Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Each of us here have heard the Garth Brooks song “Shameless” I am certain.

In this song he sings lyrics like, “Well, I'm shameless, when it comes to lovin' you

I'll do anything you want me to, I'll do anything at all, And I'm standin', here for all the world to see.”

Shameless means that you “have no sense of shame, incapable of disgrace.”

Simply it means that it does not matter what anyone or anything says or does, you will not be deterred by them.

You are committed and sold out for what you are doing and that is final.

People can mock and scorn and try and dissuade you, but they cannot because you are beyond their insults and assaults.

You are shameless and ready and willing to do anything needed or wanted and you are ready for the world to see because you are that committed.

That is what Jesus is teaching His disciples, and us through them, in this section.

We see that a shameless life bears rejection, it follows Jesus daily, it is a surrendered life, and it is a life well worth all that happens.

Many of us live this way with a sports team, a friend, a family member, a loved one, political affiliation and many other things.

We will become shameless for many worldly commitments and people, but we fail to do so for the Lord.

We want to call our life our own, we want to live how we feel is right, we do not want anyone telling us differently.

Think about it, we tend to disobey traffic laws regularly, we become angry if someone speaks to us in a tone we feel is inappropriate for us, we become angry if we have to do something that we did not plan on doing, we get offended when something or someone encroaches on our life and disrupts it.

This all points to we want our life to be our own and no one else mess with it.

Well Jesus has a different idea for us.

He says we must take up the cross-an emblem of shame and torture, for Him.

We must do this daily and follow Him into whatever He says.

We give our all for Him to gain everything.

We bear shame here so we can stand in glory later with Him.

This life is nothing compared to what eternity is with Him.

We are with Him and will never struggle again there.

Here though we must struggle because not everyone is Christ’s.

Many are not and that is why we must live the Shameless Life for Christ.

Christ tells us in Luke 9:23-27

In this section Christ tells us many things.

We bear rejection and shame, we follow Him regardless, we surrender to Him, and when we do it will be worth it.

First we see...

The Shameless Life Bears Rejection

Take up your cross daily.

The cross was a symbol of shame and death.

It was an embarrassment for one to carry.

When we take up the cross and deny ourselves something, that something is selfish desires and ambitions.

We take up this symbol of shame and death and willingly submit ourselves to the scorn and mockery that comes with it.

We take the pay cuts.

The abuse.

The insults, The hate that will come.

We do this because Jesus did more for us that just bear that.

He took the beatings and death for us.

We can bear a little shame and scorn daily can we not?

To live this way is to live a life sold out for the Lord.

This life “for believers today, means understanding that [we] belong to him and that [we] live to serve his purposes.

Consider this: Do you think of your relationship with God primarily in terms of what’s in it for you (which is considerable) or in terms of what you can do for him?”

(Bruce B. Barton et al., Luke, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1997), 243.)

We should seek to follow Him completely.

This means Christ’s followers must deny selfish ambitions and selfish desires to use their time and money their own way.

Following Christ is costly now, but in the long run, it is well worth the pain and effort.

(Barton, 244.)

We bear rejection and reject the world.

We deny ourselves and accept shame and scorn for the Lord if necessary.

We give everything for Him if necessary.

We do anything He wants us to and we do it with joy knowing that it is for Him we do it.

Let me ask you this, when you do something fun and exciting here and have a fun time and celebrate it well.

Like good vacations, big parties where everything flows freely, you win a big rodeo, or anything, How long does the joy from those last?

A day or two, a week, maybe if lucky a month.

But think when you deny yourself some pleasure and put that money, time, or whatever into service and you see kids growing in ability, growing in wisdom, growing in talent, or another person you helped grow in some way, doesn’t that feel good for a long time?

Yes, it does.

When we commit to doing more than something for ourselves we experience more joy than not.

Even if that comes with shame and struggle we find more joy in it than a one night or one week party.

So in denying ourselves we bear some rejection and shame but for the joy that awaits.

But to do this...

The Shameless Life Follows Jesus

We not only deny ourselves and follow Jesus into anything without shame, we do it every day.

This aspect of following Jesus is not a once a week deal.

No, it is every day.

We daily get up, grab that cross and go to the world.

We go into it with the desire to see more doing the same.

We willingly forsake other events or plans to daily follow Jesus.

Think about the disciples.

Matthew was asked to follow, he Immediately left his tax booth and followed (Matt.

9:9-13).

Peter and Andrew were called and immediately left the boats and followed Jesus (Matt.

4:18-20).

James and John were called from their fishing boats and immediately followed (Matt.

4:21-22).

Then the apostle Paul was riding to kill and imprison more Christians and was called and he immediately followed what Jesus told him to do and immediately began sharing Christ (Acts 9).

Each of these men left what they were doing and immediately followed Jesus.

They did not look back or question, they went.

They gave up a life and followed Jesus.

It is that important.

It is worth that much.

Jim Elliot was a missionary to Ecuador and to an unreached tribe there.

He was a star athlete and a highly gifted man.

He was a Christian and felt the draw to missions.

He went to this tribe because they were killing many from another tribe he had helped evangelize.

He knew the only way to stop them from killing was for them to hear Christ and believe.

He went knowing the danger, but knew this was a must.

He carried that cross there and was killed by the tribe he was evangelizing.

He said before this “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

This means he gave up his personal desires to follow Jesus because Jesus is worth everything and everything here in this world is worth nothing.

Jim Elliot died in service to the Lord but in his work many from that tribe in Ecuador have become believers.

He did an eternal work because he was willing to follow Jesus daily wherever Jesus led him.

Are you that willing or are you still hung in this world and what it offers?

If you are willing then you know that...

The Shameless Life Surrenders

Once we have seen that our life is to follow Christ daily bearing any and all shame that comes, we can surrender.

It is not a surrender before being saved but a surrender after you have been saved.

When we do this we will follow and submit to Christ for the right reason, because we love Him and desire to glorify Him in everything.

Giving up what the world offers for the Lord is surrendering to Him.

This may be giving up money because you are serving Him.

It may mean giving up a job so you can better raise your kids to glorify Him.

It may be that you don’t go on that dream trip because you need to give more to ministry so it can reach more people.