Gladiators of God

kids to their classrooms kiddos y'all can head on to your classrooms and for the rest of us go ahead and grab your Bibles Luke CH 12 we're going to be looking at verses 8-2 um in our text today Luke Luke 12 8 through2 as you're heading there last week Jesus told us to not worry about what other people think or what other people say uh or even how they treat you but rather be encouraged or concerned with what God thinks What God Says what God does in regards to your life I mean that was really the main message and the main point for last week

now that's more of some internal work that we typically do right I mean that's that's more of me kind of working in my own soul and my own heart all right I I want to fear God I don't want to fear man I want to be more concerned about God I don't want to be concerned about others and so for younger people that's more like peer pressure for us we call it people pleasing now Society calls it codependency we we don't want that to be our reality we want to fear God we want to know him we want to be dependent upon him more than

anything and everything and that was kind of our message last week is this this idea for me to live to live my life to go about my day is Christ you know that's what Paul tells us and for me to die is gain because I get to go and be with Christ and so everything about him was all about Jesus and so Jesus has told us you know don't worry about what others think or do be only concerned about what God thinks and what God does because you actually find all your worth and all your value in him and him alone in fact because you

do find all your value and worth in him he goes on to tell us today owledge him before others tell other people about Jesus and so he's going to take what we internalize about our view of him and what we think about him and what we value about him and he's going to take what we internalize and now he's going to put it to action he's going to say if your heart's posture is that Jesus is your greatest treasure then you're going to put your mouth where your heart is essentially you're you're going to act out in a way that is going to reveal what

you say you believe what your real affections and desires are and so it's going to be a bit of a test for us today and and I've been thinking just throughout this week I I know that I've just a lot of times I can finish a sermon and I can go and I can rest or I can take a day off or I'll you know go on and do other things but this one has just consumed my thoughts for the week and I don't know there there's another term that keeps coming into my mind chyros if you've ever heard of the term chyros it's a

Greek term that means a defining moment a defining moment in someone's life and for whatever reason I just keep coming back to this idea not not that this sermon is going to be that for our church I'm not putting that pressure on myself right now um but that I believe this moment in time is a defining moment for our church that it's a defining moment because of where we find ourselves in Luke I mean it's it's we're 63 weeks into this now and we're here in Luke at this time for you for the ones listening to be able tow what Jesus is teaching us and

proclaiming to us in order for it to be applied to our lives on a daily basis and so this one in in some ways has just kind of wrecked me this week in just thinking about it in my life and thinking about it in our life as a church and so my prayer is that it does the work that it is called to do that the Holy Spirit takes this message today and gets it into our mind gets it into our heart heart so that what we say we believe becomes reality and we live it out because that's the call to action that Jesus is

giving these disciples let me read it for us he says I tell you and he's talking to his disciples I tell you everyone who acknowledges me before men the son of man also will acknowledge before the angels of God but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God and everyone who speaks a word against the son of man will be forgiven but the one who Blas blasphemes against the holy spirit will not be forgiven and when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or

what you should say for the holy spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say I want to pray before we dive in again father this is your word this is what you you have provided to us through your Apostles this is what you have communicated to us what you want us to know about you and about your mission and about how you save how you forgive and also the the action that you call us to as you bringing us bring us into your family we do not become Believers and Christians or Disciples of Jesus that is not also costly we

we do not become Disciples of you and then passively expect others to do the work to do the ministry to do the spreading of the Gospel the good news we do not acknowledge you internally but do not acknowledge you publicly Lord I ask that your spirit the one that your message right here even says guides us and has been given to us and entrusted to us will teach us in that very hour how we ought to say I'm praying right now that your spirit would teach us in this hour what it is that we ought to do and believe and live with our life because

we have been changed and transformed by you and you alone I'm praying for that right now and it's in Jesus name we pray amen three things from this passage that we need to make sure we understand from this text number one these are going to be questions number one what does it mean to deny Jesus before men we need to know that number two what does it mean to acknowledge Jesus before men we need to know that and number three how does God help us pull this off because we need to know that those are the three things because one of those leads to Jesus

denying you another one leads to Jesus acknowledging you and another one leads to us understanding how we're able to do that with the help of the holy spirit so beginning with the first one what does it mean to deny Jesus before men for starters we've all denied Jesus okay so if you're in this room kind of wondering man have I ever denied Jesus before yes okay you have we have all denied Jesus we're putting our cards on the table even looking at the 12 disciples all right the 12 disciples I'm going to use two of them as examples for us Peter denied Jesus three times

on the night of jesus' crucifixion and Death on that same night Judas also denied Jesus and sold him for 30 pieces of silver one of those guys goes on to become the first pastor of the first church and preaches the first sermon at Pentecost and 3,000 people get saved one of those guys that denied Jesus goes on to do that one of them who denied Jesus hangs himself that night what's the difference between their denials that's what we want to get to and that's what I believe this text is helping us with there has to be some sort of explanation for certain types of denials

that can be forgiven and other types of denials that cannot or will not be forgiven look at verse 10 he gives us he helps us with this here everyone who speaks a word against the son of man will be forgiven but the one who blasphemes against the holy spirit will not be forgiven this is Jesus helping us see that there's a bit of a difference between denying Jesus that can still be forgiven and denying Jesus that will not be forgiven so let's work with the term deny the term deny in its original context or original language it's aromi in the Greek and it has several

biblical usages that we see throughout the scriptures one and the most the the the most harmful way to deny is to not accept to to reject or to refuse something offered in that definition if you have something that you're offering to me or extending to me or even wanting to enter into a relationship with me I'm going to deny it I'm going to reject it I I I I don't believe you have anything to enhance my life or improve my life and so I deny it I reject what it is that you are offering and that's What Judas has done in this context in this

situation I don't need you and I don't want you the one that hits home for most teenagers when they ask someone out is when they get hit with a rejection all right I remember being a sophomore in high school and I asked a girl out and no kidding this is no lie her father took me out to dinner took me to the local Waffle House we get real fancy in White House Tennessee took me to Waffle House bought me dinner and then proceeded to tell me all the reasons why I'm not good enough for his daughter or their family so it wasn't even just a

rejection from the daughter it's a total rejection from the family like that's a rejection all right and What Judas has done in this situation in this scenario is he sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver it's a complete rejection of Jesus it's a smack in the face of God and you might say well well silver is a treasure is it not like he's just treasuring Jesus by selling them like anyone who's hunting gold or treasure or silver if they find silver they're like we've struck treasure this is great but it still has a value to it and in this context first century Jesus's time 30

pieces of silver is equivalent to about two to six weeks worth of wages so just think about that when Judas is being asked how much is Jesus worth to you it's a side gig I'm willing to give him up I'm willing to sell him for two weeks pay what he is saying with that posture with that heart with that action is that I see no future with Jesus he's not worthy of that for me I see no future with him same thing is with the Pharisees the Pharisees they hear Jesus out they conclude some things about him and his identity and what he is teaching

and saying and they come to the conclusion that we see no future with you it'd be better for us and for our culture for you to be a dead for you to be dead than alive and so we're going to crucify you for that here's where the unforgivable denial comes into play most theologians put Judas in the category of an individual who blasphemed against the Holy Spirit what does that mean according to Strong's Concordance to blaspheme means to speak reproachfully to rail at or revile in other words it's to consider someone or something evil and again have no value for you Judah selling Jesus shows

that he has no value of Jesus in his life Pharisees show that they have no value for Jesus in their life and so they deny him they reject him this is a posture of of the Mind the heart and the spirit of a person that's concluded I want nothing to do with Jesus and I'd be better off without him that constant posture and that constant conclusion and living your life in that way is one that eventually goes on for the for the Father in heaven to look at you and say you have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit you have not seen value but rather have

have blasphemed in a way of where you consider them even evil and that will not be forgiven that will not be forgiven we have thrown away Jesus and essentially in doing that are also being condemned by him to be thrown away and by receiving an eternal damnation in Hell difficult difficult but reality reality what about Peter's denial Jesus or Judas sold Jesus for 30 pie of Sil silver but Peter publicly denied Jesus three times before Jesus was crucified how come he got a second chance well where judas's denial was a I deny you and don't want anything from you Peter's denial was a little bit

different Peter's denial was a self-denial I deny myself from relationship with you Peter's denial had nothing to do with determining Jesus's worth it had nothing to do with determining Jesus's value it had nothing to do with determining Jesus's identity for that matter rather Peter's denial was one of self-preservation when the circumstances around him closed in on him he wasn't thinking about Jesus he's just thinking about how do I survive this how do I take matters into my own hands in order to survive I I'm not saying Jesus is not worthy and I'm not saying Jesus is not the son of the Living God we know

that Peter has professed that and confessed that but rather this is a moment of weakness where he is speaking a word against the Son of God but he is doing it in a self-denial where he's not rejecting Jesus he's rejecting himself from having relationship with Jesus and he goes back to doing things his own way so let's talk for a moment what Peter did in his denial is what we do most often when Jesus was on the tribe before the rulers and authorities Peter wanted to be there at Jesus side like he's wrestling with something in him he wants to be there he wants to

be in support of his friend who's about to be murdered and has been arrested and is about to be crucified but also in that moment when they start pressing in on him he takes matters into his own hands and out of self-preservation he finds his own way out just like we do often times he denied Jesus and went back to fishing we may not publicly say I don't know him or I've never seen him or I'm not in a relationship with him but we functionally say I'll do what's familiar I'll take the easy rate the the easy way out I'll take a different route I'll

I'll make it happen on my own and Jesus will come to us he'll lovely lovingly meet with us like he did with with Peter just a a few weeks later where Peter's gone I mean like Peter's quit the ministry he's denied Jesus he's walked away and he's gone back to doing familiar whatever's familiar to him fishing and Jesus comes and meets him where he works sometimes Jesus might come and meet you where you work he comes and meets him and they come to this beach and Jesus throws a breakfast for him and then he starts to ask him some heart questions to see really where

the heart of the denial was do you love me which is him saying do you value me do you see who I am do you believe that I am who I say I am do you believe that I have resurrected from the grave and he asked him three times and some believe that it's you know offering three forgivenesses for the denials I don't think there's any coincidence there and also don't think you should read into that as much but he's just asking him of his worth and his value and do you value me do you love me do you do you see me as worthy

to follow and trust and Peter goes on to say three times you know that I love you you know that I see that you are valuable you know that I want you more than anything and then 40 days after the denial Peter goes and preaches that sermon at Pentecost he goes and he confesses and professes who Jesus is he acknowledges him before men before people you see judas's denial was a denial of Jesus's identity Peter's denial was a denial of his identity in Jesus and it led to Temporary separation from Jesus until Jesus forgave him restored him and renewed his spirit so not all denials

look the same not all denials look the same it's just we functionally deny Jesus when we are not treasuring him when we are not loving him when we are not valuing him when we are not seeing him as the greatest object of our affections and our worship and when we put something else in that place we are denying Jesus the worship and adoration that he deserves and we are ascribing it to something else that type of sin and denial is forgivable it's the allout rejection of Jesus and having a life posture like Jud Judas did that is not forgivable now some will ask how safe

can I live and still be forgiven which is really just saying what can I get away with and still be forgiven how much can I deny and still be okay and rather the question that I think we should be asking is in light of my forgiveness how much can I acknowledge the goodness and beauty of Jesus to others because that's what Jesus restored Peter to and he is also restoring and renewing us to as well it's not let me get saved by Jesus and forgiven by him and then what's the bare minimum that I can do in order to stay in to continue to be

forgiven what what is that like if that's our posture we're actually revealing a little bit more of like Judas than like Peter rather the posture should be and as we'll see here in a moment an increasing confidence and conviction that I actually don't care about my life I care more about the acknowledgement and proclamation of Jesus than I do my circumstances so much so that if my circumstances end up killing me because of my acknowledgement of Jesus that is the greatest reward that I will ever receive rather than the reward of managing my circumstances and denying Jesus and then acknowledging him every once in a

while but then going back and forth back and forth back and forth we don't want to be in that position and this is about progress you're not going to do this perfectly that's why I said right at the very beginning let's just put our cards on the table we all deny Jesus we all do that functionally we do that every single day it's about progress not Perfection it's about maturing in this acknowledgement of Jesus before men versus denying him before men that's why I believe Paul tells Timothy as he's pastoring in Ephesus in first Timothy 4:12 through1 16 he says this to them he encourages

him kind of admonishes him he says let no one despise you for your youth but set the Believers in example and speech and conduct and love and faith and Purity until I come devote yourself to the public reading of scripture to exhortation to teaching w- which is at the highest level acknowledging Jesus before people do not neglect the gift you have which was given you by prophecy when the Council of Elders laid their hands on you practice these things immerse yourself in them so that and I love this so that all all may see your progress he's not saying so that all may see that

you're perfect so that all may see your maturing in Jesus and able to Proclaim him among others and call them to do the same thing practice these things keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching persist in this for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers it's it's all coming to Salvation at that point acknowledging Jesus before others teaching Jesus before others proclaiming Jesus before others not only is your salvation but it's also an opportunity of salvation for others so that leads us into how do we then acknowledge Jesus before men we don't want to deny him like Judas

and we wna stop denying him like Peter how do we then acknowledge Jesus before men because we don't want to just focus on the denying part let's move and focus on the acknowledging part it's kind of like those who mature in Christ those who become more Godly it's not because they're just focusing on not sinning they're focusing on worship they're focusing on how do I live a life that is honoring to Christ and uplifting and and and and Adoration of him so what does it mean to acknowledge Jesus before men acknowledges homo in the Greek and it also has a couple of biblical usages the

first is that it means to confess which is opposite of deny if a CH if a charge has been brought against you and it's true you can't deny it you confess it if it's true you confess it in Peter's case do you know Jesus him saying no was to deny it if Peter in the moment would have said yes I do know Jesus he's confessing that he's telling the people yes I confess I do know Jesus however acknowledgement goes deeper than just confessing if questioned in the court of law to acknowledge also means to profess to declare openly to speak out freely and in this

case to profess one's worship of another not only am I confessing acknowledging that I am a Christian but I'm professing that I am a worshipper of Christ like so it's not when someone just comes to you and say are you a Christian I I confess yes I'm a Christian no it's actually us going to people and saying Hey I want to let you know something I'm a Christian and this is why I'm a Christian I'm a believer I'm a disciple of Jesus I think a lot of times we sort of wait for people to ask us and and and this just not going to happen

it's not going to happen it it's not the the way we used to say it in the South is no one's going to come up to you and just be like hey I noticed you don't cuss what must I do to be saved like that's just not going to be the reality all right they might see something different in you and it might be confounding to them and then they might look at you and just be like you're weird you're different but nine times out of 10 they're not going to ask why it's going to take initiation on our part to profess why there's a

difference one last biblical usage of the term acknowledge is also to praise and to celebrate there's an internal acknowledgement that Jesus is my life and my greatest worth and value nothing I have is more valuable than Jesus he's my treasure he's the goodness of my life therefore the thought of selling him for a few weeks to pay would never cross my mind I'd rather go I'd rather go broke than give up The Treasure of my heart which is Jesus and that's also actually where Luke is going to go in the next couple of weeks he's going to start talking about our treasure he's going to

start talking about our resources and he's going to say your resources aren't meant to provide for you better circumstances but your resources are actually meant to be stewarded in such a way that they Proclaim that you acknowledge Jesus before for others so we'll see that in the coming weeks of where he goes with that but to sum it up we are willing to throw away that which we see is no value to us and if we throw away Jesus that's blaspheming the Holy Spirit In which God's not going to forgive and actually then throw us away to hell but good news if you're willing to

throw away everything else for the sake of keeping Jesus because he is is your greatest treasure and not only that but placing Jesus on the nightstand as we talked about in the last few weeks placing Jesus on the nightstand of your heart putting him on display for others to see confessing and professing him before others he will also acknowledge you in heaven before the angels and declare you a citizen of that place that's what he's saying we don't deny we acknowledge and there's action to that now the question is how do we do this because those are just some action steps stop saying I don't

know Jesus stop functionally looking like you don't know Jesus start saying you know Jesus and functionally look like you know Jesus how does God help us with this this is where he goes verses 11 and 12 and when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers of and the authorities do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say for the holy spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say now I um I titled this and lots of times I don't give out my titles um but I title for no reason I just don't

do it I titled this the Gladiators of God and this is why you're going to see why I gave it that title the Gladiators of God I don't want to minimize our anxiety in here when it comes to acknowledging Jesus before Men We we all have anxieties when it comes to sharing the gospel when it comes to evangelizing somebody when it comes to telling them GE about Jesus we all you know we we we will look at that coworker who we've been building a relationship for with for a couple of years and we say man we've become such good friends if I if I bring

up Jesus it's going to ruin it or the the the new neighbor that's come in next door man if I if I come straight out with Being Ned Flanders and start talking about Jesus then there going to think I'm well great we just moved in and we're going to have a weird Neighbor Next Door like we have this anxiety about sharing our faith because again people pleasing We Fear man that's what we talked about last week I don't want to minimize our anxiety about acknowledging Jesus before neighbors family co-workers and so forth but I do want to give you some perspective for what these disciples

were dealing with when Jesus told them not to be anxious about acknowledging them before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities because we can just jump over that real quick and just think that's not a big deal as if that's just kind of like Hey whenever you get around your friends at a bonfire and they start asking you Jesus questions don't get anxious the holy spirit will help you in the moment to declare what you need to declare you see we got to look at the context in which Luke is actually writing this and recording this Jesus said this around 30 ad Luke is

writing this around 60 AD and there were some things happening there that's a little bit different than our context here today when Jesus was C was crucified the highest official in the Roman Empire to hear about Jesus was Pontius Pilate so at the time the emperor of Rome who who was tiberious he hasn't even heard about Jesus or Christianity until after Jesus's crucifixion and he actually really didn't do much about it okay he just kind of let it be a local thing and let the Jews deal with it so between 30 and 60 AD the persecution that was happening to the church was primarily coming

from the Jews coming from the Pharisees it wasn't until 60 AD that the persecution started coming from the Roman Empire itself it started coming from Nero who started reigning in 54 ad and he reigned from 54 to 68 ad Nero is is very much considered to be um as let's see where was it um the the column from collector refers to Nero as the architect of Christian martyrdom says like Christian martydom really took off and began with Emperor Nero while Luke is recording the book the Roman Emperor actually started a fire well it's it's alleged that he began a fire the Great fire throughout Rome

um which happened right around 60 AD and that fire he blamed it on the Christians in order to have a reason to capture them and start killing them so as Luke's re writing this book is when you have Nero capturing both Peter and the Apostle Paul and bringing them to the Roman Coliseum and having them executed and murdered because of the profession of their faith according to the collector it goes on to say shortly after the fire the hunt for the capitalist Christians began and according to tacitus who was a Roman historian and politician born in 854 he says first Nero had those who admitted

to be Christians arrested and on their statements a large group of others were condemned he said they were not only convicted of ourson but just as much for their hatred of man what was the emperor's sentence to these confessed Christians the punishment was death Nero wanted to show that he was a man of the people so he made the executions a public spectacle tacitus said their death was made into a sport he would dress the Christians up in animal skins they were Torn to Pieces by dogs or crucified other Christians were hung on poles drenched in tar and at night executioners would light them up

in order to have them as human torches so that they would light up the streets and the screams would just continue to ReSound throughout the night and a sickening smell of burning flesh would settle over Rome and Luke tells us don't be anxious don't be anxious how how how do we not worry about that because God's entrusted to us the Holy Spirit he's entrusted to us the Holy Spirit I I believe with my whole heart that when he says when the when they bring you before the synagogues that is what they've now known for 30 years Jews who are murdering people that profess to know

Jesus and when they bring you before the rulers and the authorities that is the officials of the Roman Empire to not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say because the Holy Spirit is in you and he is there with you and he's going to empower you he's going to help you with what you should say in that moment he's going to help lift you in order to acknowledge Jesus even if it means you get hung on a cross just like your own Messiah tacitus and tulan both agree that the early Christians were almost elated to be martyred for their

faith because they were empowered by the Holy Spirit and they had confidence The Same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead was going to raised them from the dead as well to an eternal to an eternity with Jesus they saw it as a reward I mean I think that's why it wrecked me this week is because I'm just thinking about our context and I'm thinking about our anxieties that we have and and all it is doing is just revealing a lack of Reliance on the Holy Spirit that's been interested to us that's hard truth but it's truth man what is keeping us like these are

just men and women just like you and me And yet when he's telling them don't be anxious when you come before those who are probably going to take your life don't be anxious about that and they so trusted that word from Jesus that the Holy Spirit was going to empower them that their shift of their posture went from anxiety to being excited excited about what they were going to do I mean they believe the text when Ephesians 13- 14 says in him you also when you heard the word of Truth The Gospel of your salvation and believed in him you were sealed with the promised

Holy Spirit he's the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory they believed Jesus when he said in Acts 1 18 you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my Witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the Earth like they believed that they will have power and that they do have power they believed acts 4:31 when they had prayed the place in which they were gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God

with boldness with boldness it's revealing like what's the common denominator there is that the holy spirit that came to possess them that came to live inside of them that Jesus Promised and sent that that spirit so sealed them in Christ and empowered them in Christ that they had confidence and conviction and it led to confession it led to acknowledging Jesus before others without any concern about what they would do to them the early Christians filled with the Holy Spirit were people of this confidence and conviction what does a community look like that believes this that acknowledges Christ before men that that confesses Jesus as Lord

that professes to be a member of his church and that praises and celebrates Jesus as their greatest treasure what does that Community look like right after it says that they were filled with the Holy Spirit acts 4:32 through 35 says the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own but that they had everything in common and with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all man they didn't care about what they possessed

they didn't care about what other people thought about them all they cared about was this grace that has come to them and getting it to those around them it was a radical and countercultural moment where the most freeing thing you could do is deny yourself and acknowledge Jesus that was the most freeing thing that they could do and by doing that you actually live the most fulfilling life possible albeit shortlived on Earth but Eternal in heaven with Jesus when he says well done well done listen Jesus isn't telling these disciples to do something he isn't willing to do himself I me that's something we need

to know he's not he's not asking them to do something he himself is not willing to do it all starts with Jesus who denied himself so that he could acknowledge us before God that's why we celebrate communion every single week the Lord's Supper points us to the sacrifice Jesus made in order to give us his spirit it's also the fuel that empowers our spirit to fulfill and follow the same example of Jesus if our savior and our Lord who we follow and trust and are to be examples and models of and are are to imitate if he's willing to deny himself to the point of

death on a cross how much more are we to deny ourselves even if it means to the point of death listen to it Philippians 2:5-11 so you don't just believe I'm just pulling that from nowhere have this mind among yourselves so he's telling his church um think this way believe this way live this way have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human

form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross Jesus had everything and denied himself access in order to come and live among us as us in order to serve us to the point of death on a cross therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on Earth and under the Earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ the Lord to the glory of God the Father like there will be a day where everyone will confess

Jesus as Lord what makes the difference is which ones are confessing him before they get to that day because if you wait to do it that day he will not not confess you before the angels in heaven he will not acknowledge us before the angels of heaven it is that spirit that desire that passion that drives those in history who have made some of the biggest movements in Christianity take Ignatius of Antioch I want to tell you about him a little bit he was personally discipled by the Beloved Apostle John which is just mindblowing to be able to say like I'm I'm a disciple of

one of the original that's incredible to me he was the bishop of the church in Antioch for 40 years he was one of the first to use the term Christianity he once said I would rather die for Christ than rule the whole world I mean that's what we're getting at i' I'd rather die for Christ than rule the whole world and that sentiment would become his reality because he did not believe in the Roman god system of polytheism he was arrested and he was sent to Rome in a letter to Rome this this is just this blows my mind in a letter to Rome preceding

his arrival Ignatius begged his brothers there to avoid using their political connections to hinder his expected martyrdom like he's got he he knows where he's going he's going before the ruler and authorities and he's not anxious he's excited but he knows I've Got Friends in Rome that are pretty high up in some political positions and my friends are going to probably try to help me they're going to try to like give a word on my behalf or make my sentence a little bit lesser and he's pleading that they don't get in the way of what is expected to be his martyrdom this is what he

said to his friends in that letter you cannot do me a great favor he wrote then allow me to be poured out as an offering to God while the altar is ready entice the beasts to become my Tombstone that they may leave nothing to my body I mean this man was so ready to live for Jesus and die for Jesus that he's basically saying season me up throw some salt and pepper on me and let the Lions Feast like that's what he's saying and on October 17th 107 ad at the Roman Coliseum where we've watched the movie Gladiator in that same place he was martyred

for his faith in Jesus he acknowledged Jesus one last time before man and this is what he said now I begin to be a disciple let fire and cross flock of beasts broken bones dismemberment come upon me so long as I attain Christ and then he was thrown to the Lions which devoured him alive don't be don't be anxious Ignatius when you come before the rulers and authorities the holy spirit is going to help you with what you need to say in that moment you see Ignatius embodied the spirit of Christ that commanded Us in Luke 9 23-26 which says he said to them all

if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it for what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits his himself for what for whoever is ashamed of me and of my words of him will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the father and the Holy Angels when Jesus said that both Peter and Judas heard it one continued to reject and

said I'd rather gain the world or at least two weeks of it and lose you forever according to OS aanam 1,400 years later in 1530 at the University of Paris a young Spanish Soldier was so moved by reading the story of Ignatius that he dedicated the rest of his life to Christ he changed his name to Ignatius of lyola after the Martyr and then he founded the Jesuits or the Society of Jesus which emphasized evangelism and the spreading of Christ's message through education and universities is God calling you to acknowledge Him before others in a way that could radically change your life and the lives

around you future Generations like are we bouncing back and forth from denying Jesus because of our circumstances and our lives or are we stewarding our circumstances and our lives in such a way that we're acknowledging Jesus so that and it's not just for our name but for the possibility of generations down the road someone to hear of how much we treasure Jesus that they changed their name the holy spirit in you is calling you to acknowledge Jesus before others and there are ways that we do this publicly as a church the way we acknowledge Jesus is through baptism and then after that we continue to

acknowledge Jesus when we come to the table that's how we acknowledge Him together as a body in one Spirit remembering who it is that we treasure we don't treasure our Ministries or our programs or our the names of our churches those things are important and they have value but those things do not matter if individually we are not seeing this savoring this and confessing this where are we where are we are we out in the boat fishing like Peter and Jesus is coming and pulling us back to Shore and saying let's let's let's let's have a meal together do you love me do you love

me do you love me and if so go and acknowledge confess it profess it to others show them how much you treasure Me Above anything and everything else this is fuel for us to be able to do that because the greatest sacrifice we could make is if someone were to take our life for following Jesus we don't experience that in our context in a western Society right now there are others in Middle Eastern and Eastern societies that it is their reality right now you profess Jesus you're going to die I'd hate to think what they think of us how weak what I want to see

is how much we treasure Jesus and just the I mean the the the absolute freedom we have right now to Proclaim him to Proclaim him let's just start let's do it let's Proclaim him because he saved us and he's going to Proclaim us before the Angels if what he's done is is of infinite value to you then be willing to sacrifice your temporary for that cause let's pray together father we thank you for your good news that sometimes is difficult news and we thank you that you love us and that you cherish that you give us your grace and your mercy and we thank you

that even In this passage that we we just looked at there are opportunities for you to forgive when we actually do deny when we say a word against you or when we when we don't say a word about you you forgive and we thank you for that forgiveness we also don't want that to be a consistency in our lives we want to mature we want to grow we want to see that progress we want others to see the progress in us as well and we want to be sold out for you we don't want to be anxious about what others might think but the only

way that we won't be anxious is if we rely on the holy spirit that you have entrusted to us and that that Holy Spirit is strengthening us and empowering us with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead that spirit is empowering us and giving us the ability to be your Witnesses here in Indianapolis and in the spreading world around us may we trust that spirit and may this be one of those moments where he does a miraculous work in us where he is growing us from one degree of glory to the next that he's making us more like your son Jesus who is

willing to deny himself take up his cross and die for the sake of Salvation thank you God for what you do for us may it Empower us to acknowledge you before others it's in your name we pray amen if you would go ahead and stand as you stand