is saying, is that to be His disciples, we must put to death that part of us that rebels against His desire to have complete Lordship in our lives–the part in us that wants to go our own way and pursue our own ambitions. That part has got to be killed and returned to, no more.

Illustration When Cortez landed at Vera Cruz in 1519 to begin his conquest of Mexico, he had only a small force of 700 men. So he did something that took great courage. He purposely set fire to his fleet of 11 ships. As the fires raged, his men on the shore watched their only means of retreat sink to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. With no means of retreat, there was only one direction to move, forward into the Mexican interior to meet whatever might come their way.

In paying the price for being Christ's disciple, we must purposefully destroy all avenues of retreat. We must resolve that whatever the price for being His follower is, we will pay it. Practically, that means every day, we have to renew a commitment to following Jesus Christ, no matter what!

--Ask to do something unusual: I'm going to ask you to do something unusual this morning. I want you to write your answer to each of the three questions that are on the sermon not sheet in your bulletins. Your answers will help you see whether you're living according to your way or Christ's...

a. Have I honestly and objectively taken my life's goals and desires before the Lord for His final approval?

b. Do my goals and desires honor God?

c. Am I really willing to change my goals and desires if God were to show me that I should?

I'm going to say this as gently, but as forcefully as it needs to be said, If you answered "NO" to any of these questions, you are one of the reasons the church of Jesus Christ is as ineffective as it is, in making a difference in this Coachella Valley, today! You are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

3. Personal Possessions

The last challenge of discipleship is found in verse 33...

Luke 14:33 33 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

Please understand what Jesus is saying. He is not condemning the ownership of things. He's not talking about owning possessions. He is talking about possessions owning us.

Remember the story of Abraham being asked of God to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on the alter. That story is a moving account of this old patriarch's unwavering obedience. You'll remember that in the story, Abraham actually took his son, and placed him on the altar. Trembling and determined, he raised the knife to plunge in into Isaac's heart. And then the voice of God stops Him.

In his book, The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer points out the significance of this event...

"The old man of God lifted his head to respond to the Voice, and stood there on the mount strong and pure and grand, a man marked out by the Lord for special treatment, a friend and favorite of the Most High. Now he was a man wholly surrendered, a man utterly obedient, a man who possessed nothing...

...Yet was not this poor man rich? Everything he had owned before was his still to enjoy: sheep, camels, herds, and goods of every sort. He had also his wife and his friends, and best of all he had his son Isaac safe by his side. He had everything, but he possessed nothing. There is the spiritual secret...

After that bitter and blessed experience I think the words "my" and "mine" never had again the same meaning for Abraham. The sense of possession which they connote was gone from his heart. Things had been cast out forever." Being a disciple of Jesus Christ does not necessarily mean being poor–or lacking in the ownership of things. But it does mean, that we are possessed by nothing. Everything we have must go on the altar–even our most cherished possessions. We must hold on to everything we have...loosely!

III. The Reasons

A. The Architect and the King

To many of us, these challenges that Jesus gives to be a totally devoted follower, seem pretty strict, hard and unyielding. My natural response, as I'm sure yours is, WHY? Why does discipleship have to be so demanding? Jesus uses two stories to explain why the terms are so tough...

Luke 14:28-32 28 "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29 For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30 saying, `This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' 31 "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.

The point is this... Jesus Christ does know what it will take to build His kingdom, here on earth. Jesus does know the magnitude of the task and sees the relentlessness of His enemy, the devil. He knows the kind of commitment it is going to take to get the job done–the job of advancing His Kingdom into the hearts of men and women, boys and girls–and He's looking for people who will rise to the challenge.

B. The Analogy

To crystallize His teaching, Jesus uses another illustration of something the people used every day to preserve their food--He talks about salt...

Luke 14:34-35 34 "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Author and pastor, Calvin Miller, talks about Salt that has lost it's saltiness. He labels Christians who have lost their saltiness and calls them "Christaholics."

Many Christians are only "Christaholics" and not disciples at all. Disciples are cross-bearers; they seek Christ. Christaholics seek happiness. Disciples dare to discipline themselves, and the demands they place on themselves leave them enjoying the happiness of their growth. Christaholics are escapists looking for a shortcut to nirvana. Like drug addicts, they are trying to "bomb out" of their depressing world. There is no automatic joy. Christ is not a happiness capsule; He is the way to the Father. But the way to the Father is not a carnival ride in which we sit and do nothing while we are whisked through various spiritual sensations. (Calvin Miller in The Taste of Joy. Christianity Today, Vol. 33, no. 17.)

If we gloss over Christ's terms for discipleship, and adhere to a Christaholic or salt-less belief, we lose our "Christ-like essence". We become "bland Christians", providing neither the church nor the world the life-changing taste of Jesus that they crave.

Christaholics are useless in God's kingdom building! God didn't mean for us merely fill church space on Sunday mornings. He didn't mean for us to be part of the crowd, focused on our selves.

He has great mountains for us to climb, great towers to build, great spiritual kingdoms to vanquish. He wants us to be a FORCE, not a Fortress. But we must be willing to accept His challenge, and do whatever it takes! –Let nothing possesses us... –Crucify personal goals that don't help advance God's Kingdom... –and Place our relationship with God above every other human relationship we have.

IV. Responding to Great Expectations

How do we respond to this challenge?

A. Stop indulging in laziness

To put it bluntly, we have to stop being lazy-Christaholic-Christians. God didn't put us here to sit and watch the world go to hell, while we have a nice, comfortable, holy huddle together! We have a job to do, a divine mission to accomplish–to share God's Truth and to be His Light.

Illustration: I love the story about Steve Jobs, in the early years at Apple Computer. He was trying to recruit John Sculley, who was then the President of Pepsi-Cola. Jobs issued this tremendous challenge to Sculley. He asked: "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?"

Every one of you have a similar challenge from our Lord, Jesus Christ! Would you rather remain an anonymous Christaholic, or do you want to change the world for God?

If you want to change the world for God then you've come to the right church. Because we have every intention to guide you toward total devotion to Jesus Christ. Because settling for anything less is like settling to sell sugared water.

B. Wrap-up

Chuck Colson tells the story of Roy...

Roy was a holdup man, who was caught and sent to prison. While there, he came face to face with the claims of the Gospel and accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior. His life completely changed, he served the rest of his sentence in an exemplary manner and was released several years later. As he was leaving, the chaplain handed him a letter written by another prisoner. It said, "I came to this place despising both preachers and the Bible. When you told me you were saved, I said to myself, 'There's another one taking the Gospel road just to get an early parole'; but Roy, I've been observing you for a couple of years, and your testimony has rung true. I kept track of you when you were in the yard exercising, or working in the shop, or eating your meals. You never made a slip. Now I'm a Christian, too, because I watched you! The Savior who saved you has saved me!"

Friends, Here's the point you need to take with you today... Jesus looked into the future and saw that if His Kingdom is going to advance in the Coachella Valley, then He needs an army of men and women who understand the cost–who have counted the cost–and who are willing to pay the cost, to share His truth and to be His light, where ever they live ,or work, or play.

Are you a member of that army of totally devoted followers of Jesus Christ, or are you just part of the Christian crowd? We intend to be a training facility for an army of totally devoted followers of Jesus Christ. So we will win the battle for the souls of the people who live in this area.

Amen.