Three Sobering Verses (Mt. 7:21-23)

Read Matthew 7:21-23.

Three sobering verses indeed!  It is not your confession or your "ministry" that gets you into the Kingdom.  Evidently, those things don't overly impress Jesus.  What gets His attention is not success in the supernatural but faithfulness in something else.

What is that "something else"?  I think the preceding paragraph (Mt. 7:15-20) sheds light on that question.  What is highlighted is "fruit."  Jesus taught, "Look for the fruit.  That's how you'll know who is genuine."

What is meant by "fruit"?  There are several options.  Perhaps Jesus meant all three.

• "Fruit" is adopting and manifesting the kingdom lifestyle (Mt. ch. 5-7).
• "Fruit" is spiritual character (Gal. 5:22-23).
• "Fruit" is making disciples who make disciples (Jn. 15:1-17). 

The Call And Its Purpose (Lu. 14:26-27)

Read Luke 14:26-27.

The call is not to come to Jesus but to follow Him.  Follow for what purpose?  Obedience.  Most times, obedience is not convenient.  It is costly.  It is lonely.  It is to be  one's lifestyle.

Too many want proximity without responsibility: they are fascinated but not separated, "all in" not not sold out, committed but not crucified.

Matthew Chapter 6

Read Matthew chapter 6.

Reading this chapter, the word "foundational" comes to mind.  There are two sections:  foundational disciplines (6:1-18) and foundational decisions (6:19-34).

1. Foundational spiritual disciplines  (6:1-18) > practices
• Charity (6:1-4) > generosity, secrecy
• Prayer (6:5-15) > simplicity, secrecy, forgiveness
• Fasting (6:16-18) > secrecy
2. Foundational personal decisions (6:19-34) > priorities
• Treasure (6:19-21) > heaven or earth? 
• Filter (6:22-23) > clean and clear or unclean and unclear?
• Master (6:24) > God or money?
• Provisions (6:25-34) > God (trust) or self (worry)?

Observations:

• In section 1, notice that each spiritual discipline is introduced by the words "when you."  Practicing the spiritual disciplines is expected, normative behavior for a Christian.
• In section 2, notice the tendency for self to say, "Yes, of course" to the right answer in each decision. Beware deception!
• What "lights you up"? (6:22-23)

Forsake, Not Just Surrender (Lu. 14:33)

Read Luke 14:33.

Why did Jesus use the verb "forsake" (MEV) instead of the word "surrender"?  Perhaps it is because "surrender" can be a mental arrangement with the possibility of un-surrender later.  When one "surrenders", he merely does what is in his best interest at the time.  His heart might not be in it.  While it isn't easy to measure "surrender", it is easy to measure "forsaking." Either there has been a separation, a leaving, a distance or there has not.  You are over here now and what you left behind remains over there. The evidence (the gap) speaks for itself.

Have you merely "surrendered" to Jesus or have you actually forsaken things? Have your priorities been re-ordered?  What does it cost you to follow Jesus?

Don't Look Back (Lu. 9:62)

Read Luke 9:62.

Read the following verses as supplementary material to today's thought:  Phil. 3:13; 1 Kin. 19:20; Psa. 78:8-9; 2 Tim. 4:10; Heb. 10:38; 2 Pet. 2:20-22.

Concentration and determination are needed to follow Jesus.  Don't make a good start and then fizzle out.  Stay with Him!  Focus and direction are important.  Expect the world (behind you) to continue its distraction, calling and tempting you.  Today's verse calls for a relentless, all-out pursuit of Jesus. The world has nothing for you.  Look to Jesus (Heb 12:2a); don't look back (Lu. 17:32).

1. You cannot look two directions at once.  Beware cross-eyed Christianity!
2. Direction determines destination.
3. Focus determines value, commitment and seriousness.
4. Following Jesus is not for the faint or lazy.  There is plowing to be done!  Get to it and stay with it.

Does And (Then) Teaches (Mt. 5:19)

Read Matthew 5:19.

1.  Both example and reproduction are necessary.

2.  Example comes first.  You reproduce what you are, more than what you say or suggest alone.

3.  Call for credibility:  let teaching flow from doing.  If this isn't the case, be honest.

Is Jesus Your Lord? (Mt. 7:21-23)

Read Matthew 7:21-23.

1.  Jesus is not your Lord simply because you call Him that title.

2.  Jesus is not your Lord simply because He allowed you to do some amazing things and people's lives were impacted for good.

3.  Jesus is not your Lord simply because you say you now Him.  Does He know you?

4.  Jesus is your Lord when you do His will.  Lifestyle obedience and repentance are what He's after.

5.  How easily the deception is maintained that He is your Lord when  in fact, He is not.  Beware!

Jesus Disrupts (Mt. 8:18-34)

1. Jesus disrupts your loyalty (Mt. 8:18-22).  Loyalty isn't loyalty until it's been tested.  Jesus wanted these would-be followers to count the cost.
2. Jesus disrupts your laziness (Mt. 8:23-27).  The disciples were guilty of lazy thinking and lazy speaking.  They forgot the word Jesus spoke (Mt. 8:18).  He said they were going to the other side.  What a discipline -- to fixate on Jesus' word and not get distracted nor overwhelmed by circumstances!
3. Jesus disrupts your livelihood (Mt. 8:28-34).  When Jesus comes into your life, everything has to change.  When He comes into your community, things can't stay the same.  You have to do business in a way that honors Him.  You can't have the Savior and keep your pigs.  (Sadly, the people were more upset over the pigs than they were happy for the man who was transformed.)

Three Insights About Spiritual Maturity (Jn. 14:9)

1. Longevity ≠ intimacy.
2. Proximity ≠ revelation.
3. Access ≠ understanding.

Three Questions (Mt. 10:37-39)

Read Matthew 10:37-39.

1.  Who do you love most?  To follow Jesus, He must be your first love. Is there any person or any thing that you love more than Jesus?  If so, that person or thing is an idol.

2.  What have you left?  When you weren't following Jesus, you bore no cross.  That has changed.  'Taking up your cross' means death to self, sin and the past.  You're a walking dead man!

3.  What are you looking for?  This question has to do with expectation.  Are you looking to make your life better?  How about forgetting yourself, looking to Jesus, and losing yourself in ministry to Him?  The problem is that culture, even church culture, is obsessed with winning.  Jesus calls you to lose.  Lose your self. The most lost Christians are the ones who have "found" themselves.

Walking The Road With Jesus (Mk. 10:46-52) (Part 7)

Conclusion:

Jesus doesn't want you to be disillusioned by your walk with Him. From Bartimaeus we discovered realistic expectations for walking with Jesus.  When you walk with Jesus, you can expect . . .

• Difficulty (Jn. 16:33).
• Division (Lu. 12:51-53).
• Denial (Lu. 9:23).
• Discomfort (Mt. 8:20).
• Dependence (Jn. 15:5).
• Death (Lu. 9:23).

That's not a very good sales job, is it? If I were selling cars, I'd be fired for trying to talk a potential buyer out of a deal. To some, it might seem as if I'm talking people out of following Jesus.  No, that's not the case at all.  

Since the cost of following Jesus is high, you should evaluate why you do it.  I just think you should know that walking with Jesus is not the cake walk some false prophets said it would be.  I just think that if you're going to follow Jesus, you should do it for the right reasons.

• Reason #1:  It is the natural continuation for those who have repented of their sins and asked Christ to forgive them.  Repentance is the start, not the finish. Those who receive Christ, Colossians says, should walk in Him.
• Reason #2:  Jesus heard your heart's cry, touched you, made you whole and changed you. You should follow Him because you are transformed by grace, overwhelmed by mercy, compelled by gratitude, and don't want to ever go back to your old life.

Walking The Road With Jesus (Mk. 10:46-52) (Part 6)

BARTIMAEUS' WALK WAS A DEPENDENT WALK.

If there was ever an example of a faith walk, Bartimaeus is it. Consider what Bartimaeus didn't have when he started walking with Jesus.

• He didn't have his cloak (Mk. 10:50).
• He didn't have any food or water (at least that we know about).
• He didn't have any guarantee of safety.
• He didn't have any spending money (at least that we know about).
• He didn't have time to say goodbye to those who mattered most in his life. (Perhaps that is a good thing, since discussing matters with his family might have discouraged him from following Jesus.)

Is there anything that Bartimaeus did have when he started walking with Jesus?  Yes. Bartimaeus had trust.

• He trusted that the One who healed him could still help him.
• He trusted that the One who performed one miracle could perform another.
• He trusted that the One who touched him once (Mt. 20:34) could touch him again.
• He trusted that Jesus had more grace, mercy, forgiveness and wisdom to give.

Remember, Christians don't walk by comfort, convenience or logic; rather, “ . . . we walk by faith, not by sight . . .” (2 Cor. 5:7). The faith walk is a walk of dependence.

BARTIMAEUS' WALK WAS A DELIGHTFUL WALK.

What made his walk delightful?  The Company – He was walking with King Jesus!

Pastor, I thought you said earlier that Bartimaeus' walk was difficult? How can it be both difficult and delightful? (Jn. 16:33)

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.”

Walking The Road With Jesus (Mk. 10:46-52) (Part 5)

BARTIMAEUS' WALK WAS A DEFINED WALK.  His input about the route, incline and pace wasn't solicited.

There was a specific road that Bartimaeus walked.

• It was an uphill road.  Remember, it was a 15-mile ascent to Jerusalem.
• It was a dangerous road.  We know this from Jesus' story about the Good Samaritan (Lu. 10:30-37). “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead.” (Lu. 10:30)
• It was a chosen road. Bartimaeus didn't choose the road; Jesus did.

There was a specific pace that Bartimaeus walked.  He kept in step with the pace that Jesus set. Whatever else you do, stay close beside Jesus!

• Don't get ahead of Him. That's how you end up with regret.
• Don't lag behind Him. That's how you end up with discouragement.
• Do walk alongside Him. That's how you end up with joy.

When you walk side by side with Jesus, you'll be . . .

• Close enough to experience His blessing.
• Close enough to hear His teaching.
• Close enough to receive His wisdom.
• Close enough to discern His will.
• Close enough to sense His direction.
• Close enough to know His heart.

There was a specific destination to which Bartimaeus walked.  He was going where Jesus was going. Where, exactly, was Jesus going? He was going to Jerusalem.

• He was not going to an oasis, a campground or a spa.
• He was not going there to get pampered but to get pummeled.

Walking with Jesus is an invitation to die! “And He was saying to them all, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.'” (Lu. 9:23)

Walking The Road With Jesus (Mk. 10:46-52) (Part 4)

BARTIMAEUS' WALK WAS A DIVISIVE WALK.

By following Jesus, Bartimaeus had to leave behind certain people, places and preferences. He couldn't stay where he was and walk with Jesus at the same time. He knew that motion and inertia cannot coexist.

Following Jesus causes division (Lu. 12:51-53). One of the hardest things about following Jesus is that you might have to lose some friends (2 Cor. 6:14-15). Now that you have met Jesus, you can no longer do what your friends do, go where they go, think what they think, and talk like they talk. The difference that Jesus has already made in you causes them severe internal agitation.

Does this mean that you, as a believer in Jesus, must sever all relationship with unbelievers?

• If it is a dating or engagement relationship, yes.
• If it is a marriage relationship, no.
• What about other relationships?
• How will an unbeliever hear about Jesus unless a believer tells him? (Rom. 10:14).  Just make sure that you are influencing the unbeliever and not vice versa.  Just make sure that you are giving your testimony, not losing it.

Walking The Road With Jesus (Mk. 10:46-52) (Part 3)

BARTIMAEUS' WALK WAS A DIFFICULT WALK.  What made his walk so difficult?

The first thing that made Bartimaeus' walk so difficult was that he experienced an incline.  Bartimaeus realized quickly what we disciples of Jesus today also realize early on – that walking with Jesus is profitable though not always pleasurable. The journey from Jericho to Jerusalem was a 15-mile ascent.  Though Jesus is always excellent company, walking with Him is consistently not easy.  Jesus Himself warned about persecution that would arise “because of the Word” (Mt. 13:21). When you walk with Jesus, you are on the stairmaster; there is no escalator. (That is, until the Rapture happens!)

The second thing that made Bartimaeus' walk so difficult was that he saw decline. Many people followed Jesus out of Jericho. I wonder, “How many of those who started the walk finished it?” No doubt, some of them did finish and were involved welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem during the event we know as 'The Triumphal Entry'. Sadly, some who welcomed Him on Sunday would call for His crucifixion later that week.

In case you haven't experienced this yet, it is a disappointing and painful thing to watch people start enthusiastically with Jesus, only to fade out when more convenient options come along. When this happens, what is a journeyman with Jesus to do? Exactly this – keep your eyes on Jesus and follow Him wherever He goes. If you don't keep your eyes on Jesus, then you will become angry, bitter and disillusioned.

Walking The Road With Jesus (Mk. 10:46-52) (Part 2)

BARTIMAEUS' WALK WAS A DETERMINED WALK.

When did Bartimaeus begin to walk with Jesus? “Immediately he regained his sight and began following [Jesus] on the road” (Mk. 10:52b).

• For Bartimaeus, it was only natural to walk with the One who had healed him.
• For Bartimaeus, it was only natural to keep his eyes on the One who had given him sight.

While Bartimaeus' miracle was physical, your primary miracle is spiritual. Never forget that your salvation is a miracle!

• Unless God Himself had intervened, you could never be saved.
• Unless God Himself had intervened, you would never see clearly.

Before Jesus encountered you, your heart was darkened (Rom. 1:21) and your understanding was too (Eph. 4:18).  Not only that, but “you were dead in your trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). 

Bartimaeus teaches us that motion follows the miracle. In other words, those who receive from Jesus should walk with Jesus (Col. 2:6-7). You could also state it this way: discipleship follows decision. Jesus has too many self-professed “followers” who have made Him an occasional Sunday morning hobby but not a lifestyle. He has too many who have shown an interest but not much determination.

Have you received Christ Jesus as Lord? Then walk, brother, walk! Walk, sister, walk! You will not walk with Jesus if you will not.

Walking The Road With Jesus (Mk. 10:46-52) (Part 1)

Introduction:

Context: Read Mark 10:46-52.

I'm going to deal specifically with thoughts that stem from the second half of verse 52. More exactly, thoughts about walking with Jesus.

In California two litters of mountain lion kittens were discovered recently.¹  What happens to their cuteness once they are fully grown? For ranchers and farmers, mountain lions can be a nuisance and detriment.

Did you ever have a thought or reaction to something, only to change it later? There are people who had an initial idea about walking with Jesus, only to have that concept be radically redefined in short order. Some weren't prepared for the smack of reality that would uppercut them. Walking with Jesus stopped being "cutesy" in a hurry!

I want to write on this subject: expectations of walking with Jesus. Exactly what kind of walk is it? Let's lean in to God's Word this morning as we consider six things that can be said about Bartimaeus' walk with Jesus.

• If you are a believer in Jesus, then you should resonate with what you're about to hear.
• If you're not yet a believer in Jesus, then you need to know that He isn't out to sucker you. He wants you to know exactly what's what when it comes to serving Him.

1Trib.al/C8ZoN23  (accessed 7.9.16)

The One Thing (Mk. 10:21-22)

1.  There is one thing in your life.  And I don't mean Jesus.  What is it?  To identify it, track your money and calendar.  Monitor your effort, energy and conversation.  What are you protecting?

2.  The one thing, though not necessarily evil in itself, keeps you from following Jesus and progressing in discipleship.

3.  It is better to surrender the one thing now than to forfeit the ultimate thing (eternal life).

4.  You are emotionally connected to the one thing.  Emotion is both powerful and addictive.

Quote by A. W. Tozer

     "The lordship of Jesus is not quite forgotten among Christians, but it has been relegated to our hymnbook, where all responsibility toward it may be comfortably discharged in a glow of pleasant religious emotion.
     The idea that the Man Christ Jesus has absolute and final authority over all its members in every detail of their lives is simply not accepted as true by the rank and file of evangelical Christians."

Tozer, A. W.  "We Get Around It."  Mornings With Tozer.  Chicago, IL:  Wing Spread Publishers, 2008.  Entry for January 27.1.

Thoughts on Discipleship

The audio quality of the MP3 was inferior.  I apologize for not having the presenters' names for you.  Their content was stirring.

• Pastors must answer two questions:  (1) How will you initiate people into a life with Jesus? (2) How will you teach people to become like Jesus?
• Faith isn't opposed to doubt. Faith is opposed to sight.
• You won't follow Jesus if you don't consider Him to be competent.
• Can you be a "Christian" and not be a disciple of Jesus? Sadly, the answer is yes.
• Discipleship is greater than content-downloading.
• The altar call (for salvation) is the starting line, not the finish line.
• The entry point (not the outcome) for following Jesus is "disciple."  The entry point is not "Christian."