Tag: Renounce

31.y. “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

 

Matthew 8:18  Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

 Luke 14:33    So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

 Isaiah 53:2-3   For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.  He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

 Matthew 19:29     And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

With the miracles associated with the ministry of Jesus, following Him might have seemed more glamorous than it really was. Jesus perhaps received many spontaneous offers like this. Jesus didn’t tell the man “No, you can’t follow Me.” But He told him the truth, without painting a glamorized version of what it was like to follow Him. This is the opposite of techniques used by many evangelists today, but Jesus wanted the man to know what it would really be like. This man did not ask for permission to dig a grave for his deceased father. He wanted to remain in his father’s house and care for him until the father died. This was obviously an indefinite period, which could drag on and on.

 The man wanted to follow Jesus, but not just yet. He knew it was good and that he should do it, but he felt there was a good reason why he could not do it now. “If the scribe was too quick in promising, this ‘disciple’ was too slow in performing.” Jesus was not afraid to discourage potential disciples. Unlike many modern evangelists, He was interested more in quality than in quantity. “Nothing has done more harm to Christianity than the practice of filling the ranks of Christ’s army with every volunteer who is willing to make a little profession, and to talk fluently of experience.” (Carson)

Jesus pressed the man to follow Him now and clearly stated the principle that family obligations – or any other obligation – must not be put ahead of following Jesus. Jesus must come first.  “Much of the concerns of politics, party tactics, committee meetings, social reforms, innocent amusements, and so forth, maybe very fitly described as burying the dead. Much of this is very needful, proper, and commendable work. (Spurgeon) 

What each person must settle in their own hearts and minds – is what I am doing – what I have been called or led to do, and am I doing it for the glory and honor of Jesus Christ.  Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is being one all of the time. All of our thoughts, words, and actions should fall under our careful eyes and be viewed by and through God’s Word to ensure that in all things and at all times we are honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ. Some of the godliest people I have met are not pastors or preachers but those who, in whatever vocation God has led them, give themselves wholly to being a disciple who honors and glorifies Jesus Christ in all they do at all times.

30.m. “Immediately they left their nets and followed him”

 

Matthew 4:18  While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

 Mark 10:28-31   Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.”  Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel,  who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.  But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

 Luke 14:33    So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

God usually calls people as they are busy doing something. Jesus called the apostles as they were casting a net into the sea or mending their nets. “They were busy in a lawful occupation when he called them to be ministers: our Lord does not call idlers but fishers.” (Spurgeon) Look at men of God; Saul was looking for his father’s donkeys, David was keeping his father’s sheep, The shepherds were guarding their flocks, Amos was farming in Tekoa, Matthew was working at the tax collector’s table, Moses was tending his father-in-law’s flock, Gideon was threshing wheat, Abraham was a very busy man with large herds and flocks, Luke was a physician, Paul was a high ranking official. All of these men heard the calling of God and responded to that calling with obedience. Therein is the difference between those that hear and obey and those that hear and don’t. It does not matter when or where you hear God’s calling of you to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. It does matter what you do after you hear Him calling. People deny hearing it, deafen their ears to hear it, neglect it, cast it aside as foolishness, delay acting upon it, and a host of other “not nows”. The day of salvation is now. Hebrews 3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.

47. What does the LORD require of you

Deuteronomy 10:12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God,

Jeremiah 7:22-23  But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’

Micah 6:8  He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Matthew 11:29-30  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

1 John 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

Obey my voice!  Serve God with all your heart and soul.  Keep His commandments.  Be no longer stubborn. Walk in the way that I command you. Walk humbly with God.

What does it mean to serve Him with all your heart and soul, to keep His commandments, to be no longer stubborn, and to walk humbly?  I am certain it will require emptying oneself of what is more precious and consuming time in their heart, mind, and soul.  During Christmas, we hear of how there was no room in the inn for Mary to give birth.  It seems to ring true today with no room in our busyness for Jesus to reign fully.  Making room would indicate that something has to be purposely moved out.   What is consuming your heart and soul leaving no room for Jesus?

We can say we are doing all we can with the busyness of our life, family, job, etc…. By saying we are doing all we can means we have intentionally chosen to give our time (heart, soul, mind) to something else.  We choose to believe we are doing what God wants for us to do.  How can that be true if Jesus is not #1 in our heart?  How can that be true if we give His word nothing more than a glance every once in a while?

In Joshua 22:5   It says, “Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”  In Psalms 81:13    it says, “Oh, that my people would listen to me”.   In Titus 2:11-12   it says, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,  training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age”

There has been no other time in history where God’s word has been so readily available.  There has never in history been so much neglect of His word than what is presently being done.  Never in history has there been this much complacent behavior by those supposedly called by His name.  Our lives should not and do not have to be like this.  We aren’t forced into it.  We choose it to be this way.

We can choose to not be this way.  We can choose to repent, confess, return and commit to humbly serving, honoring, following, and obeying God.  We can start by intentionally committing to reading His word each day.  We can intentionally seek and desire for Him to lead us closer to Him through more understanding and knowledge of Him and what it means to give Him all our heart, mind, and soul.

I will show you

Genesis 12:1  Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

Genesis 15:7    And he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”

Nehemiah 9:7    You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham.

Isaiah 41:9    you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”;

Isaiah 51:2    Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him.

Joshua 24:2-3    And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.  Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac.

Luke 14:26-33     So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

2 Corinthians 6:17     Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them

Hebrews 11:8    By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

It is one thing to be chosen and another to obey.  Being a christian is a choice of all who are called.  Likewise, listening to His whispers to our soul, obeying the word of God, , and following His leading and call on our lives is a choice.

Abraham was called and told to leave his place of comfort with his family(s).  He obeyed and left on the promise that God would lead Him to where he was to go.  He did not wait once he heard God’s calling.

Abraham had a chosen to first be near to God and had reverence of Him.  Without this choice there would have been no hearing God speak into his life.  Abraham then chose to obey God’s leading in his life with only the words of “go to the land I will show you”.   There was no map and clear plan all laid out.  There were no pictures of what the land looked like.  There was no directions to follow so that he would know how to get from point “A” to point “B”.  Abraham chose to act immediately.  He did not wait until he could confirm everything was in place and the destination and directions were clearly laid out.

Our lives are made up of choices every single day.  We can choose;

to be near to God or far away

to have reverence of Him or just passing thoughts

to want to listen to Him or turn deaf ear

to learn more of Him or neglect learning of Him

to read His word or neglect it

to honor Him or disrespect Him

to serve Him or just ourselves

to follow Him or be led by others

to worship Him or things of this world

to obey Him or disobey

to have faith in Him or trust in self

to pray to Him or not

to wait on Him or move forward on our own

to trust Him or in others

to cling to Him or in other things

to rely on Him or self

to desire Him or seek satisfaction from other things

to read His word or neglect it

to proclaim the gospel or keep silent

to love Him or have a luke warm feeling toward Him

to sacrifice to Him or keep for self

to speak of His power or be silent

to be content in His hands or be anxious and worry

to encourage others because of who He is or be silent and leave them in despair.

It is clear, we make choices everyday and they will have immediate and eternal consequences in our life and the lives of others.

Counted as Loss

d“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ  and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith”

Psalms 40:16  But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the LORD!” As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!

Isaiah 65:13  Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame;  behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart and shall wail for breaking of spirit.

Psalms 22:26   The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live forever!

Psalms 35:27   Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, “Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!”

Psalms 68:3   But the righteous shall be glad; they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy!

Psalms 119:166  I hope for your salvation, O LORD, and I do your commandments.  My soul keeps your testimonies; I love them exceedingly.

Psalms 105:3    Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!

Psalms 119:111    Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.

Luke 14:33   So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Matthew 16:26   For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

I wonder if some of the lack of joy in our life comes from the fact we do not forsake all we have in this world.  Are we attached to things this world has to offer and missing out in having gladness and joy in our heart that comes from a closeness to God, a dependency on Him, and eyes of our heart, soul and mind focused on humbly serving Him in the short time we have this side of eternity.  Attachment to things this world has to offer is to believe the lie “it will satisfy”.  It is always very short in delivering satisfaction and is very good at sugar coating this false promise.  True  and lasting joy can only be found in God, humbly serving, willingly obeying, and always seeking Him.  What does it profit man to gain the world and lose their soul?

 

What is the Cost?

So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple

The question is asked from our heart at some point in our life – What is the cost of following Jesus Christ?  We then come up with a list of do’s and don’ts, rights and wrongs, and perceived changes required in our life.  The fact is there is no cost at all – it is all blessing.  God our Father says come onto me all who are burdened and He will give us rest.  He says He will never leave us or forsake us.  He will guide our path.  He will be our strength.  He will prepare a place for us in heaven.  He will fill our heart with peace, joy, hope, faith, love, mercy, grace, giving, strength……. and above all He  will give us eternal life to be with Him forever.  Give all of your life to Him for there is truly no eternal cost.

Matthew 19:29
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first

Matthew 25:34
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. ’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink

Luke 14:33
So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple

Philippians 3:7
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord