Before Sermon Video from Teresa. Play blind_eyes-opened_official_Trailer.mp4

Hate Your Family, Hate Yourself, Love Your Savior.

Introduction

Please Stand for the Reading of God’s Word

Luke 14:25-27 ESV  Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,  (26)  “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.  (27)  Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

You may be Seated

• Jesus likes to make extreme statements, doesn’t He?
  • Statements like “God is all-powerful”
    • That’s an extreme statement, I mean, really Jesus… if God can do anything, then can he make a rock so heavy that even he can’t lift it?
• Jesus likes to make extreme statements like “If you call your brother a fool you are endanger of burning in hell forever”.
  • Come on now Jesus, you really mean I could go to hell forever because of one word I say to my brother?
  • Jesus makes extreme statements like “God loves everyone”.
    • Really, do you really mean that… you mean God loves Hitler?
• You see Jesus likes to make a point by making an extreme statement. Like someone on the internet saying “President Trump is literally worse than Hitler”.
  • OK… no he’s not, but I get that you are trying to make a point by making an extreme.
• And so Jesus makes this point… if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own family and himself, he is not worthy to be my disciple.
  • Jesus is making a point… He is being extreme to make a point.
• But the difference between Jesus and that poor Trump hating internet warrior is that JESUS DOESN’T EVER LIE. Even when being extreme to make a point, the extreme point is still true.
  • God is all powerful is an extreme statement… it is also a true statement.
    • Can God create a rock so heavy He can’t lift it? No, because that’s not a thing that is a paradox.
    • Just like God can’t smell the color purple, or taste the number 11. Those aren’t things, they are nonsense.
    • The same came be true of this. God is all poweful, and God is Holy. Therefore God can’t be around sin.
      • What, God can’t do something?
    • That’s right. God can’t lie, He can’t sin, and He can’t be around sin. Because He is Holy.
      • And that is why humans have a problem
  • Jesus says extreme things like one sin will lead you to hell.
    • That’s right, because God can’t be around sin, He created a place away from Him… and without Him that place sucks… a lake of fire with weeping and gnashing of teeth.
    • So if we have sin on us when we die, we can’t go to heaven, because God can’t be around sin, so He sends us to the place where He is not… Hel.
  • Jesus says extreme things like “God loves everyone”.
    • Yup, even Hitler. God loves Hitler… that shouldn’t anger you, that should give you comfort, because if God can love Hitler, than He can certainly love you!
      • That doesn’t mean Hitler is not in Hell.
    • But it does mean that Jesus died for Hitler too, because Jesus died for everyone.
    • And Hitler had the same opportunity to repent and give his life to Christ… just like the serial killer Saul of Tarshish had.
      • Saul took the opportunity to be saved and turn his life around.
      • Hitler did not.
• I say all of this to make this point: THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST IS EXTREME!
  • IT IS EARTH SHATERING
  • LOGIC DEFYING
  • CHAIN BREAKING
  • MIRACLE WORKING
  • ETERNITY CHANGING
  • SOUL SAVING
  • EVERYTHING RIDES ON IT EXTREME!
  • That’s the Gospel, EXTREME!
• It is so extreme that when you are changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, when you are made new, when you are born again… THE RESULTS SHOULD BE EXTREME! AMEN?!
  • So extreme, Jesus says, that by way of comparison your love for Him should be so great that it completely overshadows any earthly love and relationship you have ever had…
  • It eclipses your earthly love so much that by comparison it is fair to say you hate even your family and yourself.
  • Jesus wasn’t lying when He was being extreme… and that’s what we are going to talk about today! Let’s pray

Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray

Point One: Hate Your Family, Love Your Savior

Luke 14:26a,c ESV  “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters… he cannot be my disciple.

• Listen to me church… the world ought to look at the way you follow Jesus and think you are a LUNITIC.
  • It ought not make sense to them.
  • And what the world is going to do is take there greatest form of love that they understand and they are going to compare that to you and what you are doing.
  • So they take the greatest form of love they know, the love that is shared between family members, and they put that on you…
    • There understanding of love is weak, it is temporary, it is selfish, but they think the ultimate form of love is to love your family.
  • And the world looks at the way you love Christ and they say “YOU LUNATIC, YOU MUST HATE YOUR FAMILY TO FOLLOW CHRIST LIKE YOU DO!”.
• I will give you an example.
  • When I was 13 I thought myself to code … how to program computers.
    • So at 13 I learned my first computer language.
  • When I was 15 I built my first computer.
  • When I was 16 I got my first Job… I worked at the public school district teaching teachers how to make webpages.
  • When I was 18 I graduated with my associates in Arts Degree from the local community college. I graduated college a day before I graduated highschool.
• At this point a lot of people saw potential in me and they started to ask the question: What are you going to do with your life.
  • Now at this point I had been saved for two years and had heard the call of God to be a pastor. I KNEW what I was doing with my life.
  • And I remember, someone very close to me, someone I respected and desired their approval… but someone in the world… they asked that question.
    • I said “I am going to be a pastor”
  • And they shrieked back in disgust… “WHAT?! BUT YOU ARE SO SMART! YOU ARE SO TALENTED! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT! YOU WONT MAKE ENOUGH MONEY! YOU WILL BE POOR! DON’T YOU WANT A FAMILY? DON’T YOU WANT KIDS? YOU CAN GIVE THEM A GREAT LIFE AS A COMPUTER PROGRAMER! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO THEM?!”
    • You see to this person, and their worldly knowledge, for me to give up wealth was to hate my family. To this person, I hated my family because I loved Jesus so much.
• Do you love Jesus that much? That’s what He is asking you today.

Luke 9:59-62 ESV  To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”  (60)  And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”  (61)  Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”  (62)  Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

• God told Amanda and I to plant a church in Cedar Rapids Iowa.
  • We obeyed… not because Iowa is awesome… but because we love Him and honor Him and obey Him.
    • After all, John 14:15 Jesus tells us “If you love me you will keep my commandments.”
  • We loved Jesus, He told us to go, that was a commandment, so we kept it, we went.
• When we moved here Amanda and I left all of our friends behind. We did not know a SOUL in Iowa.
  • My father lives 620 miles away.
  • My mother and oldest sister live 873 miles away.
  • My pregnant sister lives nearly 2000 miles away.
  • My best friends live 2000 miles away.
  • Amandas parents and most of her friends live 2000 miles away.
• Now we were only supposed to stay here for 3 years according to Victory Family Centre Singapore who sent us.
  • So, two years in, when we had our son in the University of Iowa, our thoughts begin making plans to move back closer to friends, and family, and survivable winters…
  • We thought we needed to move close to our family so our Kids could grow up around their family.
• Then word got out that we might be leaving.
  • And people asked us to stay.
    • But we didn’t stay because of the people.
  • And Stacey wrote a letter to us about why Iowa is the best place to live ever.
    • But we didn’t stay because of Iowa…
  • It was God who spoke, He spoke these two verses…

Luke 9:59-62 ESV  To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”  (60)  And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”  (61)  Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”  (62)  Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Luke 14:26 ESV  “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

• The Lord literally brought those two passages to my mind, Scripture says that the Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance all the things Jesus taught when you need it, and that is exactly what happened to me, I remember exactly where I was and when it happened.
  • He brought these two verse to my remembrance and I thought to myself “Surely not Lord, Surely not Iowa”.
  • And He spoke to me “IS MY WORD NOT CLEAR ENOUGH FOR YOU”.
• I told Amanda, and we agreed.
  • So now my kids have to grow up 2000 miles away from their grandparents…
• And to the world that seems ludicrous… but I love God more than even my own family…
  • And the best news is… GOD LOVES MY FAMILY MORE THAN I EVER WILL.
  • So the best thing I can do for my family is love and obey Christ.
• You picking up what I am laying down here church?
• Good… NOW GO HATE YOURSELF.
  • No really, go hate yourself… kill yourself… that’s the next point. Let’s talk about that.
    • And if there is anyone who is suicidal watching this morning, please listen closely, follow along, because I am not encouraging suicide… at least not in the worldly sense…
      • Quite the opposite, actually, this point may just save your life.

Point Two: Hate Yourself, Love Your Savior

Luke 14:26 ESV  “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

• Let me be clear… Jesus is saying that you must HATE yourself to be His disciple…
  • And this is not the only place He says it either…

John 12:25 ESV  Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

• One of the greatest threats to Christianity in America is not Hillary Clinton or AOC or Chick-Fil-A bowing down to the LGTBQ agenda…
  • No, by comparison those are small beans…
• I think one of, if not THE, greatest threat to American Christianity is Humanism.
  • Humanism is a worldview that believes that if it makes you feel good, it is good.
  • And if it makes you feel bad, it is bad.
  • The human, not the Creator, is the center of this worldview.
• It is because of humanism that we have pastors in pulpits who refuse to talk about sin…
  • Because talking about sin makes people feel bad, and that means it must be bad.
• It is because of humanism that some churches are completely erasing the concept of hell…
  • I don’t like the way I feel when I think about hell, therefore the concept of hell must be bad.
• It is because of humanism that sinful agendas are promoted, even in the church.
  • Well it feels good, therefore it must be good.
  • It feels right, therefore it must be right.
• Humanism says “It doesn’t matter what scripture says unless what scripture says makes you feel good.”
• A humanist preacher will not read Luke 14:26, unless they do so in a way that twists the meaning…
  • One of there favorite humanist scriptures instead is Mark 12:31

Mark 12:31 ESV  The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

• Now wait a minute pastor, that’s the second great commandment of Christ, isn’t it good to preach that?
• YES! But humanist preachers TWIST it and say “You have to love your neighbor as yourself… so really you need to learn to love yourself first before you can love your neighbor”.
  • Now wait just a minute… is that what Jesus said? NO! Jesus asserts that you already love yourself and that in that way you should love your neighbor.
• What the humanist has done is taken a verse about loving others and twisted it to make it about you! Twisted it to make it about yourself!
  • This verse was never about you, our loving yourself, it was about your neighbors and how you love them.
• In fact I would assert that there are very few people, if any, on this world who struggle with loving themselves…
  • But pastor, I look in the mirror in the morning and I hate what I see…
  • I see someone who is fat, and ugly, and weak, and stupid… I just hate myself.
  • NO YOU DON’T! If you hated yourself you would be HAPPY that you are fat and ugly and stupid and weak!
    • It is in fact because you love yourself so much that you care about how you look or think.
• If you are suicidal it is not because you hate yourself…
  • It is because you are suffering and you want the suffering to end.
  • I get it, I have been suicidal, I understand the thought process… if you feel this way reach out to me PLEASE I want to love on you and Christ does to.
• But if you are suicidal it is not because you hate yourself… it is because you love yourself…
  • You know I thought Osama Bin Laden got off easy with a bullet to the head.
  • I thought He needed to answer for his crimes…
  • He needed to suffer for what he did…
• If you hate yourself you would think the same way about yourself…
  • You would say, I don’t want to die, I want to suffer… I deserve to suffer… bring it on.
• NO WHERE IN SCRIPTURE DOES IT TELL US TO LOVE OURSELVES. NOWHERE!
• Instead Jesus tells us to hate ourselves and to die to our own desires and wants and flesh.
• DO YOU LOVE JESUS LIKE THAT? DO YOU?!

Luke 14:26-27 ESV  “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.  (27)  Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

• The cross is an execution device! HE IS SAYING KILLYOUSELF DAILY!
  • Is that how much you love Jesus… is it? Examine yourself… are you dying for Him? Are you giving up things you love for Him?

Conclusion

• OK, NOW ALL OF THAT WAS REALLY DARK WASN’T IT.
  • Here is the Light…
• Jesus loves you more than you could ever love yourself.
  • He loves you with a love that you could never understand on your own.
  • He loves you more than your mother or father could ever love you.
  • He loves you more than your sister or brother could ever love you.
  • He loves you more than your children or friends could ever love you.
  • HE LOVES YOU MORE THAN YOU COULD EVER LOVE YOUSELF.
• And that is why His forgiveness, His healing, His saving grace is so radical. Because when you feel the love of Christ, when you trade in your worldly love for His heavenly love, His perfect love…
  • All of the sudden you feel loved like you never thought possible.
  • A love you could never give yourself.
  • A love no person or substance could ever show you.
  • Perfect love.
• That is why John 12:25 says what it says…

John 12:25 ESV  Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

• You see if you love your life, if you love yourself so much you refuse to give it up to Jesus…
  • You will never experience true life and love.
  • You will never experience what you were created for.
• But if you love Jesus enough that in contrast it looks like you hate your own life… if you love Jesus enough to give up your own life… THEN you find love, and peace, and eternal life like you have NEVER THOUGHT POSSIBLE!

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