He Is No Fool Who Gives What He Cannot Keep First B Jackson 2023-05-28 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Well, good morning, everybody. How are doing this morning? Good morning. Hi. It's good to be together. Glad you're here. Glad to see you. And I've got an encouraging word from Hebrews twelve twenty eight to lead us into worship. It says, therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let's be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. What do you say we stand and start by singing, I stand amazed. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. We've got a few announcements here. Let's see what they are. Memorial Day weekend, we're not going do Monday night tomorrow night. No, we're picking up first Sunday in June. So next Monday, we'll be back on Mark ten in the meal, music and message. Enjoy the Memorial Day stuff going on around town. Not doing Monday nights here. Awana is over for the season, for the summer season. There is a choir coming to town that's stretched out quite a bit. It's a ways out there. June 28 and Friday June it's Wednesday the twenty eighth and Friday June 30, six to 07:30 at the Presbyterian Church. The Imani Milele Choir, from Uganda. That's, ought to be a fun time. That's coming up soon. My Sister's Closet is sooner than that. That's next weekend and I think KC is going to do an announcement about that, clarifying details maybe. Okay. So yes, My Sister's Closet is finally here. So it is this Saturday, starting at 10AM. You can bring anybody you want to come with you. It's ladies items. So anything you wanna donate, clothes, jewelry, shoes, what whatever, has to be in good shape, has to be ready to go on hangers if it's a hanger item. I need people to help on Monday, get it or sorry, Friday to get it all set up. And if anybody wants to stay afterwards, which will probably get done about 12:30, I need help taking breaking everything down. So it's a super fun event to bring people that don't come to church just to get them in the building, have them meet people that go to church here. And it's it's just a lot of fun, and we have a lot of stuff. So please come on Friday if you can, Saturday for sure. Alright. Saturday. Before lunchtime, that's a a morning thing next Saturday morning. Anything else? Vacation Bible School. Alright. I saw Liz putting up a few items and putting some sign up sheets in the back. That's coming fast. June 26 through the twenty eighth, nine AM to noon. So there's volunteer sign up in the back. There's a place for the kids to sign up in the back. So if you want to be a part of the Pets Unleashed, where Jesus cares for you, Vacation Bible School, that's coming fast. Connect hour happens between services. I'm gonna say today, there is a connect hour down there. There's plenty going on. Today, they didn't ask me to announce this, but if you see me just get out that side door as soon as I say the closing amen, there's cowboy church going on down on the square today in between services. They asked me to play the bass, so I'm leaving afterwards to go down there. Feel free to stay and connect and have coffee and sweets and whatnot down the hall connect hour. Next week is share a dish Sunday for the send off for the EON. So it's their last Sunday next Sunday, and they have had party after party, I'm sure, and greetings and lament. But, if you would, plan on being a part of that. And those just went blank. Does that mean that's announcements are over? Good. Alright. Would you all stand? Take in a big deep breath. Smile and sing this like you mean it. And filled me with peace. Give her a mercy, oh my God, in time. All you your promises and we'll rest in those promises. I will rest in your promises. My confidence is your faithfulness. God, we wanna thank you this morning for your faithfulness to us. In the scripture, say, even when we are faithless, you remain faithful. Thank you, God, for your faithfulness. It's because of your faithfulness that we can be thankful. Faithful in your strength. Thank you. Thank you. Amen. In the dark, come to Jesus and find your way. You want freedom, need forgiveness. Just come to Jesus and find his grace. See you. Go for the whole place. Rest redeemer, and lord of those Jesus. Are God A of heaven and son of man, provider, protector, the great I am. Alpha, omega, beginning, and then worthy of Jesus, the name above every name. Jesus, the name above every other name. Jesus, the only one who could ever say. Worthy of every bread we could ever bring. We live from here. Amen. You can have a a seat here for a moment. This is the worship through giving part of the the service. I'll invite the ushers to come on forward, and we're gonna sing. Such an awesome God. And here's why. From Ephesians one, it says, God has put all things under the authority of Christ, and he's made them head over all things for the benefit of the church. Jesus is the head of all things for the benefit of this body right here and extending beyond to the ends of the earth. That's good news. Ray, before we could you pray? That fact that Carl just mentioned that it's you've given that charge over to us to take the gospel to the whole world. Your faithfulness, Lord, instills in us faithfulness to the message, the word of the Lord, the invitation to come into the kingdom of light. All that needs to be done has been done. Lord God Almighty, that's amazing. You go beyond that Ephesians and say that we're declaring it to the heavenlies, Lord. The plan of God, the mystery for ages kept is now out there, and it's up to the church to declare that. Lord God, what an amazing opportunity and responsibility. So Lord, I pray that you would use those of us who are representative right here gathering in your name this morning to praise you, Lord, that you'd use us in, that mission field on the other side of that door, that you would use us, Lord, everywhere as we are going, that we would be teaching others to keep all that you've commanded us, to obey all that you've commanded us. Lord, we do that by obeying all that you've commanded us. I pray, Lord, that we'd live life with an open hand, and we ask you to take what we have, Lord, and to further the gospel with it. Go forward. In Jesus' name, would you bless the gift and the giver this morning? Would you multiply all that is placed in these plates, whether it's literal, physical, financial stuff, or it's just the resources that we say, take me, use me, Lord. I'm resolved to be used of you if you'll have me. In Jesus' name, Lord, would you show us how you would have us move, and would you move us in that direction? Amen. Mighty, so holy, so wonderful. Such an awesome God, so selfless, It's time for Children's Church downstairs. How are y'all this morning? How's everybody? Good? Good to see you. I'm glad to be here. Luke fourteen twenty five-thirty five, just 11 verses this morning. They're power packed. It's Jesus. It's a straight talk from Jesus. Yeah. The cost of discipleship, if you had to name it, you know, like Bonhoeffer's book, the cost of discipleship. That's all we're gonna cover today, just that much. But my goodness, he lays it out there. Where he starts off, it's interesting because in Luke chapter nine, we've seen in Luke chapter nine a similar message. The similar message was shared with the disciples. And then in Luke 14, it says, now large crowds were going along with him. This is, for a bigger audience, a greater audience. The invitation is there for more people. It's not just in the context of his own 12. Large crowds were going along with him, probably in Perea across the Jordan River, probably. And he is resolutely walking towards Calvary, towards Jerusalem, towards the cross. He knows it, and he is going to be more and more forthright, straight up with people. And if you've been listening, he's been pretty forthright and straight up the whole time. But it's getting more pointed. Large crowds were going along with him. He turned and he said to them, if anyone comes to me approaches. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters, wow, wait a second. That's strong words. Especially because in English, we have love and hate and they are the opposite of each other. Well, that's kind of the way that the words are in the original languages of Hebrew and Old Testament and Greek and Aramaic. In the New Testament, yes, but it is a Semitic idiom. So hate is so strong. This one, I skipped a week. Did y'all notice? I preached from Psalms last week because I I wanted to deal with this. I needed a little more time to process. Hate. Really? Jesus? Because he says love your enemies, and he meant it. And he universally says to love, and now he's saying, hey, is this is this a change of heart? No. It's a Semitic idiom. When we hear Jacob, have loved and Esau, I have hated. Oh my goodness. That immediately jumps on us. Jacob, I have loved and Esau, I've loved a little less. No one can serve two masters. Either he'll love the one and he'll hate the other. Like, you don't have to hate mammon. Hate it outright. But you do need to love it less than Jesus. Okay? He's talking about prioritizing his relationship with him. So the Semitic idiom really does mean to love less than, and I'm not just kinda making the the scripture more comfortable for me. Okay? It really is a Semitic idiom. It comes up in Genesis. It comes up in Exodus. It comes up multiple times in the New Testament too, But it really does mean to love less than. Okay? So if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, and even his own life. Now, even that, if you said, hate your own life, this is like some kind of psychotic thing. This is That's not cool. Because he says, in order to be able to love others, you love others how? As you love yourself. Right? So love is the point, but the real point is prioritize your relationship with Jesus. If you're gonna be his disciple. And he starts with an if. If anyone comes to me, if they're looking to come to me as a disciple and doesn't hate his own father, doesn't love me more than father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, and even in his own life, he cannot be my disciple. So he's laying it out there. Now, we know that he's got the 12. We know that he's had Pharisees and Sadducees, and a lot of his discussions heretofore have been in front of them. But this is large crowds following him. It's a he's a very, very popular where he is. He has been doing healings and miracles, but we're getting at this point, we're getting to be the invitation is open to be a disciple, but you should consider what that means. And he'll go on. We've seen this in Matthew 10, the one who loves father or mother more than me, he says it, doesn't use the word hate, is not worthy of me. The one who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. That's sobering because we have some pretty close relationships. And I think if you think about it in our day, a lot of us learned about Jesus from our mother, our father, maybe from sisters and brothers. And so to hate them feels like or to love them less than Jesus, right, feels a little, like, weird. But in this day and time that Jesus is speaking to these people, to follow after him, they're gonna have to leave behind what they already know, what they've been taught, what they've been trained, what their family and traditional norms are. The one who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Matthew says, the one who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Even his own life, Luke says and the next thing he says, who does not whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be by a disciple. This is the first two things he says. That's strong words from Jesus. Right? Whoever does not carry his own cross. There are people, scholars, that say there's no reason for him to be talking about the cross at this point to them. He's already said, I'm going. I'm going towards a certain death. He's already mentioned a couple of times that he will be resurrected. He knows that he'll be turned over in the hands of evil men. He knows all that. He's thinking about the cross, but they say, there's no reason for him to be mentioning it at this point. But think about that. How often do you hear, Well, he's going to the chair. What does that mean? He's going to the electric chair because that still exists, right? He's going to the chair. We know what that means. That's something that comes up from time to time. And this is execution and they knew what it meant. I'm gonna read a paragraph right here. Luke mentions it in chapter nine also. Let me just get through that. Matthew, the one who does not take up his cross and follow after me. Now the norm would be to take up your cross and follow after a Roman soldier to your death. Right? Jesus said he'll say it again in Matthew 16, if anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and really follow me. Now he's gonna do that literally, and he's asking us to do whatever it is that is our thing that God has asked of us is carrying our cross. Mark. And he summoned the crowd together and his disciples and said to them, if anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Prioritizing your relationship with Jesus and then living it out, obeying him. Right? It's not just saved from wrath. It is made pure in walking it out. And in Luke nine, to his disciples, he was saying to them all, if anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross. And Luke adds, daily. It's a daily walking close to thee. Right? And follow me. So getting back to this, whoever does not carry his own cross cannot be my disciple. The follower of Jesus must deny himself. This is from Leon Morris's commentary on Luke. There's nothing self indulgent about being a Christian. The disciples had probably seen a man take up his cross, literally, and they knew what it meant. When a man from one of their villages took up a cross and went off with a little band of Roman soldiers, he was on a one way journey. He'd not be back. Taking up the cross meant the utmost in self denial. So in nine, that was Luke's first use of the word cross, and it comes with striking effect. Christ follower has died to a whole way of life. Luke tells us that that's not something that can be finished and gotten out of the way. It must be done daily. So says Jesus, that the one who takes up his cross must follow me. Jesus then uses two illustrations to bring the point home. First one is this. For which of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? That makes sense. Right? If you're going to build something, especially here. If you're going to build something here, you better know. Right? But which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who are watching it will begin to ridicule him saying, This person began to build and wasn't able to finish. Mockery is what's coming for somebody that doesn't consider it first. And that's just a normal human experience for Now, this guy's free to build or not build. He didn't have to build. But if you're going to build, decide if you have enough to build. Oh, the next one. Second illustration right off the heels of that one. What king? When he sets out to meet another king in battle, sets out to meet another king in battle. Actually, the the king is coming against him, and he's setting out from his place to defend his place. Does that make sense? Oh, what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he's strong enough with 10,000 men to face the one coming against him? There's where it was. I was fixing to say, where did that go? I know it's in the text. It's right there. So there's one coming against him. There's one king. He's got about 10,000 inside of his little city, and then another king's coming at him with 20,000. That's coming towards him, and he's got to sit down first and consider whether we're strong enough. Is our position fortified? Are we going to be able to take out twice as many of them? Are we going to be able to win this? Is what he's got to consider, right? Otherwise, the other is still far away, when he figures out, we can't whip them. We got to send a delegation and ambassador and request terms of peace because we can't win. They are stronger than we are, and so we got to do something about it. That's the first one that makes the point that if you want to, you can build, but you better consider first whether you've got enough. You might have to build a smaller house or smaller tower than you had thought once you consider it, but you don't have to do that. This other one, you put in pretty desperate terms. It's coming whether you like it or not. So what are you going to do? Make for peace. Proverbs twenty eighteen says, prepare plans by consultation. Out of many counselors, there's much wisdom. Make war by only wise guidance. Be careful about that. So then none of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his possessions. Wait a second. Does that follow? It's it's his third condition. This is saying, if you wanna be a disciple, you need to prioritize your relationship with me. Now if it was any other human being, this would be cult. Right? If you ever have any other human being besides Jesus, say, I've gotta be first in your life. You must hate your father and mother. That's cult talk, but not for Jesus. He is unique. His cross that he was carrying, living out in perfect submission to the will of God was without sin. Now, are others who have come along that said they were without sin, and they've gotten a following here and there. The giving up the possessions is one of those things too. My goodness, is that none of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. The give up there means to renounce, to renounce that. And again, this is prioritizing your relationship with Jesus. He's already said one time, a couple of times, that it's harder for a rich man because your dependence needs to be on the Lord. You can retain the things and live with an open hand. Most scholars believe. Renounce. This is God's money. This is God's stuff. It'll be used for him when I see someone in need. I give it to him. I help him. Renounce his possessions so that none of you can be my disciple who does not renounce all his own possessions. Paul in Philippians I mean, thinking about he's writing this from the prison, you know, after many, many different occasions of being beaten, arrested, threatened, lowered down over a wall, shipwrecked, all that stuff. Whatever things were gained to me, his heritage, his education, his status, whatever things were gained to me, all of these things I have counted as loss because of Christ. I have renounced all of those things. They're not nearly as important to me as they once were. Actually, I'm gonna read the whole passage. It's a short Titus says never say short sermon. Whatever things were gained to me, these things I've counted as a loss because of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as mere rubbish so that I may gain Christ and may be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own derived from the law. I'm destitute. I have nothing but that which is through faith in Christ. The righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, just belief, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and fellowship of his sufferings. Taking up his cross, being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. So then none of you can be my disciple who doesn't give up all his own possessions. You gotta prioritize that relationship with Jesus. Hebrews says, in the great hall of faith, actually, this one was talking about Moses and Pharaoh's daughter who picked him up, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin, consider the approach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. He was looking forward to the return. This is not just a New Testament concept, it's an Old Testament concept too. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's edict who had said to kill them all. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin, considering the approach of Christ greater The approach of Christ in the Old Testament? Yeah. Yeah. It's all about Jesus. He's looking forward to that one who would come. Greater riches than the treasures of Egypt for he was looking to the reward. By faith, he left Egypt. Not fearing the wrath of the king for he persevered as though seeking him who is unseen. By faith, he kept the Passover and sprinkled in the blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch them. By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as through dry land. Egyptians, they attempted it, were drowned. Faith is important. Prioritizing your relationship with Christ, placing your faith in him rather than what you have, rather than who else you love, rather than your own way when it says take up your cross, it's denial of self. Therefore, and a lot of people think that this doesn't go Why did this come in here? This this section though says, therefore. Because of what I've just said, quick pithy statements from Jesus, and he closes out with this. Therefore, salt is good. Has anybody mentioned salt? Well, Jesus mentions it multiple times in Matthew, Mark, but right here, he says salt is good. You agree with me? Salt is good? I love salt. Salt is good. So how is salt good? You lost me there, Jesus. I can see the people going, What is he talking about? Salt is good. Well, salt preserves, salt seasons. Every sermon I've ever heard on this has been salt preserves, salt seasons. Salt does have a preserving influence. Salt does give flavor. That's good. It also can catalyze, which is an interesting thing. But I'm considering the next sentence here. Salt can catalyze it can even prepare soil in the right amount. If you put too much salt on soil, it kills everything. In fact, one of the ways that they used to do battle is after they won a decisive victory to really, really bother their enemies. On the enemy's soil, they would sow salt, which would keep stuff from growing. That's not the case here. Salt can prepare soil, a can in small amounts and it can slow fermentation. That's a weird one to use but you'll see why in a second. Therefore salt is good, but if even salt has become tasteless or lost its saltiness, with what will it be seasoned? Sodium chloride can't be anything else, can it? I mean if it catalyzes something, it can turn into something else. They used to use it inside of ovens. Mostly what they were burning to cook their bread was cow dung. I think I want to mix something with that if I was inside of their ovens, put salt in there and that would catalyze and it would have a reaction. It would eventually become less salty because it's reacting. They also used mostly salt from the Dead Sea, which has other impurities in it like gypsum, sheetrock dust. That's not great. Not good for you. And if the salt part of it is gone and it's just the gypsum that's left, it's pretty worthless stuff. If the salt has become tasteless, what will it be seasoned? Salt is good. It's good to be preserved and it's good to be what you say you are. But if there are enough impurities where it's not really what it is, then that's not a good situation. Jesus says it's useless. It's useless either for the soil. It's not going to help as a I I mentioned sodium chloride. I'm not a farmer, but like ammonium nitrate, also a salt. There are other salts than just salt. It's useless for the soil. It's not a fertilizer. It's not a herbicide if it's not salt. And it's not worth it for the manure pile. They could put a little salt in to slow the fermentation process on a compost pile. But he's saying if it's not salt, it's just sheetrock dust. It's not good for that. Okay? And so it's thrown out. Is it possible to pretend to be a disciple but not have Jesus in priority? Yeah, it is. Is it possible to pretend to be a disciple and not be taking up your cross daily? It is possible to pretend. Is it possible to pretend to live life with an open hand, but you're really trusting in what you have? It is possible. Let the one who has ears to hear, let him hear. That's the way he closes out. That's the end of the sermon. The one who has ears to hear, let him hear. But it's emphatic. The let him hear part is a third person command. So it's a singular. It's for each of us individually. Whoever has ears to hear what I just said, hear. It's emphatic with an exclamation point. That's a good translation. Actually, better than hear is listen because you can hear something and pay no attention to it. Listen. Joni Dimash is leaving next week. She usually sits here in the second service. And she gave Carl a book this week and she gave me a book this week. And she had a sticky note that said Ray on it and had one that said Carl on it. It was covering up the first part of the tile the title. The title of the book is Stop Agreeing with Jesus and Start Obeying Him. Our names were placed over the stop agreeing with him at the beginning, and it just said, start obeying him. We can agree with him. We can agree with everything that Jesus said in this little short pithy sermon and still not do it. So listen. To what? Jesus makes basically three points. He illustrates it with two different illustrations. And I I do think it's important. Illustrations are, in one sense, you can do it if you want to, you don't have to do it. Like the option is there, build or don't build, doesn't matter. Nobody's forcing you to build. But in the second illustration, is there something that's barreling down the tracks towards you where you might want to make peace with that opposing force? Right? If the king is coming, really, the King, capital K, is coming and you're dillydallin or haven't made the decision and you're not strong enough to stand against Almighty God, we saw last week, why did the nations rage against the Almighty? Because He's Almighty. His way being the way, should we not search for the terms of peace? And the terms of peace are Christ has taken his cross. He lived his life perfectly. He has a sacrificial death that can be credited to the account of anyone who will simply believe him. Listen to him. Prioritize him. Follow him. So here are the textual points as I see them. You can't be a disciple unless you put Jesus first. You can't be a disciple without carrying your cross, and you can't be a disciple without renouncing all else. Okay? So a lot of y'all love application points. Here are the application points. Put Jesus first. Carry your cross, whatever that is. I don't know what it is for you. My way surprises me, quite honestly. I don't know what He's asking of you to do, but I'd say do it, whatever He's asking of you. And the third one, carry your cross following Jesus, of course. And the third one is renounce all else. That has got to have less importance than Jesus. This is a note card. It's actually a journal page from 1949, 10/28/1949. A lot of you all have probably heard this quote before or seen it on an inspirational poster somewhere. But this is the actual page from Jim Elliott's diary. Moved to Ecuador to minister. It was the cross that he was carrying, minister to this indigenous tribe. And the part that's underlined in faint red pencil right there says, He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep his life. Right? He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. Amen. Amen. That's it. Would you all stand with me? Would the elders mind coming forward? I am going to sneak away. But if anybody wants to hang around afterwards, I usually hang around until the last customer served, right? But if anybody wants to hang around after and talk about this, would the elders would y'all mind just coming forward and kinda standing up here and praying and hanging out? That'd be good. They're available. We're available until I get out of here and go play the bass at another place. In Christ alone, would you sing with us? Consider the words. Elliot, he was martyred for his faith. His wife Elizabeth Elliot wrote several books actually about it since then. That quote probably never would have even been seen without that nor would that tribe have been reached. If you suffer for doing good, one Peter two twenty and twenty one, if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. Lord, may we be, willing. May we be ready to go as you were and as you are with us. In Jesus' name, amen.