You know, as we begin today, I want you to complete a sentence. I'm going to say the beginning, and I want you to say the end. And you'll know it.
So are you ready? Here we go. Are you ready? You say the end. Here's the beginning.
The few The proud The marines, you got it, right. Uh are you a marine? Yeah, good.
Okay, well, we're proud of you. We're proud of Marines, aren't we? Yeah. Indeed.
Now, what exactly in saying this are the Marines trying to communicate about themselves?
Well, it seems to me that they're trying to say there is a cost To being a Marine, and that not everyone is willing to pay it.
Now this is exactly what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about the cost, not of being a Marine, but of being a genuine sold-out follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, we're in a series entitled People Jesus Met. And in our last message, we saw Jesus meet Rabbi Saul, who later became the Apostle Paul, on the road to Damascus. And we talked in that message about unlikely people coming to Christ.
If you missed that message, I urge you to pick up the CD in the bookstore or maybe go on our website and download it. Today, what we want to do is continue looking at this meeting between Jesus and Rabbi Saul as Jesus informs Saul what it's going to cost him to be a sold-out follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So we're going to go back 2,000 years and we're going to see what happened in this Meeting. Then we're going to wind all that forward and we're going to talk about: well, what difference does that make for you and me? Acts chapter 9 is our passage, but just before we dig in, let me give you a little background just to make sure we're all up to speed with one another. If you remember, Rabbi Saul had been a one-man wreck-in machine when it came to the church in Jerusalem. And after he had finished ravaging the church in Jerusalem, he got letters, permission from the chief priests there to go to Damascus, northeast of Jerusalem.
And he had permission to go there and ravage the church. But as he was on the road, traveling to Damascus, he was almost there when all of a sudden the Lord Jesus appeared to him, knocked him flat off his feet and onto the ground. Spoke to him personally, and suddenly Paul realized that Jesus really was the Messiah of Israel, and he gave his life to Christ. Oswald Chambers, in his commentary on the book of Acts, says, and I quote, the most important event in human history, apart from the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, was the conversion to Christianity of the Apostle Paul. End of quote.
And why would he say this?
Well, friends, the answer is simple. It's because this man, the Apostle Paul, is now going to dominate the entire rest of the New Testament. He's going to write. 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament, 48% of the New Testament. He's going to take the message of Jesus Christ to Europe for the very first time.
He's going to establish churches all over the Roman Empire. He's going to lead thousands of people in the Roman Empire to personal faith in Christ. And he is going to radically alter the history of the entire civilized world for the next 2,000 years. When we look at the conversion to Christ of Rabbi Saul on the road to Damascus, indeed, we are looking at one of the most pivotal events in all of human history.
Now, having said all of that, Let's pick up here in Acts chapter 9 and see what happens. Verse 8. And when Saul got up from the ground, he could see nothing. Even though his eyes were open.
So they led him by the hand into Damascus, and for three days he was blind, nor did he eat or drink anything. Verse 10.
Now, there was a certain disciple in Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Here I am, Lord. And the LORD said to him, Arise and go to the street called straight. And inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying.
And in a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias. Coming in and putting his hand on him so that he might regain his sight. Verse 13. Then Ananias answered. Lord.
I have heard many reports about this man. and all about all the harm that he has done to your followers in Jerusalem. And I've heard that now he has come here with authority from the chief priest to arrest all who call upon your name. Ananias says, Lord, you have got to be kidding. You're sending me to this man?
I mean, look, Lord, I may not be the sharpest tool in the toolbox, and I might not be the smartest dog in the dog show, and I might not be the juiciest strawberry in the fruit bowl, but I know this is a bad idea, Lord. It's a terrible idea. This man, he's going to grab me and he's going to handcuff me and he's going to drag me back to Jerusalem and he's going to throw me in jail and he's probably going to kill me. This is a terrible idea, Lord. Lord.
Terrible, Lord. But the Lord said to Ananias, Go. For he is a chosen instrument of mine. to bear my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel, and I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.
So Ananias went to the house and entered it. And laying his hands on Saul, he said, Brother Saul. The Lord Jesus who Who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. And he arose and was baptized.
Then he took food and was strengthened.
Now, this is as far as we're going to go today in Acts chapter 9, because, Lord willing, we're going to pick up here next week and finish it out and see the rest of what happened there in Damascus with Rabbi Saul, the Apostle Paul. But here now, we come to our most important question of this day, and you know what it is.
So, all of you on the internet, I want to see you guys get right in here with us and scream. All right, are you ready? Here we go. Come on, nice deep breath. Here we go.
One, two, three. Yeah. Oh man, that was awesome. I gotta tell you. I'm proud of you.
You say, all right, Lon, that's great. You're proud of us. What has this got to do with my life? I mean, I wouldn't have gone if I was Ananias either. But other than that, I don't see what any of this has got to do with me.
Well, let's talk about that. You know, I go to the gym. Five days a week, and you say, Lon, boy, does it show. And I say, God bless every one of you out there.
Okay.
So, you know when you ride the elliptical They got all the television sets on, and they've always got CNN headline news on, so you have no choice but to watch it. But there is one thing about CNN's format that I have really learned to appreciate and that I like. And that is that contrary to the Emmys or the Grammys or the Oscars or all these other programs where they make you wait, you know, to the very end of the program to get the top stories, the thing I love about CNN is that they give you the top story first, right out of the gun.
Now In this way, and I might add, in this way only, God is like CNN.
Okay, because when God's got news to give people, big news, He always gives them the top story first. In Genesis chapter 2. When he created Adam, the very first thing that God said to Adam was not be fruitful and multiply. Check it out. Eve wasn't even created yet.
Would have been a stupid thing to tell Adam. Listen, the very first thing he said to Adam is, don't you eat that apple. That's the first thing he told him. Why? Because that was the top story in the Garden of Eden right there.
Hey, in Genesis chapter 12, when God appeared to Abraham, what was the first thing he said to him? He said, I want you to leave your land, leave your people, leave your home, leave your country, and come follow me. That was the top story for Abraham. And then finally, in Exodus chapter 3 at the burning bush, as soon as God told Moses to take his shoes off, what's the very first thing he said to him? He said, here's the top story, Moses.
You're going back to lead my people out of Egypt and to face Pharaoh. I like the fact right here in Acts chapter 9, God does the same thing with the Apostle Paul. He gives him the top story first. And what was the top story? Verse 16.
For he, that is Paul, is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. There were two pieces to the top story. Piece number one is: I'm going to use this man, Paul. I'm going to use you, Paul, in a mighty way. Here was piece number two of the top story, and I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.
That's part two. Paul, if you accept the mission that I'm offering you, you're going to pay a price for it. You're going to suffer, it's going to cost you something. To fulfill the mission I'm offering you.
Now, isn't this interesting? Isn't this interesting that God's top story for the Apostle Paul was this? That the top story was not, hey Paul, guess what? You're going to write 48% of the New Testament. That is not the first thing God said to him.
The top story was not, hey, Paul, you're going to start hundreds of churches and lead thousands of people to Christ. That was not the top story. Hey, Paul, you are going to change the history of the entire civilized world. That's not the top story. Hey, Paul.
Before this is all over, you're going to have your picture up all over Christendom with that little gold halo around your head. No, no, that was not the top story. The top story was Paul. I am offering to use you in an amazing way. But you need to know something.
It's going to cost you. You're going to suffer for it. And you need to be sure you're willing to pay that price before you accept this mission.
Now, friends, we need to stop here and clarify and make sure we all understand that we're not talking about salvation here. We're not talking about eternal life. We're not talking about Paul going to heaven. The Philippian jailer said to Paul later in Acts 16, What must I do to be saved? And Paul said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
Friends, there is no extra cost to being a believer, there is no extra cost to just being a citizen of the kingdom of God. That's just a question of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're talking here in Acts chapter 9 about something a step farther. The Lord Jesus was talking to Paul here about not just being a believer, he was talking to him about being a disciple, he was talking to him about being a servant of the living God. And the way I look at it is like this: you can be a citizen of the United States of America without being a Marine.
If you want to be a Marine, it's going to cost you extra. And in the same way, friends, we can be citizens of the kingdom of heaven without being disciples and servants of Christ. But if we want to be a servant of Christ and a true disciple of Christ, it's going to cost us something extra. And the whole Bible reiterates and reverberates with this truth. Listen, Second Timothy three, verse twelve says, indeed, I want you to say the next word with me, indeed.
Everyone. Very interesting word. Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. The Bible says, hey, as a Christian, you don't have to aspire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, but if you do, It's going to cost you something. You're going to suffer for it.
You're going to be persecuted for it. You need to know that. Hey, I like 1 Peter 4, verse 12. Peter said, Dear friends, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trials that you are suffering, as though some strange thing were happening to you. Stand firm in the faith because you know that your fellow believers, look at this, throughout the world.
Are undergoing the same suffering. Suffering is part of what it means to walk with Christ. And finally, the Apostle Paul, 1 Thessalonians 2. Wrote the Thessalonian believers and said in verse 14, For you, brothers. Became imitators of God's churches in Judea, suffering the same things from your own countrymen that they did from the Jews.
Hey, the Jews in Jerusalem persecuted the church there, Paul says, and the Gentiles where you are in Thessalonica are persecuting you. Watch. He said, I want no person to be disturbed by the afflictions you are suffering. For you yourselves know we were appointed to this. For indeed, when we were with you, when I was there, Paul says, I kept telling you in advance that we were going to be persecuted just as you know has happened.
The point is that suffering for our faith, Persecution for our faith. Paying a price for our faith is a normal, natural part of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. And Jesus himself said it. John chapter 15, verse 20, he said, Remember the words I spoke to you? No servant is greater than his master.
If they persecuted me, look at this, they will persecute you if you stand up for me. Count on it.
Now friends, can we stop for a moment and be really honest here? He said, Well, Anna, I don't want you to be dishonest.
Okay, well, then let's be honest. And let's admit That in modern-day Christianity, This piece of biblical truth that we're talking about here today is about as popular as a root canal.
Okay? We read Philippians chapter 3, verse 10. And Paul says there, I want to know Christ. And we all go, yay! Hey, me too.
I want to know the power of his resurrection. And we all go, yeah. Me too. And then it says, and I want to share in his suffering. And we all go.
What? No, no, I don't want to do that. How did that get in there? That's not no, no, no, no. No.
Mm-mm. Friends I got to tell you, the problem here is that we don't hear this preached. Nobody ever tells us this anymore. They tell us we need to be healthy and wealthy and wise, and you're good, and I'm good, and we're all good, and everything's good, and you know, just maximize your potential, and all this other stuff. And nobody tells us what Jesus said.
That if they persecuted me, they're going to persecute you if you stand for me. And that is the cost that goes along with being a disciple of Jesus. And friends, this is just as much a part of biblical truth as the deity of Christ is. It's just we don't hear it much. You say, well, long.
All right.
So, what are some of these areas of suffering? What are some of these areas of cost? That I might have to pay if I decide to be a servant of Christ.
Well, I'm going to tell you there are three of them, and the reason I'm doing this today is because, friends, I'm here on behalf of God to challenge you not to be content just to be a believer. I'm here on behalf of God to challenge you not to be content just to be a run-of-the-mill follower of Jesus. I'm here to challenge you to rise to the occasion and say, I'm not content with that. I want to be a disciple of Jesus. I want to be a servant of Christ.
And whatever the cost is, I'm willing to pay it, just like Paul was willing to pay it. That's the goal today: is to have you walking out of here saying, I'm willing to pay the cost. Lord, pick me up and use me and squeeze the glory out of me and use me for the kingdom of God. And I'll pay the price. But you've got to know what the price is.
God doesn't want you to agree to the deal without telling you the price.
So here we go. Number one. Cost number one is the suffering that comes from putting Jesus ahead of our personal rights. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 1. Paul said, Am I not an apostle?
What's the answer to that? Yes. All right, now watch. Don't I have the right? To food and drink, when I come to town preaching the gospel, don't I have the right to have you guys give me a meal and something to drink?
Answer! Yes, don't I have the right? To take a believing wife along with us, like the rest of the apostles and Peter. Do I have that right? Paul says.
Yes. Or Paul says, is it only Barnabas and I who have to work for a living? Paul says, but, verse 12, we have used none of these rights among you, lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. Paul knew that to use all these rights among the Corinthians would get in the way of the spread of the gospel, so he gave them up. And friends, disciples and servants of Christ understand that one of the costs of being a disciple, being a servant of Christ, is that sometimes we need to give up certain rights to things, things that aren't necessarily wrong, and they're not bad, and they're not ungodly.
They're simply things that will hinder the process and the movement and the progress of the gospel. You know, I had a good friend who for many years served as the pastor of a small church in rural America. And in this little town where he served, there were a lot of things that pastors just weren't expected to do. Not just by the community, But even within his church, things that pastors just were not expected to do. This gentleman never drove a new car.
This gentleman never took his wife dancing. This gentleman never played cards. This gentleman never attended a movie at a movie theater anywhere in town and lots of other things that he didn't do. And you say, well, but Lon. You say, but he was free from the law.
I mean, he had the right to do every single one of these things. Yeah, he did have the right. Friends, listen, I'm Jewish and I'm free from the law too as a follower of Jesus. As a follower of Jesus, even though I'm Jewish, I can eat all the ham and cheese sandwiches I want. Praise the Lord.
And even though I'm Jewish, I'm free from the law. I can go to Red Hot and Blue and eat all the pork barbecue sandwiches I want. Praise Jesus. Yes, sir, I can. But let me tell you something.
If I was a pastor of a church in Jerusalem, I wouldn't do it. You know why? Because, with Orthodox Jewish people living in Jerusalem, this would hinder the gospel.
So you give up this right. You don't eat pork barbecue. You don't eat ham and cheese. You don't drive a new car, you don't go to the movies, whatever. The bottom line is that part of the cost of being a disciple and a servant of Christ, listen to me now, is that we care so much about not hindering the gospel that we are willing to give up our personal rights if we have to in order to make sure that that doesn't happen.
Number two. Cost number two. Of being a true servant of Christ is the suffering that comes from putting Jesus ahead of our family. And our friends. Jesus said, Matthew 10:37, anyone who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
And anyone who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Jesus minces no words here. He says, If you want to be my disciple, if you want to be a servant of mine, I have to be number one in your life. I have to be preeminent. You can't put anybody ahead of me, anybody in front of me, not your friends, and not even your family.
And you know, there are lots of us here today who have had to pay this cost. I mean, I meet with Jewish people all the time who are considering asking Christ in their life. And they say, all of them say things like, oh my gosh, if I do this, if I go out and give my life to Jesus, if I get baptized, if I start serving the Lord, oh my gosh, my parents will kill me. My mother will never speak to me again. They'll write me out of the will.
All my Jewish friends will completely forsake me. We have lots of Jewish believers who attend this church every week who've paid some of these prices. And Jewish believers all around the world. who have paid these kind of prices. But this is not just a Jewish thing.
No, no. There's a lot of Gentiles who had to pay similar prices. Young people who've come to Christ and started living for Christ and speaking up for Christ, and suddenly all their friends go, We don't know who you are, but whoever it is, we don't want anything to do with you anymore. Spouses who come to Christ and their partner says, Whoa, wait a minute, all this church stuff and this Jesus stuff and this witnessing stuff and I look, I didn't buy in for this, and they divorce them. Happens all the time.
And then there are people who were raised Jehovah's Witnesses or raised Church of Christ or raised Mormon, and they come to Christ and really get saved and really get on fire for the Lord, and they get disfellowship. And their family and friends in that Mormon church or that Jehovah's Witness church are instructed publicly: you are not even to speak to this person ever again, even if you see them. Folks, listen. A disciple accepts this cost if they have to. And they're happy to pay it if that's what it takes to serve Jesus.
Finally, number three. Is the suffering that comes from putting Jesus ahead of our sinful human nature? You say, what does that mean?
Well, Galatians 5, verse 17 says, For our sinful human nature desires what is contrary to God's Spirit. Always. For the two of them are in direct conflict with each other, meaning that our sinful human nature is on one end of the rope, and God's will for his disciples is on the other end of the rope, and there is a tug of war going on every day, every minute of every day in our life. And every time we decide to do it God's way, and we decide not to do it the way our sinful flesh wants us to, there's a cost to pay. Yeah, when as the Bible tells disciples to do, When we absorb hurt and we forgive those who've hurt us instead of retaliating, friends, there's a cost to that.
When, as the Bible tells disciples to do, we keep it clean sexually as a dating couple. There's a cost for doing that. When, as the Bible tells disciples to do, we return good for evil, or we quit our job rather than do something immoral or unethical, or we give up smoking, or we fight those destructive gambling habits and drinking habits and pornography habits, or we stay committed to our marriage even when it goes through some tough times, or we speak up publicly for Christ, or we tell the truth on our tax returns. Ouch. Friends, whenever we do what disciples are expected to do, And we deny the wishes of our sinful flesh, and instead we choose to obey God.
There is a cost to pay. But you can't be a servant of Christ if you don't do this. And servants of Christ are willing to pay that price.
So here's the bottom line. God's looking for believers who will pay the price to be spiritual Marines. That's it. People who are willing to put Jesus ahead of their creature comforts and their personal rights if they have to. People who are willing to put Jesus ahead of their family and their friends if they have to.
And people who are willing to put Jesus ahead of the desires of their sinful nature, and they always have to do that. And for those of us who are willing to do this, I want to close by telling you that God's got some good news for us. And you're like, ha! It's about time there's some good news in this crazy message.
Well, there is. I got some good news for you. And that is two pieces of it. First, I got some earthly good news for you. God says you're willing to live this way.
Here's some earthly good news for you. 2 Corinthians 1, verse 5: For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also God's comfort is ours in abundance. The Bible says, Hey, you pay the price to be a servant of mine here on this earth, and I promise you, supernaturally, I will give you a comfort and a joy and an enthusiasm about suffering for me that you won't be able to explain, but it'll be real in your life. And you'll be glad to do it. You'll be excited about suffering from me.
You say, How does God do that? I just told you, I don't know. What difference does it make? He doesn't. And number two, I got a piece of heavenly good news for you.
And that is, 2 Corinthians 4, verse 17 says, for our momentary sufferings, you say, what? These aren't momentary.
Well, they are in comparison to eternity. Our momentary sufferings here on earth Are achieving for us an extra weight of glory that far outweighs them all.
So, Let us fix our eyes, the Bible says, not on what is seen, not on this earth. And whatever the cost we have to pay to be a disciple is here on this earth, don't worry about that, the Bible says. But let us fix our eyes on what is unseen, on the promise of God's rewards for us when we reach heaven for having been willing to pay that cost. For what is seen is temporal, but what is unseen is eternal. God says, hey, I want to tell you something.
You pay the price down here to serve me. Like Paul paid. He paid this price. And when you get to heaven, you know what? God says, I'm going to shower you with so much reward for doing that that you're going to look back and hardly even remember, if at all, what it cost you here on earth.
It'll be minuscule. Don't worry about it.
So let me conclude by saying that the Apostle Paul weighed the cost. and said Amen. I'm in Jesus. And look what God did with him.
Now, I can't promise you you'll be like the Apostle Paul. I can't promise you that you'll shake the world for Christ like he did, but I can promise you this. You say, Lord, I'm in, and God will use you beyond anything you ever dreamed of. I can promise you that. And so the real question here today is: this: Am I willing to do what Paul did?
Am I willing? Not just to be a citizen of the kingdom of God. But am I willing to pay the cost of being a spiritual marine? And you know, when I came to Christ as a young man, I remember thinking Lord, I just don't want to be a run-of-the-mill Christian. I just don't want to be a run-of-the-mill believer that just kind of toodles along and goes to church once a week.
No, no, no. If I'm going to do this, Lord, I'm going to do this with everything I got. I want you to take me and squeeze every bit of glory that is possible for Christ out of my life. And after you've squeezed everything out that I think I'm capable of, I want you to squeeze some more out.
Now I got to tell you I've had some tough things happen in my life. You know, some of you know the story of my family and some of these other things that I've had to go through. Listen, friends, there's been a cost to pay for this. I'm not going to tell you that there hasn't, but I will tell you that 40 years later, I'm still standing here serving the Lord and praising Jesus. And I wouldn't change what I did for anything.
You know why? Listen, with this, I'm done. The real joy in the Christian experience is not for just believers, they don't get it. The real joy in the Christian experience God reserves for disciples. God reserves for servants of Christ.
And if you want to maximize your Christian experience and get the most joy and excitement out of it, you're not going to do it by just being an ordinary believer, a once-a-week Christian. Not going to happen. You got to jump in like Paul, and you got to say, Lord, I'm in. Those are the people who get the most out of their Christian experience. And that's what God wants you to do.
I hope you will. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for speaking to us today about some unpopular teaching. Most of what we see and hear on the radio and television is. About How great everything is, how good everything is, how God wants to bless us, how God wants to give us a bunch of money, how God wants to give us great health, and blah, blah, blah, and on and on.
And it's true, Lord, you do do a lot of those things for us. But we leave out This whole dimension of the Christian experience. Of sharing in the sufferings of Christ. But there is a joy in the world. In sharing The sufferings of Christ.
There is a fellowship with the living Christ that can't happen any other way than when we're sharing the sufferings of Christ. And there is a reward awaiting those who are willing to share the sufferings of Christ here on earth. To serve the Lord. And to exalt him. And so, Father, I pray that you would use the Word of God today to challenge us.
Not to be content. Just to be citizens. Of the kingdom of God. But challenge his father to say Amin. Lord, I want to be a spiritual marine.
Whatever that might mean for me, Amen. Change our lives because we were here today, Father. And we sat under the teaching. Of the eternal Word of God. And we pray these things.
In Jesus' name, And what did God's people say? Amen.
