Cost Me Something Religion

Introduction

Haven’t sung that song in a while, Dave. There’s Room in the Kingdom. That’s an oldie, but that was a good song. Good to see Trevor and Julia and sister. And Canaan, his first assembly witness. I’m sure it’s one he’ll never forget. Especially the singing. That’s right, Dave. As long as the rest of you don’t forget. A complex and sometimes ritualistic procedure. That’s Merriam Webster’s dictionary definition of the word rigmarole. We say it rigma roll. But it’s rigmarole. And you know we have to go through a lot of it in life. Red tape, hassles. And we don’t like that very much. We want things in our fast-paced culture to come easy and cheap. And we don’t want it to cost too much. And if we’re not careful, that’s the way we will think about our religion.

And about what we offer to God. There is a word that cannot be excised or cut out or removed from true religion. Does anybody know what happened there?

Somebody turned my display off. I’m going to wait. I didn’t do all this work on these slides to have nothing. Gary, what’s going on here today?

Yeah, thank you. Getting back to a very serious concept here of sacrifice. This is a word that is closely tied to real Christianity. But it is a word that implies the presence of cost, difficulty, and pain. David understood the concept of sacrifice. In 2 Samuel 24, I’m not going to take the time to read this entire chapter, though we probably don’t studied a lot, and therefore some of the details might be a little fuzzy. Remember that David numbered the people, and God had instructed him not to do that. And Joab tries to discourage him from doing it, but he does it anyway, and as a result, Gad the prophet is sent to David and says, three choices of penalties. And David chose pestilence, which cost the lives of 70,000 Israelites.

And he could not take that and said, It’s my fault. I’m the one that’s done this. Why should Israel pay? And the Lord’s angel stopped at the threshing floor of Arana, and so Gad the prophet comes back to David and says, Go up to the threshing floor of Aranah and offer a sacrifice to me. And you know what Aranah said when David the king arrives at his threshing floor. He says, Take it. But then David made those famous words. I will not offer unto my God that which cost me nothing. And so he did not take Arana’s kind gesture, but he paid for the threshing floor of Aranah. And so you know that story. You probably have heard that. I will not offer unto my God that which cost me nothing.

Here is someone, David, who understood the concept of sacrifice. He was involved in the sacrificial system of the Mosaic covenant. But even when David stumbled in regard to transgression, he said, I would offer sacrifice. But he said, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. And Psalm 51 and verse 17. True religion is going, listen to this very carefully. This is the thought, the concept of this lesson this morning. True religion is going to cost you something. You got that? I can’t change that. I can’t sugarcoat that. I can’t make that go away. True religion is going to cost you something, just like it cost our Lord something. This is a cost me something religion. Jesus spoke of it as his cup. When he was talking to the sons of Zebedee, James and John, when they wanted to sit in his kingdom, one on the right and one on the left.

He says, Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink? And he tells them, You will drink my cup. And he was very clear to his disciples about the sacrifices that they would be called upon to make. Remember when Jesus was in the gardens shortly thereafter, and he was in very great agony, and those drops of sweat as blood were pouring from his vow, he prayed from his brow. He said, Lord, if you’re willing, let this cup, God, if you’re willing, let this cup pass from me. A lot of folks today want a religion without a cup. They want a religion with very little to no sacrifice involved. Unpleasant concept in our mind. Tying us again to those thoughts of the rigmarole and the red tape and demands of life.

I don’t want my religion to be that way, too. So let’s remove the cup from Christianity. If you are looking for a cost me little or cost me nothing religion, I’m here to tell you this morning, you’re not in the right place.

1. The Cost Is Everything

And if you go somewhere and you find it, well, you won’t be in the right place there either. You will not be in the right place for the well-being of your soul. So I want to talk to you about what God requires in terms of sacrifice. As those who step in the footsteps of Jesus, the cost of Christianity, a cost-me-something religion. Let’s start where it’s very painful. Generally, the cost is everything. That sounds pretty high, doesn’t it? The call to renounce everything and follow Christ is commonplace in the gospel accounts. Look at the call of his disciples when Jesus came to those who would be his closest followers to Simon and Andrew, James and John, but particularly Simon and Andrew in this text. And they were fishermen.

He said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they immediately left their nets. And they followed him. That was their business. That was their livelihood and income. And they walked away to serve the Lord. And that’s why this particular occasion in Mark chapter 10, when Jesus tells the rich young ruler to do what? Go and sell everything and give it to the poor. Come follow me, and you shall have treasure in heaven. That’s why Peter would go on to say, Lord, we did do that. We left everything and followed you. And there was a question involved in that statement. What’s in it for us? And Jesus says, you will receive a hundred times as much now in this present life, and you need to hold on to that thought.

You will receive a hundred times as much now in this present life and eternal life in the age to come. Jesus was up front about the cost that would be involved in being his disciple, as he admonished them in that text to first sit down and count the cost. He said, He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. We must hate our own lives and take up our crosses, or you cannot be, he said, my disciple. He is very upfront with people about the cost, and it involves absolutely everything. And thus this statement about sacrifice in Romans 12 and verse 1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies. What does, I mean, that’s pretty extreme, isn’t it?

That you present your bodies a living sacrifice. That’s New Testament teaching. Not animal sacrifice. You present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. So let me start with the pain first. The cost is everything. But before this upsets you or becomes too challenging in your mind, I think you need to think about, and I need to think about one thing. It doesn’t cost you more than you’ve already been given. God has granted to us everything. Without God, we would not exist or be anything, or have anything. In Psalm 100, verses 1 through 3, a verse we’re going to look at tonight, it says, know that the Lord Himself is God, Psalm 1100 and verse 3, it is he who made us, and not we, not we ourselves, we are his people and the sheep of his pastor.

In James 1 and verse 17, every good and perfect gift comes. Where does it issue from? Above. And he would say of believers in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, you are bought with the price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. Yes, that’s our response. Yes, that involves sacrifice, some difficulty, perhaps some pain involved in that. It’s a living sacrifice. He says, glorify God in your body. That’s what you were made to do. So, yes, the cost is severe, but remember where it all came from in the first place. All that you are and ever hope to be is a result of what God has given you. And that lessens the sting when we understand that I’m only giving to God what He has given me.

And I am only able to do that because of what God has done for me. And that is the nature of sacrifice. When we talk about the concept of sacrifice, the first thing that we sometimes think about is money. As Dustin said very eloquently about giving to God. We tend to think in terms of monetary giving. And there’s some sacrifices involved in that, but a lot of us probably don’t grasp the same kind of sacrifice that the widow gave in Mark 12 when she gave everything that she had to live on, her two little coins, and Jesus called his disciples over and said, I want you to see this. Everybody else cast it in of their abundance. He wasn’t saying that their giving was bad. But this woman understood the concept of giving everything for the Lord.

And he wanted his disciples to see that. So we think in terms of money, and yet we, when we give, has there ever been an occasion in your life where you put in the collection plate everything you have? Probably not. Because we live in a time of affluence. This woman only had the two coins. We have more than two coins. And if we don’t physically have them, we have credit cards because ultimately we’ll have more than two coins. And so we can charge them. That’s not the greatest area or call of sacrifice for this generation of people. I want you to talk, I want to talk to you this morning about a cost-me-something religion that goes beyond what we have materially or financially to offer. And sometimes we are a lot more stingy with these things than we are our money.

2. Our Time and Diligence

The first is our time and diligence.

Want to free up time to do the things we want to do because our lives are so stressful. And I think sometimes when it comes to the cost of Christianity, and even the very nature of assembling three times a week, we can associate some of the stress of our fast-paced life to this assembling that we’re doing, and we can start associating it with the stress. Look, if it is stressful for us to attend these services, we probably need to make some changes in some other areas of our lives. This shouldn’t be the stress. This is the good stuff. We need to make some changes somewhere else.

Isn’t the cost really that severe? Some people act like we’re pulling teeth as the expression goes to get them to come to services. That’s asking way too much. I can’t make that kind of sacrifice. Are you kidding me? How much is that really? And here is the problem that causes that kind of response. Faith is not a part of my life. Faith is my life as a disciple of Jesus Christ. I told you in the Bible class, I was going to quote this. This is the passage Terry brought up in Bible class. I have been crucified with Christ. Does that not say sacrifice to you? I have been crucified with Christ, going well with Romans 12 and verse 1. It is no longer I who live.

But that’s our problem. We do want it to be me who lives. That’s our problem with the sacrifice. That’s why we don’t want to expend ourselves sometimes in service to Christ and give up our time and to give our diligence in what we’re doing for the Lord. Because yes, I am still living on that throne. I’m still sitting there. But Paul says, I’m not there anymore. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered himself up for me. Yes, the cost is everything, but particularly I want you to think about the time and diligence that we give to our faith.

3. The Cost Involves Unbelieving Family Members

And the time that we spend in association with his people. There’s another area where I want you to consider this sacrifice in a cost-me-something religion. Sometimes that cost involves unbelieving family members. That’s another one of those hard things. As Jesus says in Matthew chapter 10, verses 32 and following, that a man’s foes will be those of his own household. Some people will not embrace the message of the gospel that you have, even within your own family. And that changes things. There is an effect or a cost to that is sometimes difficult to deal with. Particularly when a family member has become unfaithful who was once faithful. And we’re called upon to not have association with that brother, so-called. What does that mean in our family circumstances?

When one has become an unbelieving family member and this challenging statement, no, not to associate with such an one is not just a brother in Christ, but he is a sister or brother in the flesh. And now my relationship with this person is going to have to change because I cannot convey to him or her that everything’s going to be okay on their present course. Yeah. And if we’re just laughing, joking around and eating meals together all the time and going out and watching movies, and nothing changes in our social relationship. Are we really sending them a message that they stand in danger of the judgment? Challenging text there in 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 11 about our associations with the brother so called. Perhaps it’s not that.

Perhaps it’s just someone who never obeyed the gospel. Perhaps you’re a spouse with an unbelieving husband or wife. Peter addresses that in 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 1 and 2. Sounds tough trying to win that person for Christ. He gives a prescription on how to go about that. Without a word. Show them Christianity by your behavior and conduct. But that’s got to be a difficult circumstance. And so this challenging text about discipleship, Jesus is very upfront with folks. You may be opposed by your family members.

Because folks, as Paul speaks in 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 10, do not receive the love of the truth. The very nature of our association with the people of God are people who have embraced the love of the truth. Some will not do that. And so this point suggests that there is a cost for every teacher of truth. And that evangelism, trying to spread this truth to others, will not come painlessly. Or will always be comfortable. We’ve all experienced the challenge of trying to show people God’s way, especially in our own families. And how difficult it is. And sometimes we avoid evangelism because it’s uncomfortable. People get uncomfortable when you’re talking about eternal destiny of the soul. And that they may not be ready to meet God on the day of judgment.

They get the implication. They put two and two together pretty quick sometimes. Wait a minute. They think I’m not ready to meet the Lord. And you think that because you see what the scriptures say in their lives in comparison. And so you’re trying to teach them and rescue them, and they may bristle up and they get their back up and little confrontation results. Even if you do it lovingly, as you must.

Gentle, correcting those in opposition, 2 Timothy chapter 2, that they may escape the snare of the devil. And so here’s this person that you really love and care about, and your foremost concern for them is they’re not ready to meet the Lord. They need to escape the fact that they are in the snare of the devil, and so you’re trying to help them, and yet they’re just not ready to embrace this message.

4. Our Peers That Don't Understand

So we said, Well, preacher, what do you know about that? I have family with whom I have very little association anymore. But when I grew up, I was with them a lot. I remember sitting on the front row with my cousin and him putting a song book in my lap, encouraging me to lead to sing along, to participate. And that cousin and his three brothers now do not serve the Lord. Faithfully, one of them started practicing homosexuality, has already passed away as a result of AIDS, and I’ve mentioned him before. So I understand the things that happen in families because of the cost of the gospel. And that leads me to this thought, and that’s the fact that sometimes beyond family, it’s our peers that don’t understand.

And that’s particularly challenging and difficult for our young people. That may mean that people will reject you or that you won’t be a part of the in crowd because you have these scruples about things. You don’t do the things that they do. You don’t speak like they do in profanity. You don’t go to the places where there is like Sidious dance. And you do not drink and go to the parties where people get drunk.

They would all say to a person, Yep. Do you love being an outcast and being rejected? Oh, I love that. I love it. This is great. To be rejected by my friends of school, this is wonderful. There’s not a lot of fun in that. Let me tell you something, though, about your high school association. Some of you will maintain those relationships as you go on beyond your high school days, but you know, a lot of these people in this audience who are older, not me, but a lot of these people who are older in this audience, ask them about the associations they still have with former high school people that they went to school with. Very little. And I’ll tell you, if it wasn’t for Facebook, for me, it would be Nada Zero Zilch.

And so now, even I have very little contact, because you don’t contact a lot, even on Facebook. These aren’t going to be your closest associates. And if they are, it might be the ruination of your soul. And I want to tell you this popularity with God and his people is much better and far more rewarding and richer and enduring anyway. And so you need to focus primarily on those relationships where you’ll find acceptance, if these people are what God calls them to be, where you’ll find acceptance and camaraderie and true friendship and a friend that sticks closer than a brother, Proverbs chapter 18 and verse 24. And understand this. While we may be rejected by some who do not understand or appreciate the things of the gospel, if anyone loves God, he is known by him.

5. Living With the Consequences of Sin

And that acceptance far exceeds the value of any earthly relationship. One other thing that I want to share with you this morning about the cost and a cost me something religion. And I want to talk about living with the consequences of sin. And this gets back to the point about family members to some degree. I have seen where some have decided that the cost of Christianity is too severe when it involves the lives of beloved family members. In the area, for example, of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. It’s amazing how many times I’ve seen it where a child, particularly, chooses to do something the scriptures do not allow them to do, like put away a mate for a cause other than fornication, or then beyond that, though they may think that they’re never going to marry again, they usually do.

And then they pursue this next marriage that the Bible would describe as an adulterous union, and then there is the parents who want to approve of this new union. And I’ve seen them change their views on marriage, divorce, and remarriage. And I remember very clearly when I was 14 years old. I remember exactly how old I was when this very situation involved one of the elders in the church where I grew up and the resulting conflict over many months that nearly tore that congregation to pieces because of this elder’s false view elders nearly come to blows in the foyer.

Can you imagine that? I saw an eldership dissolve, and then I saw a membership trying to deal with this brother who decided he was going to be what he termed an inactive elder. He was the only one, because the other two had resigned, so he’s now the inactive elder. I guess that made him sort of like the Pope of the church or something. And I saw my dad and some of the other leading men of the congregation try to deal with that, and that was a very difficult year in our family’s life. And I remember a particular Sunday where this man actually came to the front of the building and made a public confession, sort of. I remember the song leader who spoke to him as he came to the front and looked at the note, and he just shook his head like, no.

This doesn’t fix this.

And at that moment, most of the men of the congregation walked to the front of the building and lined it from one corner to the other. And you don’t forget that as a kid.

Regarding that man. And some other actions that I remember very vividly that I will not go into at this time, but I just wanted to use that as an illustration of what can happen when we exalt family members above truth. And the far reaching implications of that decision by that elder to approve of an adulterous union. I hope it never happens to you. As a parent, it has happened to some of our folks. I hope you never have to experience the wayward child. I know the text says. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. But that’s a maxim, folks. That doesn’t always hold true. Sometimes children rebel. Good men, good parents can have children who choose poorly.

And if that does happen to you, that can be very painful. Not just in the fact that this soul is not ready to meet the Lord and there is sin on their account, but it’s going to change the very nature of your involvement and relationship with them. And sometimes that’s as painful as their spiritual condition.

And sometimes these are the very costs of the gospel.

Conclusion

But if we moan about the cost, it merely evidences that we have not yet apprehended or comprehended or appreciated fully what God has done. Regardless of the cost of Christianity, regardless of how severe the cost may seem at times in our lives, if we start moaning about it’s because we have not yet grasped or understood what God has done. In 2 Corinthians chapter 8, this is the point about the giving, and yes, in this case, it was the financial giving that Paul was encouraging among the Corinthians for the poor saints of Judea, and he says, I’m speaking this as a command. But not merely as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also.

And he says, let me tell you why you do that. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.

No matter what the cost is, Christianity, you’re still a huge winner. Because God has brought salvation and immortality to light through the gospel. And if you possess that, regardless of the cost that you have to pay, it’s well worth it. Because of what you get not only in the end, but what you get in the now. Godliness has promise of the life that now is and the life that is to come. 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 8. Sometimes when the invitation of the gospel is offered, individuals know that they need to respond. They are convicted. They believe Jesus died for their sins. They believe that they are sinners, and they believe that they need to respond to the saving of their souls, and yet sometimes they don’t.

The pew in front of them, you know what that means? They’re grasping so tight to the bench that their knuckles actually turn white because they know they need to respond to the gospel and yet they don’t. I’ve known some people like that. And in those cases, I some of those people were would defend the truth just like I would. But they would not obey it for themselves. You know why people don’t? Because in their minds, they’re thinking about the cost. And they’re not ready to pay. But what you’re holding on to, you really lose.

That’s what Jesus said about taking up your cross. He who wishes to save his life. I want to hold on to I want to hold on to self. And perhaps we’re talking about somebody who has obeyed the gospel in the past, and yet there’s some sin in their lives that they’re holding on to and they won’t give up. And they know they need to.

What we’re holding on to, we’re going to lose. He who saves his life shall lose it. But he who loses his life for my sake. Does that say sacrifice to you? It does to me. He who loses his life for my sake, living sacrifice. That goes back to that passage. I’ll pay the cost. Yes, sometimes it is hard and difficult and challenging. I’m going to pay the cost. But if you lose your life for my sake, Jesus says, You get it all back and more. He who loses his life for my sake shall fight. What you find is better than what you gave up. Real life. I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly, Jesus said in John chapter 10 and verse 10.

Living water, Jesus offers us. Drink. And it’s interesting. While there’s a cost of Christianity now on the concept of drinking the water. Remember what the book of Revelation says drink the water of life without cost. How does that fit with this? Because really, God paid the cost for us. Again, we’re only giving to God what he gave us in the first place. So, really, we drink of the water of life without cost. And when you understand that, you can say, like David, no, I will not offer unto God that which costs me nothing. Whatever you want me to pay, Lord, whatever your requirements of the gospel ask me to do, I will do it. I will embrace it, I will submit to it. It all boils down to do we appreciate the Lord.

Do we understand that through his poverty, his sacrifice, we become rich? So the invitation of the gospel this morning, as we sing the invitation song, is an invitation to sacrifice, but really, more than that, it is an invitation to come and be rich. Who would turn that down? We like that. Rich is a good thing. We think materially, we’re talking about something better. The invitation is to come and to be rich. Really? To be rich spiritually. So if you need to respond to the invitation of our Lord for salvation, come now as we stand in the same given.