Total Commitment to God's Kingdom

Music.

Or not, there are two kingdoms at work around us, the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God.

We are commanded to not love the world, but to love those who live in it.

How do we live in the world, but not be part of it?

Find out now as we continue in week two of Collide.

Music.

How many of you know that there are worlds and kingdoms that have collided with

each other since the fall.

There's the kingdom of the world, sometimes often called the kingdom of man

in scripture, who is under the control of Satan.

And then there's the kingdom of God, which is obviously under God's control.

And if you missed it, you can go to our podcast or your favorite streaming platform,

Spotify or YouTube or iHeart or what else we got? Apple podcast.

That's my preference because I'm a Mac Apple guy.

But last week we talked about the foundations of each kingdom.

We talked about the identity of each kingdom. And then we talked about the destiny

of each kingdom because God created us and he loves us.

When he created us, he gave us free will, right?

He gave us the freedom to choose which kingdom we wanted to live in.

But hear me, When you choose which kingdom you're going to walk in,

you're also choosing which kingdom you're going to bow to.

You're choosing which kingdom you're going to be a part of and live in.

And it's the greatest decision that you could ever make in your life is which

king you're gonna serve, which kingdom you're going to be a part of.

So as we start today and we jump in, I wanna give you the big idea and then

we're going to go to the Lord in prayer.

But here's today's big idea, and it should be in your notes for you.

If you didn't receive a note sheet, just raise your hand and we'll be sure to

get you one. But here's today's big idea.

The big idea is this. The kingdom of God invites us to a life of total commitment.

Say that with me. Total commitment.

Not a small piece of commitment. not just a small piece of commitment.

It's total commitment where we prioritize Jesus above all.

We live out our faith publicly and we leave behind anything that competes with our devotion to him.

And that's what we're going to be talking about this morning.

Would you bow your heads with me and let's just go to the Lord in prayer.

Father, we need you. Holy Spirit, we need you to speak to us,

to move us, to open our eyes, to convict our hearts.

We want with all of our hearts to be different. We want with all of our hearts to be more like you.

We wanna be free from the sins that entangle us, that trip us up in life.

We wanna be free from our fears and free from our anxieties,

free from our insecurities.

We wanna live in total abandonment to you with trust that we can trust every

detail of our lives to you.

I pray that you would just speak through me, your servant this morning.

Speak to each person here in Jesus' name, amen.

If you have your Bibles with you this morning or your favorite Bible app,

I wanna invite you to turn to the book of 1 John this morning,

1 John, and we are going to cover a lot of ground, but we're going to start in 1 John chapter 1.

1 John 1 · chapter mention

And here the apostle John is writing to combat false doctrine and false teachers

that were rampant in the culture among the people.

And it was a letter that was much needed, but as much as it was needed and intended

for them, it's just as needed today and intended for us.

It's a timely and important message for us as believers who claim to have a

relationship with Jesus Christ.

And before he addresses the issues at hand, at the beginning of 1 John 1,

he's got an important message and he's going to validate his authority by which he's writing.

Read with me, 1 John 1, 1 and 2. He says, what was from the beginning,

what we have heard, what we've seen with our eyes, what we have observed and

have touched with our hands concerning the word of life that was revealed,

we've seen it, we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with

the Father and was revealed to us.

Let me pause here and then ask you this question. who is the person John is talking about?

Jesus, he's talking about Jesus who's always existed, who's been heard,

who's been seen with his own eyes.

John observed Jesus in his ministry. He touched him with his own hands.

And here in verse one and in verse two, John is affirming the divine deity of Jesus Christ.

He says, I've seen him, I've watched him, I've touched him, I've sat around the campfire with him.

Maybe he had s'mores together with him, who knows? He definitely had fish together with him.

So he's affirming the deity of Christ, but he's also affirming that he,

because he's an eyewitness to the events of Jesus'

life, that he has the divine authority to speak about Jesus.

It's what's been revealed to him through Jesus.

Now, John here uses an important phrase.

It's three words. And he says, I'm a witness concerning the word of life.

What does John mean by that?

Here, John uses the Greek word logos, which carries, it's more than just saying the word.

Logos carries this sense of meaning and reason and authority and power and purpose.

And so that's the word that John is talking about.

This one with power and authority and purpose, this creating God.

One commentary put it this way. Within the Old Testament world of thought,

excuse me, logos carries the sense of authority, disclosure, decision, and action.

God said, let there be light. Word is powerful because of it.

Not only do things happen, but disclosure of the will and character of God takes place.

When God speaks, we meet him. By his word, he creates.

By his word, he is known. By his word, he judges. By his word,

he forgives and fulfills.

And so what is John communicating? Well, he's communicating that he's an eyewitness

to the eternal, to the creator, to the loving, forgiving, restoring, holy, and just word.

That has been made flesh. Now let's look at verse three.

He says, what we have seen and heard, we also declare to you. Why?

So that you may also have fellowship with us.

And indeed, our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ.

There's so much in this chapter, what we've heard, what we declare to you,

we're doing so because you too can have fellowship with Christ.

And that's why we proclaim the word, isn't it? That's why we make disciples.

That's why we're ambassadors for Jesus everywhere we go.

We're proclaiming that you too can have fellowship with Jesus.

He wants to do life with you. He loves you. He's concerned about you.

I love how the message paraphrase puts it.

It says, from the very first day we were there taking it all in,

we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands.

The word of life appeared right before our eyes. We saw it happen.

And now we're telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was incredibly this.

The infinite life of God himself.

Took shape before us. The whole gospel took shape before their eyes.

We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you so you can experience it along

with us, this experience of communion with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

This morning, I want to give you three things. This is incredible news that

we're reading about in 1 John, but what does it have to do with you and to me.

We're talking about two kingdoms that are colliding with each other.

Number one, because there's an invitation to the kingdom.

There's an invitation to the kingdom of God. You and I have been invited to

be part of the kingdom of God.

And that's the good news of the gospel that we're all invited.

There's a great song out that I heard on the radio.

It's by, I, yeah, I can't remember.

Shoot, it was right there on the tip, but it's called Everyone's Invited.

It's a great song. Everyone's invited to sit at the table, the song says.

You and I have been invited to be part of the kingdom of God, 10th Avenue North.

That's just how this guy works, I'm sorry.

We're all invited, every single one of us. Now turn over to the book of Luke, chapter 14.

Luke 14 · chapter mention

Second, Matthew, Mark, Luke, third book in the New Testament.

I'm really good at math as well. But Jesus tells us this parable and he's teaching

about the kingdom of God.

And he gives us a parable of the large banquet.

Now, a parable is simply an earthly story that Jesus would use to teach biblical truths.

I heard a professor say it's a earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Take that if you want.

But here's what Luke says about this banquet.

John, Jesus said this, a man was giving a large banquet and he invited many.

At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited,

come because everything is now ready.

Now remember, Jesus said, hey, I'm going away to prepare a place for you.

Remember, one day I'll come again and I'll return and then we're gonna go away

and where I am, you'll be also.

That's what he's talking about. because everything is now ready. Verse 18.

But without exception, they all began to make excuses.

The first one said to him, I've bought a field and must go out and see it. I ask that you excuse me.

Another said, I bought five yoke of oxen and I'm going to try them out.

That's a lame excuse if I ever heard it. I ask you to excuse me.

Verse 20. And another said, I just got married and therefore I'm unable to come.

So the servant came back and reported these things to the master.

Then in anger, the master of the house told his servant, go out quickly into

the streets and alleys of the city and bring in here the poor,

maimed, blind, and lame.

Verse 22, master, the servant said, what you ordered has been done and there's still room.

Then the master told the servant, go out into the highways and hedges and make

them come in so that my house may be filled. I'm not a child.

For I tell you, not one of those people who were invited will enjoy my banquet.

You see, the invitation has been given out for over 2,000 years now.

And the invitation still goes out that all may come.

Everyone is invited. Before moving on, I want to address that phrase, make them come in.

In the culture of that day, if a poor or maimed or blind person received an

invitation, it was common for them to decline the invitation.

As I studied this this week, I saw that the Middle East etiquette actually required

for low-income people to decline invitations from those who were up in the classes.

Isn't that the opposite of the gospel?

The gospel invites the poor and the blind and the lower ranking classes.

He invites everyone, regardless of who you are.

But sadly, the servant returned and said, Master, there's still room.

And here's the reason why. Number two, because there is a cost.

There's a commitment to the kingdom.

I really struggled this week with that word cost.

But when you think about it, what did it cost? It cost Jesus everything.

It cost Jesus everything. So there's a cost that had to be paid.

The King James Version, which I grew up on, says propitiation.

It's a word that means wrath bearer.

The wrath that because of my sin and your sin, Jesus took the wrath upon himself.

Jesus was the propitiation, the wrath bearer for my sin.

What he owed me, he put on Jesus.

And so there was a cost. And now there's a commitment to the kingdom.

And then down in verse 26 through 33, we see all about this commitment and the cost.

So turn over to Luke 14, if you have your Bibles, and I want to read this to

you. Here's what Jesus said.

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother,

wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life,

he cannot be my disciple.

Wow, Jesus, back up.

I thought we were talking about church on Sunday. I thought we were talking

about maybe I'll serve, maybe I'll do this.

You're taking this a little far, aren't you? Verse 27, Whoever does not bear

his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

For which of you wanting to build a tower doesn't first sit down and calculate

the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?

Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish,

all the onlookers will begin to ridicule him, saying this man started to build

and was not able to finish.

Or what king going to war against another king will not first sit down and decided

if he is able with 10,000 to oppose the one who comes against him with 20,000.

If not, while the other is still far off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

And here's the crux, here's the pinnacle of it.

In the same way, therefore, every one

of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.

Oh, that's a lot to ask Jesus. What do you mean? I have to hate my brother and sister.

I have to hate my spouse. I have to hate myself.

I have to get rid of all my possessions. Is that what he means? No.

But these are incredibly hard sayings. And as you dig deeper,

you find out what it means.

The actual word Jesus used for hate here is an Aramaic word,

which really means this, to love a great deal less.

So when it comes to your brother, your sister, your mother, your father,

your spouse, your children, when it comes to that person, anyone that you love,

your love for Jesus is so much more than your love for Jesus.

Your love for Jesus is so much more than your love for them.

A great deal less, it means.

If you have a Bible that has a little letter underneath it, it might be a cross-reference Bible.

If you do, it might point to another verse emphasizing the same principle.

And it's a difficult verse.

As well. Matthew 10, 37 says, the one who loves a father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

The one who loves a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

He's asking a lot because he wants total, full commitment to him.

When it comes to the cost of discipleship, there's a few qualifications or characteristics

of what it should look like.

Number one, in your notes, your love and loyalty to Jesus is greater than everything and everyone.

And so ask yourself, where do my loyalties, where do they lie?

Where are they? Do I love Jesus?

Am I committed to Jesus more than anything and everyone else?

Because when you're truly a disciple of Jesus, the number one priority of your life is Jesus.

And from now on, if anyone or anything else takes the place of Jesus, what is that called?

Idolatry. It's placing something or someone above the importance of Jesus Christ.

And let me say, idolatry is not necessarily loving things that are bad.

You can love great things, but have them in the wrong order.

Jesus should be your number one passion, number one commitment.

He should take preeminence in your life.

The second thing Jesus says is whoever does not bear his own cross and come

after me cannot be my disciple.

What in the world does that mean? We don't crucify people, at least in America,

we don't crucify people.

That's not something that we practice. We don't bear a cross.

We don't carry crosses around town unless it's a special outreach event or an Easter thing.

I've seen some people do that, but it's not something that we practice anymore.

But when the Romans would crucify someone, that criminal was usually beaten

and then forced to carry their cross to the place of the execution.

And it was the same with Jesus, wasn't it? Jesus was beaten and then he was

flogged and then they brought him.

And he carried his cross through the streets and he was headed towards Golgotha

with that cross until he fell.

And if you remember the story, the guards grabbed a man named Simon of Cyrene

and they said, you carry his cross.

And so he publicly carried this cross.

And so when Jesus is talking about, hey, we've got to carry our cross,

he's saying, you have to be public. You take your faith into the streets so

that people know that you are a Christ follower.

Being a disciple of Jesus is not simply going to church on Sunday or going to

a life group or a connection group or rooted. It's so much more.

It's being public with your faith. It's being public with your faith.

So not only is our love and our loyalty to Jesus greater than anything else,

but the second qualification is this, your new life is lived out publicly before mankind.

While others sleep in on Sunday, you go to church.

When others prioritize other activities, you prioritize the family of God.

Because everything changes when you become a citizen of God's kingdom.

And I wanna tell you one of the best ways that you can go public with your faith is being baptized.

We had dinner the other night with some new folks to our church,

and we just had a great time hanging out with them and, of course,

eating Mexican food because that's all we eat when we take people out. I'm sorry.

But we enjoyed Cholitos and had a great time.

And the girl that we had dinner with said, hey, I want to be baptized.

I want to go public with my faith.

We're not going to wait around six months until 50 people want to get baptized.

So we're going to baptize her next week. And I know there's another young boy

that wants to get baptized.

And I want to say this, if you're here this morning and you've never been baptized

by immersion, which is a sign of the death and burial and resurrection, I want to encourage you.

If you're really a Christian, if you're really a disciple of Jesus,

it's time to make that commitment and get baptized.

There's nothing to be embarrassed about by just saying, Jesus,

you are my Lord and you died for me and I want to live for you.

Go public with it. You can just write it on your connection card or check it.

I want to get baptized and then take it out to the welcome center afterwards.

We would love to baptize you next week. Go public.

The third qualification for discipleship we see in verse 33 says,

in the same way, therefore, every one

of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciples.

We're not going to spend a long time on this. I just want to say this.

At the point of salvation, it's now, when you're part of the kingdom of God,

you are no longer an owner. You're a manager.

You're a manager. You manage your finances for him. They're all his anyway.

He's blessed you. He only asks for 10%. And that's where tithing begins,

10%. Anything above that, we would call that generosity.

That would be generosity.

10%, that's just obedience. That's just obedience.

You're no longer owners, but managers. And let me just say, that's not just

finances, guys. That's your possessions.

Someone needs a car? Hey, I don't need it. You take it.

Practice generosity. We want to be generous people because that's what the kingdom of God is like.

Generous with your talents. Some of you guys have incredible talents.

Some of you are builders. Some of you are electricians. Some of you,

you do all kinds of stuff that I could never do.

We need you to be part of the kingdom of God.

Use your giftedness. use your spiritual gifts, use your talents for the kingdom of God.

In the couple minutes we have left, I want us to go back where we started,

back to 1 John and turn with me to 1 John.

And now we're going to go to chapter two.

And these are really, really hard passages.

This is what John says under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

He says, do not love the world, verse 15, or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and

the pride in one's possessions is not from the Father, but is from the world.

And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of

God remains forever, forever.

And yet one of the greatest tragedies of the modern church is that so many of

us come to Christ, but we only want to be half in. We want forgiveness.

I'll take the forgiveness, but I'll pass on the obedience.

I want the blessing, but I don't want the commitment.

I want the mercy for sure. I need the mercy. I need the grace.

I'll pass on the holiness. And here's what John's saying. You cannot love God.

You cannot be part of his kingdom and still love the things of the world.

We want everything God has to offer us, but we aren't willing to give up the things of the world.

We chase after things that we

think will satisfy us because we're in love with the things of the world.

But it's only the things of God that will actually fill the hole in the human heart.

Guys, you can't have a foot in the kingdom of God and a foot in the kingdom of the world.

There are complete odds with each other.

Can I be completely raw with you? I hope you know I love you. I do. I know.

Dean knows. As your pastor, I do. I love each one of you.

I love each and every one of you, regardless of how well I know you or how I,

if I barely have met you once or twice, but you can't say you're a Christian

and listen to music that's full of profanity.

You can't say you're a Christian and speak profanity. Oh, you can say it.

Nobody's going to believe you.

You can't be a Christian and listen and watch things that defile your spirit.

There's a lot of things that we gave up when we came to Christ,

not because I'm a pastor, but because it feeds the wrong nature.

You've got to be better at being in the kingdom of God, guys.

You can't listen to off-color jokes or comedians or music that goes against the spirit of God.

It will push the spirit of God away.

I said I love you, right? I absolutely love you.

You cannot rob God by making excuses why you're not tithing,

why you're not investing with your talents and resources into the kingdom of

God. There's two kingdoms at war.

There's two destinations. There's two foundations. And the destination,

as we talked about last week, one is headed for hell and one is headed for heaven.

But some of us, we need to renounce the past kingdom that we were part of completely,

and fully commit to the kingdom of God.

Some of you, you've probably heard this history. I like history.

But Cortez landed in Mexico in 1519. Dean, you remember that, right?

He was there to conquer the Aztec Empire. I love Dean, so I can say that.

But when his men arrived, they were gripped with fear and they wanted to retreat

and they wanted to return to Spain because it looked like it was going to be too hard.

It was too much of a commitment.

And so he did something that was incredibly bold or incredibly stupid.

And he ordered them to burn the ships.

And he gave them a message and the message was clear. There is no going back.

The only option is to move forward in this new kingdom.

And when we choose to follow Jesus, we have to choose to make a deliberate decision to burn the ships.

Number three, there is a ship to be burned.

We have to deliberately decide to leave behind our own sin, our selfish desires, our worldly pursuits.

Jesus calls us to burn those ships and to forsake everything and anything that

competes with our full, complete devotion to him.

There's an invitation this morning. There's a cost to be counted and there is a ship to be burned.

2 Corinthians 5, 17, and we're gonna close with this, says this.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is what? A new creation.

The old has passed away and see the new has come.

The new has come. You're part of a new kingdom.

Burn the ships. When we commit to God's kingdom, there's no plan B.

We must reset and we must trust fully on Christ and our lives now reflect his

mission. Would you pray with me?

Heavenly Father, we love you and we're so grateful and thankful that you make

us brand new and you've called us to a new life, a new kingdom.

And some of us this morning, we need to put our old kingdoms and our old self

and our old nature and everything else behind us.

And we can't do that without your help.

We've talked recently over the last few weeks about our need for the Holy Spirit

to empower us So Holy Spirit, we yield to you right now. Change us.

Change us, make us more like you. We wanna be all in for the kingdom of God.

Empower us to do what you've called us to do, to be ambassadors,

to tell people that they too can be a part of this kingdom.

There's still room for more. Let us go to the highways and byways and bring

them in until each one is home.

If you need prayer this morning or if you you want to talk to someone about

having a relationship with Jesus Christ our prayer team is up front and we're

going to sing a song here in just a second we're going to close out and it just.

Music.

Says this give me Jesus you can take the world you can take,

the kingdom of man the kingdom of this world you can take it you can have it

we don't want anyone else but you, Jesus.

You've been listening to the Generations Church podcast. If you'd like more

information about Generations Church, feel free to get in touch with us at info

at generationchurch.us or head over to our.

Music.