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Charles Gattis, Senior Pastor
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."
It seems to be one of life's major principles; anything worthwhile requires a great deal of effort. "No pain, no gain," my track coach use to tell us.
It holds true in academics. Those who put in the hours of study, those who see to the details in writing their papers, and those who put forth the effort to master their subjects are the ones who make the A's and become good scholars. Superior intellect makes it a little easier, but the prizes go to those who put forth the effort, those who are willing to suffer.
It's no less true in athletics. The ones that practice and learn the skills required in the sport are the ones who ultimately excel. In some sports, certain physical characteristics are also necessary but even for those who have natural athletic ability, hard work is required.
It is even true in human relationships. A good marriage requires work and sacrifice. Fathers and mothers know the same is required for good relationships with their children. Friendships require effort as well.
Anything valuable takes work! And usually the more valuable something is, the greater the effort needed.
From our text today, one wonders if the disciples thought at one point that following Christ would be easy. Some people today think like that. I remember a blonde- haired young man who was something of a celebrity at the time, though I can't remember his name, appeared on a television talk show one day. He talked about what a mess his life used to be. He was confused, misunderstood, and people distrusted him until he became a Christian. "It made such a change in my life," he said, "I have no more problems." My immediate response was, either he hasn't been a Christian very long or he doesn't know trouble when he sees it.
Becoming a Christian will in fact turn your life around and solve many problems. But if you walk with Christ, you'll soon learn that the world is not particularly easy on Christians. We are called to be like our master, and as the text reminds us, the world was not easy on Jesus.
The text says that if we are to be Jesus' disciples, we can expect the world to be no different to us than it was to our master. Jesus, therefore, is our pattern for discipleship. We must be like him and we can expect the world to react to us the same way it reacted to Jesus.
We should be prepared to be like Jesus in his suffering. Jesus went through both mental and physical anguish. His family rejected him. The religious leaders of his day refused to listen to him. His closest disciple denied him. Another disciple betrayed him. They all ran away when he was crucified. Roman soldiers beat him, threw him into prison, and placed a crown of thorns on his head. They mocked him and spat upon him. His own people cried out for his crucifixion. Those whose lives he had saved would not speak up for him. Those he had healed left him alone to face the consequences.
Jesus suffered so that even today we remember his suffering with a whole season of the church year. And during that time, we remind ourselves in prayer and song of how our Lord suffered:
O sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down,
now scornfully surrounded with thorns, thine only crown:
how pale thou art with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn!
How does the visage languish which once was bright as morn![1]
Jesus suffered because he spoke the truth. Like one crying in the wilderness, he had the courage to show people what they were really like and what their world was really like. Whenever that truth is spoken, change is required for evil is revealed and robbed of its power.
Those of us who have been called to follow Jesus are given the task of speaking the same truth and must likewise bear the consequences of the Gospel we proclaim. Most of the original disciples died violent deaths. Peter and Paul were executed. And in each succeeding generation, those who have spoken the truth of the gospel have suffered for speaking that truth.
We are no exception. Courage is required of us in our day to speak and live the truth of the gospel, whatever the consequences. I have loved the old book which came out several years ago, In His Steps. A group of church members pledged themselves to do nothing in their lives without first asking the question, "What would Jesus do?" They suffered because of it. They lost money in their businesses. They lost friends. They even lost church members. But in the end, they found a better life and helped to forge a better community and world to pass on to their children. Are we called to do any less? Being a disciple means suffering for the truth of the Gospel!
To follow Jesus means to follow him in death. That is what Baptism means. We die with Jesus, and our lives are hidden in his life. The symbol of emersion means precisely that. We are taken under the water, as one placed in a grave. In Baptism we have died with Christ. We follow him in death.
For Jesus, the death was literal. Jesus was crucified on the cross. From the very beginning, Christians realized that his death was not for himself, but rather for us. Jesus died for our sins.
For those of us who follow him, however, the death is spiritual. We die to ourselves. We become new creatures, different from the kind of creatures we were before. As the Bible says, "For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God."[2]
Somehow that's better than just getting a fresh start. Christ has hidden what we once were. It is covered up, and all of its power over us no longer has any effect upon us. The Bible speaks of us as “living sacrifices.”
The butterfly has symbolized for us the kind of new life that Jesus brings to us. Have you ever taken a little worm, placed it in a jar and watched what happens. For awhile, the little strange, ugly creature just wanders around inside the jar eating leaves. It eats an enormous amount before it attaches itself to a branch and begins to weave a cocoon around itself. And once it is finished, it stays there for several days looking like some small growth dangling from the branch. Then one day the cocoon begins to open and a new creature emerges. Blood flows through the extended blood vessels of the wings. The wings expand and the embryonic fluid solidifies over the vessels forming the glorious colors of the wings of the butterfly.
Now, essentially, the creature is the same creature. But what it once was, its shape and design is now hidden inside the glorious new creature that can hold its wings and ride the air currents. It is a new creature because what it once was has been hidden within the new and glorious creature. It died in order that something more wonderful might come into being.
Jesus said, "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it."[3] Life essentially is found in the dying to self. And that is what is required of one who would follow Jesus.
And yet beyond that dying is true life. The person who follows Jesus must also be ready to be resurrected with Jesus. We find new life in him. We are indeed new creatures.
That certainly was Paul's experience. He had been a persecutor of the Christians. He tracked down Christians and handed them over to the Jewish authorities. He held the cloaks of the Jews who stoned Stephen.
Yet, while on his way to bring charges against the Christians in Damascus, Paul was blinded and the resurrected Jesus spoke to him, "Saul, why are you persecuting me." And Paul was different man after that. For awhile, like a worm in a cocoon, he lived among the Christians in Damascus, learning and growing in his faith and discipleship. And then one day, like a beautiful butterfly, he emerged ready to live a new life in obedience to his master. He traveled to one city after another, establishing new churches and bringing the influence of the gospel all through the Roman world.
John Wesley had a similar experience. He was a Christian, even a priest in the Anglican church. Yet, his life had never been quite what he wanted it to be. It had become a lifetime of searching and of yearning for the right relationship to God. Until one evening as he visited a society meeting in Aldersgate Street, Wesley felt his heart strangely warmed and knew that he did indeed love God.
Into that room on Aldersgate Street, a worm had crawled. But out of that room flew a beautiful new creature, ready to reclaim the world for the Gospel. And he did! For two hundred years, the Wesleyan revival has swept over England, America and the world.
It makes a difference, this new life that we are called to live in Jesus. It makes a real difference both for us and for the world in which we live. Christians bring stability. Christians emphasize the truth. Christians help establish a moral society. Christians believe in fairness. Christians reach out to help the poor and down trodden. Christians teach people to love and not to hate. Christians give more and require less because they have already been satisfied by their God. Can you imagine the kind of world we would have today had not the impact of the Christian gospel been spreading across the globe for nearly 2,000 years? It has made and continues to make a great difference that Christ has given new life to hundreds of thousands of people over these last two millenniums.
And because we believe in Jesus, our life will take the same course. There will be suffering for our faith and for the truth of the Gospel, for the world in which we live does not take easily to the claims of the Gospel of Love. Each one of us must die to this world and to ourselves, so that we will not be burdened by our selfish desires and devises. But we must also find ourselves living a new, richer life as we seek to be in ministry for Christ within the world.
Jesus is indeed the pattern for discipleship. If we would follow him, we must be like him. We must follow him in his suffering, in his death, and in his resurrection. Amen.
[1] "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded," United Methodist Hymnal, 286.
[2] Colossians 3:3 (RSV)
[3] Matthew 10:39 (RSV)