Sermon Tone Analysis

Title: Passionate Christianity

Theme: Unashamedly Living for Christ

“Then He called the crowd to Him along with His disciples and said: ‘If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the gospel will save it.

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?

Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father's glory with the holy angels.’"

(Mark 8:34-38)

There is a tale of the great English actor Macready.

Macready was once asked by a preacher; “What is the difference between the two of them.”

The actor appeared before crowds night after night proclaiming fiction and people listened with delight.

The preacher spoke of the essential and of the unchanged truths of God yet, most people listened with no passion upon their hearts.

Macready’s answer was.

“I present fiction as though it was true you present truth as though it were fiction.”

That, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ is the answer to what needs to be seen in the Body of Christ.

Preachers need to return to fasting, prayer and keeping their offices as a place of study.

The children of God need to walk into church expecting to hear a message that is birthed from the Word of God while praying for illumination from the Holy Spirit.

Jesus’ view on passionate Christianity is clearly spelled out in the gospel of Mark.

Listen as I read Mark 8:34-38, “Then He called the crowd to Him along with His disciples and said: ‘If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the gospel will save it.

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?

Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father's glory with the holy angels.’"

I would propose to you that Jesus Christ desires for His disciples to live unashamedly for Him.

How can a Christian’s life express the same compassion that Jesus has for the Body of Christ?

What Jesus taught then is still for all who are reads this message today

In order to live passionately for Christ, Christians must grasp the truth of Jesus’ message.

It begins with understanding that what Jesus taught then is still for all who are within earshot of this message today.

Live unashamedly as His disciple

A very key issue in expressing a passionate life for Christ is to live unashamedly as His disciple.

Jesus said, "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)

Jesus knew how the separate the men from the boys.

The crowds had been following Him because of the miracles.

There would be those in the crowd, just like in church circles today, people who like religion, who love the works of God manifested in some way, but are unwilling to pay the cost of true discipleship.

(The Bible Exposition Commentary) Discipleship is a daily discipline and true Christianity is a life that walks under the guidance of the Holy Spirit of Christ throughout the day.

Passionate Christian living is saying no to ourselves, not just simply to pleasure or possessions, but saying no to self-will.

Christians know that this is not a negative, such as denying oneself something, but, rather it is a positive action.

It is saying yes to the Lordship of Christ.

The heart of Christ’s teaching is found in the word “deny,” (aparneomai) meaning to disown, disregard, forsake, renounce or reject.

Its practical application is to subdue the flesh and bring it under submission to a higher authority.

The Greek word for “deny” means that the person enters a new state or condition.

(Corinthians 5:17) The apostle Paul wrote: “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”

(Galatians 5:24)

Passionate Christian living enables the child of God to reject self-interest and self-fulfillment and diligently seek out how to fulfill the will of God in his life by becoming a disciple of Christ.

The closest contemporary word to “disciple” is probably “apprentice.”

A disciple is more than a student who learns lessons by means of lectures and books.

He is one who learns by living and working with his teacher in daily hands-on experiences.

Jesus sets the style of true Christianity by the way of taking up one’s own cross daily and He commands Christians to live as He did.

Passionate Christianity trusts God in every situation of life.

The heart factor to passionate living for the Lord is found in many places in the Word of God.

One great instance is found in Daniel Chapter 1. Verse 8 tells us this about a man who grasped his purpose for living, “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.”

(Daniel 1:8)

Daniel is a man of God who stayed devoted to his calling and faithful to God’s will for him in the midst of a sin-centered world no matter what cross was laid upon him.

He was a spiritual leader whose way of life and faith is to be considered and imitated.

(Hebrews 13:7)

Daniel was taken in captivity to Babylon when King Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem.

(Daniel 1:1: Who’s Who in the Bible) He was chosen with three others (Daniel 1:6) to be trained in the language and literature of the Babylonians so they could become administrators for the Babylonian Empire.

While being a part of the Royal Academy, Daniel and His fellow servants of the Lord were given the opportunity to enjoy a daily amount of food and wine from the kings table.

Daniel and his friends could have easily have justified their circumstances as being a blessing.

They could have said “We will obey what the king wants and just be loyal to God on the inside.”

This is not the case with a man of God who has Biblical integrity.

I love the way the King James Bible puts it, “But Daniel purposed in his heart…” The Babylonians could change Daniel’s home, textbooks, menu, but they could not change his heart.

He and his friends purposed in their hearts that they would obey God’s Word they refused to become conformed to the world around them.

Daniel, Shadrack, Meshack, and Abendnego had their first real test of faithfulness to God here.

Daniel knew what was right and the other three captives resolved to do what was right also.

To eat meat and to drink wine from the king’s table would have caused them to become involved in indirect worship to the Babylonian deities.

It was the custom of the Babylonians to throw a small part of the meat and wine upon the earth, as an initiatory offering to the gods, so as to consecrate to the gods the whole entertainment of the feast.

To have partaken of such a feast would have been to sanction idolatry and the worship of the Babylonian gods.

There was only one true God and these four men proved their faithfulness of not bowing to other gods.

Later on in the Book of Daniel we read of his faithfulness in praying to God even when it came against the decree of king Darius to do so.

Because of his faithfulness in prayer he saw the Lord deliver him from the mouths of the lions.

(Daniel 6:1-22) Shadrach, Meshack, and Abendigo were delivered by God out of the fiery furnace they were thrown into because they refused to bow down to the image made by Nebuchadnezzar.

These four men lived a passionate life before God and they carried their cross daily, choosing to obey the Lord rather than man.

Note, while the Lord’s children are living in this sin cursed world with all it’s false man made gods, they are to take special care to be living a life that is after the heart of God.

They are called to be a holy priesthood and not participate in the sins of the flesh, and the world.

Even when facing an attack on their faith, they are to express a life that is passionately pleasing to the Lord.

Christians are to be a peculiar people acting upon the spiritual light they have and the Lord will protect them.

Those who desire to excel in God’s wisdom and a holy life say in their heart as did King David, “Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies.”

(Psalm 141:4)

The Lord has always done extraordinary things with people who are sold out to Him and His work.

The joy of seeing God use such people came after they had allowed the Lord to show His faithfulness in their act of denying themselves for the Lord.

One such man was George Mueller and when asked “What was his secret” he said, “There was a day when I died, utterly died - died to George Muller, his opinions, preferences, tastes, and will—died to the world, its approval or censure—died to the approval or blame even of my brethren and friends—and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God.”

The child of God who finds his value in what is done for Christ and Christ alone knows the joy of passionately living for the Lord.

(This portion of the message came about as I studied material from, Daily Study Bible Series; The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge; Word Pictures of the New Testament; Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament; New American Commentary; Matthew Henry Commentary; British Weekly; Encyclopedia of 7,700 illustration; The Readers Companion; A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory Commentary; The Teacher’s Commentary; Tyndale Concise Bible Commentary: Barnes Notes and The Expository Bible Commentary and the Bible)

Unashamedly living for Christ and His cause

Passionate Christianity is expressed through denying self, taking up our cross daily and unashamedly living for Christ and His cause.

Jesus is very direct in pointing out an eternal fact, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the gospel will save it.

(Mark 8:35)

The foundational truth worth grasping is found in the words, “loses his life for Me…” It is better translated in the New American Standard Bible as, “…for My sake…” The phrase, “The only thing that will count for eternal life is what is done for Christ” is a powerful truth to grasp.

Discipleship is a matter of profit and loss, a question of whether we will waste our lives or invest them for the sake of Christ and His work.

Personal devotion to Christ will lead to practical duties being done for the sake of Jesus.

To waste our lives is to use the spiritual gifts, talents, opportunities and possessions that He has given us on ourselves in order to gain ungodly wealth, power and fame.

Christians who invest their lives for the glory of Jesus and for the good of the kingdom of God sacrificially exercise their spiritual gifts and talents through sacrificial love.

They see all opportunities and possessions they have as coming from God.

They sacrifice pleasure, time and energy to develop and grow God given endowments for the good of others in hopes to bring attention to Christ and reaching the lost with the Gospel.

Many have learned the joy of no longer working for themselves and have started using all they have for the Lord and for the sake of furthering the Gospel to family members, friends and co-workers.

I knew of a man who had a trade that he was very gifted at.

He loved his trade and spent all his time getting good at.

After reaching his goal he found that wasn’t satisfying, so he set his goal on making money and becoming famous.

Some money started coming in and his fame most certainly grew.