The Persecuted Church

Struggling with knowing what to share this morning, I actually had an entire message already prepared as of a day ago.

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So, I have, in view of it being the day of prayer for the persecuted church, I just want you to be aware that I feel very unworthy to even be standing up here to even speak about them a lot of the time.

I don't want to put myself on their level.

This is just a personal conviction.

You don't have to follow it, but I refuse to say that I've been persecuted just because I've faced some humiliation or ridicule by people that are around me.

Here in the U.S., where there really is no threat of anything other than your wounded pride, I just don't want to wear that badge.

If it happens, you know, fine.

But I do, over the years, our brothers and sisters around the world really have convicted me of how I've lived and what I'm doing in my life.

I encourage you to read Richard Wambron's book, Torture for Christ.

I've read it at least five or six times, and every time there's always like a new desire to reach people for Christ at all costs.

Just after I've read it.

And so just with that in mind, just knowing that, like, I take this very seriously, and I'm praying that God uses this time.

We may run a little bit over 12 o'clock, so it's okay.

You can wait to eat lunch when so many people are without in the world.

You're going to get there.

So those of you who are hangry, just get over it and just learn that it's not justified.

So we're going to be in John 15, but we're going to look at some other places today.

So I hope you have your Bible, flipping fingers, ready.

We're going to start in John 15.

Just look at verse 18.

We're just going to read through 21.

This is Jesus talking to his disciples.

He's preparing to die and to face crucifixion.

And this is what he says, verse 18.

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own.

But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Remember the word that I have said to you.

A servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

If they kept my word, they would also keep yours.

But all these things they do to you on the account of my name,

because they do not know him who sent me.

Just join me in prayer.

Father, I just ask that this morning you would use your word to break down any kind of entitlement

or any desire that we have to flee your presence.

That we would face you.

That you would show us our sin.

That we would have the faith to know how to deal with it in our hearts and in our lives.

Challenge us this day.

And thank you for the examples we find in your word of people who suffered and died for the cause of Christ

and are still doing so today.

Make us aware of that, Lord.

And just ask that in Christ's name.

Amen.

Amen.

So, do you know that nearly, nearly 160,000 Christians will be killed this year?

That was roughly what the statistics have been over the last few years and they're increasing.

And we're going to just use this text just to kind of start walking through,

kind of setting the background for persecution.

But you'll notice a word that pops up a lot here in these few verses.

And it's just the term, the world.

Okay?

And the word here is cosmos.

It means the order or the system.

It's not talking about like the beauty of creation or the beauty of nature or the created order.

It's speaking in terms of, it's using a negative sense here to talk about like how the people of this world are alienated from God.

It's the world is a way of thinking, an ideology, a perception of life and the purpose of life that sets itself against God and God's purposes.

It's a whole system of organized humanity that is hostile towards God and alienated from God.

So, that's the truth of what we're talking about here.

It's the way that the world is going and flowing.

So, when Jesus says, he warns his disciples that the world will hate you, the cosmos will hate you.

And then he explains why.

Because the world has hated him.

You know, Christ came into the world in love and grace to a rebellious creation to show them the way to be reconciled to the Father.

Showed them that it was by grace, through faith in him.

And the result is they spat on this offer of grace from God.

They hated him.

And it says, you know, this Greek word for hate is a very strong word indicating to detest, to abhor.

And it even pictures like an ongoing persecution against someone that you hate.

So, that's what we're talking about in this term.

But he says, if they hate me, they're going to hate you.

And he says why?

In two ways.

He says, for one, you don't belong to the world.

And then secondly, not only do you not belong to the world, but you belong to me.

And I chose you out of the world.

And so, therefore, you will suffer.

And he says, if you were of the world, if you belonged to it and not to me, the world would befriend you.

The world would love you.

It would treat you as one of its own.

But I chose you out of the world, and therefore the world will hate you.

And he gives you that illustration of a servant is not greater than his master.

And he's saying, like, look, I'm your master.

I'm your Lord.

The one that you seek to be like.

The one that I'm your example.

You listen to me, and you follow me, and you believe the words that I teach.

So, very clearly, he concludes that they're going to reject you because they've rejected me.

And so, then he goes on to conclude at the end of that, in verse 21, a lot of people in this world think that they're okay with God, but they reject Christ.

But, in reality, if you reject Christ, you're rejecting the Father.

That's what he says here.

Because they do not know him who sent me.

In verse 21, Jesus says, whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

That's in chapter 14, 9.

And he also says, in other places in the gospel, whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.

So, all these other world religions who think that they know God, but yet reject the one he sent, do not know the Father.

See, it's just a text to look at just to say that those of us who really belong to Christ,

we're going to face some measure of hostility by the cosmos because we are not going along with it.

We're pressing up against it.

We're saying, no, life is about this.

This is what matters and not this.

And we're going to confront them with evil that is in this world and say,

the only hope you have is to be reconciled to God through Christ.

And so, the Apostle Paul in Colossians 1, 24, he talks about how he's sharing in the sufferings of Christ.

Then he goes on, he says,

In my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, the church.

And what he means in this is not that Christ's sufferings were inadequate to achieve salvation for us,

but what he is saying is there are many places in the world that don't know about the suffering of Christ.

They haven't physically seen Jesus come and suffer on their behalf.

So what he is saying is that through his life, through his body, through his suffering,

he's going to betray to the world the sufferings of Christ.

So believers going out into the world to preach the gospel,

they are an extension of Christ and his sufferings.

Joseph's son, who I recommend a book that he wrote as well,

Joseph's son, he was a Baptist pastor in Romania in the 1980s,

exiled by the government, imprisoned, tortured,

interrogated over and over to try to get him to renounce the gospel.

But as you'll read, like in Torture for Christ and a lot of these other books,

they just embraced it and often converted many of the people that were interrogating them

and many of the people that were torturing them out there.

So they were just being tortured, preaching the gospel to them.

But in regard to the verse in Colossians that we are filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions to reach the world,

he said this, he says,

I am an extension of Jesus Christ.

When I was beaten in Romania, he suffered in my body.

It is not my suffering.

I only had the honor to share in his sufferings.

Suffering and martyrdom have been sent as a part of God's plan.

They are instruments by which he achieves his purpose in history

and by which he will accomplish his final purpose with man.

So I have the privilege, I'm not saying this is anything cool,

but for some years I've had the privilege to know David Platt,

who is the IMB president in our convention.

And I challenge you to read his books.

They are really challenging and life-giving, scriptural.

And I remember him telling me one time that he was at this really large Southern Baptist church here in the South,

and he was talking about persecution,

talking about brothers and sisters around the world that he personally knew,

not just that he read about,

that were undergoing extreme persecution because of the name of Christ.

And deep down really praying and hoping that they would just, you know,

say, hey, let's go and suffer with them or let's be in prayer for them.

Let's do whatever we can to, you know, be a part of what they're going through.

He said, after it was over, like, we'll say he didn't even finish.

He said he was sharing and the pastor walked up there and just like put his hand on his shoulder

and just said, you know, thank you for sharing with us, brother David.

But you know what this just makes me think of?

This just makes me think that I'm so thankful that I live in America

and so thankful that, you know, I have the freedom to come here and worship

and that we live in a country that, you know, the red, white, and blue and, you know, eagle soaring, you know, like that.

And David just thought, I thought that, you know, Lee Greenwood was going to walk out

and sing God Bless the USA like right as I finish sharing.

And what we have to understand is if we really are thankful for freedom we have,

it's not going to turn to that kind of response.

It's going to turn into, now let's go and suffer with them.

Let's be a part and feel what they're going through.

And, you know, we're going to read some things in the Scripture now that I hope are going to challenge you

that I'm taking very seriously myself, like even asking, like in my own personal life, in my marriage,

like what is this going to look like?

Because it's not just going to be something I store up here.

But what I want you to know is in the context of what we're going to be reading today,

persecution was real.

Like it was, this is going to happen if you follow me.

And it also is real even today for thousands of our brothers and sisters across the world.

And it's not okay for us, as Nathan alluded to earlier, to just say,

well, I'm just glad I live in America. Wonderful.

But you should know that Jesus demands the same type of loyalty, love, and devotion

as He's asking for anyone who's wanted to risk their life.

It's the same kind of sacrifice.

And so there's three points we're going to walk through today,

each one having a specific text, but we're mainly going to be in the Gospel of Luke.

So turn over to Luke 14.

Luke chapter 14 and go to verse 25.

Luke 14 · chapter mention

Luke 14, go to verse 25.

And the first point I'm going to make are things that we must do as believers,

even here in the West, in America.

Number one, we must weigh the cost of following Christ.

All right?

We must weigh the cost of following Christ.

Now, how many of you, when you gave your life to Christ,

actually were challenged to think about that?

Or was it just, you know, pray this prayer, come down the aisle, maybe be baptized,

which in and of itself are not really bad things.

But I really feel you see Jesus doing this a lot throughout His ministry.

But as soon as people knew who He was, and He began becoming like too popular,

He would say things to them that would make them just either split or stay with them.

And I always, whenever I'm sharing the Gospel with someone, like, you know,

I'll give you an example.

There was a baseball player that I met with for probably two months straight every week,

just going through the Gospel, talking about sin and God's holiness and the cross and faith

to the point where He got it.

Like, you know, I understand.

Like, I get it.

And I believe it.

I believe it.

And I said, well, great.

And then I asked Him, what's holding you back from just following Christ now?

And then I usually switch into a couple of weeks of trying to talk them out of following Jesus.

And what I mean by that are passages like we're about to read.

Luke 14, verse 25.

Luke 14:25

Now great crowds accompanied Him, and He turned and said to them,

If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children

and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost,

whether he has enough to complete it?

Otherwise, when he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish,

all who see it begin to mock him, saying,

This man began to build and was not able to finish.

Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war,

will not sit down and first deliberate whether he is able with 10,000

to meet him who comes against him with 20,000?

And if not, while the other is yet a great way off,

he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all he has cannot be My disciple.

Very heavy words.

And He said this when He was getting momentum.

He was becoming cool.

Crowds were following Him.

And He kind of turns around and stared at this crowd who,

in a way, is just kind of following Him around to see Him do tricks

and thinks He's cool.

They're intrigued.

Indeed, He turns around and boldly says these heavy words to this crowd that is flirting with Him.

And a few things you'll be able to draw out of this is,

first of all, Christ says,

I am more important.

I am more worthy than your family is.

That's harsh.

Most people in this entire world,

including those who are some of the most wicked, vile people ever,

they still love their own family.

Right?

All of us love our family.

And He says,

I demand a superior love to all those who you call family

and all earthly relationships that you have.

And so, the word hate here is not the same word that's being used in John 15.

It's used here in a comparative sense,

not like in terms of malice or evil towards somebody,

but it's used in a comparative sense to mean loving one thing or a person much less than another thing.

So that love for this one thing,

by comparison,

looks like hate to the other thing.

So, it's not saying have malice and evil in your heart towards your family.

It's just saying,

I demand a much greater love than your family.

And He's saying,

I cultivate such a deep love for Christ and a desire to know Him

that all other loves in this world,

by comparison,

look like hate.

And in a similar context,

in Matthew chapter 10,

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

you don't have to turn there,

but Matthew chapter 10, verse 34,

Matthew 10:34

Jesus gives us a clearer picture of what it means

so I can actually hate your family in this way.

He says this in verse 34,

Listen to this.

So,

what He's saying here is like the true living presence of Christ in your life

can cause relational division.

It can cause,

it can bring a sore to,

it means by that,

like it can cause some true division in your families.

You can be rejected by your family.

He's saying.

In this context,

it was real.

You'd be kicked out of your family more than likely.

Still is the case around the world.

I would like to just give you an example of a friend of mine,

a personal friend.

Her name's Kara.

She lives in Northern Ireland.

She's a school teacher.

And she grew up in,

if you don't know about Northern Ireland,

Northern Ireland is still under Great Britain.

It's a part of the UK.

It's not a part of the Republic of Ireland.

Very strange,

I know.

Read the history.

But,

but there's a huge battle in the North over centuries of Protestant versus Catholic.

Irish Catholic versus Brits and Scots who were there who are Protestant.

And most of us,

it's not about the gospel at all.

It's just about nationalism,

politics.

But Kara grew up in a very devout Irish Catholic home.

Her father,

I'm pretty sure,

was a part of a militia group in Northern Ireland.

And she,

she had a friend that was a part of one of the,

the Baptist youth associations and was a believer.

And she kind of,

she says now,

like I was tricked into going to this,

you know,

this summer camp.

I thought it was just going to be like games and outdoor adventures,

but they did do that.

They talked about the gospel while they were there.

And so in the process,

Kira heard for the first time,

like the gospel and believed and was completely just devastated by like the love of Christ for her and the forgiveness of sins.

And as soon as she gave her life to Christ though,

she had to think,

wait,

stop.

If I do this,

my family is probably going to hate me,

especially my father,

because I'll be saying like,

I'm not going this way anymore.

I'm going this way.

I'm not for what the Roman church is doing here in Northern Ireland.

And she was terrified.

She was in tears.

She just couldn't sleep for nights.

She finally went back,

back home,

and was praying and working up the courage to at least tell her mom,

finally told her mom what Christ has done.

And her mom just broke down in tears and said,

praise God.

I only came to know Jesus two weeks ago.

Like there's two of us in this family now.

So they just began encouraging one another,

praying.

And they finally worked up the boldness to tell the father,

the husband,

and he was furious,

furious.

Lost,

lost control,

threw things around,

just angry,

saying like,

you're betraying me,

you're betraying your country,

you're betraying like the cause here.

And for a long time,

just a lot of fighting between her mom and her father.

And eventually her dad called her and the rest of the family to a meeting.

And they were,

she was pretty sure that her dad was going to say,

we're getting a divorce and this family is done.

So finally,

they sat down together in the living room there in Belfast.

And finally,

she,

he said,

as much as it's killing me to say this,

I see like the love of Christ in your life.

And I want that for my life.

And he gave his life to Christ.

And that's a transformed family.

But Kira had to weigh the costs of,

of such a relationship with Jesus.

And that's just an example in the West.

But around the world,

this is a true thing.

This can happen.

Your family can leave you.

Your family could kill you,

throw you out.

And so,

it is a,

you know,

we need to not just say,

well,

I'm glad that wouldn't happen to me.

We have to weigh the costs as well.

So,

first we see that Christ demands a superior love to family.

But secondly,

in this text,

we see that he desires a superior love to your family.

Yourself.

Even your own life,

he says.

You must love me more than your own life.

He says that you must take up your cross.

And later on,

or earlier in Luke,

so a few places I want you to turn,

but,

just flip earlier to Luke chapter 9.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

We're going to look at some things in Luke 9 together.

Trying to keep you in the same book.

But,

Luke 9 verse 23,

Luke 9:23

similarly,

Christ said this,

And he said to all,

if anyone would come after me,

let him deny himself,

take up his cross daily,

and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it.

Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world

and loses or forfeits himself?

So,

this phrase,

take up your cross,

it is an invitation to come and die and suffer.

In this context,

it meant only death.

It didn't mean jewelry.

It didn't mean anything cool or culturally acceptable.

It was a mockery,

and it meant to come and die.

So,

if you're going to come with me,

you must take up your cross.

It's an invitation.

And he also said,

like,

to deny yourself.

And like,

the phrasing of this word in the original language means

to refuse to associate with.

And like,

you're refusing to associate with the things

that you used to associate with

before you knew Christ.

To relinquish absolute control of your life.

A willingness to follow Jesus,

to serve him,

to keep his commandments.

And if need be,

yeah,

like to die for him.

And so,

I think,

if I could paraphrase,

saying this to us now,

if Jesus would say something along this line,

if you knew that coming after me to be my disciple

would cost you your life,

would you come anyway?

It might not cost you your life,

but if it did,

would you still come?

Are you that desperate for Jesus?

Do you see how much you need him

and how precious he is

that you would be willing

to lose your life?

Are you willing to give up your life now

for eternal life later?

That's just what he's saying.

It's not a,

it's not cool theology.

It's not to help you live a better life.

It's a call to come and die.

Like,

to give your whole life,

to surrender everything

for Christ.

And back in our text,

you can stay in Luke 9,

but back in Luke 14,

he gives you an example.

He said,

two examples,

one of building a tower

and the other one of going to war

to show like how you need to stop

and think about

what you're doing.

So it didn't just,

come on,

Jesus wants you on his team

and I'm not going to tell you

how much that costs.

He says,

you need to stop

and think about

what it's going to cost you

to follow me.

Don't rush into this,

in other words.

Slow down.

Which is so anti

what most churches are doing today.

Is that not true?

It's quick,

easy,

believism

that costs nothing.

And he's saying,

stop and consider.

Some of you may

remember me sharing

about another friend of mine

who's from Kyrgyzstan,

which is over near China.

His picture was out

on the board out there.

I don't know if you've ever seen it,

but his name's Ossal.

And he does ministry

with the Underground Church

in Central Asia.

And he came up here.

There's probably only a handful of you

that were probably here back then,

but probably,

probably eight or nine years ago,

he stood on this stage.

He came here

and shared with like

probably 80 to 100

college students.

and he said,

you know,

in America

it's fairly easy

to come to be a Christian.

But he said,

in Central Asia,

first you have to stop

and consider

if you're going to be a Christian,

you have to be willing

to be kicked out

of your family.

And then he said,

after that,

your community

will ostracize you

and ridicule you.

then he said,

the state

will either not allow you

to work,

imprison you,

or kill you.

And he said,

if someone

that we've been sharing Christ with

goes through all of that,

still trusting Christ,

we know that they're a true Christian.

That's like what he said.

And I was just so

challenged by that.

So some of you,

like,

don't take these stories

as like,

that just makes me feel shameful.

That just makes me feel guilty.

You can either allow it to be that

or you can allow it to be

a conviction

that God is hitting you with

and then just repent

and strive to live

as they live

and have the faith

that they have

in the Savior.

So use it as encouragement

and not just,

I'm terrible

and I don't measure up.

Use it as fuel

to follow Christ.

Then in case he missed anything,

in our text back in Luke 14,

he says,

you know,

relinquish all you have,

everything.

In case I left the stone unturned,

if losing your life wasn't enough,

like,

relinquish all you have,

everything,

to follow Christ.

So stop

and weigh the cost.

Weigh the cost

of following Jesus.

The same baseball player,

after I kind of challenged him

with this,

these texts,

a week later,

he came back and says,

you know,

I want you to know

that I really believe this,

like,

I really believe that,

you know,

Jesus is real

and that I need him

and all of this,

but,

you know,

I mentioned this

to my girlfriend

that I'm living with right now

and she doesn't think

it's a great idea.

It means we'd have to break up

and I,

you know,

maybe one day,

like,

I'll come back around to this.

It was heartbreaking,

but what would I have done

if I had just said,

well,

you can still be a Christian.

You know,

you can still,

it's okay,

Jesus is all right

with your adultery.

You know,

he exposed the one thing

that he cared more about

than Christ.

He didn't really see his need,

just pretended that he did.

And so,

this goes to number two.

Number two,

we must weigh the urgency

of following Christ.

So weigh the cost,

but weigh the urgency too.

So it isn't like

when we're sharing with people,

it isn't,

you know what,

you've got the rest of your life

to think about this.

The Bible stresses urgency

as well as weighing the cost.

While you're in Luke 9,

look down to verse 57.

And these are another time

when people were following

around Jesus

and this is something

that he said

to three different men.

verse 57,

chapter 9.

As they were going

along the road,

someone said to him,

I will follow you

wherever you go.

Bold statement.

Verse 58.

And Jesus said to him,

foxes have holes

and the birds of the air

have nests,

but the Son of Man

has nowhere

to lay his head.

To another he said,

follow me.

But he said,

Lord,

let me first go

and bury my father.

And Jesus said to him,

leave the dead

to bury their own dead.

But as for you,

go and proclaim

the kingdom of God.

Yet another said,

I will follow you,

Lord,

but let me first

say farewell

to those who are at home.

Jesus said to him,

no one

who puts his hand

to the plow

and looks back

is fit

for the kingdom of God.

Again,

hard words.

True for us

as it was true for them

and true for anyone else

in the world.

So,

you may be like,

man,

Jesus is really strict here.

He's being a little unreasonable.

He could have all these

extra followers,

but he's,

you know,

being overboard.

But a really close glance at

context here

will help you realize

all he's really doing

is just exposing

that they don't really believe

who he says he is.

So,

the first man,

this same account

is in Matthew.

And Matthew calls

this man a scribe.

So this man,

the first man here

was a scribe.

A man who apparently

was used to

a pretty comfortable lifestyle

and making some decent money

probably.

And back then,

as today,

if you were low

on the totem pole

of social life,

you would

attach yourself

to someone

who was

powerful,

influential,

and as they rose,

you went with them.

Same kind of thinking

even today.

So,

he wanted to advance

his position

in society.

And Jesus,

you know,

again,

cut straight to the point

and informed this man,

if you're looking

for comfort,

if you're looking

for riches,

for great influence

in an early way,

worldly way,

I'm the wrong guy.

I'm not your guy.

I don't even have

anywhere to lay my head.

I don't have a mansion

and tons of cars

and all those other

comforts of life.

So the path

of true discipleship

is not found

in comfort

or ease,

but rather

in a hard life

that brings suffering

and persecution.

And he knew

this man

was not in it

for him.

He wanted

something else

out of him.

So this man

considered those things

more important

than following

the king of kings.

The second man

said,

let me go

and bury my father first.

So again,

sounds honorable,

right?

So,

but just again,

a studying of

the context here.

It didn't necessarily

mean

that his father

was dead.

this was a

cultural way

of saying,

let me wait

for my inheritance

first.

Let me wait

until my father dies

and then let me

get my inheritance

and then I'll

come follow you.

And so,

that's why

Jesus' phrase,

let the dead

bury their own.

Like,

look,

what I'm telling

you to do

overrides

that importance

of waiting

for your father

to die.

I'm telling you

the most important

thing for you

to do

is to go

and proclaim

the kingdom

of God.

So,

again,

this man

desired money

and title

and inheritance

more than

following the

Messiah.

And then thirdly,

this is the most

puzzling one

to me,

at least.

The man says,

simply,

let me say goodbye

to my family

and then I'll

come follow you.

Do you think

that is a

undesirable,

like a

unrealistic request?

I don't.

But,

again,

Jesus sees

something that

we don't see

here.

And I want

you to,

again,

hold your

hand on Luke,

don't move it,

but turn to

1 Kings.

I'll get some

Old Testament

action today.

1 Kings

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

chapter 19.

This is the

story of

Elisha

and Elijah,

the two

prophets of

ancient Israel

in the early

days of the

nation.

And this is

when Elijah

is getting

ready to

pass on

being the

prophet to

Elisha.

And

it's an

interaction that

takes place.

And just

think about

the similarities

between this

third man that

Jesus is talking

to and what

happens right

here.

verse 19.

So,

talking about

Elijah.

So he

departed from

there and

found Elisha,

the son of

Japhat,

who was

plowing with

twelve yoke of

oxen in front

of him.

And he was

with the

twelve.

And Elijah

passed by him

and cast his

cloak upon

him.

Kind of a

symbolic act

of passing

it on.

And he

left the

oxen and

ran after

Elijah.

And listen

to this.

Let me

kiss my

father and

my mother

and then

I'll follow

you.

Sound

familiar?

And he

said to

him,

Go back

again,

for what

have I

done to

you?

And he

returned from

following him

and took

the yoke of

oxen and

sacrificed

them and

boiled their

flesh with

the yokes of

oxen and

gave it to

the people and

they ate.

Then he

arose and

went after

Elijah and

assisted him.

All right.

Now,

what's

different about

Elisha and

this third

man that

Jesus is

talking to?

A big

difference.

Elijah did

go home.

He says

farewell to

his family.

But then,

listen to this,

he sacrifices

the yoke of

oxen to

the Lord.

And these

are all

symbolic acts

of severing

himself from

an old way

of life to

start a new

one.

He ended

his livelihood

in order to

say, like,

I'm leaving

this and I'm

moving to

this.

He had

nothing to

go back

to.

So he

just momentarily

went back

to cut old

ties.

However,

Jesus clearly

sees that

this man

loves his

family so

much that

though he

may follow

him for a

time, he's

always going

to be looking

back over

his shoulder

saying, like,

I've got to

go back.

I can't follow

you anymore.

I've got to

go and be

with my

family.

And, again,

a superior

love to

family is

what Christ

calls us

for.

He makes

that analogy

that, you

know, most

of us are

not familiar

with plowing

at all, but

if you're not

looking forward,

you can't

plow a

straight line.

And so he's

saying, if you're

always looking

back, you're

just going to

go all over

the place.

And so he

turns this

man away.

And Luke,

always looking

over his

shoulder, and

eventually, where

he would walk

away from

Jesus,

Jesus.

So, there

is urgency

in following

Jesus.

I've used

this analogy

before, but

years ago, when

I was waiting

for my lung

transplant, I

was getting

sick and

sicker and

sicker, and

the surgeons

told me

basically this,

look, you're

very sick.

You have

20% of your

lung function

going this

way.

You're not

going to make

it much

longer.

You really

need to

get a

transplant.

There's

urgency here.

You need to

get this

procedure done.

And then he

said, but

this is a

huge decision.

A lot

goes into

this.

There's no

guarantee that

you'll even

survive the

surgery or

the recovery.

You have to

think about

this, though.

You have to

weigh the

cost of what

you're about

to do.

So there was

urgency, but

there was also

weigh the cost,

like in that

same decision.

And that's

what it is.

Like, are we

willing to

say, whatever

it is, like

it's urgent, I'm

going to deal

with this in my

life.

I'm going to

follow Christ,

whatever it

costs.

Thirdly, this is

the final point.

We must weigh

the worthiness of

Christ.

Christ.

And last

thing I want

you to turn

to, but look

at Mark

Mark 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10.

Mark

Mark 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10.

So, the

reality is we

feel like we're

losing and

sacrificing so

much for Jesus,

but in reality

we are not.

Sins forgiven,

rebellion against

God, pardoned,

reconciled to

God, spared

His judgment,

given His

fellowship, given

a relationship

with the

Creator, an

eternal life to

come, eternal

joy in Christ

to come.

If we really

understood what

we've gained in

Christ, we would

never be able to

say we sacrificed

anything, because

it would be that

much greater.

It would be

infinitely greater

than anything we

feel that we've

lost here.

only Christ is

worthy of that.

So, listen to

this.

This is one of

those moments

when the

disciples are

being very, you

know, self-pity,

like, well, we've

done so much for

you.

And Luke, or

excuse me, Mark

Mark 10:26

10, verse 26,

says, they were

exceedingly

astonished and

said to Jesus,

who then can be

saved?

And Jesus

looked at them

and said,

with man it is

impossible, but

not with God.

For all things

are possible

with God.

This is after he

turned that man

away.

Peter, of course

it would be

Peter, right?

Peter began to

say to him,

see, we have

left everything

and followed

you.

Like, we've

sacrificed

everything, Lord.

And Jesus

said to him,

truly, I say

to you, there

is no one who

has left house,

our brothers,

our sisters,

our mother,

our father,

our children,

our lands,

for the sake,

for my sake,

and for the

gospel.

Who will not

receive a hundred

fold now in

this life,

houses,

brothers and

sisters,

mothers,

children and

lands,

with persecutions

in the age to

come, eternal

life.

So, his

response seems

to indicate,

this is how I'm

going to rule out

this idea that

you're losing

something,

that you've

sacrificed

something.

He's saying

you're denying

yourself like

little finite

things here in

order to gain

something that is

far greater.

And the fact

that you know

me and that

you have

eternal life

is going to

be so great,

so glorious,

that you

would not even

begin to ever

say, I

sacrifice to

follow Jesus.

Surely what he

means is that he

himself makes

up infinite

times over for

every sacrifice.

sacrifice.

Jesus wants

us to think

about sacrifice

in a way that

rules out self-pity.

Deny yourself

garbage here so

you could have

gold later.

That's like what

he's almost

saying.

Don't throw

away your life

over things that

don't matter and

perish.

So, I wanted

to read this

in closing,

but this is

an Iranian

pastor who

converted to

Christianity

from Islam

and he

has a church

in Amsterdam

now and

predominantly

made up of

people from

Africa and

Asia and

Amsterdam.

And listen to

this, his

main goal is

to train

missionaries to

reach the

West, to

come to

America and

to come to

the places

where supposedly

there's a lot

of Christians

and really to

say, look,

we're bringing

the gospel to

you guys.

So, this

is what he

was asked

the question,

why are so

many American

churches not

really doing

well?

Why are we

failing?

Why are we

not really

growing?

Why are we

stagnant?

And he

said a few

things.

This is what

he said.

Number one,

we must

embrace the

miraculous.

Because America

has so many

comforts,

people don't

see the

need for

God to

act in

the miraculous

way.

In Africa

and other

places where

there are

few hospitals

and churches

for healing,

but the

truth is that

we need the

Holy Spirit

like never

before.

We can't

just have

great buildings

and wonderful

social gatherings

and miss the

Holy Spirit.

A church

without the

Spirit's power

will not

save the

world.

number two,

this is

convicting.

We must

reject Hollywood

tendencies.

Some churches

in the United

States look

more like

they're sponsoring

fashion shows

or TV

programs.

This is a

bad example

to churches

in other

nations.

And I know

that some

foreign churches

are now copying

this flashy

American style.

For example,

in some

African countries,

some pastors

have started

imitating this

Hollywood style

by manipulating

people to

get money.

I was

shocked to

hear that

one pastor

in a

developing

country

recently

began

dealing

in a

stolen

luxury

car so

he can

make

money

for

himself

and

appear

successful.

Number

three,

we must

forsake

our pride.

Outsiders

do not

read our

doctrines

or our

bulletin

boards.

They read

our character

and our

lives.

When people

see that

we live

a dual

life,

why would

they bother

to be a

part of

the church?

And this

is how

he sums

it up.

I wish

that my

American

brothers and

sisters

realized how

hurtful it

is to the

cause of

Christ when

they focus

so much

on material

things.

I am

not against

beauty of

things and

having things,

but why does

a preacher

need a

limousine

instead of a

normal car?

must

preachers

have a

huge

entourage

in order

to enter

conferences

and churches?

God is

fed up

with all

these

things.

We cannot

transform

others if

we

ourselves

are not

transformed.

So,

for those

of you

here who

are without

Christ,

know that

the offer

of salvation

is completely

a gift

of God's

grace in

Christ.

So come

to him,

surrender

your life

to him,

but know

it's going

to cost

you.

If you

really are

following

him,

as we

read,

all those

who desire

to live a

godly life

in Christ

Jesus will

be persecuted.

And for

believers,

this was

something that

I've thought

about over

the years.

A long

time ago,

an abbot,

or kind

of like a

monk,

was asked,

you know,

after your

life's over,

like,

what if you

realized that

there really

was no

God?

Like,

you surrendered

your whole

life to

being in

a monastery

to have

a quiet

life?

What if

you realized

at the

very end

there was

no God?

Would you

consider it

to be like

a wasted

life?

And the

abbot replied

this,

holiness and

silence are

beautiful in

themselves,

even without

the promise

of reward.

I still

would have

used my

life the

same way.

Like,

meaning,

I've

lived a

life of

peace and

solitude

and beauty

and even

if this

turned out

to be a

hoax,

I would

say it

was a

good life.

How many

of you

could say

that?

But here's

the staggering

difference,

very different

from what

the apostle

Paul said.

He's

basically

talking about

the resurrection

in 1 Corinthians

15.

This is what

he said.

This is how

different it is

from what the

abbot said.

If in

Christ we

have only

hoped in

this life,

we above

all people

are to be

most pitied.

Like,

we have

thrown

ourselves to

slaughter and

torture for

Christ.

Pity us if

this wasn't

true.

Not,

well,

it was a

good life

anyway.

And I

hope that

all of us,

you and

me,

can say,

like,

I really

sacrificed to

follow Christ.

And then in

doing so,

you're

enlightened and

you see,

like,

I really

didn't

sacrifice

anything

because of

how much

I've

gained

in Christ.

Join me

in prayer.