We Go: Sacrifice - Go No Matter the Cost
Imagine that your introduction to the faith came with these words.
Acts 9:15-16 ESV
“But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.””
This is the message that Christ spoke to Ananias before he prayed for Paul to have the scales removed from his eyes after blinding Paul on the road to Damascus.
This is how the apostle Paul was introduced to Christ and Paul stood throughout his life, despite intense suffering, because of the truth that is found in Jesus.
It gives us a picture of the lives we should be ready to lead in Jesus.
Focus: Jesus sacrificed everything to save our lives - it is now our call, joy and hope of eternal reward to follow him in doing the same.
Called To Sacrifice
Why We Sacrifice
What We Sacrifice
Jesus - the Ultimate Sacrifice
Called to Sacrifice
When following God, we are called to count the cost.
Philippians 2:17
“Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.”
II Timothy 4:6
“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.”
Acts 20:22-24
“And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”
II Corinthians 1:8-9
“For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”
Just as God calls people to go, God also calls people to stay in the place and in the relationships which he has assigned you.
Both require sacrifice and a sense of sacrifice to be and do all he’s required you to do there.
God’s highest is not to get a word to go when he’s called you to stay.
You need to obey God, whatever His desire.
Challenges don’t mean you need a word to go.
The call also gives you the grace and ability to sacrifice and stay.
***The call may not be about a new place but how you are living in that place where you’ve always been.
Luke 14:27-33
“Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”
“The missionary must seek nothing for himself, no seat of honor or hope of fame. You must be content to suffer, to die, and to be forgotten.” -Nikolas Von Zinzendorf
Mark 8:34-38 ESV
“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.””
Why We Sacrifice
When following God, we are called to count it all joy, the things that we suffer for Christ’s name sake.
This is the way
Whether we like it or not, suffering is often the furnace through which God forges the image of Christ in and through us.
James 1:2-4
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
What We Sacrifice
When following God, we are called to be willing to sacrifice everything for Christ’s eternal glory and what God determines to be good.
Matthew 5:11-12
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Hebrews 11:6
“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
I Corinthians 9:24-27
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
Mark 10:17-31 ESV
“And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.””
What is the “one thing” that Jesus would put his finger on your life?
Jesus - the Ultimate Sacrifice
When following God, we are to point people to the one who made the ultimate sacrifice - Jesus Christ.
*Jesus doesn’t call us to do anything that he hasn’t in some form already done himself.
John 10:11-18 ESV
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
It is through the sinless life of Jesus, and his sacrifice at the cross to pay the penalty for our rebellion against God that we have the opportunity for forgiveness, reconciliation with God and eternal life in him.
As we repent of our sins and selfish living, putting our faith in Jesus’ triumphant resurrection, we too are called to live a life of sacrifice that was modeled by our Lord and savior, looking forward to our eternal reward in him.
John 15:12-13 ESV
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”