Is it worth it?

Is It Worth It? May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer! For each of the past 4 weeks the readings in our Church calendar have been from the letter to the Hebrews and from the Gospel of Luke. The contents of this section of Luke’s gospel (chapters 9-14) have sometimes been called the hard (H-A-R-D) – the hard sayings of Christ. They can sound very harsh ... and are not very fun to preach on! To put some context around them, Jesus has been making his way towards Jerusalem, where he knows he will literally face his own cross, his death. Along the way he has been asked, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” Jesus responded by saying, “make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many will try to enter and will not be able” (13:23-24). He lamented, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (13:34). And continuing along the journey Jesus describes the cost of following him: • “foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to rest his head” • “let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God” • “whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it” • “if anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory” • “no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” • “Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on family ‘will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother’ ...” (12:51-53). And in today’s Gospel text we read, “if anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters – yes, even their own life – cannot be my disciple ... whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” And, “those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.” We read these words and wonder, is this really what Jesus requires, especially with respect to hating our parents and families? Can we not come to Jesus and still love our families? In answer to this, some theologians simply respond that Jesus is using hyperbole to illustrate his point. Other scholars have pointed out that the word translated hate, miseo (miss-EH-oh), is often in the Greek used as simply a comparison to the word love, meaning to “love less” – that the passage is saying when we come to Christ we must love him the most, even more than our immediate family. This idea seems to be borne out in the Gospel of Matthew’s parallel account, which says, “anyone who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and anyone who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matt 10:37). While both these ideas may have merit, we should not lose sight of the radical nature of Christ’s words. Jesus says we are to estimate the cost – to consider what the cost of following Jesus will be. We’re not to have a blind, naïve commitment that expects only blessings. Following Jesus is not a trivial matter, not something to be taken lightly. There is a real possibility, a real danger, that we hear the gospel message but don’t really take it seriously. Jesus warns that we are to consider what he expects of his followers, which is “giving up everything” – a complete surrender to him! Carrying our own cross means giving up our own life, dying to self and to our own will, saying to God, “thy will be done.” Coming to Jesus means that our primary, most important relationship is with him. And following Jesus will inevitably put us in conflict with those who choose not to believe, who choose not to become followers of Jesus – some of whom may be in our own family! [PAUSE] The Jewish believers who lived after Christ’s resurrection and before the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D., understood this through experience. After hearing the gospel from the apostles, they had come to faith in Yeshua Ha mashiyach, Jesus the Messiah, and because of their faith were experiencing persecution. They were publicly exposed to insult, had their homes and possessions confiscated, and were even imprisoned (10:32-34). They were being urged by fellow Jews to return to the old sacrificial system, and in the face of such persecution and loss may have been wondering, “are we really to abandon the sacrificial system that our forefathers had been practicing for some 1000 years, in order to follow Jesus?” They needed encouragement to stay in the faith. We see this encouragement in the letter to the Hebrews. The writer of the letter began by reminding them that “in times past God spoke” to the Jewish people in various ways, in visions and dreams and through the prophets – but in these “last days” God has spoken through his Son, who is the “radiance of God’s glory”, the “exact representation” of God himself (1:1-3). The writer goes on to show that Jesus is greater than those prophets, in fact greater than the angels, greater than the priests, and even greater than the whole priesthood, which was only a shadow or picture pointing to Jesus, our Great High Priest, who would stand in the heavenly presence of God and offer his own blood, once and for all, for the complete, eternal forgiveness of all our sins. This Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world is the true Mediator between humanity and God – and having made peace between God and all those who follow Him, He is at the right hand of the Father in heaven, interceding for his children. The writer reminded these Jewish believers of when they first came to faith in Christ, how willing they had been to suffer their own hardships and to suffer with other believers who were enduring persecution, knowing that what they were gaining was worth so much more than the temporary earthly possessions they were giving up. He reminded them of what faith is, that it is trusting in God and in God’s promises. It is not only believing in God’s character and nature, that God is able and has the integrity to follow through on what He has said and promised – but it is personally staking our life on it – that there is no other basis for salvation and relationship with God than the death and resurrection of Jesus. The writer of the letter then provided them, in what we call the Faith chapter (11) of Hebrews, many examples of people from Old Testament times who had lived by faith, proving that God’s people have always been saved by faith, never by the sacrifice of animals or by keeping the Law. He showed them that some of these people, such as Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Joseph and Moses, overcame challenges and performed wonderous acts through faith ... but also that many of the faithful, of whom the world was not worthy, were called to a troubled and persecuted life and even a tortuous death – just as these Jewish believers were now experiencing – yet through their faith had persevered and remained faithful to God. So with all these faithful people as witnesses to them, the writer encourages those Jewish believers to persevere, “keeping their eyes fixed upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of their faith,” who can keep them secure with God throughout the trials and circumstances of this life; and assuring them that they, along with that “great cloud of Old Testament witnesses” (12:1) and with all those who would believe in Christ in the future, will receive the eternal promises of God – together, as one complete community of God. So, how are we to consider the “hard sayings of Christ” in our day? We know that many believers around the world are suffering the same kinds of persecution that the early Jewish believers experienced. And while we here in the United States rarely suffer loss of home or possessions, or imprisonment, we do sometimes experience antagonism, humiliation or ridicule for our faith. In some cases, believers have lost jobs or were not hired because of their faith in Christ. Some have lost businesses and others compelled to leave lucrative jobs rather than provide services they thought were against God’s will (e.g., Bakery, abortion clinics). More frequently, believers have lost a close relationship with friends or sometimes family members when coming to faith in Jesus. As Christ foretold, following him would cause division, not peace, between believers and those who would not come to him. There is still a cost for discipleship.q Yet when we count the cost, we must also consider what we are gaining. Is the cost worth what we gain, or conversely, is the gain worth the price? You can’t evaluate if something is worth the cost if you don’t know what you’ll be gaining. And God has promised many things for those who believe in Jesus – in this life, and also for eternity: • First of all, we become God’s children. “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, born not of natural descent, nor of human decision ... but born of God” (John 1:12-13) • Our sins are forgiven, entirely. “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9); and “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because ... the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2) • God has given us the righteousness that Christ obtained by his own obedience. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21); when God looks at believers, He sees Christ! • We have peace with God. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you” (John 14:27); “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1) • We have direct access to God the Father. “Since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus ... let us draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:19-22) • We have no need to worry about anything. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7) • Nothing can separate us from God’s love. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39) • We have been given the Holy Spirit, who created faith in us; renews us; gives us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control; prays for us when we don’t know what to pray; and is the down payment, the guarantee of our inheritance with Christ (Eph 1:14) • All things, even troublesome circumstances, will work out for our good. If we could see everything that God sees, we would want and hope for every circumstance God places us in. “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28) • And on that note, we have purpose. During this Church Age God is calling out a people for his name, and He permits us to participate in that mission. God has appointed everyone who believes in the Son as ambassadors to reach others for him. “He died that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him ... God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, gave us the ministry of reconciliation ... we are therefore ambassadors, imploring you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:14-20). • We will live with Christ, the Father, the Spirit, and all believers throughout eternity, where sin has been taken care of and can no longer impact our lives. It will be better than in the Garden of Eden before sin, because in eternity we will have not have the capacity to sin. As the Reformers described it, in our corruptible bodies on this earth we are “not able not to sin,” but in our incorruptible bodies throughout eternity we will “not be able to sin”; “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and first earth had passed away ... And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them ... He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’ ... Nothing impure will ever enter it, only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev 21:1,3-4,27) The Apostle Paul wrote, “our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). But I like how the hymn-writer expressed it: God has not promised skies always blue, flower-strewn pathways all our lives through; God has not promised sun without rain, joy without sorrow, peace without pain. God has not promised we will not know, toil and temptation, trouble or woe; He has not told us we will not bear, many a burden, many a care. But God has promised strength for the day, rest for the labor, light for the way. Grace for the trials, help from above, unfailing sympathy, undying love! Is it worth it to follow Christ – to give up that which we can’t keep, those temporary things on earth that cannot really satisfy anyway – for that which we cannot lose, eternal things that satisfy the soul? Is it worth the cost? Absolutely. It is worth it now ... and it is worth it for eternity! Amen.