Not A Fan Part 4: The Comfortable Cross
January 28, 2018 1 King 12:25-33 Luke 9:51-62
Some of the ideas in this sermon came from Kyle Idleman’s series Fan or Follower which we did at our church.
We are now in week 4 of our Not a Fan series. We have looked at Fan or Follower, Follow Me, Intimacy and today the Comfortable cross.
Let me ask you this, if you needed to lay your head on something to sleep at night would you choose this pillow or this rock. If you wanted a good night sleep, would you choose this bed or this cot. If you had to drive across the country with kids and the gasoline was covered, would you choose this compact or this SUV. If you had to go on a five mile walk which pair shoes would you rather wear.
One of the things that is near the top of your mind in each of these situations is your comfort. How many of you think that comfort is not only a good thing but an important thing? We are constantly bombarded with messages from all around us emphasizing comfort. We even have comfortable exercise machines. We are told we need a comfortable retirement plan. Its good to have comfortable leather seats in our car when we are driving. We even expect our church building to be comfortable with heat in the winter, and air conditioning in the summer.
The only problem with comfort is that we allow it to creep over into our spiritual life. We want to have a comfortable religion. In the Old Testament God’s people had been one nation under King David and King Solomon. It split into the northern kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Jeroboam became king in the north, but Jerusalem the capital, was in the south. He came up with a plan for a comfortable religion to keep the people’s allegiance.
He set up two temples with two golden cows and put one in the south of his kingdom and one in the north. He pointed out how much more comfortable it would be to worship his gods than to through all that trouble to get to Jerusalem where God had told them to worship. The people of God, who knew what God had done for them, choose comfort over being true followers. Once again we see that they had been fans of God, but not followers.
The fictitious story is told of a man who went around complaining about the size of the cross the Lord had given him to bear. He complained how his suffering was far greater than that of others. He even begged the Lord to reduce the size of the cross. Finally the Lord said okay, I am going to let you see the spiritual world. I want you to see the crosses people are called to bear and allow you to go in and choose one for yourself. The man saw these crosses in the area. Some of them were very large.
He finally saw two small crosses. He didn’t want the Lord to think he was lazy so he chose the bigger of the two smaller crosses. The Lord asked him, if he was sure that was the one he wanted. The man began to explain to the Lord that he knew it small, but that he needed a break from the cross he had been carrying and after all he did not take up the cross that was the smallest. The Lord said, “well the reason I asked is because, that’s the cross that you were carrying and doing all the complaining about.”
The problem with comfort is that it always costs us something to have it. Many times we refuse to acknowledge the price we pay to keep it. Even more important it clashes with Jesus’s statement in In Luke 9:23, Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.” So what do comfort-craving fans do with something like the cross. Very easy, we make it a symbol and keep it at that level. We put crosses on our buildings. We put them in our churches. We put them on t-shirts, we put them on necklaces and earrings. We hang them in our cars. We do just about everything, except pick them up to follow Jesus.
Last week, we emphasized, a person picked up a cross to die on it. We like to talk about the life that Jesus gives to us, and Jesus does give us new life. He delivers us from all kinds of messes that we have gotten our lives wrapped up in. He does give us the promise of eternal life when we die. But the price of all of that on our end is a willingness to die to ourselves in order to follow Christ. Every day, you have to make a decision to follow Christ. If you’re not, you are not listening to the Holy Spirit in your life.
Someone cut you off at the light. Follow Christ. Someone lied on you. Follow Christ. Some tv show is on contrary to Christ’s teachings. Follow Christ. Your child is acting the fool. Follow Christ. A volunteer is needed at the church. Follow Christ. You’re tempted to add an additional bill in your life for your comfort, and you still give less than 3% of your income to the church, follow Christ. You said something in anger or you were just plain wrong. Follow Christ. Picking up your cross is not always going to be comfortable. You keep bringing up something from the past, and you refuse to forgive. Follow Christ. Take up your cross.
The cross is a tough sell. It’s bad enough that Jesus had to die on the cross, but why did He have to go and insist we all end up with our own crosses? Isn’t that kind of ruining Christianity’s hope for decent public relations? Doesn’t the cross hinder our ability to recruit new people? You’re supposed to put your best foot forward, right?
And don’t we want more people to come to Jesus? That’s supposed to be the point, isn’t it? Having more people come to Jesus. So we try our best to make Christianity sound as appealing as possible by saying all the wonderful things Jesus does and will do for us. We are trying to sell Jesus. Some people think they are doing Jesus a favor by coming to him or doing something for him. We don’t bother telling people those efforts are in vain without knowing Jesus.
I mean why would Jesus use the cross a symbol of torture, of death, of weakness to describe what he expects of us in our walk with him. The image a of the cross seems more appealing to us because it’s no longer used to execute people and we’ve dressed it up. We are used to seeing the cross as an ornament, decoration or a piece of jewelry. But if a first century Jew came in and saw an illuminated cross hanging from our walls – they would think we were sick. Imagine people walking around with a guillotine hanging around their neck or an electric chair dangling from their ears, or the noose of rope hanging in the living room. For the Jews the cross meant weakness.
One of the reasons we often do not follow Jesus is that we believe we have more time in the future and that Jesus will be waiting there for us when we finally get ready to come. The reality is, even though Jesus has promised to come back to judge this world, we have no idea of when he is coming back. We also have no idea of when we are going to go home to be with the Lord. Death can come to any of us at any moment. I shudder to think how many people will be in hell who had the good intention of one day becoming a follower of Jesus Christ.
In our New Testament reading, Jesus is about to take a turn in his ministry. He has done things all over the country. He’s been on the sea, in the mountains, on the plains and in the wilderness doing all kinds of miracles, preaching great sermons, and gaining the favor of the people. People were following Jesus in the way we were following the Cleveland Indians during their impressive winning streak. They wanted to be identified with a winner. The crowds showed up like we showed up when the Cavaliers had their parade downtown. Being one of Jesus’s disciples was like being on the float with the Cavs riding downtown. People knew we must have been somebody, because we were with them.
But now Jesus is on his final march to Jerusalem. He knows that when he gets there, he will be arrested, he will be beaten, he will be rejected, he will be alone, and he will be crucified. But the people don’t know this. They simply want to be associated with his team. Jesus’ rejection has already begun. He sent some guys into a Samaritan village, to make preparations for him. Jesus sends them to probably make plans at the local motel and diner in order for them to eat and spend the night. Most Jews would not even go through Samaria much less try to spend the night there and eat. When the Samaritans realized it was a group of Jews who they hated, trying to make preparations in their city, they told them to get lost. James and John felt so insulted by this, they wanted to destroy the whole city by calling for fire to come down and burn them up. They were not picking up their cross.
But Jesus rebuked them for their attitude and simply headed for another city. Is it interesting how we can do something to get at people who did something to us, who hurt us, who insulted us, who cause us pain, and we think, “God the best thing you can do is just wipe them out. Cause them to lose their job. Just strike them dead.” We can honestly think we are on God’s sign and thinking just like God, and have Jesus tell us, you are of the wrong spirit. You’re looking for a comfortable cross. I didn’t come to destroy those you dislike. I came to save them in the same way I came to save you.
As Jesus is walking along, a man comes up to him and said to Jesus. “I will follow you wherever you go.” This guy has no idea that Jesus has just been kicked off the accommodations he had been making at the Holiday Inn. He has no idea, they refused to serve Jesus and his disciples at the local Samaritan Golden Corral. All he sees, is how cool it must be to follow Jesus. He doesn’t know two of the top guys have had their feeling hurt by being shown the devil was at work inside of them. He didn’t see the envy and jealousy among the disciples who had recently been confronted by Jesus for arguing which of them was the greatest. Even though they had been with Jesus for three years, they still did not understand how much of a change Jesus wanted to work inside their lives. How many of us are still where the disciples were in needing of a spiritual makeover.
This guy He didn’t know a couple of days before his statement” I will follow you wherever you go” that Jesus had said he was on his way to Jerusalem to be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Did he really commit to following him to that path.
This guy saw a group of people who were traveling with Jesus, which included a group of women who had money who were helping to pay for what Jesus needed. No doubt some of them were good looking. He saw comfort and opportunity written all over being a Jesus follower.
Luke 9:58 (NIV2011)
58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Jesus is saying, following me may require you to be homeless at some point in your life. It might mean Motel 0 instead of Motel 6. You may see me at the Hilton today, but I won’t promise you that’s where you are going to be staying for the bulk of your life. You are not picking up a cross to be guaranteed a comfortable place to spend your life. Is God against our comfort. No God isn’t. But is our comfort, working against what God wants to do in our lives.
Jesus looks around and he sees a guy who is wavering back and forth in his heart. He believes that Jesus is for real, but can he pay the price. He’s counting the cost to follow Jesus. To give him that extra boost that he needs, Luke 9:59-60 (NIV2011)
59 He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
This guy will answer Jesus, if Jesus will offer him more time to get his priorities in order. He’s willing to follow Jesus, he just can’t do it right now. It is very unlikely this guy’s father had already died. If he had, the guy would not have been out on the road watching Jesus pass by. He would have been at home with mourners. This guy is asking for an indfinite leave of absence. His father may not even be sick. He may be thinking, if I leave home before my father dies, he might cut me out of my inheritance. It would be better and easier for me to follow Jesus once I know how my finances will look in the future.
How many of us have asked Jesus for an indefinite leave? I will get serious about Jesus, once I get older, once I get more money, once I get married, once I leave this relationship, once I finish sowing my wild oats, once I get out of college, once I get that job, once I feel like justice was done, once this tv series ends, once once. In other words, when I think it will be more comfortable for me to do so, then I will stop being a fan and take up my cross. We agree to follow Jesus, but on our terms and our schedule.
60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” The verse could also be. Let the dying bury their own dead. Jesus is emphasizing that he demands a loyalty that is greater than that to one’s own family and one’s own future. Jesus knew there were other people capable of burying this man’s father when the time came who were not under a spiritual call. Jesus had a mission for this guy to do now. Who knows, this guy may have become one of the great preachers in the Book of Acts. Jesus might have thought he could have been a great asset to the apostle Paul. Jesus definitely has a plan because he tells him, you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.
The reality is, Jesus will probably be crucified before this man’s father is dead. This man will have given up the opportunity to learn from Jesus in a personal setting. Jesus wants to put something inside of this guy now, but he’s not ready to accept it. What is Jesus trying to put inside of us today that we will not accept it, because we’re not willing to change. We are not going to let go of our comfortable cross. If Jesus had not called this guy out, he probably would have convinced himself that he believed in Jesus. When Jesus calls us to change, that’s when we discover just how much we believe about him.
In our devotional, it talked about us disagreeing with Jesus. It challenged us to choose one area where you disagree with Jesus and try completing this sentence.
I Know better than Jesus, when it comes to _____________________ and the reasons I believe I know better are ___________________________
__________________________________________________________.
The last guy that comes looking for a comfortable cross. Luke 9:61-62 (NIV2011)
61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” He’s willing, but again there are a few things to do first. He wants to talk it over with his family to make sure he’s making the right decision. If they agree, they will give him a big party, have all the relatives over, and send him on his way.
Now you know what happens when you get a large family gathering. Somebody is going to tell you, don’t go wasting your life on that religion stuff. It does not take all that to know God. I haven’t been to church in five years and I’m alright with God.
62 Jesus knew this guy was not solid in his response. Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” We can’t follow Jesus and keep wondering if we left something behind that we greatly regret. I started Jesus at age 17. I still think it was the best decision of my life. Life hasn’t always led me to comfortable crosses, but I grew each time I ran into one of them.
Who else but God could take a cross that represented defeat –
and turn it into a symbol of victory?
Who else but God could take a cross that represented guilt –
and turn it into the symbol for grace?
Who else but God could take a cross that represented condemnation –
and turn it into a symbol of freedom?
Who else but God could take a cross that represented pain and suffering –
and turn it into symbol of healing and hope?
Who else but God could take a cross that represented death –
and turn it into a symbol of life?
No one else could, but he can. What seems like the ultimate moment of God’s weakness was in reality the ultimate moment of God’s strength. Here’s why that matters
What God Did For the Cross, He Can Do for Us.
Because it’s when we let go of our need for comfort, our need to be in control, our need to glory in our strengths or accomplishments or our paycheck or our trophies or our co-workers’ approval or whatever it is that keeps you from abandoning a comfortable version of the cross—it’s then that God does in our lives what he did in Christ’s death.
Do for us what you did for the Cross. Do for us what you did for the Cross. Do for me,
do for this church, do for this city, do for this nation, do for this world what you did for the Cross, that we might begin to understand why you chose such an uncomfortable means of self-sacrifice. Do for us what you did for the Cross.
