STEWARDING
THE
GOSPEL
“The gospel of the kingdom of God...
is the only one based on
self-sacrificing love instead of worldly power,
the only one offered by a
king on a cross,
the only one offered by a conquering lion
who turns out to be a slaughtered lamb.”
“Entrusted.”
Last week we looked at a Jesus parable about gifts and talents.
This week we consider Paul’s encouraging words offered to Timothy.
Timothy sometimes appeared fearful and timid.
In seeking to boost young Timothy, Paul reminds him of
his own faith and
God’s power revealed in the gospel.
The apostle Paul declares to the Romans that ‘the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.’
Missionary-theologian Lesslie Newbigin reminds us,
“The Gospel is an account of things
which have happened…
It is narrated history... and it is told
with a belief about its meaning.”
Like Timothy, we have moments of doubt and weakness
when it comes to sharing our faith.
We may lack confidence in this gospel message.
Or we may doubt our ability
to speak convincingly of God’s message.
It is reassuring to remember that the
Christian gospel
is based on
events that happened in history.
Paul and other eyewitnesses testify
of seeing the risen Lord Jesus and
proclaiming this
truth
despite persecution.
This same
message of good news
in
Jesus has been given to us in
our time
for believing and sharing with others
As stewards of this gospel, we are called to believe it,
live it, treasure it, guard its essential
truth,
hand it down to the next generation
and pass it on to those who have
not heard.
TIMOTHY 1:5-145
I am reminded of your
sincere faith,
which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in
your mother Eunice and,
I am persuaded,
now lives in you also.
APPEAL FOR LOYALTY
TO PAUL AND THE GOSPEL
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. 9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.
13 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
Jesus’ Terms for Discipleship
What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ?
What does it mean to follow Christ?
One of the problems today, is that many think
that when they become a
Christian that they
simply add Jesus to their life.
In other words,
they keep, for the most part, living their lives with Jesus now added into the mix. Oh, they’ve changed a few things perhaps but it’s still their lives and their will and their ways. They listen to Christian radio and speak the language and hang out with Christian friends
but is this what
Jesus has in mind for His followers?
This is not what our Lord calls Christianity.
Today,
we’re going to look at a text of Scripture that is
one of the most challenging passages
in the entire Bible.
It’s a call for the followers of Christ
to love Him
and His people more than we love ourselves.
It’s a call to examine ourselves and our treasures to see
just how we line up.
This is a passage that leaves little ground for self-deception.
Jesus is pretty clear
with His terms to be a disciple.
Through the ministry of our Lord He had a slogan as He went from city to city. This slogan was repeated over and over for us because we need reminded again and again the importance of being a disciple: Whoever keeps his life will loose it but whoever looses his life for Me will save it.
Matt. 10:38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Matt. 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Lk. 17:33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.
Jn. 12:25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
I pray we all understand the seriousness of this issue.
Jesus is not interested in casual Christians; in reality there are no such things.
To be a Christian is to march under the banner slogan of Jesus and to
deny yourself and live eternally.
My prayer for you and me is that God would enable us to live in self-denial as Jesus commands again and again. I also pray that
God would continue to be
merciful in this area until we see Christ
face to face.
So today, we must not deceive ourselves into thinking that our
eternal life is secure if we
live for ourselves, our agenda, and our will,
and not deny ourselves and submit to Christ.
Is your life all about Christ or all about you?
Please, hear God’s Word…
Luke 9:23
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words,
of him will the
Son of Man be
ashamed when he comes in his
glory and the glory
of the Father and of the holy angels.
But I tell you truly, there are some standing here
who will not taste death
until they see the kingdom of God.”
Father,
enable us by grace to die to self
and
submit to Christ’s Lordship…
Jesus gives us three pieces of the puzzle of discipleship
in verse 23.
1- Deny Yourself, 2- Die to Self, 3- Follow Me
1. Following Christ Means Loving Him More than Yourself (9:23,24)
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
To begin with, I’d like to explain as clearly as I can
what self-denial is.
What does Jesus mean when He makes the statement,
deny yourself.
He has in mind that as His people,
His followers,
we are to forsake anything that would stand in the way
of embracing Christ with our full allegiance.
We are to forsake, possessions, power, favor of men,
and human glory.
We must deny our natural bent
toward earthly treasures and strive to
make Christ our treasure.
Also, in this, we must deny our self-reliance.
We must forsake relying on our abilities and logic.
We must forsake relying on our human sense of righteousness
and totally cling to Christ for righteousness,
we must live lives that
continually accept grace and glorify Christ.
I think if I could leave my children with two phrases they would be:
Follow hard after Christ and lean not on your own understanding.
John Calvin states that self-denial is the sum of the Christian life.
The first condition given by Jesus to any would-be-follower is to deny yourself.
Secondly, He commands that if one is to be a follower, this person must not only deny-self but then die to self.
take up his cross daily
To be ready to bear afflictions in this life, knowing that God has designed them for our Christian growth and maturity. Respond to afflictions in a godly manner. These are afflictions that fall in the realm of God’s eternal purposes. Bear up the afflictions for the glory of God.
The cross was a means of carrying out the death sentence. For a criminal, he would carry the actual cross he would be hung upon. Jesus tells us to be ones who welcome death to self as a disciple. A disciple does this daily. Whatever suffering God has purposed for you to endure we daily accept it, knowing that it is for our good and God’s glory.
Finally, then we are ready to follow Christ. These words clearly understood means to keep on following Christ. Just as one daily commits to submitting our will to Christ’s, we also continually follow where He leads us. We walk as He walked. We love as He loved. Speak as He spoke.
As followers, we trust, walk with, obey, and remain grateful for salvation to Christ.
I like what Jesus says here in these verses. He really answers the question many of us might ask. Why would we want to give up ourselves? Jesus explains to us that in doing so what we will receive will be far greater than what we ever give up…
whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
2. Following Christ Means Loving Him More than Material Goods (9:25)
25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
Jesus is very clear here. Those who live for themselves never get what they desire and in fact end up with nothing. Those who deny themselves and live for Christ rather than live for themselves do find what they desire.
Not my will but thy will be done.
Jesus wants us to be good investors. Loosing self for Christ’s sake will result in an infinitely better return than if we were to hoard our present commodities. Loose, give now and there will be a great return.
Steve Jobs announced this week that he would resign as CEO of
Apple Computers.
His influence and creativity has launched Apple to the top of the industry with company value exceeding Moble Oil, all this from a garage 14 years ago with a high school classmate. Steve with leanings toward Buddhism and New Age teachings has seemingly gained the whole world. Unless something changes, he will have also forfeited his soul in the process. Steve is a very good businessman, promoter and inventor. However, when it comes to eternal issues, he is a poor investor.
Jesus makes it very clear that if we don’t give ourselves away for the Gospel and for Him we will loose eternal life.
For what does it profit a man if he
gains the whole world and
loses or forfeits himself?
So, Jesus is pressing home the fact that He alone must be our treasure. If we love ourselves, if our treasure is us, then we will not deny ourselves and die to self. We will always cling to our treasure. He also challenges our other potential treasure when He speaks about worldly profit and worldly riches.
What real profit is it if you are so concerned with material goods that you forget that the most important commodity is your soul?
What good is it if the founder of Apple Computers dies a multi-billionaire and forfeits his souls. In other words, he leaves all his wealth behind and in a sense, his soul as well.
Jesus’ logic goes like this: If all we do while on earth is build up things for our life now, we eventually will loose everything. But if we build eternal things we will save our lives forever.
3. Because Christ is Our Treasure, We are Not Ashamed (9:26)
26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
The human heart is never ashamed of what it treasures. Jesus tells us that He is the real treasure.
We must choose and choose wisely. I remember the Indiana Jones movie where they were searching for the holy grail. Towards the end of the movie, Jones was in a room full of golden cups and he had to choose. Like him, we too must make choices. As Christ’s disciples we must choose to take up our cross, deny ourselves, and not be ashamed of bearing the name Christian.
The best way to consistently follow Christ under His conditions is to strive to make Him our treasure.
If He is our treasure we won’t struggle when we’re called to deny ourselves and serve others. Because we serve in the power of Christ and our treasure is glorified.
We won’t struggle when we endure hardship either in some trial or even in persecution because our comfort is not the issue. Jesus is honored.
We will never be ashamed to stand up for Christ, if He is our treasure because, we are never ashamed of what we treasure.
4. It’s Not All Future (9:27)
But I tell you truly,
there are some standing here
who will not taste death until they
see the kingdom of God.”
One thing Jesus wanted His disciples to understand
is that not all eternal things are future things.
In other words,
there would be blessings for them now
as they
served Jesus
according to His terms of discipleship.
What was Jesus saying here?
He was saying that there were
some of His disciples who would not die
until they first saw the
Kingdom of God.
How did they see it?
Some of the disciples were present when at the
day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit descended and landed on them.
They began to experience the Kingdom of God as
God’s rule and reign became part of who they were.
Others before this event
saw the transfiguration with Jesus being glorified
right before their eyes.
Three of His disciples saw this amazing event.
This was an amazing glimpse of the
Kingdom of God on earth.
Jesus’ point is that as
His disciple we are in the realm of
His influence and power now.
We don’t have to wait until heaven to enjoy the Kingdom of God.
What are Jesus’ terms for discipleship?
What are His terms to be a follower?
Give yourself away for Christ and His people.
Don’t concern yourself with earthly goods.
Seek His Kingdom and His righteousness
and
all these things will be added to you…
even eternal life.
So, you want to be a disciple?
Jesus gives us His terms.
If we are to be one, it has to be done
according to His rules not ours.
Are you a disciple?
Deny yourself
Take up your cross daily
Follow Christ
Don’t ever be ashamed of Jesus
Enjoy blessings now
STEWARDING
THE
GOSPEL
“The gospel of the kingdom of God...
is the only one based on
self-sacrificing love instead of worldly power,
the only one offered by a
king on a cross,
the only one offered by a conquering lion
who turns out to be a slaughtered lamb.”
“Entrusted.”
Last week we looked at a Jesus parable about gifts and talents.
This week we consider Paul’s encouraging words offered to Timothy.
Timothy sometimes appeared fearful and timid.
In seeking to boost young Timothy, Paul reminds him of
his own faith and
God’s power revealed in the gospel.
The apostle Paul declares to the Romans that ‘the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.’
Missionary-theologian Lesslie Newbigin reminds us,
“The Gospel is an account of things
which have happened…
It is narrated history... and it is told
with a belief about its meaning.”
Like Timothy, we have moments of doubt and weakness
when it comes to sharing our faith.
We may lack confidence in this gospel message.
Or we may doubt our ability
to speak convincingly of God’s message.
It is reassuring to remember that the
Christian gospel
is based on
events that happened in history.
Paul and other eyewitnesses testify
of seeing the risen Lord Jesus and
proclaiming this
truth
despite persecution.
This same
message of good news
in
Jesus has been given to us in
our time
for believing and sharing with others
As stewards of this gospel, we are called to believe it,
live it, treasure it, guard its essential
truth,
hand it down to the next generation
and pass it on to those who have
not heard.
TIMOTHY 1:5-145
I am reminded of your
sincere faith,
which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in
your mother Eunice and,
I am persuaded,
now lives in you also.
APPEAL FOR LOYALTY
TO PAUL AND THE GOSPEL
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. 9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.
13 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
Jesus’ Terms for Discipleship
What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ?
What does it mean to follow Christ?
One of the problems today, is that many think
that when they become a
Christian that they
simply add Jesus to their life.
In other words,
they keep, for the most part, living their lives with Jesus now added into the mix. Oh, they’ve changed a few things perhaps but it’s still their lives and their will and their ways. They listen to Christian radio and speak the language and hang out with Christian friends
but is this what
Jesus has in mind for His followers?
This is not what our Lord calls Christianity.
Today,
we’re going to look at a text of Scripture that is
one of the most challenging passages
in the entire Bible.
It’s a call for the followers of Christ
to love Him
and His people more than we love ourselves.
It’s a call to examine ourselves and our treasures to see
just how we line up.
This is a passage that leaves little ground for self-deception.
Jesus is pretty clear
with His terms to be a disciple.
Through the ministry of our Lord He had a slogan as He went from city to city. This slogan was repeated over and over for us because we need reminded again and again the importance of being a disciple: Whoever keeps his life will loose it but whoever looses his life for Me will save it.
Matt. 10:38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Matt. 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Lk. 17:33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.
Jn. 12:25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
I pray we all understand the seriousness of this issue.
Jesus is not interested in casual Christians; in reality there are no such things.
To be a Christian is to march under the banner slogan of Jesus and to
deny yourself and live eternally.
My prayer for you and me is that God would enable us to live in self-denial as Jesus commands again and again. I also pray that
God would continue to be
merciful in this area until we see Christ
face to face.
So today, we must not deceive ourselves into thinking that our
eternal life is secure if we
live for ourselves, our agenda, and our will,
and not deny ourselves and submit to Christ.
Is your life all about Christ or all about you?
Please, hear God’s Word…
Luke 9:23
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words,
of him will the
Son of Man be
ashamed when he comes in his
glory and the glory
of the Father and of the holy angels.
But I tell you truly, there are some standing here
who will not taste death
until they see the kingdom of God.”
Father,
enable us by grace to die to self
and
submit to Christ’s Lordship…
Jesus gives us three pieces of the puzzle of discipleship
in verse 23.
1- Deny Yourself, 2- Die to Self, 3- Follow Me
1. Following Christ Means Loving Him More than Yourself (9:23,24)
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
To begin with, I’d like to explain as clearly as I can
what self-denial is.
What does Jesus mean when He makes the statement,
deny yourself.
He has in mind that as His people,
His followers,
we are to forsake anything that would stand in the way
of embracing Christ with our full allegiance.
We are to forsake, possessions, power, favor of men,
and human glory.
We must deny our natural bent
toward earthly treasures and strive to
make Christ our treasure.
Also, in this, we must deny our self-reliance.
We must forsake relying on our abilities and logic.
We must forsake relying on our human sense of righteousness
and totally cling to Christ for righteousness,
we must live lives that
continually accept grace and glorify Christ.
I think if I could leave my children with two phrases they would be:
Follow hard after Christ and lean not on your own understanding.
John Calvin states that self-denial is the sum of the Christian life.
The first condition given by Jesus to any would-be-follower is to deny yourself.
Secondly, He commands that if one is to be a follower, this person must not only deny-self but then die to self.
take up his cross daily
To be ready to bear afflictions in this life, knowing that God has designed them for our Christian growth and maturity. Respond to afflictions in a godly manner. These are afflictions that fall in the realm of God’s eternal purposes. Bear up the afflictions for the glory of God.
The cross was a means of carrying out the death sentence. For a criminal, he would carry the actual cross he would be hung upon. Jesus tells us to be ones who welcome death to self as a disciple. A disciple does this daily. Whatever suffering God has purposed for you to endure we daily accept it, knowing that it is for our good and God’s glory.
Finally, then we are ready to follow Christ. These words clearly understood means to keep on following Christ. Just as one daily commits to submitting our will to Christ’s, we also continually follow where He leads us. We walk as He walked. We love as He loved. Speak as He spoke.
As followers, we trust, walk with, obey, and remain grateful for salvation to Christ.
I like what Jesus says here in these verses. He really answers the question many of us might ask. Why would we want to give up ourselves? Jesus explains to us that in doing so what we will receive will be far greater than what we ever give up…
whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
2. Following Christ Means Loving Him More than Material Goods (9:25)
25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
Jesus is very clear here. Those who live for themselves never get what they desire and in fact end up with nothing. Those who deny themselves and live for Christ rather than live for themselves do find what they desire.
Not my will but thy will be done.
Jesus wants us to be good investors. Loosing self for Christ’s sake will result in an infinitely better return than if we were to hoard our present commodities. Loose, give now and there will be a great return.
Steve Jobs announced this week that he would resign as CEO of
Apple Computers.
His influence and creativity has launched Apple to the top of the industry with company value exceeding Moble Oil, all this from a garage 14 years ago with a high school classmate. Steve with leanings toward Buddhism and New Age teachings has seemingly gained the whole world. Unless something changes, he will have also forfeited his soul in the process. Steve is a very good businessman, promoter and inventor. However, when it comes to eternal issues, he is a poor investor.
Jesus makes it very clear that if we don’t give ourselves away for the Gospel and for Him we will loose eternal life.
For what does it profit a man if he
gains the whole world and
loses or forfeits himself?
So, Jesus is pressing home the fact that He alone must be our treasure. If we love ourselves, if our treasure is us, then we will not deny ourselves and die to self. We will always cling to our treasure. He also challenges our other potential treasure when He speaks about worldly profit and worldly riches.
What real profit is it if you are so concerned with material goods that you forget that the most important commodity is your soul?
What good is it if the founder of Apple Computers dies a multi-billionaire and forfeits his souls. In other words, he leaves all his wealth behind and in a sense, his soul as well.
Jesus’ logic goes like this: If all we do while on earth is build up things for our life now, we eventually will loose everything. But if we build eternal things we will save our lives forever.
3. Because Christ is Our Treasure, We are Not Ashamed (9:26)
26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
The human heart is never ashamed of what it treasures. Jesus tells us that He is the real treasure.
We must choose and choose wisely. I remember the Indiana Jones movie where they were searching for the holy grail. Towards the end of the movie, Jones was in a room full of golden cups and he had to choose. Like him, we too must make choices. As Christ’s disciples we must choose to take up our cross, deny ourselves, and not be ashamed of bearing the name Christian.
The best way to consistently follow Christ under His conditions is to strive to make Him our treasure.
If He is our treasure we won’t struggle when we’re called to deny ourselves and serve others. Because we serve in the power of Christ and our treasure is glorified.
We won’t struggle when we endure hardship either in some trial or even in persecution because our comfort is not the issue. Jesus is honored.
We will never be ashamed to stand up for Christ, if He is our treasure because, we are never ashamed of what we treasure.
4. It’s Not All Future (9:27)
But I tell you truly,
there are some standing here
who will not taste death until they
see the kingdom of God.”
One thing Jesus wanted His disciples to understand
is that not all eternal things are future things.
In other words,
there would be blessings for them now
as they
served Jesus
according to His terms of discipleship.
What was Jesus saying here?
He was saying that there were
some of His disciples who would not die
until they first saw the
Kingdom of God.
How did they see it?
Some of the disciples were present when at the
day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit descended and landed on them.
They began to experience the Kingdom of God as
God’s rule and reign became part of who they were.
Others before this event
saw the transfiguration with Jesus being glorified
right before their eyes.
Three of His disciples saw this amazing event.
This was an amazing glimpse of the
Kingdom of God on earth.
Jesus’ point is that as
His disciple we are in the realm of
His influence and power now.
We don’t have to wait until heaven to enjoy the Kingdom of God.
What are Jesus’ terms for discipleship?
What are His terms to be a follower?
Give yourself away for Christ and His people.
Don’t concern yourself with earthly goods.
Seek His Kingdom and His righteousness
and
all these things will be added to you…
even eternal life.
So, you want to be a disciple?
Jesus gives us His terms.
If we are to be one, it has to be done
according to His rules not ours.
Are you a disciple?
Deny yourself
Take up your cross daily
Follow Christ
Don’t ever be ashamed of Jesus
Enjoy blessings now
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