“The Cost of Following Jesus”
Luke 9:23-27
A sermon for 1/30/22
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Pastor John Bright
Luke 9 “23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God.”
Pause right there. Those words I just read; they were “Breathed by God”! God wants you to hear His Word right now! So, what is your response? Do you want to formed by that Word or do you want to be informed about the words? You have to choose.
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There is lots of talk about inflation today. What is it? “In economics, inflation refers to a general progressive increase in prices of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduction in the purchasing power of money.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation
So, you may have noticed, that the goods and services you use – at the grocery store or the pharmacy – all seem to cost more. There are lots of reasons but they all boil down to each step in the process of making something and getting it to the folks who buy it has become more expensive. If each step is 10% more expensive, will the cost for you go up or down? Right – it has to go up.
In today’s reading from Luke 9, Jesus is talking about the cost of following Him. If you were there with Jesus that day, would you hear the cost is going up or going down? Do they realize how dangerous it is going to become? Tradition holds that only one of the original disciples experienced a natural death in old age around 100AD. That was John, but he was tortured and placed in a Roman prison on the Isle of Patmos. What about the others?
Simon Peter: Crucified upside down
James the Greater: Beheaded
Simon the Zealot: Crucifixion
Jude: Crucifixion
Matthew: Stabbed
Thomas: Speared
Bartholomew: Skinned alive and beheaded
Phillip: Crucified
Andrew: Crucified
James the Less: Stoned and clubbed
The cost for these men – everything!
How hard is it for us, sitting in church 2000 years later, to calculate the cost of following Jesus today?
I guess Jesus would understand. We have a lot more to lose than those guys. We have worked long and hard to lead comfortable lives. We have made sure that we have enough to keep this church going like the folks who came before us. Jesus would give us a pass if we don’t follow Him and risk losing any or all of it – right?
The Weight of Assumptions
“23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
To “take up his cross” is a reference to crucifixion. It was well known in the 1st century AD. “Historians trace it back to the Assyrians and Babylonians and it was used systematically by the Persians in the 6th century BC. Alexander the Great brought it from there to the eastern Mediterranean countries in the 4th century BC, and the Phoenicians introduced it to Rome in the 3rd century BC. The Romans perfected crucifixion for 500 years until it was abolished by Constantine I in the 4th century AD.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14750495/
The one who being crucified had been found guilty of a serious crime. It was a very, very public shaming of the person to carry the cross beam on which he or she would be executed. They would be rejected by all… only to die in great agony. This is the image that Jesus invokes when He speaks to them – an image of public rejection. This is an assumption that lies behind Jesus’ teaching that we often miss in our day.
That list of how the disciples died is a list of very public punishments. It was carried out in public because those men were spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a very public way. They were walking it – not just talking it – and they were accused of turning the world upside down. (Acts 17:6) We have lost two great assumptions. We have replaced our public witness for a private relationship with our personal Savior. We have replaced the way of Christ that is in conflict with the world for a way of comfort that seems to flow peacefully with the world. In v. 23, Jesus assumes those who follow Him would be out in the public and that would lead to conflict with the culture. So, what do we do with v. 23 today? Can we use our “Not Needed in Our Day” scissors and do away with that one?
That’s the weight of one assumption we bring to the Bible in our day – like “that won’t work today.” All our assumptions should fade away when we read this: 2 Timothy 3 “16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Let me return to the questions I asked you first this morning - Do you want to formed by that Word or do you want to be informed about the words?
If you choose to be formed by the Word of God, you will be formed by what Hebrews 4:12 describes as “living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
What if we just want to be informed about the words? I think that’s what we read about in James 1 –
“22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” I have talked to you before about this odd description of seeing in the mirror and forgetting. We have all heard a sermon or been in Bible Study and you get a crystal-clear picture of what your life would look like if you followed that Word. God gives you a download and it is right there in front of you in full HD. Then, by the time you are half way home, the other concerns of the day have crowded it out and it floats away like a balloon at a kid’s party but you never notice.
Lifesaving Mode
“24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.”
In 1896, Charles Sheldon published his book, “In His Steps” that went on to sell 50 million copies. “The story takes place in the railroad town of Raymond. The main character is the Rev. Henry Maxwell, pastor of the First Church of Raymond.
The novel begins on a Friday morning when a man out of work appears at the front door of Pastor Maxwell while the he is preparing for that Sunday's upcoming sermon. The pastor listens to the man's helpless plea briefly before brushing him away and closing the door. The same man appears in church at the end of the Sunday sermon, walks up to "the open space in front of the pulpit," and faces the people. No one stops him. He quietly but frankly confronts the congregation—"I'm not complaining; just stating facts."—about their compassion, or apathetic lack thereof, for the jobless like him in Raymond. Upon finishing his address to the congregation, he collapses, and dies a few days later.
That next Sunday, Pastor Maxwell, deeply moved by the events of the past week, presents a challenge to his congregation: "Do not do anything without first asking, 'What would Jesus do?'"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_His_Steps
The story continues with folks like the newspaper publisher who stops the Sunday edition so his employees can be with family and attend worship. As a result, they lose subscriptions and so revenue goes down. It wasn’t that long ago, folks started wearing WWJD bracelets. Most of them never heard of the original book and from my point of view – they treated it like “What Would Jesus Have Done.” You know, go ahead and do what you want, then look at the bracelet.
If we do not want to be those who cling to the comfortable way of life that following after the world of our day offers – now is the time to be willing to lose our lives. For those in Jesus’ day, to become His follower would mean losing popularity, income, and maybe even lead to martyrdom. Today, we would hesitate to take any stand that would cause us loose a dozen Facebook friends. Today, the local church will limit what the preacher says lest we loose bodies in the pews and bucks in the plate.
This is serious business! In the Early Church, to deny self was closely associated with what Paul wrote in Galatians 5. He lists the fruit of the flesh and fruit of the Spirit. Then we get to v. 24 – “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” What is getting crucified there? Not the body, but rather the Natural Man (Woman) – what we call the Sin Nature. It is fed by the world and conforms to the culture in which we live. When we are saved, there is a New Man (Woman) who is being transformed. Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
What would you be willing to “pay” today to find the will of God that comes with denying self? In Jesus’ day, they were promised to see the coming of the Kingdom – that happened at Pentecost – before they died. Today folks are looking for the easy way and getting the most bang for your buck.
I saw a commercial the other day for one of the tax preparation companies. It shows a guy looking at his phone and declaring, “I’m a millionaire!” Then, “I’m not a millionaire.” This goes back and forth until they explain that trading crypto currency is complicated. I read an article lately that about 4% of folks who left the workforce during the pandemic have become crypto currency traders. Last week, Bitcoin had lost about half of its value since mid-November. Folks want to become Bitcoin billionaires. We can long for great wealth or just the new item on Amazon, but we always run the risk of gaining the whole world and losing what is most precious of all – Life in the Spirit as a Follower of Christ. To follow Christ will cost us, at a minimum, conflict with the world. But hey – I’m not saying you HAVE TO follow Jesus! Just saying.
So, did you make your choice yet?
Do you want to formed by that Word or do you want to be informed about the words?
It’s a choice we make every day, for all to see, to take up the cross of Christ or not.
Amen.
