This morning we conclude our series called "Why Good Isn’t Good Enough: Real Commitment in a Lukewarm World." In this series we have said that there is a difference between someone who is merely good and someone who shows real commitment as a disciple of Jesus Christ. In the first two messages we said that there is an implicit call given to every believer to be a disciple of Christ. Next we said that a person’s commitment level who answers that call will be challenged by Christ and their culture. Today we want to see that Jesus is clear about what it will cost every disciple for his or her willingness to demonstrate real commitment as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

This summer the town of Cleveland, Ohio, was rocked by the death of fourteen USMC Reserve soldiers killed within days in Iraq. They were from the 3^rd Battalion 25^th Marines. The grief was compounded because of the bond that each Marine has with other Marines. While each of the military branches believes in a sense of shared community, the Marines have it as an essential doctrine of their system. The culture of discipline and devotion is what holds the Marine Corps together. That is why their motto is: "The Few, the Proud, the Marines."

For many Marines that sense of culture and community begins at Parris Island, South Carolina. There for eleven weeks of Boot Camp a recruit will have a transfusion of a new value system. They will learn to walk, talk and think like Marines. They will have to endure as many as fifteen orders a minute with each one designed to remind them that they have left a culture of doing what pleased themselves and accepted a culture of self-denial and self-discipline. In Marine culture, "pleasure is suspect and pain and sacrifice are good." A chaplain says, "Everything is taken away—hair, clothes, food, and friends…It’s a total cutoff from previous life." He recalls, "The sign on the road as you come into Parris Island says, ‘Where the Difference Begins.’ But to me it’s more than that; it’s where the transformation begins." (Making the Corps, Thomas E. Ricks)

These last words of Jesus to his twelve disciples in Matthew 10 mark the place where both the difference and the transformation begin as a disciple of Jesus Christ. They are words that define for these twelve, and for us today, the cost of being a disciple. They are words that outline for us what will be required if we will dare to be transformed from defining Christianity as being good to being committed to Christ as a disciple. They are again words that are extreme, confrontational and challenging for a person in our culture to discover how they fit our life.

The scripture that was read a moment ago contains, I believe, four teaching points that Jesus emphasized. The first teaching point that he gave them is found in Matthew 10:24-25. In these two verses he tells them that they should expect that in the same way that others treated him that they would treat them. He is teaching them that if he is not even revered by people, they should not expect to be even respected. He let’s them know that as disciples they will receive the same or equal rejection that he faced.

Then in Matthew 10:26-33, he outlines for them possible sources of fear that will come in their lives. They may be afraid of being threatened. Some will want to kill them. They will imagine that God has abandoned them and that they might not have the courage to stand up to the pressure when it comes. In all of these Jesus tells them, "Don’t be afraid." They are not to fear because no matter what happens, they are more valuable to God than they could imagine. It is because of that value that they are assured of God’s presence and purpose for their life. There are some things that are worse than death and living apart from God’s presence is one of them.

I want you to skip verses 34-39 for a moment and notice verses 40-42. In these last words Jesus affirms to these disciples their willingness to identify with him will be rewarded and their sacrifice for him will be honored. They are promised a reward for their choosing to say they are his as well as being honored for the least sacrifice they might demonstrate toward one of his followers.

Now go back to verses 34-39 and look again at what he says to them. In these harsh, stern words he is defining for them the cost of being his disciple. He tells them first in verses 34-36 that it is going to cost them to be identified with him. They might imagine that identification with him would be a point of comfort and security; instead, it will be a place of disruption and division. That division will find its doorstep right in their very homes and families. Identity with Christ would be costly.

He tells them in verse 37 that another cost was going to be the cost of affection between relationships that previously were not affected. Where Christ is concerned, being his disciple is a privilege so great that no relationship can replace it. It is a duty so imperative that no other obligation is more binding. Being a disciple puts into focus the distinction we must have between our commitment to him and everything else.

Still in verse 38 their commitment is going to demonstrate their willingness to accept the demands of following him. He tells them that they will be asked to go all the way with him without knowing in advance where that will take them. His words, "Take up your cross" was his way of saying that they must be willing to endure pain, shame and persecution as his disciples.

Then in verse 39 he tells them that it is going to cost them the surrender of their own desires for self-protection and self-interest. If they try to hold on to their "self" and all that it means then they will lose it. Yet if they surrender their "self" to him then they will gain their true self as well as gaining him. By letting go they find what they are truly searching for.

Now you hear all of these words of Jesus about the cost of following him and you wonder, "Is there any one thing that I can do that will say to Jesus Christ that I accept for myself this cost of real commitment?" I mean there is no "disciple boot camp" that you and I can go to where we are forced into a culture of this kind of radical mindset. None of us is looking to pick a religious fight with someone just to show that we are real disciples. There is no serious threat of violence toward my life for coming to Sunday School and church. I may irritate a few people if I don’t go along with an activity or laugh at a joke but that doesn’t warrant a death threat for Jesus on my voice mail. So is there one thing that I can do that continually calls me and causes me to question my understanding of the cost of discipleship? There is, and it is the Lord’s Supper.

On the night that Jesus was betrayed he gathered the twelve, who had heard these words perhaps two years before, together for a meal. In that meal he would identify one person who would betray him and would be the one who would set things in motion that ultimately caused his own death. He would identify another who would fail to confess him before others and deny any association with Him. He would say about the others that they would all fail to join him when he took his cross by failing to take their own.

In a very real way this supper that we share creates for us a way not only to remember him but also remember the cost of being his disciple. This bread and cup that we share identifies us exclusively as his disciple. It is not a supper that is for everyone. It is not for a good person. It is not for a moral person. It is for a person who has been saved by Jesus Christ forgiving their sins and being baptized in water as a demonstration of that experience of salvation. Our identity with Jesus is seen clearly through this bread and this cup. The cost of identity is one cost of commitment

When we share the Lord’s Supper it separates us from all other relationships. In one way it says we are his. In another way it says we belong to no one else. This meal says to others that Christ has a superior claim on my life. Regardless of the depth of the bond, my claiming Christ separates me from all else and this meal is my reminder. The cost of separation is another cost of commitment.

Sharing in the supper also demonstrates my willingness to accept in advance whatever he asks of me. The bread is his body, which was given on the cross. The cup is his blood that was spilled at the cross. When I take both of them I am demonstrating my decision to go all the way with him regardless of where that takes me. Taking this meal is a symbol of taking up your cross. The cost of accepting your cross is as well the cost of commitment.

But sharing this supper at last defines the surrender of our life to him. Woven into this meal is the reality of surrender and sacrifice. When he gave it to his disciples he told them to do it "in remembrance of me". Whenever they took the supper they would remember all that he gave and all that he suffered and they knew again that they would do no less and neither can we. Sharing this meal says again to me, "I am not my own. I am to be surrendered to him fully." The cost of surrender is the cost of commitment.

Two times in these verses Jesus says if we are unwilling to accept this cost as his disciple, then we are "not worthy of being mine." Do you come to this meal even asking the question as to whether or not you are worthy or deserving of taking this supper? Did you just assume because grace was free that this meal was cheap? Did you imagine that because you have been good then you deserve a place at this table? Did it ever give you a moment’s pause today as to your own reasons for taking this supper?

You say, "Bro. Bruce, none of us is worthy of the body and the blood of Jesus. So I can come to this meal and take the bread and cup and I don’t have to question my commitment to Christ!" Sorry to alarm you, but Paul said, "So if anyone eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily, that person is guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord." (I Cor. 11:27) That’s why he advises some self-examination before we eat the bread and drink the cup.

So do you deserve the sacrifice that this meal represents? No. You could never do that. But this meal is a place where we all come and ask, "Does my taking this meal demonstrate my acceptance of the cost for being committed to Christ as his disciple?" It’s more than an activity of a Christian; it is an examination of what it means to be Christian. We say the supper is a symbol of life, death, burial and resurrection of our Lord. It is as well a symbol of commitment. Taking the bread and taking the cup means accepting the cost of real commitment. Is your discipleship worth the cost of this meal?

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org