Folks, today I want to talk about some of the most mysterious words Jesus every said . . . and much like last week where we saw Jesus challenge the religious authorities of the day by what He did . . . This week we’ll see that some of the things He said . . . were not what people expected Him to say either . . .
In fact some of the things He said . . . are exactly the opposite of what we might think He would say . . . and to be honest – what I’m gonna read you today are among the harshest and strongest words of His entire life . . .
They’re words that ring with truth but they cut right to the heart of our lives . . . and to the heart of our faith . . . so . . . here goes . . . but be careful . . . because naivety lost cannot be regained . . . If you take this to heart – your life will never be the same. In fact – if I’m gonna be honest – I had a really rough time, this week, putting this message together . . . because I don’t always like to hear everything that Jesus said . . . His words are full of truth but they also pack a powerful punch . . .
ALL IN
Luke 14:25-33 (NLT)
Great crowds were following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, "If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And you cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me.
"But don't begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first getting estimates and then checking to see if there is enough money to pay the bills? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of funds.
"Or what king would ever dream of going to war without first sitting down with his counsellors and discussing whether his army of ten thousand is strong enough to defeat the twenty thousand soldiers who are marching against him? Jesus makes the comparison count the cost . . . So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me. Luke 14:33 (NLT)
Again . . . one of the crazy things that was happening right at this point in Jesus ministry was that He had become incredibly popular. People were simply all about Jesus . . . and literally 1000’s of people followed Him from place to place . . . to see what He was doing, . . . . . . and to hear what He was saying . . . People would walk all day just to be near Him and they would go without food just to hear another hour of His teaching it really is quite amazing when you read it . . . People were just enthralled with Jesus . . . and that was great . . . but you know what? Jesus saw a few warning signs that came with those crowds and in all the hype surrounding Him . . . He saw some red flags . . . see . . . He knew that enthusiasm without understanding meant nothing . . . and He knew that big crowds of people did not necessarily mean long lasting individual life change . . . and He knew that just because someone would miss a meal to hear Him, did not mean they would spend the rest of their days living by faith . . . and so again In what seems to be some pretty harsh words – Jesus attempts to thin out the crowd by getting them to think through their enthusiasm and to ponder their motivation for following Him . . .
It was like He was saying, . . . why are you here? And do you know what it’s gonna cost you to build this life of faith that I’m talking about? . . . And do you have any idea what it means to engage that kinda faith over a life time? . . .
Jesus was always quick to point out to the crowds . . . . . . that following Him was not just an add on to their life . . .but it was a complete transformation He called them to . . . And He drove that home with these hard hitting all or nothing kinda statements.
. . . Let me read a few of them for you . . . Luke 9:57-62 . . .
You can tell He wasn’t running for an election . . . But why so harsh and why right when the crowds were with Him . . . and what was He trying to get at?
I personally think Jesus wanted to make sure that people understood that the life of faith He was describing did not have any compartments in it it wasn’t an add to – it was an ALL IN . . . Let me describe this a bit . . .
Sometimes you and I as human beings want to divide up our lives into nice neat – tidy areas . . . compartments . . . and we also want our faith to be one of these nice neat tidy compartments . . . kinda like the drawers of a filing cabinet – everything’s got a place – and its all separate . . . check this out . . . This is how we picture life somehow . . .
First drawer: spiritual life – This is when I go to church, when I’m involved in a small group . . . This is my Christian life . . .
Second drawer: my work life – I mean, a guy has gotta have a real life after all. You can’t be a good church guy all the time . . . so at work I’ll be a different person . . . because it’s a different compartment
Third drawer: my social life and we think . . . – When I go out with friends or whatever, . . . . . . I can do what I want. My actions and relationships are for me and I’ll be a different person here (than I am up here) . . . and on and on – home compartment – money compartment . . . church . . . work . . . social . . .
And so . . . we compartmentalize our lives so nothing is overlapping . . . And Jesus said . . . wait a minute . . . when it comes to faith . . . our life is supposed to be integrated – it’s ALL IN or nothing – and there is no in-between . . .
Now, here’s what happens when our lives are compartmentalized spiritually . . . . . . we can think we’re experiencing spiritual breakthroughs when we’re in church sometimes . . . or when we have a once or twice a month spiritual experience. But instead, . . . what’s actually happening is that we’re experiencing spiritual breakdown. . . . Let me explain . . . Because what happens is this: say you make a decision this weekend – you’re convicted by this stuff . . . so you make a decision to follow God completely . . . but when you go to work Monday morning . . . the you at work has no intention of following through with a commitment that the you at church made on the weekend . . . That’s why some Christ followers think they can justify things like extra-marital affairs . . . because their lives are compartmentalized.
That’s why some Christians justify stealing from their employer . . . or why some Christians business people treat their employees wrongly . . .or why some people say they follow Jesus Christ . . . yet when they live their lives at work, they go completely against the teachings and principles of Jesus. And what happens? As long as the profits go up, usually no one says a word . . .
Folks, we can compartmentalize our worlds so much that God simply has no place left in most areas of our lives <repeat>.
And Jesus said that’s not the way to live . . . instead, we must integrate faith into every aspect – every corner of our lives . . . we gotta let Him shine more and more brightly . . . into more and more areas for our lives . . .
Folks, keeping Jesus in one drawer is why the world is in trouble today. I believe that . . . and that’s why there’s so much confusion and conflict in our culture today . . .people are looking for a set of values to follow and live by. And they can’t find them . . . or . . . they can’t understand them when they do find them . . . . . . and I think our culture can’t see Jesus . . . mostly . . . because often we as Christ followers have compromised our values and are not sold out completely to God . . . . . . and so we don’t give a clear picture to the culture of what it means to be ALL IN for Jesus.
Jesus said count the cost of what following Him would be . . . . . . because it can’t be just an add on – to your life . . . He said I won’t be just a compartment – that doesn’t work . . .
One of the reality shows that’s growing in popularity is Poker T.V. – guys play poker and it’s on T.V. – That’s it – now . . . some would call it a sporting event because it has a play by play guy . . . and it is kinda interesting to watch . . . They bluff and risk and fold and bet . . .and it’s live on T.V> and they’re playing for 1000’s of dollars . . . Well the best part is when someone has a hand that they think is great and they want to challenge the other players to the max . . . so they go ALL IN – all their chips get bet (in one shot) and it’s a do or die kinda situation . . . and some of the players – (one guy in particular I watched the other night) stands up – takes a moment . . . . . . and then in a huge act of intimidation leans forward and says – I’m ALL IN – and slowly pushes all his chips to the centre . . . and the ante gets upped hugely . . . and suddenly to play in that game – the stakes are higher – the commitment level is more significant . . . . . . so much so that most players will fold their cards under the pressure . . .
Jesus said no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me – It’s not about compartments . . . and pieces of faith . . . . . and it’s not about an add to . . . . . . Jesus doesn’t ask us to add Him to the rest of our lives . . . He says, “I’m ALL IN – are you?” And then He says before you say you’re ALL IN . . . count the cost of that . . .
Let me read you another story from Jesus life . . . story of the rich young ruler . . .
Luke 18 : 18, 20 – 23 (NLT)
Once a religious leader asked Jesus this question: "Good teacher, what should I do to get eternal life?" And Jesus said . . . you know the commandments: `Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not lie. Honor your father and mother.' " The man replied, "I've obeyed all these commandments since I was a child."
"There is still one thing you lack," Jesus said. "Sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me." But when the man heard this, he became sad because he was very rich.
Folks, here’s the end hard principle Jesus calls us to . . . . . . He says,
in order to be ALL IN you have to be willing to LET GO of everything . . . Really . . . all the religious leader in this story wanted, was a bit of reassurance in his heart about what would happen when He died . . . so he asked Jesus to measure his life . . . and give him a grade about whether his qualifications would get him into heaven . . . and Jesus said, . . . you’ve certainly lined up your life religiously . . . and you’ve tried hard at this whole keep the rules thing . . . . . . but I still don’t think your ALL IN . . . your holding on to something that’s holding you back . . . and so Jesus called his bluff . . . See, Jesus knew that this man’s money made his life comfortable . . . . . . and gave him power and position and prestige in that culture . . . and Jesus knew that his money was the one thing that he kept a pretty tight grip on . . . as his security – and maybe even his identity was caught up in money . . . certainly at the very least it was a compartment that he hadn’t let faith enter – a compartment he had kept away from God . . . . . . . And so Jesus put his finger on it and said . . . If you really want to follow me . . . LET GO . . . of that one thing . . . be ALL IN and then watch what happens to your faith . . . . . . (wait) And you know what? He says the same thing to us . . . He says – I’m asking you to follow me completely – ALL IN – but to be ALL IN you’ve gotta LET GO . . . . . . and notice what the bible says how the story ends . . . “the man walked away very sad – because he was very rich . . .” . . . . . . wow . . .
Now (hear this) – Jesus isn’t telling all of us to sell off everything we own . . . and that is somehow the key to our spiritual lives . . .no . . . it’s not about money Jesus said . . . it’s about what you’re holding on to . . . that comes before your faith.
So let me ask you very obvious question . . . What one thing are you holding on to that is stopping you from being ALL IN ? . . . . . . and can you name it? Lots of us hold onto things like say . . . comfort and pleasure . . . and we say . . . . . . I’m not willing to give it up . . . . . . – I’m not willing to give up my time or my evenings or my social calendar or my wide screen or my cabin or my . . . whatever . . . . . . .you pick it . . . to follow Jesus . . . But folks often, our leisure and our comfort and our pleasure seeking is something we hold onto pretty tightly . . . Often to the point where it becomes God to us . . . . . . and over time . . . . . . It becomes what defines us, and it defines what is security for us . . . and Jesus would say – check your spirit on that . . . Is your comfort and pleasure more valuable to you than your soul? . . . . . . (wait)
Lots of us hold onto things like position as well . . .and we say, my career, or my salary, or the company that I’ve built . . . . . . or my place on that board, or that spot I carry in the public eye is what is the highest priority to me – I’ve gotta hold on to that no matter what . . . . . . and Jesus can put His finger on my position if He likes, but I’m not gonna let it go . . . and as soon as we say that – our position . . . or our career . . . or our company . . . becomes God to us . . . and our soul takes a back seat to our climbing the corporate ladder . .
Have you ever thought about this stuff? . . . . . . Jesus said, to follow Him means to place Him in the driver’s seat of our lives . . . – and to let Him fully lead our lives . . . Following Him is a choice to put Jesus first:
- above ($) money That’s what Jesus was saying . . .
- above position to be ALL IN . . . you’ve got to be
- above power willing to LET GO . . . It’s not a real
- above family deal unless you’re will to LET GO . .
- above pleasure
- above our schedules
You know folks . . . there are certain times of clarity that come into our lives spiritually when Jesus kinda puts His finger on one of our life compartments and forces us to make some decisions . . . and to choose what we value in life . . .
One of those moments happened for me when I was 18 years old . . . And I remember the day with great clarity . . . . because on that day I made a choice . . . and for me that choice marked the rest of my life . . . That day I decided to follow Jesus ALL IN . . . with everything I had . . . and I decided on that day that I was willing to leave everything else available to me in life . . in order to follow Him . . . I LET GO . . . and I knew right in that moment that that decision would mean giving the very best years of my life to lead in the church . . . It was just a clear day where I knew that following Him would mean – less of lots of other stuff . . . and it’s a day I’ve never regretted . . . . . mostly because it lead me here . . . . . . now, . . . . . . every once in a while we need a tune-up spiritually, or a priority gut check from God, . . . to see if we’re still ALL In or if we’re holding back . . . . . . . and not letting go . . . Because life has this way (especially in North America) of sucking us into a place that we never planned to be in . . . see . . . if you take time to analyze
it . . . . . . life in North America calls out to us with a different voice than God’s . . . . and it says. . . . “live in comfort, . . . and make lots of $ for yourself, . . . and get whatever you want when you want it . . . seek pleasure at any cost” . . . (this culture is all about position and power and leverage and self orientation) . . . “I’ll do what I want when I want to do it . . .” And Jesus said . . . . . .That’s not how the spiritual life works . . . He said . . . if you want to follow me . . . the way up is down . . . . . . humility is what creates greatness . . . . and if you want to follow me, the way to find life is to let go of it . . . and the way to find fulfillment is not by pursuing every pleasure this world has to offer . . . it’s to pursue Jesus – only -
Anyway – once in a while we need a gut check spiritually and 2 weeks ago I had a chance to do that – Kelowna, BC. Spent 2 days with 13 other Senior Pastors from some of the best churches in Canada – and as is almost always the case – I was one of the youngest there . . . and most of the guys were 10 – 15 years older than me . . . and I gotta admit – We talked about lots of stuff . . . but if I’m to be honest . . . I wasn’t listening to much of it . . . because it was like Jesus was talking right at me for 2 days straight . . . . . . .
and it was gut check time . . . and His question was simple . . . What is gonna be the priority of your life in this next decade or so Dean? . . . . . . . .Take a look at those other guys . . . (who are older than you) and ask yourself what your faith is gonna look like 12 years from now . . . and what’s gonna be the top priority? $? Leisure? Position? Power? Pleasure? . . . Or Dean . . . is it enough for you to just follow me . . . . . . . . and it’s crazy – but I knew, just like when I was 18, I knew I had to make a choice . . . 2 weeks ago . . .
Am I ALL In – or am I gonna hold on to something and not let go . . .
FIND LIFE
In Luke 9:23 Jesus said this, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross daily, and follow me.” . . . Folks its simple what Jesus was saying - simple but not easy . . .
Following Jesus means putting our selfish ambitions aside . . . and taking up His cross . . . allowing His life to become ours . . . to allow His power and ambition to over take our . . . . . . power and ambition . . . and you know . . . as we get closer to Easter, I think you’ll get a clearer picture of what Jesus was really saying here when He said . . . take up your cross . . . In that culture . . . carrying your cross meant shouldering it all the way to the place of crucifixion . . . (to be identified with Christ even till death) . . . it was high stakes commitment that Jesus talked about . . . but then look at verse 24 & 25
“If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process?”
Folks, these is another level to life that I believe most of us are unaware of . . . Jesus said true life – real life – abundant life comes when we give up . . . . . . more and better life happens when we give up our lives to
Him . . . . – and Jesus said this paradox is very real . . . . . . that if we try to control and grasp as tightly as we can to this world and to this life . . . we’ll loose our very soul . . . That it’s in the very pursuit of this life, that we can lose eternal life . . . . . . . . . But, (Jesus said) . . . if you give up your life . . . you will find your soul and that it’s in this giving, that we find the only real and true life that only Jesus can offer . . . . . . and so it seems there is a whole other level, there is another realm to the spiritual life that Jesus calls us to . . . (and catch this part) not everybody hears the call . . . I think personally it’s kina of a 80/20 thing – (you know that rule that says 80% of most things get done by 20% of the people) . . .
Examples: 20% of the people own 80% of the wealth
20% of your work takes 80% of your time
80% of sales comes from 20% of your sales staff
80% of $-money we raise comes from 20% of our people
Well I think Jesus knew that not everybody would hear this (hard stuff – He was saying) and be able to handle it . . . . . . and maybe it’s as high as
80% (that wouldn’t hear it . . . ) . . . but He needed the few (and maybe it’s only 20%) to understand that if you want to really see the true life Jesus offers – then a complete giving of your life is what is needed . . . and I need to tell you the truth that if you want to live life to the highest capacity and if you want to find the most fulfillment possible and if you want soul expansion beyond your comprehension . . . if you want more – and better life . . .then jump in with both feet – go ALL IN when you follow Jesus . . .
And just to put a little more emphasis on this deal . . . I want you hear why I’m ALL IN . . . why I re-worked that decision a couple weeks ago in Kelowna.
I’m all in because I want to be part of something that’s gonna last forever . . . . . . I want my life to count for eternity . . . and I want to be part of something that’s gonna change the world . . . and very simply . . . I believe Jesus plan to save the world is just the best one I’ve ever seen . . . Jesus
said . . . I’m gonna give up my life for this world . . . I’m gonna go ALL IN . . . and because I give my life . . . every individual person in all of history will have a chance to have their life changed and their sins forgiven and their souls expanded . . . And He said . . .then I’m gonna ask those individuals whose lives have been changed to shine brightly the light I’ve given them – to the world around them . . . by living a life of radical love and grace and commitment.
Folks, I need to tell you that Jesus is changing the world 1 person at a time – 1 life at a time – 1 should transformation at a time . . . And I just want to be part of that eternal thing He’s doing . . . . . .I can’t imagine anything more important than that . . . I mean – doesn’t everything else just pale in comparison to being part of something that’s gonna change people forever?
- ($) money – no way
- position
- power
- possessions
- pleasure
- self-gratification
It all comes in a distant 2nd. Folks, the life Jesus calls us to is the only one that’s’ gonna last forever . . . and it’s the only one that’s really worth giving your life to . . .
So . . . I just wanted to publicly say – I’m ALL IN . . .and I’m gonna ask you to go ALL IN to . . . because when we go ALL IN and when we LET GO of everything else . . . that’s where we find real life. |
