Passionately Committed To Jesus Christ

Intro:

Good morning Parkside!!! It is so good to be back together again. Well lets get right to it. Today we are launching a new series: Disciple: Being and Making Followers of Christ. Last week I talked about the importance of knowing where we are going individually and corporately. I discussed the vision and mission of our church: Cultivating Disciples. It would seem logical that if our mission is to cultivate disciples that each of us who attends here would know what one was. I introduced what I believe to be 10 core qualities of a disciple. Over the next 10 weeks we will be examining these qualities. Would you turn in your bibles to Luke 14:25-33.

I want to take a few moments to look at the difference between a believer and a disciple.

Believer vs. Disciple:

BELIEVER: Believes in Jesus as Savior but lives to please themselves DISCIPLE: Believes in Jesus as Lord and lives to please God

BELIEVER: Exalts their opinions, feelings and thoughts above the Word of God DISCIPLE: Exalts the Word of God above their opinions, feelings and thoughts

BELIEVER: Thinks of church as a place they go to hear what God’s Word says DISCIPLE: Thinks of church as a place they learn to do what God’s Word says

BELIEVER: Are accountable only to themselves DISCIPLE: Are accountable to everyone

BELIEVER: Serves God based on convenience DISCIPLE: Serves God based on conviction

BELIEVER: Seeks to know God through religion DISCIPLE: Seeks to know God through relationship

BELIEVER: Follows God as long as everything is going well DISCIPLE: Follows God regardless of the circumstances

BELIEVER: Chooses their own path and asks God to bless it DISCIPLE: Asks God to choose the path and follows His direction

BELIEVER: Are full of pride if they’re doing well and self-pity if they’re not DISCIPLE: Are full of gratitude because God’s love never fails

BELIEVER: Follows the example of the world that seeks to go higher DISCIPLE: Follows the example of Jesus that seeks to go lower

If you were asked this morning what it meant to be passionately committed to Jesus, how would you answer? My hope is that when we leave this morning that we will be equipped to confidently answer that question.

Luke 14:25–33 NIV

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

Cost of Discipleship

If we are desiring to be passionately committed to Jesus, we must understand what He is talking about here in our portion of Scripture. He is talking about the cost of being his disciple, about the cost of being passionately committed to Him.

Verse 26- If anyone comes to me and does not hate father, mother, wife, children, brother, sisters and even their own life cannot be my disciple. It would have been awesome to be there and see the reaction of the crowd that had gathered. Can you imagine the whispering that began. Is Jesus really suggesting we should hate our family even ourselves? Many Christians struggle even today with this portion of Scripture. The enemy tries to use the trick he used against Adam and Eve against us today. The enemy tells us Jesus is contradicting God’s Word by telling us to hate others and ourselves. Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus is using a hyperbole. He is contrasting something we understand to help us understand it in the Kingdom of God. If we are to be passionately committed to Jesus we will love him so deeply that when we compare our relationship to our other human relationships it would appear as hate. The reality is until we are passionately in love with Jesus we can not truly love other people or even ourselves for that matter.

BELIEVER: Follows God as long as everything is going well DISCIPLE: Follows God regardless of the circumstances

BELIEVER: Chooses their own path and asks God to bless it DISCIPLE: Asks God to choose the path and follows His direction

We have to be passionately committed to Jesus to live out our life as a disciple and not just as a believer.

To be passionately committed to Jesus you must count the cost, it will cost you everything, but if you are willing to follow Him you will gain everything.

Whatever It Takes

A passionately committed disciple does whatever it takes and sticks with it. This will require sacrifice.

Marriage to Krista

Difference between successful marriages and failed marriages (Commitment)

We see this kind of commitment in the life of Paul. (Philippians 4:12.)

Philippians 4:12 NIV

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Paul remains commited whether times are great or they are bad. He knows that God will give him strength to get through. Paul knows this because he is passionately commited to Jesus.

Some might say well that’s Paul he was an apostle, he was God’s chosen.

The Good News so are we.

Take Stephen for example. (Acts 6.) The 12 chose Stephen along with 6 other men to serve tables. It would be fair to say Stephen was a pretty average man. But he was more than average because he was passionately commited to Jesus. So much so that he became the first martyr for Jesus. He was stoned to death for his commitment to Jesus.

Friends this is what we are called to. Our faith calls us to do whatever it takes and stick with it to follow Jesus.

Passionately Committed

How does a person who has experienced salvation become a passionately committed disciple of Jesus? We see this in the process of a couple falling in love and marrying each other.

Meeting each other- The twinkle of an eye- the attraction

Dating (wooing the girl) foolish things a young man does to let the girl know that he is into her.

Engagement- the couple has determined that they want to marry and are committed to each other

Marriage- the culmination of falling in love and commitment to each other.

This is what happens in our relationship with Jesus. We meet Jesus and experience Salvation. Even before this moment Jesus is passionately committed to us and is wooing us. There are the moments in the relationship with Jesus that we are awestruck with wonder and amazement. Jesus is desiring that we wouldn’t just have these moments of amazement and wonderment, then shelf him. He is desiring that these moments would lead us to be passionately committed to Him.

There have been many marriages where one partner is passionately committed and one is not. There is nothing pretty or attractive of that type of marriage.

But the marriage where both partners are passionately committed, those marriages are spectacular to be a witness of.

We see this type of relationship with Paul and Jesus, with Peter and Jesus, with John and Jesus. And then many Christians today, if being honest, would say well thats the disciples thats not me, or they might say I’m not called to spectacular. But the truth is we are all called to a spectacular relationship with Jesus. These relationships might not all look the same, but they all have the same ingredient: Passionate Commitment.

Let me ask each of us a question this morning: Are you passionately committed to Jesus?

Chew on that question of the course of the next several days.

What would this community look like if each of us were passionately committed to Jesus?

See when we are passionately committed to Jesus, it doesn’t matter the cost or the amount of sacrifice, we would be more than willing to do whatever it takes and stick with, because when we are passionately committed sacrifice and willingness come naturally.

This morning I challenge each of us to be passionately committed disciples of Jesus.