9-15-2019 Dying for Truth Luke 14:25-33

Introduction:

This last Wed night, we met at McDonald’s for our evening Bible Study and prayer time. We looked at a couple verses. I’ve explained that part of the inspiration of which verses to choose for these meetings was to find the so-called “controversial/contradicting” passages in scripture to look briefly at so that there can be an easy way to grab strangers’ attention and start a purposeful conversation with them. It is easy to gain a stranger’s trust just by asking for their opinion on something perceived as controversial. I want to cover the same passage this morning that we did last Wednesday—but not for the same reason. It just so happens to be a very appropriate passage to meditate upon just before partaking in communion. we will take a break for today from the Revelation series which we will pick up on next week.

English Standard Version Chapter 14

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 n“If anyone comes to me and odoes not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, pyes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 qWhoever does not rbear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not sfirst sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not tsit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 uSo therefore, any one of you who vdoes not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Transition:

So this morning, my goal is to explore Luke chapter 14 and ask ourselves this morning: “are we really ready to partake in communion?” another way of asking this is: “have we prepared ourselves properly for intimate worship?”

Scripture Reading:

Luke 14:25–33 ESV

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:24–33 ESV

24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’ ” 25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:25–33 ESV

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Wednesday night we took a critical look at the first portion of verse 26 and we discussed what Jesus was specifically calling us to in regard to our familial relationships. We even involved strangers in the discussion. However, as the Holy Spirit led me, I want to zoom in a bit further in the same verse but the second portion of that same verse:

Luke 14:26 ESV

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate [...] his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

What is the opposite of hate? Indifference… but the solution is love. Love can be misappropriated though.

I have a sad suspicion that some of us here this morning love our lives way too much, and even more sad is the further suspicion that for those who do love themselves more than Jesus, many of them do not even realize it. If this is true, we fail to follow after Christ, and we fail at offering Him ourselves as pleasing sacrifices holy and acceptable (), and we fail at proper communion. In summary, this is important! pay attention! I want to use the rest of this time in self-examination.

Transition:

As we just read the verses, it is easy to see that Jesus is challenging the crowds, and challenging us today, have we counted the cost of following Christ. In considering if we have indeed counted the cost already, I present to you—and to myself— three simple questions that might not have simple answers.

First Question:

I. Do we love ourselves too much?

I would like to thank all of us here this morning would love to answer this question pretty quickly “no.” However, this is a question that deserves more attention. It is a question on the sin of pride. Pride has a way of covertly fooling us by blinding us to it—much like getting used to a stench—we become severely oblivious the more we are in it.

So then, how are we to know if we are blinded by this sin when we indeed fall prey to it? one quick test is to ask yourself are you happy? Right now, are you happy? did you come in here this morning angry or upset? perhaps you even came in angry at the church or upset at me. how often are you happy? you might be asking what is happiness have to do with our selfish pride? Lots! As I’ve said before and Madame blueberry can affirm: “A thankful heart is a happy heart!” Thankfulness forces us to get our attention off ourselves and onto other people and other things in an extremely mentally healthy way. What are you thankful for? What do you genuinely thank God for in your prayers? I don’t want you coming up with something quick off the cuff just because you think you have to; rather, I want you to meditate on your blessings—count your blessings, name them one-by-one—seriously, write them out.

Another quick test is the complaining one. How many of us know that one person who seems to complain all the time : “this isn’t right, that isn’t right!” “you’re doing this wrong, you messed it up” “that isn’t fair, that should change” “I know better than you; no one listens to me; no one cares about me” “I deserve better, he didn’t give me what I wanted.” So on and so forth. I bet you you could come up with a few names, but as you’re making a list of those names don’t forget to write your name down! do you belong on that list? Perhaps I’ve found my name on that list several times. And when our names end up on that list we disqualify ourselves from being disciples.

You see, the happiness test and the complaining test go hand-in-hand. It is hard to be happy when you’re so inward focused on what you deserve, how you were cheated, and why don’t you have, or what this person said or did... then you fill in the blank. Complaining cheats you out of a thankful heart and perhaps that’s why Yahweh hates complaining so much. Any complaint finds root as a complaint against God. With a complaining heart, we become unfit for communion.

Illustration:

Transition:

Since looking at ourselves too much breeds selfish pride, let’s look at our outward relationships:

II. Do we love others enough?

Now I know this is a broad question: who are the “others,” and with what kind of love?

The first “others” we should look at is others within our own local body here at Grace. I would like to believe that all of us here have friends which we love with φιλος/Philadelphia/brotherly love. Some of us here might even have family around which we love with a familial love. How many “friends” do we have here at Grace? I’m not talking about acquaintances, and I’m not talking about those here who just say hi to each other each week with no other words exchanged throughout the rest of the week. We are more than friends! We are family — brothers and sisters! I can say proudly as the pastor of Grace Baptist Church that I have been treated like family from quite a few of you over the last few years. But I have been treated differently as well. I think the same thing can be said by most of you here today. Some have treated each other like a dysfunctional family and I don’t want anyone to experience that and certainly I cannot allow that dysfunction to get any worse.

It is a terrible fact that has been proven again and again that we get hurt most by other Christians. And most of the time there’s not a whole lot we can do about it. I think I know why this is becoming more of a problem for Grace. You know, we have lost quite a bit of members over the last few years. The reason for those losses had become more diverse then it was just the first couple years after Northland closed as a university. I think just about all of us here have felt hurt and the pain of the recent losses. We are now filled with members who are experiencing loss—loss of friends, loss of ministry, loss of relevance. We who remain faithful often feel betrayed by those who leave. Some like the way this church used to be more than the way the church is currently. Those of us who have been here with this church the longest has left us wanting the church to be a place that hardly ever changes— and for good reason, friendship patterns are being disrupted and a loss of stability occurs. Great confusion and pain related to church cultural change often makes other members respond with anger and resistance to those who try to help.

I wonder if we have fell prey here at Grace with experiencing those recent losses now we have the temptation to point the finger at each other trying to find some kind of blame. I fear that some have panicked and frantically looked for reasons in wrong places i.e. “this person shouldn’t be doing that” “it’s that person’s fault for saying that” “You should have done more to stop/start/accommodate” And while there is room for self examination, lets consider

Galatians 6:4 NIV

4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else,

Many Christians suffer attacks in their daily walk with Christ.  This should not be surprising.  Jesus predicted it for those who believed in Him () and the Apostle Peter told the church that they should not be surprised when they suffer insults because of their faith in Christ ().  What is surprising is that other Christians receive attacks – and some of the fiercest at that – from other Christians.  This ought not to be so. This grieves God greatly.  The Corinthian church was so carnal that they were fighting and arguing over who had the best spiritual gifts, even though these gifts were from God and not gifts that they themselves had developed.

Read more: https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/christians-persecuting-other-christians/#ixzz5zXwGksTf

Galatians 6:4 ESV

But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.

Jesus said that a house divided can not stand…and Christians are sometimes divided over issues that are not central to Calvary.  The Body of Christ should not be divided against itself, yet many times we are attacking each other over beliefs or any belief that differs from ours.  I love the quote , “In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity.”  This means that above all things should be love.  We all have differences…yet these differences should not make us divided; they should make us complete.

Paul has a wonderful solution to this problem for us

Philippians 2:3 ESV

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

say to yourself before approaching a person in criticism: “so and so is better than me” next believe it and then you might be ready.

I remember having sword fights as a boy.  We were quite swashbuckling as we fended off the pirates, but when Christians wield the sword of the Word of God (Bible) against other Christians, then we are misusing the only offensive weapon in the armor of God at our disposal.  Instead of fighting off the enemy, we are attacking each other and wielding our sword in a sense of superiority (pride) because of our knowledge (which puffs up and makes us vain).  

Read more: https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/christians-persecuting-other-christians/#ixzz5zY770uBW

What is the solution:

Matthew 7:5 ESV

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

A good exercise for all of us here is this—write this down— before you criticize a brother or sister here, list out five of your own planks first in order to be humble enough to approach the one speck.

To participate in communion, we must be worthy and we are worthy to partake when we are right with God and with our brothers:

Matthew 5:23–24 ESV

23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

this pertains to communion as well.

One last point before moving on is our love for other outside of this church:

Do we love others enough to share with them the good news of the gospel message? I have heard people say that we should not be focusing on evangelism. Now I know their heart, their heart is that we would focus all our energy on growing those already within our church right now. And certainly that is a priority--and a responsibility of us all— but what does that say about our love for the lost people if we just give up on evangelism simply because we are too focused on our own problems? One of the most hateful things you could do to a person is to never give them eternal hope never give them the chance to accept a relationship with a Creator. Now don’t get me wrong, there is a balance with where we spend our time, talents, and resources in our efforts on building one another up within this local church, and I’m not saying that we neglect that. But I am saying if we neglect evangelism then we neglect a fundamental principle of why we should exist at all as a church.

Mark 16:15 ESV

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

2 Timothy 4:5 ESV

As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Who is the “them” Jesus said this to?

What else does Jesus say?

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

and before Jesus said this, he said:

Matthew 9:37–38 ESV

37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Illustration:

Transition:

One final question we must ask before communion:

III. Do we love Jesus as we should?

Well this seems like a quaintly pious question! Of course we all love Jesus, that is why we are here, right? yes, but look at the qualifying phrase: do we love Him AS WE Should? It is bold me to ask this; however, Jesus asks us this in our passage and in other places:

John 21:15–17 ESV

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

The great saint Peter and our Lord’s question to him is this. If Peter cannot meet the qualifier, what chance might we?

John 21:15–19 ESV

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

The great saint Peter and our Lord’s question to him is this

my point this morning isn’t so much to beat you guys up with words and leave you with no hope. Some of you may not even have known that this church has had these problems lately, and if that is you , great. Please trust that I am not doing an unnecessary rebuke. I am wanting to ensure our communion time is pure, holy, and righteous for our Lord. If you’re guilty of this lack of and of the other things mentioned this morning. There is hope! there is always hope.

What hope does Jesus give Peter?

John 21:18–19 ESV

18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Jhn 21

At first, this seems a bit odd, until you realize that Jesus is telling him, and by extension, us that even though Peter did not love Jesus as he should, that by the end of Peter’s life, Peter would have the right love. Maybe you are here this morning and something jumps out at you and convicts you, if you have accepted Jesus, He will bring you to completion—to an αγαπη love.

Illustration:

We have an opportunity like never before to revitalize and grow stronger than this church has ever seen, but we must seize this opportunity to change. Growth takes change.

Transition:

So What?

Have you counted the cost of love? Are you ready to partake in communion?

Luke 14:33 ESV

So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

“renounce all”

renounce all and repent — do you need to go take care of something first before partaking in communion?

Conclusion:

So let’s make things right, right now. I could talk forever about the right things to do and how to biblically remedy any problem, but if we don’t get up and act by actually put that remedy into practice, then everything I’ve said this morning is for nothing.

Let’s now join together in Communion: