July, 14, 2019
David Platt gives us three critical questions for us to use to evaluate how we are following Jesus.
1. Are you going to choose comfort or are you going to choose The Cross?
2. Are you going to settle for maintenance, or are you going to sacrifice for the mission?
3. Will your life be marked by an indecisive mind or an undivided heart?
With as many as two billion people around the world having never heard the name of Jesus, David Platt asks us to think about what it is each of us is called to do to proclaim the Good News in our lives.
Scripture References
57As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
58Jesus replied,
“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
59He said to another man,
“Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
60Jesus said to him,
“Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
61Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”
62Jesus replied,
“No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
3
Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26
“What is written in the Law?”
he replied. “How do you read it?”
27He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
42
“Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.
15Then he said to them,
“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
16And he told them this parable:
“The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.
17
He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18
“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.
19
And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’
20
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21
“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
32
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.
33
Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
34
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The Parable of the Shrewd Manager
1Jesus told his disciples:
“There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.
2So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’
3
“The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg—
4I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’
5
“So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
6
“ ‘Nine hundred gallons
of olive oil,’ he replied.
“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’
7
“Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’
“ ‘A thousand bushels
of wheat,’ he replied.
“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
8
“The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.
9I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
10
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
11So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?
12And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
13
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
14The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15He said to them,
“You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.
Additional Teachings
16
“The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it.
17It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.
18
“Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.
20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores
21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22
“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.
23In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.
24So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25
“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.
26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27
“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family,
28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29
“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30
“ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31
“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”
25Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said:
26
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.
44
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
David Platt
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical. David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series. Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C., metro area.