March 25, 2005

• choose your own adventure

  a few years ago, i was asked to give a challenging message to a group of college students at my church.  i chose to share from luke 14.  a year later, i was asked to share at the navigators fellowship at ucsd.  i chose to share from luke 14 again.  maybe i challenged the students?  i don’t know.  but it radically changed my life! 

  the message went something like this:

  They asked me to speak on the cost of discipleship tonight, but before I do that, I wanted to talk about salvation.  Salvation is free but discipleship will cost you everything.  [explain Romans Road]  In Jn 17:3, Jesus prays, “Now this is eternal life:  that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.” 

  What have you done with your eternal life?  Are you saving it up for later, or are you taking advantage of the fact that you could be enjoying it now?  Are you getting to know Christ more and more each day or are your thoughts of Him based off some general picture of Him that you have based off things people have told you? 

  Tonight’s topic is about the cost of discipleship, which I want to call, “Choose Your Own Adventure” — because that’s what it is.  After you become a Christian, you get to choose your own adventure:  i.e. whether or not you will have one.

  Jesus makes some radical demands in the Bible, e.g. Jn 12:24, Lk 9:23, etc.  I believe that when we choose to follow Jesus’ commands and be true disciples, we will find ourselves in the midst of adventure.  When we choose to not live radically, we will find ourselves in a hum-drum religion.  

  There are many passages on what it means to be a true disciple, but let’s look at Lk 14:25-33…   [sorry this part is just outline form; i'll try to fill in the gaps]

  v. 25 – Jesus divides the crowd:  Don’t be a people pleaser (most people who start drawing crowds begin to do and say things in order to draw bigger crowds; they’ll even water down the message to do it.  but Jesus does the exact opposite!  he says crazy things like THE TRUTH in order to make his crowd smaller; he only wants the true disciples to follow Him, not just people who are in it for the blessings only.)

  v. 26 – Hating family:  Who’s your God?  Who do you fear the most?  Who do you love the most?  (if there was a decision to be made on who to obey - God vs. your parents - who wins?)  If you want to be a true disciple, you must love God more than anyone else and fear Him more than you fear anyone else.  cross reference to Mk 10:29-30.  Example from my life:  ”tuition story”

  v. 27 – Carry your cross:  Carry your death.  Live so radically for Him that you could die.  Live as if you were dead (not for yourself but for Him!!).  Live as if you’ve got nothing to lose – because you don’t.  If you want to be a true disciple, live so radically for God that whether you’re dead or alive, it’s almost the same thing.  cross reference Lk 9:22-25.  Example from my life:  talking to strangers about the gospel (oh the scary thrill of it all!)

  v. 28-32 – Count the Cost:  There are two analogies. 
  - Analogy 1:  If you’re gonna build something, you’d be a fool not to plan it out and count the cost.  Cuz if you didn’t plan it, everyone in town will know.  You can’t really hide half a building.  What a laughingstock you’d be!
  - Analogy 2.  And if you’re gonna go to war, you better scope it out ahead of time.  Is my army large enough?  Do I stand a chance?  If I only have 10,000 and he has 20,000, I better surrender now. 
  - The two analogies urge us to ask two questions:  ”What will it cost?”  and “Is it worth it?”  (Am I willing to pay the price?)  Do you want to be a true disciple?  Well, sit down and think about it first.  What is it gonna cost you?  The second analogy answers the questions.  It’s gonna cost me everything… but it’s worth it!  Because you’ve only got 1 in your army and God has 10 million, so you’d be a fool to surrender later, cuz you’ll be slaughtered.  Better to do it now.  It’s not worth it to oppose Him. 

  v. 33 – Summing it up:  it’ll cost you everything to be a disciple.

  This is not an easy message to swallow.  Jesus doesn’t mince words.  The call to discipleship will cost you everything.  It will cost you everything, everything, everything.  But it’s worth it.  When we choose to follow God, we are choosing an adventure. 

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