I was watching a few sermons by David Platt last week, and the Lord really revealed (and is continuing to reveal) a few things to me that I just wanted to share with you all!
The message of the Gospel is something that many of us would consider ourselves to be highly educated on; whether it be through listening to church sermons, reading the Bible ourselves, doing Bible studies, or some other means of aquiring it. But how many of us can say that we live it out? Some of you may be thinking, "I don't know what you mean. Isn't the Gospel all about Jesus coming to the world, to die for our sins, so we could be saved? How do you live that out? Jesus already did it." Yes, the Gospel is about Jesus coming to the world. And yes, He died for all of our sins so that we could be saved. But NO, that is NOT what the Gospel is ALL about. There are only 13 chapters out of all four books in the Gospel that are dedicated to Jesus' arrest, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. That's 13 out of a total of 89 chapters!!!!!!!!! If our view of the Gospel is all about what we GET from Jesus because of His death, we are severely missing the point! We're also missing the other 76 chapters of the Gospel, and they contain some of the most vital parts of what it means to live a life for Christ! I almost don't even know where to begin because there is SO much to say. This is not something we can afford to be wrong about…
In Luke 9:23-27, Jesus tells us, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?" Later on in the same chapter of Luke, Jesus speaks to three different men in verses 57-62. It says, "As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go.' Jesus replied, 'Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.' He said to another man, 'Follow me.' But the man replied, 'Lord, first let me go and bury my father.' Jesus said to him, 'Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.' Still another said, 'I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.' Jesus replied, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.'"
Ouch. Talk about harsh! Or is it? Let's think about this for a second. Jesus is telling us in verses 23-27 that we have to deny ourselves and pick up an instrument of extreme torture to follow Him. We also have to lose our lives. Notice He does not say "lose part of your life for me"…He wants us to lose ALL of it. Then, He tells us in verses 57-62 that if we do choose to follow him, not only will we not be promised shelter, but we also don't need to go bury our fathers first or say goodbye to our families. You get the basic jist of what He's saying. FOLLOWING HIM IS NOT EASY…IT IS RISKY!
This sounds really extreme, and it is, but it's what Jesus said. Jesus was a radical back in His day, and HE STILL IS TODAY. These words don't just disappear over time. We don't get to say, "Well, that's not what He REALLY meant. He really meant this…." No. We don't get to do that. We don't get to change or alter what Jesus says to better fit our own comfort level. If you continue reading in Luke, we don't hear any more about those three men Jesus spoke to. We can assume that's because they didn't take Jesus up on His offer to go follow Him. This happened to Jesus ALL THE TIME. People He told to come follow Him realized that it was way too hard and inconvenient. They didn't want to leave their families, and they'd rather live comfortably than risk everything to further the Kingdom.
During one of David Platt's sermons I listened to (and in his book, Radical), he says, "My biggest fear, even now, is that I will hear Jesus' words and walk away, content to settle for less than radical obedience to Him."
Am I willing to risk it all for Jesus? Are you?
In another sermon, he talks about a college and seminary he spoke at in Indonesia. At the end of his week there, he spoke at their graduation. Listen to this….IN ORDER TO GRADUATE, EVERY SINGLE STUDENT HAD TO PLANT A CHURCH IN A MUSLIM COMMUNITY WITH AT LEAST 30 NEW BAPTIZED BELIEVERS. TWO OF THE STUDENTS HAD DIED IN THE PROCESS.
THIS is what Jesus meant. Radical abandonment for the sake of the Gospel. Radical abandonment for the sake of living a life fully dedicated to Christ. If the people in Indonesia have placed furthering the Kingdom, no matter what the cost, at the center of their lives…..WHY HAVEN'T WE?
A man named Andrew Murray once said, "The enthusiasm for the Kingdom is missing in our churches, and that's because there is so little enthusiasm for the King." I want to challenge myself, and all of you reading this today to GET EXCITED ABOUT JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LET'S LOSE OUR LIVES FOR HIS GLORY!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us. Let's show our love and thankfulness by sacrificing for Him!
