Sunday, 9 September 2012

Life-long Commitment



In this blog I talk a lot about commitment.  Many wedding "vows" today have very little commitment in them. In many Christian churches, the same can be said of how people come to Jesus.  Jesus challenges us that a fair-weather commitment to Him is not enough.

(Lk 14:28-34)  “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower.  Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?  For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king.  Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming with twenty thousand?  If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.  In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. 

Jesus tells us that we come to him in the same way  as a person who first sits down and estimate the cost to see if he can complete the tower he wants to build, or if a king can win the war with his weaker forces.  Why would he call us to count the cost of being His disciple?

Here is an excerpt from a commentary on that passage Lk 14:28-33 (Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament). The language is a bit old, but the point I think is clear.

“The general scope of the parable is to be learned from the connection, and may be thus expressed:
1. Every man who becomes a follower of Jesus should calmly and deliberately look at all the consequences of such an act and be prepared to meet them.

2. Men in other things act with prudence and forethought. They do not begin to build without a reasonable prospect of being able to finish. They do not go to war when there is every prospect that they will be defeated.

3. Religion is a work of soberness, of thought, of calm and fixed purpose, and no man can properly enter on it who does not resolve by the grace of God to fulfil all its requirements and make it the business of his life.

4. We are to expect difficulties in religion. It will cost us the mortification* of our sins, and a life of self-denial, and a conflict with our lusts, and the enmity and ridicule of the world. Perhaps it may cost us our reputation, or possibly our lives and liberties, and all that is dear to us; but we must cheerfully undertake all this, and be prepared for it all.

5. If we do not deliberately resolve to leave all things, to suffer all things that may be laid on us, and to persevere to the end of our days in the service of Christ, we cannot be his disciples. No man can be a Christian who, when he makes a profession, is resolved after a while to turn back to the world; nor can he be a true Christian if he “expects that he will” turn back. If he comes not with a “full” purpose “always” to be a Christian; if he means not to persevere, by the grace of God, through all hazards, and trials, and temptations; if he is not willing to bear his cross, and meet contempt, and poverty, and pain, and death, without turning back, he “cannot” be a disciple of the Lord Jesus.[1]

This is so different from the common “Christian” experience today, yet this is exactly what Jesus taught!
Jesus wants us to count the cost of being His Bride for our entire life, giving up everything we have in order to belong to Him who died for us.  “For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death comes.” 



We have been deceived by false teachings about Jesus that let you believe that His grace is so free that there is nothing expected of you!  This false teaching is a tradition that contradicts God's Word! (In Mt 15:3-9 Jesus says we worship Him in vain when we follow traditions of men that contradict the Word of God.) We cannot earn our salvation, but salvation is only available to those who fully commit themselves to Jesus.   In Jesus' own words, "anyone who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple." 

When was the last time that you heard (or offered) an altar call that challenged the people to give up everything they have -- everything -- for their entire life? This goes way beyond accepting Jesus as your personal Saviour.

You know something I find very interesting?  In almost every Evangelical church you want into in North America today you can find a pamphlet or tract on how to become a Christian.  They offer a prayer to accept Jesus as your Saviour.  That prayer cannot be found in the Bible.  Jesus never told people to accept Him as their personal Saviour. Instead, read what Jesus told those who wanted to follow Him:
“Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up my cross daily and follow me … If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.(Lk 9:23,26)

Did you count the cost of committing your life to Jesus as He calls us each to do?  Although this involves prayer, it is so much more than just a prayer.


Jesus wants to be your Saviour, 
but that can only happen when you accept Him as your Lord.

 



*    Discipline of the body and the appetites by self-denial or self-inflicted privation. -- www.thefreedictionary.com
[1]    Albert Barnes, Washington Square, Philadelphia, December, 1868 ,Electronic Edition STEP Files Copyright © 1999, Findex.Com

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