"Total Surrender"
Not A Fan Series- Matthew 19:16-26
Sunday, March 3, 2013

Introduction: Dieting can be a challenging experience for many people. They decide they want to take off some weight, so they commit themselves to going on a diet. Once they’ve chosen their diet, they begin to only eat what they are allowed to eat. Maybe they even start working out some (which is actually very important to pair up with a diet). The problem for most people, is that they only stay committed to the diet for a short time. Maybe they see all the good food that they are missing. Maybe they find that they don’t have the willpower needed to be on a diet. Whatever it is, the commitment level is not there, and so they can’t follow through on their goal.

            When we set goals, we have to understand that there are personal sacrifices that are involved. Usually we have to give something up to achieve our goal. We have to give to get. This is how it is when you are seeking to be a follower of Jesus Christ. A fan will give only a little time, a little effort, a little money. A follower needs to choose to be fully committed to following, or it won’t happen!

I.                   Denying yourself- (Luke 9:23; Matthew 19:16-26)

a.      Saying no- To be able to move from being just a fan of Jesus, to being

a follower of Jesus, we have to learn how to say “no” to ourselves. Let’s listen again to Luke 9:23, (Jesus says) “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” There is a very challenging phrase in there that says “deny himself.” In Luke 9:23 Jesus makes it clear that if we are going to follow Him, we cannot have a “no-strings-attached” arrangement.

            Last week we talked about coming after Jesus. We talked about how when we come after Jesus, we are pursuing Jesus in love. We cannot come after Jesus without denying ourselves. We have to learn how to say “no.” The idea from Jesus here really means that we need to deny our own existence, in the sense that Jesus is primary, and we are secondary!

            We don’t usually talk that much about denying ourselves, because we live in a culture that stresses independence and fulfilling our needs. It is not appealing to talk about denying ourselves. How do we deny ourselves in a culture that is all about the individual?

            In Matthew chapter 19 we meet a man whose name we don’t know, but who we refer to as the rich young ruler. This man has followed a path that has led him to great wealth and power. This is actually the path that so many in our world are on. In verse 16 we see this man come to Jesus with a question. He asks: “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

            This man is asking Jesus how he can get to heaven. The question itself is good, but his assumption is not. He asks what he must do. All his life he has achieved his wealth and power on his own. He believes he can achieve eternal life for himself as well. Jesus issues a challenge to the man; the challenge of what it means to be a follower. Jesus says in verse 21: “Sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. THEN come, follow me.”

         Jesus wants the man to understand that to be a follower he has to deny himself. To receive from Jesus the man has to give up what controls him. The man has to make a choice: follow Jesus, or the path that leads to money. He can’t follow both! In the end, the man could not give up his possessions, and so he remained a fan.

b.      Living in denial- It is not uncommon in other countries that when a

person accepts Jesus and commits to follow Him they are no longer welcomed by their families. To make a decision for Jesus means they have to give up their family.

There are times in our following Jesus/   that we have to make choices to give up things or re-prioritize our lives. We have to choose Jesus over our family. We have to choose Jesus over our career goals. We have to choose Jesus over money. We have to choose Jesus over freedom. A follower makes a decision every day to deny themselves and choose Jesus!

      When we sacrificially deny ourselves for Christ’s sake it is the clearest and best evidence that we love Jesus. It is not enough for Jesus just to be our Savior. If Jesus is our Savior, then He must be our Lord as well. If He is our Lord, then we will sacrifice what we want for what He wants. This is how we show we love Him, because love is demonstrated by sacrifice.

EX. The other day Tami bought a chocolate cream pie from Marie Calendar’s for the family. The first two days we each had a piece of pie. However, the third day there were only 3 pieces left. Tami volunteered to not have a piece. Tami showed her love for us by sacrificing her place. This is a simple illustration of how sacrifice shows love!

II.                No exceptions-

a.      Making Exceptions- Many who are fans of Jesus get by without denying themselves/

by compartmentalizing their lives. They try and negotiate terms of the deal to Jesus. They might say: “I’ll follow Jesus, but don’t expect me to forgive people when they hurt me.” OR, “I’ll follow Jesus, but don’t think that I’ll give up ten percent of my money.” On and on the exceptions go.

            In the book UnChristian, Barna research reported that 65 percent of 18-42 year-olds in America have “made a personal commitment to Jesus that is still important.” That sounds like a pretty good number of people. On the surface it sounds as if our country is still a majority of Christians. But the better question is: “How many of those people are true followers?” You see, people want to say they are Christians, because they want the benefit of eternal life. Yet, many haven’t really committed to Jesus and become a follower!

            When we see more of the research we learn that only 23 percent of those people believed that sex outside of marriage is wrong. Only 13 percent believe that getting drunk is a sin. And on and on the list goes. They say they are Christ followers, but they do not follow much of the Bible’s teachings.

b.      Selective commitment- What is going on here is selective commitment.

They choose to commit some areas of their lives, but not every area. The problem is that Jesus never left open the option of selective commitment. When you say “yes” to following Jesus, you don’t get to say which parts of your life you will give over. When you become a Christian, by definition you are saying that you will give over every area of your life to Jesus; to your Lord.

            Selective commitment is actually a trend in our society. There was an interview on MSNBC where they interviewed a member from the new vegetarians. The woman said this: “I usually eat vegetarian. But I really like sausage.” This new group of vegetarians will eat vegetarian, unless they happen to like some meat. This trend has definitely hit the Christian faith. People follow Jesus, unless there is something else they like, and then they will follow that.

            Following Jesus requires complete and totally commitment. As the rich young ruler wanted to follow Jesus without saying no to himself, so we can be led to believe this same way. We have to understand that following Jesus requires personal sacrifice. Following Jesus requires we say “no” to ourselves.

III.             The fine print-

a.      Success by number- Whenever you sign a contract it is important that

you (or a lawyer who represents you) reads the fine print. You want to make sure you know everything that is being required of you. It is not a good thing when you find out later that something was in the contract that you didn’t know about.

            You see, fans tend to come to Jesus asking: “What can Jesus do for me?” Whereas, followers come to Jesus asking: “What can I do for Jesus?” The first is a consumer mentality, the second is a mentality of sacrifice. This has actually come about because of the collision of American capitalism and Christianity. Because this idea of capitalism has infected our society, we come to church and to Jesus with this same frame of mind. We have to learn to get rid of this thinking if we want to be a follower!

            Many companies measure success by the number of customers they have. This same criteria has seeped into the church. Many churches see success by the number of people they attract. Therefore, churches try and design programs to attract people. They want the people to be comfortable and happy. They want to show people what they have to offer, because they know people are “church shopping.” If they don’t like one church, there are many more to choose from.

            Can you see how this undermines the invitation of Jesus to deny ourselves? The invitation of Jesus is “give up everything” and follow me. The invitation of Jesus says, “deny yourself.” Because churches often don’t have the same message as Jesus, churches tend to get fans and not followers.

b.      Slaves in the Bible- The Bible has a different definition of a follower

than most churches today. The Bible’s definition is that of a slave. This is exactly the opposite of a consumer. To truly get a picture of what it means to “deny yourself,” it is good to look at this picture of a slave.

            A slave has no rights. A slave has no possessions that they can call their own. In Jesus’ day, a slave didn’t even have a personal identity. Slaves don’t get time off for themselves. Slaves couldn’t negotiate contracts. It might surprise you that many followers of Christ,  in His day, troduced themselves as “slave.”

            When Peter began 2 Peter, he didn’t introduce himself by saying “Peter, a good friend of Jesus.” He starts off by saying: “Simon Peter, a slave…”John, Timothy, and Jude all give themselves this same title. James begins his book by saying: “James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ…” The Apostle Paul did as well when he said in the book of Romans: “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus…”

IV.              Being a slave- (Luke 1:26-38; Matthew 19:22)

a.      Servant verses slave- Because slave is a common word used for

followers, it isn’t surprising that Jesus is often called Lord. When Jesus is called Lord, we often think that it is because of His Divinity; His being God in the flesh. But in the New Testament, when His followers refer to Him as Lord, theyare not using the word Yahweh, but rather Kurios. Kurios is a slavery word. Kurios is the word given to the master or owner of the slave.

            The other word we need to understand is doulos. The word doulos can be translated as servant, but the better translation for it is slave. This is important, because a servant works for someone, whereas a slave is owned by someone! To take this further, we must understand that when we call Jesus Lord, we aren’t saying He is our teacher and we are His students. NO, we are saying He is the master and we are His slaves. This is what it means for us to “deny ourselves.”

b.      Sign me up- I would imagine what I’m talking about here might be a

lot to take in. We don’t like the idea of being anyone’s slave. We are free people living in a free country! This is the challenge we have to overcome mentally if we are to become true followers of Jesus. Becoming a follower of Jesus is really about willingly choosing to be Jesus’ slave. In the gospel of Luke, chapter 1 when Mary has the encounter with the angel Gabriel, and she is told that she will give birth to the Messiah, she responds in verse 38: “I am the Lord’s bondslave…” Mary knew that without complete denial and submission, she could not fulfill this call.

            When one becomes the bondslave to a master, that bondslave is giving up all their rights to the Master. The bondslave is also agreeing to give up all their possessions to the Master. Now this could be a problem if the Master is untrustworthy. This could be a problem if the Master is abusive. But Jesus is not that kind of Master. Jesus is the kind who loves us, and empowers us, and gives us a call of purpose and wonder!

            Why would anyone choose to be a slave? A person who chooses to become a slave is one who loves the master greatly. The person who chooses to be a slave is one who is blessed by being in the service of the master. Going back to the rich young ruler, after he chose to leave Jesus and not follow Him, it is said in Matthew 19:22, “He went away sad, because he had great wealth.” Do you see what is going on here? The rich young ruler wanted to follow, but he couldn’t because his wealth had power over him; power he couldn’t give up!

Conclusion: Illustration- Millard Fuller became a millionaire at the age of 29. He bought his wife everything she could possibly want. But one day he came home to a note that said his wife had left him. Millard went after his wife. He found her in a hotel in New York city. They talked all through the night. She explained to him that the things of the world had left her cold. Her heart was empty and her spirit burned out. She felt dead, and wanted to feel alive again. They knelt down together and prayed. God moved in their hearts and they decided to sell everything they had and dedicate themselves to God and to serving poor people. After that they started an organization called Habitat for Humanity!

            When Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, it is not just about giving up money or possessions, it’s about giving up on what we think we want and need, and seeking out and following what God wants and needs from us! Let us deny ourselves and follow Christ. Amen.