I have been reflecting on Genesis 2:18-24 for a wedding sermon these days and I have been reflecting much on verse 24.  Here’s the whole text:

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

What has struck me of late is the idea that the man leaves his father and mother.  But why not the woman, why shouldn’t she leave father and mother?  Why does it have to be the man?  The ‘therefore’ in verse 24 sheds some light.  I think the therefore goes back to the whole text, verses 18-23.  God knew that it was not good for Adam to be alone, even when Adam didn’t realize it for himself.  So God prepared for Adam a wife made from his own body.  But in the preparation for this wife, a man shall leave his father and mother.  Notice that the sequence is not becoming one flesh [marriage] and then the man leaving father and mother; but instead, the man leaving and holds fast to his wife and then they become one flesh.  I believe the sequence is intentional and for males, this sequence is critical to move from boyhood to manho0d.

Too often today, boys are raised by their parents, especially by their mothers, to remain in the home until they marry.  Usually the reason behind such thinking [at least the external reason] is pragmatism.  Why should a boy spend money on rent and do his own laundry and pay for his own car when his mother and father can cover it all?  It seems impractical, a waste of money.  But this type of thinking has led to an elongating of boys’ adolescence.  Boys have been raised to think they can stay at home, go to classes when they wish (or not at all), play video games, hang out with friends, sleep when they wish, eat what their mom cooks, all on the parents dime.  Boys are staying at home later and later.  Very few boys leave the home to become men by the age of 18.  After college, many return back home to save money and to receive the care of mom and dad.  And slowly, the departure is continually put off, usually until marriage, but often times, never at all.  But that is where the problem lies according to this text.  Marriage is about men, and men leave mother and father behind to be responsible for himself.  Boys stay at home and mooch off their parents into their late 20s and 30s and even 40s, all for the sake of pragmatism.

This is what I would call the Lazy Old Boy Syndrome.  Lazy old boys never become men.  They stay at home and never grow into mature adults and believers.  They continue to depend on mom and dad.  And moms and dads are equally at fault for allowing such a thing to happen.  I have spoken to parents who have said about their adult aged sons living in their homes, that they did not have the heart to force their sons out of their homes.  But this very practice is quashing any hope for their sons to ever become men.  The raising of their sons is woefully shortsighted and predestining them to remain lazy old boys.

I have also found that the fault often lies with mothers.  Mothers are precious to any son.  They often are the comforters, nurturers, encouragers.  Fathers tell their sons who have fallen to “get up, you’re okay.”  Mothers run over to their sons, huddle over them like a mother eagle protecting her wounded eaglet while staring at the father with the “you are heartless” look.  Sons need mothers who are comforting and nurturing.  But if this is all a son receives, he eventually grows to be an old boy who always thinks mommy will be there for him to bail him out of every situation.  He will have much difficulty connecting his sinful actions to grave consequences because his mother is always going to the teacher to convince her that his son deserves a better grade than what he received.

This sad reality is a stern warning for all of us who parent sons.  It’s at the youngest ages where parents need to beware of this reality: How they rear their sons today will impact they they will be boys or men in the future.  If we do not let our sons fail and face the coneqeunces of their actions, we set them up for a life of adolescence.  If we don’t allow them to work and take on responsibilities in their youth, they will leave the home assuming that their parents will provide all of their needs.  And you will one day see your sons return home with their hands open sitting at the dinner table or laying on your sofa or spending time with friends with nary a view of the future.  You too could very well be raising an old lazy boy.  And one thing I know from many conversations with women, no woman will want to marry a lazy old boy husband.

This is calling is for males, for sons because one day sons will lead families.  Sons will protect wives from physical and spiritual harm.  Men will lead children to adore Christ.  Men will work with the sweat of his brow, working five jobs if need be, to care for his family.  Men don’t have time to be lazy, to relinquish responsibilities.  And a lazy old boy won’t be able to put down his X-Box or PS3 long enough to even consider leaving his comfortable, parent-provided pad.  May this not be.  May we raise a new generation of men who will lead families and the church for the sake of Christ.

Ella Lindvall, Read Aloud Bible (for very young kids, infant-toddler, Bible story adaptations)

Susan Hunt, ABC Bible Verses (moral lessons from Bible verses, my kids still remember a Bible verse from this book)

Catherine Vos, The Child’s Story Bible (good for younger children, illustrations are older, more word-driven but closer to the biblical text)

Sally Lloyd-Jones, Jesus Story Book Bible (the strength of this book is the Christocentric perspective throughout Scripture, but diverges somewhat from the text by adding to it)

Susan Hunt, Discovering Jesus in Genesis and Discovering Jesus in Exdous (again takes the Christocentric perspective into Genesis and Exodus)

CATECHISMS, We’ve learned much from books that use catechisms.  And we’ve used the following…

Susan Hunt and Richie Hunt, Big Truths for Little People (once again, Susan Hunt uses short story life lessons but this time using the catechism as her basis)

Starr Meade, Training Hearts, Teaching Minds (catechism for older kids, but my 7 year old understood what I was teaching from this book)

For a while following these books, we simply began to teach straight from the Bible, reading through Philippians and through Exodus.  That was a true blessing, at least for me.  I know we’ll be doing that throughout our family worships.  But we decided to try a resource I receieved at the Pastors Conference, a book called:

For anyone afraid of family worship because you don’t know what to do or say, this is a great book to have.  It’s understandable for every age.  It is Christ-centered.  It is short! (there are times that my kids have said, “Is that is?  Can we do one more?”  It has some good illustrations for the kids.  And it has some good follow-up questions.  I would highly recommend it.

We’re also reading together…

It’s just one super short section a night.  I’m a history buff and I want our kids to know the legacy Christians have left us throughout the centuries.  This is a simple book for that purpose.

So here is our structure for family worship:

1.  We sing hymns together.  My wife plays the piano very well.  And we choose hymns of all types, often learning hymns together.  We’ve sung a vast array of Charles Wesley, Fanny Crosby, Isaac Watts, and many others.  (At Christmas, we always try singing the Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus together.  The kids love that.  Ok, I love that, they sort of roll their eyes).

2.  Then we read the Word aloud together.

3.  Then we sing the Gloria Patri together in response to reading the word.  (I know.  You’re probably thinking, “Gloria Who?”  It’s something I saw at Park Street Church in Boston.  After the reading of the Word, they sing the “Gloria Patri.” (Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost…)

4.  Then we read from Long Story Short.

5.  We then sing either the Doxology (Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow) or the Benediction (The Lord Bless you and keep you with the Amens) or we do both.

6.  We read from the Church History book.

7.  We close in prayer, and we pray for the sick, for missionaries, for current events.

All told, it is probably 30 minutes long.  Sometimes if I have meetings and am not home or if the day has gone very long and it is far past their bedtime, we won’t have family worship.  But it’s been regular these days.  And when I tell the kids that it is family worship time, they literally shout, “Yah!” and squeal with delight.  That is not because we do anything spectacular or fun.  We just enjoy the time together and they sense that.  So for those who perhaps have given up on family worship, may I encourage you to try again.  Mix it up.  Do different things.  But most of all, ask the Lord to give you excitement and joy for the time.  Trust me, if you are excited for the time, your family will be.  But if you are dragging your heels and going through the motions in a monotone voice, you won’t find your kids that interested in family worship.  Ask the Lord to bless you and your family in this way, and I promise you, He will give you the desires of your heart.

I don’t know if this is an urban legend or true since I’ve never been to the Sovereign Grace Pastors College.  But supposedly, if you receive an A for a class, a mentor will ask you, “Did you sacrifice your relationship with your wife and children to get this A?”  And if you receive a C, someone will ask you, “Do you think you stewarded your time wisely?”  In other words, you can be very successful and lose sight of the gospel.  You can also be very unsuccessful and lose sight of the gospel.  This is the tightrope Christians must walk.  We should always have our hearts set on Christ and therefore, we must never hold onto the things of the world so tightly that it consumes us.  But we must also realize that the gospel’s road is a road our Savior walked with (as John Piper often describes) laser beam focus.  He was diligent in all that He did because His mind was set on things above and not on earthly things.

I realize that in our meritocratic world, one’s success and worth is determined by one’s achievements.  But what if there truly is a heaven?  What if our accomplishments really won’t matter, at least not as much as we think they currently do?  I would imagine people would prioritize their lives quite differently.  I was recently sent this article in the Wall Street Journal entitled, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior.”  The author is Amy Chua, a professor at Yale Law School.  Perhaps because of her obvious success, she deserves the right to write an article with such a brazen title.  So what was she like to her children to make sure they are successes?  They were never allowed to…

• attend a sleepover

• have a playdate

• be in a school play

• complain about not being in a school play

• watch TV or play computer games

• choose their own extracurricular activities

• get any grade less than an A

• not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama

• play any instrument other than the piano or violin

• not play the piano or violin.

All of this to make certain that her children are the most elite in their respective classes and orchestras.  In her conclusion to the article, she writes:

Western parents try to respect their children’s individuality, encouraging them to pursue their true passions, supporting their choices, and providing positive reinforcement and a nurturing environment. By contrast, the Chinese believe that the best way to protect their children is by preparing them for the future, letting them see what they’re capable of, and arming them with skills, work habits and inner confidence that no one can ever take away.

While I do agree that the western model of parenting certainly has its limitations, there is an assumption here that the ‘Chinese model’ of parenting prepares children for the future.  This perspective prepares them for the future, but only for a future for a few decades.  But what then?  What happens at the end of their days when they face their Maker and their Judge?  This story reminds me of the parable that Jesus tells in Luke 12:13-21.  The man builds his barns to excess all for the future.  But God takes his life that night before he can enjoy his wealth.  James reminds such a person: “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14).  And so when God says, “Fool!” in verse 20, He’s repeating a general theme of Scripture, that the person who lives as though there is no God will face eternal consequences at the end revealing his foolishness (Ps 14:1).  Also this person is a fool because he doesn’t realize that all of his work is for naught after one dies as verse 19 describes, “…and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”  This is the same sentiment of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes: “I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, 19 and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.” (Eccl 2:18-19).

John Piper tells this story to illustrate this point:

Or picture 269 people entering eternity in a plane crash in the Sea of Japan. Before the crash there is a noted politician, a millionaire corporate executive, a playboy and his playmate, a missionary kid on the way back from visiting grandparents.

After the crash they stand before God utterly stripped of Mastercards, checkbooks, credit lines, image clothes, how-to-succeed books, and Hilton reservations. Here are the politician, the executive, the playboy, and the missionary kid, all on level ground with nothing, absolutely nothing in their hands, possessing only what they brought in their hearts. How absurd and tragic the lover of money will seem on that day-like a man who spends his whole life collecting train tickets and in the end is so weighed down by the collection he misses the last train. Don’t spend your precious life trying to get rich, Paul says, “for we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of the world.

As I shared in the first story, there is no room for laziness and irresponsibility as a believer of Christ.  Like Paul in 1 Cor 9:24-27, we should work harder and be more zealous than even the most dedicated and persevering of individuals, all for the sake of Christ.  Should there be Christians who excel in this world in every field?  Absolutely.  But they must be Christians who regularly check their hearts to see if their pursuits have forgotten that this life and its pleasures and successes are only a means to an end.  They also must be open to other believers and their words of encouragement and accountability.  We should be prepared to listen to the question, “What have you sacrificed to receive this grade/promotion/success?”  If you ignore such a question, then you are in danger of being the fool of Luke 12 and the consequences of such foolishness are far worse than a bruised ego or career troubles.  Therefore, we do a grave injustice to our children if we set them up for career success only to find that they have forfeited their souls.

I once received a phone call from a despondent Korean mother who was terribly upset over her son’s spiritual condition.  He had completely rejected God.  She had called me hoping that I could talk to him to at least try to get him to come to the church.  She shared how she had faithfully brought him to church each Sunday.  But when she shared about the rest of his life and her parenting, I began to realize that she considered his studies during his youth a far greater priority than Christ.  She often sacrificed his relationship to the Lord over his educational success.  And now he was a success, a doctor.  And yet, here was this woman, crying over the phone, mourning his distance from God.  I didn’t have the heart to tell her that her parental priorities had been realized, a son who was successful in the world’s eyes who had no love for the things of God.

Chinese mothers are superior (and I use this phrase in response to the article’s title, since I know many Chinese mothers who do not think this way) in raising scientists, violin virtuosos, law professors, economists, engineers.  But as Jesus said in Luke 9:25: “For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?”

I am one of the millions who tuned in to watch the final episode of Lost, the hit ABC TV thriller/drama.  And as most fans of the show already know, it would have been a daunting task to attempt to answer all of the mysteries of six seasons into a two and a half-hour drama.  The fear was that it would be another example of deus ex machina.  And one could argue that literally, that’s exactly what happened.  But I would say that it was more creative and better acted than typical examples of such endings.

However, (spoiler alert if you haven’t seen it) the writers’ answer to the island’s mysteries left me pondering the age old question, “What makes one truly happy?”  For the Lost writers (and for the world-at-large, and maybe even some Christians), death and heaven is a place where old friends, family members, lovers are brought together to enjoy eternity together.  It’s a place where people are smiling and laughing and enjoying what amounts to an extended life here on earth.  The movie Avatar has essentially the same message, strive for the beauty of a different life here because things in this world leaves us wanting.  And I would, in some sense, agree with that idea.  However, the premise for their hope is sorely insufficient.

Augustine, in his Confessions, writes these famous words: “You move us to delight in praising You; for You have formed us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in You.”  The Lost writers and James Cameron are right to show us that human beings are always missing something at the core, hungering and craving worth, value, identity, meaning.  It’s the essence of image-bearers of God (Gen 1:26-27).  Our hearts are restless because God has created us for Himself and nothing and no one can satisfy what God has hardwired into every human soul, a love for Him alone.  Media often does a great job of finding all of the replacements (idols) that people find to fill that hole (i.e. sex, drugs, money, fame, companionship, loyalty, friendship, etc.).  But in the end, there is still that longing.  And what is the world’s answer to this final craving and longing?  It’s a heaven designed by man, intended for man, with all of the trappings of man.

In the final episode, when all of the characters who have died are gathered in the ‘church’ (if you noticed, the windows had insignias of almost every major religion), the people are so happy because they have finally accepted their death and in doing so, they now are reconciled to one another, in the fellowship of one another.  In other words, true happiness and joy is found in the company of earthly companions.  And as I watched that scene, I felt both nostalgic happiness and deep emptiness.  I was happy for these characters but realized that it was no different than most series endings that was deus ex machinesque: It was all a [pipe] dream.

There is no true joy and eternal happiness without the Creator.  Our ultimate joy does not come in fellowship with one another, but with the Creator alone.  And from Him, then emanates joy to one another.  Jesus paved the way so that we can have fellowship with the Father according to Heb 10:19-22: “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.”  Paul tells us in Romans 5:2 that “through him [Christ] we have also obtained access [with the Father] by faith.”  And ultimate pleasure cannot come from other people, but only from God Himself: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).And then from this great love found through Christ, THEN we have a sweet fellowship with others according to John: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:7-8).

Finding eternal joy in the fellowship of others apart from the Triune God is not joyous at all.  Only He can grant us final rest.  And without Him, there would be no smiles, no laughter, no unending joy.  In fact, there would no heaven at all.  It’s the ultimate mistake that is constantly committed by people, even well-intentioned Christians: seeking fellowship with others before seeking fellowship with God through Christ, which is probably one reason why so many Christians move from church to church.  They are looking for satisfaction in people, rather than God Himself.  And so their journey will be ultimately fruitless, much like the characters of Lost.

The writers of Lost got one part of the story right.  People are lost and lacking and empty in this world.  But they do not realize how lost they really are without the only One who truly seeks and saves the lost (Luke 19:10).

If you’ve never read Dave Harvey’s book on marriage, it’s definitely one of the better ones out there. Well, here are some sermons that he preached at a marriage conference on the subject. Enjoy!

Thus far, we have learned that God is our gracious Father, who through the work of His Son Jesus Christ, has adopted us into His family.  Because of such love and grace, He loves to hear His children in prayer, when we address Him as our Father.  He also desires for us to long for Him, to yearn for His Kingdom to come, and to want that more than any other desire we might have.  And next week, we’ll cover the part about our requests and petitions, what usually takes over our prayers and consumes most of Christians’ prayers.  But I hope you can see how the first two parts set the parameters for requests.  You cannot pray to God asking for things if you don’t know who He is.  And you cannot pray to God asking for things if you don’t actually want the Giver before the gifts.  And this week, we learn that you cannot pray to God asking for things unless you realize that His will must be accomplished first, here on earth as it is in heaven.  Anything less will actually undermine our love and desire for our Father.

So what does it mean to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”?  I like the way J. I. Packer describes this prayer:

Here more clearly than anywhere the purpose of prayer becomes plain: not to make God do my will (which is practicing magic), but to bring my will into line with his (which is what it means to practice true religion).[1]

And the biblical record makes this clear, that such a prayer ultimately means that we 1) Accept God’s plans, 2) Abide in God’s Word, and 3) Align our prayers with Jesus.

ACCEPT

So first, praying ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ means accepting that what God has planned is for your absolute greatest delight.  Again, just as a reminder, I am combining this exposition on the Lord’s Prayer from Luke 11 and Matthew 6:9-13 and this part of the Lord’s Prayer which comes from Matt 6:10.  Of course, this flows directly from our understanding of God as ‘our Father.”  It means trusting God with our lives completely, knowing that He really is a Father who will always act in our ultimate best interest.  And we’ll cover this in greater detail next week, especially as we examine verses 11-13: “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Most Christians do not have a problem with God being in control, per se.  The Bible makes every effort to show God is ultimately in control with texts like Proverbs 19:21: “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand,” or Lamentations 3:37: “Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?” or Revelation 3:7: “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.”  Knowing that God is in control is critical to how we respond to difficult circumstances, and how we pray during such times.  Jerry Bridges tells the story of a military chaplain friend whose job was put into serious jeopardy because he had confronted the chief of chaplains, who was attempting to do something illegal.  The chief responded by writing a critical report against Jerry’s friend.  Scripture seems clear that God allowed this act of injustice to happen to Jerry’s friend, as much as God allowed Satan to inflict Job with all sorts of terrible things and as Lamentations 3:37 tells us, nothing can ultimately come to pass unless the Lord has commanded it.

Think of your own lives.  You’ve probably lived long enough (and if this hasn’t happened to you yet, it will one day) where someone has unjustly wronged you: a friend turning her back on you because of a slight that was not your fault, a coach who overlook your gifts only to choose his less talented son to be in the starting lineup, a boss who is looking out only for his own reputation and places the blame on you even though he was the one at fault, etc.  How do we cope with such injustices?  Do we seek revenge, or is it quite possible that even though there is real pain and anguish, knowing that God is still in control and out for our good can be the greatest comfort we can have during such times?

Many of you might not wrestle with whether God is sovereign, but you might be tempted to think God is not loving or good because He is sovereign.  After all, if God is sovereign and in control, then why do bad things happen?  Why did an earthquake happen in Haiti killing so many people (and if there is anything that seems to be ‘an act of God’, it would be an earthquake)?  Why do good people get cancer?  Why do families trusting in God and serving Him lose their jobs and have to scramble to make it?  These are very difficult questions, but the one thing that we must never forget is that God is not evil or the author of evil.  He loves His people and desires the absolute best for them.  John reminds us that “God is love” (1 John 4:8).  That is, God’s nature is perfectly loving and perfectly good.  So it cannot be that such events happen in our lives because God has erred or He’s evil or He’s good only part of the times.

Instead, the Bible teaches us a very different story.  It reminds us that prior to Adam and Eve’s turning from God, there were no earthquakes, or death, or suffering.  Creation was not groaning as Romans 8:22 tells us.  But when sin entered the world, so too did the wages of sin, which according to Romans 6:23 is death and all of its consequences.  The idolatry of the self has ruled the world ever since, and we no longer want God’s Kingdom at all, but our own.  And so as long as we remain in this world, there will always be sin and there will always be the wages of sin.  So here is the question, is God still in control even when there is sin and Satan reigning here?  And the answer is absolutely yes!  God is sovereign and control and even sin and Satan must submit ultimately His will.  And as we see in Joseph’s life, when sin (Joseph, his brother, Potiphar, Potiphar’s wife) and Satan think they rule the day, ultimately God’s plans cannot be thwarted as Joseph declared to his brothers in Genesis 50:20: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”  And do you see the purpose in God’s good, it was to save His people.  God always has in mind the keeping of His promises and the salvation of His people.  Thus, the Bible teaches us that though suffering and death came into the world through sin, God is still in control and cause even use sin, sinners, and Satan for His ultimate glory and our ultimate joy.  He is not powerless against evil, far from it.

We see this in David, where David’s sin of adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Bathsheba’s husband Uriah was a terrible story of David’s arrogance and self-centeredness, worthy of the worst condemnation.  And yet, it was out of that evil relationship, God would use the son of David and Bathsheba, Solomon out of all David’s other sons, to carry out His plan to save the world from sin, since Jesus came from the descendency of Solomon.  In a broken world filled with sin, there is something in adversity that the Lord sanctifies us as we trust in Him.  If we pray for faith, He brings us a situation where we have to trust in Him so we can grow in faith.  If we pray for patience, we are placed into positions of patience.  If we pray for more love, we are given unloving people to love.  If we pray that we would be more empathetic, gracious, kind, merciful, tender-hearted to Him to others, guess what?  We are given circumstances upon which we learn how to grow to develop such characteristics.  And we are given such circumstances ultimately because our natural, sinful tendency is to believe that we don’t need God in our lives.  Some of our greatest times of trust in Christ and growth as a Christian are often our most difficult and painful ones.  As Moses tells the people of Israel why they had to wander in the desert those many years in Deut 8:2-3:

And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Without the wandering, they would have never believed God led them.  They would have believed it was all their own effort which led them to the Promised Land.  Left to their own, humanity will worship the self before it trusts in God.

What do you think would be God’s greatest judgment upon your life?  Would it be cancer?  Job loss?  Hair loss?  Bankruptcy?  Foreclosure?  Disastrous earthquake?  Death of a loved one?  Or would it be eternal punishment?  It is because the Father loves you that He will do whatever it takes to call you to Himself, even if it means making sure you wake up from you self-worship.  That’s why Romans 2:4 reminds us that “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.”  It is kind of God to even bring disaster in our lives if that is how we come to trust in Him.  It is His mercy to do so.  And through such suffering and adversity, you will come to know God’s grace and love and joy in a way that you might never know should you have prayed only that your personal will be done.  And so, we believe with Scripture that joy in this world is fleeting, but with Him, as Psalm 16:11 proclaims, “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  And for this reason, Jesus tells His disciples that rather than rejoicing that even demons are subject to them, far greater, “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20)

The “Your will be done prayer” guards us from the ‘name it, claim it’ mentality.  That is, all we need to do is to ask God for something and He will give it to us and if He doesn’t give it to us, it’s because we haven’t asked hard enough or with enough faith.  As if to say that we have to convince our capricious God to listen to us because He is inclined to think otherwise.  This simply is not the biblical idea of how and why God listens to us pray.  Sometimes, within God’s sovereign will, He decides not to heal (as He did with Paul’s thorn in the flesh or as He decided with David and Bathsheba’s first child) regardless of how hard we pray or how much faith we have in God that He can heal.  Sometimes, God will still hold His ground and allow us to face the consequences for sin (as He did when He did not allow Moses to enter the Promised Land because of his actions at the waters of Meribah) regardless of how close you are to God, how long you have walked with Him.  And ‘Your will be done’ prayers remind us that prayer is about getting not that which is good for us, but rather, that which is best for us, God’s best.

ABIDE

Second, praying ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ means abiding in God’s Word so that our motives in our requests will be God-glorifying and ultimately satisfying.  Jesus tells us in John 15:7: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”  Abiding in God’s Word is not simply the reading of the Bible, or the knowledge of certain doctrine, or the listening to sermons.  Abiding here means that one’s whole character and worldview and relationship to others is being transformed by the faith, obedience, and trust in God’s Word as the grid upon which one lives.  It’s the yielding and surrender of one’s personal ideals and agenda for the sake of Christ.  And as one experiences this transformation, then requests in prayer will be spoken in God’s will.

Think of it this way.  The more a husband and wife grow in love for one another, biblically maturing in grace, trying to outdo one another in love, where the husband strives to love his wife as Christ loved the church and the wife strives to submit to her husband, the more their actions will coincide with their will for one another.  I know for many wives, they long for their husbands to cherish them, to consider them, to keep them in mind.  But this will not happen unless we are so deeply enthralled by our spouses, that we can actually predict their response, know their hearts, and desires, and wills, that our response will always be in accordance to their will.  In other words, if I am cherishing my wife, listening to her speak, caring for her proactively, most likely my actions of love for her will be exactly what she desires.  But if I spend no time with her, I am wrapped up more in what I want than what she desires, I am consumed by what is pressing to me (flipping on Sports Center to chill, eating first because I’m hungry, etc.), doesn’t it make sense that I have no idea what she really wants from me?  And so on her birthday, when I buy her a George Foreman Grill so she can make really great sandwiches for me, doesn’t it make sense when she throws the gift down, leaves crying, and slams the door shut.

If our wives deserve more from us, how much more our Father in heaven who has given us His own Son to pay the punishment for our sins?  If our requests are apart from His Word, we will only pray prayers which we think and believe is best for me, without even considering God’s glory.  And just like the husband who stands bewildered and upset and frustrated and confused by his wife’s response as he stands alone with his George Foreman grill, so too, when we come with self-centered desires before God, we do not have the ultimate joy we long for.  That’s why James makes it so clear that God sometimes answers our prayers with, “No,” as he tells us in James 4:2-3: “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”  Wrong motives from a self-centered heart keeps us from experiencing joy in prayer.

And so when we pray, especially when we are petitioning God for help, we must always consider our motives.  We should ask ourselves, “Do I care more about the outcome (healing, marriage, job, reconciliation, comforts) than God’s glory or my own sanctification?”  Also, “Does God’s Word really support my desires, or am I simply forcing God’s Word to get what I really want?”  I shared with you the story of when Shua and I were considering dating.  I ‘prayed and fasted’ the whole summer asking God essentially to bless what I really wanted, the beginning of our relationship.  It sounded ‘spiritual’ to so say I was fasting and praying to discern God’s will.  But instead, what I was really doing was asking God to rubberstamp what I had already decided, that I want this relationship whether it would be a God-honoring one or not.  And so many people pray this way.  They pray that God would bless a relationship or a new job or the start of a new business that ‘has to be from God because all the cards fell into place’ or the Super Bowl victory because a Christian threw the winning touchdown or the winning of the lottery to support Christian ministries or the entrance into grad school as a means to serve God.  But oh how our motives can be simply from our desire to have or our coveting of what others have.  We must be self-suspicious as we ask God for things.  And the way we will grow in our prayers, in praying prayers that are in His will, is when we are regularly striving to abide in His Word.

ALIGN

Lastly, praying ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ means aligning our prayers with the same trust as our Lord Jesus had in our Father.  As Jesus does in the Lord’s Prayer, He continually provides us a model for us to pray in the Father’s will.  We see this clearly in Matthew 26:39, 42: “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”  And again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”  No one can imagine what Jesus must have been facing as He prepared to die for us.  Jesus was not a masochist.  He didn’t ‘want’ to suffer and die.  His prayer makes it so clear that this choice was one of pain and anguish.  This was hard for Him.  Why?  Because He would physically bear the pain of crucifixion, an indescribable pain that cannot be understood by most of us.  I wince at a hang nail or a canker sore, how much more being nailed to a cross for the purpose of maximum torture.  But it didn’t stop there.  His eternal sweet fellowship with the Father would be separated.  Think of saying goodbye to someone you love, perhaps even forever.  Well that feeling of loss and grief is there because we are created in God’s image, reflecting the communion of the Triune God, Father, Son, Spirit.  We were made like Him, to enjoy relationship, to need relationship.  But Jesus would no longer have this relationship.  He was to be forsaken by the One who loved Him most.  And then, He would bear the crushing weight of every sin of ours, past, present, and future.

Think of a sin you commit, anger to a loved one.  Think of the pain, the anxiety, the frustration, that that one bit of anger could cause.  Think of the separation that is faced when you are angry at another.  That sin was borne by Jesus, the weight of the sin, the punishment of sin, the guilt of sin, the consequences of sin.  According to 2 Cor 5:21 which says: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God,” Jesus was made to “be sin” so that we might be able to enter the family of God.  And then to top it all off, He knew that by accepting the will of the Father, His friends would betray Him and abandon Him, the world would scoff at Him and mock Him, He would be tried and convicted by a kangaroo court without any sense of justice, and He would simply remain silent without defense throughout the process.  But though Jesus did not ‘want’ to suffer and die, He willingly yielded to the Father’s will

Jesus tells us why He did this in John 6:38-40: “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”  He did this for the greater joy of allowing sinners to enter Paradise with Him in fellowship with the Eternal Father.  And so Hebrews 12:2 comments: “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”  As terrible as the cross was, the end result of the work of Christ is astounding joy for sinners like you and me.  And for this reason, even the evil of the cross was taken up with joy by Jesus.  And it was for this reason that the Father was willing to crush His own Son and put Him to grief according to Isaiah 53:10.

Conclusion

How can we face all of the peaks and valleys of life without being swamped over?  How can we pray without feeling either too confident that I control how God reacts to me or feeling as though prayer is utterly worthless because God does not respond the way I believe He should?  The only way is by knowing that God’s will done in our lives is the best possible outcome for us.  And how do we know this to be true?  Because the Bible teaches us that even though sin, sinners, and Satan attempted to thwart God’s plan of salvation, the cross is a stark reminder that no matter how much evil forces tries to defeat God, it never can.  The cross is God’s eternal reminder that what man intends for evil, God can and does use it for His glory and our joy and satisfaction.

And so praying, ‘Father, Your will be done’ is a prayer that understands who He is as Father, what it cost the Father to become our Father, a longing for the Father to come through His Son, and a deep trust that He will never let us down no matter how difficult the circumstances might be.  That in Christ, no matter what happens, there is still hope and joy.  So this week is a week of prayer and fasting.  May I give you a few exhortations about prayer and fasting:

1.         Trade Good for Best

Food, Coffee, Internet/Web/PHONE, TV, Movies, Sports: TV/Radio/Fantasy, Exercise,   Physical Intimacy (Husband and Wives Only)

2.         Email about Prayer requests – Please send prayer requests so we can pray for you   (PUBLIC)  (prayer@wellspringsg.org)

3.         Morning Prayers (Tues-Wed, Office 6:30a, Sat different homes!)

4.         Prayer and Worship at Sam and Shua’s Place (Tuesday, 8:30p)

5.         Fasting – Alameda County Food Bank

John Wesley wrote a prayer that surrendered to the will of the Father and may you pray this prayer this week as you fast and pray:

I am no longer my own, but yours.  Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for you or laid aside for you, exalted for you or brought low for you; let me be full, let me be empty; let me have all things, let me have nothing.  I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.[2]

[2] Quoted from Phil Ryken, When You Pray, 102.

Luke 9:21-27

Introduction

In life, we regularly make cost-benefit calculations in our heads. We might weigh the cost of expensive organic food verses cheaper, but more hormone laden non-organic food. We might consider whether the cost of buying a new car is more favorable than buying a used car or leasing a new car. We might wrestle with the benefit of renting a home versus buying a home. We might mull over eating that chocolate truffle late at night versus the cost of extra work on the treadmill, or paying for private school versus a mediocre public school for our kids, or waiting for a godly man to marry or turn to a non-Christian to marry, etc. We make many such considerations, some of little import and some of vital import.

Furthermore, there are many instances where the cost, despite its large price, is far worth it. For women who are mothers, you bore your children (especially your second, third, and even fourth children) knowing that there would be a heavy price to pay in bearing them. You went through months of nausea, vomiting, immobility, weight-gain, hair loss, sleeping on your side, giving up your favorite vices like coffee and diet coke. And then the day of the birth comes and you experience pain and agony and discomfort. And then following the birth, there is the weariness, anxiety (is the baby still breathing), vomit (not yours, the baby’s), diapers, crying, tantrums, whining, etc. And then there is the monetary cost of having children, not to mention the limitation to your freedom to do what you want when you want to do it. What a cost! But how many of you would say that you would like to trade in your child, to get back your money, your time, your energy because of that cost? No, the cost, no matter how great a child might be, is still worth it.

But though a child is far worth the great cost of having that child, God’s Word teaches us in Luke 9:21-27 that the worth of having a child, as great as that is, pales in comparison to the worth of Christ’s love for us and following Christ as a result of that love. Jesus is worth following, worth being a disciple of His, regardless of any cost we might bear. And this text gives us 5 reasons why He is worth any cost. I’d like to cover the first and primary reason why following Christ is worth any cost and what that cost is and then next week give you four other reasons from the rest of the passage as to why following Christ is worth any cost.

Reason #1: The Sacrifice (vv. 21-22)

The first and primary reason following Christ is worth the cost is His sacrifice because of our sins. Peter had just confessed that Jesus truly was the Christ, the King, the Anointed One of God who would save His people. And Jesus then adds in verses 21-22: “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” For Peter and the disciples, surely this left them utterly confused. Jesus thus far had done nothing wrong. Instead, He had shown a power and authority through his teaching and miracles that was unparalleled. Who could harm Him? Besides, Peter had just stated that He was the Christ, the One who would reign on the earth to lead the people to a new Kingdom. Christs did not suffer and die. That just didn’t make sense.

But Peter and the rest failed to see that indeed, the Christ, must suffer many things and be rejected or else He would never truly be Christ. They failed to remember the words of Isaiah 53:4-6:

Surely he [the Christ] has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

And Paul reminds us that it would take Jesus not simply suffering and dying, but dying on a cross (tree) for our sake. The implications of which were staggering as Paul tells us in Galatians 3:13: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.” We simply cannot comprehend how wretched this death was for Jesus. First, physically speaking, you have to remember that in Jesus’ day crosses were symbols or torture, heinous crime, and disgust. Crosses did not crown the steeples of churches in their day. No one wore a cross around one’s neck, anymore than an electric chair is worn on the neck today. John Stott describes the cross this way:

Crucifixion seems to have been invented by ‘barbarians’ on the edge of the known world, and taken over from them by both Greeks and Romans. It is probably the most cruel method of execution ever practised, for it deliberately delayed death until maximum torture had been inflicted. The victim could suffer for days before dying. When the Romans adopted it, they reserved it for criminals convicted of murder, rebellion, or armed robbery, provided that they were also slaves, foreigners or other non-persons. (John Stott, The Cross of Christ, 24.)

Roman citizens were exempt from crucifixion and the Roman statesman Cicero explained why,

To bind a Roman citizen is a crime, to flog him is an abomination, to kill him is almost an act of murder: to crucify him is—What? There is no fitting word that can possibly describe so horrible a deed. (John Stott, The Cross of Christ, 24.)

And so if Romans thought this way of the cross, then surely when Jesus tells his disciples that he was to suffer and when they saw Him hanging on that cross, words would not do justice what such a scene would convey to His disciples.

But as terrible as this physical agony and emotional humiliation Jesus had to endure, the dereliction he faced as a result of the curse of sin He bore for us was an infinitely greater agony. The Christ had to suffer and become a curse for us in order to redeem us as Gal 3:13 states. In other words, when Jesus died on the cross, He died as though He were absolutely the worst possible sinner before God. He died as God’s cursed sinner. Martin Luther explains why this must be so:

If you deny him to be a sinner and to be cursed, you must also deny that he was crucified and died…But because he bears the sins of the world, his innocence is burdened with the sins and guilt of the whole world. Whatever sins I, you, and all of us have done, or will do later, are Christ’s own sins, as truly as if he himself had done them. In short, our sin has to become Christ’s own sin, or else we will perish forever. (Martin Luther, Galatians (Crossway Classic Commentaries)¸ 152.)

This is the marvelous love of our God through Jesus His perfect Son. The perfect, blameless, good, righteous, loving, gracious Son of God would die a sinner, with my sins. Peter was looking for a Christ who would rule for a moment. Jesus died an unthinkable excruciating death in every way so that we could be with God forever without ever being concerned about perishing. If you truly know this reality, there will be no cost too great for you that you will not continue to follow Him.

The Cost (vv. 23-24)

So what exactly is this cost? Jesus tells us in verses 23-24: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Jesus begins by telling us that a follower of His, a Christian, is anyone. Christianity is not a religion of the elite. You do not have to have a college education, or dress in a certain style, or even have sobered yourself up to follow Jesus. Christ is not solely for the lower or upper class. Anyone can come, which is a second characteristic of this disciple: He comes after Jesus. This person actually wants to follow Jesus. He’s not forced to follow Him by his parents. He’s not doing this so he can marry a Christian woman. He’s not following so that he can have social connections with people. He is coming after Jesus. He’s not a Christian because he wants to bring about social change, or make a difference in the world. He’s not even following so that he can tell the world about Jesus. First and foremost, a Christian desires Christ. Christians actually want to be a relationship with Christ more than anything else. This is Jesus’ presumption.

So that’s the first question you need to ask yourself. Why do you want to be a follower of this Jesus Christ? Is it because when you were a child, your parents took you to church and old habits die hard? Is it because your spouse feels like it would be a good place to raise children? Is it because all your friends are at the church? Is it because you like the children’s program? Jesus tells us that such reasons fall far short of what He says a follower of His is. No, a Christian, that is, a follower/disciple of Christ, is one who is running after him, wanting to know him, wanting to pursue Him, wanting His love and care.

Moreover, the costs of following Him have three commands: deny, take up, and follow. What’s interesting to note about these three commands is that the first two are in the past tense and the third is in a present tense that has ongoing effect. In other words, when we deny ourselves and take up the cross daily, this directly leads to our following Jesus. You cannot follow Him without regularly doing the other two. Which is why it is so important that we understand what it means to deny oneself and take up the cross daily.

The first part of the cost is that the follower of Christ (the Christian) denies himself.

Now what does this mean? The words ‘deny himself’ have very strong undertones. It leaves no room for the self. In other words, to follow Christ means that you have to forget yourself completely in order that you might know how to fully follow Christ. Now, if you think of what Jesus is saying here, you begin to realize how his words directly contradict the spirit of the world and our sinful human condition. We are taught to grab hold of what we want before anything else. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard parents say these words, “Children should be allowed to be children. Therefore, I let them get what they want.” Is it any wonder then that those same children grow up to be adults who strive to get whatever they want, regardless of whether it honors God or not? How regularly are we in conflict with one another, friends, parents, spouses, where we are so convinced that our perspective is the right one, that rather than denying ourselves, we are uplifting ourselves so that our personal righteosunessness will be proven for all to see? Jesus’ words of complete self-denial counters our very basic human and societal instincts.

Now you might be thinking, “Self-denial sounds so drab, so dull. Why should I deny myself of anything?” Sure, you might find that there are some things you should deny yourself. You shouldn’t punch your boss when you’re angry with him. You shouldn’t have an affair with another woman regardless of her attractiveness. You shouldn’t drink 2 bottles of wine regardless of how expensive the wine is. Most people consider a little self-denial to be wise. But what about self-denial in watching what you feel like watching on TV or in the movies, eating whatever foods that make you happy, buying the clothing you want, driving the car you feel like you deserve? Is Jesus asking us to consider self-denial in all things?

The funny thing about self-denial and a person like me is that I think the concept of self-denial is great until someone (like my wife) confronts me with self-denial. If she were to say, “Sam, I don’t think you should eat that steak, your cholesterol is pretty high,” or “Sam, do you really need the new computer,” suddenly self-denial is no longer a nice, spiritual thought, it’s an obstacle to, what I believe to be, my happiness. You see, Jesus is not asking me, but commanding me to deny myself because in doing so, I remind myself that nothing can replace the joy and satisfaction that only He can give. And should I attempt to do so, I will find myself eventually in an incredibly empty and disillusioned state. J. C. Ryle makes this point:

The possession of the whole world, and all that it contains, would never make a man happy. Its pleasures are false and deceptive. Its riches, rank, and honours, have no power to satisfy the heart. So long as we have not got them they glitter, and sparkle, and seem desirable. The moment we have them we find that they are empty bubbles, and cannot make us feel content. And worst of all, when we possess this world’s good things, to the utmost bound of our desire, we cannot keep them. Death comes in and separates us from all our property for ever. (J. C. Ryle, Luke, 311)

Self-denial is not Jesus’ command to keep us glum and solemn. No, not at all. It’s to help us to remember that what we have is so limited in its pleasure, so fleeting. But remember reason #1? He died so that you and I would have as Psalm 16:11 reminds us, “pleasures evermore.” Jesus’ command is a protective command to make sure that we do not settle for empty bubbles that sparkle for the moment but fade away. For example, every year, I stop drinking coffee for a couple of months. People always ask me why I would do such a thing. After all, there is nothing I find so enjoyable as a great cup of coffee to start my day. But taking a break from coffee reminds me that it’s God’s mercy that I even have the resources to afford coffee and that I have the taste buds to enjoy it. But by denying myself coffee, I also remember that as great as coffee is, there is something of infinite worth that overwhelms any joy there is in coffee, it’s Christ. And so whether it’s coffee, or sports, or exercise, or television, or the computer, or good Christian books, or talking, or friendships, or food, or water, there is a place for self-denial. I want to encourage you to consider something in your life, perhaps something I have listed as something you would like to fast from, not to say that such things are bad. But instead, so that you might enjoy God more and trust that in your self-denial, you will enjoy Christ all the more.

The second part of the cost is that the follower of Christ (the Christian) takes up his cross daily.

This was nothing less than the ultimate in self-denial since to take up a cross meant that you would go out to die, much like Jesus had to carry His cross to be crucified. Taking up one’s cross is not merely hardship due to the circumstances of life. Rather, it is for the sake of Christ. That is, something happens in your life that is difficult simply because you trust in Jesus. If there is one person who would have the right of viewing ‘taking up the cross,’ merely as difficult circumstances, it would be Joni Erickson Tada. As a 17-year old, a diving accident left her a quadriplegic in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. But here is what she writes about taking up the cross:

I have learned that it’s a passion for God that will give you a passion for people. And this utter delight in Him will come from the toughest of trials that you are about to face. Our affliction becomes that which pushes and shoves us down the road to the cross…And that’s what it means to become like him in His death. Don’t think that the cross is simply the wheelchair, or an irritating job, or an irksome mother-in-law. The cross is the place where you die to sin and live to God. (Phil Ryken, Luke Volume 1, 460)

In other words, taking up the cross is facing life’s difficulties because of your love for Jesus. Perhaps there are difficulties with an irksome mother-in-law, which in itself is not cross-bearing, but if you decide to love her and care for her and even put up with her abuse, not because you need to be a dutiful daughter-in-law, but simply because you love Jesus, that’s cross bearing. My mother faced this reality with my grandmother (dad’s mother), who was not a believer. I remember faint memories of my childhood where my mother and grandmother fought bitterly, even to tears. I remember my mother’s hatred towards my grandmother. But in the last years of my grandmother’s life, my mother voluntarily went to care for her in Korea for about a month. She bathed her, changed her bedpans, cooked every meal, but most importantly she shared the Gospel with her praying with her every day. And my grandmother came to know Christ before she died through my mother’s faithful witness. My mother came back home exhausted and warn out from caring for a person who could not care for herself, but she took up her cross for the sake of Christ. Maybe for you, you decide you’re going to make your boss look good, you’re going to work hard for him because you trust in Jesus, despite the fact that he treats you like dirt. Or maybe if tragedy strikes you, like Terry Stauffer or Rachel Barkley, you take up your cross to get through each day by living, but still telling others through your suffering about Jesus. Taking up the cross is not the mission of super-Christians, but of everyday, ordinary followers of Jesus.

Also, this taking up of the cross is a daily act. Cross-bearing is not something you do once and assume you’ve done your work. It’s not something that you do when you first become a Christian and then graduate from cross-bearing. This is a daily act of obedience and trust. You refuse to take part in gossip regardless of other’s disdain for you because you have taken up the cross. You choose not to swear when all of your buddies do so because of you have taken up the cross. You choose not to cheat on your taxes even though you could ‘use the money.’ You choose to forgive your husband for his hurtful words because of your love for Christ. The cross is not an abstraction to you. You recall Jesus’ forsakenness regularly, by recalling His Word, by remembering His great love for you through that cross.

The third part of the cost is that the follower of Christ (the Christian) follows Jesus.

Really, this is the natural progression of the first two. When you deny yourself, and you take up the cross, you will truly follow Christ. And we must never forget that following Christ meant following Him to the cross. And if that cross symbolizes humiliation, rejection, suffering, can we see that we too must come to see that that is the cost that He is asking us to pay? I constantly remind myself and others that I do not worship a God who drove around in a BMW, ate fancy meals, and lived in a castle to a ripe old age. I worship a God who died on a cross. And he asks me and you, those who call themselves Christians, followers of Jesus, to do the same. There is no middle ground.

If Jesus then is asking for everything, asking for our grace to our enemies, our love to irksome parents-in-law, forgiveness for insensitive spouses, purity from pre-marital sexual relationships, trust in job loss, grace and hard work for insecure and frustrating managers, love for those who persecute us, is it worth it to be a Christian? The answer is ABSOLUTELY yes. Remember, the first and fundamental reason why the cost is absolutely worth it. Jesus died on the cross bearing our sins as if he had not only committed all of my sins, but all of yours as well. God gave us everything so we can enjoy Him eternally, that we would not perish in hell, but have eternal life. The fact is, no matter the cost, it will always be a temporary cost. The pain of childbirth, by God’s grace is so short. The blessings of having a child lasts a lifetime. Well, the timeframe of any cost for the sake of Christ is infinitely short compared to the blessings of enjoying sweet fellowship with Him eternally. Jesus illustrates this so well in the parable of the hidden treausre in Matthew 13:44: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” IN HIS JOY he sells all that he has. There is a cost. His life. But he found the field worth every bit of that cost. The cost of following Christ is worth it!

Next week, I want to give you 4 more reasons why following Jesus is worth any cost we could ever have while living in this world. But let me leave you with a quote from Martin Lloyd-Jones, as to why the reality of Christ’s cross empowers us to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow Him:

Though you may be the vilest man or woman ever known, and though you may until this moment have lived your life in the gutters and the brothels of sin in every shape and form, I say this to you: be it known unto you that through this man, this Lord Jesus Christ, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin. AND BY HIM ALL WHO BELIEVE, you included, are at this very moment justified entirely and completely from everything you have ever done—if you believe that this is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and that he died on the cross, for your sins and to bear your punishment. IF YOU BELIEVE THAT, and thank him for it, and rely utterly upon him and what he has done, I tell you, in the name of God, all your sins are blotted out completely, as if you had never sinned in your life, and his righteousness is put on you and God sees you perfect in his Son. That is the message of the cross. (Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Cross, 36)

And that is why He is worth following. We can trust Him. He will never let you down. He will never leave you, nor forsake you. And the cross is proof that any cost is worth following Him.