Are You Willing To Give Everything?

• Matthew 7:12 So in everything do to others what you would have them do to you. (NIV)


• Matthew 13:46 Parable of the Pearl - When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. (NIV)


• Matthew 18:26 Parable of the Unmerciful Servant – At this the servant fell on his knees and begged “Be patient with me and I will pay back everything.” (NIV)


• Matthew 19:27 – Peter answered Jesus “We have left everything to follow you.”

Maria Skobtsova (Russian heritage) began her early life as an atheist then a Roman Catholic after a fresh revelation of Jesus she wrote: ‘He also died. He sweated blood. They struck his face.’ After becoming a born again Christian she and her father helped many Jews escape German occupation of France.On Easter Saturday 1945 at the Ravensbruck concentration camp she took the place of a Jewish woman who was going to the gas chamber, a day before the Red Cross liberated the camp. She wrote these words as she went: Lord, I am your messenger. Throw me like a blazing torch into the night.

Jesus has never asked, nor will he ask us to do something that He Himself has not done.  Luke13:31-33 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’

Jesus gave everything

1.Performance Religion Will Never Lead to Everything

There were around 6,000 Pharisees: some full time, some professional students, others had jobs. They believed in the O.T. as well as explanation and application. What does it mean to obey the Sabbath rule of no work? A tailor couldn’t carry a needle in his tunic on the evening before the Sabbath in case it was still in his pocket when the Sabbath came. Healing the sick was work. The Pharisees were more interested in the performance of works to get to God than the relationship with God. This is legalism and there are never enough works. Performance will never lead to everything.

2.Leaving Early Is Not Everything

 Someone or something will always want you to back off, back down, Calm down, be moderate, do less or just leave. The Pharisees wanted Jesus in Judea and Jerusalem where they could watch him and trap him. But Jesus was on the road for everything. The temptation is so divine, it is so wise and it can appear like god. ‘Leave the road of difficulty. Leave the road of dedication. Think of yourself.’ God has said: ‘I will not leave you or forsake you.’ Hebrews 13:5 until I have given everything.

3.The Fear of Losing Opposes the Giving of Everything v.31 Herod wants to kill you; v.32 Go and tell that fox. Question: What is your worst fear right now?

The fear of not having enough, the fear of not experiencing it all, the fear of being hurt, fear of love not being reciprocated, the fear of being left alone? Fear is calling you NOT to give everything. Jesus is heading for His death. When a person is committed to giving everything then the suggestion that you could lose something, if not everything, is not a fear but an encouragement. Jesus sees Herod as a fox, a schemer, sly and crafty. Watch out not for the big foxes but the small ones.

4.Prior (Before) to Everything is Persistence

v.33…I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following,

Keep going Question: Can you stand firm in green pastures? Can you stand firm in the valley of the shadow of death? I will reach my goal! Jesus never lost sight of His goal.

What was it that caused Moses to give up and ask God to kill him Numbers 11?

After experiencing a wonderful revival at Nineveh why did Jonah want to curl up and die? Jonah 4

What made Elijah move from Mount Carmel to a cave and wallow in self-pity? 1 Kings 19

 Discouragement – everyone who ever achieved anything, every person who became all that they could become, battled at some point with discouragement.

2 Corinthians 1:8-9 We don’t want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in Asia province. It was so bad we didn’t think we were going to make it. We felt like we’d been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally—not a bad idea since he’s the God who raises the dead! And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. (Msg)

It’s never too late to become determined again.

5.His Everything Was Everything

 v.33 He came to die

Jesus Himself has nowhere to lay his head. His calling was to serve God through the wandering life of a rabbi, walking from village to village, calling people; long days, dusty hills, dependent on hospitality.

 

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

One day we will meet people in heaven who have given everything. We will meet Jesus. We will meet the Elim Vumba missionaries who were killed. We will meet the present martyrs of the faith. They will say to us, ‘It was tough down there on earth wasn’t it? It was hard to give everything but we are so grateful we did. How was it for you?’

What will be our response today?