Beware of the Comfort Zone

What is the goal of life? To accumulate the most money. This is what one can learn from reading the obituary of Reuben Klamer, the creator of the board game, “The game of Life,” who died September 14, 2021, at the age of 99.

When the game was introduced in 1960, the purpose was to earn the most wealth. The way you got there was simple enough—by going to college, getting a job, buying insurance, saving for retirement. That was “indicative of what sold in that era,” a former Hasbro VP said.

Over time, designers realized that the game didn’t reflect consumers’ changing views of #lifegoals. So they gave it a big update in 2007, allowing players to score points for virtuous deeds like saving an endangered species, opening a health-food chain, and recycling. And instead of starting the game at point A and finishing at point Z, there is no fixed path: You decide how you want to spend your time.

One question that popped up is: If the popular view of what matters in life changed so much in less than 50 years, who’s to say it won’t shift again in the next 50? How will you win life in 2057?

But as Jill Lepore wrote in The New Yorker, the redesign teams always had a hard time addressing the fundamental criticism of the game — that the only way to reward a player for virtuous acts was with money: “Save an Endangered Species: Collect $200,000. Solution to Pollution: $250,000. Open Health-Food Chain: $100,000.”

And so, the company’s 2007 overhaul, the Game of Life: Twists & Turns, was almost existential. Instead of putting players on a fixed path, it provided multiple ways to start out in life — but nowhere to finish. “This is actually the game’s selling point; it has no goal,” Ms. Lepore wrote. “Life is … aimless.”

What is the meaning of life? This is the question that many people still struggle with today. Many find all the answers they try are truly does not satisfy the deepest longing for significance.

Every good James bond movie starts with a self destructing message that gives the scope of the mission and the final words if you should choose to accept it.

This is Jesus laying out the requirements for life as a disciple of Christ if you should so choose to accept it.

Matthew 16:24–28 ESV

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Note: All three of the synoptic gospel writers almost wrote verbatim word for word the same thing that Jesus instructed them concerning following Him.

There are three things that take place back to back with the call to take up their cross and follow Jesus.

(1). Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ

Jesus asks the question who do people say that I am? followed by the more important question; Who do you say that I am? Peter you are the Christ the son of the living God. (following this Jesus declared that Peter would be the rock on which He would build his Church and which the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

(2). Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

Jesus foretells his death and resurrection at which time Peter took him aside and rebuked Him for saying such a thing. (Jesus responds by calling him Satan and accusing him of not setting his mind on things above. A few moments early Jesus had called Peter a rock. Now he calls him a different kind of “rock,” a skandalon (“a stumbling block”).

(3). The Transfiguration

Following the call to take up their cross Jesus took Peter James and John with him to the mountains where he was transfigured and Moses and Elijah appeared talking to him. (Peter so overwhelmed by the sight that he suggested that he make a tent for each of them to commemorate this experience, about that time God spoke and commanded them to listen to what Jesus was telling them to do.

Jesus uses three occasions to remind His disciples of who He is and the mission that is ahead for them to complete if they should choose to accept it.

1st you have the Kingdom of the Church revealed. The Church that Jesus is going to build is through us, and this Church will not be destroyed, illusions to the temple in Jerusalem that would eventually fall. Jesus is also declaring to his disciples that He is handing over the keys to the Kingdom which will come through His death.

2nd you have the price of the kingdom revealed. Jesus chose this time to clearly point to the cost for securing the kingdom of heaven. The Cross like for Judas will always appear foolish to those who are perishing. Peters rebuke of Jesus shows how little he truly understood about the kind of Messiahship Jesus had in mind.

3rd you have the glory of the kingdom revealed. six days after Jesus had given the qualifications for discipleship He chose to reveal His glory by allowing three of His closest followers to have a look into His glory. Peter again, is still trying to establish His Kingdom here on earth, failing to see the eternal Kingdom principle.

Note: It is interesting that twice in these three events Jesus commands the disciples to remain silent about who He really was until after the resurrection. Why would Jesus ask for their silence.

Now in between all of this Kingdom revelation you have the requirements of the Kingdom.

The Comfort zone is the place that many of us find ourselves living on a regular basis.

The comfort zone is the place where self-denial rarely finds its footing; doing the will of God seems unreasonable; and the daily reality of counting the cost to follow Jesus rarely if ever crosses our mind.

What is Discipleship?

Everyone is a disciple of something or someone. Discipleship is the process of training people incrementally in some discipline or way of life.

True discipleship is a long term investment. It takes allot of time, energy, and commitment and is not for the faint of heart. The call for all believers is to go and make disciples of all nations. If I asked you this morning how many of you have made one disciple in your spiritual lifetime I wonder how many hands would go up.

The reality is that very few Christians ever follow the command to go and make disciples. We love coming and being taught and discipled but, the idea of making disciples scares us. Why? I believe that for many of us it is because we have never truly taken up our cross to follow Jesus in the first place. We have never truly accepted the mission of the Cross.

BIG IDEA: Embrace the uncomfortable and learn to live for the Incorruptible.

1 Peter 1:23 ESV

23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

1. Are you living for the comfort of self or are you willing to be uncomfortable at the foot of the cross?

The cost of discipleship involves daily denial of self-interests and desires.

“And they crucified him… And sitting down they watched him there” (Matthew 27:35-36). Like those Roman soldiers, many of us merely lapse into inaction. We sit back around Easter and watch the crucifixion played out over, and over again.

But the cross was never meant to be a spectacle for us to sit and view, it is infinitely more than a showcase, an exhibit to arouse our curiosity. It is a clear and present call to action, commitment, and discipleship.

Following Jesus meant conflict with ease and comfort which places us at conflict with ourselves.

Self:

The concept of self is one of the most puzzling of all concepts. The self is in one respect the most familiar of all entities; I am constantly aware of my self. Yet the self is also in some way the most deeply mysterious and profound of all entities with which humans deal with on a daily basis.

If we are going to open up selfhood we must first reflect on the way that humans use the word “I”. When I say I, normally I am referring to a certain human person, Pastor Mark. However, the word I cannot be replaced by the name or other identifying label. Even if I were to get amnesia and forget my name, and not longer knew who I was, I would still in one sense know what I would be referring to by I. I would still be referring to myself. I am a self, a being who can say I but also can do so in this special way. I can refer to myself as the self that I am conscious of being and that I cannot be mistaken in thinking myself to be, however mistaken my other beliefs about the self may be.

Many philosophers have argued that the concept of self also seems essential to understanding human mental abilities, particularly our cognitive functions of knowing and being known.

*The enemy of discipleship is OURSELVES

“How can a man say that he believes in Christ, who does not do what Christ commands him to do.”

- Cyprian of Carthage

Note: I think this text is a great marker to show the difference between whether someone is a mature Christian or still in infancy as a believer.

INDICATIONS OF INFANCY

More concerned with self than service (most Christians are spectators rather than participants)

More concerned with argument than action. (we would rather complain about what the Church is not doing)

Looking to man rather than to God. (We find ourselves naval gazing instead of upward gazing)

The Mature Christian is a Believer with a mission

INDICATIONS OF MATURITY

More concerned with service than self (looks for way’s to serve the Church and other people without regard for what is it going to cost me.)

More concerned with action not argument (does not get tied up in the petty needless arguments but takes action to make disciples of all nations.

Looks to God rather than Man (See’s his or her life not as their own, and realizes that ultimate knowledge belongs to God. As we talked about last night we give God His fruit back).

SELF DENIAL: Means not living for oneself

Romans 14:7 ESV

7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.

*The Ally of Discipleship is the Lose of Self

Whoever (not just the Apostles) would save his life - Will lose it!

Whoever looses His life from my sake - Will find it.

Note: Jesus is giving the formula for real life, the true life that He is dying to secure for us. So, what happens when the formula for real life is implemented. So, I believe that two things happen when we learn the principle of loosing our life and finding it again.

(1) Our interests change

We were once consumed by our own interests and agendas. We are now consumed by His interests and Agendas. (What is on God’s playbook, How has he drawn up each day.)

Ephesians 2:3 ESV

3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

(2) Our motivations change

We were once motivated by the flesh. We are now motivated by the Cross. (To take up our Cross and follow Jesus is a complete shift in our identity. We are now motivated by what Christ did on the cross and identifying with the the selfless act on the cross moves us to action.)

THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP MUST BE CAREFULLY CONSIDERED

We do not first enter discipleship or the Christian life without counting the cost.

Luke 14:28–32 ESV

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.

Note: You will notice right before this text in Luke Jesus states that if anyone comes to him and does not hate his mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot become my disciples. Whoever does not bear his own cross cannot be my disciple.

Following Jesus will always cost you something. There has never been a follower of Christ who it has not been a costly proposition to follow Jesus. Jesus is telling his disciples that the Journey they will be following Christ in has been carefully calculated and laid out for them to follow. You cannot truly claim to be a follower of Jesus and not count the cost.

When does this costly discipleship begin, well, it begins as the point you are reborn, the point of Salvation. However, for most Christians it is a process over a life time lived out for the Kingdom of God. For example a 7 or 8 year old does not fully comprehend the cost of discipleship at such a young age, however, as Christians grow in their faith and in maturity counting the cost increases and becomes more real.

Galatians 2:20 ESV

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Union with Christ: also called identification with Christ. This is a phrase that describes the whole scope of salvation in which believers participate in and receive the benefits of Christ’s life, death, resurrection, ascension, and glorification.

2 Timothy 2:12 tells us that if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us.....

2. Are you living for the comfort of life or are you willing to be uncomfortable living a life of Sacrifice?

The cost of discipleship involves total commitment to the will of God.

Years ago, I read an old fairy tale about a wicked witch who lived in a remote cottage in the deep forest. When travelers came through looking for lodging, she offered them a meal and a bed. It was the most wonderfully comfortable bed any of them had ever felt. But it was a bed full of deep magic, and if you were asleep in it when the sun came up you would turn to stone. Then you became a figure in the witch’s statuary, trapped until the end of time. The witch forced a young girl to serve her, and though she had no power to resist the witch, the girl had become more and more filled with pity for her victims.

One day a young man came looking for bed and board and was taken in. The servant girl could not bear to see him turned to stone. So she threw sticks, stones, and thistles into his bed. It made the bed horribly uncomfortable. Every time he turned he felt a new painful object under him. Though he cast each one out, there was always a new one to dig into his flesh. He slept only fitfully and rose feeling weary and worn, long before dawn. As he walked out the front door, the servant girl met him, and he berated her cruelly. “How could you give a traveler such a terrible bed full of sticks and stones?” He cried and went on his way. “Ah,” she said under her breath, “the misery you know now is nothing like the infinitely greater misery a comfortable sleep would have brought upon you! Those were my sticks and stones of love.”

God puts sticks and stones of love in our beds to wake us up, to bring us to rely on him, lest the end of history or of life overtake us without the Lord in our heart, and we be turned to stone.

*Total commitment living a life of sacrifice requires TOTAL SURRENDER.

“For of what profit or good is it if someone gains the whole world yet gives up his very soul? Or what would someone give in return for their soul.”

When you come to God for pardon and salvation, come with all you have to lay all at His feet. Come with your body, to offer it as a living sacrifice upon His altar. Come with your soul and all its powers, and yield them in willing consecration to your God and Savior. Come, bring them all along—everything, body, soul, intellect, imagination, acquirements—all, without reserve.

*Total commitment living a life of sacrifice means resisting the SECURITY OF THE WORLD.

PRINCIPLE: Preoccupation with the mundane and earthly can keep us from understanding what God is trying to teach us.

Note: We must be careful that we do not become numb to the truth of God. We can hear, “Follow Me,” but do we really hear what Jesus is saying. The next breath we may be saying, well, I’m just burned out on serving people and the Church, or I will get serious about God and his call latter, or I have Salvation that should be good enough.

The Radical Cost to Following Jesus

Luke 9:56-62

On one occasion Jesus and his disciples were on their way to another village. As they were going along the road a man approached him and said, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus response may have seemed strange, “foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay His head.”

They went a little further down the road and Jesus said to another man, “follow me.” The man responded by asking Jesus to allow him to first go and bury his father who had died. Now this seemed like a reasonable request, but Jesus said to him, “let the dead bury their own dead, but for you, go and tell people about the coming Kingdom of God.

They went a little further and another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first allow me to go and say good-buy to those at home.” Jesus again replied with what appeared to be a harsh statement, “not one after putting his hand to the plow looks back and is then fit for the Kingdom.

God is always doing more than one thing in everything he does. Jesus is having a myriad of strange encounters along the road. One thing we must keep in mind is that Jesus is headed to Jerusalem, “He set His face to go to Jerusalem.” Jesus says, “Follow Me,” and says it in the context of going to Jerusalem and having been rejected in Samaria for going to Jerusalem, he is clearly saying two things, not just one thing. He is saying “Follow Me.” And he is saying “follow me.”

There is:

There is me, and there is my mission.

There is a person and there is a path.

The mission has always been to go and make disciples of all nations

Jesus was teaching that the road to discipleship goes through the cross. He was teaching that the Calvary road through Jerusalem will be a very hard road, and will require sacrifices of home and family. And He was testing to see if he himself was the greatest treasure in their lives.

They said with their lips “I will follow you.” And Jesus said “Really? You love me, you treasure me that much? Here’s what it will cost.” So he is testing how much they treasure the “you” in “I will follow you,” by telling them what the “follow” will cost.

Don’t mistake what Jesus is saying, he is not saying it’s wrong to have a house or a bed to sleep in, he is not saying it’s wrong to go to your fathers funeral, he is not saying that one battle with fear that you might have made a mistake in going to the mission field will make you unfit for future service in the kingdom.

Jesus words to the rich young ruler and Zacheus. To the rich young ruler Jesus tells him that it will cost him all of his possessions. But when Jesus came into the house of Zacchaeus, the little tax collector said, “Lord, the half (not 100%) of what I have I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus responded with joy: “Today salvation has come to your house.”

The point is that Jesus knows your idols. He know what you love most. He looks everyone of us in the face this morning and see’s right to our heart. “Follow Me,” is the goal. Being with Jesus is the goal. It will not be easy. But it will be so, so, good. There will be unbelievable joy even in the continued sorrow. Because He will be with us.

*Total Commitment to living a life of Sacrifice means putting His priority first.

THIS IS THE TREASURE TEST

“If anyone comes after me.” Will you “Follow Me.” Notice that Jesus is not assuming that everyone will follow Him.

The problem is that many of us have misplaced priorities. Jesus disciples definitely had misplaced priorities at times in their lives.

Einstein on Priorities A student once asked Albert Einstein, "Dr. Einstein, how many feet are there in a mile?" To the utter astonishment of the student, Einstein replied, "I don't know."

The student was sure the great professor was joking. Surely Einstein would know a simple fact that every schoolchild is required to memorize. But Einstein wasn't joking. When the student pressed for an explanation for this hiatus in Einstein's knowledge, he declared, "I make it a rule not to clutter my mind with simple information that I can find in a book in five minutes."

Albert Einstein was not interested in trivial data. His passion was to explore the deep things of the universe. His passion for mathematical and physical truth made him a pivotal fixture in modern world history.

I think many times the problem with our misplaced priorities is that we are focused on trivial things that really do not even show up on God’s priority list.

3. Are you living for the comfort of things or are you willing to be uncomfortable living for Eternity?

The cost of discipleship involves following Him to Victory wherever that road leads.

All of the apostles were insulted by the enemies of their master. They were called to seal their doctrines and believes with their own blood and nobly did they bear the trial.

Matthew suffered martyrdom by being slain by a sword at a distant city of Ethiopia.

Mark expired at Alexandria, after being cruelly dragged through the streets of that city.

Luke was hanged upon an olive tree in the classic land of Greece.

John was put in a caldron of boiling oil, but escaped death in a miraculous manner, and was afterward banished to Patmos.

Peter was crucified at Rom with his head downward.

James, the Greater, was beheaded at Jerusalem

James, the less, was thrown from a lofty pinnacle of the temple, and then beaten to death with a fuller’s club.

Bartholomew was flayed alive.

Andrew was bound to a cross, where he preached to his persecutors until he died.

Thomas was run through the body with a lance at Coromandel in the East Indies.

Jude was shot to death with arrows.

Mattathias was first stoned and then beheaded.

Barnabas of the Gentiles was stoned to death at Salonica.

Paul, after various tortures and persecutions, was at length beheaded at Rome by the Emperor Nero.

Many would save themselves much sorrow and trouble if they would only remember the question - “What does it cost.” J.C. Ryle.

In a World of opposition, true disciples must realize that submission to the king means following him to victory - through hardship and suffering.

PRINCIPLE: Disciples of Christ must be prepared to follow Him everywhere He has gone - including the “cross.”

Jesus came to recover eternity

Hurry means we gather impressions but have no experiences, that we collect acquaintances but make no friends, that we attend meetings but experience no encounters. We must recover eternity if we are to find time, and eternity is what Jesus came to restore. For without it, there can be no clarity of life.

*We must follow God’s thinking over human thinking.

We know that human thinking is flawed however, is it possible to be doing good things for the Kingdom and still miss what it means to be a disciple of Christ. The majority of Christians that I have met appear to be bidding their time here on earth waiting for eternity.

Did you miss what Jesus said, if you are not willing to take up your cross and follow him you cannot even claim to be a follower of Christ. Following Jesus is not a merely a mental gymnastic routine that we go through every Sunday. It’s like any good gymnast. We know the routine, many of us have it down by heart. Many of us even know the right language to use in order to throw others off the sent that we are not genuine cross bearing followers of Christ.

God’s way if you want to follow me you must learn to deny yourself ----- the worlds thinking say’s exalt yourself, do whatever you can to make yourself look bigger and better in the worlds eyes.

God’s way of thinking say’s discipleship begins with taking up your cross and following ----- the worlds thinking say’s sacrifice is relative to what is it going to cost me and how does it affect my current situation.

God’s way of thinking say’s whoever wants to save his life must first lose it ----- the worlds thinking say’s the present life is all that matters, find your greatest pleasure in living for this life and what it has to offer.

God’s way of thinking say’s what good is it if you have all of this stuff and in the end loses his soul ----- the worlds thinking say’s you should get yours now while you can because there is nothing else worth living for.

*We must invest our lives in the eternal values and principles of God.

WHAT THINGS IN THIS WORLD HAVE ETERNAL VALUE

Eternal Value

The only things of eternal value are those that are eternal. Life in this world is temporal, not eternal, and therefore, the only part of life that has eternal value is that which lasts through eternity.

The most important thing in this world that has true eternal value is our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Everyone is going to live somewhere for all eternity, Christians and non-Christians alike.

Jesus warns us against storing up for ourselves earthly treasures that can be destroyed or stolen.

There is not eternal value in living our lives for ourselves, looking to get out of life all that we can, as the world system would have us believe. Yet there is incredible eternal value in what we do with our lives.

We must invest our lives in the eternal values and purposes of God now!

How we Glimpse Eternity

Think about the special spiritual moments you have experienced over your life.

Have you ever had a sudden sense that you were moving on the edge of eternity, briefly yet truly breaking the seal, knowing that moment you were exactly where you were supposed to be, where you belonged, taking part in what the Universe must be about?

That was a glimpse of Eternity.

CONCLUSION

We live in a world of opposition and complacency, true disciples of Christ must realize that submission to the king means following him to eventual victory - through hardship and suffering.

Time and Eternity It is precisely because of the eternity outside time that everything in time becomes valuable and important and meaningful. Therefore, Christianity ... makes it of urgent importance that everything we do here (whether individually or as a society) should be rightly related to what we eternally are. "Eternal life" is the sole sanction for the values of this life.

The Eternal Souls All Around Us About every ten seconds, on average about 26 people die. By extrapolating from various statistics, including death rates and world populations and religious affiliations, seminary professor Dr. Ron Blue estimates that of these 26 recently deceased persons …

Two were Buddhists

Four were Hindus

Six were Muslims

Seven were Christians (of any type or commitment level)

Seven were "Other," including atheist, agnostic, and animist

At the beginning of the movie Gladiator, the Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russel Crowe) prepares to go to battle against the Barbarian Germanic tribe. Just prior to ordering the charge, he encourages his troops. Sitting atop his horse, he looks out over his Calvary and yells, “What we do in life echoes in eternity.”

Note: What is your life echoing in Eternity today?

“Our text ends this morning with the return of the conquering king of kings and Lord of Lords, he is coming to repay according to what each of you has done with Eternity.”

PERSONAL CHALLENGE

Are you living for the comfort of self or are you willing to be uncomfortable at the foot of the cross.

Are you living for the comfort of life or are you willing to be uncomfortable living a life of Sacrifice.

Are you living for the comfort of things or are you willing to be uncomfortable living for Eternity.

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