The Cornerstone of Faith

"Jesus is Lord of All"

November 4, 1990 AM

Luke 14:25-27; John 6:66

Introduction

The course of the public ministry of Jesus is just the opposite of what we might normally expect a life's work to be. The American Dream is that we start out small with big dreams, and through hard work and applied skill and intelligence we grow and grow until we make it to the top. The ministry of Jesus is upside down and backward to this ideal blueprint of success. Early on Jesus experienced evident acceptance and success as thousands followed after Him. After three short years He was all alone, on a cross.

I. WHY WAS IT, DO YOU SUPPOSE, THAT THOUSANDS CAME AFTER JESUS?

Jesus spoke the common man's language. People understood Him. He talked about baking bread and taking care of sheep. He talked about fields of flowers and lost coins. "Never man spake like this Man..."
Jesus had the common touch. He loved people. He loved children. He loved Samaritans. He loved, in a pure and holy way,women, who were downtrodden (and still are very much in the Middle East.) He loved rich people. He loved the poor. People understand the common touch.
Jesus IS God. The Presence is a mysterious power that at once attracts and repels. God is LIGHT! Light is attractive, but it also reveals and can ultimately blind. God is LIFE!
There were genuine THRILLS in following Jesus. Miracles happened. Loaves/fishes. Healings. The assumed promise of a new kingdom NOW. "Perhaps Jesus might fulfill MY dreams and wishes."
But this popularity did not last. Jesus did not raise false hopes or feed selfish ambition, and fairly early on in His ministry people resigned from His campaign in crowds. Finally He was threatened, and arrested, and endured a mock trial. Then He was crucified.

II. WHY WAS IT, DO YOU SUPPOSE, THAT MANY 'WENT BACK AND FOLLOWED HIM NO MORE'?

Jesus had a distinct and demanding set of values. They contradicted those values commonly accepted. From the beginning Jesus said (although He was not heard at first): "My kingdom is NOT of THIS WORLD!" Jesus taught (that):
1. It is more blessed to give than to receive.
2. The truly GREAT must be TRULY SERVANTS!
3. He taught that HUMILITY is a virtue. His "ME-generation" didn't want to hear this, any more than our own ME-generation!
  Jesus was out of step with the values of a world that rejects the authority of a heavenly Father God.
Jesus demanded a LOYALTY that was ABSOLUTE. It could never be
Jesus AND... It could never be Jesus, BUT... The choice must be clean and simple. Look at the stark words of our text.
"If anyone comes after Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, YES, AND EVEN HIS OWN LIFE, he cannot be My disciple."
Jesus is not preaching hatred, but He is saying that He will brook no rivals for the Lordship of our hearts and lives!
Still, if Jesus had stopped with just saying "Hate your father and mother" He might have kept a lot of those who left Him. But Jesus went on to say "Hate your own life also!" The hard part is that we must give up the lordship of our SELVES! We give up the right to order our lives to Jesus, and Jesus alone.
[It is still the test for heresy: Any system of trust that ultimately says "Jesus and.." or "Jesus, but . . " to that very extent is NOT Christian!]
Jesus demands a personal involvement(from John 6:) "Eat my flesh..."
A sincere, sober, intellectual agreement that Jesus speaks the truth is good, even necessary. But far beyond intellectual belief is the demand of Jesus: Follow Me! Get close to Me! See what makes Me tick! Learn to LOVE Me! And do what I tell you!
Can I leave what I am doing, NOW!, to be with Jesus, and do what He says, go where HE goes, BE what HE would have me be?
Can I make Jesus Christ all my hope and righteousness? Can I trust His sacrifice- His BLOOD- my only plan of salvation?
Can you see how this was the WATERSHED DECISION TIME of Jesus' ministry?? From THAT time many left Him!

III. WHY WAS IT, DO YOU SUPPOSE, THAT SOME STAYED WHILE OTHER LEFT?

Surely everyone felt both the attraction and the repelling.Those who left had felt the attraction; and those who stayed must have felt the sting of challenge to their own self-sovereignty.
This dilemma, why some are saved and others are damned, is not a modern question. But it is an eternal question. The modern mind does not accept guilt or sin as a fact. But it is as much a fact of existence as a round earth and a blue sky.
1. We can deny the realities of heaven and hell. The dilemma is solved by modern minds by refusing to believe that there is any need to be saved; by refusing to accept the authority of Jesus; by denying the reality of sin and hell.
  But we have to re-write the Bible to accept this. To say "God is too good to send anyone to hell" or "Hell is right here and now" sounds philosophical and sophisticated. But it contradicts what Jesus plainly said.
2. We can seek to side-step choice. The dilemma was 'solved' a few centuries ago by some Christians by saying that it was pre-determined who would leave and who would stay.
  Granted, we have a paradox, a mystery, when we speak of God's Sovereignty and man's free will. But the Bible says "Whoso ever will may come!" The Bible gives us reason to hope that no one is simply shut out of heaven because he or she is not among a select, elect group, and nothing to be done about it.
  [I would reverently approach this mystery by saying that:]
The Word of God invites each of us to make a choice. We have an awesome God-given power, the power of choosing our eternal destiny. Paraphrasing Augustine, "Our wills are ours, we do not know how, but they are ours so that we have the ability to agree with God,to make our wills belong to HIM!"

Conclusion:

A Very Human Insight: Jesus was God. But Jesus was also very Human. He loved His disciples very much. And He believed they loved Him, too. But what he had laid out as the demands of His LORDSHIP, and of PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT had become a WATERSHED, a division for time and eternity. John 6:66 says that from that time of CHOICE, "many turned aside and walked with Him no more."

This was a moment hard to describe in the lives of Jesus and His disciples. Jesus turned to them, as the crowds melted away. When He spoke it was quietly, and with great feeling: "Will you also leave Me?"

It was then that Peter spoke up: "Lord, to whom shall we go?" It was Peter as recorded in another place who said, "Lord, You are the Christ!" Peter speaks for me!

We have all felt the drawing, attractive power of Jesus! Have you been challenged by the high and noble.

We have all also felt the challenge of the relentless singleness of Jesus' purpose! He keeps boring in on our motives and our attitudes! "WHY are you following Me?"

And the question is. at the most basic, radical level: WHO is Lord? Whatever the cost, have you thrown in your lot with Him? to:

1. Make His sacrifice on Calvary the only atonement for your sins? Your ONLY sacrifice, your ONLY hope of heaven?
2. Make Jesus LORD without reservation? Accept the value system of Jesus for the rest of your life? Take your orders from HIM, even though it means cutting away all rivals for His authority? "Hate your father and mother" seems so cruel. But be assured that Jesus did not come to destroy families, or any other worthwhile relationship in life. But relationships will destroy YOU if you let them or any other good or even holy thing take the place which only GOD can hold in your heart and life.

I challenge you to say with Peter: "Lord, We will follow YOU! You have the words of eternal life!"

Hymn # EH- Jesus Calls Me, I Must Follow

Follow, I Will Follow Thee, My Lord