REEL DISCIPLESHIP
“Live Like you were Dying”
John 10:10
On Memorial Day weekend, most of us stop to remember those who have gone on before us and especially those who were killed in battle. Some of you will go to the cemetery and place flowers on your loved ones grave and you may stand there for a moment and just remember. Walking through the cemetery where we are surrounded by death can give us a fresh perspective of life. Looking at tombstones we can often get a glimpse into someone’s life… A glimpse of what someone’s life was like when they were alive, but when it comes right down to it, their life is summarized in two dates and a dash, the day they were born, the day they died and the dash that separates those two dates.
When you think about it, we don’t have control over a lot of things in this life. We don’t get to decide who our parents are, when we were born or where we are born. We don’t get to decide the dates on our tombstones. We don’t know when our time on this earth will be up. At least 24 people died this week in the devastating tornado in Oklahoma, 9 of those were children. The numbers change day to day as people are found. It could be next week or next year or for many of you here today it could be decades away. Only God knows. We don’t have control over these things. But we do have control over how we live our lives. In other words how we are going to use our dash. So let me ask you what if you knew that you only had a short time to live? What would you change? What would you do differently?
Several times in the Scripture Jesus tried to prepare His Disciples for His certain death. You see unlike us, Jesus knew when He would die. I believe He knew the day and the hour they would nail him to the cross of Calvary. That’s why he came into the world. So it stands to reason that knowing this that Jesus would use every moment to its fullest. And that He would help his disciples do the very same thing. Look at what Jesus said in John 10:10. “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I love the way the message phrases this…“I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” Msg. In this passage Jesus addresses two kinds of life here. Life now and life later.
PRINCIPLE 1: Jesus taught his disciples to live passionately. Too many of us live in what we might call the “world of someday.”
* We say “someday when things settle down or when I get older I’ll really live for God.”
* “Some day when I’m not so busy at work I’ll spend more time with my wife and kids.”
* “Someday when I get that new job or a promotion and I’m making more money then I’ll be able to really enjoy life. We all get stuck in the someday syndrome from time to time. It reminds me of those credit card commercials on television. It shows a father pushing his little boy on a swing. He pushes the little boy as high as he can, and when he comes back the little boy has been transformed into a 180-pound teenager; it catches the father by surprise and he is knocked to the ground. Then you hear the voiceover say, “Life comes at you fast.”
I can relate to that can’t you? 3 of my 4 children got married all within a 14 month time frame. I wrote a poem for my daughter that I read at her wedding and I titled it when did you grow up? Because it happens so fast. It is not new news to tell you today that life is short. The Bible says your life is like the morning fog – it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. Jesus knowing that his disciples to live this life with passion.
PRINCIPLE TWO: Jesus taught His disciples to love completely. Look at what Jesus did when He knew He had only a short time left with His disciples. John 13 says this… “Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love.” Now I may be going out on a limb here but I believe if YOU and I knew we only had a short time to live we would want to do the same thing.
We would say the things we’ve always wanted to say and do the things we’ve always wanted to do. We would focus more on people, friends and family….. and we would do our best to let them know we love them. The Bible teaches us God created us for two reasons…to love and be loved. Sounds simple, but it’s actually profound. You see, these two things … living and loving are very connected.
The Pharisees came to Jesus in Matthew 22 and they asked him what is the greatest commandment taught in the Bible? They referred of course to the Ten commandments… which one mattered the most? Jesus replied in vvs.37-39, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” You see, when your life is over and mine is over, it won’t matter how much money is in your bank account, it won’t matter how many degrees you’ve earned, it won’t matter how many awards you’ve be given, it won’t matter… all that will matter is whether or not you learned to love. Whether we learn to love our spouse when we are going through a rough patch in our marriage; whether we learn to love our children when they frustrate us; whether we learn to respect our parents even when we think they don’t deserve it. These are the questions we should ask ourselves. While we were here did we love God with all our heart? Did you love your family? Did you love your brothers and sisters in Christ? Did you love your neighbors and friends? And did you love those who were hard to love? That is what matters.
And this should encourage us. 1 Cor. 13:8 tells us that “Love never fails ….” A lot of things don’t work that we try in life but the Bible says that love never fails. So if you need to, tell someone how much you love them….. today.
PRINCIPLE 3: Jesus taught his disciples to practice humility. Jesus not only taught on this topic, He practiced it…. He modeled humility for all of us. He said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.”
So as real disciples we are supposed to look like Christ. When we look at the word disciple we can quickly see the word discipline. Practicing humility is a discipline we need to learn.
God gives us two primary tools to accomplish this.
(1) The First tool is His Word. The Bible. Most of us would agree today on two things (1) reading God’s word can radically change us and (2) we would agree that we don’t do it. Many of the things that we know are best for us get tossed aside because we think there will always be time to get to them. Listen. Have you ever noticed we have the tendency to become more like the people we hang out with? We tell teenagers this all the time. So why don’t we take our own advice? When we hang out with the same people we will begin to catch ourselves saying and doing the same things that our friends… say and do. It’s the same way with the Lord. The more time you spend with Him, reading His Word, the more you will become like Him. You will become a true disciple.
The 2nd tool God uses to build our character is our problems. Now if I have my choice I would much prefer having my Character shaped by God’s Word rather than by my problems. But the truth is God uses both. We all have problems. That’s just a part of life. But it’s more than that, because God uses them to make us more like Jesus.
Now let’s look at the fourth principle. We have said that Jesus taught his disciples to live life with passion, to love completely, to learn humility. The 4th is this. Jesus taught his disciples to leave this life with boldness. Now you’re probably wondering what I mean by that. Look at this. Luke 9:51 says, “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” That word “resolutely” means, “firmly resolved or determined; set in purpose or opinion.”
Matthew 16:21 says that “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” So Jesus knew why He was here and he knew the time for his death had come and no-one was going to keep Him from fulfilling his mission. If we knew we only had a short time to live I don’t believe we would waste time or energy on things that don’t matter. We would do your best to leave a legacy.
We would make certain we were prepared for eternity. This earth is not our home. We are strangers is a strange Land. And there is something in our DNA that tells us that there is more to life than this. All of us will leave a legacy of some kind but it will be different for each one of us. What legacy will you leave? What will YOU be known for? Now, let me save you a lot of heartache this morning. Don’t live your life trying to please everybody. I’ve tried that and I discovered in the process that even Jesus couldn’t do it. The only person you have to worry about pleasing is God. Everyone has an opinion about how you should live your life, but in the end there is only one opinion that really matters and that is our Heavenly Father’s.
I want to close with this story. It’s a story I heard several years ago about a high school football player. I don’t know his name, or what number he wore on his uniform or anything like that. All I know is that this kid wasn’t really that great of an athlete.
He played on the kickoff team and was a second string linebacker but hardly ever played unless his team got way ahead. And even though this young man didn’t get to play very much his dad was always in the stands to support him.
When it came time for his last home game, the last game of his senior year he stormed into the coaches’ office with a sense of urgency about him.
He said, “Coach, you’ve got to let me start tonight, please coach, please let me start tonight! The coach said, “I know you’re a senior but I can’t make any promises. This is an important game…. we’ve got to win if we are going to make the playoffs.”
But the young man begged and pleaded with the coach until finally right before the game started the coach said, “Okay, I’ll let you play the first few plays.” He was so excited He couldn’t wait to get out onto the field. When it finally came time for the defensive team to take the field, he was the first one in the huddle.
The first play from scrimmage the opposing quarterback handed the ball off to the fullback, but to everyone’s surprise this second string linebacker who hardly ever played nailed him in the backfield for a 5 yard loss.
On the next play from scrimmage the quarterback went back to pass and the same young linebacker blitzed and sacked the quarterback for another 5 yard loss. He played so well the coach let him play the entire game. He ended up with over 20 tackles and at the end of the game as he was running off the field the coach grabbed him by the helmet and he said, “Son, what in the world got into you tonight? He said that’s one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen any high school linebacker play. What happened?” He said, “Well, coach, you know my dad has always supported me by coming to all of my games and cheering me on, even though he’s blind.” The coach said, “Yeah, I know who your dad is, and I know he’s blind, but what’s that got to do with the way you played tonight.” Then the young man said, “Well, you see coach, my dad died last night and I know that He is in Heaven tonight and that this is the first game he’s ever been able to see me play. I was playing for him and that made all the difference in the world.”
So, the question I want to leave you with today is this: Who are you playing for? Who are you trying to impress? Who are you trying to please? The only one that really matters is the One who made you, the one who gave you the talents and abilities to play the game, the One who called your number and put you into the game. Your Heavenly Father. His opinion is the only One that really matters.
Are you ready to leave this morning? I’m not talking about leaving this worship service? I’m talking about leaving this life? If you knew you were going to die today do you know for sure that you’d go to Heaven? Are you ready to leave? If not, you can be. All you have to do is confess your sins to God and invite Jesus Christ into your life, and you can do that right here and right now. Let’s stand and sing our invitation song.
