{"id":254,"date":"2011-07-24T09:00:04","date_gmt":"2011-07-24T17:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/?p=254"},"modified":"2011-08-12T13:48:28","modified_gmt":"2011-08-12T21:48:28","slug":"christian_bear_the_strain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/24\/christian_bear_the_strain\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Bear the Strain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matthew 10: 34-42<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Some of us are reading through a book in our Santa Rosa Bible class.\u00a0 It\u2019s written by a pastor who had a big aha<\/em>.\u00a0 What I mean is he realized that what the American church sometimes portrays as following Jesus is a far cry from what Jesus describes.<\/p>\n

I once lived across the street from a church which called itself the Church Triumphant<\/em>.\u00a0 I always wanted to go across the street and ask if they had already gone to heaven.\u00a0\u00a0 Because Jesus tells us that following him will not be a life of one joy, one happy moment, after another.\u00a0 This world will not permit it.<\/p>\n

But that hasn\u2019t been my experience, pastor.\u00a0 \u00a0I am a Christian and things are going just fine.<\/em> Well then let me ask you, dear Christian.\u00a0 How close are you following your Savior?\u00a0 Are you following Him at a distance, a safe distance that arouses no attention from the world., your friends or family.\u00a0 Are you following him at a distance, a dangerous distance that makes you easy prey for Satan.\u00a0\u00a0 How close are you following?\u00a0\u00a0 Do you walk with Jesus just one hour on Sunday morning?\u00a0\u00a0 If someone were to watch you over the course of your day, could they accuse you of following Jesus as your Lord and Savior?\u00a0\u00a0 Maybe that\u2019s why you haven\u2019t experienced what Jesus tells his disciples here.<\/p>\n

But I suspect you have.\u00a0 You know what comes with following Jesus in an unbelieving culture\u2014in your workplace, even in your own families.\u00a0 It\u2019s a struggle not just in places where you take your life in your hands by saying: I believe in Jesus. We \u00a0may not have someone wanting to jail us or take our lives. Yet it\u2019s still a struggle to persevere in following Jesus.\u00a0 It\u2019s still a struggle that too many abandon on the way.<\/p>\n

Here Jesus helps us look beyond the struggle.\u00a0 To see that the cost is worth it, by far.\u00a0 So we say,<\/p>\n

Christian, Bear the Strain
\n<\/strong>I.\u00a0 Yes, it will cost you to follow Jesus
\nII.\u00a0 Yes, but follow on to \u00a0rich reward.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>Jesus is sending the 12 disciples out.\u00a0 He tells them . As you go, preach this message: \u2018The kingdom of heaven is near.\u2019 8 <\/sup>Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give<\/span>.\u00a0 Wow, the kingdom is near.\u00a0 Sounds like good times are just around the bend. <\/strong>So the disciples thought.\u00a0 Like many, they thought that the coming of the Christ meant peace.\u00a0 The Romans would be gone.\u00a0 A great new king would take charge. <\/strong>Great expectations, kind of like those Christians who believe that Jesus will return and reign on the earth for a thousand years- a millennium of peace.\u00a0 Great expectations, but wrong expectations.<\/p>\n

34 <\/sup>\u201cDo not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword<\/span>.\u00a0 Wait a second.\u00a0 What about the Christmas angels?\u00a0 Didn\u2019t they sing of peace on earth at Jesus\u2019 birth?\u00a0 Yes they did. Didn\u2019t Jesus say, Peace I leave with you.\u00a0 My peace I give you.<\/span> Yes he did. And he does.\u00a0 He offers a very special peace that only He can give.<\/p>\n

The other day in Oslo, Norway a bomb went off.\u00a0 A peaceful day was horribly changed into death and destruction.\u00a0 That\u2019s what sin does to our relationship with God.\u00a0 It\u2019s like a bomb that brought death and destruction to something so good –\u00a0 and we were the bomb makers.\u00a0 And did you see that street in Oslo?\u00a0 Debris everywhere.\u00a0 That\u2019s what sin does.\u00a0 It makes debris out of the love that we owe each other, out of unborn children, out of marriages meant to last. And worst of all sin makes debris out of our relationship with God.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But for some strange reason beyond my understanding, God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son<\/em>.\u00a0 He gave us Jesus who then lived for you and \u00a0took your guilt to a cross where he paid the price for us all.\u00a0 Every sin.\u00a0 Every sinner.\u00a0 It is finished.<\/span> And how can we be so sure?\u00a0 Jesus rose from his grave.\u00a0 And now through faith in Jesus, God\u2019s word declares, we have peace with God.<\/span> In Christ, God is your dear Father and you are his dear child. \u00a0Never will he leave you or forsake you.<\/em> His love will never fail you, even when you breathe your last breath on this earth. That\u2019s the peace Christ gives in the gospel of peace.<\/p>\n

But what happens wherever that gospel is preached.\u00a0 Some believe it.\u00a0 Others reject it.\u00a0 That\u2019s the sword that Jesus speaks of here.\u00a0 Think of a sword.\u00a0 It cuts.\u00a0 It divides.\u00a0 When God\u2019s Word draws people to Jesus, there comes a great divide.\u00a0 God spoke of it in the Garden of Eden when he said:\u00a0 I will put enmity between your offspring and hers<\/span>.\u00a0 Jesus speaks of it when he said to his disciples:\u00a0 If they hated me, they will also hate you<\/span>.<\/p>\n

With Jesus comes a great divide.\u00a0 Sometimes that divide results in terrible things done to Christians.\u00a0 I often sense it in the way that people act when they find out I am a Christian pastor.\u00a0 There\u2019s a divide. And sadly that divide sometimes runs right through a family. Jesus speaks of it here: \u00a0\u201c \u2018a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law\u2014 36<\/sup>a man\u2019s enemies will be the members of his own household<\/span> (35b,36)<\/p>\n

Well who wants that?\u00a0 These are people near and dear to us. \u00a0\u00a0If my faith in Christ turns my loved ones against me, that a serious price to pay.\u00a0 No one wants to be at odds with family.\u00a0\u00a0 We want peace and good relations.\u00a0 But sometimes that is what it will cost you to follow Jesus.\u00a0 What does Jesus say?\u00a0 37 <\/sup>\u201cAnyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; <\/span>Yes it will cost you.<\/p>\n

And then Jesus adds38 <\/span><\/sup>anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. <\/span>When Jesus disciples heard that word cross<\/em> it must have shook them to the core.\u00a0 The crosses they knew were not pretty jewelry hanging on a golden chain.\u00a0 They were ugly instruments of torture.<\/p>\n

But Jesus wasn\u2019t telling people to go around carrying a heavy wooden cross. He\u2019s talking about the things that make it hard to follow Jesus. From the teasing of friends to a job lost because you refuse to go against God\u2019s Word , all the way to a Christian mother in prison condemned to death in Pakistan because of her faith.<\/p>\n

Yes it will cost you to follow Jesus<\/strong>.\u00a0 And for some that cost is too much to bear.\u00a0 They\u2019d rather live their life and not deal with those things.\u00a0 But how sad.\u00a0 Such a person has struck a terrible bargain in walking away..\u00a0 Jesus says it this way.\u00a0\u00a0 39 <\/span><\/sup>Whoever finds his life will lose it<\/span>.\u00a0 Or as Jesus says elsewhere:\u00a0 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul. <\/span><\/p>\n

So you, Christian, bear the strain<\/strong>, no matter how hard.\u00a0 For yes it will cost you to follow Jesus<\/strong>.\u00a0 If you are faithful, it will cost you.\u00a0 But follow on, follow on to rich reward.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m reading a book by the late Pastor Richard Wurmbrand.\u00a0 When he was in prison in Rumania, he met a man he had led to Christ but now was in prison for his faith while his wife and children were starving.\u00a0 Pastor Wurmbrand said to him.\u00a0 Do you hold it against me that I told you about Jesus and now you are in prison<\/em>?\u00a0 To which the man then said.\u00a0 If you had not told me, I would not have known about our wonderful Savior<\/em>.\u00a0 Here was the kind of man Jesus was talking about when he said:\u00a0 Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.<\/span><\/p>\n

You see, to follow Jesus is to lose our life in Him.\u00a0 Before he came to us in baptism, we belonged to this sinful dying world in all its ugliness.\u00a0 We were without God and without hope.\u00a0 Our lives were set on a different course with a whole different set of values.\u00a0 But we have lost that life in Jesus.\u00a0 In fact, sometimes that life is taken from us by those who hate Jesus.<\/p>\n

But we have lost that life only to find another.\u00a0 He who believes in the Son has eternal ,life. <\/span>And when we believe, we find life.\u00a0 Real life.\u00a0 Life with God.\u00a0 Life that even death cannot destroy.\u00a0 Life that offers a rich reward.\u00a0 \u00a0And not just to that man in prison.\u00a0 All of us who follow Jesus regardless of the cost.\u00a0 We follow on to rich reward.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And how do we do that?\u00a0 We listen to those he has sent.\u00a0 We listen and take to heart the message Jesus has given them in this Word. \u00a0\u00a0It started with just these twelve men.\u00a0 But it goes on to this day through those he has called to his service. For what does Jesus remind them here?\u00a0 They do not speak for themselves.\u00a0 They point you to Jesus and urge you to follow.\u00a0 So\u00a0 listen closely to what Jesus says to them. \u00a0\u00a040 <\/sup>\u201cHe who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now I\u2019d like to skip down to the last verse of our text. 42 <\/sup>And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0 Whenever I read this I think of two very special people years ago.\u00a0 I was going through their neighborhood knocking on doors, introducing myself as Pastor Smith of a new church in the area.\u00a0 It was a hot desert evening.\u00a0 I came to their neighbor\u2019s door.\u00a0 I knocked., He opened up, listened for a few moments then yelled at me and slammed the door.\u00a0 But before I could leave, he opened the door again and asked if I had any kids. \u00a0I told him two — and one on the way.\u00a0 He muttered that\u2019s too bad and slammed the door even harder.<\/p>\n

I trudged over to the next house not sure if I wanted to knock.\u00a0\u00a0 Ed and his wife answered.\u00a0 They soon realized I was a Christian pastor, invited me in, listened to my story, encouraged me in my ministry and then brought me a very welcome glass of cold water. They probably thought it was nothing but it meant a lot coming from these two people who followed Jesus and honored his gospel. They helped me to bear the strain as we should help each other.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the thought.\u00a0 If I have my way when I get up to heaven, Ed and his wife will be in for a surprise.\u00a0 Here is one person who will greet them with one big hug.\u00a0 I suppose there will be a lot of that going on.\u00a0 So Christian bear the strain of following Jesus.\u00a0 Yes it is hard at times.\u00a0 But \u00a0follow on to a rich reward — and more.\u00a0 Yes, more.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew 10: 34-42 Some of us are reading through a book in our Santa Rosa Bible class.\u00a0 It\u2019s written by a pastor who had a big aha.\u00a0 What I mean is he realized that what the American church sometimes portrays as following Jesus is a far cry from what Jesus describes. I once lived across the street from a church […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions\/273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}