Today at Trinityouth, I think I preached the hardest message in my life. Hard as in heavy, pounding, serious, straight-to-the-core, jokes and funnies aside. I dont think I remember seeing so many serious (and zoned-out) faces in any group I've preached to ever. Nevertheless, I believe I brought the right word at the right time, because it does seem like so many of them have forgotten what it is to truly follow Christ.
The Rich Young Ruler
One day one of the local officials asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to deserve eternal life?”
- This guy understood it.
Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good—only God. You know the commandments, don’t you? No illicit sex, no killing, no stealing, no lying, honor your father and mother.”
- You know what right things to do. In fact, you have kept them all. But keeping these commandments have not answered your question. You feel like there is something else missing in your life.
He said, “I’ve kept them all for as long as I can remember.”
When Jesus heard that, he said, “Then there’s only one thing left to do: Sell everything you own and give it away to the poor. You will have riches in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
This was the last thing the official expected to hear. He was very rich and became terribly sad. He was holding on tight to a lot of things and not about to let them go. Seeing his reaction, Jesus said, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who have it all to enter into God’s kingdom? I’d say it’s easier to thread a camel through a needle’s eye than get a rich person into God’s kingdom.”
“Then who has any chance at all?” the others asked.
“No chance at all,” Jesus said, “if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust in God to do it.”
- With God, all things are possible. What is there that is impossible to God? The only thing that He will not do is to violate your choice by taking it from you. You must choose to follow him. Then only can He do it. If not, then it is technically impossible for Him because He will not violate your freedom of choice.
Some of you gotta put your pride away. There’s so much pride in you, it’s killing you. It’s like you don’t care even if you know I’m talking about you. I’m responsible for my own self, and you’re right. You just don’t realize that that pride is blinding you. Dragging you down. Keeping you chained and all locked up inside. Or maybe you realize, but you’re not choosing to let go. In fact you like being like that, locked up, prideful and conceited. You feel like you’re in control. You feel like at least you are comfortable with the walls around you.
Some of you gotta put your dreams away. They’re taking you away from God. You think that maybe those dreams will give you the kind of life that you have always wanted to live. Dreams of being famous. Dreams of being wanted. Dreams of making lots of money. That dream girl, or that dream boy. If only you could get your hands on them you would be successful. And oh, by the way, my dreams will be OK if I just Christianize them and say that I’m doing them all for God.
My question is, is it really from God? Did God give you that dream? Or did you cook it up yourself? Because if God gave you that dream, you would know that God is important enough to help you achieve that dream. But right now, chasing that dream takes up so much more time, energy, and effort, than chasing after God. You’ve become so focused on your dream that you have forgotten about God, except for the occasional “yeah I’m doing this for God,” like it even means anything. You know you’re just saying it to tell yourself that you’re OK with God, when actually you’re not. You’re not alright with God. You’re not following him.
Some of you gotta put yourself away. You think this whole world is about you. You think that everything revolves around you. In fact, you’re thinking maybe this guy up here, he’s lost his mind speaking like this in youth group! How dare he accuse anybody, how dare he accuse me? Yeah, then I’m speaking to you. Because it’s not all about you. It’s not all about how you feel. It’s not how you think it’s wrong, or even right. It’s all about God and his relationship with you. If your self is in the way of God getting to you, then why are you even here? You should be at home playing your videogames. You should be out with your worldly friends becoming more and more like the world instead of becoming more and more like God.
But you’re here. The fact is, you’re here.
And if you are here, then I urge you to make this time count. And not just when you’re in youth group, or when you’re in church or among your Christian friends…but even when you’re alone. Will you get with God? In your quiet moments will you choose to be someone who follows Jesus?
What you do in your public life reflects what you do in private. The kind of person you are here, or in school, or in front of people, shows what kind of person you are when you are alone. And standing here looking at all of you, I can somewhat tell what kind of person you are even if you hide from me. I can tell if some of you are true Christians. I can also tell if some of you are doing this Christian thing just coz. Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I can’t tell…but does that matter if you’re such a good actor/actress? What matters is that you cannot hide from the fact that God knows every single thing about your life, public or private. You may get to choose. But God gets to watch. And in the end, everything you have ever done in your entire life is going to count.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone of you desires to come after me, you must forget yourself, and take up his cross and follow me. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for my sake, you will find it.
Have you been a faithful follower?
