The Crucified Life
Notes
Transcript
If Indeed...
If Indeed...
The word “if” always introduces a conditional clause, “on the condition or supposition that”; “in the event that” (Oxford Languages). It introduces to us the matter of Choice, Dependence, Cost, and Total and Absolute Surrender. Ultimately, it introduces us to the matter of Life or Death.
The Lord does not assume everyone is going to follow Him. He would love to have everyone following Him, but He knóws that not everyone will. He knows that the majority of people will ignore or reject His invitation.
For example, take the rich young man who approached Jesus regarding eternal life.
And behold, someone came up to him and said, “Teacher, what good thing must I do so that I will have eternal life?”
The emphasis is on “what góód thing must I dó” and points to man’s efforts in achieving and reaching that which only God can reach and achieve. Isaiah 65:2 “I spread out my hands all day to a stubborn people, those who walk after their thoughts in the way that is not good.”
Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give the proceeds to the poor—and you will have treasure in heaven—and come, follow me.”
In answer to the young man’s question, the Lord Jesus confronts him with a conditional “If indeed...you want to be perfect…”(τέλειος, teleios - perfect, mature, or fully developed, being complete (ὁλόκληροι, holoklēroi) and lacking in nothing.*) followed by three conditions.
*(Adriani Milli Rodrigues, “Perfection,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series, Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).
The first condition: “sell your possessions”; the second condition: “give the proceeds to the poor”; and the third condition: “and come, follow Me”.
But when the young man heard the statement, he went away sorrowful, because he was one who had many possessions.
The word sorrowful (λυπέω -lypeō). means: to distress, grieve. It is used to denote feelings of sadness or remorse. The possible meanings of the verb λυπέω (lypeō) and the related noun λύπη (lypē) range from referring to a person having hurt feelings or feeling sorry, to experiencing deep sorrow. The use of the verb most often portrays the experience of being saddened as the result of an interaction with another person.*
*Craig Allen Hill, “Suffering,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).
The young man’s attachment to and his love for his possessions caused him to turn back from following the Lord.
God created man with free will, with the ability to make decisions and to act on those decisions. We never read in the Word of God that man is ever forced by God to do that which He expects of him. We see that God-given free will being exercised by Adam and Eve in Genesis 2, 3 where they were given the freedom of choice between obedience or disobedience regarding the explicit command of God of what they were allowed to eat.
A decision normally has consequences and at times the consequences might be slight and at other times extreme. The consequences for Adam and Eve were extreme in that it related to Life or Death. Life if they chose to eat from the Tree of Life, or Death if they chose to eat from the Tree of Knowledge between Good and Evil.
In their decision-making, they did not consider the subsequent consequences and the ultimate result of their choice. They did not consider the consequences of their decision for their children and all the other generations to come after them.
The subsequent consequences included among other things, being banned from the Garden of Eden and the presence of God.
It included hard labor for men to be able to put food on the table and difficult, painful childbearing for women. It included hatred, anger, deceit, murder, and all the other evil vices known and unknown to the world.
It included the spilling of innocent blood for the salvation of man and it started with the slaughter of up-to-then tame animals. This, God had to do to make clothes for Adam and Eve.
They chose death over life, resulting in death, not only for themselves but for all of humanity.
In this verse, the Lord Jesus follows the same pattern as in Genesis. He leaves the decision with man to decide whether he wants to follow Him. He does not command with a, “Come after Me...” but rather with a more emphatic invitation, “If (indeed*) anyone wants to...” as seen in the Greek. (*Alexander Souter, A Pocket Lexicon to the Greek New Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1917, 72.)
The word indeed would imply an “if truly” or “if really”. It is a word that defines the type of decision that must be made to follow Christ. It is not a type of decision made on the whim of an impulse or emotion, but a calculated, intellectual, and deliberate choice.
The first part of the verse can be paraphrased as: “If anyone indeed/truly/really...” It speaks of an eárnestnes, a reál dedication and commitment, a going áll-out and holding nothing back type of decision. It does not refer to a shallow and flippant type of decision.
To illustrate the type of decisions people need to make regarding following Christ the following article would help clear the understanding.
In his newspaper column called “Market Report,” Bill Barnhart once explained the difference between investors and traders in the stock market. “A trader in a stock,” writes Barnhart, “is making decisions minute-by-minute in the hope of shaving off profits measured in fractions of a dollar.…
An investor, on the other hand, typically buys or sells a stock based on views about the company and the economy at large.” In other words, traders are wheelers and dealers. They pursue short-term profits.
Traders may have no confidence whatsoever in the companies in which they buy stock but they buy, smelling an immediate payoff. By contrast, investors are in it for the long haul. They “chain themselves to the mast.”
Investors commit their money to a stock, believing that over a period of years and even decades, the stock will pay strong dividends and steadily grow in value. Investors aren’t flustered by the typical ups and downs of the market because they believe in the quality of the company, its leaders, and its product. In the kingdom of God, there are also investors and traders.
They come to Christ with very different goals. Traders in the kingdom want God to improve their lot in this world. If following Christ means pain or hardship, they sell out.
But investors in the kingdom stay true to Christ no matter what happens in this world, knowing that eternal dividends await them
Craig Brian Larson, 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers & Writers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002), 68–69.
The term “chain themselves to the mast” comes from Homer’s novel “Odessy”, a Greek Mythological Tale, and refers to total commitment. It refers to a going áll-out and holding nothing back type of commitment. At the center of Homer’s epic tale is a human hero called Odysseus (Ulysses) who is a sympathetic, complex man. He tries to do the right thing and usually pays attention to what the gods tell him.
He especially heeds advice from the goddess Circe who warns him about the “Sirens.” These two monsters, who pretend to be beautiful women with amazing voices, try to assure sailors, who pass their island, that they want to entertain them with beautiful melodies.
What they really want, however, is to kill them. What is the message about the Sirens that Circe gives to Odysseus? Among other things, she warns him that his men must fill their ears with wax so they do not hear the Sirens’ beguiling songs:
“First you will come to the Sirens who enchant all who come near them. If anyone unwarily draws in too close and hears the singing of the Sirens, his wife and children will never welcome him home again, for they sit in a green field and warble him to death with the sweetness of their song.” (Warble means to sing in a trilling manner or with many turns and variations.)
“There is a great heap of dead men's bones lying all around, with the flesh still rotting off them. Therefore pass these Sirens by, and stop your men's ears with wax that none of them may hear; but if you like you can listen yourself, for you may get the men to bind you as you stand upright on a cross-piece halfway up the mast, and they must lash the rope's ends to the mast itself, that you may have the pleasure of listening. If you beg and pray the men to unloose you, then they must bind you faster.”
This warning triggers fear in Odysseus (Ulysses). He heeds Circe’s warning, taking care to completely block his men’s ears with bees’ wax. The good ship glides across a calm and grey sea toward an island of sloping meadows, golden in the sun. The crew wants to land, but Odysseus (Ulysses) knows better. He tells them:
“That is the Island of the Sirens. Circe warned me to steer clear of it, for the Sirens are beautiful but deadly. They sit beside the ocean, combing their long golden hair and singing to passing sailors. But anyone who hears their song is bewitched by its sweetness, and they are drawn to that island like iron to a magnet. And their ship smashes upon rocks as sharp as spears. And those sailors join the many victims of the Sirens in a meadow filled with skeletons.”
Taking a large block of beeswax, a gift from Circe, Odysseus (Ulysses) breaks it into small pieces and gives one to each of his men. He tells them to soften it and put it into their ears. In this way, they will not hear the song of the Sirens.
But Odysseus (Ulysses) wants to hear that famous song and still survive. Circe has told him how to do it. He orders his sailors to tie him firmly to the ship’s mast. When he is firmly tied, and his men have the beeswax in their ears, they row their ship alongside the island.
Then Odysseus (Ulysses) hears the magical song of the Sirens as it floats over the summertime waters:
“Odysseus (Ulysses), bravest of heroes,
Draw near to us, on our green island,
Odysseus (Ulysses), we’ll teach you wisdom,
We’ll give you love, sweeter than honey.
The songs we sing, soothe away sorrow,
And in our arms, you will be happy.
Odysseus (Ulysses), bravest of heroes,
The songs we sing, will bring you peace.”
When he hears the words and the music, the song enchants Odysseus’ (Ulysses) heart. He longs to plunge into the waves and swim to the island. He wants to embrace the Sirens. He strains against the bonds which hold him to the ship’s mast. He strains so hard that the bonds cut deeply into the flesh of his back and arms. Nodding and scowling at his ear-plugged men, he urges them to free him.
Expecting this reaction, the men row harder and harder with their oars. To Odysseus (Ulysses), who is bewitched by the song, the Sirens look as beautiful as Helen of Troy. To his crew, made deaf with beeswax, the Sirens seem like hungry monsters with vicious, crooked claws. The ship speeds forward and soon the song of the Sirens is an echo of an echo. Only then do the crew members stop rowing and unplug their ears.
Eurylochus unbinds his grateful captain, Odysseus (Ulysses), who has now come to his senses. By heeding the advice of the goddess Circe, Odysseus (Ulysses) has avoided a catastrophe. He will face many more trials and temptations before he reaches his home and family
In an article on commitment: To The Mast: A Lesson In Commitment - Monica McCarthy explains what the Ulysses Pact is:
Today we refer to a Ulysses Pact as any freely made decision that is designed and intended to bind oneself in the future, and is synonymous with the concept of a ‘living will.’ We recognize that there may be times when we must tie ourselves to a proverbial mast to honor our commitments.
Ulysses knew what he wanted and was ready to commit. He also knew his limitations. Sheer willpower was not going to see him through. To accomplish his goal he had to do the opposite of leaping without a net…
He had tied himself down.
We make commitments because we know we cannot be trusted to always do the right thing when we’re called upon. This is not because we are bad, but because we are human. Goals and passions are not just about what we’re going towards, but what we are sacrificing to get there. When we commit, we have to choose this and not that. Possibly for now, or possibly forever, whenever.
Commitment prevents the ship from steering off course or sinking into the murky depths below. Commitment is the key to achieving what we want in our work, creative endeavors, wellness, and relationships.
To take it a step further, all of these aspects of your life come down to your core values and beliefs. What is one surefire way to know what those are and to make sure you don’t forget them when the time comes to make difficult choices?
Apart from introducing the requirement of a deliberate and willful decision, the two words “If indeed...” also introduce the subject of the failure and incapability of man to maintain his decision.
Ulysses knew what he wanted and he was ready to commit, but he also knew his limitations. He knew that sheer willpower was not going to see him through.
The decision to follow Christ the Lord cannot be maintained by sheer willpower. Neither can it be maintained through emotions and past experiences. It cannot be maintained through any human effort.
This the Lord knows very well, for He sets the tone of man’s utter dependence upon Him, in Matthew 5:3
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The word “Blessed” implies being highly favored, supremely favored (blessed) by God. It also refers to being envied by others as a result of our being dependent upon the Lord and His caring for us and working in us.
The word poor refers to 4434. πτωχός ptōchŏs, pto-khos´; from πτώσσω ptōssō (to crouch; akin to 4422 and the alt. of 4098); a beggar (as cringing), i.e. pauper strictly denotes being destitute. It implies being without any means or form to help oneself whatsoever and an utter and complete reliance upon the help of another.
It is not similar to being financially distressed or poor.
Being financially distressed or poor still implies being able to help oneself to that which is needed to eat and survive.
James Strong, A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), 62.
and
Remain in me, and I in you. Just as the branch is not able to bear fruit from itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him—this one bears much fruit, for apart from me you are not able to do anything.
This is applicable throughout the rest of the Bible about man and his walk with God.
The two words “If indeed...” require a deliberate and willful decision to bind oneself, to the Lord of the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ, with an unbreakable bond. It requires a deliberate and willful decision to bind oneself, not to the mast of a ship, but to the cross of Christ, the Lord. It requires a Ulysses Pact with the Lord which is sustáined by the Lord through His grace and mercy.
Anyone Wants to Come After Me...
Anyone Wants to Come After Me...
This invitation from the Lord is not limited to only a few selected people or a specific nation. It is extended to anyone from every tribe, nation, and language. It is an open invitation as can be seen in Matthew 22:9-10
Therefore, go out to the places where the roads exit the city and invite to the wedding celebration as many people as you find.’ And those slaves went out into the roads and gathered everyone whom they found, both evil and good, and the wedding celebration was filled with dinner guests.