Paying The Price

“PAYING THE PRICE”

Ephesians 3.1

One of the most overlooked aspects of the Christian life is that private activity, that prayer time, you have with God. And the great tragedy of the personal nature of heartfelt prayer is that it is a habit of life not often passed on to succeeding generations of Christians.

Oh, we know we ought to pray. And we are certainly aware of the Biblical admonitions to pray without ceasing. And we mouth the virtues of prayer. And on occasion, we even testify of answers to prayer. But we do this without praying as we ought to pray. I have been a child of God for something more than 45 years now. And if there is one failing that I am more aware of than any other single failing in my brief walk with the Lord, if there is one single activity that contrasts my life and ministry with that of the Apostle Paul’s, it would have to be prayer. Oh, how that man prayed. Oh, how that man darted into the presence of God. Oh, how he longed to spend his time in the bosom of his Father. And, oh, how he used every conceivable excuse to rush to his Father in prayer.

Our Church has recently seen some success with the encouragement of Christians to engage in discipleship in a way that I have dreamed about as a pastor for decades. I have tried and tried and tried to establish the activity of discipling Christians but without previous success. But it seems that God has finally begun to answer my prayers and seen fit to bring together in this Church and at this time such a wonderful group of Christians, to disciple and to be discipled in the manner that the Lord Jesus commanded so long ago.

And you want to know what I expect to be the most exciting result of men and women engaged in the genuinely Biblical ministry of discipleship? Prayer. What I want, and what I believe God would have, is for each person who disciples another, no matter what particular subject matter is being dealt with, no matter what doctrine or grace is being considered, focusing like a laser beam on the importance of praying.

Who comes to Christ apart from some Christian praying? Who learns the Word of God apart from some Christian praying? Who wins a spiritual victory apart from some believer praying? How is a Christian mate selected apart from prayer? How is a child raised in a Christian home apart from parents praying? How is a believer’s job found or a career advanced, or education completed apart from God answering prayers?

How is it that the most potent Christian who ever lived resorted to prayer at every opportunity, yet so often some professing Christians will go days, not to mention hours or minutes, without praying? Not that we don’t know to pray. Not that we don’t want to pray. It’s just that, far too often, we’ve not been trained to resort to prayer. Disciple-makers? Train your people to pray. Pray when you’re mad, pray when you’re sad, pray when you’re glad. But pray.

When Paul began his letter to those Gentile Christians in Ephesus, writing from a Roman prison, he told them of God’s marvelous blessings to his own, the Jewish people. And he specifically related to them the role played by God the Father, the role played by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and then the part played by the Holy Spirit, these three distinct persons of the Triune Godhead.

But Paul didn’t stop there. After chronicling the blessings bestowed upon the Jewish Christians like himself, Paul then declared how the Ephesian believers, Gentiles like you and me, were included in God’s great plan of saving lost sinners. Well, guess what? When Paul got that far he was reminded of how much he prayed to God and thanked God for our salvation and how much he asked God to bless us in our Christian lives.

Hey, Christian. Do you find yourself taken to your knees in prayer, thanking God for the salvation of others, praying that God will bless them in their Christian lives, Ephesians 1.15-16?

15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,

16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.

Then, in Ephesians chapter 2, Paul takes off again on what wonderful blessings have been received by those who know Christ. But in that chapter, he spends far more time reminding the Gentile Christians how bleak the picture was for us before Christ and how marvelously God has brought us into their congregation, along with Jewish believers, because of what Christ did on the cross for us all. After going through all that in chapter 2, we find that Paul reminds us again in Ephesians 3.1 and 14 that such things as he has been writing about drives him to his knees in prayer:

1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,

14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Friend? Let me ask you a question: What drives you to your knees in prayer?

Most of us would answer that troubles drive us to our knees in prayer, although not all of us. If you won’t get on your knees to ask God what only He can supply during times of great need, something is dreadfully wrong in your life. Amen? I mean, the most wayward pagans pray when they get in trouble. But is that the only time you pray? Do you not pray when Paul prayed? He prayed we’ve seen twice so far in Ephesians when contemplating and discussing the great things of God, the profound things of God. Such things as the Father’s glorious grace and the Son’s blood-bought redemption and the Spirit’s comforting sealing of believers caused Paul to break out in prayers of rejoicing and adoration.

Let us consider, Christians, that we do not pray enough. Let us suppose that we, too often, do not pray for all the right reasons. And let us consider that the reasons we don’t pray may be two: First, we’ve not been trained to pray. We’ve not been discipled to pray. And that should be one of the preeminent goals of you disciplers, training your disciples to pray and pray and pray. Second, we do not appreciate the blessings of our salvation like we ought to. It was such glorious blessings as these that put Paul on his knees, not only seeking God’s help in times of trouble.

Would to God He would work in our midst to teach us to pray without ceasing, in good times and in bad, for help and also to rejoice. My text for this message from God’s Word is Ephesians 3.1:

“For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.”

We live in a day of cheap Christianity. Most people’s Christianity is cheap because it isn’t worth anything, and most people’s Christianity is cheap because it didn’t cost anything. If you doubt me, consider how many so-called Christian leaders and congregations have rolled over to the government’s unconstitutional and illegal interference with our God-given and Constitutional First Amendment right to worship according to the dictates of our consciences.

Understand. I’m not suggesting that anyone pays for his salvation. We know that salvation is by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus paid it all. It didn’t cost me anything to become a Christian. And it won’t cost you anything to become a Christian. But once you are a Christian, once you’ve received that free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, your Lord, the proper living of the Christian life exacts a high price, indeed.

“What do you mean, pastor?” I mean, look around your neighborhood. And listen to your neighbors. A surprising number of them claim to be Christians. A surprising number of them claim to be born again Christians, on their way to heaven. But only some go to Church on Sunday mornings during the best times. Fewer go to Church on Sunday evenings. Fewer still attend midweek services. Fewer still involve themselves in any kind of ministry. Fewer still will ever tithe consistently. And fewer still will ever lead a lost soul to Christ.

Oh, that man who says he is a Christian will occasionally stand up and tell folks how thankful he is to God for his salvation and his family and answers to prayer and for this and that and the other thing. But what price does the man pay to serve God? The man who attends only Sunday mornings will find all kinds of excuses to miss Sunday mornings. The man who attends only Sunday nights will find reasons to miss Sunday nights. The man who attends midweek services will find excuses to miss midweek services. The man who seeks the salvation of the lost will find an excuse to forego witnessing and inviting. The man who tithes will find an excuse not to tithe that week.

Why is this so?

Why is it that we find so few consistent Christians?

Why is faithfulness so rare a commodity?

Why is it that so many men will fold up their manliness and become whimpering and simpering Tiny Tims, rather than face down a loud and boisterous woman at home?

Why will parents sigh and do nothing when their little tyrant is jumping up and down demanding, in public, that they do what he wants them to do?

Why is it that so many men who claim to be called of God refuse to serve, refuse to serve faithfully, refuse to humble themselves, refuse to learn, refuse to sacrifice?

Why is this country in the spiritual state that it’s in?

Why has it taken scores of years for our people to wake up and flex our spiritual muscles and begin to demand the right to pray in the classrooms?

Why don’t Christians in the military resign over transsexuals in uniform and women in ground combat units?

Why is it that Christians are reduced to serving booze in restaurants rather than quitting in protest like we used to do?

Why is it that so-called Christians will drive so others can drink, rather than protesting the sin of drunkenness and having nothing to do with that crowd?

Why do Christians stoop to the gutter and gamble alongside the lost crowd?

I’d like to ask these and other questions for your consideration. How could we have avoided getting into this royal mess we’re in? And how come we don’t get out of this royal mess we’re in? Why can’t more of us be like the Apostle Paul? Because few of us are willing to pay the price, Christian. For you see, a high price must be paid to serve God.

Do you think about the claims of Christ? Is the Holy Spirit convicting you of your sins and convincing you that you’ll go to Hell if your sins aren’t forgiven? Then think on this: Although you need do nothing to be saved since salvation is both full and free to anyone who will but trust Jesus to wash his sins away, there are three considerations that must be carefully weighed by everyone who wants your life to count for Christ after you are saved.

First, YOU MUST CONSIDER THE CAUSE

I speak not of the cause of John, or the cause of Mary, or Calvary Road Baptist Church. I speak of the cause of Christ. I speak of God’s holy cause. When thinking about the cause of Christ, I would suggest that you spend some time contemplating and carefully considering two things:

First, contemplate the example of David. David was the shepherd boy, the eighth son of Jesse, who was anointed by the prophet Samuel to succeed wicked king Saul, whose rebellion had resulted in him being rejected by God. Sometime after he was anointed to succeed king Saul, but long before he had reached the full flower of manhood, David was asked to take food to his brothers who were fighting in King Saul’s army. When David arrived on the scene, there was a stalemate between the Philistines’ armies, on one side of the valley, and the armies of Israel, on the other side of the valley. You remember the story. The Philistines had a champion named Goliath, a giant of a man, who challenged any Israelite to meet him in the valley and do battle unto death to determine the war’s outcome. For forty days, Goliath challenged the Israelites and said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day.”[1]

What he saw shocked David. Imagine some uncircumcised heathen daring to defy the armies of the living God. Would no man rise to the challenge, David asked? No wonder the anger of those warriors, their courage being challenged by a boy. It was David’s own oldest brother who spoke out and rebuked him for shooting off his mouth, calling him proud and haughty.[2] But David wasn’t proud and haughty. He was a shepherd boy who tended flocks in the Judean hills. He was a youngster who had spent time alone with God. He was a teen who had been delivered from both bear and lion in protecting his Father’s flocks.[3] And he was a kid who was unsophisticated enough to believe that God’s interests were vital enough to risk his life, and perhaps even die, for. And how did he reply to his brother?

In First Samuel 17.29, he replied, “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?” As well, we might ask, “Is there not a cause?” David believed that there was a cause. And the cause was so important, and the cause was so neglected that he threw himself into the battle when older and more mature men should have done so. And he fought and killed Goliath. Why did he do that? He knew there was a cause.

With that in mind, next, consider the explanation of Paul. We see in Ephesians chapter 1 that God has a great plan of redemption, that the plan was implemented by the Lord Jesus Christ when He shed His blood of Calvary’s cross, and that the Holy Spirit indwells and seals those who are trusting Jesus as their Savior. In Ephesians chapter 2, we are informed that Jews and Gentiles are not the same in God’s mind, but that the Lord Jesus Christ overcame all the differences, removed all the obstacles, and made of two different peoples one people in the congregation of the Church.[4]

Paul’s cause was not preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Jewish people alone. Neither was it the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Gentiles alone. No. It was the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone, seeing all sorts reconciled to God through the death of Jesus Christ, and seeing all sorts joined together in the Church congregation to worship and serve God side by side. This, then, is the cause I ask you to consider. Winning to Christ and seeing serving Christ in this Church, men, and women of every kindred, tongue, and tribe. Nothing less than that is the full implementation of the Gospel message. Nothing less than that would have pleased the Apostle Paul.

Second, YOU MUST CONSIDER THE COST

Salvation, let me remind you, and as you already know, is free. But once you are converted to Christ and begin living for Him, once you take up the banner and join the cause, you must consider the cost.[5] Let me suggest only two prices you might be called on to pay:

First, your family and friends. Remember, Joseph’s price to pay to fulfill God’s plan, and purpose for his life was about 20 years without his family and loved ones. The price that Moses was called upon to pay in forsaking the pleasures of sin for a season and suffering affliction with the children of Israel was losing the royal family of Egypt that had raised him, losing all the privileges and benefits of being a part of the wealthiest family on earth, and losing his brother and sister for forty years. And for what? To become a foul-smelling sheepherder in the Midian desert. Jeremiah was denied permission to marry by God. Samuel was a little boy given up by his mother. Daniel was a lad who lost his home. Adoniram Judson buried two wives and several children in Burma. David Brainerd lost his health at a young age and then lost his life preaching to the Indians of New England.

What is the cost of serving God? What is the price of spending your life getting the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ out to a world that is lost and dying and going to Hell? It doesn’t often but sometimes may cost you your family or your family life. It may cost you your friends. It may cost you your career. You may have to forsake fame or fortune.

Second, the cause may cost you your future. Sometimes God works in the lives of those who have a family, who have a career, who have success, who have friends, who have some amount of fortune. And God leads those people to give those things up. But others are called upon to give up your future. You’ve not yet started a career. You’ve not yet started a family. You’ve not yet accomplished anything, by the world’s standards.

C. T. Studd was a world-class cricket player in England who walked away from sports to become a missionary in China, India, and Africa. He never regretted his surrender to serve God in that way.[6] For the cause of Christ, the cost to you is not anything you have, but what you might have had, what you could have done, where you could have gone, the name you could have made for yourself, the fame you perhaps could have found.

Think about Paul. For Christ’s cause, he gave up a most promising future as a Pharisee, as a Benjamite, as a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He gave up friends and almost certainly family since Pharisees were all married, and we know that during his apostolic ministry, Paul was not married. But he not only gave up his future. Paul also gave up his present accomplishments. Think about it. After giving up all for Christ, Paul had achieved some measure of success as a Church planting apostle. But at the very height of his ministry, after taking a monstrous love offering from the Greek-speaking Gentile Christians to the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem, he finds himself in jail, falsely accused.

Why did it happen? Why was he wrongly arrested and falsely accused? It happened because God wanted it to happen. It happened because the cost of serving God is very high. It happened because Paul was no prisoner of the Romans. Whether in prison or out of prison, Paul was only one person’s prisoner, the Lord Jesus Christ’s. For a great cause, there must be paid a high cost. And because Paul was involved in the greatest of causes, he paid the greatest of costs.

You, too, must consider this great cause of Christ, the redemption of lost sinners. No cause on earth is greater than this one. But also understand that no cost is higher. You might think to yourself, “Pastor, how high is the price? How great is the cost? How much does God want?” My friends, He wants it all. The Lord Jesus taught that you must give your life to gain it. Paul declared that we should give ourselves as living sacrifices to God, which is our reasonable service. Indeed, the cost of living for Christ is so high that few will ever pay the price. Too many insist on their family time, quality time, private time, and relaxation time. Such as these fail to recognize the irreparable harm they do to their loved ones by giving less than their best for the cause of Christ.

IS THE CAUSE NOT GREAT ENOUGH? DOES THE COST SEEM TOO HIGH? THEN CONSIDER THIS FINAL POINT. THE CONSEQUENCE OF PAYING SUCH A COST FOR SUCH A CAUSE AS THIS

There are three consequences:

First, a life that truly counts. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? For what purpose and to what end does someone spend herself to accomplish something that has anything less than eternal consequences? Okay. You have a job. It’s a job you like. It’s a job that gives you some feeling of satisfaction. I mean, you’re not just a widget counter. But I ask you, “So what?” Do you feed the children? So what? Do you preserve the environment? So what? Do you help people to read? So what? That doesn’t count. Not really. Ah, but when you involve yourself in our great God’s glorious plan of redemption when you get the Gospel message to sinners who are lost and bound for Hell. When your blood and sweat and tears and prayers and giving and efforts result in one precious soul coming to Jesus Christ. Then, my friend, your life has genuinely counted for something. For then, and only then, has someone’s eternal destiny been affected by your life. Is such a cause, no matter what the cost, worth this consequence? I think it is.

Second, a truly pleased Lord. People who are saved go to heaven. And, just as obviously, people who are not saved go to Hell. But did you realize that even those who go to heaven will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ in judgment? Not judgment to determine whether you go to heaven or not, for that’s decided on earth when you turn to Christ. No, this is a judgment of your Christian life after you are converted to Christ.[7] Gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. That’s how Paul describes the believer’s Christian life.[8]

Two questions: What describes the life of a person who has highly esteemed the cause and who has been willing to pay the cost? Gold, silver, precious stones, or wood, hay, and stubble? Whose life, then, will be pleasing to the Lord? That child of God who had better things to do than serve God, who had better friends to waste time with than Christians, and who had better things to do with his time and money than invest in the cause of Christ? Or that consecrated believer who thought that there was no higher calling than giving your all for Christ’s sake? To some Christians, the Lord Jesus Christ will say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”[9] Is such a cause, no matter what the cost, worth this consequence? Paul thought so. I think it is.

Finally, a truly great legacy. You know that every man and every woman leaves behind a legacy. And what is a legacy? A legacy is anything that you leave behind to your descendants, to those who follow along behind you. It’s an inheritance of some kind. The question is, what are you going to leave behind? The Bible says that a good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.[10] And what is the most important thing you can ever give to your grandchildren? Their parents.

Whether it is your physical children and grandchildren or your spiritual heirs and those that follow them, one of the consequences of your commitment to the cause of Christ will be what you produce in the lives of your spiritual offspring. And your kids ought to be numbered among your spiritual offspring. Do you want your sons and daughters to be saved? Do you want others to be saved? How about those that follow them? Would you like to see them in heaven? But how can you count the cost for the cause worth it if such consequences as these are the result?

Our world is in a mess because many claiming to be God’s people are not willing to pay the price. The cause does not seem to them to be great. The cost seems to them to be too high. And the consequence is thought by them to be insignificant.

But ask Paul’s opinion. For the cause, Paul paid a high cost; his people, then prison, then his life. But the consequence of being willing to always pay whatever cost God exacted of him? He was able to write, “you Gentiles.” All those precious souls saved because Paul had been willing to pay the price.

So, what did Paul really give up for the cause? In reality, balancing out what he gave up in his life for what he eventually received in eternity, what did he lose? Nothing. You see, when God exacts a high cost for service, it’s because He plans on paying back dividends unimaginable in return. So, when you consider it, you give up nothing to serve the true and living God.

My wife and I used to be members of a Church a man named Jim Elliott had some kind of brief connection with.[11] Some of you might remember him as the missionary who gave his life in service to Christ in Ecuador where the Auca Indians butchered him.

Consider Jim Elliott’s estimation of the cause, the cost, and the consequence. He wrote, “A man is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to get that which he cannot lose.” For the cause of Christ, Jim Elliott’s cost was high. He was murdered and eaten by cannibals, leaving behind a young bride, Elizabeth Elliott. Was it worth it? Consider the consequence and decide for yourself. The chief of the tribe that killed and then ate Jim Elliott became a Christian and then a pastor, and almost every Auca Indian in that tribe was eventually converted to Christ.

Think about it, my friend. The cause is great. The cost is high. But the consequences are wonderful. The cause of Christ is great. Pat Coleman and his three kids paid a high price, losing his wife and their mother. But I wonder what great consequences will result from that family that was willing to pay the price.

Salvation is free to those who trust Jesus Christ, friends. But those Jesus saves are saved to serve. Christian? Are you willing to pay the price? The cause is great; therefore, the cost must be correspondingly high. But the consequences, in terms of souls saved, lives changed, and Christ glorified, are beyond wonderful.

__________

[1] 1 Samuel 17.10

[2] 1 Samuel 17.28

[3] 1 Samuel 17.36

[4] 1 Corinthians 10.32

[5] Matthew 16.24; Mark 8.34; Luke 9.23

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Studd

[7] Romans 14.10; 2 Corinthians 5.10

[8] 1 Corinthians 3.12

[9] Matthew 25.21, 23

[10] Proverbs 13.22

[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Elliot

Would you like to contact Dr. Waldrip about this sermon? Please contact him by clicking on the link below. Please do not change the subject within your email message. Thank you.

Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church