Sacrifice and the Now Generation

I just loved the message today at church. I hope Pastor Jodi doesn't mind if I paraphrase what I got out of it. She started out telling a story about a man stuck in the desert and trying to find his way out. He knew it had to do with the sun so he started to follow his shadow which led him in circles and in the same place he started. So in order to find his way out, he needed to follow the sun (Son) to find his way out instead of rely on his own shadow.

The message was from Mark 8: 27, where Jesus asks his disciples who they think he is and several say John the Baptist and some say Elijah, but Peter gets it right, by saying the Messiah. He then tells them that the time to reveal this to others is not yet come. He starts to explain to them what is to happen. The Son of Man is to suffer many things and then will be killed and then rise on the third day. Peter rebuked Jesus by saying this can never happen and Jesus tells him "Satan get behind me", you do not know the things of God, but only the things of man.

Mark 8: 34 - Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life[c] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul.

She said that many believe to take up his cross means to bear a burden, but she made me see that to take up his cross and follow me, means we have work to do here. We are a generation of instant gratification. Me included in the worst way. I have no patience. I want everything now. I have always known this fault of mine, but try to control it.

This economy is built on a house of cards, credit, spending, and living above our means which are all sinful according to the Bible. The Bible teaches against living in debt. Why, because God knows it only causes strife a kind of slavery to the debtor. Man is he right. But I'm in it just like the rest of the country. So much that we are currently in a Dave Ramsey mode of living on less. We don't eat out or spend needlessly. God is always with us even in our shortfalls and is pulling for us to do the work we are called to do. But as I was saying we are a generation of now and don't want to wait or work for it first. Well we want to live an eternal life in heaven, but don't really want to do anything to have to get there. We are called to love God with all our heart and love others as ourselves. Within this is a bunch of service opportunities to share God's love with others...endless ways to do God's work.

But an analogy that really clarified it for me was about a musician. I spent the weekend at a Bluegrass Festival with numerous talented musicians. I constantly think I could never do that and I have no talent. But then she pointed out that to be a talented musician you have to work hard, work long and hard to get there. These fellas have been playing their whole lives, hours a day, every day. Nights without their loved ones, a non steady paycheck, hours of practice. They didn't just walk up and pick up an instrument and begin to play beautifully, they worked long and hard, with numerous sacrifices for that. Well, we want salvation, a live eternal in heaven, to live with our precious Jesus for all eternity, but we don't want to sacrifice for it. I know that salvation is not based on works, but as a follower of Christ with his spirit inside of you, you are here with a job to do. We all have a talent to lend to this job. Many different talents to do the work of our savior. We, his followers, are called to take up our cross and follow him.