The Call of Discipleship - Luke 9:21-27 - March 26, 2023 Sermon

Luke 9:21-27 - The Suffering Messiah

In this transcript, the speaker discusses Luke 9:21-27 and how Jesus upended the disciples' understanding of who the Messiah was.

Peter's Confession

• The disciples answer Jesus' question about who people say he is.

• Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ of God.

Jesus' Command to Keep Quiet

• Jesus rebukes the disciples and commands them not to tell anyone about his identity as the Messiah.

• This command is weighty and authoritative, indicating that something significant is happening.

The Suffering Messiah

• Jesus begins to teach that he is not a political savior or hero who will conquer Rome.

• Instead, he is a suffering servant who has come to rescue people from eternal spiritual darkness.

Disciples' Misunderstanding

• The disciples had seen Jesus perform powerful miracles and could have easily conquered Rome with him.

• However, they did not understand that Jesus was here to save them from spiritual darkness rather than temporary political circumstances.

Understanding the Command to Follow Christ

In this section, the speaker discusses how Christ's command to follow him changes the disciples' understanding of what it means to follow him. The passage is heavy and reveals the motivations and loves of our hearts.

Deny Yourself

• Deny everything that your self longs for in this world.

• Self-focus is part of modern Evangelical identity, which cares little about reaching the lost world for Christ.

• Lose whatever you think in your life is giving you meaning and purpose and let Christ be that for you.

• There is an incompatibility associated with following Christ and following your desires.

Take Up Your Cross

• Taking up your cross means being willing to suffer for Christ's sake.

• It involves a willingness to bear reproach, shame, or even death because of one's association with Jesus.

• Taking up your cross daily means making a conscious decision every day to live for Christ rather than yourself.

Follow Me

• Following Jesus requires obedience to his commands.

• It involves a willingness to leave behind everything else that competes with our love for him.

• Following Jesus also means trusting him completely, even when we don't understand what he's doing or where he's leading us.

Losing Yourself for Christ

The speaker talks about the desperation that sets in when we feel like we are losing ourselves and how it makes changing everything a little bit easier. He explains that becoming a follower of Christ means losing whatever we think we are and letting God take control.

Denying Yourself

• Becoming a follower of Christ means losing the sum total of who we are, including our desires, attachments, goals, and values.

• Denying yourself means asking God to break your stubborn heart and mold you according to His purpose.

• We can fall into two temptations when denying ourselves: limiting this passage by making excuses or treating it as a matter of priority instead of perspective.

Paul's Example

• Paul counted everything he had as loss for the sake of Christ because he realized that he was dead without Him.

• This is not merely adding Christ to his life but a dynamic shift in how Paul thought about life.

• Paul's life was wound up in Christ in an indistinguishable fashion.

Robinson Crusoe Story

• The story of Robinson Crusoe illustrates how one man learned to live alone on an island for 25 years until he noticed cannibals with prisoners who they intended to kill and eat.

Robinson Crusoe and Friday

In this section, the speaker talks about how Robinson Crusoe meets Friday, a man who becomes his servant for life. The speaker also draws parallels between Friday's devotion to Robinson Crusoe and our devotion to Christ.

Meeting Friday

• Robinson Crusoe gives Friday raisins and he falls asleep.

• When he wakes up, he becomes devoted to Robinson Crusoe and offers to be his servant for life.

• He is eventually named "Friday."

Radical Gratitude

• Our lives should be radically changed by radical gratitude and recognition of what God has done for us.

• We were dead without Christ, but He saved us because He loved us.

Taking Up Your Cross

In this section, the speaker talks about what it means to take up your cross and follow Jesus. He explains that it involves bearing reproach and disdain as we follow in the same steps of Christ.

What Does It Mean?

• Taking up your cross means following Jesus through the same crowd that ridiculed Him.

• It involves bearing reproach and disdain as we follow in the same steps of Christ.

Temptations

• Following Jesus can lead to temptations, such as wanting to hide our faith or deny it when faced with ridicule or persecution.

• We must resist these temptations and continue to bear our cross for the sake of Christ.

The Temptation to Keep Our Faith Secret

In this section, the speaker talks about the temptation to keep our faith secret and how we can be ashamed of Christ.

Being Ashamed of Christ

• Sometimes we are ashamed of Christ and what he teaches.

• We may be ashamed of talking about our sin and judgment.

• We may have delusions of grandeur and think we would choose Christ over life in a difficult situation, but we are ashamed of him in little things every day.

• Following Christ is not a one-off grand gesture, it's what you do every single day.

Warning Against Easy Believism

• This passage is a stark warning against easy believism where you merely confess without ever letting Christ's words take heart.

• Mere profession without denying yourself and taking up your cross does not find place in this passage or in the words of Christ.

Following Christ Means Obeying Him

In this section, the speaker talks about what it means to follow Christ.

Following Means Obeying

• Following Christ means obeying him, submitting to him, and having him as Lord.

• We cannot follow Christ without denying ourselves and picking up our cross daily.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

• The speaker uses an analogy from engineering to explain that sometimes we need to focus on the minimum viable product (MVP), which is the must-haves rather than nice-to-haves. Similarly, following Christ means focusing on the essentials of denying ourselves and picking up our cross daily.

MVP Christianity

In this section, the speaker talks about how Western Civilization is a great place for MVP Christianity to exist. He also emphasizes the importance of understanding the scope of what Christ is saying in verse 23.

Understanding Christ's Call

• Christ's call to follow him is for anyone who desires to follow him, not just super Christians or missionaries.

• Following Christ is heavy and difficult, but it is doable and worth it because of who is saying these words.

• The most important thing about following Christ is that it involves being in Him.

• To understand who Jesus is, we need to unpack verse 22 where he says that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes before being killed.

The Son of Man

• The title "Son of Man" comes from Daniel 7 and expresses both Christ's deity and humanity.

• The use of "must" in reference to Christ's suffering indicates a divine necessity driven by God's love for us.

• Jesus was rejected by those seeking a political savior because our greatest need was not material possessions or health but rescue from spiritual death.

• By dying on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice for us, Jesus took on all our sins and purchased our redemption through his blood.

Our Response

• Our devotion to Christ involves denying ourselves and following Him, which requires an ever-deepening understanding of what He has done for us.

• Learning to cherish and love Jesus is the first step in responding to His call, which involves learning to understand and appreciate the greatest act of love He displayed by purchasing our salvation.

Building Your Life on Something

In this section, the speaker talks about how it is hard for people to grasp that there are many competing desires in our world. He uses the example of building your life on something and spending years on it only to realize that it was all for nothing.

The Big Short

• The speaker watched a movie called "The Big Short" which is about the 2007 stock market crash.

• The movie follows two investors who realize that something is wrong with all these bonds that Prime bonds are actually subprime.

• They realized that the market was going to go kablooey (technical term).

• These people hold the lives and investments and savings of thousands of people.

Don't Believe the Lie

• Christ is telling us not to believe the lie.

• Investing all these people's money based on an illusion.

• What's most important in your life is what you own, who you're with, what you drive, etc. - don't believe it.

Silly Little Games

• Some men die by shrapnel, some men die by flames, most men die inch by inch playing silly little games.

Follow Christ

• There's only one way to avoid deep and eternal regret - follow Christ.

• Follow the loving savior who died to set you free from that very consequence.

• Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.

See the Kingdom of God

• Christ says that some standing here will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.

• We see the kingdom of God in a small way - look around you.

• This is the kingdom of God - dear believers who are doing the very things in this passage.

Time of Prayer

• The speaker ends with a time of prayer and gives three things to consider.

Consider Your Purpose

The speaker talks about the importance of living a worthwhile life and asks listeners to consider their purpose. He shares stories of missionaries who gave up their lives for their faith and challenges listeners to think about what they are living for.

Living a Worthwhile Life

• Betty Stam was a missionary who, along with her husband, was killed during the Communist Revolution in China. She wrote about wanting to live for something worthwhile.

• Raymond Law was a 12th-century scholar who left Italy to preach the gospel in Algeria, knowing it would cost him his life.

• The speaker asks listeners if they long to live a worthwhile life and encourages them to consider their purpose.

Consider Your Walk

The speaker challenges listeners to examine their walk with Christ. He warns against holding onto sin and living like practical atheists or minimal viable Christians. He emphasizes that following Christ is not optional and happens on His terms.

Examining Your Walk

• The speaker asks if listeners have denied themselves and picked up their cross.

• He warns against holding onto sin and living like practical atheists or minimal viable Christians.

• Following Christ is not optional, but it happens on His terms.

Consider Christ

The speaker emphasizes that considering Christ is essential in this passage; otherwise, it turns into moralism or legalism. He reminds listeners that our source of obedience is in Christ, who enables us to obey Him.

Our Source of Obedience is in Christ

• If we miss considering Christ in this passage, it turns into moralism or legalism.

• Our source of obedience is in Christ, who enables us to obey Him.

• For those tired and needing strength for one more day, return to Christ; let Him fill you.

• The speaker reminds listeners not to forget grace and faith.

Being Alive in Christ

This transcript discusses the idea of being alive in Christ and how it can make denying oneself and picking up one's cross easier.

Loving Something So Much That Pain is Okay

• The passage invites us to let Christ be so bright and soul wonderful that all the denying and all the picking up your cross just comes easily.

• The speaker compares this to loving something so much that all the pain associated with it is okay.

From Dead as a Doornail to Alive in Christ

• The passage invites us to go from being dead as a doornail to finally being alive in Christ.