The Desire For Less

Introduction

I have my Bible open this morning to Mark the eighth chapter, Mark chapter 8. We’re going to be reading there in a few moments together. We’ll also be referring to a story we will not read from Mark chapter 10. And I’ll say more about that in a minute. I want to begin with a couple of editorials about singing. I bet I’ve sung the breaking of bread a thousand times in my life. Maybe hyperbole, maybe not. A good many times. And it just struck me as we were singing that song this morning how awesome it is. What amazing things we say that we believe when we sing that song. The other thing about the greatest command. I’ve heard objections about that song because we’re all singing different parts.

But I’ve got to tell you what happens when you sing that song a number of times. You listen to the other parts that are being sung that you’re not singing. You know your part. It’s like when I saw that song, I said, I don’t need the book for that one. Because we have just one line that we’re singing over and over again in that song, and you hear the other parts, and I’ve got to tell you, it’s a very effective, well-written song. That’s my editorials. Now, are you a religious minimalist? I was a little bit in shock when Rick Liggan, who preached our meeting this past week, said something about being religious minimalists. When he used that term, I’m going, wait a minute, that’s that’s already in my sermon for Sunday, and I was scared to death that he was going to ruin my sermon.

But he mentioned the story of the rich young ruler from Matthew 19, Mark 10. And I mentioned Mark 10. And the question that he raised to Jesus what good thing shall I do that I might inherit eternal life? And he mentioned this idea of being a minimalist, that we could reduce the desire that God has for us down to just one thing. And that’s sometimes the attitude that people have. What’s the bare minimum that I can do? What is the least that I can do to get by? What is the least that I can do to please God and go to heaven? I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anybody say this. But I know that it’s what they think. They say with their actions, if not with their words.

I want to do less. Can I somehow get by with doing less? And the problem with that attitude, right at the very beginning, we’ll have a lot to say about it this morning, is that it wreaks of selfishness. And it is the antithesis. It is the complete opposite attitude of Christ likeness, as we’ll see momentarily in Mark chapter 8. God is regarded as an exacting, overly demanding tyrant that we somehow need to placate. It’s indicative of a secular mindset that is crowding out spirituality. A greater love exists for this world than for God and the accomplishment of His will in the world. And frankly, honestly, at times we all struggle with this. Even those who attend every service of the local church. But I say these things because of a thought that I read on an airplane from one of the magazines that I read, Biblical Insights, written by Jim Deason.

He had a little list of things that he, editorials that he was addressing. And one was the elimination of Sunday night services in a lot of places. And you hear more about that people eliminating Sunday night services. And now, to let me just say, let me provide this disclaimer here. Some churches that are doing that are spending just as much time together in worship on the Lord’s day as they were doing when they had two services. They increase the Sunday morning service and it’s a little bit longer. And so perhaps the amount of time that they’re spending together in worship is exactly the same. And there can be all kinds of local circumstances, perhaps the distances people live from the building and how far they have to commute to get there, that are some of the reasons why Sunday night services have been eliminated.

Now, having said all that, I wonder that if in some places the desire to eliminate Sunday night services is because we want to hear less preaching. Or we want to make fewer sacrifices in serving the Lord. And I would say this while I appreciate local church autonomy and their right to make that decision, and yes, the Lord’s people need to meet on the first day of the week to partake of the supper every first day of the week, as Brad said. And we’re still doing that. I’m concerned that if we’re going to reduce Christianity, if this is our mindset, and I’m not saying this is the mindset of the people that choose the one Sunday only service. I’m concerned about the mentality that says, I want to reduce Christianity to just this.

One Sunday assembly, perhaps even eliminating Wednesday night. And for a lot of people, Wednesday night is just as irrelevant as the day is long, anyway. And they don’t feel that they need that extra service in the middle of the week. I need it. But they don’t feel like that they need it. And so we’re going to reduce Christianity to three hours one day a week, basically. I wonder if the result of that kind of thinking is also diminished prayer in their daily lives, maybe the absence of prayer altogether in their lives. Except perhaps a perfunctory prayer before each meal. And maybe not even that. I’m concerned about the mentality. Whether it’s demonstrated by this elimination of the Sunday night or the elimination of the Wednesday night service or any midweek service, I wonder if the mindset is here.

I would say we need more involvement. We are disconnected as it is and isolated by geography from one another. I don’t know that we interact nearly enough, though we interact a lot here. The folks at Decker Prairie. And I would say all of that to say that the nature of our calling in Christ is not that appealing to the masses generally. And really, the true calling of Christianity may not be that appealing to even those who claim to be Christian. And we see that in Mark chapter 8, I think. When Jesus questions his disciples in Mark chapter 8 and verse 27, who do people say that I am? And they told him, saying, John the Baptist, and others say, Elijah, but others one of the prophets.

And we will talk about John the Baptist this evening, Lord willing. And he continued by questioning them, who do you say that I am? And Peter said to him in this condensed version of this incident, thou art the Christ. And he began to teach them, it says in verse 31, that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he was stating the matter plainly, which certainly has application to what we just studied in our Bible class. He was stating the matter plainly, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

The one who has just said, Thou art the Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah, the one of Old Testament prophecy and all the things that went with their understanding of what the Messiah was going to be. He has just said, Thou art the Christ, and now he’s pulling him aside and saying, I’m going to set you straight on this. Really? He’s going to rebuke him now? And turning around and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter. And he said, Get behind me, Satan. And Rick had some interesting words about that during the week. For you are not setting your mind on God’s interests but man’s. Several things leap out in this first section here. Number one, believing in Christ involves implications. And it involved implications for Jesus.

Being a Christian will involve difficulty because that’s what it involved for our Lord. And he states very plainly what those difficulties would be for him personally. And thirdly, the temptation that we have to set our interests on things of this world rather than upon God’s interests. And he summoned the multitude with his disciples and said to them, If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross. And follow it.

Rick said some very pointed things about that concept. What did it mean to see a man bearing his cross in the first century? That man was going to die. And he was not going to escape from that sentence. He was on his way to die. When Rick said that, I immediately thought of Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, when he said, Death works in us, but life in you. Or when he said, I die daily. 1 Corinthians 15, 31. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20. It was about death for Paul, and it needs to be about death for us.

If we would be truly his disciples. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels shall save it. You know what we’re so desperately holding on to? When really, you know, less. That’s the word. This is not just the road less traveled. We sort of want to travel Jesus’ road, but we want to do less in the process. Less is the key word here this morning. I want to do less. By holding on, we’re really losing. That’s what Jesus says. By grasping this world and its stuff and the things that can so dominate our affections, we’re really losing. But he who loses his life for my sake, the one who will take up the instrument of death, serve Jesus no matter the cost.

Die for him. The one who chooses to die, this person lives, he says. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Even if we could somehow amass the whole world for ourselves. I think sometimes that’s we want a bigger slice of the pie so we can do some of the things that we’ve heard that other people did, the places that they go, the things that they do, the things that they can afford, if we could have all of those things, the luxury yacht, the fancy sports car, the big house, and we’d have to have a servant to take care of it because we don’t want to vacuum all of it.

If we just had all of those things, life would be better. Good. But even if you had it all, what does it profit? The soul. What would a man give in exchange for his soul at the end of the day, when we stand before the judgment bar on high, when eternity becomes real to us. You’re not going to be thinking about that house or that car or that bank account or that vacation.

Those things will be reduced to meaningless. All that will matter then is did you serve the Lord? Did you carry your cross for him? Or whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with his holy angels. I don’t know about the elimination of the Sunday night service and the hearts of everyone involved in that decision. I just wanted to get you thinking about some things.

1. Sacrifice Is Good for Me

Some saving attitudes that we need to cultivate in light of the kinds of things Jesus has just said in Mark chapter 8. Number one, here’s the way we need to think. Instead of saying, I want to do less, instead, we need to think this sacrifice is good for me. That’s implied in Mark chapter 8. Sacrifice is good for me, as Rick pointed out about Jesus’ answer to the young ruler. What did he say? One thing you lack. And that one thing that he lacked is the one thing that everybody lacks when they are lost. But as he says one thing is lacking, he goes on to say five things that he needed to do. Because those five things all represent one thing, and that is that he loved the world and his possessions more than he loved God.

And he was going to have to make a tremendous sacrifice if he was going to get over that one area of failing in his heart. And so when I think about the number of services I’m called to attend, however small that is in my expression of commitment to Jesus, and it is small, I need it. There are some times when I need to do things that my mind is telling me I don’t want to do.

There was Generation X, I guess, before. And now, you young people that are much younger than me, I’m not in Generation Y, you are. Paul Hardy, who is an expert on Generation Y, not Paul Harvey, the radio personality, but the University of New Hampshire professor asserts that Generation Y has unrealistic expectations and a strong resistance toward accepting negative feedback. Why is that? Because he says they have an inflated view of themselves. And so any kind of criticism or a lack of appreciation of who I am, that just doesn’t fit with the mindset of Generation Y. We see ourselves, Generation Y, we, you who are Generation Y, see ourselves as perhaps here when the rest of the world doesn’t treat you that way, and that leads to frustration and desperation, he says.

I don’t know that’s peculiar to Generation Y. I think it’s true probably of Generation X. Even those of us who are baby boomers. And yes, I’m I’m barely old enough to be a baby boomer. Or barely young enough. Barely young enough to be a baby boomer. The last year was 1963, the year I was born. But it’s true of my generation as well. It’s true of our society and culture. It’s all about me. We see that growing and worsening in our culture. And so sacrifice is good for me. Instead of saying I want less, I want you to think in terms of the fact that when I have to say no to myself and say yes to something higher and better, that’s good for me.

2. Even When I Sacrifice, I've Still Merited Nothing

Secondly, even when I do sacrifice, and perhaps even sacrifice greatly, I’ve still merited nothing.

When I think of all the years I put into Bible study, and all the years I’ve put into preaching, all the assemblies that I’ve sat in, how many times I’ve sung the breaking of bread and ring out the message and similar songs. I could have done everything that I’ve done already. All the gospel meetings that I preached. Sermons by the thousands. I could double. Which I guess if I live 30 more years, I might get to. I don’t know. Probably won’t be able to double it. But even if I could, for the rest of my life, I could double all of those things, or triple them. I would still have merited nothing. And the fact that I know my Bible better than most. And most of you could say that.

Most everybody in our audience, you know your Bible better than most people in our culture, in our world. It’s only that which we ought to have done. Let us say that when we have done all things that we have been commanded to do, we are still unworthy. Slaves are unprofitable servants. Luke 17 and verse 10. That’s what Jesus instructed his disciples. Because we could never merit or earn our salvation. God had to do something for us we could not do for ourselves. We are in Christ by his doing. I love that verse. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30. I could sacrifice all day, every day, for the rest of my life. And still not merit this that I have in Christ. And we’re going to talk more about tonight what we have in Christ.

That makes us greater than John the Baptist. Don’t want to let too much out on that. But all that we have, I can’t merit it. I can’t work hard enough. I can’t work effectively enough. I can’t attend enough services. It’s not like I’ve attended. A lot of people don’t do this. Sunday night, Wednesday night, gospel meeting, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Or as it used to be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Ticket to heaven sent. Look at all I’ve done. I can quote every passage in the New Testament that has to do with salvation and the importance of baptism. You can’t bring up a passage on baptism that I don’t know.

It’s only what we ought to have done.

3. God Deserves My Best, Not My Leftovers

Not one of us. Even the most excellent in our deeds. If you excel and sacrifice more than anybody else, you have merited nothing. We are still completely dependent upon God’s mercy. So where do we think this attitude of I want to do less fits with all of that? Point number three. God deserves my best. Not my leftovers. You can start reading from the very beginning of the Bible in the book of Genesis all the way to the book of Revelation. And this concept is repeated so many times. The first one that I think about is way back in Genesis chapter 4. Cain and Abel. Immediately after sin enters the world, we have the first murder. Cain kills his brother. What was that all about? It was about worship.

And about sacrifices that God had called upon them to make, and Cain made an offering from the fruit of the ground. Please, if I hear one more time, Cain’s sacrifice was rejected because of its nature, because it was of the fruit of the ground. You don’t know that. Please don’t say that. You don’t know that. I’ve never stated it that strongly before. But you don’t know why or what God instructed them to do. We know Abel’s sacrifice was by faith. Hebrews 11 and verse 4, which would mean that Cain’s was not because his sacrifice was rejected. Whatever the instruction was, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, whatever the instruction was, Cain didn’t apply. It could have been that he wanted a different type of offering, an animal offering.

But remember, even under the Mosaic covenant, which they didn’t live under, even the Mosaic covenant did have some grain offerings. It was not completely an animal sacrificial system, which I guess some people falsely conclude. That’s enough about that. I’m just saying, don’t say that anymore. But I’ll tell you what the emphasis of the text is. And you know it. Abel, it’s not only that he made an animal sacrifice, because not all animal sacrifices God approved of throughout the Old Testament, did he? The text emphasizes what? It was of his first and fat portions. The text emphasizes that. And the reason why God had regard for Abel’s sacrifice and not Cain’s is because Abel’s attitude was God deserves my best. Not my leftovers. And I’ll tell you don’t get anything else out of this lesson.

If that’s not our attitude, in what sense could we be carrying our cross for Jesus? Which he said, if you don’t do that, you cannot be my disciple. How can we say, okay, God, there’s nothing interferes, and you know, there’s no sporting event going on right now that I want to watch. There’s no shopping that I have to do. Actually, this time of year, there could be some shopping you need to do. But nothing else interferes today. I think I might just be able to swing it. Or it’s time to contribute to the work of the local church. And, well, I haven’t spent it all on X number of million other things, and so, okay, God, here’s your $20. And I’m not talking about a mouse this morning.

4. Passion for God

What I’m talking about is an attitude. God deserves my best, my first and my best. He deserves lavish generosity. Not a minimalist approach. And finally, I would say all of this needs to eventuate. The understanding that sacrifice is good for me and diligent service merits nothing. And God deserves my best, not leftovers. That passion for God is my deed. If you truly understand grace and love and what Jesus has done for us.

The result is a passion for Him, not a I want to do less minimalist kind of approach. Do we need less preaching? Maybe it’s because preachers have gotten boring. Is that what it is? That we don’t want two sermons on Sunday. Let’s go down to one. Make the services longer. You know, there are some weeks where preaching one sermon would work for me. Because I get tired. But is that our attitude? What is preaching do? Or what can preaching do? I preached a sermon on this a few weeks ago. Let me remind you what the preaching of the gospel does for us. It rivets our attention to unseen realities. It solidifies the foundation of successful and godly living. It yields sobriety in thinking and conduct. It stimulates in the direction of productive action and stabilizes with memorable messages.

We don’t need less of that. In fact, we may need more.

Self-satisfied lives that do not desire prodding and convicting. I predict that convicting lessons will grow ever more out of favor with people generally. The word of God is a powerful instrument of salvation and change. We don’t need less exposure. We need more. So that we can arrive at the attitude that David had as we come to a conclusion this morning. I’ve loved these verses for a long time. As a deer pants for the water brooks or for flowing streams, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? Read that twice and didn’t see the S missing on the word thirst. But I’ll fix it. The point. My soul thirsts for God for the living God.

Conclusion

Isaiah in Isaiah 26, verses 8 and 9 says, In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you. Your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul. My soul yearns for you in the night. My spirit within me seeks you diligent. Does that represent your heart for God? Who is this person? The I want less personal. What is true of him or her? I would suggest that this person who wants less, God isn’t very real to them. Their convictions are minimal. The sense of their impermanence is lost. And the one thing is still lacking. The one thing that was lacking for the rich young ruler. And I like what Rick said about that simple but effective words when he said a minimalist approach is spiritually dangerous and potentially deadly.

And that’s what I’m warning you about this morning. The religious minimalist is not consistent with Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 58, when he said, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding, always abounding in the work of the Lord. As much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. And that’s what we have to remind ourselves when the sacrifices are made, when we give the first and the best, that those things are not in vain in the Lord. Always abounding. That’s the attitude of a real disciple of Jesus, one who is carrying his or her cross. And when we look at the example of the Macedonians as they gave. Those of Macedonia and Achaia who are called upon to give, why do they give so lavishly?

Their liberality abounded, even because even in their poverty, Paul says. Because he says they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. True discipleship. And when people develop that mindset, all of the X’s and O’s about obedience to the Lord take care of themselves. They’re not going to quibble about baptism for the remission of sins. They say, when they’re convicted by the message, men and brethren, what shall we do? Just tell us what to do, and we will comply. More, not less, needs to be our attitude. Do you need to make the choice that these brethren did? They first gave themselves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God. Can we assist you in making that choice this morning as we stand and sing together?