Why would anyone give up everything for Jesus? What are we holding onto that keeps us from fully trusting Him? Tune in this week to be challenged to go deeper in Jesus!
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OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
I recently watched a thing on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, do you know about him? He was a pastor and theologian during WWII from Germany. As Hitler was rising to power preachers were literally saying he was sent by Jesus to the church and to Germany. Bonhoeffer was actually able to escape to America but after getting here he said he had to go back to Germany because how could he help the church rebuild what she was supposed to be if he had abandoned her during that time frame? He went back and was a part of a failed assassination attempt on Hitler-Valkeryie. Bonhoeffer and thousands of others were arrested and put to death for their resistance to Hitler and for helping smuggle Jewish people out of Germany.
Here’s my question:
Why in the world would someone give something so costly as their life to the cause of Christ?
I think it’s a fantastic question at Christmas…
And it feels ridiculous, doesn’t it?
Bonhoeffer’s family didn’t even know he had been sentenced and hung until weeks later.
This guy died as what would seem a failure, as someone who died in anonymity.
Why give your life for what seems like nothing?
Isn’t this the question we are all really asking?
-I mean we ask it in little ways all the time.
I want to look at an answer hidden in the Christmas story.
b
We are going to have to go back hundreds of years before that first Christmas to find the story..
SCRIPTURE:
We have to go back SO far. It’s not cold, but instead, it’s hot – you need to picture Iraq because that’s where we are landing. It was almost 500 years before Jesus would come into the world. But the land at this time isn’t called Iraq, it’s called Babylon. The King, Nebuchadnezzar had been having terrible dreams at night. You might know this story. He tells all of his magicians and enchanters that they need to interpret the dream, but that he will not tell them the dream. An impossible task. He orders all the wise men to be put to death – this includes a guy named Daniel who pleads for a chance to interpret the dream. The story is serious and would be terrifying. Daniel is answered by God and interprets the dream. After he does this, Nebuchadnezzar does this…
Daniel 2:48
48 Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men.
b
Daniel becomes the ruler of all the wise men of Babylon…
There will be a change over of rulers in Babylon and Daniel will be considering the words of Jeremiah that said the Israelites would only be in Babylon for 70 years. As they are getting closer to that time, Daniel starts to pray to God. Daniel is visited by an angel – Gabriel is the same angel that appears to Mary… I want you to hear the word that God gives to this guy who is the ruler of the wise men of Babylon:
Daniel 9:24-26
24 “Seventy ‘sevens’[c] are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish[d] transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.[e]
25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One,[f] the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench but in times of trouble. 26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing.[g]
People who are way smarter than me have done the math to figure out when the seventy-sevens would occur. Notice the things said about this person who would come:
This Messiah (the “Anointed One”) will:
- Put an end to sin (Priestly function)
- Atone for wickedness (Priestly function)
- Bring everlasting righteousness (Priestly function)
- Seal up vision and prophecy (Prophetic function)
- Anoint the most Holy place (the temple) (Prophetic function)
- Be a ruler (King)
- Be put to death and have nothing
b
ILLUSTRATION:
I grew up watching Sesame Street, they used to have this segment where they would sing “One of these things is not like the others, one of these things does not belong..” They’d show red balloons with a blue balloon. I used to think I was a brilliant genius because I’d be like, “The blue one, the blue one doesn’t belong! … You can stop singing the song, I figured it out…”
Listen,
One of these things in Daniel’s vision is not like the others. Did you notice it?
That the Messiah would be put to death and have nothing…
What in the world? How can that be?
Let me tie some things together now…
Does anyone know what direction Iraq is from Israel?
B
East
Do you know another word for wise men?
b
Magi
b
One last thing… Did you know about 1,000 years before Daniel there was a prophet (Baalaam) from the region of Babylon who made this prophecy?
Numbers 24:17
“I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob;
a scepter will rise out of Israel.
Let me tie this together… Listen….
SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 2:1-12
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
b
Get this: There is a strong chance the magi that come to Jesus are men who have grown up in a tradition where they have learned from those who learned from Daniel…
Did you see what these guys brought to Jesus?
Gold (the gift for a king), Frankincense (incense used by priests), and Myrrh (oil used to anoint the dead).
b
“Kent, that’s interesting, but how does this help answer the question: ‘Why in the world would someone give something so costly’”
b
Did you know some scholars have estimated the cost of these items at $4 million in today’s money?
b
These guys came and worshipped Jesus at great cost to themselves…
I think the reason Bonhoeffer was willing to give his life and why these men were willing to travel over great distances and at considerable cost to themselves was because of what Daniels vision said about this anointed one:
[The Messiah would] put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness
The reason someone like Bonhoeffer or these wise men are willing to give so much is because they gain so much more – eternal life!
CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:
Jenni and I have been watching “The Summit” like survivor on the side of a mountain. They have people do challenges – one they had to descend a cliff on a rope, but at some point, they had to let go of the rope to connect to a zip line. One of the guys did not want to let go of the rope – the rope he knew was solid, the rope had gotten him down the Cliff, and the rope hadn’t failed him, but the rope couldn’t get him off the wall. He had to let go of the rope, abandon it to trust something different – the zip line, that could take him down to solid ground. Following Jesus is much like this. Jesus’ gift is absolutely free and doesn’t cost you something in the sense that you have to pay for it or earn it. He gave it freely, but if you don’t give up on the old way of life, you will never truly enter into His life. As long as you hold onto the rope that got you here, and it probably worked for some things. It worked to get you to where you are. It worked to make you a shrewd business owner, it worked to make you a revered coach, it worked to make you even the good father that you are. But it can’t take you all the way. It can’t take you to eternal life, it can’t take you into peace and joy, it can’t take you into freedom from sin. At some point it leaves you hanging there – it can’t tell you your purpose in life, or create real lasting meaning. What we give to Jesus is to offer those things to Him and to let go of the old life for the new life He offers. To get on His zip line and be whisked away into the life of God – which is SO much better than you can imagine. Knowing God, and having Him speak into your life is profound!
You know, right before his hanging, Bonhoeffer said these words:
“This is the end–for me the beginning of life.”
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer
What if today, you chose to give your life to Jesus, He came to give you the best gift ever, what if you gave your life back to Him…
