What Does It Mean To Live For Christ?
Luke 14:25-35
August 19, 2007
Sermon Series: Following Christ
Scripture Reading:
Bro.Emmanuel Nacido
Introduction:
A. The Ill-fated Sir John Franklin Arctic Expedition
1. Many writers describes the ill-fated Franklin’s expedition which ignores the harsh reality of the Artic
2. Exploration of the Arctic coastal mainland since Franklin’s last Arctic expedition had left less than 500 km of unexplored Arctic coastline.
3. A final Artic expedition had been decided. It was offered first to Sir James Ross. But he declined the offer of commanding another polar expedition (owing to a promise to his wife)
4. The offer was extended to Sir Franklin in which he also accepted.
5. In 1845 Sir John Franklin with some handpicked crew of 24 officers and 110 men sailed from England to find Northwest Passage across the high Canadian sea arctic to Pacific Ocean.
6. The Franklin Expedition sailed in two ships and had five years of food supplies, including 8,000 tins (in one-, two-, four-, six-, and eight lb. capacities) of meat, vegetables, and soup.
7. The ships were powered by steam engine with extra coal. In fact 12 days extra coal would be use for emergency for emergency.
8. But instead of coal according to maritime historian each ships made room for 12 hundred volume library; a hand organ, played fifty tunes; china wares for officers and men; cups and glasses; wine goblets; silver sterlings, etc.
9. This is to be a nice voyage in the arctic The officer’s silver sterling knives, pork and spoon was ornate victorian design, very heavy to handled
10. So, the ship sailed out in high spirit and funfare from England
11. Two months later, July 26, 1845, a British whaling captian saw the two ships and reported back to England that everyone in the ships is in high spirit. He was the last European ever to see any of these men alive.
12. After two years and no word from the expedition, Franklin’s wife urged the Admiralty to send a search party.
13. An expidition found two officrs in a boat on a sledge. They hauled the ships 65 miles. And with the skeletons were clocolates, guns and table silver wares.
14. Many miles South, therre was another scene, alone on the ice, a frozen officer, skeleton was in uniform.
15. So, a series of expedition have been launched to find to remains of Sir franklin and of his crew. Expedition reported that according to Inuit, the white men died of starvation.
16. Nevertheless, (blade) cut marks found on bones from some of the crew suggest that conditions became so dire that some resorted to cannibalism.[32] In the end, it was likely a combination of bad weather, disease, poisoned food, botulism, and starvation that killed the Franklin Party.
Source:
-from wikepedia, the free encyclopedia
- SIR JOHN FRANKLIN: His Life and Afterlife
(c) 1996 Russell A. Potter, Ph.D.
- http://www.victorianweb.org/history/franklin/franklin.html
B. Sir John Franklin and some of his men have persih because they had understimated the requirements of Arctic explorations. It ignorantly emagined pleasures cruise amidst of comfort of English Club and friends.
1. they had exchange in prepaeration their necessities for luxuries and ignorance of death.
C. Now, this tale of Franklin Expidition intersects with the direction of Luke account of this very point because the prowl of Jesus’ life is headed towards Jerusalem. And He is going to go through heavy seas.
D. Let’s read Luke 13:34
E. What an statement: I’m going there to die because this where I have to die.
F. So, a rough voyage intact for anyone who will follow Christ toward Jersualem.
G. But presently the crowd was everywhere. Crowds was following Jesus. They were amaze of His kingdom preaching. They are amaze of His power.
H. The spirit of the crowd is af if they are going to the festival party.
I. So, Jesus turn to the crowd and laid to them exactly of what is the cost of being a disciple. What does it mean to live for Him.
This afternoon, I want us to go back to Luke 14:25-35. The title of my message is, What Does It Mean To Live For Christ?
I. Place Christ above all others (v. 25) –
Jesus’ opening declaration is a shocker. Jesus’ intention is that for them to think about being a disciple. It is to the crowds of seekers, skeptics, and the “just looking around” that Jesus turns and outlines the stringent requirements for being one of His disciples.
1. Is Jesus Christ is asking them to violate the Ten Commandments? What does it mean by Jesus’ statement?
2. Jesus Christ is not calling for unqualified hate for anything or anybody near of you.
3. He can’t command “husband love your wife” but also hate her too.
4. The truth of the matter: He is saying that our love for Him must outshine all other love, even the love we feel for our families.
5.Thus, to “hate” in our text means “to love less than.” Jesus is saying that in order to be His disciple men and women must love Christ more than their parents, more than their mate, more than their children, more than their sisters and brothers.( Bob Deffinbaugh , Th.M.)
6. So, it means also that we can’t love other too much. We can focus to our family too much, but we cannot love them too much.
7. What Jesus is saying here is that our love for Him is far and wide that our love for our family and friends fail in comparison.
8. He is to be the first place in our life. Anything is to be secondary in our relationship.
9. The proper way to love our children is to love God more, because our great love for God will enable us to love them even more.
10.The fact also is that, the best lover of God is the best lover of their children.
11. So, there’s the relational cost. Now, can you say that first and foremost, Jesus Christ is number one in your life? If so, you’re well and good, you are on the way. However, here’s another requirement for being a disciple of Christ.
II. Sacrifice our personal goal and desires for the sake of Christ (v. 27)
1. The cross is one thing. It is an instrument of executionTry to put it in our present context
2. If anyone would like to be His disciples is to take his electric chair.
3. Jesus is saying, if you going be my disciples, the cost of discipleship is the mark of your own death..
4. However, we have to realize that Jesus is not literally talking about the literal cross.
5. He is not saying that His disciple should take his own life.
6. There’s a series of death and that discipleship means death.
7. It means self-denial as a part of following Him.
8. When one decides to follow Christ as His disciple, one must surrender any other source of “life” than Him, and one must relinquish all self-seeking. Becoming a disciple of our Lord means to give up our goals and to pursue His goals.
9. Those who wish to be His disciples replace their selfish goals and desires with GOD’S DESIRE FOR THEM.
10. Paul say: “I want to know Christ, the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing of His suffering and becoming like Him in death.”
11. In other words, a disciple life, a life that follow Christ is not an easy life.
12. “The Christian life is different, Christ says, “give me all.” I don’t want so much of your time; I don’t want so much of your money or your work, I WANT YOU.” – C.S. Lewis.
13. It means it REQUIRES EVERYTHING.
14. You know, no one who follows Christ will tell they live a life of ease.
15. Regardless of the situation it REQUIRES EVERYTHING and SACRIFICES.
III. We must lay our possessions to Him. (v.33)
1. Spurgeon said, “No man has truly given himself to Christ unless he has said, ‘My Lord, I give thee this day my body, my soul, my powers, my talents, my goods, my house, my children, and all that I have. Henceforth, I hold them at thy will, as a steward under thee. Thine they are. As for me, I have nothing. I have surrendered all to thee!’”
2. Again, this doesn’t mean that we don’t have to own anything: rather, that no possession is supposed to own a disciple.
3. How often we are become slaves to the material things we buy, whether homes, cars, or even clothes.
4. These things are not wrong in themselves, it’s only when they keep us from being freed up to follow Him that they infringe on Christ’s rightful ownership of our lives.
5. Man was not made to be alone, to live unto himself, but to be lost in the purpose of God. We were made to serve God!
IV. Our Savior teaches us that SAVING FAITH IS DELIBERATE, CALCULATED DEVOTION TO HIM.
A. There is a cross to bear and a cost to count, if we would follow Christ, if we would be his disciples. 1.There is a cost involved in this thing called “faith.” Mark this well.
• Confession is cheap. Consecration is costly.
• Decisions are cheap. Devotion is costly.
• Religion is cheap. Righteousness is costly.
2. Our Lord’s intention here is not to discourage men and women from coming to him, but make us understand that following him involves the consecration of our lives to him. Faith in Christ is
B. Jesus requirements for discipleship seems too strict and unyielding. Their natural tendency is to ask Why? Why does discipleship have to be exacting?
1. Read verses 28-32
2. Christ know what it will take to build His kingdom;
3. He knows the magnitude of the task and sees the relentlessness of the enemy.
4. He knows the kind of commitment it will take to get the job done, and
5. He is looking for the kind of people who can rise to the challenge.
6. Unlike many preachers of our day, Jesus did not desire a large following. He is actually thinning the rank.
7. Why the qualifications are so high? Why the terms are are so costly?
8. Stop and think about that.
9. To build a tower requires skilled laborer.
10. To lower the standard would lessen the quality of His ultimate product.
11. The kind of battle that must be fought cannot be handled by weary, ill-trained, non-committed, half-hearted soldiers.
12. That’s why discipleship remains to be top- level.
In Conclusion
Verses 34 and 35 conclude this passage. They explain for us why Jesus discouraged a large following. The key to the impact of His disciples is not their large number, but their distinctiveness. Very little salt is required to season a large quantity of food because salt has a very distinct flavor. When salt loses its distinctness, it loses its value. Great quantities of salt do not make up for its loss of saltiness.
So, too, great numbers of disciples do not guarantee great impact. It is not the sheer number of disciples that matters, but it is their distinctness, their utter differentness from the world. The world will take little note of a large group of people who think, feel, and act like them. The world will take note of a very few “disciples” who are Christ-like, whose lives are distinctive.
But we must be willing to accept His challenge.
