SERIES: “THE GROWTH FACTORS”
TEXT: LUKE 14:25-33
TITLE: “THE AGGRAVATION FACTOR”
INTRODUCTION: A. When I was much younger, I played a board game called “Aggravation”
1. 2-6 people could play
2. Each person got a set of colored marbles
3. The goal was to roll the dice, move the marbles along the board, and be the first
one to get all of your marbles safely to home base
4. The “aggravation” came when another player’s marble landed on a space occupied
by one of your marbles.
--When that happened, your marble had to go all the way back to its starting
position (no matter how close to home base you were)
5. The thing that kept you going in the game when your marbles got sent back to
home base was that you still had the chance to be the first one to get all your
marbles to home base
--You had to consider how much aggravation you were willing to put up with
to make it to the goal – to finish the purpose of the game
B. We’re on our third message in the series: “The Growth Factors”
1. We’ve talked about “The Motivation Factor”
--Why are we here? Why does FCC exist? What are the purposes of the church?
2. We’ve talked about “The Expectation Factor”
--What is Christ’s vision of His church? Are we in line with Christ’s expectation
for His church?
3. Today we’re going to talk about “The Aggravation Factor”
--What are willing to go through and change to become a church that is in line
with Christ’s expectations of the church?
C. I heard an interesting adaptation of the biblical account of Adam and Eve:
God was talking with Adam. He said, “You really need a helper, don’t you?” And
Adam answered, “Yeah, I really do.”
So God said, “What if I make a woman? She’ll be perfect for you. She’ll be
beautiful. She’ll rub your back at night, and your feet in the morning. She’ll plop
grapes into your mouth. She’ll prepare all your favorite meals without fail. She’ll
clean up the kitchen and take care of the kids. You’ll never have to do a thing, just sit
around and be the king of your household.”
Adam said, “Boy, that sounds great, but how much is this going to cost?” God said,
“Well, it’s pretty expensive. It will cost you an arm & a leg.”
Adam thought for a moment and then asked, “What can I get for a rib?”
--and the rest is history, as they say…
D. Lk. 14:25-33 – “Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said:
’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. And
anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 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? For if he lays the foundation and is not
able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, This fellow began to
build and was not able to finish. 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? 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. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he
has cannot be my disciple.”
1. Someone: “You’ve got to count the cost when you carry the cross.”
2. Martin Luther: “A religion that does nothing, that saves nothing, that gives nothing,
that cost nothing, that suffers nothing, is worth nothing.”
I. TIME
Ps. 90:12 – “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
LORD USE MY TIME
Lord I have time
I have plenty of time
All the time that you give me
The years of my life
The days of my years
The hours of my days
They are all mine
Mine to fill, quietly, calmly,
But to fill completely, up to the brim,
To offer them to you, that of their insipid water
You may make a rich wine such as you made at Cana in Galilee.
Eph. 5:15-17 – “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
II. TALENT
Henry Van Dyke: “Use what talents you possess: The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except
those that sang best.”
1 Pet. 4:10 – “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s
grace in its various forms.”
S. D. Gordon: “We have nothing to do with how much ability we’ve got, or how little, but with what we do with what we have. The man with great talent is apt to be puffed up, and the man with little (talent) to belittle the little. Poor fools! God gives it, much or little. Our part is to be faithful, doing the level best with every bit and scrap.”
III. TREASURE
Luke 6:38 – “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured in you lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measure to you.
IV. TESTIMONY
Several years ago the city of Pittsburgh constructed a large, new post office at the cost of several million dollars. On the day of it’s opening, the Governor made a speech, the bands played and the people cheered. It was quite a celebration.
But when the first man entered to mail a letter, to the embarrassment of the engineers, it was discovered that in the rush to meet the deadline, they had omitted the usual letter drop. Here was a costly new post office, but no place to mail a letter! It was a slight omission, but it negated the very reason for it’s existence.
Acts 1:8 – “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
2 Cor. 5:17-19 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has
committed to us the message of reconciliation.”
V. TOLERANCE
Eph. 4:2-5 – “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were
called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is
over all and through all and in all.”
1 Cor. 9:21-23 – “To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from
God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to
win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this
for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”
CONCLUSION:
A true story is told from the time of Oliver Cromwell in England. A young soldier had been tried in military court and sentenced to death. He was to be shot at the "ringing of the curfew bell." His fiancée climbed up into the bell tower. several hours before curfew time and tied herself to bell’s huge clapper. At curfew time, when only muted sounds came out of the bell tower, Cromwell demanded to know why the bell was not ringing. His soldiers went o investigate and found the young woman cut and bleeding from being knocked back and forth against the great bell. They brought her down, and, the story goes, Cromwell so impressed with her willingness to suffer in this way on the behalf of someone she loved that he dismissed the soldier saying, "Curfew shall not ring tonight."
