Printer Friendly VersionOur world has become a very complex, rather complicated place
to live. So many choices! So many things have changed in your lifetime.
1. When I was in high school in the late 60’s /early 70’s,
there were four basic groups of people: (1) jocks/(2) brains/ (3) block (4)
prep. Now, observes Leonard Sweet in his book Soultsunami, “no one group
is in anymore; groups have demassified into affinity communities. Besides
the jocks, there are now bands, blacks, blonds, brains, computer geeks, crews,
dorks, druggies, floaters, FOB’s (fresh off the boat), friendlies, groovies,
hippies, loser, needs, nobodies, normals, overly violent, partiers, place
freaks, pom-poms, rappers, richies, herd-bangers, scumbags, snobs, stoners,
tides, trendies, wannabes, wavers, weirdes, and yuppies. Complicated!
2. And back when I was in high school, food choices were a lot
easier too. At my house, you had two choices: take it or leave it. Monday
night was spaghetti, Tuesday – hamburgers; Wednesday – salmon cakes,
Thursday – pot pie, Friday – stew; Saturday – leftovers and
Sunday – roast beef and veggies. Wow!
There was an amusing Reader’s Digest article not too long
ago about a man visiting a restaurant with his wife, to be greeted with the
pleasantry, “Would you like to sit by the window, the balcony, or in
the back?” When the waiter appears, the diner is asked, “Would you
like your water with ice, without ice, sparkling water, or water with lemon?”
The list of appetizers takes a page, the entrees four pages. And then when
you order something like a potato, will it be baked, mashed, boiled red, or
french fries? Baked? Then with chives, sour cream, butter, plain, with cheese,
with broccoli? The story goes on to document how the man’s enjoyment
of the meal vanishes in the confounding number or choices he is forced to
endure in the course of getting through one simple meal.
Finally, after the waiter asks him for one more decision, the
diner loses his cool and challenges the waiter to a fight–only to be
asked if he’d like to fight at the table or in the lobby or would he
rather step outside.
Nothing is simple anymore. Too many options. Too many choices.
3. Back in Hollywood, Maryland, you had options on Sunday morning:
St. John’s Catholic, Hollywood Methodist, Hollywood Nazarene or be a
bedside Baptist. Now? We’ve moved from church hopping to church shopping!
4. People are absolutely desperate for simplicity. The “complexity
catastrophe” has left a whole generation of people longing for less,
confused, frustrated with information overload, too many choices.
5. Good news! The choice concerning Jesus of Nazareth is a simple,
uncomplicated one. It’s not easy, but it is simple. Turn with me to Mark
8:27-30. (stand and read)
6. Here are your choices concerning Jesus: He is either the
Christ, the Son of the Living God or He is not.
7. C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity , wrote: “A man who
was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great
moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with man who
says he is a poached egg – or he would be the Devil of Hell. You must
make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Christ, the Son of God;
or else a madman or something worse.” You can shut Him up for a fool!
Or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come
with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great teacher or prophet.
He has not left that open to us.”
8. Peter made his choice. We call it his great confession: “You
are the Christ.” Have you made your choice? It’s a simple one. Yes
or no! No means death. Yes means life. Choose life. Choose Christ.
We are going to sing our testimony, our confession concerning
Christ for the next several minutes. If at anytime you should choose to leave
your seat and come to the front and make your choice for Christ, the altar
is open. We will pray with you. Choose ye this day who you will serve. Confess
Jesus as Lord and Christ.
“The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your
heart. That is the word of faith we are proclaiming: If you confess with your
mouth “Jesus Is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised
him form the dead, you will be saved.”
It’s as simple as that !
Once again, let’s examine Mark 8:34 – “Jesus
called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: If anyone would
come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
Once again, I want to remind you of the requirements of Christian
discipleship.
I. Self-Denial . Eugene Peterson translates 8:34 in this way:
“Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. Self-help is
no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your
true self.” Christian discipleship requires saying no to self-centeredness;
taking self off the throne and putting Jesus at the controls of your life.
The captain of the ship looked into the dark night and saw faint
lights in the distance. Immediately he told his signalman to send a message:
“Alter your course 10 degrees north.”
The captain was angered; his command had been ignored. So he
sent a second message: “Alter your course 10 degrees south – I am
the captain!”
Soon another message was received: “Alter your course 10
degrees north – I am seaman third class Jones.”
Immediately the captain sent a third message, knowing the fear
it would evoke: “Alter your course 10 degrees south – I am a battleship.”
Then the reply came: “Alter your course 10 degrees north—I
am a lighthouse.”
To be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to alter the course of your
life and give Jesus the controls. That requires the denial of your right to
self-determination.
II. The Second Requirement of Christian Discipleship. A cross-centered
life; a cross-style existence. Pascal spirituality has four characteristics:
(1.) Obedience to the Father. Jesus went to the cross because
it was the Father’s will that He do so. At Gethsemane, Jesus prayed:
“Not my will but your will be done.” That is the theological foundation
of a cross-style life.
(2.) Total sacrifice. Jesus gave His life as a ransom for many.
Jesus asked His disciples to make the same kind of sacrifice. Paul described
it like this: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s
mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God
– this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Romans 12:1)
(3) Agape love. It was obedience to the Father that got Him
there. It was His great love for us that kept Him there. Calvary proves how
much Jesus loves us. I asked Jesus how much He loved me. He said “This
much” and He spread out his arms and died. John wrote: “This is
how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought
to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions
and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God
be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions
and in truth. (I John 3:16-18)
(4) Hope. Jesus said: Yes, it’s true, I will suffer many
things and be rejected by the elders chief priests and teachers of the law.
.and I must be killed. .but after three days I will rise again. (Mark 8:31)
It’s true. A cross-style life is tough but it is made bearable by the
hope of the resurrection the Lord has put within each of His disciples.
I’m reminded of a story I read about a little boy who was
gravely ill. His mother tried to comfort him by promising him that she was
going to heaven too and that, after Jesus, he would be the first person she
would look for. He smiled and said: “Mom. When I die, please dress me
in red.”
“Okay. Why?”
“Well, I will be playing with a bunch of other kids and
when you get there . I want to be sure you can find me.” (Cindy Dee Holms.
3rd Serving of Chicken Soup. p.177)
Hope. Several times over the last six weeks my dad has knocked
on death’s door. It’s been hard but all along I detected a little
hope virus deep down in my soul. Even if dad does go home, I will see him
again. Hope is what makes life bearable. When you get to heaven, look me up.
III. The Third Requirement Of Christian Discipleship: Following
Jesus.
1. Jesus said : “If anyone would come after me, he must
deny himself take up his cross and follow me.”
2. Christian discipleship requires that we imitate Jesus life
. .”We are to look to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”
(Hebrews 12:2) Richard foster writes: “We are, to be sure, reconciled
to God by Jesus death, but even more, we are saved by his life – saved
in the sense of entering into his eternal kind of life, not just in some distant
heaven but right now in the midst of our broken and sorrowful world. When
we carefully consider how Jesus lived while among us in the flesh, we learn
how we are to live – truly live. . .an intentional imitatio Christi-imitation
of Christ. .walking in his steps.” (Foster – Streams. p.3) Peter
said: “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving
you an example, that you should follow in his steps. (I Peter 2:21)
3. Down through the history of the Christian church, Jesus ’
disciples have tried to understand how we are to imitate Jesus ’ life.
Different faith traditions (or living streams, as Foster calls them) describe
the Imitatio Christi using similar but different emphasis. Foster writes that
five basic streams or traditions can be identified throughout the history
of Christianity. Each is rooted in scripture. Each stream/tradition has its
heroes but all reflect a desire to imitate Christ and become Christ-like.
(1) The Contemplative Stream stresses intimacy with God through
prayer and meditation. This tradition’s heroes have included John the
Apostle, Anthony of Egypt, Julian of Norwich and most recently, Thomas Kelly
and Henri Nouwen. This tradition stresses the prayer-filled life. We are most
like Jesus when we pray.
(2) The Charismatic Stream stresses the empowering gifts of
the Holy Spirit and the nurturing fruit of the Spirit. This tradition’s
heroes are Paul the Apostle, Francis of Assisi, and recently, Oral Roberts,
John Winker, Benny Hinn and David Cho. This tradition stresses the spirit-filled
life.
(3) The Social Justice Stream stresses justice and shalom in
all human relationships and social structures. The tradition’s heroes
include the 1st century deacons, Helena and recently Mother Teresa, Albert
Schweitzer and Martin Luther King Jr. This tradition stresses the compassionate
life.
(4) The Evangelical Stream stresses the proclamation of the
evangel, the good news. The tradition’s heroes are Peter the Apostle,
Augustine, Aquinas, Luther and recently C.S. Lewis and Billy Graham. This
tradition stresses the Word -centered life.
(5) The Holiness Stream stresses the inward re-formation of
the heart and the development of “holy habits”. “We rely upon
those deeply ingrained habits to make our lives function appropriately and
to bring forth substantive character formation. The tradition’s heroes
are James the Apostle, Thomas a Kempis, Teresa of Avila and recently: John
Wesley, Phoebe Pahmon, E.Stanley Jones, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and a Methodist
preacher named Phinese Breese. This tradition stresses the holy life. (five
core values)
What’s the point? Each of these faith traditions has a
solid scriptural basis and a history of God’s working in and through
them. There is considerable overlap among them in that the Church of the Nazarene
has been enriched by all of them.
But this is who we are. We are holiness people. The Church of
the Nazarene stresses that if you really want to be like Jesus you must experience
the re-formation of the heart. You must be sanctified through and through.
Sustained attention must be given to the heart- the source of all. You must
develop holy habits. I’m not talking about “pharisaicaly followed”
mere rules and regulations.
No. I’m talking about an ever radiant conformity to the
life and faith and desires and habits of Jesus. A tough-minded, down to earth
practical lifestyle that is cross-styled and cruciformed. . it just looks
like Jesus ’ life. That’s what we mean by following Jesus and this
is how we follow Jesus:
1. private devotions
2. public worship
3. discipleship
4. sermons
5. witness
Holiness people are on a journey and we invite you to travel the journey with us.
