Stewardship is Lordship: Why is Lordship Necessary? SCRIPTURE Luke 9:57-62 (NIV) NT page

Transcription

1 Stewardship is Lordship: Why is Lordship Necessary? SCRIPTURE Luke 9:-62 (NIV) NT page As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. 58 Jesus replied, Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. 59 He said to another man, Follow me. But he replied, Lord, first let me go and bury my father. 60 Jesus said to him, Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God. 61 Still another said, I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family. 62 Jesus replied, No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God. Subject Question: What three lessons does Jesus teach concerning the necessity of Lordship in the lives of his beloved followers? Compliment answer: Accepting the future regardless of the cost, leaving the past regardless of the pull, and seizing the moment regardless of the inconvenience. Big Idea: The three lessons that Jesus teaches concerning the necessity of Lordship in the lives of his beloved followers are: Accepting the future regardless of the cost, Leaving the past regardless of the pull, and Seizing the moment regardless of the inconvenience Homiletical Idea: If Christ is the center of my life then the circumference will take care of itself. Purpose: I want the congregation to understand the unique challenge it takes to make respond to Christ invitation to be the Lord of their lives. Introduction: Lordship, like salvation is one of the great invitations that Christ offer us as human beings. To know Christ as Savoir is a truly great move of Grace of His part to call, convince, change and connect with you and me. It s the same invitation of grace that allows Christ to be in charge of one s life, to take over, to be in control, to be Lord. His is an invitation of caring, loving and walking with us as we let Him finally do what we often fear and fret over: letting Him have complete control. Today, we consider how his lordship helps us deal the future, the past and the present.

2 Groundwork: Why really consider the Lordship that Christ offers to us? The real question I think we need to answer is, who is going to be #1 in my life? We all battle with this. It natural even for the Christian to want to be in charge of one s life. We love God s choosing of us, we long for his direction, we desire His guidance and crave for His blessings. On the flip side, there is within every Christian heart a sincere desire to love the Lord with all of our hearts, all of our minds, all of our strength, and all of our souls. We want him to be Lord, but many of us respond with, why would He really want to be the Lord in my somewhat humble, somewhat sinful, somewhat blah life. Would you believe it if I told you that putting Him #1 will come to be seen as the best thing you ever did? The decision you ever made? That is realty He has always intended make our lives better, and more meaningful, and purpose filled and peaceful. He isn t demanding lordship from any of us, but he offers Lordship to each of us. A. The first issue that gets settled in our life is the POSITION issue. Pride is the oldest sin in the universe, and shows no sign of weakening with age. B. Satan fell from Heaven because of pride. Adam and Eve fell from grace because of pride. God simply says to you and me, won t you my precious child put your pride aside and simply come to me so I can take care of you and bless you and walk with you. I will always have the best for you, if you simply put me in charge. That all Lordship really is. C. Lordship is settling the position issue, He is the boss, I am the employee, He is the master, and I am but a servant. But OH what a Great Master and King He is! D. It s almost an offer too good to refuse! Sometimes things have a fully way of working out is we simply take the offer EX. His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make out a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death. The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman s sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved. I want to repay you, said the nobleman. You saved my son s life. No, I can t accept payment for what I did, the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer s own son came to the door of the family hovel. Is that your son? the nobleman asked. Yes, the farmer replied proudly. I ll make you a deal. Let

3 me take him and give him a good education. If the lad is anything like his father, he ll grow to a man you can be proud of. And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming s son graduated from St. Mary s Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin. Years afterward, the nobleman s son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved him? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son s name? Sir Winston Churchill. Someone once said: What goes around comes around. Work like you don t need the money. Love like you ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody s watching. As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. 58 Jesus replied, Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. 59 He said to another man, Follow me. But he replied, Lord, first let me go and bury my father. 60 Jesus said to him, Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God. 61 Still another said, I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family. 62 Jesus replied, No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God. Four Observations: 1. Not everyone is ready for Lordship. 2. Lordship is more than just knowing, it involves doing. 3. Jesus sees our hearts 4. Lordship, no matter how we look at it, forces us to change, to choose. Putting Jesus as Lord means that we in a way will never be the same; we ll be better, happier, stronger, but not the same. A. Lordship means accepting the future regardless of the cost. (Vs. -58) As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. 58 Jesus replied, Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. B. I believe that there are two principles that Jesus is teaching us here: first, Dependence, Jesus was living in such a way that He was dependent on God the Father to meet his needs and he was confident the He would. Second, devotion: Jesus understood one of the key elements of the Christians life, that is our citizenship as a Christian is ultimately in heaven, as dedicated as we may be to providing for our lives here, there should always be a devotion to the God who someday will take each of us by the hand and lead us home, to our true home, to that place that Jesus stated He is preparing for us, to the place where there will be no more sickness nor sorrow, no more suffering or pain.

4 C. (Contra) Is Jesus teaching us that we will, or should be homeless as He was? Not hardly. He simply was stating the obvious, the every breath that we take is a gift, that every year that we live is a blessing, that we are not guaranteed tomorrow it s OK to realize and to live in a way that we acknowledge as Christ that we too ultimately live dependent on our heavenly father as such we can count on the fact that someday, Heaven will be our home and live in devotion to the Lord who has bought us with a price and who indeed provides us with our heartfelt assurance and sure hope. D. Let walk in to heaven s striving to hear well done good and faithful servant A. Second, Lordship means leaving the past regardless of the pull. (Vs. 61, 62) 61 Still another said, I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family. 62 Jesus replied, No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God. B. The two principle that Jesus is teaching us here are first; Letting Go, or as Paul teaches forgetting what lies behind. This is not a trying to forget everything in the past but seeing every part of our past from a different perspective. If you we re a Christian then you made mistakes, you hurt people, you did some pretty shady thanks and lived maybe even an ungodly lifestyle. Satan would want to keep in the bondage of shame and guilt. The scriptures teach is however that Jesus has separated us from our sins as far as the east is from the west. More, to be in Christ is to be a new creature, the old things are gone, new things have come. The second principle is latching on; No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God. C. The best years are before each one of us. If Jesus is truly Lord of our lives he will latch onto us, and guide us into a good work for him, useful positions for others, and an ever increasing witness to the reality of Himself to all. You are His and He is yours D. Let the past go. Accept the things done to you as things that others in no way should have, but you are not going to let their actions control your and Jesus life together.

5 A. Finally, Lordship means seizing the moment regardless of the circumstance. ((Vs. 59, 60) 59 He said to another man, Follow me. But he replied, Lord, first let me go and bury my father. 60 Jesus said to him, Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God. B. Sometimes God says follow me and it just doesn t seem to make sense. He could not have picked a more inopportune time to ask me to help so and so, or start pledging to the church. The final two principles that Jesus is teaching us about lordship concern first, Focus. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author as perfect-er of our faith. Gain perspective he says by spending your best time with me let others do the things that you would do just to keep busy or because they expect it from you. Focus He said on me. Why? So you will hear my voice and be ready to follow me as I gently guide you in your decisions. C. Jesus says follow me trust me Proverbs 3:5-6, says, trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not unto your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge me and I will direct your paths. D. Why is this important? Because in the area of stewardship some of you are going to be led to do and give in ways that on the surface may should fool hearty or irresponsible. But Jesus is saying give, trust, lean on me. Lordship isn t easy, but it s the true path to security and blessing.