The Cost of Discipleship

amen good morning everyone how are we doing good some of us all right uh my name is Joshua one of the lead pastors here at the district church and at this time we'll go ahead and dismiss our three to five-year-olds to the little District where they will be learning uh with their peers more of who Jesus is if you have your Bibles go ahead and open to Luke chapter 9 we're going to be in verses 57 through 62 and to be honest as I was sharing this morning with some of our leaders this was a very hard text to work in not necessarily because there's

going to be a lot to decipher but more because it seems pretty apparent what Jesus is saying and so the application itself becomes a little bit difficult for us because we are counting the cost as Disciples of what following Jesus looks like and so that's where we're going to be this morning before I jump into the text as well as just kind of introduction in introing what we're going to be looking at we just want to give one quick announcement so August 6th we are celebrating our seventh year as a church where we are praising God for his goodness and mercy to us and so

we're inviting you all to come and worship and gather with us like we normally do on a Sunday morning where we will sing praises hear God's word preached and just celebrate again what he has done for us and then as we have done the last six years we are going to be celebrating with pie in the evening time don't ask me where the idea of pie came from we just wanted to do something fun on our first anniversary and so pie was it it started with sweet pies and now it has gone to Sweet and Savory pies and so if you want to make one

or bring one feel free to do so the pies sign up has been on our email for the last couple of weeks and so if you have not been getting that come see me or come see the hunters we'll make sure that you get signed up for that or at least have the list of what you can sign up for but remember August 6th pie party and we actually do have a location now it is going to be here in the evening time 5 p.m show up ready to eat some sweet and savory pies all right August 6 mark your calendars so I'm jumping into

this text in my favorite book Pilgrim's Progress it is a story about Christian who is saved out of his old life into a new one and is called to walk towards the Gates of Heaven or the celestial city as you see in this book now the book written by John Bunyan is an allegory of the Christian Life it is the journey from being saved and called out of the darkness and walking towards The Marvelous Light in the celestial City and being called home it depicts this upward Journey walking up a hill constantly walking through trials and tribulations and despairs as well as meeting up with

people on the road who are trying to get Christian and those who are walking with him off the path towards this city as Christian and his friend hopeful are walking in this journey towards the celestial City they come upon a man called buy-ins now buy-ins as we learn as he's walking with Christian and hopeful doesn't reveal who he is in this journey and it's very interesting because when you're reading this book as Christian and anybody who's walking with whether it be faithful or hopeful you see that there's interactions and engagement with anybody walking they find out who they are or where they're from but this

man unusually doesn't tell and for specific reasons doesn't tell Christian and hopeful who he is until Christian wisely is able to depict who he actually is and what his name is but what John Bunyan does tell us about buy-ins is where he's from he's from the town of fair speech and upon hearing this Christian and hopeful become cautious because the town of fair speech represented people who lived double lives or duplicit lives you see they were known for their elegance and wealth and Pomp and Circumstance and they sought to have ease and comfort in their own life while also claiming to be Believers you see

on the surface they look to be moral and righteous but inwardly their hearts revealed that they did not actually believe or honor the Lord and this man walking with them affirms that this is where he's from not only does he affirm this is where he's from he actually tells Christian and hopeful I actually have relatives I'm I am from the original people who started this town now here are the some some of the relatives that live in this town of fair speech there's the Lord turnabout he is one who indicates he is going one way and then changes course just to go the opposite there's

Lord fair speech who speaks kindly but hides his deceit in his heart there's Mr facing both ways who holds contradictory views and opinions and attempts to gain favor by agreeing with everyone and then there's Mr anything this guy believes and says whatever he can to reach his personal goals or achieve his own accomplishments and so buy-in this traveler as he's talking to Christian as he's talking to Hopeful is describing these are my family members this is the town I am from he even tells him I am an oarsman just like my grandfather Who Rose one way and then Rose another being tossed to and fro

by the wind and while this man is not currently identifying himself as I said earlier Christian figures out who he is by the town he is from and eventually says I believe you are the man called buy-ins of fair speech and what Christian knows of buy-ins is that he is a dishonest man and a false professor of Jesus you see Bayan was known for his private interests his own self-purposes and his own selfish advantages and in the book Pilgrim's Progress Bayan actually represents those who live a duplicit life of saying they follow Christ and yet they seek the pleasures of this world this was not

a man who would be ashamed of his religion not a man who would be even opposed to the name Jesus Christ but he was one who was very selective on when and where he would Express his faith he wanted all of his life including his faith to be easy and comfortable and was motivated by satisfaction and comfort rather than being Sanctified and being in submission to the will of God today we come to our text and meet three would-be disciples that have a very similar heart disposition to buy-in they say with their words that they would want they want to follow Jesus wherever he would

go and their desires but their but their desires reveal that they're more interested in their own comfort and convenience their own customs of the world and even their own cares of their life and Jesus commands them to deny these things and truly follow him and the reality of this text as I said earlier is it's difficult because it also applies to us in that we must deny our cares our Comforts our conveniences and follow Jesus as Leon Moore says in his commentary on this passage regularly and God tests the earnestness of our hearts by bringing them to a fork in the road where it becomes

necessary to choose between two ways which way do we follow do we follow Comfort do we follow Customs do we follow our own cares or do we follow Christ the test from the very onset for the believer has always been follow me and so this is my main point that I want us to see from this text this morning is that following Jesus involves costly sacrifice it involves costly sacrifice sacrificing of our cares and conveniences sacrificing customs of this world and sacrificing cares in our own lives and we're going to see this through these three would-be disciples that Jesus commands to follow him so if

you look back with me in verse 57 we'll pick up where Luke writes as they were going along the road someone said to him I will follow you wherever you go and Jesus said to him foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head to another he said follow me but he said Lord let me first go and bury my Father and Jesus said to him leave the dead to bury their own dead but as for you go and proclaim the kingdom of God yet another said I Will Follow You Lord but let

me first say farewell to those at home and Jesus said to them no one puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God this is God's word this morning let us go to him in prayer and ask him to grow us and edify us through what he has for us this morning from his word oh Lord you are gracious and merciful thank you for your goodness and Grace to us we are humbled by it and we find comfort in it help us as we read this text this morning that you would help us live a life of truly

following you where we are willing to give up everything because we know the greatest need that we have is you and we know from your word that giving everything for you is going to be our greatest Delight is going to be our greatest joy it's going to be our greatest satisfaction in this life and the life to come remind us that even though it can seem like a daunting task to give up everything in order to follow you Lord we have a perfect example in Jesus who is our substitute and in his perfect faith and obedience we have received it has been imputed to us

for those who believe on him and we now also have the power of the holy spirit that helps us obey and Trust as we live and follow Jesus give light to our text this morning help us to have ears to hear and wisdom to receive your word so that we may know you more trust you more have certainty in the things that have been taught about Jesus and as your servant this morning use me speak through me and let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable To You O Lord my rock and my redeemer it is for your glory

and our joy that we come to you and we praise you this morning in Jesus name amen as we saw last week from Luke's gospel Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem verse 51 showed us that he set his face or he was resolved to go to Jerusalem where the cross awaited and death and rejection awaited him as well and as we saw last week like the Samaritan Village a constant theme that you find throughout the Book of Luke is one of rejection and so here we see the same theme running through these three would-be disciples rejection of following Jesus even though it would seem

that these disciples had every intention of following him but what Jesus does because one he's the greatest and most wisest teachers he gets after the heart of these would-be disciples he knows their intention he knows their heart he knows their true desire and he calls them on it much like he does today through his word you see each one of them intended to follow him yet each one of them led to the same conclusion as we'll see this morning and from these encounters what we can learn especially when it comes to what it means to be a follower of Jesus is that it is not

simply about following him with our words but also following him with our lives following him to the Cross denying ourself daily taking up our cross putting to death the sins of this world the sins of this flesh the things that hold so closely and tightly to our hearts and Minds and just as we asked last week are we willing to go there with him are we willing to Journey to the cross with him you see the first disciple teaches us that following Jesus means we have to be willing to give up our Comforts and our conveniences found in this world look back at first 57

as Luke writes us or writes to us as they were going along the road someone said to him I will follow you wherever you go and Jesus said to him foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head now Luke doesn't tell us about this disciple he doesn't actually tell us about who these three would-be disciples are I believe what he's trying to do is he's trying to show us the intentions of these disciples or potential disciples and not their identities however if you move over to Matthew 8 and see the parallel passage

we actually do see and we are shown who these first two would-be disciples are and this first one we find is a scribe or a teacher of the law which shows us that this man who's asking to follow Jesus is wanting to be a student he's wanting to learn more of the law and what it means to live a holy lifestyle no that's not a wrong desire right we should be students of Jesus but discipleship is more than just studying who Jesus is it demands our whole life it demands all of who we are every action every thought every word every deed this is what

discipleship looks like submitting yourself to what Jesus says and through the word of God seeing how we are called to follow him and Jesus's response we see him saying this is what it means to follow me I am describing to you what this lifestyle will look like because for a scribe or a teacher of the law they would be they would be used to a sort of lifestyle that brings comfort and an honor and respect so you can see this teacher of law coming up to Jesus probably seeing all the crowds that he had or all the followers that he had he said you know

what I want this because it looks like this guy is going to bring me Comfort convenience and ease I can just study under him and also have all of these followers but Jesus says no this is not what it looks like to follow me what's interesting when Jesus says Foxes have holes and birds have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head he's not so he's not trying to discredit those who have been giving towards his ministry right like if if you remember as we've walked through the Book of Luke we see that Jesus has many people including many women giving

towards his ministry and opening up their home towards him so what he's not doing is he's not saying to this would be disciple and he's not saying to us or the people that are listening hey I just sleep on rocks I just sleep on dirt and sand nobody actually takes care of me that's not what he's saying what he is trying to get through to this would be disciple is that you should not expect following me that you're going to receive Comfort like following other teachers or rabbis you're not going to receive conveniences on this Earth in fact if you follow me you will receive

more discomfort but Jesus is so Jesus here is trying to show a picture of what it means to follow him and I love this reality because how many of us have been in church or how many of us have even entertained conversations where we are trying to tell people about Jesus and it comes off as you're going to have a comfortable life you're going to have a life of ease you're going to live in in love and grace that God bestows upon you and no hardships are going to come I mean it's sort of like a Prosperity Gospel but I think oftentimes we can even

lean into that in trying to convince people that following Jesus is the right thing to do but Jesus doesn't even do that Jesus is very honest with this would be disciple that this is what it means to follow me that you need to be willing to give up comfort and convenience and you will be discomforted not only in this life but also putting to death your own life you may be rejected you may suffer you may even suffer to a point of death and as we've said the last couple of weeks death may not include a physical death but death to self and death to

self is discomforting the call to follow Jesus for this would be disciple is to give up his Comforts give up his conveniences in order to follow Jesus and it is the same for us today now I'm not standing up here and saying that this is a call for radical abandonment of your possessions unless unless hear me out unless the holy spirit is tugging on your heart to do that but what Jesus is saying is you must be willing you must have a heart your hands must not be tied so closely to the Comforts and possessions and the things of this world that will take your

eyes off of following me it doesn't mean that you're not allowed to have property it doesn't mean that you're not allowed to have a retirement account or a savings account or whatever it might be that that brings Comfort Financial comfort because some of the some of the things that we see through scripture or or where the Lord will bless his people is through financial blessing and it is in order for those to bless others so what we need to remember what we need to think about more often than we do is where do our hearts lie when it comes to Comforts and conveniences have we

made Idols out of our comforts because this is what Jesus means when he's talking to this disciple and he's talking to us about following him we must follow him all the way to the Cross denying ourselves laying aside our fleshly desires and Ambitions in service of the Lord and I don't know what that looks like for you but some of you it may mean leaving the Comforts of your own home it may mean leaving this state or this city or even this country to go somewhere else to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ but for some of us in here following Jesus and forsaking

in the Comforts of your life might mean just leaving your house and going to your neighbor next to you it might mean getting into a place that makes you feel uncomfortable in order that you may be around unbelievers so that you can share life and the gospel with one another sometimes I think we have this grass is greener on the other side mentality that if the Lord calls me to another country it's going to be easy for me to share my faith but when you're not doing it in your own neighborhood what makes you think that you're going to do it in another country where

you're even more uncomfortable and so maybe again stepping outside of your comfort zone means going to Your Neighbor Next Door going to your neighbors in your neighborhood going to areas where are where you are going to be put in uncomfortable situations in order to share the gospel Jesus never presented his life or following him as one of ease but one that requires sacrifice and a willingness to give up these Comforts and to give up these conveniences in order to follow him the second would be disciple that Jesus calls to follow him doesn't necessarily or at least on the outset doesn't necessarily look like he's worried

about his Comforts although I think we can start to discern as we walk through this part of the passage that I think Comforts are even a part of his heart's desire but what we first initially see is the customs of his family and his Society or again so he claims and Jesus gives him a stark rebuke and it reveals where his heart truly lies look back at verse 59 to another he said follow me but he said Lord let me first go and bury my father and Jesus said to him leave the dead to bury their own dead but as you go or as for

you go and proclaim the kingdom of God you see unlike the first disciple Jesus actually calls this man to follow him Matthew 8 again would tell us this was a disciple that was in fact following Jesus but it looks like here from this passage he might have had one foot in one foot out he might not have been truly following Jesus and and finally Jesus goes man you've got to follow me and this man says I must go and bury my father but what his response actually reveals is that he has an excuse he has an excuse and a desire to delay his discipleship you

see when he says but first let me go bury my father it may seem like an innocent request and it also may seem like Jesus is being super harsh to someone who just wants to go bury his own dad but we have to understand some cultural background to see why Jesus would say what he says and trust that the character of Jesus is greater than our understanding of why he would say something like this you see this man especially in the customs and the the culture of this time this man would not have been following Jesus as if his dad had in fact just passed

away you see death and burial were very serious to this Society Jews would have buried their loved ones within 24 hours of their death and not only that with this man as we will find out later being most likely the firstborn of the family it's his job to take care of his father even post-death and so what Jews would do is they would wait a year and then they would take up the body and take the bones and put it into a box for the family calling it a a bone box for for their family to to have as a memorial and so the timing

even in sharing his own father would have been a year in which this man would have been taking care of his dead dead father and his family but bearing someone in this Society was so much of a big deal that you could actually avoid studying the law Temple services Passover sacrifices observing circumcisions and other duties that the Jewish people were called to observe when it came to a family member passing away it was the excuses of all excuses to get out of the works that the Jews were required to do it's like a I mean when you look at it in the slide it's like

a vague excuse that we can often use myself included that we're like you know what something happened with my family I can't be at XYZ or I don't feel well oh well what's wrong I don't know I don't feel well I can't be at this place and so we we use an excuse to get out of circumstances or things that we have once said we were going to do and it's so vague that you can't really combat it as the one receiving it this is the kind of excuse that this man is giving I must go bury my own father but Jesus knew his heart

Jesus knew where his true desire lied it was the excuses of excuses because at that moment if his father had truly passed away it would have been scandalous for him to be there what this would be disciple is revealing in his request is that he had an excuse for wanting to delay his discipleship and Jesus knowing this and knowing his heart responds by calling him out what's interesting is some Jewish commentators would even say that this man is most likely the oldest of his family and if he's got to go and bury his father that means that he also is receiving the inheritance in which

his father would give him and so the excuse of delaying his discipleship may also include what he might receive in riches and comfort and so what Jesus says to him is stop with your excuses stop with whatever you are doing to delay your discipleship and follow me and go and proclaim the kingdom of God now I I don't want to lose the Force Through the Trees in this story because what Jesus is not saying is he's not saying that we don't honor our fathers and mothers as they are dying in their old age in fact taking care of them in their old age until they

pass is one of the greatest ways in which we can honor our parents and Obey what the scriptures have to say I want to honor our brother Bryce this morning and I'm glad he's here with the passing of his mother if you guys don't know it happened two weeks ago yeah I know that it was tough The Sting of death is never easy even when our parents are believers but I want to share this with you guys I've seen Bryce for the last seven years take care of his mother as she grew older as she lost her ability to remember even those around her and

yet Bryce selflessly with the help of his sister took care of his mother until she passed away and I have never once heard one negative thing about serving his mother my entire seven years of knowing Bryce this is what honoring our parents look like and if you want an example of that look at Bryce's life so thank you for that example Bryce Jesus is not saying that we do not honor our parents in death that we do not honor our parents in taking care of them when he rebukes this disciple what Jesus is getting after would be the excuses of delaying his discipleship so much

like the first would-be disciple who wanted Comfort this disciple wanted Comfort but also delaying he wanted leisure in life and then he wanted to follow Jesus it reminds me of being back home I don't know if this or if you've been in conversations with people or non-believers up here but it definitely happens in Florida people will just tell you what they believe but they'll also tell you their own sins it's it's wild but I would get into conversations with people at coffee shops and they would see me reading a Bible or reading a book on discipleship and they asked questions they were very free about

doing that and what would often happen is people would say now I believe in Jesus or at least I know who he is I know that I need to repent of sins I need I know that I I need to follow him but what I want to do is I want to sew my Wild Oats I want to live a life of sin I want to live a life is fun and freeing and then at an older age when I settle down or when I have kids or or when I believe it's time to actually become faithful to the Lord I then I'll start following

him and what I would think is man that is an arrogant arrogant thought because one you don't know when the Lord is going to call you home you don't know when God is eventually going to call you home and what are you going to do but it's also arrogant to believe that you have enough power to say no to sin just like that to just turn it off and stop loving the sin and stop giving into what you have been giving into your whole life stop delaying discipleship stop delaying following Jesus now I hope none of us in here have this arrogant thought like most

people I talk to in South Florida but if you do I'm pleading with you this morning the call of Jesus is the same stop delaying and follow him repent of your sins trust in him as Lord believe that his death and Resurrection can cover you that will bring you back into right relationship with the father follow him trust in him as Lord believe in his grace and believe in his Mercy and for those of you who have trusted in Jesus for those of you who believe that his forgiveness has covered your sins let us take this rebuke to heart as well let us ask the

question where are the excuses in my life when it comes to following him where are the excuses leading me to live a life that looks more like a cult the culture of this world and not the culture of the Kingdom where my life looks more lukewarm than on fire for who Christ calls me to be as Dietrich Bonhoeffer says in his book the cost of discipleship when Christ calls a man he bids him to come and die let us take Serious following Jesus where there is nothing more important than him not our family not our work not our security not our comfort we follow Jesus

no matter how uncomfortable wherever he calls us and whatever he calls us to do we are saying I will follow him I will be obedient to his words through the power of scripture and by the power of the Holy Spirit trusting in Him and what he has for my life and my family's life even if it's uncomfortable brothers and sisters I urge you with all that I am this morning to give up your excuses whatever they may be deny yourself take up your cross and follow Jesus this third would-be disciple comes with a very similar excuse as the second it is a request to go

back to his family and yet once again Jesus knows the heart and gets straight to the heart of the matter verse 61 says yet another one said I Will Follow You Lord but let me first say farewell to those at my home Jesus said to him no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back as fit for the kingdom of God now what's interesting here is Jesus actually gives two Revelations through his rebuke to this would be disciple the first is where do your priorities lie where do your cares of your life find themselves and the second is Jesus knows that going

back to his family will in fact lead him to look back at his old way of life and long for it so the first part where are your priorities where are your levels of care when he says to Jesus but first it is revealing that he has a hierarchy of values and once again he wants to delay his discipleship now growing up and and some of you may have this in your own family some of them even in your own life maybe you had them growing up in your families as well but most of us have like a hierarchy of values right God church family

or God Family Church work friends whatever it might be Heidi and I have it in our home I I would I would think that most of you guys knowing most of you guys have the same type of values and oftentimes it does start with God and family right and those are two good things to value but how often do those two things get inverted and not maliciously but subtly let me give you an example how easy is it for us to plan our family events whether it's our kids activities sporting events vacations with family and our calendar gets full and then when it comes to

the things of the church those things can't be added in because our lives are too busy so when it comes to discipleship or when it comes to Bible studies or when it comes to worship night so when it comes to Sunday morning Gatherings those things of the Lord those things that the church asks for you to be a part of to grow in your faith and grow in your relationship with one another you can't because you're so busy and it looks like you're choosing the right priority in regards to your family but the reality is you have just filled up your calendar and now you

can't add anything else to it you see oftentimes what hinders us from following Jesus doesn't always have to be sinful things they can be good things but when they get in the way of what the Lord really wants us to do and following him that's where we get in trouble that's where we must take a look at where is my time being spent I heard this phrase growing up like you can tell where somebody's heart lies by looking at their checkbook anybody heard a phrase like that well I also think it comes to time you can look at our priorities you can look at our

values by where we spend our time and where we offer up our time and so when it comes to family schedules and vacations events that dictate Our Lives before the things of the Lord what is often being revealed for us is there our value truly lies now hear me when I say this I'm not saying that missing church every once in a while is sinful I'm not saying that going on a family vacation isn't restful and at times it can lead to you missing a Sunday or missing a community group or whatever it might be what I am getting at is the consistency of planning

your life schedule and then trying to bring in church or then try to bring in the things of the Lord and not being able to do them because your family schedule has taken priority so what I want us to do is I want us to look at where we value our time where we value the things that we are pursuing with our family and honestly it doesn't have to be our family but oftentimes what I see is the family gets inverted to the top even subtly the other area that Jesus points out to this would be disciple is what would happen if he went home

Jesus is saying don't look back what he's trying to tell this would be disciple is if you go home you are going to get sucked back into your old way of life that would take you off the straight and narrow path and he uses this analogy of a farmer who is plowing now I don't know of any of you who are farmers in here but if you can just think about plowing a field you have to have your hands here and you have to have your eyes forward because anytime you start to look back left or right you are going to zigzag even though you

might be looking back to try to make sure you're going straight but it's the same thing when we drive right if we're just staring at our rear view mirrors or staring at our side mirrors we will eventually Veer into another Lane if we're not keeping our eyes focused on what is ahead Jesus is telling this would be disciple as well as us today don't look back don't long for the things of your old life or your old flesh or how your sins used to be super fun or it used to be that you had a life of luxury and comfort and ease don't look back

keep your eyes fixed on Christ keep walking up that mountain to the celestial gate so that you can receive the reward in glory keep denying yourself keep following him because it is in following him the true joy and true satisfaction come in this life and the life to come as I want to close today I just want to remind us guys following Jesus is not easy it is costly but it is worth it it is worth it it requires us to be willing to give up everything our comfort our excuses our desires to hold on to our lives from the past and it requires us

to deny ourselves daily but the reality of this is that we do not have one who has not done it for us we have one who has come and obeyed even to the point of death who stepped out of the Comforts of glory and put on flesh and dwelt Among Us and lived a life we could never live to die of death we deserved but then he rose from the grave bringing us hope because he defeated sin and Death on our behalf and through him we are now adopted as Sons and Daughters of God he fulfilled all the acts of obedience that we could not

and that we are called to and in fulfilling these acts fulfilling the law his Perfection is imputed to us and we are now seen as righteous as he has taken on our sin as he has taken on the wrath of God this is who we have to look to in the beautiful reality of knowing that Christ has come before us and done all of this in our place shows us that when we are following him that isn't our salvation our Salvation is not based on our works or how good we follow Christ or being a disciple to him no discipleship is an overflow of what

Christ has already done for us and so we can be encouraged because following him is not what is going to make us be delighted in God or God delighting in us following him overflows from that Delight it's not what earns it and we can do this again remembering that the power of the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead now lives within us so we have the example of following Jesus we have his perfect obedience that has been imputed to us but now we have the one who raised Jesus from the dead also within us compelling us to live in a way that we

can follow him but there's also a promise as if there's more to be had of following Jesus there is a promise that Jesus gives to his disciples at the end of Luke 18. so the Rich Young Ruler comes and asks what must I do to get into heaven and Jesus says obey all the commands and he says I've done this and then he says because Jesus knew his heart of course give up everything that you have and follow me and the man being so rich is discouraged and walks away from following Jesus and Peter then asks Lord if it is impossible for this man to

be entering into the Kingdom of Heaven what must we do and Jesus says truly I say to you there is no one who has left house or wife or brother or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who will not receive many times more in this time in the age to come in eternal life what Jesus is telling his disciples is everything that you give up is not going to be more than you will receive in me so there is a promise that we have it's not a Prosperity promise of like health wealth and prosperity that will always be healed or

always have enough money but it is that we get Jesus and we have more than enough so everything that we give in this life we will receive more in him in this life and in the one to come so there is a promise that when we Faithfully follow Jesus and give up everything we are receiving more than we could ever ask for Jesus gives us this promises as his disciples as we come to communion and close this morning I want to go to the end of Pilgrim's Progress so if you know the end of the story Christian gets to the river before the celestial gate

and he's called with hopeful to go across this River to eventually enter in to the kingdom of God and he Wades through these Waters and he goes down under he doubts his salvation he doubts that he's ever going to get there he doubts that the Lord actually loves him he he almost drowns and then eventually remembering the gospel he begins to float he begins to swim he gets to the shore the waters become shallow and he gets to the other side all of the journey all of the progress all of the trials and tribulations and the despair everything that he has gone through is now

finally ending and this is how the book ends they ask what will we do in this holy place and The Shining ones answered you will receive the comfort of all your toil and have joy for all your sorrow you will reap what you have sown all the fruit of your prayers and tears and sufferings for the king along the journey in this place you will wear crowns of gold and enjoy the constant sight of the Holy One for there you will see him just as he is you will serve him continually with praise there with shouting and Thanksgiving worshiping the one you desire to serve

in this world where it was much more difficult because of your flesh there your eyes will be delighted with seeing in your ears with hearing the pleasant voice of the mighty one there you should enjoy your friends again the ones who have come before you and there you shall receive with joy every single one who follows after you into this holy place you will be clothed with glory and Majesty there and put into a carriage fine enough to ride out with the king of glory as I said earlier from Luke 18 this is a picture of what we will receive when we come into Glory

the gift the crown the promise of ending our race faithfully and giving up all that we have for Jesus name no matter how hard it may be look to the promises of scripture that one day we will receive this Crown as well and that we will be in glory no more sin and no more shame no more diseases and we'll be worshiping the king with our Brothers and Sisters in Christ for eternity this is the promise that we look to this even though it might be hard here this is the promise that we have and we can have hope in this life even though the

cost is difficult as Paul reminds us these light and momentary afflictions are short in comparison to what we will receive in glory and so brothers and sisters I hope that when you come to text like this you can see that even though you might be giving up everything in this life you will gain everything and More in Christ and that is what we can hope for and that is where we can find Hope and joy and satisfaction as we wait as we Faithfully follow him as we deny ourselves as we bear our cross daily and as we trust in Christ and so in communion where

I want us to see that we can Rejoice is communion is a foretaste of what is to come communion is a foretaste of the banquet that we will receive when we get into Glory you guys realize and hopefully you're not really like Satisfied by the bread and the juice when you eat it but what it is supposed to do is it's supposed to make you long for more and that longing for more is supposed to point you to what is to come and so as I invite you up this morning to grab the bread and grab the juice I want you to reflect on what

is to come that foretaste of glory and this foretaste comes through the breaking of Jesus's body and the shedding of his blood that brings you into this eternal life with him when we take this bread and we drink this juice we are reminded of the sacrifice that Jesus made we were reminded that he went to the cross with joy that was set before him we are reminded that he had his body shed and his his blood was shed out on our behalf so that our sins would be covered and we would receive his righteousness and in his death and in his resurrection we're saved and

so every time we come and take this communion we are reminded of that but we also should look to what it points to so let me invite you up and then I'll encourage us with some things that we need to examine as we take communion and then we'll worship through communion and song together so please come and grab the