Message by Chad Kelly
Edith lived in a little world bounded on the north, south, east, and west”¦by Edith. (Swindoll, 174)
We ALL have the tendency to live in such a small, ingrown world of ourselves, don”™t we?
Aren”™t hot tubs great? A good soak in a hot tub is therapeutic””it”™ll relax muscles you didn”™t even know were knotted up! And there”™s absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying such therapy.
But think about this”¦
Packer
The hot tub is the perfect symbol of the modern route in religion. The hot tub experience is sensuous, relaxing, floppy, laid back. It is not in any way demanding, whether intellectually or otherwise, but very, very nice, even to the point of being great fun…Many today want Christianity to be like that and labor to make it so. (Hot Tub Religion, 61)
But Jesus said something very different about what it means to follow Him.
Jesus came to redeem our lives from uselessness by changing the way we live our lives.
How NOT to Waste Your Life
Mark 8:34-38
Executing your selfish desires daily is
the only way to NOT waste your life!
Mark 8:34-38 (NLT)
34 Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. 35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. 36 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? 37 Is anything worth more than your soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Executing your selfish desires daily is
the only way to NOT waste your life!
Packer
Carrying one”™s cross in Jesus”™ day”¦was required of those whom society had condemned, whose rights had been forfeited, and who were now being led out to their execution. The cross they carried was the instrument of death.
And so, in Jesus”™ words is a call to a self-execution of sorts.
Executing your selfish desires daily is
the only way to NOT waste your life!
Packer
Accepting death to everything that carnal self wants to possess is what Christ”™s summons to self-denial is all about.
Notice 5 aspects of this call to self-execution:
1. Universal (34)
If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.
“any”””NO exceptions (“whoever”)
Bonhoeffer
When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.
Luke 14:27
And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
Chantry
It is an absolute impossibility to be a Christian without self-denial”¦The only way to avoid the cross is to follow the world to hell.
2. Uncomfortable (34)
If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.
DENY self”¦take up his CROSS
Impaling my selfish, sinful nature on the cross that it may die an agonizing death!
2 Corinthians 11:24-28 (NLT)
24 Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. 26 I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. 27 I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.
28 Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches.
That”™s what self-denial looked like in Paul”™s life.
Do you remember the story of Abraham and Isaac? God effectively said, “Abraham, I want you to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. And your cross today is your love for your son. It wasn”™t an evil thing, but a wonderfully awesome thing! And yet, God was testing Abraham”™s love for God. You know how the story unfolds. Abraham proves his love and devotion to God by laying his son on an altar and raising the knife with every intention of slaying his son, just as God had required. But God mercifully stops Abraham after Abraham had proven/demonstrated his willingness to put himself to death to love God supremely!
What is your “Isaac” this morning?
3. Unending (34)
If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.
This is a call to ongoing action!
Chantry
Old Christians as well as new converts must bear a cross. One”™s cross is not a disposable item of Christian experience but a life-long burden in this world.
Only when heaven comes can we lay down our cross!
4. Unreserved (35-38)
If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. 36 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? 37 Is anything worth more than your soul?
Another way to express the idea of being unreserved is to be”¦
a) Whole-Hearted
Intentional crucifixion of any part of myself that opposes Jesus!
In what areas do I hold back and reserve myself from Jesus”™ control?
Chantry
At each stage of growth, more self-denial is required, more painful blows to self, more reckless abandon to serve the Lord Christ with consequent abandonment of one”™s own life. (25)
A key to being “unreserved” in the self-crucifixion Jesus calls us to is to be”¦
b) Eternity-Driven (38)
If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
Lewis
If you read history you will find tht the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next”¦Its is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.
Ken Boa
If any of us could be transported to heaven for even a five-minute visit, we would never be the same after our return to earth. For the first time, we would have a true perspective on the frailty and brevity of life on earth and the absurdity of giving our hearts to things that will not last.
How much does eternity ”“ the reality that this is not the end, that you will see God one day, that heaven is forever as compared to this short life ”“ how does eternity actually effect the decisions in your daily life?
Conclusion
Lucado
Self-promotion. Self-preservation. Self-centeredness. It”™s all about me! They told us it was, didn”™t they? Weren”™t we urged to look out for number one? Find our place in the sun? We thought self-celebration would make us happy”¦But what chaos this philosophy creates.
I told you we were going to look at 5 aspects of Jesus”™ call to self-execution, but if you”™ve been keeping up, we”™ve only looked at 4. Here”™s the last and most important one:
Jesus”™ call to self-execution is to be”¦
5. Grace-Driven
Mark 8:35
If you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (NLT)
14 Either way, Christ”™s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
Lucado
The God-centered life works. And it rescues us from a life that doesn”™t.
Executing your selfish desires daily is
the only way to NOT waste your life!
C.T. Studd
If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice is too great for me to make for him.