March 20, 2011

The following are actual responses from comment cards given to the staff members at Bridger Wilderness Area in Wyoming, in 1996:
1. Trails need to be wider so peop can walk while holding hands.

2. Please avoid building trails that go uphill.

3. Too many bugs, leeches, spiders and spider webs.

4. Please spray the wilderness to rid the areas of these pests.

5. Please pave the trails so they can be snow-plowed during the winter.

6. Chair lifts need to be in some places so that we can get to wonderful views without having to hike to them.

7. The coyotes made too much noise last night and kept me awake. Please eradicate these annoying animals.

8. A small deer came into my camp and stole my jar of pickles. Is there a way I can get reimbursed?

9. Reflectors need to be placed on trees every fifty feet so people can hike at night with flash-lights.

10. Escalators would help on steep uphill sections.

11. A MacDonald’s would be nice at the trailhead.

12. The places where trails don’t exist aren’t well marked.

13. Too many rocks in-mountains.

Are you kidding me? What does one expect to find out in a wilderness area? They’re lucky to have trails. We’ve grown soft. We want everything to be easy. Unfortunately that’s often the way we look at being a follower of Jesus. We want it to be easy. Now there is an easiness to following Christ. Jesus said, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Compared to wearing the yoke of this sinful world, Jesus’ yoke is easy and light, but it conflicts with the ways of this world. So if you are a Christian you can be sure that you will face challenges along the way. This is why…Discipleship to Jesus requires wholehearted commitment.

I. EVERY EARTHLY COMFORT MUST BE SURRENDERED TO CHRIST. Mt.8:18-20
Based on the previous verse it would be difficult to not be impressed with Jesus. I mean, if we saw the healings that Jesus performed would we not be astounded? I’m sure many of us are skeptical when we see so-called faith healers on T.V. I’m not saying there aren’t peop with the gift of healing. It’s just that enough of these folks have been shown to be fakes that we are skeptical. But Jesus just spoke a wrd of healing. He didn’t use magic or technology. It’s impressive. So when Jesus decided to leave Capernaum and cross the lake, no doubt there were any number of people who wanted to follow him. Here we see that one of the teachers of the Law wanted to follow Jesus.

Note that v.21 says, “another disciple said to him....” This gives the impression that the teacher of the Law was also a disciple of Jesus. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that in the New Testament we see that many people followed Jesus. The word, “disciple” could refer to anyone who attached himself to Jesus in some way. Not all who are called disciples were true followers of Jesus. In Jn.6, Jesus spoke of eating his flesh and drinking his blood as a metaphor for believing in him.  In Jn.6:66 we read, “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” They were referred to as disciples, but in fact, they turned away from Jesus. Not everyone who attaches himself to Jesus is a true follower of Jesus.

So here’s a teacher of the Law. He’s impressed with the teachings and miracles of Jesus and expresses his willingness to follow Jesus wherever he goes. Wow! He had good intentions, didn’t he? I mean, this is what we want to see. If someone came to us and said, “I want to follow Jesus,” we’d be thrilled. “Sign him up.” But you note that Jesus didn’t say, “Get into the boat.” Instead he said, “Foxes have holes and the birds have nests, but the Son of man has no place to lay his head.”

Now before we go any further, let me point out that this is the first time the expression, “Son of man” is found on the lips of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel. “Son of man” was Jesus’ favorite way to refer to himself. Jesus used it because it both revealed who he is and yet concealed who he is. In other words, there was some ambiguity to this expression. On the one hand, in Dan.7:13-14 we read, “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kngdm is one that will never be destroyed.” Well according to this verse, the Son of man is none other than the Messiah, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. Yet the expression also simply means, “man.” Jesus used the expression in reference to his second coming in glory and in reference to his ministry and suffering on the cross. So in this one expression you have the themes of authority and suffering. Some with an eye to see might have recognized what this expression meant, but most didn’t.

Here the expression clearly refers to his humble life of ministry. The bottom line is that Jesus was homeless. He had no place of his own where he could go to sleep. Why did Jesus say this? It seems clear that he was challenging this man to count the cost before making a commitment to follow him. He wanted the teacher of the law to understand that if he was going to follow Jesus, he might not have a place to lay his head either. In fact he might not have a lot of things that we normally take for granted in life. I mean, the reality is that when we follow Jesus we surrender all our earthly comforts to him. We surrender all our material comforts to him. It all belongs to him because we belong to him. This is difficult for us to get our minds around because we live in a Christianized culture and a wealthy culture, so being a Christian and wealthy seem to go well together. We enjoy a good standard of living. When we talk about surrendering everything to Jesus it becomes somewhat of a meaningless statement. So how do we put some teeth to this concept?

Well, it might help to ask ourselves, “How much do I really need to live on?” How much would God have me give to his work?/ How much time do I give to my work verses how much time do I give in service to Christ? Am I really willing to go anywhere the Lord might send me? What would happen if you began to sense the Lord leading you into some kind of ministry to the poor or maybe to the mission field, or maybe to be involved in tutoring school children or whatever it might be? I mean, does the Lord have the freedom to call you into his work or would you just not hear him because you are so tied up with all your stuff? Who owns your stuff, you or God? Followers of Jesus learn to hold their stuff loosely.

II. EVERY EARTHLY RELATIONSHIP MUST BE SURRENDERED TO CHRIST. Mt.8:21-22

When a person first comes to Christ, it isn’t possible to appreciate the full implications of what it means to follow Jesus. For the moment, that new believer is just grateful to know that whereas once he or she was blind, now they see. Jesus has come into their lives and they’ve been changed. Their sins have been forgiven. There’s a freedom from guilt and peace in their heart. They are in the kingdom of God. But what comes next?. What’s the next step in our life w Christ?

The next step is a step of discipleship to Christ. We enter into a life of following Christ. It’s a life in which our living takes on the character and conduct of Christ. This life is learned as we live with and for Jesus. It’s a process. One way Jesus described it is that we take up our cross; we deny ourselves. Or you might say, we die to ourselves. When I got married I died to all the other women in the world. In other wrds now my focus in life is to live with and for Angie. When I came to Christ I died to myself. As a follower of Christ, my goal is to put Christ first in my life and self last. Now, you might ask, “Was it worth it to die to all the other women in the world? Well, I’d say, “Indeed it was.” I love being married to Angie. Is it worth it to die to self and follow Christ? Indeed. He’s given me a brand new, eternal life to live. His way of living is far better than anything I could do by myself. But in order for me to live his way, I must die to my way. We saw earlier that that involves surrendering all my possessions and comforts to Christ.

Here we see that it involves surrendering all our relationships to Christ. Now I don’t know how it strikes you, but not allowing someone to bury his father is just cold. It’s brutal, don’t you think? I mean, isn’t Jesus being a little over the top here? I personally don’t think Jesus is opposed to burying one’s father, but Jesus wanted to help this man understand that being his disciple must come before any and every other relationship. Remember, Jesus is God in the flesh. Being in a relationship with God is our primary relationship in all of life. Our relationship with God and his Son, Jesus, is the most important relationship of our lives. This man was saying, “Lord, just wait. I’ll get to you shortly, but I’ve got more important things to do.” Jesus says, “What could be more important than following me? Decide to follow me and then we can talk about burying your father.”

My sense is that there are many in the fold of Christianity who sort of assume that God is the primary relationship in their lives. It’s like, “Well, I go to CH (at least once in awhile), I’ve been baptized. I take communion, so yeah, I’m okay, God is the foundational relationship of my life.” But wait, if God is the primary relationship of your life then it doesn’t follow that you would treat him, his Word and his commands so casually. If God is your primary relationship, themost significant relationship in your life, then your relationship to God is going to affect everything in your life.

Now there may be some relationships in your life that are not honoring to God. If any relationship causes you to stray from God and his commands, If any relationship pulls you away from single minded allegiance to Christ, then that relationship must end or change significantly. This isn’t easy. Friendships, even friendships that lead us away from God, don’t come easy. Good friends are hard to find. But God is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Again, there’s a dying to self that comes into play.

It’s been called the greatest rescue mission of World War II. Late in that war, American bombers were sent on dangerous missions over southern Europe to cripple the Nazis’ oil supplies. Hundreds of crews in flying tin cans soared through storms of anti-aircraft shells. Many American pilots were forced to bail from their shot-up planes. The injured airmen drifted by parachute into occupied Yugoslavia, expecting to be captured or killed. Instead, on the ground remarkable rescue teams were already in place. Serbian peasants tracked the path of the floating flight crews. Their sole mission was to grab the flyboys and bring them to safety before the Nazis arrived. Risking their own lives, the peasants fed and sheltered the downed soldiers.

These rescued men were in friendly hands but on enemy soil. They still needed to escape. The story of what became known as Operation Halyard builds toward a daring mission, a secret landing strip, and a clandestine evacuation plan. Amazingly, those Serbian peasants rescued every single American airman, over 500 in all. Here’s the fascinating subplot to the rescue. To travel to the evacuation site, the airmen had to spend weeks following the Serbian freedom fighters, who alone knew the path to the evacuation site. Despite the profound lang barriers, the direction, the pace, and the destination were in the hands of their rescuers. The men had been saved from their enemy, but the journey had just begun. They still had to walk to freedom.

The story of Operation Halyard sheds light on an important spiritual reality: to be rescued from something sets us on the path toward something. For the airmen it was a journey of survival. For us it’s a journey of faith. The One who saved us is now calling us to walk. It’s nonnegotiable. Though snatched from spiritual death, we soon discover that the Christian life isn’t an arrival; it’s an adventure. Jesus rescues us then he points us to the path of following him. Discipleship to Jesus requires wholehearted commitment. The question is, have you surrender everything to Christ? Or are you holding out? The old gospel song asks the question, “Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?” It certainly begins with an intentional decision to surrender all that you are and have to Christ. And that decision is best made in prayer. In prayer we yield and surrender ourselves to God. Have you done this? If not, why not? In light of how Jesus gave his all for us how can we withhold ourselves to him? Amen.