November 30, 2008

Imagine that you are on a basketball team that was supposed to take the state championship.  But, in a game against your archrival, you find your team trailing by 25 points at half time.  Ever since the end of the first quarter you have never been closer than 15 points behind your opponent.  Now you're in the locker and your coach is speaking.  But, rather than preparing a new strategy, the coach calls on you to follow his original strategy.  He insists that the reason you are behind is that you are not doing what he told you to do.  This is what Jesus is saying to us in our scripture for today.  

Advent reminds us that we are living between Jesus' two comings.  First of all we are celebrating when Jesus came the first time as a baby in Bethlehem.  We celebrate because Jesus defeated Satan, sin, and death once and for all on the cross and in the grave.  In Romans 6: 5-7, the Apostle Paul described what this victory means for us.

⁵If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. ⁶For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-⁷because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

I want you to think about those last words:  that we might be freed from sin.  How many of you here this morning feel that you are free from sin?  How many feel that you are winning your battle against sin?  If you don't feel you are, Jesus called you to the locker room to tell you why not.

A similar thing can be said for the victory he won over the evil forces that have kept our world in sin and darkness.  Listen to what Colossians 2: 15 says,

¹⁵And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

For those of you who are students of history, the great theologian Oscar Cullman once described the reality of this verse by comparing the time in which we live to the time in World War 2 between D-Day and VE Day.  According to Cullman the victory over Germany was really won when the Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy.  All that needed to be done before Victory in Europe (VE Day) was the mop-up operation.  Cullman concluded that this is what God has charged you and me and his church with, the mop-up operation.  The victory has already been won.

But, if this is true, why does it seem like the church is in retreat?  We should be winning the game and it seems that we are behind.  Jesus has called us into the locker room to tell us why.  And, as we were saying, he is not giving us a new strategy, but he is calling us to start using his original one.

So, what is that strategy?  Before I tell you, let me say a few words about the time when Jesus explains it to his disciples. He asked them, what are people saying about me?  They said, "Some think you're Elijah; others say you are one of the prophets." 

Jesus responds, "But, what about you, who do you say I am?"

And then Peter replied, "You're the Christ."  In other words you are the Messiah whom God promised to send to save his people.

Then Jesus clearly tells Peter that he gave the right answer.  In fact, he said that Peter received it right from God's Spirit.  "Yes," implies Jesus, "I am the Messiah, whom God has sent to free his people and lead them to glory."  And then in our scripture for this morning he tells them what his strategy will be.  Here's how he will win the victory and redeem his people.

He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.

This was not at all what they expected.  And that's why Peter began to rebuke him.  But, Jesus insisted, even calling Peter Satan for questioning the strategy.  And then he goes even farther, saying that not only must his disciples accept this strategy, they also must employ it.  A disciple is one who learns by copying his Teacher.  And so Jesus is calling his disciples then and every disciple who followed them to use this strategy.  What specifically is calling them to do?  Look at the words of verse 34

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

There are parts to this strategy.  And each is related to the others.  Let's take them part by part.

The first is: If any would come after me, he must deny himself. 

To deny ourselves means "to refuse ourselves" or "to say no to ourselves."  Some Christians would interpret this to mean that we must live a life devoid of certain things.  The Amish today are an example.  They believe that to be the people that Jesus saved them to be, they should deny themselves electricity or some of the other modern conveniences of life and to dress very plainly.  In this way they hope to guard their lives against worldliness.  But, when he employed this strategy, Jesus was not so much interested in guarding himself from worldliness as he was in doing what God had called him to do.

Philippians 2 speaks of Jesus' self-denial when it says,

  Though he was God,

    he did not think of equality with God

    as something to cling to.

⁷    Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;

    he took the humble position of a slave

    and was born as a human.

    When he appeared in human form,

⁸    he humbled himself in obedience to God   (Philippians 2: 6- 8 NLT)

Jesus denied himself what was rightfully his in order to humble himself in obedience to his heavenly Father and to serve us.  He put the Father's will and our interests ahead of his own rights.  That's just what I was talking about with the kids, isn't it?  Now, Jesus says if you are to be my disciples, who desire to do the work God is calling you to do, you must do the same. 

This goes right to motivation.  What is my motive?  Am I trying to get what I want or am I putting God and others before myself?  No good soldier cares more about his own safety than he does about his country and with completing the mission on which his commanding officer sent him.  We are not good soldiers when we care more about ourselves than about the kingdom of God. 

God is calling us this morning to think about what motivates us.  Why do we do what we do?  Why do we make the decisions we do?  Why are we living where we are living, doing the job we are doing, going to the church we go to, spending our money the way we do, doing what we do in our spare time?  How many of our answers to those questions would be self-centered ones:  I am doing these things for my benefit or my family's benefit.  How many of us are doing what we are doing in obedience to God and to serve others?

In our worship we've sung the song that Michael W. Smith made popular, Above All.  There is a line in that song that goes, "You took the fall and thought of me above all."  That line can be a helpful line or it can hurt our Christian walk, depending on how we understand it.  If we think to ourselves, "Oh I must be important, because Jesus gave up everything for just little old me.  It was my face he saw as he died.  And we begin to think of all Jesus sacrificed in terms of how it benefits me, this song that was meant so well, could be harmful to our faith.  But, if we say to ourselves, Jesus showed so much love in giving up everything for me so I must do the same, then it's a helpful line.

This brings us to the second part of the strategy.

"Take up your cross."

To take up our cross literally means to do what Jesus did on the way to his crucifixion:  to carry the cross beam of his cross through the streets of the city.  Let's not forget that the cross was not only a painful way to die, but to people in that century it was terrible humiliation.  Many of the disciples who answered Jesus call would have to die that way.  Peter was an example.  He was crucified upside down for his Lord.  And many other Christians were slaughtered in that way or in other painful ways.

Satan's strategy, however, may not always be the same in every area and at all times.  It is true that he still tries to squash the church by force.  There are places in our world where people must decide whether to deny Jesus or face torture, imprisonment, and death.  But it is not that way in America today.  Oh, we may have to put up with a little ridicule, but we are not in danger of losing our lives or of being tortured for our faith. 

With us, however, Satan has employed a strategy that he used so successfully with the rich young ruler.  He has convinced us that we don't need to give up anything we want in this world for Jesus.  Think about it.  When is the last time you ever gave up something you desired or  gave up on something you decided to do, in order to obey God or to help someone else?  Is that what we as Christians do?  Or, do we think that we have found a way by which we can have it all?  We can have riches here and in glory.  We can have recreation and worship.  We can have time to do every thing we want to do and convince ourselves that this is what God wanted us to do in the first place.

The same Jesus who called the rich young man to give up everything is calling us today and saying, "I wouldn't be so sure about that."  Young person, with your brains, maybe you could be an engineer or a doctor.  Certainly, you can serve God that way.  But have you ever considered that God could be calling you to something else far less lucrative?  Maybe God is calling us who aren't so young, maybe even those who are retired, to abandon our comfortable lives and serve him in some special way. 

Even with this terrible economy, we have been so blessed by God.  And yet it seems that with each generation, we are willing to give up less for him.  We are stingier with our offerings; stingier with our time; stingier with our talents and spiritual gifts.  I remember that in the mid 1970's people in my dad's church were going out two by two sharing the gospel.  People in my church in New Mexico did the same in the 1980's.  How many of you folks today would dare do that?  How many of you would even be willing to give up an evening every week to do it?  The truth is that we don't even have enough volunteers to keep the programs we have running.

Finally, Jesus said, we must follow him.  Following him means that he sets the agenda for our lives.  I have often referred to Ephesians 2: 10,

Ephesians 2:10 (NIV) ¹⁰For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Young person, God does have a pathway of good works for you to do.  He has a plan for you life, how he wants to use you.  Have you ever considered your future from that perspective?  Have you ever wrestled with God in prayer to discover what he wants you to do?  Or, are you just planning to make your decision and figure that's what God is calling you to do?  Are you open to his surprises?  Are any of us?

Before he went to the cross, he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Not my will, but yours be done."  Sometimes we say that when we really don't have any other option.  How many of us have said that when we do?  How many of us have given up our will to serve the Lord's?

God's path of good works also is a pathway of obedience to his will as expressed in his law.  Some people say that if you have enough faith, following that path is easy.  It's not.  Take for example the consistent Biblical warning against drunkenness.  Although it is true that God may miraculously take away some people's cravings for alcohol, this is not the way he usually works.  It usually involves tremendous struggle.  And sometimes it involves stumbling on the way, but then getting back up with new determination and constant prayer.  Many of these folks struggle their whole lives.  So also do many who have certain sexual issues.  And not only do they struggle.  The truth is that all of us struggle with being the people our Lord saved us to be.  Living for Jesus is the hardest thing we will ever do in our lives.  The devil is always there.  Our sinful nature is always there.  There are no secret formulas.  Just going to some convention or revival that makes you excited emotionally is not going to work.  It takes consistent effort and constant prayer.  It takes constant vigilance, continually asking ourselves, "Am I following God's path and faithfully studying his Word?  Oh Lord, not my will but yours be done."

But, in the end, if we follow this strategy, God will use us to win tremendous victories and in the words of Peter, we will "speed" the day of his coming again.  For some, the strategy to which our Lord calls us is a killjoy.  Such people would do well to heed Jesus' words in verse 36, "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul."  His words could not be clearer ... our salvation is at stake.  True believers are true disciples, who deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow Jesus.

There is only one problem with following this strategy.  This is that we can't carry it out.  But, the same Jesus who calls us to be his disciples and the same Jesus who calls us to make disciples of others is the same one who promised, "I am with you always even to end of the age."  The same God who says through his servant Paul "continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling," also adds "for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."  (Phil 2: 12- 13)

Jesus said, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it."

Understanding this idea, C.S. Lewis wrote the following in his book Mere Christianity:

Christ says, "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work:  I want you.  I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it.  No half-measures are any good.  I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there.  I want to have the whole tree down.  I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out.  Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think are innocent as well as the ones you think are wicked-the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead.  In fact, I will give you myself:  my own will shall become yours."

Let us pray,

Breath on me Breath of God; fill me with life anew, that I may love the way you love and do what you would do.  Breathe on me breath of God, until my heart is pure, until my will is one with yours to do and to endure.  Breathe on me breath of God so shall I never die, but live with you the perfect life for all eternity.  Amen.