Building on a Solid Foundation: Part 1
Sermon on the Mount: Foundations • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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/ / Well, last week we looked at a few things that can give us a focus for this year. We looked at three things that we need to be intentional about:
/ / Be around Jesus / God
This is so key. I was reading a book this last week, Streams of Living Water by Richard Foster, and he said this, / / “…the good news of the gospel, is that we enter into life in Christ as his disciple right now. It is not that we believe now, enrolling as his disciple at some later point if we are so inclined (as if it were possible to believe without being his disciple).
That is so good! He is saying that you can not become a Christian without become a disciple. There is no difference. It is not one and then the other. But when you decide to believe in Jesus, you must also make the decision to follow Jesus. It’s not just a ticket to heaven. It’s a journey on earth.
So, we need to be around Jesus.
/ / Do what Jesus said
This is two-fold. Jesus said in Matthew 16:24, / / “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.”
So this kind of connects to that first point of becoming a disciple. At the very beginning, the first instruction, “If you want to follow me, there’s a couple pre-requisites. Stop doing your own thing, let yourself die, so you can live!”
NT Wright in his commentary on Matthew says, / / “Following [Jesus] will cost you everything and give you everything. There are no half measures on this journey. It’s going to be like learning to swim: if you keep your foot on the bottom of the pool you’ll never work out how to do it. You have to lose your life to find it. What’s the use of keeping your feet on the bottom when the water gets too deep? You have the choice: swim or drown. Apparent safety, walking on the bottom, isn’t an option any longer.”
The book of James says we can’t just hear the word of God, we actually have to follow it.
There is a time to learn, there is a time to do. Jesus invites both. I’ll teach you, disciple you, but you have to leave it all behind and follow me.
/ / Engage with His Body / the church
We read Colossians 1:15-18, which after talking through the absolute supremacy of Jesus, says, / / Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body…
And so I said this, and I think it’s just got to be how we are willing and intentionally pursuing what God wants for us. If Christ is the head, and the head is what tells the body where to go and what to do; if the body is not working together, then what the head tells the body will not get done.
Let me say that another way. To fulfill all that you are in Christ Jesus you MUST be connected to other believers as the church because without them you are only a singular disconnected part of a greater body. This has to become a priority.
If being a disciple is the point, and being a witness is the eventual purpose of discipleship, then what Jesus says in John 13:34-35 is absolutely key - Jesus talking to his disciples, / / “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
So, what do we do? What does this year look like if this is going to be our focus?
Well, in 2024, we are going to deep dive into what Jesus said, so that we can do what Jesus said.
John Mark Comer says that discipleship is this:
/ / Be around Jesus
Become like Jesus
Do what Jesus did
And to do that we have to become well versed and learned in who Jesus is and what he taught, and lean into the Holy Spirit, who transforms us, so that we become like Jesus, and can do what He did.
So, for us specifically, that means over the next year we are going to focus primarily on what is called the / / Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5-7. Today we are going to look at the introduction and the conclusion of this message. We are going to talk about why it’s important, and what we are to do with it.
These chapters are a series of sayings, or topics, teachings that Jesus makes. Whether they happened in one shot, is not necessarily clear, although, it seems as you read through them that this might be the case. People advocate for either, that it’s a collection put together by the Apostle Matthew, or that it’s one linear message that Jesus gave. One of the reasons is because the book of Luke shares many of these messages as well, but not in one stretch of writing.
Honestly, that’s not hugely important. But this is the way it starts, Matthew 5:1-2, / / One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gather around him, and he began to teach them.
And then this is how it ends. Matthew 7:28-29, / / When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority - quite unlike their teachers of religious law.
The whole section is 111 verses. 2 are used as an introduction, 2 as a conclusion, and in between them, if you have a bible that puts the words of Jesus in red, there are 107 verses in red. No breaks. He saw the crowds, he went on a hillside, began to talk, when he was done they were amazed because he just taught them like no one had ever taught them before. That’s how Matthew lays it out.
Another thought I would like to make is that Jesus was teaching and ministering for roughly 3 years. John 21:25, the last verse of John’s account of the gospel says this, / / Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.
So, I might argue this. Is it possible that Jesus said the same message more than once? Maybe he preached a message in Jerusalem, then shared the same thing in Capernaum, and then by the see of Galilee, maybe once on a hillside? Is it possible that the gospel of John accounts for this fact, that Jesus ministered and taught the people that if it was all written we would be drowning in books. Just a thought.
Like I said, that’s most definitely of secondary, or third or more concern. The fact that many of these teachings are paralleled in the gospel of Luke give them an increased weight. Confirmation this is really on the heart of Jesus. In writing his gospel account, Luke says he’s done heavy research into what Jesus did because it wasn’t a first hand experience for him. So he’s writing from well researched first hand accounts.
But, as my university professors would say, “You are standing on solid ground if you take the approach that Jesus preached these messages one after another like the book of Matthew delivers it.”
Now to the important part. These chapters are the coursework on what it means to be a follower of Jesus, to live in the Kingdom of God or be a citizen of that kingdom. It’s a call for the disciples, and eventually what would become the church to live according to the values of God’s kingdom work. We can think of being a disciple in these terms. / / As disciples we are citizens of a kingdom, and as such we are meant to live under the rule of that kingdom.
The difficulty is that we live in two realities, don’t we? We live in this world, but we are also citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said in John 15:18-19, / / “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.”
This is where we get the phrase, “We are in the world but not of the world.”
And so then later he says this, in his prayer over his disciples on the night that he is betrayed - John 17:11, 14-16, / / “Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are… I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do.”
That’s power right there! Listen to the words of Jesus. You do not belong to this world any more than He does.
This is practically a clarion call to change who we are to be like him.
But like I said, we do live in this tension, that we are in the world, but not of the world. We live here, but we live under another rule. Doesn’t mean we don’t have to follow the rules here, but there is a kingdom that supersedes all else. When the pharisees tried to trap Jesus by making him look like a revolutionary, or an extremist and get him in trouble with Rome, they came to him and asked him about paying taxes. They said, / / “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
But Jesus knew their evil motives, “You hypocrites!” he said. “Why are you trying to trap me? Here, show me the coin used for the tax.” When they handed him a Roman coin, he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
“Well, then,” he said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”
What’s Jesus saying. Caesar can have your coins, but he can’t have your heart.
You can almost hear Mel Gibson as William Wallace screaming in the background, “They make take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!”
What’s it mean for us?
America can charge you taxes, but don’t give America your heart.
Politicians may promise the world, but You are already a citizen of an even greater kingdom.
Don’t be distracted by the things of this world when the things of His kingdom are of such higher value!
So, this is all the groundwork, this is the invitation. / / The Sermon on the Mount is described as a condensed description of how a citizen of the kingdom of God should live.
This is what we talked about last week, right? Be around Jesus, do what he said with the other people who are following Him too.
You can think of the Sermon on the mount a bit like a manifesto.
A / / manifesto is defined as a public declaration of policy and aims, especially one issued before an election by a political party or candidate.
Sometimes we can falsely think that Jesus doesn’t get political. And I don’t mean in today’s politics, although I take no issue with us as Christians getting involved in politics at any and to the highest levels. But what I mean is this. Jesus was absolutely political in that he came to this earth to establish and declare that a kingdom that was not of this world, had come.
So, like Foster says, it’s not a decision to believe now, and then we’ll decide later if we want to be a disciple and follow the way. Tomorrow we remember Martin Luther King Jr. and I was reading through his speech from August 28th, 1963, commonly called his, “I have a dream” speech.
I read through the transcript and took note of something interesting. Multiple times as he begins a statement with, “I have a dream…” he would also end that statement with, “I have a dream today.”
So, one of the more famous lines, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”
First, Jesus, let that be so, remove racism from the hearts of people. Holy Spirit heal our nation.
Second, this is the kind of manifesto type speech that Jesus is giving in the Sermon on the Mount. Speaking to the future, but inviting participation now. We’ll be looking more into this in the coming weeks, but Matthew 5:4, / / “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
But this isn’t just saying that some day they will be comforted. This is an invitation for today. If you follow me, this is what you can expect to both be expected to do, and also to experience…/ / today…
Now, I also said that a manifesto is a political platform laid out by a political candidate. So, is this what Jesus is doing? And some would say, “Jesus didn’t get political.” Well, he invited us to follow him to the point of death in the face of living in political tyranny.
And let’s look at the order of the book of Matthew, this is the chronology.
Chapter 1 - The Genealogy of Jesus, and his birth.
Chapter 2 - The visit by the wise men, escape to Egypt, return to Nazareth after Herod dies. And that’s all we get of Jesus’ childhood.
Chapter 3 - John the Baptist is introduced as the preparation for the Messiah - The prophet Isaiah said that one would come before Jesus. / / “He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!’” (Matthew 3:4). And Matthew 3:2 says that the message John was preaching was, / / “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”
Chapter 3 ends with Jesus being baptized by John and the heavens are opened and the Spirit of God descends on Jesus like a dove, and some or all of those there with them at the time hear a voice from heaven saying, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”
Chapter 4 - Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted.
So, up to this point we have genealogy. A very brief birth and childhood account. John the baptist and the baptism of Jesus. And His temptation in the wilderness. By the time we get to Matthew 4:12, which if your bible has titles it may say something to the effect of, “The Ministry of Jesus Begins”, Matthew 4:17 says, / / From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”
Chapter 4 ends with Jesus calling some of the disciples to follow him, and vs 25 says Large crowds followed him wherever he went. And next we are right at Chapter 5, which is the sermon on the mount.
Do you see this outline.
The lineage of all of Israel is waiting for the heir of King David to reassume His throne.
That heir, the King is born.
The King is identified.
The King outwits the main enemy of the story.
The King declares that His Kingdom is coming and is now here.
And then the King starts teaching what it’s like to live in this Kingdom.
This is the story of a king coming of age and saying to the people of his nation, “If you want to follow me into the rule and reign of my kingdom, here is what your life should look like because this is what my kingdom stands for.”
I think one of the things we suffer from in today’s society is too much elasticity. What I mean by that is that we’ve become very comfortable with objecting to the way things are done simply because we don’t like them, or they don’t fit neatly into our lifestyle, or we feel too bothered by it, so we don’t want to do it, so we reject it.
If I don’t like what you’re telling me, I can simply reject it.
And as crazy at it seems, all you need to do is walk into an elementary school and see how kids as young as 5, 6 & 7 years old talk to their teachers. For so many there is a completely lost sense of what and who is in authority in their lives.
It may seem unfair, and I struggle with this sometimes, but there are times where, “Because I said so.” is exactly the right answer to give to my ten year old when she’s arguing with me. Why? Because in her life I am the authority. And it is healthy to understand that sometimes we don’t get to know the why, we are just expected to follow. I’m not saying abuse that and use it all the time, but there is a healthy understanding of authority that we need to be teaching our children.
And unfortunately, our current society doesn’t like that. In fact, they are so put off by it that they reject it at all costs and raise their voice so loud that a minority of people can disrupt an entire event or system simply because they are willing to use their loud voices. This is ridiculous. I saw a news article that said a Canadian police chief was warning the public that people should not be posting videos of people stealing packages from their front porches because it could violate the “private life” of the alleged thief.
First of all. There’s nothing alleged about it. If I have you on camera walking off with something that is mine, that is the very definition of theft. You are a thief.
Second. How is this a violation? You are on my property, filmed by my camera, taking my item. And yet somehow I am in the wrong?
I know, it’s a ridiculous example. And I don’t want to veer from the topic at hand here, but this shows you exactly how far we are from a time where someone could and would stand up and say, “This is how this is going to work, and I am the one with authority to say so, and anything else does not work, so if you plan on doing anything other than what I’m about to describe here, you should just leave.”
And I don’t mean that in any political statement for today. I’m saying that is exactly what Jesus said. “If you want to be my follower, you must first give up everything of yourself, because what you want and how you have been thinking is in a direct contradiction to how I act and how I lead. And if you want to follow me, you’ll have to lay that stuff down so that you can actually follow me. This is the invitation to my kingdom.”
And, I called this Sermon on the Mount a sort of manifesto, although maybe that’s not even the right word for it. Because the definition manifesto including “especially one issued before an election by a political party or candidate” implies that we have some sort of a vote on the matter. Also that it’s defined as declaration of policy and aims, implies we will aim for this, but we might not get there.
Again, this is a very hard thing to reconcile with today’s society, but when Jesus begins to lay out this methodology of the Kingdom there really aren’t any ifs, ands or buts about it.
Jesus said it because he means it. He is the creator of the world and the systems they abide by, so when he says something it is as concrete as concrete can get. There isn’t any pliability to it. If Jesus says, “This is THE road to the kingdom” then there are no other roads.
Now, that doesn’t mean Jesus doesn’t have feelings, or heart. He’s not a cruel king. He’s a kind King. You can think of the words of C.S. Lewis from the Chronicles of Narnia, how he describes Aslan the lion, who is a type of Christ - “Course he isn’t safe, but he is good. He is not a tame lion.”
Jesus lays things out as they are, yet, he is kind, and inviting, and good. He does all that he can to invite us into this journey of following Him.
So, let’s look at two different stories in the ministry of Jesus that show two different ways we can approach this year as we dig into this way of living that Jesus is describing. Because there are two options - / / Acceptance or Rejection. And it might not be outright rejection. I’m not just talking about the way the world is rejecting Jesus en mass. Rejection can end up coming from some of the most sincere hearts that are actually close, but unwilling to let go. Let me explain by sharing the first of these stories.
Do you know the story of the rich young ruler? He is this guy who comes to Jesus and tells him that he wants to follow him, he wants to be his disciple. What he asks specifically is, / / “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” He’s followed all of the rules in the law. He thinks he’s good to go. But Jesus sees what is holding on to his heart, and that is his money. Not that money itself is an issue for everyone, but for this guy, it was. And so when Jesus says, “You have to leave that part behind if you want to follow me.” It’s not a word of punishment. Give it up and then I’ll give you permission. It’s a word of prophecy, “If you don’t give it up, you won’t be able to follow me because it has too much of a hold on your life. If you can’t get yourself to give that up, you won’t have your whole heart to give me, and to follow me takes your whole heart.”
And what does scripture say? Matthew 19:22, / / But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
Now, what we don’t see, that unfortunately a lot of the church world is actually giving into these days, is Jesus saying, “It’s ok, I didn’t mean it. Come back! just follow me, put a little money into the basket and support my ministry, give a bit to the poor, but you don’t have to give it all away. I would rather you follow me with your inability than not follow me at all. Just follow me a little bit.”
Nope, / / Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ll say it again - it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”
The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked.
Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”
Now, this is a huge lesson.
Ok, first things first. When Jesus says it’s easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle. He’s not talking about a needle. At the gates of the city at that time there would have been a large gate where multiple people could go through, carts, animals etc… and then there would have been a smaller door within that gate that once the gate was shut for the night, no one was allowed to come in with all of their stuff, but there was this small door just big enough to go through if a guard needed to get out, or let someone in. That was the eye of the needle. Jesus is saying, It’s easier for a 1,200 pound animal to get through a tiny door than it is for a rich person to get into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Why? Because they’re carrying too much junk in their trunk. They’re carrying too much baggage. You with your issue of holding on to your money is too big for the doorway to the Kingdom. But if you can let it go, you’ll fit through easily.
And look at how the disciples respond, “Then who in the world can be saved?”. It is clear, what Jesus describes is impossible. What hope do any of us have?
And the second big thing you need to see from this little conversation is the response that Jesus gives to his disciples.
“Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”
What’s the issue? The issue is this. The rich young ruler wanted the gift of eternal life without the burden of discipleship. He wants the good life without following Jesus. And as a result he ends up rejecting the thing he is most looking for.
That’s why I said I’m not just talking about the staunch agnostic or atheist here. This man was a devout follower of the law of Moses. He had kept it all. He was a good Jewish believer. But he was hung up on one area of his life he couldn’t see himself living without.
Now, to our second story - someone who does it right. And we’ll see how this is very different.
Let’s read a little bit from Mark 9. If you’ve been around here long enough you know that this is one of my favorite stories in the gospel accounts. And that’s probably because I so deeply identify with the story.
It’s in Mark 9:14-29, and for sake of time I won’t read the whole thing, but a father brings his son to Jesus because he’s being tormented by an evil spirit. He talks to the disciples first and they try to get rid of it, but it doesn’t leave. So he goes to Jesus and says, “Listen, I asked your disciples to heal my son, but they couldn’t.”
While they are talking the boy falls to the ground and starts convulsing. Jesus asks, “how long as his this been happening?” And the Father tells him that it happens all the time, since he was a kid, and the spirit tries to throw him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him.
And then he says this, Mark 9:22-24, / / “Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”
“What do you mean, ‘if I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”
The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
I think that might be my favorite line in the bible. I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!
So, I said there’s two paths, right? Rejection & Acceptance of the way of Jesus.
Now, what I want you to see is that this guy is probably more like me and you than the rich young ruler. This guy hasn’t got it all right. In fact, he knows it. The rich young ruler was confident he had done everything he needed to do. But this guy just isn’t sure. He’s not sure about himself. He’s not sure about Jesus.
All he knows is that he’s heard Jesus works miracles and his son needs a miracle.
Let me say this to you this morning. Maybe you’re in a place where all you’ve heard is that Jesus does miracles. Jesus is good. Jesus is the savior of the world. Jesus came that you could experience a great life. But you’re not sure. Maybe the evidence hasn’t always added up as far as you’re concerned. And now I’m here telling you we’re going to look at all of the things we are meant to do with our lives to follow the rule and way of the Kingdom of God, almost like Jesus said, “It’s my way or the highway.” and you might be thinking, “hmmm..am I convinced enough to actually give it my all?”
I wonder if the rich young ruler, although sad, was more convinced that his money could look after him than Jesus could.
“As long as I have my money, I’ll be ok. But if I don’t have my money, and this Jesus thing doesn’t work out, then I’ve got nothing.”
A lot of people want to live with one foot in, one foot out, in a lot of areas of their lives, because it seems today less and less people or systems or institutions can be trusted, so we hold back a bit. We can’t afford to be all in because if it fails us we are ruined.
The rich young ruler felt like He had everything to lose, and didn’t see Jesus as a big enough win to give that up. He didn’t see the Kingdom of God as a big enough win to let go of what was holding on to him from a human perspective.
The father, on the other hand, has nothing to lose. He’s already losing. And from the sounds of it, he’s almost lost it all. This evil spirit has thrown his son into fires and water to try and kill him. He’s beyond desperate. So when Jesus puts even the seemingly smallest thing in front of him, “All it takes is that you believe.” He responds out of his desperation and says, “You’re right! And I don’t even have that! I don’t believe enough…”
Maybe you’ve felt like this. I sure know I have. I believe. I do. I really really do. But clearly, I don’t believe enough.
Now here’s where the difference is between the rich young ruler and the father. The father gets that Jesus isn’t saying there is no way. He understands that Jesus isn’t saying it’s all on him, and if he doesn’t believe enough that there’s no hope. He gets that the person he is talking to IS the solution. That there is someone in this conversation that can fix this part of him that he can’t fix himself.
That’s where I want us to see what we need as we are going into this journey of the Sermon on the Mount, of looking at, let’s call it the expectation of Jesus for someone who says they want to be called a Christian. And again, that can get some pretty heavy flack, because people want it to be, “I said the sinner’s prayer, I’m good, I can live how I want, think how I want, do what I want…”
But, as I quoted Richard Foster earlier, “It is not that we believe now, enrolling as his disciple at some later point if we are so inclined (as if it were possible to believe without being his disciple).”
So, what do I want us to see?
I want us to see what the father saw, and what the rich young ruler didn’t.
That / / Jesus is the answer to our inability to follow.
Jesus is the solution to fix what is holding us back from truly following Him.
What if the Rich Young Ruler would have said to Jesus, “You’re right. I don’t know how I can do this. I’ve never thought of my life without money. I’ve put my whole life into this. It’s who I am. I can’t see a life without my money. I can’t see a life without my reliance on it. But, is there anything you can do to rid me of this? Can you help me?”
What do you think Jesus would have done?
Listen guys, I’m in the same spot as this guy.
So, years ago Kelley and I both used to smoke cigarettes. April 1st will be 14 years for both of us. We gave it up April 1st, 2010. But I remember before we quit, and I know she’s not here, but she wouldn’t mind me sharing this story. She has shared it before. I had quit pretty successfully a bunch of times. Obviously not too successfully, because I was smoking again. But Kelley just couldn’t seem to do it. And one of the things she kept running into was this fear of what she would be without it.
And I think that is a big question for us this year as we go into this journey through the Sermon on the Mount. We are going to be confronted with Jesus’ question, “Can you give this part of your life up to embrace what I have for you?” Can you deny yourself and follow His way?
Kelley would actually suffer from this mental image of herself in a straight jacket. She literally thought she would go crazy if she didn’t have cigarettes to fall back on. It was a source of comfort. A source of calm. It was sometimes the only reason to take a break.
But, here we are. Fourteen years later. Sure, we both still miss it at times, even though we would never go back to it.
What was that? It was the sadness in the rich young rulers face when he walked away, because he had great possessions and he just couldn’t see a life without them, even if it meant following the Messiah, the Savior of the world.
And the enemy likes to use whatever he can to get us to hold back from being all in for the sake of the Kingdom of God.
This is my very current struggle. Will I be emotionally and mentally ok if I give up certain unhealthy eating habits, because I know full well I do these things for comfort.
Y’all might think, “Dude, just do it, give up the sugar. You’ve done it before.”
1000%, you would be absolutely correct in saying that. And yet I am still left on the edge of the cliff asking, “Can I give this up?”
And I will be honest with you. That is 100% rich young ruler thinking.
Some of us have so married ourselves to what we do and who we are that we can’t see ourselves without it. The anger, the bitterness, the addiction, the “it’s not so bad to watch this” or “listen to that”. The late night binge, whether that is doritos or netflix. The uncontrolled spending of money.
Whatever it is. There is a part of us in our humanity that is desperately trying to hold on because it knows that if we give our all to Jesus it doesn’t stand a chance, but it also knows that without Jesus we can’t actually give it up, so it is doing everything it can to convince you that you need it and that Jesus can’t help you, but you have to be strong enough on your own.
100% rich young ruler thinking.
Now, father thinking, let’s call it, is completely different.
“You are absolutely right, I don’t have enough faith, I don’t believe enough. HELP ME!”
What if we took that approach this year?
It’s the beginning of the year. We know that Jesus wants to lead us toward life. That’s his promise. John 10:10, / / The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
But we know that to experience the life that the Good Shepherd wants to give his sheep we need hear his voice and follow. And as we’ve just seen, that’s not always as easy as we think. There are things that get in the way. Either things we don’t want to or can’t seem to give up, and sometimes we just don’t know what to do, don’t know what to believe, don’t know how to follow.
Just like, “I believe, but help my unbelief.” Sometimes I feel like saying, “I know, but I don’t feel like I know!” “I know what I’m supposed to do, but I don’t feel like I can do it.”
And in the same way the father said, “Help me in my unbelief” we can say, “Help my in my inability.” Help me in my untrusting. Help me in my insecurity. Help me in my questions. Help me in my lack of courage. my lack of fortitude. my lack of contentment. Jesus, you are the answer. Help me overcome what it is I can’t seem to overcome to believe and follow you like I know I should.
I am convinced that within the greatest challenges of scripture are the greatest freedoms to experience. And trust me, we will get into it this year. There will be times where this scripture, the word of God will challenge us at our core. What we believe about ourselves, what we believe about God, what we believe about the church, the bible, what it means to be a follower. And the only way through these questions will be to follow the good shepherd.
Remember what David said, Even though I walk through the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me.
This is wildly out of context, but think for a moment in this way, Even though I walk through the invitation of death to myself, I will fear no lack, for you are with me…
Because that’s the invitation Jesus makes to us. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it this way in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, “The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with His death - we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ.
When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow Him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time - death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call.”
The rich young ruler and the father had to identify the same thing. Within themselves they did not have what it would take to experience the Kingdom of God. Yet, there was someone standing in front of them who could conquer all their fears and inabilities, and lead them into that kingdom, as long as they were willing to lay down their lives to follow Him.
The way of Jesus is not always easy. The invitation is an invitation to give something up. But like N.T. Wright said, / / “Following [Jesus] will cost you everything and give you everything.”
At the beginning of this year, that is the invitation, will you follow Jesus as we truly should. Leave the idea of a separation between salvation and discipleship behind, and embrace the true invitation to follow Jesus through it all.
The Kingdom of heaven is waiting. The invitation has been made. Are we up to the challenge?