Episode 49: 6/15/09

Readings:

Psalm 114
Deuteronomy 4:9-14
2 Corinthians 1:1-11
Luke 14:25-35

Sermon:

“And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, if any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.”
Luke 14:25-30

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

It is a high cost… it is a heavy price and a deep burden…

Having seen the signs and the wonders performed in the miracles of the Lord the people, they followed Christ, longing to touch a corner of his robe or to have his eyes look upon them and see them. Many of them lost and confused, hurt and afflicted, suffering amidst pain and sorrow, the searched for a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives.

Then would come this rabbi, this son of a carpenter from Galilee, born of meager estate in Bethlehem. They would watch as he would heal the sick, as he would feed the masses with nothing more than a few loaves of bread and some fish, as he raised the dead as they laid waiting to be taken to their grave, the tears of sorrow filling the eyes of those who loved them. Never had they seen anything quite like this before, never had their eyes beheld such wondrous things as this young man did. Nor could perhaps understand why he, despite the miracles he performed, would not seek honor and glory for himself.

Had he been a Pharisee or a Sadducee he surely would have uplifted his great deeds to say, look upon my works, they are a reward from God for the great righteousness that I have shown, and exalted himself above all others.

But he did not. Instead he did his work in private, performing his miracles in ways that would not gain him fame or fortune or even recognition, telling unto those who watched that all glory, it belonged not to him but to his Father, the Lord God Almighty.

Now… now there were many who were ready to follow him, wishing to be his disciples. How, they pressed, can we?

To them he would answer, “if any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”

It seemed like a harsh, hard requirement, one that seemed to contradict the word of the Lord. After all, in the commandments they were taught not to hate but to honor their mothers and their fathers and in the teachings of the Messiah himself they were told the second greatest commandment was to love, not to hate, their fellow man.

What then does this mean?

Service to the Lord, abiding in the Great Commission, these aren’t just passing fancies or things that should be taken upon ourselves lightly. No, we cannot look to them as tasks we give ourselves over to easily or simply, without thought or consideration as to what they actually mean. We cannot truly and rightly understand them unless we understand them fully and with thought rendered to the task and the road that lay before us.

The early Saints and Apostles and Disciples, those faithful followers of Christ, they would suffer affliction and sorrow. Crucified as Christ was or stoned as Stephen, that first Christian Martyr, they would die poor and in meager, destitute estate with feel there to see and comprehend the full nature of the hurt and the pain that encompassed them. They would live in poverty, many of them tent makers to spread the word of the Lord amidst the people while still being able to eat that they might not disappear to famine and hunger.

We may not know the same hardship that they knew, the road may not be wrought with the same challenges or difficulties, they may not offering the same suffering and affliction, yet it is still filled with stumbling blocks and adversity.

Those who truly and rightly seek to serve the Lord and to follow Christ as a disciple then you must be willing to set aside all the things in this world and of this world when the voice of Jesus calls unto you. You must be willing to be as Samuel was when he heard the voice of the Lord speak forth his name, saying “Here I am Lord”, you must be willing to be as Isaiah, who, when his ears beheld the cry of the Lord asking “Who shall I send”, replied in a clear and determined voice “Here I am Lord, send me.”

We cannot… we cannot and we must not be as the Prophet Jonah was as he heard the voice of God speaking unto him with his tasks now before him, jolting him from his quiet complacency with a new job now for him. If we truly seek to be sincere and genuine, earnest and honest in our faith, if that is our most firm of desires in following our Heavenly Father and His plan for us, then we cannot just be willing to follow the calling given unto us by the Lord but only when the road was easy and the task was simple, but fleeing from it as soon as a challenge comes before us, unwilling to give up our creature comforts or our safety for it.

The Word of the Lord, the Gospel message of Christ, the harvest of the soul, they are too precious, they are too important to do half heartedly or without fierce determination. It is a calling that is ready and prepared to give up all that is around you in order to show forth, to shine forth the love and compassion, the grace and the mercy of the Lord, regardless of the trials and the tribulations, the ridicule and the scorn that you may have to endure. It is a calling that is willing to sacrifice, just as Christ sacrificed all for us for the sake of our salvation, even when what is sacrificed seems too great or too large, knowing that God will give you strength and perseverance throughout all of the ordeals.

Christ tells us that we must, to be disciples, be willing to give up all of the comforts and all the peace in this world that we may know that we may abide forever in the peace and the comfort of the Lord. Perhaps, in our calling, we may never be asked to endure this, yet we must search deep in ourselves and prepare ourselves that we may be able to if the time ever does come or that day ever does break that we know we are true and faithful to his word.

Trust in the Lord and in His plan that you may be disciples in Christ and of Christ, given in a life of service to His Holy Name and His divine righteousness. Trust in the Lord and be ready in all things, if the voice of the Lord calls out to you, to say “Here I am Lord, send me.” Trust always in His plan knowing it is greater than anything in this world or of this world and that true peace, it abides when we follow His will completely, regardless of what we may face or what we may see.

But most of all, listen… Listen for the voice of Jesus calling, the voice of the Lord crying out. It may not come like the shaking of the earth that knocks us off of our feet and the bolt of lightning that blinds us on the road to Damascus, as it was for Saul of Tarsus, but it does come and it cannot be ignored. Discern… Discern and listen for it, willing to do the work of the Kingdom when it does come, regardless of what it may ask of you.

Lord, grant this unto us all.

Now may the peace of the Lord, that peace that transcends all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting. Amen.