A Call To Adventure

A Call to Adventure

Matthew 19:16-30

The Call of Christianity

Introduction: The call of Christianity is a call to adventure. Adventure is defined as an exciting and uncertain undertaking attended by risk and peril, offering a remarkable experience and/or reward. Quite often an adventure involves confrontation and conflict calling for the making of difficult and hard choices and commitments. The adventure of living the Christian life, of being a disciple, is no different.

I. The Adventure of Discipleship begins with making a choice - to follow Christ

A. Matthew 19:21 “Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.”

B. Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

C. One of the most colorful characters in baseball is Yogi Berra, the legendary former catcher for the New York Yankees. Yogi is as famous for his use of words as he was for his use of a bat and glove. He was a slashing hitter who has slashed up the English language more than once. One of the great "Yogisms" is this piece of timeless advice: "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." There is actually a solid truth behind that puzzling piece of wisdom from old Yogi. When we come to a fork in the road of life, we have to go one way or the other. We can't just stand there scratching our heads forever, turn back and pretend the choice doesn't exist, or sit down and wait for someone else to come along and make the choice for us. - copied

D. Joshua 24:15 “... choose you this day whom ye will serve...”

E. Deuteronomy 30:19 “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, [that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live”

II. Conflict is inevitable when traveling the adventurous road of discipleship

A. When you choose the narrow pass conflict invariably follows.

B. Sometimes the conflict is from Family - Matthew 10:32-37 “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes [shall be] they of his own household. He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me.”

C. Sometimes the conflict is from the World - 2 Timothy 3:12 “Yes, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”

• Christ said, “"If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.”

• Denton Lotz, leader of the Baptist World Alliance, related this story at the 1999 Arkansas Baptist State Convention: A Romanian woman accepted Christ as her Savior and was immediately transformed by the unbelievable LOVE of God. She began going into restaurants and other public places and simply declaring to all who could hear, "Jesus loves you!" She came to a railroad station and shared her message, "Jesus loves you!" with two men who were drunk. Immediately one of the men slapped her across the face. She looked at him and declared, "In the name of Jesus, I forgive you." Again he slapped her, and again she said, "In the name of Jesus, I forgive you." As the men continued to beat her, she continued to testify to the love and forgiveness of Jesus. Finally they left her, nearly dead, where she was found by fellow believers. A year later, she had recovered. One day she sat outside the front door of her home, and a passerby noticed her and approached her. He said to her, "I am a believer." In order to test his sincerity (she was fearful that he might have been trying to trick her), she said, "Get down on your knees right there and praise God out loud." He did so. So she invited him in. He said, "Don't you know who I am? I am the man who beat you up. Every time I would hit you, you would say, 'In the name of Jesus, I forgive you.' Because of your testimony to me, I could not help but turn to Jesus."