1.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from
God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The message from God’s Word this 3rd
Sunday after Pentecost is taken from the Words of our Lord Jesus from Matthew
10:34-42, it’s entitled, “The High Cost of Discipleship,” dear brothers and
sisters in Christ.
2.
Later this
week we as a nation will be celebrating, “The
4th of July,” the day we celebrate the birth of our country and
our nation’s independence from Great Britain going all the way back to 1776. Our nation’s independence is a treasured blessing,
but there’s a greater independence that we as Christians treasure. God in Jesus
Christ has freed us from the power of sin, death, and hell. This freedom we
have in Jesus came at a high cost. So
too, our national freedom came at a high cost. Lives were sacrificed to gain
independence from England. And even
today, many lives of our service men and women continue to be sacrificed to
maintain our nation’s independence. Peace comes at a high price. Today, Jesus
reminds his disciples and us that pursuing worldly peace and freedom doesn’t
cost nearly as much as pursuing a spiritual life of peace and freedom.
3.
We often
complain about the high cost of living. Someone
has suggested that the high cost of living isn’t our problem, but rather the
cost of high living. In Matthew 10 Jesus
spoke with His disciples and pointed out a higher priority—the high cost of
discipleship. What does it cost to be a
believer? Jesus tells us that it’ll cost
you nothing, and yet it’ll cost you everything.
4.
It costs us
nothing to be a disciple of Jesus because He already paid the price in full,
that is, with His holy blood He covered our sins. This Gospel the Holy Spirit uses to bring us
to faith, by which we’re justified. But,
Jesus reminds us that there are consequences to following Him. Jesus wants us to know this up front so we
don’t complain about paying the price for confessing Him as Savior. Jesus says, “I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you… If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute
you” (John 15:19-20).
5.
In Jesus' day 2000 years ago, His call to repentance and salvation were
so frightening the world's leaders considered Him too dangerous to let live. That's
why He was crucified. Even today the world hates Jesus by persecuting the
people whom the Holy Spirit has called to salvation. That's why Jesus says in
Matthew 10:34-36, "Do not think that
I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a
sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against
her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies
will be those of his own household." It was a prophecy that’s been
fulfilled in every generation. Go to
North Korea and see how the government there has fulfilled those words by doing
its best to stamp out the Savior and the salvation He’s won on Calvary's cross.
Visit China or Vietnam and watch how they struggle to make the Savior and those
who would share His story of life comply with the Communist party platform. Go
to the churches of the Middle East where the homes of Christians are burned,
churches are bombed, and fanatical Muslims consider it a good work when they
persecute, murder, and martyr those who cling to the Savior who has forgiven
and opened heaven's doors for those who believe.
6.
20 years ago (Reader's
Digest, April 1994)
former Secretary of Education William Bennett wrote, "Today, much of society ridicules and mocks those who are serious about
their faith. America's only respectable form of bigotry is bigotry against
religious people. And the only reason for hatred of religion is that it forces
us to confront matters many would prefer to ignore." Bennett then
shared the results of what happens when a nation tries to minimize and muzzle
those who follow their faith. He said, "Since 1960, while the gross domestic product has nearly tripled,
violent crime has increased nearly 560 percent. Divorces have more than
doubled. The percentage of children in single-parent homes has tripled."
(Excerpts from What
Really Ails America, condensed from a speech by William J. Bennett, delivered
December 7, 1993 at the Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C., reprinted in
Reader's Digest, April, 1994) Does this sound too complicated or deep? Then allow Mr. Bennett to say
it in terms everybody can understand. He said, "In 1940, teachers identified the top problems in America's
schools are: talking out of turn, chewing gum, making noise and running in the
hall. In 1990, teachers listed drugs, alcohol, pregnancy, suicide, rape, and
assault." Today, 20 years after Mr. Bennett drafted those words, we
could add to that list, "the fear of
mass murders by classmates or total strangers."
7.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, just as there has been a high cost
of our armed service men and women to fight for the freedoms we enjoy here in
America. So too, the high cost of discipleship for us as Christians
includes fighting for Christ. “Do not think that I have come to bring
peace to the earth. I have not come to
bring peace, but a sword.” Christianity
isn’t an “easy chair” religion. Where there is evil, unrepentance, or
blasphemy, we should be willing to testify against it. It’s not easy to help others see their
sins. They often resent it with anger. This is fighting the good fight of faith. It’s bearing witness of the sacrifice Christ
made for us. It’s part of the price one
must pay. Jesus now gets to the core of
the cost of discipleship by asking if we really love Him. “Whoever loves father or
mother… (or) son or daughter more than
Me is not worthy of Me.”
8.
In Matthew 10 Jesus is reminding
us that we must love Him above all else.
After all, to not fear, love, and trust in God above all things is to
commit idolatry. Jesus is our God. He alone deserves our worship and
praise. Jesus won’t tolerate a divided
allegiance. Parent, child, and spouse
must step down from the pedestal of adoration and give first place to
Jesus. In fact, when Jesus takes full
possession of our hearts and lives, we will be more faithful to one another. In our
high cost of following Jesus, we will also be loyal to others.
9.
Following
Jesus loyally, we’re to take up our cross.
But we don’t want crosses, do we?
We want ease. We’re soft and don’t
like hardship, opposition, or ridicule.
But time and again Jesus places a cross upon us. Such a cross disciplines us. It stabilizes us. As we bear mockery for Jesus’ sake, we will
in the end be rewarded with peace in eternal life.
10.
Jesus tells
us that life isn’t worth living if we close the door on Him. “Whoever
finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find
it.” Does that mean we should give
up living? Should we move out of society
and into some cave? Should we become the
Amish or the Mennonites around us?
Hardly! What we should give up is
an aimless life that has no purpose or goal.
We’re to give up the self-centered life, which is only interested in
eating, drinking, ease, and good times. Wealth
doesn’t last. Depressions, bad
investments, and death shake everything out of our hands. Honor doesn’t stay; others come along and
take it from us. Popularity fades; one
misstep, and the crowd seeks after other heroes.
11.
But, if we
lose our lives in service to Jesus, He gives us treasures that last longer than
the world itself. These treasures come
to us in terms of forgiveness, peace, salvation, and heaven. “Behold,
I stand at the door and knock,” says Jesus (Revelation 3:20). Today Jesus comes to us through His
Word. And we receive this Word from Him,
who comes to us as the eternal Word made flesh, made man. In Jesus, we see very God of very God. Jesus is more than a prophet. He’s more than a righteous man. He’s all that, but there’s a divine
plus. This prophet, this righteous man,
is God Himself. “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58).
12.
The new
freedoms we have in Christ came at high cost to our Savior. At times, we may
face a high cost to be a citizen in his kingdom. But, by the grace of God, we’re
empowered through His Word and Sacraments. Living a life of loyalty and service
to God and others will end for us in the joys of his heavenly kingdom that
Christ has won for us. Amen.
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