The Calvary Road

Last week yet another powerful earthquake shook the nation of Chile. I have never in my lifetime heard of an earthquake as powerful as this one was, 8.8 is something I hope I never will experience. I am not sure how to interpret what the earthquake signifies but the Scriptures are clear that in the last days there will be earthquakes and famines throughout the earth. Maybe the earthquakes of late are simply warning signs of what it will be like in the last days. These earthquakes have done a tremendous amount of damage and in the case of Haiti it will take many years to rebuild what has been destroyed. I cannot imagine what would happen if there were multiple earthquakes in many parts of the world happening in a short period of time. This could cause a shut down of many economies and would create great chaos throughout the world. I hope that many people are taking note of what is happening and what could happen if this scenario is repeated in many parts of the world. I think about the earthquake that struck Guatemala in 1976 that left almost 28,000 people dead. I think this earthquake was 7.2, if it had been 8.8 the destruction and loss of life would have been much greater. I think God is sending out a warning through the earthquakes. The earth itself is groaning for the return of Christ and the redemption of God’s people to be completed. We are to live our lives as though the return of Christ is imminent. Christ knew his time on earth was limited, the road he walked on would lead to Calvary where he would face death. He knew he would give up his life as a ransom for the souls of mankind. This was his mission and he had to walk the road to Calvary to fulfill his purpose.
The Calvary road is a road we all must walk if we are going to fulfill our mission in this life. The Calvary road is marked by several things that I want to talk about tonight.
The first thing I think about regarding the road to Calvary is that it is a journey that is marked by death to yourself. As we become true followers of Christ the decisions that we make in life are decisions in which God asks us to die to our own interests and take up his plan. I must daily die to myself, my interests, my desires, my way of doing things and my comforts. Death to the self life is what being a true follower of Jesus is all about. Jesus said it very clearly to his disciples, “If anyone wants to be my disciple, he must deny himself…”(Mark 8:34) You cannot be a true follower unless you are willing to abandon your own interests and desires and follow after Christ doing what he requires of you. Many people who call themselves Christians have never come to that place of complete abandonment to Christ, total denial of the self life to embrace the Christ life. They are willing to make some changes that would give the appearance of being a follower but if the truth be known they are still clinging to the self life, living their lives as they want to live. To experience the life that Christ wants to give us, we have to be willing to give up everything for him, complete denial of self is what he requires. If we try to hold on to parts of the self life we will never experience the fullness of life that Christ wants us to experience. When we die to ourselves the focus of our life will be Christ. Paul understood this complete abandonment to Christ when he wrote, “To me to live is Christ.”(Phil. 1:21) His life was no longer his own and the only life he saw worth living was a life completely dead to himself and fully alive in Christ. God is gracious toward us and he patiently waits for us to die to ourselves. By the power of the Holy Spirit he shows us areas of our lives in which we have not died and we are holding on to it for a variety of reasons: security, fear, selfishness, control, pleasure etc. We must be willing to die to every desire, even the desires that are good. There is nothing wrong with desiring to have a good job and a comfortable living, there is nothing wrong with desiring to be married or to have children, nothing wrong with desiring an education or training in a specific area, nothing wrong with wanting to live in a secure area or have money in the bank. These are normal things for most people but we have to be willing to die to everything if that is what Christ requires of us. If I hold on tenaciously to anything and am unwilling to die to it, it has more power over me than Christ and places him in a secondary position. Our willingness to die to each of these things demonstrates our surrender to Christ and our willingness to let Christ be the one who determines if and when we will be given any of these things. Death to self means I am willing to lay everything down so that I will only take up the things that Christ wants me to have. If I try to hang on to things that he does not want me to have I am only burdening myself with things that are going to be a hindrance in following him. These things can become a sidetrack to us and cause us to veer off the path of the Calvary road. I have seen people leave the mission field and their calling because they wanted the security of a home and a predictable income that they could in part control. I have seen people leave their post because of immoral relationships that destroyed their testimony. They were unwilling to deny themselves and trust God to be everything they needed. We all need to examine ourselves and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any area of our lives in which we are still in control and have not died to in order to fully surrender it to Christ’s control. The message of many preachers today is you can have it all and that is really what God wants for your life. The message of Christ was that we have to deny ourselves, die to ourselves and allow him to be our life. I believe that God may give you many of these desires that you long for, but it will be according to his will and plan for your life because he knows what is best for you and he knows what will destroy you. The road to Calvary is not an easy road, but it is a road that is marked with joy in serving Christ and learning how he truly is our life.
The Calvary road is also a road that requires sacrifice. The Olympics have just ended and those who have finished the competition and received medals can all testify that it took many hours each day of training and sacrifice in order to gain the prize they had set as their goal. If we truly want to live the Christ life we too will need to make sacrifices of our time, comforts, money, relationships, and other things in order to gain what Christ has for us. There is a price we all must be willing to pay to become everything Christ wants us to be. Those who are studying Spanish or are learning a new skill or starting a new ministry know that it takes dedication, concentration and hard work to be able to learn something new that is a challenge. You have to force yourself at times to make choices to keep yourself focused on what you have been called to do. You cannot be slothful and expect to be able to become excellent at what you are trying to learn. It requires diligence and dedication to push through the hard times of training. But the motivation comes from the goal we have in mind which is given as part of our calling from the Lord. We pay the price of learning Spanish because we may have the goal of one day being able to preach or teach or just carry on a meaningful conversation with someone so we can help them. If God has called you to pursue a specific course of study it will require sacrifices on your part to be able to complete the study. But your motivation will be the end product or your ultimate goal of being able to use the training for the purpose of ministering for Christ and pursue his specific calling on your life. If God has placed you in a new ministry the goal or motivation is to reach people with the gospel and bring them the joy of salvation. You may be called by the Lord to move to another culture that may be very different, primitive or have rustic conditions that will require sacrifices on your part but the sacrifices will never outweigh the joy of fulfilling God’s calling and the ministry he has for you in the specific place he assigns to you. The sacrifices we make only serve to enhance the joy we will experience in fulfilling God’s calling. We may view them as sacrifices but they really are future joy producers. The training may be difficult but unless we are willing to go through it we will never experience the joy that it will produce in the end. I have yet to see someone receive a gold medal that did not have a huge smile on their face. The joy they receive is temporary but our joy will go on through eternity. Discouragement is often part of the process of learning but it should not cause us to quit and give up on our calling. We have to keep our eyes on the prize of the high calling of God on our lives and be willing to continually make sacrifices and choices that will move us toward the goal. The disciplines of the Christian life will form our character and mature our development in the Lord. Prayer, study of the Word, fasting, witnessing, fellowship, service to others, utilizing our gifts, giving of our finances all require sacrifice on our part but each of them has the potential to accomplish great things for the Kingdom of God. Are we truly willing to make the sacrifices required to achieve what God wants to accomplish in and through each one of our lives?
The road to Calvary at times is a lonely road. As Jesus pursued God’s mission he was often misunderstood. His own family thought he was crazy (Mark 3: 21) and even his disciples who he spent 3 years training did not understand what he was doing. The greatest disappointment had to be when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane anguishing over the death he would soon experience and the separation from his Father. He asked his 3 closest disciples, the inner circle, to pray with him and they fell asleep. They did not understand his mission and if they had they would have been praying hard, crying out to God with him. The hour Jesus needed them the most they were present in body but absent in spirit. God is always with us, he will never leave us or abandon us. His presence is with us yet at times we truly desire the physical company of another believer who will stand with us. We long to have someone who understands what we are experiencing but at times there is no one and we find ourselves feeling alone. Some of you have left your family and friends behind to pursue God’s calling and perhaps some of them have not been in agreement with your decision and probably have made it quite clear that they think you are a little crazy. They do not understand the ways of God and interpret what you are doing as strange and unusual. I have met missionaries who are following God’s call yet their families think they are subjecting themselves and especially their children to risks and dangers that are too great. “Why are you doing this to your children? They deserve something better. You are cheating them out of a normal life.” These are comments I have heard people share and if you really believed them to be true you would probably reconsider what you are doing. But in accepting God’s call you are also accepting the fact that not everyone will understand and agree and at times you may feel alone. It is part of the package and will test the strength of our resolve to follow the Lord even though no one else will go with you. One of the great missionary stories I encourage everyone to read is Bruchko. It is the story of Bruce Olson who felt called when he was 19 years old, to go to South America to work among the Motilone Indians. No one understood his calling and few stood with him as he ventured out in faith to fulfill God’s call on his life. He spent 4 years living with the Motilones learning their language and customs. He at times felt very much alone because of the language barrier and because he had no missionary companion with him. He endured the loneliness, rejection, illnesses and in time learned the language and was accepted by this fierce tribe that was feared by other Indians as well as American companies who were exploring their land. Sometimes loneliness can hit us when we are misunderstood by fellow missionaries or falsely accused. We can feel alone when others who have served with us decide to leave because of disagreements or other factors. We at times feel alone when we are away from our families during special times of the year or when we battle against sicknesses or problems we encounter. These things are part of the journey on the Road to Calvary. They are usually only temporary things but nonetheless have an impact on our lives and can cause us to reconsider our calling or perhaps question and doubt our calling. During these times of loneliness God will send us the help we need or give us the endurance to push through. When Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by the devil in ways that we will probably never be tempted and with much greater intensity than we may ever experience, God was faithful to send his angels to minister to him. When Jesus struggled in prayer in the garden God gave him the strength to endure. God sees us and he responds. During these times of loneliness many things get stripped away and we learn to depend fully on the Lord. Our relationship with him can grow stronger and more intimate as we seek after Him.
The road to Calvary is God’s way of bringing glory and honor to Himself. Through our willingness to walk the Calvary road we demonstrate to God that He is worthy of everything we may experience as we walk in obedience to His call. The early disciples rejoiced that they were found worthy to suffer for the name of Christ.(Acts 5:41) Suffering for him was an honor because Christ suffered for them. He alone is worthy of all of our honor, worship and praise. God is glorified through our lives of service to him and when we are willing to walk the road to Calvary it blesses his heart. The worship scenes in the book of Revelation all describe the angels, elders and the multitude of believers surrounding the throne and giving glory to the Lamb. Many of these worshippers suffered greatly in their service to the Lamb but are now constantly giving glory to God because of what He has done for them. God is seeking worshippers who will honor him through their willingness to lay down their lives for the sake of His Kingdom. Our lives must be dedicated to bring God glory and honor. Whatever He asks of us is nothing compared to what he has done for us. My life is no longer my own and the only person who is worthy to receive glory and honor through my life is God. The number of years God may grant each one of us to live on this earth is really not important. What really matters is that we live each moment of the time he gives us to follow Him wherever He leads us and do what he asks of us so that he will be glorified among the nations. Jesus followed God’s plan that included great suffering and a cruel death because He knew that the end result would bring glory and honor to his Father. His prayer in John 17:1-5 reflects that his life work was to bring glory to God. “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” John 17:4. Each of us will bring glory to God by completing the work He has given us. Quitting is not an option if our goal is to bring God glory. We each have a responsibility to fulfill in God’s kingdom. It is not about you and I feeling great about what we are doing but it is all about bringing glory and honor to the Lord. He must be our focus, all that we do must flow from a heart of obedience to him and a desire to bring him maximum glory through our lives. Don’t worry about what others are called to do or compare yourself with them. Jesus was pretty direct with Peter when he asked about the future of John. “When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”(John 21:21) Christ calls each one of us to follow Him as he leads us. We will bring God the greatest glory and honor when we follow the Lamb wherever He leads us and do what he calls us to do. Each of us must hear his call and follow him whatever it costs and wherever he leads us and finish what he has given us to do in our mission on earth. The road to Calvary is the road that will bring God the most glory and honor.
I want to close our service tonight with a story of the life of Adoniram Judson. He grew up in a Christian home, the son of a pastor and was very gifted intellectually. While attending college his best friend, Jacob Eames who was a Deist began to lure Adoniram from his faith in Christ. He announced one day that he no longer had faith in Christ and desired to establish himself as a writer for a theater in New York. On his way to NY God intervened and began to get his attention to redirect his life. One night he stayed in a small village in where he had never slept before. The innkeeper apologized that his sleep might be interrupted because there was a man critically ill in the next room. Through the night Judson heard coming and goings and low voices and groans and gasps. It bothered him to think that the man next to him may not be prepared to die. He wondered about himself and had terrible thoughts of his own dying. He felt foolish because good Deists weren’t supposed to have these struggles.
When he was leaving in the morning he asked if the man next door was better. “He is dead,” said the innkeeper. Judson was struck with finality of it all. On his way out he asked, “Do you know who he was?” “Oh yes. Young man from the college in Providence. Name was Jacob Eames.”
The death of his friend bothered him because he knew that there was a real hell that had snatched his friend. Adoniram saw the providence of God in this experience and over time returned to faith in Christ and accepted God call to go to Burma as a missionary. On the day of his acceptance he met his wife Ann. He wrote a letter to Ann’s father to ask for permission to bring her with him to the mission field. He knew what they would face as they followed God’s call and he wanted her parents to understand and agree to let her go with him. Here is part of the letter he wrote.
“I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and suffering of missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean, to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him who left his heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God” Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with the crown of righteousness, brightened with the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Savior from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?”
Ann’s parents let her make the decision and she said yes to the invitation. God mightily used their lives to bring the gospel to India and Burma. They both died in Burma having returned only one time in their 33 years to their native country. They followed the Calvary Road and finished their mission and brought glory and honor to the Lord.
Tonight, God is challenging each one of us to get on the Calvary road, stay on the road and complete the mission he has given us. It is a road that will demand death to self, sacrifice, loneliness at times but its end will bring great glory and honor to God as we fulfill the call of God on our lives.