Sacrifice

Sacrifice What it means to follow Jesus

Discussion

1.When you hear the word sacrifice what comes to your mind?

2.When have you seen someone sacrifice?

3.When have you had to sacrifice?

4.How were you impacted by sacrifice?

So I was watching this video on on a pastor in the Middle East who is in charge of discipleship.

In this video he was talking about the sacrifices of the Christians in the Middle East.

And it got me thinking about the idea of sacrifice in the passage that came to my mind.

Luke 9:57–62 (ESV)

57 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.”

In this passage Jesus is walking and as he’s walking he encounters three different.

Each person begins that the station person represents in my estimation from going ships in Jesus.

1. What comforts are keeping us from Jesus.

Luke 9:57–58 (ESV)

57 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.”

when Jesus made this statement he was making it very clear that following Jesus is not a guarantee of comfort. See the scribe was making a hasty commitment Saying “that he would follow Jesus wherever he goes” And Jesus is reminding him That Not even the basic comforts of a permanent residency Were guarantee for this man.

Jesus does not guarantee the basic comfort of having a place to lay her head.

He tells us that God will provide our needs but he doesn’t guarantee our comfort.

Matthew 6:25 (ESV)

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

But so often in our Americanized version of Christianity We have turned comfort into a need. Jesus never promises that That is our Cultural spin On Christianity.

2. What commitments are keeping you from Jesus?

The next thing we see Is Jesus physically calling someone. Now The only people we see in the Bible Jesus calling Are the disciples that follow Other than this man Every single one of the disciples answered the call except for this man.

And why was this man hesitant two Follow Jesus.

Luke 9:59–60 (ESV)

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.”

Now for a long time I always thought that this was a very cruel statement by Jesus To tell this man that he Couldn’t even go Barry his father.

But this man’s father is not dead Actually He is very much alive The Taliban says that this man Is to stay with his father until he dies And then he has to stay An extra year And say a special prayer before he’s able to get his inheritance. This goes beyond Honoring your father and mother His real motivation is He wants his money.

“The great enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but the good which is not good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best.”

― Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Satan’s goal is always to get us To focus on anything That is Opposite of doing it within God’s will.

That’s why he doesn’t care if we do good or bad things as long as we do them without God.

Many of us never prayed about the decisions that we want to make We just had right long into them Without asking is this really what God wants for me.

3. What loyalties are keeping us From following Jesus.

Luke 9:61–62 (ESV)

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.”

Now there’s A Third man Who also says I want to Follow you Jesus. But he first needs to go back And Say goodbye to his family which seems like a very reasonable thing But Jesus knows something about this man that he doesn’t even perceive about himself.This man’s loyalty to his family Will Keep him From following Jesus.

Jesus knows this man is going to be too easily distracted To keep with his commitment.

Jesus references a story in the Bible where another man Had a call placed on his life.

1 Kings 19:19–21 ESV

19 So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him. 20 And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” 21 And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him.

What are the Loyalties In the things in your life that are keeping you From interacting with people on an everyday basis And letting them know about the hope that is in you do we have God’s hope within us.

I get it I have

severe family trauma in my life

I’ve been adopted

I’ve had people say crazy things to me

All these things that were against me

And I struggle with them as much as anyone But when it comes down to it I have to ask myself This question

“Do I believe this word to be true and worth following. Are my loyalties misplaced and temporary things”