Proverbs 3:1-7; 11-12 St. Luke 14:25-35

The Challenge of His Sovereign Lordship

In his book, Basic Christianity, the Rev. John Stott wrote, "The astonishing
idea is current in some circles today that we can enjoy the benefits of
Christ's salvation without accepting the challenge of His sovereign
Lordship." The large scale revivals of the past century have often solicited
a response from the congregation by assuring them that all they needed to do
was "to receive Christ as their personal Saviour". Very often this "Christ"
was presented as an answer to financial, marital, physical or vocational
problems with little or no reference to the demands of Scripture upon the
lives of those who would make such a response.

In our Gospel lesson for this evening, our Lord cut to the quick. "Whoever
does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple." Such a
statement goes directly against all that modern church growth movements
teach. Quite honestly, at face value, our Lord's method does not seem to be
the best way to double your membership figures.but let's consider the
alternative.

Recently we have witnessed first hand the moral and spiritual decline in
many of America's main-line denominations. This is due to the fact that
those who did not fall by the way side after waking up to the emptiness of
their emotional response remained in the churches, often infiltrating
positions of leadership to slowly advance their agenda. When we read some of
the statements made by church leaders today we are confronted with the
obvious.

Although these men and women claim to have embraced Christ as Saviour, they
most certainly have not embraced Him as Lord. But as long as the membership
continued to grow and as long as the financial records reflected a healthy
budget no one asked the questions begging to be asked.until now. With the
rug having been pulled out from under the feet of many unsuspecting biblical
parishioners, some are finally asking why they had not seen this coming a
long time ago.

Our reading from Proverbs this evening teaches us that there are certain
things that should not be forgotten if we are to live the lives God has
intended for us. The divine law and commandments of God are not up for
debate. We must not forget that the Lord is never up for re-election.
Therefore the Church does not have to change His promises nor His demands in
order to gain the votes of the majority. He is the Sovereign King of the
Universe.the One Who created all things and upholds all things by the Word
of His power. Thus He does not need the approval of His creatures. God never
calls for a referendum nor does He ask for a popularity poll. His Word is
supreme and it is final. If we are to follow Him at all, we must understand
this most basic principle.

Jesus said our love for Him must surpass every other love, even that which
is the nearest and dearest of earthly loves. Should mother or father,
brother or sister, friend or foe ever demand our love for them to transcend
our love for God, we must refuse regardless of the emotional or even
physical consequences. Love is a word used very easily and flippantly in
today's society. For many "love" means we should tolerate even that which is
contrary to God's law and commandments.

But biblical love is defined by God, not by man and any expression of love
must be in accord with what God has revealed as being loving. Love for God
is the first great commandment.love for neighbour is the second. We simply
cannot invert this order without violating the very foundation upon which we
claim to stand.

The divine principles of mercy and truth are enshrined in the revealed Word
of God and cannot be re-defined by society. As the Early Church Father,
Hippolytus, stated, "Brethren, there is one God, the knowledge of Whom we
gain from the Holy Scriptures and from no other source.even as He has chosen
to teach them by the Holy Scriptures, so let us discern them." It would be
ludicrous to say we believe in the One revealed in the Scriptures while we
reject what He demands in those same Scriptures. Either we believe Him and
follow Him according to what He has revealed or we do not. It really is
quite simple. Holy Scripture is not a wax nose shaped to fit the ever
changing face of society at large.

What has been happening in the American church of late is, of course,
nothing new. In the fourth century work, The Disputation of Archelaus and
Manes, we read, "Those who seek to set up any new dogma have the habit of
very readily perverting into conformity with their own notions any proofs
they care to take from the Scriptures.The Apostolic Word marks out the case
in these words, "If anyone preaches any other Gospel to you other than that
which you have received, let him be accursed." Consequently, in addition to
what has been once committed to us by the Apostles, a disciple of Christ
should receive nothing new as doctrine."

Proverbs tells us that we must trust in God alone and never rely on our own
understanding. Man can be swayed by so many different things that he is
simply not a trustworthy guide. God, on the other hand, never changes...He
is the same yesterday, today and forever.consequently He alone remains
reliable regardless of space, time, or culture especially with regard to the
manner in which we are to conduct ourselves as His creatures.after all, He
made us.Who then is better equipped to inform us as to how we should
function? Thus we are instructed to be constantly aware of His leading and
to be in constant fellowship with Him if we are to be directed in the best
path.

Our Gospel lesson makes it very clear that our Lord does not want followers
who do not first count the cost. In other words, before "accepting Him as
our personal Saviour", He wants us to be sure that we understand what
following Him means.giving our first and primary loyalty to Him Alone. There
is a price to pay.we must renounce all..we cannot enter into the Kingdom by
halves.

Ill-considered and faint-hearted attachment to Christ leads to all sorts of
later problems. Many who warm the pews Sunday after Sunday do not really
know the Lord of the Scripture at all. This can be seen most clearly when
life takes an unexpected turn down negative alley. Those who did not devote
themselves to Christ whole-heartedly from the beginning will struggle
through adversity and trial. They will despise and detest the Lord's loving
correction and may very well end up discarding the faith altogether. Many
believers who have suffered loss without first having counted the cost have
become the Church's most bitter opponents.

Both Scripture passages for this evening teach us that Christianity is not
about quantity as much as it is about quality. Many multitudes followed our
Lord, but, instead of issuing some lame call to easy belief, He challenged
them to consider carefully what they were letting themselves in for.
Throughout the Gospels we are confronted time and again with this challenge.
There are many instances of false professions, of false commitments and of
false promises made by those who, for all intents and purposes, did believe.
Judas is the primary example.and like the leaders of many mainline churches
today, he became the instrument by which our Lord was betrayed.

Dearest brethren, tonight we must ask if we have truly counted the cost of
discipleship ourselves.have we considered the challenge of His Sovereign
Lordship? How do we respond to His loving discipline? Do we acknowledge Him
in all our ways? Are our paths truly directed by His guidance? Do we trust
in Him with all our heart, or do we rather tend to lean on our own
understanding?

Our Lord ended His teaching with a parable about salt. The essence of this
parable is obvious. As Dr. Leon Morris said, "There is an astringent quality
about discipleship. If a man lacks it, then whatever other qualities he may
have, as regards discipleship he is useless." He who has ears to hear, let
him hear!

© Johann W. Vanderbijl III 2004