“…. whoever of you does
not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple." – Luke 14:33
The picture that the Gospels
paint is clear about what God expects of His children – about what Jesus
demanded of those who would follow in His footsteps. About what it meant for Him to be Lord in
their – in our – lives. I am leading an
Experiencing God study on Zoom – with a few friends. I have led this study on several occasions –
once in Haiti with about 15 young men and women – English speaking
Haitians. At any rate, the principles presented
in the study have become foundational to my Christian view - how I respond to and live my life.
There are 7 principles - a principle being a basic idea or rule that
explains or controls how something happens or works that Dr. Blackaby suggests
explain how God interacts with the world and specifically with Christians. No worries – I am not going to expound on all
7 this morning – but I do want to share two.
If you are going to follow
Jesus, you will always be brought to a crisis of belief – challenged in your
heart and your natural reasoning about how you live your life – what you
embrace and what you reject. Second –
once you accept what ever it is that God has challenged you to believe and embrace,
you will have to make major adjustments in your life if you “believe that what
you believe is really real.” (Dr. Del Tackett, Focus on the Family).
So Jesus said – “you must forsake
all” “Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul” “Lay you life down for others”
“Pick up your cross daily” The Epistles written by the Apostles tell us – “If
we are in Christ – old things are passing away and all things are becoming new”
“Don’t love the world or the things of this world” “You can’t love God and
money – You can only love one of them (no matter how you try to convince
yourself otherwise)” “We are saved by grace though faith – not works – (it is
our first crisis of belief)”
These verse references are
only the tip of the discipleship iceberg.
The adjustments that must take place in a Christian’s life are legion.
And the thing is – you can’t do any of them on your own. They happen when you
yield your heart to God – to the indwelling and leading of the Spirit of God
through faith in the Son of God.
So – you have time to think
these days – what is it that God has been speaking to you about that perhaps
you have been unwilling to embrace? What crisis of believe has God brought you
to – and like Israel standing at the river Jordan when it is overflowing its
banks – God is saying walk across the river to the place I have promised. The
first time – the people said “no” and wandered in the desert, missing what God
had waiting for them. The second time –
they had to step into the water before the river backed up – in other words,
they had to trust God in spite of what they saw or felt. We all have regrets. Don’t let them be the
reason that you don’t cross what ever river bank you are standing on
today. What adjustments will you have to
make to obey? What are you going to do? I want to encourage you to step into
the water – and just see what God will do as you obey Him.
By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For
His Glory Alone
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