RADICAL - Radical Abandonment sermon outline from Jan. 4, 2015 (a sermon series based upon " Radical" by David Platt)

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.

RADICAL (a sermon series based upon Radical by David Platt) - a blogpost for a sermon to be preached on January 4, 2015

Radical is a word that conjures up all sorts of ideas.  Eccentric, weird, strange, excessive, etc.  

Jesus called his followers to a radical commitment to him and his Father.  

Does the modern American church understand the radical commitment that Jesus demanded?

Do I call people to a radical commitment?

Do I live a radical commitment?

THE GIFTS OF THE MAGI - Mara (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached on December 28, 2014)

The Hebrew word, mara (myrrh has its root in this word), means bitter.  The Israelites knew bitterness in the wilderness.  They ate bitter herbs at the Passover meal.  They were familiar with the pungent aroma the bitter spice delivered when it was poured over a body or burnt in a fire.

Bitterness seems an appropriate gift for a child who would have to suffer much before he was freed from this world.  Bitter disappoinntment.  Bitter sorrow.  Bitter pain.  Bitter treatment from the Romans and the from his own people.

Bitterness

THE GIFTS OF THE MAGI - Myrrh (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached on December 28, 2014)

Myrrh?  Why would anyone give a burial spice to a child?  Seems an odd gift.

While myrrh was not as expensive as gold and frankincense, it was quite valuable.  Worshiping the new king would be costly for the magi.  They needed to give appropriate (valuable) gifts to the new heir to the throne.  Myrrh was expensive so it fit.

I wonder if anyone put the burial spice together with the eventual death of this baby king?  It could certainly be kept for decades until it was needed.  It had value even if wasn't used now.  It was an extravagant gift for the child but a reasonable gift at that.

I just wonder when the first time anyone put these gifts together with his mission to find the irony.  I just wonder.

THE GIFTS OF THE MAGI - Frankincense (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached on December 14, 2014)

Before you say anything about my Christmas sermon series . . . Yes, I know the Wisemen probably came to see the new born king quite awhile after he was born.  Yes, I know that even though Fontanini would like us to believe that they were at the creche with the shepherds that they don't belong.  I also know that there were probably more than 3.  They were probably not kings (although a good bit of history over the last 2000 years would say that they were).  Their names were probably not Caspar, Balthasar, and Melchior.  They probably did not come from 3 different continents.  OK.  I got it.  Do we understand each other?

The composition of the gifts is interesting to me.  The gold is fit for a king.  Can you imagine traveling along a route that was known for bandits with a gift of gold?  I can imagine that the entourage would have been quite large and well armed.  Can you imagine the confusion when the circus pulled up to a meager carpenter's home?  Can you imagine what the residents of the little hamlet of Nazareth were thinking as these royal ambassadors came to visit lowly Mary and Joseph?  Can you imagine?

While gold is certainly fitting for a baby king, the frankincense is of greater interest to me.  It is a gift for a god.  A gift one would bring as an act of worship.  Magi worshiping the baby king.

Matthew 2:2 states, "We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

This was no ordinary royal birth.  There was no palace.  There were no royals.  There were no servants.  There was no altar.  There was no temple.  But there were magi worshiping.  There was frankincense for the liturgy.  There was God in the flesh.

GIVE OF YOUR BEST TO THE MASTER - Sacrificial Giving (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached on Nov. 30, 2014)

Sacrificial giving . . .  When you give of your excess, does that count as sacrificial giving?  How many of us have ever given from what we need and not from the leftovers?  Giving, as God demonstrated in His gift of His son, cost Him dearly.  Our model . . .  our goal . . .  our calling.

(1 Cor. 4:7) For who regards you as superior? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

(Luke 14:33) So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

GIVE OF YOUR BEST TO THE MASTER - Sacrifice (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached on Nov. 30, 2014)

After we give of our first fruits to God, we are not done.

Sacrifice stands as a primary principle derived from our observation of the actions of God toward our predicament with regard to our relationship with Him.  In other words, you cannot understand our new relationship apart from sacrifice.  God loved us enough to allow His son to be the propitiation for our sin and redeem, renew, and restore our relationship with Him.  Jesus is our sacrificial lamb and our model for life.

Sacrifice is the source of our new relationship with God and is the expression of the Father in us.

Sacrifice should be our normal response to our life in this world.