Luke 9:20, 28
20: "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you
say I am?" Peter answered, "The Christ of God."
28: About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John
and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. |
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I.
The Ultimate Stake
 We are
in Luke 9:28. "Jesus took Peter, John, and James with him and went up
on a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face
changed and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two
men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus.
(Moses lived 1800 years before Jesus and Elijah years after Moses. Both
had long since died.) They spoke about his departure (that's a nice
word for death, isn't it?), which he was about to bring to fulfillment
in Jerusalem. Peter and his companions were very sleepy. But when they
became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with
him." This passage is about identifying and setting the ultimate stake.
Jesus asked the ultimate life question that we are all going to have
to deal with.  You
can put it off as long as you want to, but in the 20th verse of this
chapter, Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do you say I am?" It doesn't
matter what other people say, what the historians wrote, or what they
say on the Oprah show. Who do you say that I am? When his disciples
began the journey with Jesus, following Jesus, they didn't have a clue.
As they progressed through the three years of traveling with Jesus,
their understanding grew and changed. These guys went from men who ran
and hid behind locked doors at Jesus' arrest, to disciples who would
ultimately, every one of them, give their life because they believed
he was the resurrected Lord of the universe.
 John Wesley was the founder
of the Methodist movement. He lived in the 1700s. John Wesley was an
Anglican priest for 10 years before he even understood who Jesus was.
After a missionary journey to Savannah, Georgia, he wrote in his journal,
"On my return to England, January 1738, being in imminent danger of
death and very uneasy on that account, I was strongly convinced that
the cause of that uneasiness was unbelief and gaining a true living
faith was the one thing needful for me. But still I fixed not this faith
on its right object. I had only faith in God, not faith through Christ."
He had been a minister for 10 years and he understood who God was, but
he didn't understand who Jesus was. In the week that followed, Wesley
shifted his focus from a vague belief in God to stake his faith on Jesus
Christ. Listen to what he wrote. "In the evening, in May 1738, I went
very unwillingly to a home group on Aldersgate Street where one was
reading Luther's preface to the Epistle on Romans. About a quarter before
nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart
through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I
did trust in Christ and Christ alone for salvation." The next morning
when Wesley got up he wrote this in his journal, "The moment I awakened,
Jesus Master was in my heart and in my mouth and I found all of my strength
lay in keeping my eyes fixed upon Him and my soul waiting on Him continually."
Wesley set the ultimate stake - 10 years after he had become a priest.
In my own life, I too was
raised in a church. But I was 18 years old and didn't know who Jesus
was. I'd been in trouble with school. The rock group I was in was busted
for drugs. It was in my frustration that I picked up the Bible that
had been laying on my bedstand since third grade. I began to read the
gospels and the rest of the New Testament. There was something about
this Jesus that was different from anyone else in history that I had
ever read about. He said things like, "If your enemy comes up and smacks
you up side the head, turn your cheek and let them do it again." That
wasn't human! He said things like, "If your enemy hungers, feed them."
I remember one night, after reading in the gospel of John, I just closed
the Bible and said, "I don't even know who you are! I don't even know
if you're there! But if you are, I need you." |
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We
are talking about life stakes - the ground anchors of your life that
matter most. Your primary commitments. Your investments. Your priorities.
The three primary life stakes that I base my life on are my relationship
with Jesus Christ, my family, and the calling that God has upon my life.
You don't
have to be a pastor to have a calling. I know a lot of pastors who just
go to work and have a job. I know a lot of people who aren't pastors
who go to a calling. Everyone should respond to the calling that God
has on their life to further God's mission.