The Price Tags of Life

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Luke 18: 18-23

Matthew 13: 44-51

Text Scripture:

Luke 18:18 And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.

21 And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

Matthew 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:

46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:

48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,

50 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

51 Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord.

Revival Intro:

· If this church, or any church, is to experience true, God sent, Holy Ghost filled, radical, life changing, course altering, REVIVAL … it will … IT MUST … start in the lives of you, the individual members of this church.

I want to start this week of revival services by giving you the correct definition for revival:

· Revival is a compound word comprised of the words “Re” which means again, and the word “vival” which means to come to life.

· Therefore, I submit to you today that the correct definition of revival is: This church coming to life again!

· I make no claims to being the “brightest Crayon in the box” but I have figured out that you cannot revive or bring to life again that which has never been alive to begin with!

· I submit to you today that some under the sound of my voice don’t need revival … they need VIVAL!

· Some of you just plainly need to get saved!!!

I also want to start this week of revival services by giving you the correct parameters for measuring its success:

· The true measure of this revival will not be determined by how many people are saved this week. (Although I believe there will be many)

· The true measure will not be by how many people come to an altar for prayer (Although I believe there will be many)

· The true measure is not how tears we shed or laughs we share (And we will do a lot of both)

· The true measure of this revival will be seen six weeks, six months, and six years from now … by the ministry that will occur as a result of the repentance, brokenness, forgiveness, and Spiritual change that occurred in each of your lives this week! THAT IS HOW YOU MEASURE THIS REVIVAL!!!

· It can be a week of true revival … or it can be a week of services …

· It is your choice! Why? Because: REVIVAL STARTS WITH ME!

Sermon Intro:

Today the Lord has laid a sermon on my heart that I have entitled: The Price Tags of Life

Everything in life, and I do mean EVERYTHING, comes with a price tag attached.

There is a price tag for every decision we make:

Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Payment)

There is a price tag for your marriage, your children, your job, your ministry, and yes, even the ministry of this church!

Again, EVERYTHING comes with a price tag attached.

Let me assure you … we will pay the price. The ONLY CHOICE we have is whether we will pay THE PRICE TO SUCCEED ... or … THE PRICE OF FAILURE!

Problems occur when we become unwilling to pay the price to succeed!

Often, we fail to pay the price because we simply do not deem success worthy of the cost.

There is a price tag for the ministry God has called this church to perform.

If this church is not performing the ministry God called it to do, then make no mistake about it, it is because you, for whatever the reason, do not deem this ministry worthy of the costs of success.

In thirty years of ministry I have come to the realization that people vote “for” something or “against” something by their attendance and participation.

Church leaders, hear me, if this church is not performing the ministry God has given it, at the level that pleases God, then, either:

· Your definition and the church’s definition of this ministry aren’t the same, or

· You have failed to present the VALUE of this ministry in such a light that people see its value and are willing to pay the price to succeed, or (Meal travel 50 miles)

· The people are in such a backslidden state, they are unwilling to pay the price of success

In either case … there is a price to pay!

In the text scripture I read today, Luke 18: 18-23, we see an example of a man who was unwilling to pay the price of success:

· This man had been listening to Jesus teach, and watching His interaction with the children, and he was impressed with Him

· He saw something very good and desirable in Jesus, and he sincerely wanted it

· He asked how he could receive it

· Jesus began to quote the commandments

· He replied: All these have I kept from my youth up

· Then Jesus revealed the true cost of eternal life when He said: Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

· And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

· He was UNWILLING to pay the price for Success … BECAUSE HIS DEFINITION OF SUCCESS WAS RADICALLY DIFFERENT FROM JESUS’.

· HIS IDEA WAS TO “GET” ALL YOU CAN

· JESUS’ IDEA WAS TO “GIVE” ALL YOU HAVE!

ILLUSTRATION:

· Jesus knew it was important that we grasp the concept of Paying the Price for Success

· That is why … 1/6 of the Gospel of Christ deals with the concept of money, and giving, or “Paying the Price for Success” if you will

· One of every three parables touches on stewardship

· Jesus wasn’t a fundraiser … but He dealt with money matters … because money matters!

· Not the money itself, but the concept of paying the price for Success!

We must learn to Pay the Price for Success!

When we are unwilling to pay the price of success we are automatically signed-up on the installment plan, to start paying the price of FAILURE!

His first installment was: Sorrow, or sadness. There would be many more.

The Bible is chocked full of good, Godly men, who paid the installments of Failure because they were unwilling to pay the price for Success:

One such example is David: (Adultery Baathsheba)

· First installment: Nathan the Prophet … ewe lamb … thou art the man!

· Second installment: The child died

· Third installment: His son Absalom killed his half-brother Amnon

· Fourth installment: Absalom led a rebellion against his father to seize his throne

· Fifth installment: Absalom killed

· Sixth installment: David couldn’t build the temple because of the bloodshed in his family.

The price of Failure is far more severe than the price of Success!

Another such example is: Sampson (Womanizing, breaking Nazarite law by touching the carcass of the lion, and divulging the secret of his strength)

· First installment: Capture

· Second installment: Loss of eyesight

· Third installment: Humiliation (Grist meal and Party)

· At this point, the price of success was: Death

The price of Failure is far more severe than the price of Success!

Another such example is Saul: (God told him to utterly destroy the Amelikates … livestock and all … everything about them … he didn’t. He brought back some sheep and oxen)

· First installment: A meeting with the Prophet Samuel who told him God had rejected him as king

· Second installment: God sent an evil spirit upon him than could only be calmed by David playing his music

· Third installment: Paranoia: He thought David was trying to steal his throne and tried to kill him.

· Fourth installment: Death.

The price of Failure is far more severe than the price of Success!

The cost of this church failing to pay the price for Success is far more severe than paying the price of Success!

Now, all of this has been my introduction

I want to examine the three parables found in Matthew 13: 44-51 and examine the Passion, Priority, and Purpose associated with paying the price for Success:

1: The Passion for Paying the Price for Success:

The quickest route to revival, both personal and corporate, is when God’s people discover that which they are PASSIONATE about!

· Passion is discovered by searching for it

Church, revival will come when you discover what you’re PASSIONATE about … and start doing that!

I submit to you today that well-intentioned people in this church are hindering revival by filling positions they aren’t PASSIONATE about!

ILLUSTRATION:

· Nominating Committee: Well … if nobody else will … I guess I will

· Pastor and Wife: Courtship … Proposal …Answer: Well, if nobody else will, I guess I will!

· IF WE WON’T ACCEPT THAT ATTITUDE IN OUR PERSONAL LIVES … WHY DO WE ALLOW IT IN GOD’S SERVICE?

· The quickest routes to personal and corporate revival is for each of you to:

o Identify your Spiritual PASSION

o Stop doing things you’re not PASSIONATE about

o Start doing what you are PASSIONATE about!

ILLUSTRATION:

· Quitting Service at end of Protracted Meeting

· Everybody telling what bad habit they’re quitting

· Laying stuff on the altar

· Granny came by the preacher and said: Preacher, as far I know, I ain’t been doing nothing … AND I’M GOING TO QUIT THAT!

· Passion is discovered by hiding the calling in your heart until the details of the calling have been completed, and it is time to announce it

· Passion produces: JOY “And for joy” and NO OTHER REASON … he does what he does!

· The Troup Baptist Association pays me nicely to do what I do

· But allow me to let you in on a secret: I would do what God has called me to do IT I DIDN’T RECEIVE A PENNY FOR IT!!!

· I do it because it is my PASSION and when I minister in my PASSION … IT PRODUCES JOY IN MY SOUL THAT MONEY CANNOT BUY!!!

· PASSION produces: ACTION: Nobody had to tell him to go and sell all he had. His desire produced the action within him!

YOU DON’T HAVE TO PROMPT PEOPLE TO DO WHAT THEY’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT DOING!!!

As a pastor, I quit babysitting years ago!

I DISCOVERED WHEN PEOPLE GET PASSIONATE ABOUT JESUS … YOU DON’T HAVE TO BABYSIT!!!

· Passion produces: THE DESIRED RESULT: “And buyeth that field.” Notice the usage of the word “THAT” in the text … not some other field … but the one that would produce joy and passion.

· He paid the price of Success!

2: The Priority of Paying the Price for Success:

45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:

46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

· The Merchant Man in the parable is a Pearl Trader

· When he finds the one pearl of great price … he goes and sells all of his other pearls … and purchases the one pearl of great price.

· Here we see a man getting his priorities in order!

· He gave priority where priority was due!

· He gave Success the right Priority … and Paid the Price of Success!

ILLUSTRATION:

· Many years ago a preacher was preaching revival services

· He spied a man in the audience that looked like the world’s most unhappy person

· The evangelist asked the pastor about him and the pastor said, “It’s an interesting story. Ask him for yourself why he is so miserable.”

· At the end of the service the evangelist asked the man why he was so miserable

· The man replied, “I grew up dirt poor. I swore that I would get rich one day, and never have to live that way again.”

· “I have accumulated great wealth through farming. I have many farms.”

· He went on to say, “Preacher, I want to be saved worse than anything, but that’s the problem, if I get saved, I’ll have to give my farms to God, and He’ll want me to sell them and give the money to missions.”

· The preacher encouraged him to make his peace with God and quit worrying about what God might want him to do afterwards.

· Later that week the man made his way to the altar and prayed, “Dear Lord, You can have the farms and the crops, you can have everything I own, and you can have me if you will forgive my sins and give me peace in my heart.”

· Later than week he received a telegram from the foreman of one of his farms. It stated, “Millions of grasshoppers out here. We have kept them off with fires, drums, and tin pans. Come immediately and take charge. I won’t accept further responsibility..”

· The preacher asked him if he was going

· The man said no

· The preacher asked “Why not?”

· He replied, “I gave those farms and crops to the Lord. They belong to Him. The grasshoppers belong to Him too. If he wants to pasture His grasshoppers on His corn and wheat, that’s alright with me!”

3: The Process of Paying the Price for Success:

47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:

48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

· In this story we see the picture of a net cast into the sea

· When it was pulled to shore, it brought everything with it

· The fishermen sifted through the contents of the net, and cast away (purged) everything that wasn’t valuable to their profession. (Fishing)

Part of the Process of Paying the Price of Success is PURGING things from your life and the ministry of this church (Blessed subtraction) that do NOT add value to what God has called you to do … things that are simply taking space in your net … filth and junk that is destroying your net (your testimony)

Revival begins with a PURGING PROCESS (Cut it down leave it alone!)

We need to get rid of some:

· Negative attitudes (aginner’s!) (I’m agin it!)

· Judgmental attitudes

· Haughty attitudes

· Critical spirit

· Non-corporative attitude

· Prideful attitude

· Un-forgiveness

· And everything else that doesn’t add value to our lives and our ministries!

BLESSED SUBTRACTION:

Preachers: Missing any of your members?

Members:

· More people here that we don’t know than we do know … small church atmosphere.

· Organ: Rock and Roll music

· Radio ministry: Hypocrite … preach differently with microphone on

Close:

As I begin to close this sermon today, I know that under the leadership of the Holy Spirit I have preached the sermon God intended for this day, this hour, and this church.

He has in attendance those He wanted to hear it

Today, both as a church and an individual Christians, I have set before you a choice:

You can pay the price of FAILURE or SUCCESS.

But as I close, let me again remind you … you will pay the price!

Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Payment)