Series:
Wanted: Contagious Christians
Picking up the Tab (Luke 9:23-27)
March 25, 2007
WANTED: CONTAGIOUS CHRISTIANS
God hears and
responds to the prayers of people who are open to Him
Relationship
with God is a result of an act of the Holy Spirit and involves a
human messenger
WANTED: CONTAGIOUS CHRISTIANS
Go wants us to
go together, take risks, get involved with people, present a
verbal message (BE LIKE HIM)
WANTED: CONTAGIOUS CHRISTIANS
God wants us to
“teach WHAT IS IN ACCORDANCE WITH sound doctrine
Undeniable: so
that those who oppose you…nothing bad to say about us
Irresistible:
So that in every way we may make the teaching…attractive
PICK UP THE TAB IN A RESTAURANT
1. A different
kind of prayer (vs. 18)
Once
when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with
him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?"
(found time alone…)
“Gimme prayers”
vs. intimacy for the purpose of reproduction
EMPTY CHAIR
QUESTION #1: Who is
Jesus to me?
What
about you? (verse 20)
2. A different
kind of life
23 "If anyone
would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross
daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will
lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.
“Control
over life” IN OTHER WORDS,
“Whoever wants to run his own life,
to have his own way, live for a safe, secure, comfortable
future…
VS
Whoever wants to turn control over
to me, do things my way, RISK safety, security, comfort for my
sake…
Bomb under the
pulpit
QUESTION #2: Do I want to live as Jesus’ disciple
(24/7)?
Elisha
(1 Kings
19:19-21)
prosperous farmer, stopped his work to listen to Elijah, burned
his bridges (killed his oxen, set fire with his equipment)
Made
serious adjustments so that God could accomplish great things
3. A
different kind of witness
26 If anyone
is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of
him when he comes in his glory.
HERE’S THE CHALLENGE: IF JESUS IS “THE CHRIST” AND
IF I AM GOING TO BE HIS DISCIPLES, WILL I “PICK UP THE TAB”?
(Take up our cross daily and follow Jesus?)
What adjustments do I
need to make? (What’s MY cross?)
?Surrender
to God (adjust to a Person - not a plan, program, or
philosophy)
?Dependence on God
John 15:5: “without
me you can do nothing”
We don’t WORK for God
Gal 2:20:
“I have been crucified
with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The
life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who
loved me and gave himself for me.”
Rely on God’s grace, team
up with other believers, be the church
I Corinthians 15:10
By the grace of
God I am what I am, and His grace was not without effect. No, I
worked harder than everyone else – yet not I, but the grace of
God that was within me.”
Patient waiting on God
Isaiah 40:31:
“They that wait will…”
Waiting like a waiter
Redirect plans, purposes and/or thinking
“Too busy” determined to
have things my way
4. A promised outcome (Go, make
disciples, I’LL SHOW UP!)
26 If
anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man
will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory
27 I tell you the truth,
some who are standing here will not taste death before they see
the kingdom of God."
Kingdom of GOD vs. the Kingdom of the
Son of Man (MH)
"Second coming
of the Son of man (vs 26) is at a great distance,
Kingdom of God
shall come in its power in the present age, while some here
present are alive." They saw the kingdom of God when the Spirit
was poured out, when the gospel was preached to all the world
and nations were brought to Christ by it.”
WE
SEE IT WHEN THE GOSPEL IS PROCLAIMED AND THE CITY IS BROUGHT TO
CHRIST BY IT, WHEN THE KINGDOM TRIUMPHS OVER THE HAVOC WRECKED
BY SIN IN PEOPLE’S LIVES.
WILL I
PRAY FOR IT, ADJUST MY LIFE TO IT, WITNESS TO ITS POWER IN MY
LIFE? (vs. 23
IF anyone would come after me, he
MUST deny himself and take up his cross DAILY and follow me.)
Luke 9:18 Once
when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with
him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?" 19 They
replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and
still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back
to life."
20
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Peter answered, "The Christ of God."
23
Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he
must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man
to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?
26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will
be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of
the Father and of the holy angels. 27 I tell you the truth, some
who are standing here will not taste death before they see the
kingdom of God."
DADDY'S EMPTY CHAIR
A man's daughter had asked the local minister to
come and pray with her father. When the minister arrived, he
found the man lying in bed, an empty chair sat beside his bed.
“I guess you were expecting me, he said.
'No, who are you?" said the father.
The minister told him his name and then remarked,
"I saw the empty chair and I figured you knew I was coming.”
"Oh yeah,
the chair," said the bedridden man.
"Would you mind closing the door?"
Puzzled, the minister shut the door.
"I have never told anyone this, not even my daughter," said the
man.
"But all of my life I have never known how to pray. At church I
used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, But it went right
over my head. I abandoned any attempt at prayer. Then one day,
my best friend said to me, "Johnny, prayer is just a simple
matter of having a conversation with Jesus. Here is what I
suggest. "Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair in front of
you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair. It's not spooky
because he promised, 'I will be with you always'. "Then just
speak to him in the same way you’re doing with me right now."
"So, I tried it and I've liked
it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day. I'm
careful though. If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair,
she'd either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the
funny farm." The minister was deeply moved by the story and
encouraged the old man to continue on the journey. Two nights
later the daughter called to tell the minister that her daddy
had died that afternoon. But there was something strange about
his death. Apparently, just before Daddy died, he leaned over
and rested his head on the chair beside the bed. What do you
make of that?"
