"Come and Die," the Master Calls

Introduction

This morning we make our way back to the Sermon on the Mount, but maybe not in the way that you would expect. Next week we will dive into Matthew chapter 7 properly, but before we do, there is something I feel like I need to address, and I’ll be doing so through the sermon this morning.

As a church, we exist to make disciples. Read with me, if you will, our church’s mission statement:

Good News Baptist Church exists to make disciples that impact the world with the Gospel of Christ.

We exist to make disciples. You may be thinking that this is a no brain-er. The Bible says it, so that is why we exist as a church.

But I don’t think that we often think about the implication of this statement. What does it even mean to be a disciple?

Over the course of our studies about the Sermon on the Mount, we have understood that Jesus is talking specifically to His disciples. He speaks to us. He is teaching the basics of what it means to be a disciple. When we think of Jesus and His disciples, I think our minds often go to Jesus performing miracles. There in the presence of His very first disciples, Jesus performed the first miracle of His ministry - turning water into wine at the wedding in the city of Cana. Jesus preaches to a crowd using Peter’s fishing boat, and when He is done, tells Peter to cast is net out into the deep waters. When he does, Peter pulls out so many fish that his net begins to break, the fish don’t all fit in his boat, so he calls to his friends, James and John, to come and help him with their boat.

The disciples sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to him preach and teach. They watch him as He heals the sick, and the lame, and the blind. They experience the joy of having their friend Lazarus brought back to life four days after he had died. They help distribute bread and fish that Jesus has multiplied miraculously not once, but on two occasions.

We think of Jesus’ disciples sitting with Jesus and eating with Jesus after His resurrection. Talking to him, enjoying his presence.

One of the greatest pictures, I think, is when Jesus appears for the third time to the disciples after his resurrection.

Come and Dine

Go with me to the book of John. John 21:1-12

John 21:1–12 KJV 1900

1 After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself. 2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing. 4 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. 5 Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. 6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. 7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea. 8 And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes. 9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. 10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. 11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. 12 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine.

it is a nice thought. Jesus, after He has resurrected from the dead, goes to see some of his disciples. They have been fishing all night without catching anything, and as the sun rises, Jesus is on the shore (though the disciples can’t recognize him as they are about 100 yds away) and calls out to them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. When they do, there are so much fish that they can’t haul the net into the boat.

John instantly recognizes this as a miracle from Jesus, and says so. When Peter hears this, he jumps overboard to swim to Jesus while the other disciples struggle to get the net back to shore.

And as they are getting to shore, Jesus invites them with this phrase, “Come and dine.” You might say, “But it’s breakfast time, not dinner time...” And that is true. If you have a King James Version you see the word “dine,” and it is not because the translators did not know the difference between dinner and breakfast, but back then, “to dine” was simply the act of eating, regardless of the hour.

This is a cool story though. Can you imagine eating there on the shore with Jesus? It is neat, because right as the disciples pull up to the shore, they see that Jesus already has fish on some hot coals. The food is ready for them to eat, which would have been welcome after a whole night of working. That was probably the best fish ever too.

“Come and dine.” What an invitation.

Back in the year 1907, Charles B. Widmeyer was meditating on this passage and wrote a hymn. It has a catchy tune and is easy to remember. The title of the hymn is “Come and Dine, the Master Calleth.” Does anybody recognize this song? Anyone familiar with it?

Jesus has a ta­ble spread Where the saints of God are fed, He in­vites His chos­en peo­ple, Come and dine; With His man­na He doth feed And sup­plies our ev­ery need: O ’tis sweet to sup with Je­sus all the time!

Refrain

Come and dine, the Mas­ter call­eth, Come and dine; You may feast at Je­sus’ ta­ble all the time; He who fed the mul­ti­tude, Turned the wa­ter in­to wine, To the hun­gry call­eth now, Come and dine.

Those are some nice words for a hymn. And Jesus does call us to come and dine with Him. It is a thought that is not expressed by Jesus only in this verse, but in another well known verse, too.

Revelation 3:20 KJV 1900

20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

There it is again. Jesus calling to us so that we can have that sit down meal with Him.

We often think of this verse as an invitation to unbelievers. And that application is not wrong, presenting Jesus as someone who is knocking at the door of a person’s heart saying, “Would you invite me in, and I will dine with you and you with me.” That is not a bad or a wrong application, but it is not the original intent of this verse. These words were written to a church. This was an invitation, not so much for individuals, but for a church to be an a close, intimate relationship with him.

We like to think of this invitation - come and dine. It is nice to think that Jesus wants this kind of relationship with each of us, and it is really nice to think that God wants that kind of relationship with Good News Baptist Church.

We like the call, “Come and Dine,” but we forget something. Long before Jesus called the disciples to “Come and dine,” He called them to “Come and Die.”

Come and Die

It’s a one-letter difference. You drop one letter from the phrase “Come and Dine,” one little insignificant “n,” and you get a whole other phrase with a completely different meaning. “Come and Die,” the Master calls us, “Come and Die.”

That is exactly what Jesus is saying in Luke 9:23-24

Luke 9:23–24 KJV 1900

23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

That is a call to “come and die.” In fact, Jesus said, “If anyone want to follow me, if anyone wants to be my disciple, you have to die first.” Die to yourself, die to your wants, die to the pursuit of your comfort, die to your goals, die to your ambitions, die to sin, die to your own self-image. And it is a dying that is required daily. “Take up your cross daily,” Jesus said. You and I need to die.

“Well that seems very uncomfortable...” YES! Yes, it does, and it is! But you and I cannot be called disciples if we are not dying to self. “Come and die,” the Master is calling.

“But what about the church at Laodicea? Jesus just was knocking and very nicely saying, ‘Hey, anyone that wants to, open the door and let me in and we will dine together.’ He didn’t call them to die.” But YES HE DID.

Reading verses in context is a wonderful thing. So I will ask you to go with me to Revelation 3:14-22

Revelation 3:14–22 KJV 1900

14 And unto the angel [that word means messenger, and is talking about the pastor] of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; [I want you to notice what God is doing here. He is declaring His power and authority and the fact that He does not change. The word “amen” means truth. He is declaring that what He says is absolute truth to the church of Laodicea.] 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would [wish] thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. [This is not an issue of salvation, it is an issue of usefulness, the church at Laodicea had abandoned God, and God was about to abandon them in spectacular fashion] 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: [They had become self reliant. They had become complacent and comfortable.] 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. 22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

So what about the church at Laodicea. Jesus did call them to die to self. God mentions that the Laodiceans thought that they were rich and well clothed and had good eyesight, but in reality they were poor, naked, and blind.

Laodicea, you see, was a city that had strong banks. It was a wealthy city. There in Laodicea was produced some of the best black wool which was exported all over the place because of its dark color and high quality. Laodicea lay in the region of Phrygia, a region that had a particular ingredient that was called Phrygian eye powder used in some of the best ointments for eyes at the time. The Lord is using what is around them to show what their attitudes are toward spiritual things.

God tells them that they are broke, blind, and naked when it comes to their effectiveness as a church. They are comfortable. And God tells them to get rid of that comfortability and their complacency. They need to buy of Jesus gold that is pure. Their works are not pure, their attitudes are not pure, and as Paul warned the Corinthian church, if we have impure works, or we have impure motivations in our work, when it gets tried, it will be burned up like wood, hay, and stubble.

Jesus continues to tell them to be dressed in white clothing. Their deeds and attitudes as a church were evil at worst and at best their complacency was uncharacteristic of the righteousness of Jesus; instead of being a beacon of bright light to those around them, they were as dark as the wool that was produced there.

Their complacency had blinded them. They thought they could see fin, but they had left Jesus outside of the church and were just going through motions, doing nothing of value, but they thought they were right. Jesus is saying to them, “Come to me, stop looking around and look to me and eye will open your eyes so that you can see.”

Jesus tells them that they are lukewarm. Nearby, there were hot springs that people would go and bathe in. Laodicea was a city that had use of the famous Roman aqueducts. Their water was brought to them from about six miles to the south where it was piped from a source of really cold, refreshing water. The six mile trip through the aqueducts, however, caused the water that flowed into the city of Laodicea to be nauseatingly lukewarm. It was gross.

There is use for hot water. Hot water helps clean garments, bodies, and dishes. It helps to have hot water if you are going to make tea or coffee. There is a use for cold water, it is refreshing. But lukewarm water, it’s not good. It may be hydrating, but it is not refreshing. And Jesus says, “Church of Laodicea, you have become so useless as a church to me, I’m about to spit you out. BUT, I stand at the door and knock. I want you to let me back in this church, let me be the head. Follow me. Die to your self-image. Even though you think you’re right, you aren’t. Die to yourself, let me back in, and we will have good fellowship once again. But it is going to take you dying to self.”

How is it possible that Jesus is knocking at the door of a church saying, “Hey, I’m out here knocking. Is anyone going to let me into the church?” How is that possible? Isn’t the church supposed to be all about Jesus? Isn’t Jesus supposed to be the head of the church? How did he get stuck on the outside?!

They got comfortable. They got complacent. They started to live for themselves. The worldly mindset began to creep in, and like we studied in Matthew 6, they are pervasive, they spread wildly and quickly. Why study the scriptures? I have other things to do. Why take time to actually pray? There is so much more I could be doing? Why serve in the church? There are plenty of other people who can do that. Doesn’t anyone understand my busy schedule? And once that takes hold on one person in the church, it spreads to others.

The church at Laodicea thought they were alright. They thought they knew God and were close to God, but they had left him out of everything. Everything that was happening was just people going though the motions. Nobody noticed that in their services Jesus wasn’t present. Nobody noticed the head was not there. It’s not like they were doing nothing, they were producing fruit, just that it was bad. They were doing things but it wasn’t for the right purpose or with the right focus.

The church members at Laodicea had made church about themselves, so Jesus says, “It’s time to come and die.” Jesus made no bones about it. “If you open the door to me, things are going to change, but then you get to fellowship with me. You get real peace. You get real joy. You get real fulfillment. But before you come and dine, come and die.”

Church, we need to die. I have a responsibility to you and to the Lord. Look at Hebrews 13:17

Hebrews 13:17 KJV 1900

17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

One day, I will stand before the Lord, and I will give an account of everything I did as a pastor of Good News Baptist Church. So if I do not address the things that I see are going on and the things that God lays on my heart to address, then I will one day have to face God for that.

This morning I want to address something that I have seen growing within our church. This is specifically for members of Good News Baptist Church. If you are not a member, this does not apply to you as a member. If you are a member and what I am saying does not characterize you personally, then please do not take offence, but understand that this problem exists among our membership.

The problem is this: There are too many members that are living for themselves. Some of you know it; some of you do not realize it or don’t realize what is wrong with it. So this is me, your pastor, telling this church, “We, as a church need to stop pushing Jesus out of here. And if it does not happen, then we, as a church, need to not come back.”

In the past six months I can think of 6 people that have left this church. Six members. With them, they took their respective families. Five out of those six I went and visited, had phone conversations with them, texted back and forth, and confronted them in some way or another about dying to self and living for God. About what it means to be a real church member. That it means being a part of the body, that it means not doing your own thing anymore, that it means making the church a healthy priority in your life. (Maybe I should just not visit people or reach out to them anymore; they leave when I do...)

Being a church member means that I am faithful to church, that I am actively serving in church, that I treasure the church, that I give to the church, that I seek unity within the church, and that I set aside, that I die to my preferences and desires for the mission of the church (to make disciples).

And if I am dedicated to making disciples that impact the world, than I better be a disciple that is impacting the world. You know how I know that there are members here that aren’t willing to die to self? Because it is those members that say, “Hey Mike, I would like to serve in a ministry.” And I say, “That’s great. There are certain requirements and expectations for you to do that. Faithful attendance to church services is one of them. You can’t just be here when it is your turn to serve. Another one is that you maintain a good public testimony. That you have a good attitude. That you be teachable. I have an expectation that you will fight for unity in this church. That you be humble toward leadership in the church and meek in dealing with those you lead. I expect you to be commited to the church and to the ministry you are a part of - which means that I expect you to be willing to sacrifice for the church and the ministries you are a part of. Above all, I expect that you be a disciple that is making disciples.”

When I say things like that, or confront somebody about one or more of those things, they either don’t join a ministry or withdraw from it.

The first step to being a disciple is dying to myself.

Have you died to yourself yet? Are you fully following Jesus? If you are comfortable, then you may not be doing it right.

I think we have a few members here that feel about discipleship, dying to self and living for Jesus, I think many people view that the same way I view the gym. Let me explain.

I don’t go the gym. I do not have a gym membership. I know I should go to the gym and workout. It would be good for me. But I don’t want to. However, I want to want to. I have a deep desire to want to go to the gym. But I don’t want to. So I don’t. I see people that go the gym. I like the results I see. I wish I could have those same results. I know that the only way to get those results is by going to a gym and actually working out. But I don’t want to, and I am not going to right now. You know why? Because I have grown comfortable with where I am at right now.

Some people look at being a disciple of Jesus that way. They know they need to. They know they would be more happy, more peaceful, and more fulfilled by dying to self and following Jesus. They like to observe others who are following Jesus, and they remark about how blessed they are, how strong they are, how joyful they are. But they themselves aren’t doing it. They don’t want to. They want to want to. They wish they had the drive to give it all up and follow Jesus, but they don’t want to. So they don’t.

But you what they do? They come to a church whose mission it is to make disciples. They come to a church and are members of a church who expects them to be disciples. And then, they complain that that is the expectation.

Look, I don’t want to go to the gym. But at least I am not wasting my time and the gym’s space by going, sitting on a machine, and doing nothing or just doing the bare minimum. At least I’m not sitting on a bike, barely pedaling, telling the person next to me how awful and difficult it is to get up early and come to the gym.

Listen, if you are a member of Good News Baptist Church, but are not willing to take steps to being a fully committed disciple of Jesus, you need to get right with God. If you are not willing to do that, I honestly don’t know why you are a member here.

If you are thinking of joining this church, but you don’t want to be a disciple in your everyday life, I want you to know that that is what is expected here.

We expect members to be active and to be unified and to wholly given to the Lord. This is not an expectation of perfection. None of us are that. This is an expectation that each of us will fully surrender to Jesus.

Invitation

The invitation will be short this morning. I’ll ask Tahsha to play something on the piano, but we will not sing.

I am, this morning, going to make a call to action. That call is the same call that Jesus makes for His disciples - Come and die. Come and die to yourself.

Has God pointed out an area in which you need to die to yourself?