How did Jesus Express the Gospel message? —since he hadn't yet died (Luke 14, Mark 8, John 10)

The Gospel Message of Jesus

—Luke 14, Mark 8, John 10

Andrew Fountain – Sept 15, 2024

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Understand and Believe Three Things:

Who God is
What God offers in Jesus
How God wants us to respond
- and do it, by trusting him!

How the Gospel is usually summarized:

Because of God’s love for us, Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth.
He died and paid the price for everything we have done wrong, so that we can be free and live forever with him.
All we have to do is to put our trust in him.

GPS fail

Robert Jones said he trusted his navigational system and continued to follow it when it told him the steep, narrow footpath he was driving on “was a road”.

His BMW nearly plunged down a 100ft cliff in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, on Sunday.
He was only stopped from falling after the vehicle rammed into a wire fence.
Police and rescue teams then spent nine hours recovering his car following the incident.

The 43-year-old, who works as a driver, said he relies on his GPS for his job and described the incident as a “nightmare”.

He told the Halifax Evening Courier: “It kept insisting the path was a road, even as it was getting narrower and steeper, so I just trusted it.
“You don’t expect to be taken nearly over a cliff.”

Mr Jones added: “I guess I’m just lucky the car didn’t slip all the way over the edge.”
Mr Jones now faces court action for driving without due care and attention.
I want to talk today about “Following Jesus”
- This was his main message
- He called many individuals to “Follow me”
- The question is—what does it actually mean to “Follow Jesus” ?
I think this is a particularly good example because:
- Follow me = believe and trust in me, but also to obey
- Just like the guy with the GPS
- To follow the GPS means to “do what it says”
The real problem with Robert Jones was he was putting his trust in something that was broken, and not deserving of trust.
- But this is a great example because what Jesus meant by “follow me” was
  - “I am your guide”
  - “I am the one giving you direction”
I want to suggest there are four ways we follow Jesus

Four ways we follow Jesus

Leadership
Allowing him to have control
The Cost
Death (or what seems like it)

Four ways we follow Jesus

Leadership
Allowing him to have control
The Cost
Death (or what seems like it)

Luke 14:25–33

v.26	“hate” —Jesus never taught hatred. It is relative
v.27	Carry cross? —in those days... to their crucifixion We’ll see that this is about a kind of death
v.28–30	Unfinished building on Wellesly street, for around 10 years. There is a cost, and you need to know in advance so you know what you are getting into
v.31–32	Similar idea of assessing what you can commit to in advance
v.33	Jesus never taught that we should not have possessions Whatever I have, I’m actually just looking after it on your behalf If I have a house, I have a house, but I treat is as if it belongs to Jesus My car belongs to Jesus

Why would anyone go for that?

Four ways we follow Jesus

Leadership
Allowing him to have control
The Cost
- So what is the good bit?
Death (or what seems like it)
- Life!

Mark 8:34–36

Then Jesus called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.
For what benefit is it for a person to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his life?

John 10:7–11

So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

So the irony is that it is death that leads to life.
- He understands in a way nobody else can, and can satisfy us deeply the way none other can.
- So it seems on the surface to be a bad deal, but it is the best possible.
- Following him, we have true life
So how do you start following Jesus
- The core of following is to trust him as your leader
- Once you do that, then everything else come as he gives you strength
- You simply pray to him and say, “Jesus, I want to follow you. I surrender my life to you”
But ultimately you can’t trust unless you know who you are trusting
- Read the stories of Jesus in the Bible and ask him to reveal himself to you!
If you are a Christian this morning, this is not an all-or-nothing thing
- There are plenty of Christians who are half-heartedly following
- They keep areas of their lives unsurrendered
  - Jesus can have Sundays, but the rest of the week is mine
    - Maybe 10mins/day for devotions
  - My life’s goals? —well I don’t plan to be a mass murderer, but I’m going to choose my life’s direction
  - Finances
  - Relationships
  - But most of all my energy—what is my focus.
    - If you get that lined up, honestly everything else will follow
    - How can this work out for you Jesus?
Jesus is not against self-care, in fact he is very much for it
- If your body belongs to Jesus, you should care for it even more than if it is yours
- Same with your mind, with getting rest set.
- The difference is what the purpose is

I have decided to follow Jesus:

He is my leader, I follow his pattern for my life
I trust that the cost of doing this (death to self) actually leads to life
Love others: before myself
Love God:
- Avoid things that don’t please him
- make him my priority—time and energy

I have decided to follow Jesus

I have decided to follow Jesus ×3
No turning back, no turning back
Though no one joins me, still I will follow ×3
No turning back, no turning back.
The cross before me, the world behind me ×3
No turning back, no turning back