Word of Salvation – Vol. 36 No. 11 – March 1991

 

All Or Nothing

 

Sermon by Rev. S. Bajema on Luke 14:25-27

Reading: Mathew 19:16-30

 

Fellow saints…

We’re on our way to Jerusalem.  Yes, we’re in among the huge crowd that’s following Jesus.  It’s a very exciting time.  Jesus has been performing many miracles, and healing literally hundreds upon the way.  And it’s not just what He does that holds our attention.  He tells us very perceptive stories about human nature.  He calls them parables.  They hold our attention in a way that’s hard to describe.  And He has that presence about Him.  It’s a dynamic and charismatic leadership.  He has energy, and He has authority to go with that energy.  He fears no one – not even those learned Pharisees and Sadducees.  In fact, they have crumbled away under His wisdom and logic.  They have become scared of His arguments.  And we’re travelling now to Jerusalem.  Jesus has said that is where He must go.  Of course He has been there several times before.

But this time He says that it will bring about a special end.  Yes, we’re travelling along quite comfortably.  Suddenly, though, Jesus turns around and says to us:
            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.

For many of those people, like the one just described, this statement from Jesus would have been a hard one.  The time so far with Jesus had been an easy and exciting path.  Yet now Jesus says that this way wouldn’t continue.  And He pictures this contrast in quite graphic details for those around.  He does this because it’s what is required for a true traveller to the cross with Him.  And as we continue our lead-up up to Easter it’s essential that we too realise what our Lord expects of us.  To be honest, it’s a message we don’t really want to hear.  We would rather, like most of the crowd, have the easy path of before.  But our text is reality for the Christian in this sinful world.  There are no flowery beds of ease upon which we can be wafted up into heaven.

Instead, there is before each one of us the word of our text.  In considering our text we’ll note three parts to what Jesus is spelling out here.

            In the First place there is the laying aside of our closest loves.
            Secondly, there is taking up our cross and…
            Thirdly, the following of our Lord
                        as He goes to that bitter and humiliating end that is awaiting Him.

Firstly, then, there is the laying aside of our closest loves.

As Jesus said in verse 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.

Indeed, a hard message!  And one that we have difficulty with.  Why hate!

What does Jesus mean here when He says we are to hate those closest relatives to us?

Does He mean that we should literally detest those who are nearest to us?

To help us understand what Jesus means here, we find its equivalent passage in Matthew 10 of great benefit.

There our Lord says:
            Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

So the word hate means to love less.

It means that as disciples of Christ we give our first loyalty to the Master.

A good illustration of this is that first Scripture Reading we had.  There we read together about the rich young ruler.  Initially we get a good impression of this young man.  He obeys the commandments.  He doesn’t steal, or murder, or lie, or commit adultery.  He respects his parents, and he loves his neighbour as himself.

But, in spite of all these, he still has something blocking His path of devotion to Jesus.

As Jesus so pointedly told him:

If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me.

His money was his love.  That was the object he could not love less than Jesus.  Because of this, that man was not a true disciple.  What, then, is a true disciple?

A true disciple is one who does His Master’s bidding.

He doesn’t even think of his own life – only that which His Lord requires of Him.  In our very selfish, me-centred age, the idea of doing someone else’s wishes doesn’t go down well.  That’s seen as impinging upon our freedom upon our rights!

Yet as Christians the only freedom we have is in Christ.  The only rights we have are those secured for us by Him.

Is there something, fellow believer, that causes you to stumble in your walk with the Lord?  What particular thing is there that’s stopping you from fully preparing for Easter?  Could it be your own busyness?  You don’t seem to find the time for the Lord and for His Word; there are so many other things to do.  You’re such an important person needed, it seems, everywhere!

But what importance is there without Jesus?  Or, perhaps it’s an unhealthy relationship that you are involved in.  You’re doing things that you know very well to be wrong.  Stop!  Turn around!

If you want to be perfect, go, put away your sin, and you will have treasure in heaven.

As our Lord put it in John 12:

The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

And in laying aside our closest love we find that we must straight-away take up something else.  This thing that we are to take up is our cross.  We may also have difficulty understanding this.  Was there not, after all, only one man who could rightfully take up the cross, and die upon that tree for us all?

And wasn’t that special man the unique God-man – Christ Jesus, our Lord and Saviour?

All this is very true.

But it’s not the point of our text.

And what is also a wrong idea of bearing our crosses here is that we passively submit to all kinds of afflictions like disappointments, pain, sickness and grief.

Rather, as we look at our text, we must ask the question that’s relevant for all of Scripture: What does it mean to those whom Jesus spoke to?  What did that crowd think when they were told that to be a disciple each one had to carry his own cross?  Did they think that all it involved was going through a few rough patches and then everything would be fine?

No!

For the original hearer it meant a total rejection of oneself.

They knew from Deuteronomy that he who was hung upon a tree was cursed by God.  Jesus hits right to the heart of the matter.  There’s no beating around the bush with Him!  We’re told, quite bluntly, what we should be doing, and how we go about doing it.

Paul further develops this in Colossians 3:

You must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.  Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self which is being renewed in the image of its Creator.

As we see from Paul this putting on is not a once-for-all action.

That was only, and could only, be done by Christ in His ultimate sacrifice upon Calvary’s cross.

But the reference here is for us to do our everyday taking up of our cross.

Earlier in Luke Christ is quoted:

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Each new day we are to give ourselves totally to our Master’s will.  Whatever situation we may be in, wherever we are, and whoever we may be with, we are not to seek what suits us.

Rather, we are to do what He requires!  No more the looking after No.1.  No more.  You do your things and I’ll do my thing!  And no more putting aside the true love of our lives!  Instead, Christ is the lamp to my feet, and a light for my path.

Thus we come to our third point.  We are to follow Jesus.  No more for us those distorted lights that this world tries to offer us.  We’re going to use that good strong light to follow the right path.  Every day again I’m going to let God’s Word light up my path.

This is, after all, the only correct conclusion to our having laid aside our old loves, and our having taken upon ourselves the cross of complete self-dedication to Christ.

Nothing less is acceptable!

Yes, we can take much comfort in the fact that He who calls is faithful, and He will bring us through.  He will preserve His saints.  But, there’s always our responsibility.  We have to follow in our Master’s footsteps.  And those footsteps are clear enough.

Scripture, as the word of our Lord Himself, tells us of these footsteps.

And as we apply the word to our lives in true faith, God’s Spirit will guide us and strengthen us.

It’s not long to go, Church of our Lord Jesus Christ!  As pilgrims we will reach the celestial city.

Later in Luke we hear this wonderful promise from the Lord:

I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or wife, or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.

A beautiful assurance…!

In keeping to God’s covenant we will be blessed!

Yes, even now, you will be enriched as you commit yourself totally to the Lord’s will.

Mind you, this doesn’t mean that we should all drop everything and go off to the Theological College!

For some of us that may be the case.

But, overall, what each of us will see is, that in my life now, whatever it is I’m doing, I can and will glorify God as I follow my Lord and Saviour and do everything I do for Him.

He has cleared the way ahead for us.

He has gone before us, and so can guide us through His Spirit.

And as we continue upon our walk to Easter, and remember again Christ’s atoning death, we are to come prepared; prepared to learn.  Perhaps to be gripped and changed by that stupendous sacrifice which Christ brought for us.

Yes, we must know that His death was our death, and that His life is now the source for our true living.

AMEN