Welcome to the new year. Not sure if you have any New Year’s resolutions. If you have made some, I’d be curious to know what they are. As we kick off this new year, we wanted to kick off a new series called ‘Real Faith Disrupts’. The foundational scripture we want to use in this series is from James. I shared it with you last week.
James 1:17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless… 19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. 20 How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless? NLT
James just dropped it – doesn’t he? James says, if you claim to have faith and it doesn’t disrupt your life, demons do that too. Wow.
We want to take you on a journey to talk about how your faith in Jesus. To do that we want to ask you 12 questions for you to wrestle with. 12 questions that impact 12 areas of your life. So many people today have come up with their own ideas about faith and the ideas have nothing to do with scripture. In fact, many ideas are completely the opposite of what scripture teaches. Here are just a few.
Example 1: I have reached such a high level of spiritual maturity; I don’t need to go to church or be a part of a Christian community. Truth is, God empowered us to make the church strong. To pull away from church is the opposite of scripture.
Ephesians 4:12-14 Why is it that he gives us these special abilities to do certain things best? It is that God’s people will be equipped to do better work for him, building up the Church, the body of Christ, to a position of strength and maturity.
Example 2: When you give your life to Jesus, Jesus will bless you with health, wealth, comfort, and success. Our own real-life experience tells us this isn’t true.
Hebrews 11:38 Some died by stoning and some by being sawed in two; others were promised freedom if they would renounce their faith, then were killed with the sword. Some went about in skins of sheep and goats, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in dens and caves. They were hungry and sick and ill-treated – too good for this world. TLB
Example 3: Follow your heart. Actually, Jeremiah 17 says that the human heart is the most deceitful and desperately wicked.
Mark 1:17 Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me!” TLB
Last example: As long as you are happy, that is all that matters. Truth is, following Jesus won’t always make us happy.
Mark 8:36-37, Jesus said, “Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self.” MSG
These ideas about living out our faith may sound comforting, but they go against scripture. So, what does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? Are we supposed to believe a couple of beliefs, is that enough? Are we supposed to go to Easter services and try to be good the rest of the time? Are we supposed to put $20 in the offering, is that enough?
To start this journey, I want to take you to Luke 14 because Jesus defines what it means to be His disciple. When Jesus taught this message, Jesus was super popular. He is doing and saying things no one has heard before. People are being healed. Miracles are taking place like the feeding of the 5,000. Crowds are following Him. But Jesus knows their hearts. He knows they are following Him because of what they are getting from Him. They are not following Him to become disciples. Listen to what Jesus said.
Luke 14:25 A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, 26 “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else – your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters – yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. 27 And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. NLT
Well, that just killed the feel-good vibe. This definitely wasn’t a bring your friend to church Sunday. This would have been a real wake call because Jesus said, ‘You must carry your cross.’ And they knew exactly what Jesus was saying. When Jesus said carry your cross, Jesus was referencing people who were going to be executed by crucifixion. They had to carry their cross to the site to be killed. Jesus just put an end to the idea that following Him was easy and fun.
What was Jesus saying? Jesus was making it clear, there is a cost to be my disciple. What is the cost? Ownership. To be a disciple of Jesus means you don’t own yourself anymore, Jesus does. Why would Jesus say this when it seemed like He was popular? You would think, that if he was a good pastor trying to grow a church, he would say the things people liked and never talk about a crucifixion. What was Jesus confronting? People followed Him because they liked the excitement and what they were getting from Him. But they had no understanding of what Jesus was inviting them into.
Have you ever heard a child say, ‘You’re not the boss of me?’ That was the heart condition of the people following Him. They liked the exciting part but not the surrender part. Does that sound like today?
Let’s be honest, isn’t that how we can treat Jesus? Jesus may speak into our hearts or try to lead us to do something, and we don’t. What are we saying to Jesus when we push Him away? We are saying, ‘You’re not the boss of me.’ Why do we struggle to follow Jesus? Because we haven’t surrendered and given Jesus ownership of our lives. We think we own our lives, and we know better. So, we do what we want, when we want, how we want.
Jesus is saying, to be my disciple, you must surrender your life and give me ownership. Paul put it like this.
1 Corinthians 6:19 You do not belong to yourselves but to God; 20 he bought you for a price. So use your bodies for God’s glory. GNT
To give ownership to Jesus, I surrender all my self-seeking and all my striving to meet my selfish desires to live for Jesus. Why? I no longer belong to myself. I no longer belong to this world. I belong to Jesus.
Galatians 5:24 Those who belong to Christ have nailed their natural evil desires to his cross and crucified them there. TLB
Do you see it? I no longer belong to myself, so I am forever done with selfishness known as evil desires.
Can you imagine what would change in your relationships if you gave ownership to Jesus? If I owned myself, I enter my marriage and relationships with the question, ‘What can you do for me?’ But when I give ownership to Jesus, I enter my marriage and relationships with the question, ‘What does Jesus want me to do for them?” That changes everything.
Over the years I have met with a lot of couples nearing divorce. A few couples made it through and are in love today. Do you know what is common in each couple that finally ended in divorce? They couldn’t give ownership to Jesus. They couldn’t move from, ‘What can you do for me?’ to ‘What does Jesus want me to do for them?’
I want you to see, that when I give ownership of my life to Jesus, I don’t belong to myself, Jesus owns me.
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or anything that belongs to the world. If you love the world, you do not love the Father. 16 Everything that belongs to the world – what the sinful self desires, what people see and want, and everything in this world that people are so proud of – none of this comes from the Father; it all comes from the world. 17 The world and everything in it that people desire is passing away. GNT
Not only do I not belong to myself, but I no longer belong to this world. I am forever free from everything this world thinks is important. And when I live fully devoted to Jesus, it might cause people around me to resent or hate me for it. But that doesn’t matter, I push through because I belong to Jesus. Obviously, we aren’t encouraged to be obnoxious with others, but we are expected to love Jesus more than the opinions of others. That’s why Jesus used the language, in comparison to loving me, you should hate others. Jesus wasn’t saying you hate others but that you would love Jesus more, much more.
The culture we live in is toxic. Why? Without us realizing it, our culture can ruin our passion for Jesus. When the next new phone comes out, what do we think about and care about with passion? Our love for Jesus or people far from God? Or how to get that new phone? We live in a culture that is in the pursuit of everything but God. And to make it worse, our culture is leading us to become more and more distracted and childlike. So much is happening. We have so much information. We get so overwhelmed and the last thing we are going to do is engage life on purpose. We expect others to make everything easier for us. If we get caught up in this world, it will ruin our passion for Jesus. That’s why scripture says, if you love this word, you hate God.
When I give ownership of my life to Jesus, I don’t own me and this world doesn’t own me.
Let’s keep reading Luke 14. Jesus just said, if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:28 But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? 29 Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. 30 They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’
31 “Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? 32 And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. 33 So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. NLT
Jesus said something really interesting. Count the cost. Before you decide to be called my disciple, think it through. Why? Because it will cost you everything.
Let’s take a time out. I want to talk to people who grew up in church. One of the reasons it is so dangerous to grow up in church is that you are never challenged to count the cost before following Jesus. You know I am a ‘grow up in church’ person, but it can be dangerous. It’s so dangerous because if you aren’t careful, you can grow up in church and hear all the messages, and sing the songs, and you assume that because you know the information you are okay with Jesus. And you may not be. Remember what James said. If you believe there is one God and it doesn’t disrupt your life, demons do that too. Please hear me, if we are not careful, we can grow up in church and become lukewarm. No passion for Jesus. No passion to give Him ownership. No passion for the church or the lost. To be in that spiritual condition is terrifying.
Jesus said, before surrendering your life and giving me ownership of your life, count the cost. So here is my question for you today. Have you counted the cost to surrender and give Jesus ownership of your life? What has been your response to Jesus?
If your answer is ‘No’, Jesus isn’t the boss of me’ you may think you have gotten away with something. You may think you can cruise in life and nothing immediately bad will happen right now. But that decision will cost you more than if you would have said ‘yes’ to Jesus. Why do I say that? Because everyone, someday, will stand before God.
If your answer is, ‘Maybe, I don’t know.’ That’s a good start. Keep thinking through your answer and reach out to us if you have questions. I will warn you though, please don’t push your decision too far down the road. I know a lot of people who attend church, ignored thinking through or making this decision, and have become lukewarm. No passion for Jesus. No passion to give Him ownership. No passion for church or the lost. To be in that spiritual condition is terrifying.
If your answer is, ‘Yes’, we want you to wrestle with the next 12 questions over the next 12 weeks. We want you to wrestle with this, has my faith disrupted my life?
- What is the Bible to you?
- Has God’s grace changed how you view yourself and how you view others?
- What we trust we worship, what do you worship?
- Is following Jesus easy or hard for you?
- What is success to you?
- What is the local church to you?
- Should we care that people may go to hell?
- Where is home to you, this world or heaven?
- Do you see the needs of others?
- Can you see how others have been wounded and treat them lovingly?
- Does money serve you or do you serve it?
- Can you have courage when everything in life pushes against you?