Sermon Tone Analysis

Discipleship: The Price and The Profit

Intro

Image: Loading our yard dumpster (6.2 tons) (Mar/Apr 2019)

Need: Is it worth it?

It’s hard!

Subject: Discipleship - Culmination of the Series

Main Idea: Every cost of following Jesus is infinitely worth it.

PRAY

Read (The Question)

If anyone would come after me...

If anyone would come after me...

a call to follow

“would” verb of choice

resolve to/choose to

we respond, or not

compare the cost with the value

Discipleship is costly (v 24b)

The cost of discipleship (v 24b)

Deny yourself

denial in itself is empty apart from relationship with Jesus

IMG: spiritual schizophrenia (flesh v spirit nature)

What self to deny?

Not self-abuse or looking for suffering

What is self-denial then?

Putting His Kingdom & Cause first

Do you ask what Jesus wants in this or that (or yourself?)

Take up your cross

Pillar NTC Take Up Cross quote

(not your own)

whole life belongs to Jesus

more than roommates/ingrown nails

IMG: "Paul” - Fleeing Iran/Murder of pastor/Sister’s Friends Missing

Follow me

keep following (present imperative)

AYBD Quote - obeying it exactly

whole life belongs to Jesus

- not I but Christ in me

(not your own)

Should have visible effect on priorities

Question: Do you look at least a little different from those around you who aren’t following Jesus?

Discipleship Is Worth It (v 25-28)

To try to save your life/soul (psychē) is to lose it (v 25)

IMG: sand through your fingers

the more you cling, the faster it’s lost

back to schizophrenia (which soul/life will you save?)

IMG: sand through your fingers (beach?)

What is real life anyways?

(give an answer IMG: the matrix)

What profit is there?

world vs life (v 26) [some changes/see manuscript]

CS Lewis, Weight of Glory quote

In the balances > pleasures of the world vs soul/life

Joys/Sorrows of this world pale in comparison to the next

This life is unsatisfying, but living for eternity is

This world is coming to an end.

To trade life for it is nonsense!

v 26b nothing can be traded for a soul

Future return of Jesus (v 27-28) [some changes/see manuscript]

Herman Ridderbos (Dutch theologian) quote

(transfig, death/resurrection, ascension, pentacost, establishing Kingdom/spread of gospel, return of Jesus)

(final consummation), but where are we currently?

IMG: water slide (we’re part way down)

Final return & repayment (judgement)

For believers, after suffering comes Glory!

IMG: Waiting for a UPS package - Nothing else seems to matter

Did you commit yourself to Jesus, or to serving yourself?

IMG: Keller, ‘ought to’ recorder judgement

Application/What Now?

What area(s) of life have you not submitted to Jesus’ authority?

Pray to repent and give them to Him

If you aren’t able to, take that to Him instead and ask for help

Commit to whole-life discipleship

Thanksgiving - Thank for the Glory that awaits us who follow Him

Conclusion

Manuscript:

Discipleship: The Price and the Profit

Alyssa and I bought our first home back in August of 2018.

When we originally looked at the house, we noticed there were several things that would need to be fixed or dealt with when we moved in.

Some things were minor, like light fixtures that didn’t work, but others seemed like a bigger job.

For example, in the back yard there was a shed that had fallen in such disrepair that it was a safety hazard.

Other than looking like it could fall over at any point, there was a bunch of junk in and around it.

Everything from fencing materials, to truck tires, to a broken glass door, and a rusty basketball hoop.

So when spring 2019 rolled around, we rented a roll-away dumpster from the city and I began to clear out the junk.

I was really excited for the clean back yard, and so the amount of work it would take seemed worth it to me.

At least, it did in the beginning.

After moving roughly a ton (literally 2,000 lbs) of the junk out of the yard, it barely looked like I had even scratched the surface, and I started to feel like I might regret taking on this task.

I started wondering, “Is this really worth it?

Probably the kids wouldn’t actually impale themselves on anything.

We could just tell them to stay away from the trash heap, right?”

Thankfully, I realized the wisdom in just continuing with the next wheelbarrow-full, and mercifully, around 12,420 lbs later (6.21 metric tons), I had filled the 30 cubic yard dumpster, and the yard was unrecognizable from before I had started.

But all along the way, I had to really test that question of if it was really worth it.

If you’ve never taken on your own ill-advised ‘haul-away’ project, good for you.

But I’m willing to bet that God has put each of us in circumstances that have pushed us to the breaking point, where we don’t know how we’ll be able to go on.

With finals looming, maybe you’re there right now.

Regardless, in those moments, you might find yourself wondering if it’s all worth it.

If so, you’re in good company, as many psalms show candid calls of frustration and desperation from believers in hard times.

We all need reminders to help us answer the question, “Is it really worth it?

Is it worth the suffering to follow Jesus?

Can I keep going on?”

In light of this, the subject that we’ll be looking at this morning is discipleship.