March 4, 2007 - The Shoeless Jesus

These are my rough notes for this Sunday's message - again they are my NOTES - they are first meant for ME to understand... hopefully they aren't to difficult to decipher.

Please join the discussion (or help start it)... drop a comment, illustration, poetry, dissagreement, question or something... it's very helpful to me.

WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO RULE ME?

• A foundational struggle in everyone’s life.
• Eddie is in ‘terrible two’s’ – he’s discovered his will and challenges us at every opportunity
• Hope’s first piece of chocolate
• Adults: governmental “rights” – speech, privacy, education

FUNDAMENTAL TO CHRISTIANS

• Is a life that is surrendered to God.
• A life that has exchanged one master (self) for another (God)
• The concept behind “LORD”

SLAVE / SERVANT – a good description of a Christian (Christ follower)

(not a popular description for Americans)

• New testament authors took the concept seriously.

• Watch how these authors begin their letters

Philippians1:1

James 1:1

2 Peter 1:1

Romans 6:12-22 – spends a good amount of time dealing with masters and slaves. – apparently, what or who masters us is important.

Jesus – equates the greatest in his kingdom to a slave! (Luke 22:26-27)

SLAVES / SERVANTS HAD NO RIGHTS

• Slaves were barefoot in the ancient world.
  

MOSES AT THE BURNING BUSH:

Told to take off his shoes – Holy Ground

- the significance was not lost on him – considering his former status in Egypt.

- He knew that going shoeless acknowledged that someone greater than he was in charge.

- Holy means “set apart” – going shoeless was a clear picture of being set apart from God – God being the highest, man being the created ones.

- Joshua also took off his sandals when told to by God

BOAZ –

• Took off his shoe while negotiating for Ruth (and the future of Isreal)…. As if he’s saying “… on my right as a free man, I’ll do this”
• Boaz was obeying old testament law (Deuteronomy 25:7-10) – had deep cultural meaning.

DAVID

• Walked barefoot out of Jerusalem
• He left with no “rights” – barefoot, humiliated… living out his former motto “The battle belongs to the Lord”

THE DISCIPLES:

• Went barefoot when Jesus sent out the 70
• They left as ones who would serve
• (again, we could miss the cultural significance)
• (Matt. 10:10)

THE HIGH PRIEST:

• Every garment was of great significance and was thought out in great detail.
• THERE WAS NO MENTION OF SHOES/SANDALS – (remember, holy ground)
• The priest wore no shoes when he entered the holy of holies.

JESUS HIMSELF

• Philippians 2:7 “…but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant…”
• Was our high priest
• Walked barefoot to the cross
• Jesus gave up the following “rights” to accomplish his mission in obedience to the Father

Food (Matt 4:12)

Sleep (Luke 6:12)

Privacy (Mark 8:2)

Marriage (Eph. 5:25-27)

Home (Matt. 8:20)

Reputation (Phil. 2:7)

Possessions (John 19:24)

Right to live (Phil. 2:8)

To follow Jesus means that we follow ‘in his footsteps’ – to turn our lives over to HIS leadership… this means that we give up control of our lives.

WE GIVE UP TO GAIN

John 12:24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

WHO’S THE MOST QUALIFIED?

• Teenagers wrestle with this question… they are in the process of questioning who is the best qualified person to make decisions for their lives. Parent/teen dance – parents learning to give up some ‘power’ to allow the teen more and more opportunity to make own decisions.

We ask this question all the time, too.

• When we get mad at the person who cuts us off. “Who do they think they are?”

We answer this question all the time, too.

• When we don’t involve God in how we spend our money (we’re saying “I’m the best qualified person in my life to decide where I should spend my money”)
• When we don’t involve God in our choice of boyfriend or girlfriend
• When we are at the end of our rope, then we ask God to help ( a recognition that He’s the best qualified person to ‘rule’ or make decisions)

THE MOST QUALIFIED: GOD

1. The one with the most POWER… power to see all the angles, power to guide and protect.
2. The one who is the most JUST… can be perfectly just in all situations
3. The one with the most MERCY… mercy to bring life where there is death or pain.

NEW MATH:

Responsibility

- rights

______________

= Rewards of deeper relationship with God.

BASIC POINT TO THE MESSAGE:

We’re in a (loosely) series called “Survivor” – about surviving life. In week one we looked at THE BEST POSSIBLE LIFE – which starts with the recognition that Jesus IS the best way to live for now and eternity…. Can’t survive life with out this… also, Jesus wants us to do more than just ‘survive’ life.

So, with this message we dive a bit deeper into what it may mean to us or cost us to follow Jesus. We look at how things in his kingdom operate (so much different from the ‘worlds’ kingdom) – Becoming a ‘slave’ or ‘servant’ of God is actually a HUGE key to living the best possible life. We up the ante with the notion that we need to actually TRUST God to take care of us and lead us. We look at the issue of LORDSHIP from the angle of being barefoot.

MORE POSTS COMING SOON! until then...

Here's a short post - please comment at the end (or read the very first post to understand this experiment)

The next message is about "The Best Life Possible"

The basic premise is that Jesus said that He came to give "life to the full" (john 10:10)- in otherwords, the best life possible!

There are ways to live life that completely "miss the mark" (sin) and "fall short" of the best possible way.

Compassion is better than Selfishness
Generosity is better than Greed
Moderation is better than Hoarding
Love is better than Hate
Passion is better than Apathy
Contentment is better than synicism

Mercy is the new cool
Grace is the new cool
Being 'healthy' is the new cool
Giving to the poor is the new cool

We'll discuss God's intended way for Humans to live and uncover ways that people live that essentially become 'anti-human' - therefore anti-God...

Either following Jesus is the best possible way or He was a liar or worse - a deciever.

Drop a comment.