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Sunday, June 22, 2008

Scripture: Matthew 10:24-39

"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master; it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beel-zebul, how much more will they malign those of his household."

In high school, I was in the Marching Band. I played in the percussion section, but don’t ask me to play the drums. I actually played the xylophone, the triangle, the cymbals and any other of the percussion instruments. To tell you the truth I played at the xylophone, they are hard to play when you are marching; because they keep bouncing up and down. When I first started, I was horrible; I couldn’t march very well or play very well. I got yelled at a lot by the Band Director. But I kept at it. In a ball game in the town I grew up in, the band was not really the main attraction. We always knew who was, it was the cheerleaders and the football team. But our Band Director still put us through the drills in preparation for Friday night football games, and that all important half time. For each game there would be a new song to learn and a new marching pattern. We had a change in directors one year and the new one liked fancy marching patterns. He also liked to enter Band contests, something our little band had never done before. That meant extra practices in the hot Florida Sun. Getting those timings down right for each step to what part of the music, each turn. Well in order to get ready for the contest he had us put on the show for the half time. I was marching in line with the bass drummer and the tenor drummer. Everything was going really well until we made our turn to go one way and instead of making the next turn we kept marching almost all the way off to the goal posts while the rest of the band was going the other way. I guess you could say we were marching to the beat of another drum… bad I know. However, I can tell you that for the band contest we went the right way.

The truth is we as followers of Christ are marching to the beat of another drum. We in the band had our marching orders, we as Christians have our marching orders. Jesus gave them to the Disciples as he sends them out on a mission in Chapter 10. In verse 14 Jesus told them to tell everybody “It’s here, the kingdom of Heaven is near”, along with that they were to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, and drive out demons. He also gave them the authority to do all that. It was the disciples’ marching orders and it is ours today. In the scriptures today, Jesus took it a step further to prepare them mentally, emotionally and spiritually for what they might face; the same kind of opposition Jesus faced, physical threats, name calling, rejection, and even being division in one’s family. And Jesus gives us the same preparations today.But rarely in our day and in our country do we suffer persecution for belief in Christ. But there are Christians in other countries that do.  When we were in China the woman who was Chinese Liaison told us about people being turned in by even family members for profession Jesus.  Daily you can read stories of churches being burnt, Christians being beat to death or their families in other countries.  No we don’t face that kind of persecution.  And here we sit in the rusty buckle of the Bible belt. Do these words have any meaning for us today as we try to be Christians in the world?

I think when we choose to live totally committed lives to Christ it isn’t always easy.  I think too long we Christians have lived Christianity light lives.  We have fudged here and there on what it means to be disciples. We haven’t always loved our neighbors as ourselves, worse we haven’t loved the unloved, we don’t always forgive, we are really good about judging others especially those in other denominations, we don’t shout it from the rooftops about Jesus, we don’t get out and hang out with the lost so they can have a feel of who Jesus is. Well I just want you to know, when I say these things I am saying them as much about myself as anyone else. It is hard to live the Christian life. It is hard to remain faithful to Jesus. As he says if you aren’t ashamed of me I won’t be ashamed of you in front of the father.  And if you love your family members more than me well you are not worthy of me.  And if you don’t take up your cross and follow me you are not worthy of me.  Frankly I wish Jesus had softened those words a bit. I really do or not said them at all. But he did, and they are words we need to take seriously.

Did you know that one of the latest studies done by the Barna Group showed that more people said they love their families more than God? Get this; 7 out of 10 adults choose their earthly family over their heavenly Father when asked to choose the most important relationship to them. Of the 1, 004 adults over the age of 18 that were surveyed; 1/3 said their entire nuclear family is more important than God.  22% named their spouse as the most important relationship in their lives.  I believe it. I see more families choosing to put their kids in travel ball which demands they spend their weekends on the road. Why? So their kid might, just might get a scholarship to play ball at a University? I wondered if they figured up the money they would spend on that and how much they could save in a savings plan, and weight it out. But more than that, what are they teaching their kids about following Jesus.

And sometimes even families turn their backs on members who are Christians or become Christians.  I was raised in a Christian family and in Baptist Church. We were there whenever the doors were open.  I grew up learning to give my all to Jesus to be the best Christian I could be, to do mission work, to love Jesus. And I tried my best to be good at it.  But when I answered God’s call on my life to go into the ministry my parents freaked out. My Pastor freaked out. What you are a woman, you can’t go into the ministry. You can go into mission work or work with children or youth but no be a Pastor.  I have to say my parents finally got over it and accepted that I was called to Pastor.

Sometimes it will divide families.  And sometimes "Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it." You see we can go all through life trying to find our selves, in a lot of different things and not ever really find ourselves. The way to find ourselves is to lose ourselves for Jesus, into Jesus. What many people are doing is walking around with as if personalities; they are never really themselves, because they never lost that as if self for Jesus to be able to find the real self. I know a young man who after he graduated from college he went to New York to work as a Stock Broker. He really did well, made good money, and was leaving the good life. His mom who was a good Christian woman sent him a book to read called the Purpose Driven Life. He read it, and his life was changed, he realized he wasn’t living the purpose God had for him, he quit his job, left New York went to Guatemala to be a missionary.  The mom was then upset that he had ruined his life. Hello. He is happy serving the Lord, he found himself, and he found his purpose for life. I don’t know if his mom ever got over it, but I know he was even okay with that.

The youth group from this church just got back from spending the week with the rural poor in North Carolina on a mission trip. They could have spent that week here lounging by the pool, riding around with their friends, shopping, going to movies, you name it, but they choose to go on this mission trip to be disciples. I have invited them to tell you about it. Logan and Megan are here to tell you a little about what it meant to be a disciple on that mission trip. 

You can go to Guatemala, to North Carolina, be a missionary or a Pastor if that is what you hear God calling you to do to serve him. But you can also take up your cross and follow Christ here in Huntsville. It won’t be easy, but you will find yourself.

There is something else that Jesus says worth noting; he tells us don’t be afraid that we are very important to God. How important? W are so important that we are worth more than little sparrows, they don’t escape the God’s attention and neither do we. We are so important to God that he knows how much hair is on each of our heads. 140,000. That's the number of hairs on a blonde woman's head. 110,000? That's the number that a black-haired woman has. Don’t be afraid because God has us covered.