RADICAL - Someone Worth Losing Everything
For
INTRODUCTION
Evangelism
Buying followers-youth ministry in
TN, Ziegler
Gyms, youth departments, member incentives
Today I am
going to try to talk you out of following Jesus
I. JESUS'
WORDS
A. Eat flesh and drink blood
Jesus said to them, “Very
truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his
blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has
eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real
food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live
because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This
is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but
whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” (John 6:53-58
NIV)
B. 3 guys talked out of following Jesus
As they were walking
along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus
replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place
to lay his head.”
He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he 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.”
Still
another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye
to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back
is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:57-62
NIV)
Become homeless.
Let someone else bury your dad.
Don't even
say good-bye to your family.
C. More required
Large crowds were
traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and
does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes,
even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.
And whoever
does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. (Luke
14:25-27 NIV)
D. Rich guy
As Jesus started on his way, a man
ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what
must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered.
“No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not
murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give
false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’ ”
“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” Jesus looked
at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you
have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come,
follow me.” At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great
wealth. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the
rich to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. But
Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is
rich to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples were even more amazed, and said
to each other, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man
this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Then
Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!” “Truly I tell you,”
Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or
father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a
hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers,
children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.
But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Mark 10:17-31
NIV)
ILL - Article in a Christian publication with opposite
articles
$23 million on new church building - $5,000 to help the refugees in
Darfur region of Sudan (350,000 dying of malnutrition by the end of that
year)
II. JESUS' PLEA
A. Follow Me
As Jesus was walking
beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his
brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At
once they left their nets and followed him. (Matthew 4:18-20
NIV)
B. Abandon everything
When Jesus had called the Twelve
together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure
diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the
sick. He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no
money, no extra shirt. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that
town. If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your
feet as a testimony against them.” (Luke 9:1-5 NIV)
1. Radical
abandonment
Dietrich Bonhoeffer- The Cost of Discipleship
"the call to
abandon the attachment of this world"
"when Christ calls a man, he bids him
come and die"
III. JESUS' EXPECTATION
“The kingdom of heaven is
like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then
in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. (Matthew 13:44
NIV)
A. Hidden treasure
B. Sold everything
C. Dealt with nobody
understanding
CONCLUSION
The Cost of Undiscipleship
A gospel of
prosperity, convenience, and self
People buy into a Trojan horse
1.
Commit to believe whatever Jesus says.
2. Commit to obey.
No comments:
Post a Comment