All In

All In

Setting

Now the setting of our verses here are right after Peter, the disciple of Jesus, acknowledged that Jesus is the Christ. Just like we talked about yesterday. Jesus is the Christ, Christ is not his last name like mine is Taylor. Christ means messiah. The chosen one by God who would pay the payment for our sins and fix our brokenness.

So Peter says in verse 29. ‘You are the Christ.’

In verse 31, Jesus starts teaching His disciples about what the Son of Man must do. Jesus knows the road he is on, remember that, Jesus knew the cost and pain that was coming and he chose to keep going for you and for me.

So he tells them that He must die and then in three days he will rise again. The disciples don’t understand this at all. Peter actually takes Jesus aside and rebukes Him. He gives Jesus a telling off! Peter the guy who just acknowledged that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of man. Just because you are a Christian doesn’t mean that you understand everything. We all are walking the same journey of faith and we all make mistakes.

So Jesus rebukes Peter saying, ‘Get behind me Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but the things of man.’ This is a crazy heavy thing to say. Jesus calls Peter Satan. Now we know that Peter wasn’t Satan, but the things that Peter rebuked Him with were things that were not focused on God’s plan of redemption. This mindset of the enemy of God is what Jesus confronts here.

In this moment we come to the verses where we find ourselves this morning. After this tense dialogue of how far Jesus is going to follow the will of God the Father for the forgiveness of our sins. The hardship that Jesus would endure and at this moment still had to face.

What Belief Changes

And calling the crowd to Him with the disciples, He said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the sake of the gospel’s will save it.

Jesus doesn’t beat around the bush about the reality of what the world thinks about Him and those who believe in Him. Believing in Him and follow Him are the same thing.

Your beliefs are at the core of you. Everything that you life for and want to do is based upon the beliefs that you hold in your heart. So the truth is you change your beliefs; you change your life.

Believing in Jesus is more than just checking a box or signing a piece of paper. Choosing to admit that you are a sinner and that you need a saviour is a huge humbling of oneself. Believing in the name of Jesus is the placing of your faith in Him. That is your saviour and your king. You are not the master of your life, He is!

This is what Jesus is saying here in verse 34, “If anyone would come and follow after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it.” Jesus died on the cross to save you from your sin and to change you. When you believe in Jesus for your eternal destination this excites you because he is not looking at you as a simple check mark or a number.

The apostle Paul, in , says For me, to live is Christ to die is gain. His whole life was about Jesus because Jesus died for him on the cross and forgave his sin so that he could have a reconciliation with God. He could now have a relationship with God.

Being a Christian is Being a Disciple of Jesus

A pastor once preached about being a disciple of Jesus. A disciple is one who follows a teacher or individual. In this case we are talking about following Jesus. The man preached about the cost to follow Jesus, how it is not easy and the world will not like that you are walking in Christ. A lady came up to the pastor afterwards and said, “I believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of my sin. And I know that when I die I will go to heaven to be with Him. But I do not want to be a disciple, I like the way my life is, I don’t want to change.”

This lady had this mindset that you can just add Jesus to your life and stay the exact same. She had this belief that you could be a Christian but not a follower of Jesus. The bible however doesn’t make any allowance for half hearted Christians, some people who believe just a bit. You either believe in Jesus or you don’t. Remember, that belief changes everything.

The enemy of God and the world wants Christians to stop voicing their beliefs and just sit down. The bible always talks about standing up for Christ but Satan wants you to sit down. Being a Christian means that you follow Jesus.

“If anyone would come and follow after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it.”

There should be nothing in your life more valuable to you that Jesus. Everything in your life and heart revolves around what Jesus has done for you. There should be no sin that you value more than Him. Jesus should get you more excited and fired up than anything or anyone else. There should be nothing stopping you from following whole heartedly. In Jesus is life, in Jesus is forgiveness, in Jesus there is joy, in Him is everything that you need to live.

How’s your walk going? How’s your life going? Some of you here may be just giving a little bit to Jesus. Some of you may be giving nothing. How much does Jesus’ death on the cross effect your life?

There are three things that I want you to remember from this whole message today. These are about how, those who believe in Jesus, should live. Jesus is calling us to take up our cross and follow him.

Live All in Because Nothing Else Matters

The first point is, Live All in. That means nothing is held back from Jesus. Your whole life is for Jesus. Your days, conversations, habits, goals and desires are All In for Christ. Live All in because...I don’t want to say just do it. There are reasons that you should live all in for Christ. They are not because God said so. A man at camp yelled at me to do it. Or Your parents command you to. You must choose if you are going to make your faith your own. There are reasons for following Jesus deeper than it’s what you should do. Deeper than just morality, rule following is best. No. Live All in because Nothing else matters!

Look down at your bible. “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”

You can have everything in this world, all the money, all the best family members and relationships, you could have the greatest kids and spouse, you can have that dream job or the most memorable life experiences and go to the coolest places but we all have the same God to stand before when we die. We will all stand before God and if you don’t have Jesus it all means nothing because of our sin.

As we follow Christ we can be tempted to give a higher priority to other things. These things may be good it of themselves but remember, Nothing else matters more than Jesus in this side of eternity.

In , we get some more conversations with Jesus and people wanting to follow a bit.

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

I find most peoples institutional response to these words of Jesus are shock. “Did he just say that” I don’t have the time to go through these things, feel free to talk to your youth leaders if you have further questions. The point is, in life there are some very valid things that will tempt you to take your focus off of following Christ, there will be many none valid things that will too.

Examples:

Schooling takes a lot of time, so does working, maybe you find yourself not going to youth or church? The bible says that we need to get together, Don’t forsake meeting together, Christianity is not a solo thing. But many Christians don’t care enough about Jesus to get together with his people.

Maybe the opinions of others are so far greater to you than standing up for Jesus. “Everyone will think I’m a loser or crazy” Jesus understands! He was mocked upon a cross, He went there for you!

Perhaps you think that you will get serious about Jesus later in life. Two things about that. First, you never know when your end will come, no one does. Second, Nothing else will make your life worth living! There is no sin that is worth doing. When you choose to sin you choose to hurt yourself.

Live All in Because nothing else matters.

Imagine if Jesus didn’t die for you on the cross. My life would be hopeless and empty. Nothing would make anything else worth living for or doing. Without Jesus my life is worthless. This is all because of my sin. Praise God this is not the hopeless state of our lives.

The first thing I want you to remember, Live All in because nothing else maters.

Live Fully Devoted Because Nothing Else Satisfies

Second thing to remember is, Live Fully Devoted, as devoted as Jesus was to the cross for you, because Nothing Else will Satisfy. Remember the words in , “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”

People spend their whole lives seeking after money, wealth and things. Seeking fulfillment from relationships and popularity. The next thrill or success. The bible has taught me and also my own heart has proven, You will never be satisfied by anything of this earth. A guy called Dustin Kensrue wrote a song called it’s not enough. I’m going to read these lyrics because it makes the point clear.

Though all the wealth of men was mine to squander

And towers of ivory rose beneath my feet

Were palaces of pleasure mine to wander

The sum of it would leave me incomplete

Though every soul would hold my name in honor

And truest love was always by my side

My praises sung by grateful sons and daughters

My soul would never still be satisfied

It's not enough, it's not enough

I could walk the world forever

Till my shoes were filled with blood

It's not enough, it's not enough

Though I could live for all to lift them higher

Or spend the centuries seeking light within

Though I indulged my every dark desire

Exhausting every avenue of sin

It’s not enough, it’s not enough

I could right all wrongs, or ravage

Everything beneath the sun

It's not enough,

To make me whole

It's not enough, it never was

Awake my soul

It's not enough, it never was

I could walk the world forever

Till my shoes were filled with blood

It's not enough, it's not enough

Though all would bow to me

Till I could drink my fill of fear and love

It's not enough, it's not enough

This song is so chilling but so true, nothing can satisfy the longing that you have. We learned yesterday that God put that there. You were created to long for God and that’s why Jesus completes you. That is why Jesus makes so much sense. Only Chris can satisfy.

I know I will be dating myself but I’m sure you have heard of the phrase YOLO.It stands for you only live once just so you are aware. When I first heard this I was chilled by the thought of my life not being worth living. You only live once why waste it on things that won't last. I know that is not how it was meant to be understood but the truth of the bible makes it shout out “Don’t waste your life!”

In , Jesus talks about how he is the good shepherd and the door. He is the dorr, he protects us. In Jesus says, “The thief[lies of the enemy of God, things of the world] comes to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

You can not be satisfied sufficiently or eternally without Jesus. Nothing else satisfies. You will feel empty and sick if you indulge in your sin. If you plunge into pronograhy you will have to keep digging because your heart will always get callus and have to go back for more. Relationships and feeling can not produce fulfillment on a consistent basis. That is the second thing to remember, Live fully devoted because nothing else satisfies.

Live Surrendered Because Noone Else is Worth it All

The third and final thing that I want you to remember. Live surrendered, yielding to God’s way not your own, because Noone Else is worth it all.

, whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

Jesus is worth everything. He gave up everything on the cross so that you can have all of Him. There is nothing that Jesus is asking of you that he has not already given up Himself. At the end of this life the only thing that will matter is what you did with Jesus while you had breath in your lungs.

Live surrendered because no one else is worth it all.

There is no boyfriend that is worth giving your whole life to. There is no girlfriend that is worth leaving everything for. There is no career that will save you. There is no school that last a moment after eternity. All the good things in this life are nothing but a drop in a bucket compared to the greatness of Jesus Christ.

Decide: ‘For Me to Live is ______’

Verse 38 of . For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.

How would you fill in the blank. For me to Live is __________. Is it Christ? Do you live for your entertainment? Do you live for your boy or girlfriend? What is making your life worth living to you? Because the only thing that is worth everything is Jesus.

Live uncomfortably because if you are complacent you are not standing for Jesus Christ. This life is not about being comfortable and yet we can sacrifice everything to keep it that way. Someone text you saying that life has been crazy lately and what do you say back? ‘I hope things calm down and go back to normal.’ To follow Jesus is to accept that your comfort is never a priority.

Live Radically because the world needs us to be light of Jesus. The world doesn’t need another half hearted, lazy, unmoving and uncaring Christian. The needs radical Jesus followers. Individuals who don’t want to live for anything else but instead dedicate their lives to following Jesus and telling the world about the truth of Him.

-Close eyes and bow heads-

I want you to look at how you have been living since you met Jesus. What are you living for? Yourself? The things of this world? All of it will fade. What are you doing with the only thing that matters, Jesus? If you have been walking away from Him I want you to know, come back into his arms. There is love, there is forgiveness, there is grace.

If you believe in Jesus for your salvation. If he is the Lord of your life. There is never a sin that he has not paid for. All of the wrongdoing that we have done are doing and will do are on his cross.

Nothing else matters while you live on this side of eternity except what are you going to do with Jesus? So tonight I want to ask you to make a decision. For those of you who have decided to believe in Jesus as your Lord and saviour. I want to ask you to make a decision that you are going to live all in for Him. Nothing else will satisfy you. If you have already made that decision, I am so pumped that that's where you are.

If you want to make that decision today, that you are going to live all in for Christ, I want you to raise your hand or look at me. People are going to do something about it now.

I am going to pray for those who made the decision, those who rejected, those who are living that decision.