Modern Day Disciples - Part 2
Pastor Glenn Newton July 11, 2004
(New Chair Sunday)
I want you to know what a privilidge it is to have you all here this morning, our church
family has been praying and preparing for this day for several months now. We are
excited about our New Chairs, it represents one goal accomplished... but make no
mistake, the reason for the chairs is so that you will feel comfortable, and so that Brent
will be able to sleep more sound. I realize that I will have my work cut out for me keeping
you all on the edge of your seat now.... Good thing I’m not doing this alone this morning,
but we have invited the very Spirit of God to be here today, and He’s here... and the truth
is, through the Preaching of the Inspired Word of God.... the Holy Spirit has a message for
you this morning.
You can turn in your Bibles with me to Luke 14:25-34. Let’s read God’s Word together
this morning.
LK 14:25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 "If
anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his
brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple. 27 And anyone who
does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
LK 14:28 "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and
estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29 For if he lays the
foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30 saying,
`This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’
LK 14:31 "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first
sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming
against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the
other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, any of you
who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
LK 14:34 "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is
fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
I asked you a Question two weeks ago, the Question was.... Is there a difference between
a Christian and a Disciple? (repeat)
I’ve seen gallup polls of American’s that have been asked, Are you a Christian? Close to
70% of those polled said “Yes”, I’m a Christian. In the same poll, they were asked how
often they attended church..... only 35% of those same people said they attended church
on a regular basis. I think we understand that calling yourself a Christian and actually
being a Christian is two different things... would you agree with me?
You and I have grown up in a generation where we have been taught by our culture that
we define our own truth... In other words... If you think something is true, then that’s
truth to you, and who am I to tell you otherwise.... we have a generation that believes
whatever works is truth... it’s good enough.
As Christians I need to tell you that we don’t believe that way.... You and I, or anyother
so called expert is not the source of Truth.... Just because something feels right, doesn’t
mean it’s right. Just because something works, doesn’t mean it’s right. As Christians
God’s Word is our source of Truth.... not our feelings, not what our parents taught us, not
what some sweaty TV preacher screams at you on a Friday night.... God’s Word alone is
your source of Truth. Amen?
Let’s see what Jesus says about being a true disciple of his.....
Last week I shared the first two characteristics of a Disciple, we found these in His
words... He said in verse 26, : 26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father
and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he
cannot be my disciple. What we learned was that Jesus was telling us that we must
Prefer Him over and above anyone else in our lives.... We must Love Him Supremely.
The Second characteristic that Jesus spoke of was in verse 27, He said, 27 And anyone
who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
The cross in Jesus’ day represented death of the worst kind, Jesus was telling those who
were following Him that to be His disciple, a true follower, it meant that we would have
to die to self, die to the old way of living, and follow Him, of coarse when we do this,
Jesus gives us a new life, we are reborn... set free to be all that He has created us to be.
That was a brief summary of what Jesus has said so far in this passage, so this morning we
are going to continue to investigate this question.... What does it mean to be a Modern
Day Disciple...?
Let’s start with verse 28, LK 14:28 "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he
not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29
For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule
him, 30 saying, `This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’
Jesus is telling us that “A True Disciple Finishes Strong.”
Jesus gives us this image of a man who is planning on building a tower. Before he begins
the construction, he must “count the cost:” to see if he has enough resources to finish the
job. Now remember, this is the cost of discipleship, not the cost of salvation. The Bible
tells us that God provides all we need to be saved, we must just come to Him with Faith
and confess, and God brings new life.
But Jesus here is talking about the cost of total commitment. Jesus is teaching us that as
true disciples, being saved is just the foundation of what God has for our lives, He wants
us to commit to finish, to go all the way with Him, God wants to build a people who are
strong towers in their faith, Men and Women who will pay the price, who will sacrifice for
the Kingdom.... Because He knows he can perform miracles in those kind of people, in
true disciples. Look what He did with the first 12... the known world was never the same.
Can I tell you there are alot of people who have asked Jesus to forgive them of their past
sins, who have made a profession, they have poured the foundation but that was all they
were prepared to do.....When God started asking for obedience in areas of their life, they
counted the cost, and decided it was going to be too costly to them, so they stopped
building.
Have you been watching this bank go up over across from Taco Bell? It’s right on our
street so we drive by everyday and see the work that is being done. What do you think
people would have thought of the builder is he did the dirt work, and they poured the
foundation, but then a week passed, then two weeks, nothing else was being done... a
month, three months... nothing.
I know what I would have thought. Whoever this is doesn’t have it together, what
kind of Mickey Mouse operation is that Bank using for this anyway? We want to see
progress, because we all know that if nothing else is done, what’s going to happen to that
slab of concrete? After time it’s going to erode away, it’s going to crumble until it’s
useless.
Where are you? Have you poured the foundation... Have you been saved? Will you
accept the call to be a true disciple? Don’t be fooled by those who would try to tell you
there’s nothing to it, it’s no big deal..... To be a true disciple of Jesus Christ, you need to
count the cost... because Friend, it will cost you everything... God want’s all of us,
Because He’s God, He doesn’t settle for second best, He doesn’t want your leftovers...
I’m calling you this morning to be a Modern Day Disciple.... Men and Women who have
been saved, who have counted the Cost of being a true disciple and filled with the Holy
Spirit, will live and be the person God has created you to be.... let me tell you, it will be
different, it won’t be easy... But let me tell you.... You will never regret it, and you will
see life for all that it is meant to be.... God’s Blessing upon you will overwhelm you.
Being His disciple is the greatest adventure in the world... I live with His Power, His
Spirit, His love, His direction, His discipline, which can be painful, but most importantly, I
know His presence in my life.... With Him I’m willing to do whatever He asks me to do,
even if it means a Cross.
It doesn’t matter where you are today.... the good news is you haven’t crossed the finish
line yet. So even if you feel like you have wasted some time, that’s not important, what’s
important, is what are you going to do with the time you have left? It’s your choice, how
are you going to finish?
Billy Sunday, a great evangelist before Billy Graham, was a former professional baseball
player. He once said: “Stopping at third base adds no more to the score than striking out.
It doesn’t matter how well you start if you fail to finish.” A real disciple finishes strong.
Jesus is a great teacher, he uses multiple examples as he teaches this one princple, let’s
look at his next image in verse 31-33
LK 14:31 "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not
first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the
one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a
delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In
the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my
disciple.
In this image, Jesus describes two kings. One is outnumbered, so he wisely
approaches the stronger King and makes peace before the battle ever begins. You and I
are one of the Kings and God is the other. Guess which one we are?
Because we can never win against God, we must surrender to Him. In Jesus’ time
a surrendering King could be made into a slave of the opposing king, so it required great
humility to bow down and ask for terms of peace. It takes humility today to sureender to
Jesus, our King.
What’s this story mean? You cannot be a disciple unless you are willing to give up
control of your life to Jesus. And that’s hard to do... None of us like to give up.. Do we?
I read about a lifegaurd on a beach who saw a drowning man. He walked into the surf but
didn’t go out to rescue him. People gathered on the beach and yelled and screamed at the
lifegaurd to go out and rescue the drowning man. The lifegaurd waded a little deeper, and
kept his eye on the drowning man, but the yells and screams of the onlookers didn’t
motivate him to swim out. Just when it seemed the man was going down for the last time,
the lifegaurd swam out with strong strokes and grabbed the man and brought him back to
shore. After some spitting and coughing, the man was conscious. But rather than hailing
him as a hero, the onlookers were angry at the lifegaurd and said, “You coward! You saw
he was drowning, why didn’t you go out sooner?”
The lifegaurd patiently explained, “You can see that he is much bigger and
stronger than I am.” If I had gone out sooner, he was thrashing and kicking so violently
that he would have probably drowned both of us. As long as he was trying to save
himself, I couldn’t save him. But when he got tired, and he gave up, then I knew I could
save him.”
Isn’t that what we are talking about? As long as you think you are strong enough to save
yourself, you won’t surrender to Jesus. It’s only when you give up and realize you are
hopelessly lost, that Jesus can come and rescue you. Jesus is telling us today, Real
discipleship is coming to a point where we say, Jesus, I give up, I give up control of my
life.”
We are alot like that little girl that was sent to the my office when I still was over at the
daycare, when the kids got out of control, they would send them into to me, I’m not sure
why, because I just fun with them most of the time... but sometimes I would try and get
them to realize what they had done wrong.
Have you ever seen a 3 year old that has no desire to surrender? I remember one little girl
who was sent in because she was just crying and crying, throwing a royal fit. I sat her in a
chair directly in front of me and said, “Your going to sit right here until you quit that
crying and fit throwing.’ About every 10 seconds, I would say, Are you done? She would
say no and keep on crying and whinning. I would say are you done? Are you done? That
went on for quite a while until I felt like the 3 year old.
You see we are born with that stubborn heart..... God is asking us today... Are you done?
Will you surrender? What is going to have to happen in your life before you hear His
voice? You see, it’s your choice... He’s waiting, he loves you, he created you for a
specific purpose and plan... and He’s ready to get on with it.... there’s kingdom work to
be done......
Will New Hope Church be an Army of Modern Day Disciples.... Men and Women who
have committed their everything to the King... A people carrying thier cross, A people
dedicated to finishing Strong, A people willing to humbly surrender to the King of Kings...
We are going to sing that great hymn of the church.... I Surrender All.... that’s appropriate
for this morning.... Are you done? The Great Adventure Awaits you.... Life with Christ is
awesome, it’s really surpernatural....
We have these alters, these are where we come to pray... it takes some courage for you to
step out and come and pray, bring a friend with you if you want, we have people who
would be glad to pray with you.... It takes courage to come and give your heart and life to
Christ.... it takes great courage to be a disicple. Will you come as the Holy Spirit is
speaking to your heart....You have friends here who have made their way to the alter, I
prayed at the alter last week with many of you... it’s a way of saying, God Here I am, I
surrender to you. It’s also an act of humility.... will you come this morning?
