There is a cost

Introduction

In 1519, Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortez landed in Mexico on the shores of the Yucatan, with only one objective…seize the great treasures known to be there, hidden by the Aztecs. Cortez was committed to his mission and his search for riches. Cortez was an excellent motivator, he convinced more than 500 soldiers and 100 sailors to set sail from Spain to Mexico, to find the world’s riches treasure. The big question is “how a small band of Spanish soldiers arrived in a strange country and swiftly brought about the overthrow of a large and powerful empire that was in power for over six centuries?” 

For Cortez, the answer was easy. It was all or nothing! A Complete and Total Commitment. Here’s how Cortez got the commitment from the rest of his men. He took away the option of failure. It was conquer and be hero’s enjoying the spoils of victory…or DIE! When Cortez and his men arrived on the shores of the Yucatan he rallied the men for one final pep talk before leading his men into battle, and as he spoke he uttered these three words that changed the course of history. “Burn the Ships”.

He met with resistance from his men. "Burn the ships," he repeated. He then uttered these words "if we are going home, we are going home in their ships". With that, Cortez and his men burned their own ships, and by burning their own ships, the commitment level of the men was raised to a whole new level. A level much higher than any of the men, including Cortez, could have ever imagined.

Amazingly, the men conquered the Aztecs and succeeded where others had failed for six centuries. With the victory Cortez and his men took the treasure. Why did they win? They had no escape. No retreat position. They had no choice! That's commitment.

Commitment is what Jesus asks of each of us.

However, he was not willing to just ask for our commitment, but was also willing to show us what that meant.

Jesus was first committed to obeying God.

Jesus just a day before this text had come down from the Mount of Transfiguration were he had met with Elijah and Moses. He had spent the time talking to these 2 OT prophets about how his time on earth was coming to an end and his work on earth would soon be complete.

Knowing his work on earth was coming to an end, verse 51 says that Jesus set out resolutely toward Jerusalem. This means he had his eyes fixed on the goal and had determined in his mind and his heart to be obedient to God's plan for him. That plan was to bring salvation to mankind.

He knew that this was his time and this was his place and he also knew that at the end of his journey to Jerusalem, though still several months away, he would ultimately give his life. However, his obedience to his father was never a question and never an issue. He knew that the cost for not obeying was very large indeed.

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!

He was committed to following the road, and to take the path that God had shown him.

He set out to Jerusalem determining at first to travel through the land of Samaria and there spend the night. He sent his messengers ahead to make arrangements for him and his group to stay there but was met with resistance by the Samarians. Because of his plans to travel on to Jerusalem, from Samaria, the Samaritans would not allow him to stay in Samaria.

This was not his first trip through Samaria , in fact, we read in about his meeting a Samaritan woman. While talking to the Samaritan women in , he was given him the opportunity to bring many of the Samaritans into the knowledge that he was the Messiah and the son of God. This time, however, he was not welcomed as before. Why? Just because he was committed to travel to Jerusalem.

Why did that matter? The Jews and Samaritans were bitterly opposed to each other. The Jews believed that the proper place to worship God was in the Temple in Jerusalem, The Samaritans believed to worship God you must worship him at Mount Gerizim. Since the Samaritans knew he was headed to Jerusalem, they made the assumption that Jesus believed that Jerusalem was the proper place for worship. So it was a matter of religious pride that caused them to turn away Jesus. In doing so, they violated sacred customs, such as hospitality. Because, during this time it was considered rude not to offer hospitality to travelers.

It's very possible that some knew him from his visit before, and having understood that he was the Messiah thought he would select Mount Gerizim as his place for worship. However, by the decision of Jesus, to travel on to Jerusalem, the Samaritans decided to reject him.

When Jesus was given the word that his group would not be allowed to stay in Samaria, two of his disciples became very bitter. How could they treat the son of God this way.

James and John wanted to make an example of Samaritans, They asked Jesus if they could call down fire upon the Samaritans and destroy them.

What happened next?

Jesus shows that he was committed to a life of love and compassion.

He proceeded to rebuke James and John, telling them that he, the son of man, did not come to earth to destroy but save. His commitment was to saves lives and show compassion. In fact, just a few days before he had told them to just shake off the dust of villages that didn't except them and move on.

However, Rebuking is not always a bad thing. The Bible says in :Revelation

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

God had not sent him on a mission of condemnation and destruction, but a mission to save the world. He left the judgement up to his father in heaven, he who would ultimately judge the world.

James and John were determined on destroying the lost sheep, Jesus was determined to show compassion and salvation to those same sheep.

The reality is that later on, as we read in , Philip went to Samaria and spread the gospel there, and was later followed by Peter and John.

When Jesus saw that he would be rejected in Samaria he simply went on to another village. What can you learn from this? There will be times you life that where you know where Gods wants you to go. However, a change in plans may seem to hinder your path, just like Samaria did for Jesus. You may even wind up wondering if you are on the right road. Just keep moving ahead, determine to not let any detour or obstacle keep you from you mission and obedience to God instruction.

Through out his time on earth, Jesus remained committed to discipleship and teaching

When James and John wanted to call down fire on Samaria he openly rebuked them for not following the very lessons that he tried to teach them.

Telling them “Had they not learned anything about his mission on Earth”?. He hadn't come to bring Judgement but salvation and mercy.

His correction and teaching was evident elsewhere in the Bible

He corrected them on knowing who his followers were.

He corrected them on their egos'

. even after his death, burial, and resurrection he was still committed to providing correction to his disciples.

Now that we have looked at the Christ's Commitment, lets take a look at what commitment may cost.

Following him may cost us a comfortable life.

Once he had corrected his disciples, he headed to another village. As the group he traveled with was walking down the road, one of those following him came up to him and said” I will follow you, no matter where you go.” He had probably had heard Jesus rebuke the disciples and thought this was a good chance to make some points with Jesus. The follower was a scribe, a teacher of the law of Moses. Someone who knew God's law as well as we know our own children. In doing this he was telling Jesus that no matter where Jesus went from this point on he wanted to be one of his disciples.

Jesus replied that even animals and like foxes and birds have a home to go to, and a place to rest their head. He said; ”I have nothing except what you see here. I have no home or permanent place to lay my head or come home to each night.” No comfort could he offer the scribe. He basically told him if you want a place to rest your head at night or a permanent home to dwell in, I'm not the one you should follow.

Following Jesus will cost us much more then we can expect sometimes. We will be on the outside of society. We may, at times, lose friends, family, and loved ones due to our faith in him. He wanted to make it abundantly clear to this man, that following this road would not be an easy or comfortable life. Following Christ will cause some changes and growing in our lives as we follow him. Sometimes we will find that making a stand for what we believe will make us uncomfortable. Following Christ will definitely challenge your comfort zone in life. We shouldn't be to comfortable here on earth anyway. This is not our permanent home, this is just a place to journey through as pilgrims.

I have a favorite book by Doug McIntosh called: Life Greatest Journey.

In the book Doug says that “ We are just pilgrims on a great journey toward a land that Jesus promised. There and only there do we have a real home.

Following Christ may cost us the things that we truly value or think we need.

Jesus looked around and probably saw someone listening intently to his conversation and said to that person: “ Come and follow me..” Join me and be one of my disciples, and learn what I have taught the other disciples. The man may have been eager at first thought, but he told Jesus: “Lord, please allow me to go and bury my father”. It doesn't mention that his father had already died and he needed to go back right then. In fact, Jewish custom was for a mourning period of 30 days, so his father was most likely still alive. If he had been dead, this man would not have been traveling with Jesus. The real issue was that this man was probably more interested in making sure that he was available in case his father did die, so that he would be near to receive his inheritance. He could see that those who followed Jesus had left everything and probably didn't have a lot of earthly goods, most probably lived day to day and counted on the generosity of other. He wanted to make sure he had a little nest egg to fall back on, just in case this whole disciple thing didn't work out. In other words, he had not taken into consideration the cost of following Jesus. He was more worried about his needs and not the needs of others.

There is a cost to discipleship or following Christ, the questions remains, are you and I willing to pay that cost. Knowing that there may be a time that we will have to leave friends and family behind.

Galatians says: But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.

Commitment also means not looking back.

As they traveled a little farther, another man said; “I will follow you, and I want to be one of your disciples.” But first let me go home and tell my loved one good-bye. How could Jesus refuse such request. Jesus had family, so he probably knew how important they were to him. He just wanted to say goodbye to Father, Mother, sisters and brothers.

However, I'm sure Jesus could see through the heart of the matter. This man would have gone home and in the process of saying goodbye to his family would have had them start second guessing his decision to follow this man in his ministry. Why would he want to follow a wandering preacher across the land to Jerusalem? Families are really great about giving advice and opinions, even when is not needed, aren’t they.

The issue stands that you can't look back when you decide to follow Jesus, Looking back as you plow just like in the scripture, accomplished one thing. Crooked rows and a crooked path. Not fit for planting and growing.

When I was living in Washington state, I had friends that had a sailboat. The one thing that they taught me about sailing was how to steer to your destination. You fix your eyes on a point on the horizon or shore where you want to go to and steer that way. A sailboat goes with the wind so the only way to keep going straight is to keep your eyes focused on the goal or where you want to go. Don't worry about what's behind you , stay focused.

As a Christian you have to stay focused on the prize, heaven. The consequences of looking back are too great. We can not continue to want what we left behind.

Look at Looking back cost Lot's wife everything.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was a German pastor . He was a vigorous opponent of the Nazi's from its very first days. He quickly became an active participant in the group that resisted their takeover over Germany.

Bonhoeffer could see the dangers of the blind loyalty that was given to Adolf Hitler. To his sorrow and dismay , people were beginning to worship Hitler across Germany.

Two days after Hitler came to power. He warned that Hitler could become a seducer of men. Even though he was an avowed pacifist, he became involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

In April 1943, Bonhoeffer was arrested and put in prison. Two years later, a trial took place at a prison camp, at which there were no witnesses or written record kept.

Bonhoeffer was sentenced to death, and then executed by hanging at dawn the next day, April 9, 1945. He was stripped naked, and instead of a rope, a thin wire was used to strangle him.

An eyewitness to the execution—the camp doctor— wrote: “I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer kneeling on the floor praying fervently to God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the few steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.”

Action point

Following Christ has a cost. That price is commitment.

He modeled it, as I have shown you, as an example to us.

Let's look at his commitment:

He committed to a life of obedience to God. He set his face to go to Jerusalem, knowing full well the cost. He committed to travel the road, even when detoured by others.

He was committed to his purpose: Salvation not judgement and compassion not revenge.

He was committed to teaching others and correcting when necessary.

How do you measure up to his, compared to his commitment?

Closing