Transcription of the Video: Everything to Lose Nothing to Gain

We've begun an interesting adventure to follow in the footsteps of those early believers. We want to ask the question what gave them the passion, the commitment to the message? What did Jesus give them that uniquely prepared those men and women for ministry to the larger world, in particular to the place called Asia Minor?

The land of Galilee is a living illustration of the life and teaching of Jesus. It's a beautiful place here on the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee in an ancient town called Korazim. Jesus came here as a Jewish rabbi. As a rabbi, he would have been very familiar with synagogues like this one. There are some things in here that were typical to first century synagogues.

Over here would have been a beautiful enclosure called the Holy Arc. And inside, the Torah scrolls and the Scroll of the Prophets and the writings. Over here, the Moses seat - a seat of honor. Jesus refers to it. He probably sat in one himself in the synagogue of Nazareth. Over here a bema (or bimah, bima), a little platform raised only slightly from the floor of this synagogue. And the person who read the very words of God to the eager hearers stood here, the word of God right in the midst of the community. Jesus would have been familiar with all of that. He was a rabbi.

Jesus, like other rabbis, chose disciples - talmidim they were called in Hebrew. Now that's important. Because we think sometimes of disciples as students, people who want to know what the teacher knows. A talmid is someone who wants to be what the rabbi is, a passionate commitment to know what he knows, to act like he acts, to have his Godly character. And one of the things that uniquely prepared those followers, those students was that they had a passion to be like their teacher. And boy, were they going to need that in Asia Minor. 

The second thing I find in Jewish rabbis that's very helpful to me is that Jesus came to teach the Torah. Now fulfilling the Torah is a technical rabbi's term. To fulfill the Torah doesn't mean to do away with it. To fulfill the Torah means to interpret it so that people keep it correctly. 

Jesus' mission was to go to the Torah, to take it out, and to use it to show his followers how God wanted them to live in this relationship we call Christianity. And as they learned how to live God's way, they found the real meaning and purpose in life. Now to be sure, he didn't teach them that you get saved by keeping the Torah. But keeping the Torah was important, because in the world of Asia Minor, people did not understand that there was a connection between their religion and how they lived. 

Religion for them was a way to get success. And how they lived - morality - really didn't matter. And part of the power of the message of those talmidim was God saying, "I love you. I want to establish a relationship with you. But it's important how you live. 

Rabbis also use a unique teaching method. They don't just give words and definitions and explanations. They use word pictures and literal concrete illustrations. When he's in Capernaum, he talks about millstones, because they made millstones there. When he was out in the field, he talked about flowers and birds, because there were flowers and birds there. 

You can see them. You can smell them. You can touch them. That became a significant part of the method of those early believers in Asia Minor.

Fourth, rabbis - and Jesus was a great example of this - came to establish communities of followers. It was the Greek model to train someone to stand alone and to be self-sufficient and to have the knowledge and the truth. 

It was the rabbi's method to create a community that supported each other, encouraged each other, corrected each other when necessary so that the whole group worked together. Again, boy, were they going to need that in Asia Minor.

And the last thing that comes to mind as I'm here in Galilee is Jesus taught them about faith. Faith, for me, as a Westerner, tends to be what I know, what I believe to be true. But faith for a Jewish person is a passionate commitment to action. Jesus honored people who weren't satisfied simply knowing the truth. He honored people who persistently, passionately, without giving up pursued it and lived it. And boy, did those talmidim, those students who wanted to be like him have that passion. 

Jesus brought his disciples to a very, very evil place called Caesarea Philippi - one of the more pagan places in the culture where they lived in those times. It was a place that was nicknamed the gates of hell because of the worship of the god Pan and the cave where the water came out in which people believed Pan returned to Hades itself. 

While he was there, he challenged his disciples to be willing to go out into their world - a very pagan place - and take on even the power of sin and death, even the power of hell itself - the gates of hell. 

And then he laid out a challenge to the crowd - maybe the crowd that was gathered there in order to be part of the pagan ceremonies. And he said to them, "Deny yourselves. Take up your cross and follow me. Become like me. What gain is it for a person to have the whole world and lose his soul?"

But then in one of the more provocative challenges in Jesus' whole ministry, he turned to his disciples in the middle of all of that paganess, and he said, "If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this sinful and adulterous generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory with his Father's angels." That challenge became a key part of the great faith of those disciples who left that place and eventually walked out into a world every bit as pagan as Caesarea Philippi. And not once were they ashamed to declare their love and their commitment for Jesus no matter where it was that they found themselves.

As we're gathered around the firelight here, it's an appropriate place to be on a night like this. Because 2,000 years ago, this place (Caesarea Philippi it was called then) was an eerie and evil place. In fact, Jesus brought the disciples to this place to teach them about the power of evil, the very gates of hell - a place that illustrated to them that power.

Jewish rabbis are widely known for preparing their students well. And Jesus was just like that. He was the best of the best when it came to teachers. He had talked to them. He had demonstrated things to them that he wanted them to learn. And he even sent them out to practice. They came back all excited because this message and method he had given them worked. People's lives were changed. Brokenness was fixed. They couldn't believe it. And Jesus blessed them, because they had listened and because they had learned.

Then he brought them here to the foot of Mount Hermon to a place that was known in his day as Herod Philips's capital called Caesarea Philippi. This place in the country had always been a very religious area. In fact, if you look down below, against that cliff face is a very large cave. In the ancient time, out of that cave came a large river of water - a huge spring. In fact, Josephus says that it was bottomless.

People thought that that's where those ancient fertility gods went and disappeared down to the underworld - Hades the Greeks called it. So you could say that's the entrance or the gates of Hades. Right there.

Way back in ancient times, people came here to worship those gods. What really set this place apart was Alexander the Great. Alexander came here in around 330 with his Greek soldiers, and they had their unique Greek gods. And they established down there against the foot of that cliff a shrine to the shepherd's fertility god, Pan, a disgusting god. He stood there half man, half goat, goat ears, naked, sexually suggestive, promising his worshippers fertility. 

And people came from around the world to worship the god, Pan, in this place. In fact, later on this side farther to the right, two larger courts were built. One was a goat enclosure where they kept the sacred goats. And the mating of those goats was connected to that fertility cult. There was a larger open court just below where the goat dancers would come out and dance the dances of the nymphs and the goat god, Pan.

This was very sexually erotic, very suggestive. And to the Jewish community of that first century, especially this community in Galilee, very unGodly. And certainly, contrary to everything in the Torah. In fact, they said when the Messiah comes, the gates of Caesarea Philippi are going to fall. Because they couldn't imagine something this sick and this evil and this pagan existing at the same time as the Messiah.

Now we have Jesus, and he had one lesson he needed to teach yet. So Jesus came more than 30 miles to the foot of this cliff here somewhere, and he gave them a lesson directly related to this. He can feel the paganess of this place. In fact, I've wondered whether those disciples were very uncomfortable. "What is the rabbi doing? What does he have in mind?"

And there they sat, unsure probably whether to look or not but ready to listen. So he started out with a simple question. "Who am I?"

And Peter, that talmid, that student couldn't wait to answer. "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God." And I can see Peter with fire in his eyes and the passion to say, "Not this. Those aren't gods. The Torah says there's one God, and you are the Son of the Living God - not those gods." Boy, was he going to need that decades later in his life. Because those talmidim were going to go out into a world where there were literally dozens of gods, all claiming great power and great influence.

Peter's profession that, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, and there is only one," was the heartbeat of what gave those men and women passion to bring Jesus to their world. I love it. And so did Jesus. 

I'm sure, with great joy, he said, "Simon, that's wonderful. You didn't learn that from human education. That came from God."

And then he makes an interesting statement. "On this rock, I will build my church." What? He's going to build his church on this rock? Yes! Jesus said, "Look at this. This represents everything disgusting and broken and wrong with the world we live in. And what I want you to do is to bring the message of the love of God, and I want you to show them that this is wrong. And I want you to replace it with what is meaningful and significant. Build my community on this rock. Replace it."

Now someone might say, "Wait a minute. Are you sure he was talking about this rock?"

Listen to his next line, and look where we are. "And the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." And there they are. 

In other words, a gate is defensive. If the gates of Hades won't stand, it is the community of God that is bringing the message to the gates. Wait until you get to Asia Minor. You'll even discover in one city, there was a gate of Hades next to an Apollo temple. You'll be blown away, and you'll think how often those disciples must have thought, "The Messiah said, 'Even the gates of Hades will fall.' Let's go for it." I think there was a fire born in some chests that night.

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." Do you suppose this rabbi and his students listening had the nerve to turn and to call to the crowd? And listen to what he said. "Anyone who wants to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Don't give into this. This is not where meaning and purpose and significance and value come from. Do you know what you're doing?"

In fact, he goes on to say, "Anyone who would save his life will lose it." I think he meant anyone who thinks that this is going to give you life is going to end up empty and broken and lost. "But if you'll give your life to others like I'm going to, you'll save it. Because that's my method."

Then he says again to the crowd, "What good is it if someone gain the whole world and lose your own soul? What will you give in exchange for your soul?"

I wonder if the dancers stopped and looked up at the strange figure on the hillside with a fire in his eyes, challenging the very heart of their beliefs. And I wonder if those disciples weren't thinking, "Keep it down. Herod lives in the palace over here. He doesn't like religious fanatics. Remember John? Those people are going to think we're idiots. What if they come up here? They're pagans. Shhh!"

Listen to Jesus' next line. "Anyone in this wicked, adulterous generation who is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with his angels." 

I don't know what the crowd thought, but I have an idea again that he built a passion into those disciples who said, "Never again will we ever be ashamed to be known as the followers of Messiah, and never again will we be ashamed of his words." And somehow, I think you're going to discover in Asia Minor that the courage and the commitment of that rabbi, Messiah Jesus, to the truth and his willingness to walk to the devil's doorstep and to say it with passion to the very people who needed it most was going to be exactly what those disciples needed. 

And they stood in front of kings and priests in temples and palaces and theaters and arenas. And with calmness and with passion, they spoke his words. May God give us the grace and the passion to do no less.

The powerful lesson that Jesus taught at Caesarea Philippi would be one of the very last that his disciples, his students would learn from him during his teaching ministry. Right after this lesson, he told the disciples to follow him, and he left for Jerusalem. 

Well certainly, there was teaching going on, on the walk to Jerusalem. Jesus was set. He was determined to go to Jerusalem to complete his work. He knew he needed to be arrested, to be crucified, and on the third day, to rise again. But there was one more teaching that he needed to make before those disciples were ready to go out into that pagan world which he had commanded them to face at Caesarea Philippi. That teaching took place on the Mount of Olives at the very end of Jesus' ministry here on earth.

We're here on the Mount of Olives just to the east of the city. Below us, the Kidron Valley and that ancient city which had such impact on the people of God and the work of God - Jerusalem.

Jesus left the Galilee and came here. Somewhere on the side of this hill, he made his Triumphal Entry down through this cemetery. It was busy at that time like it is today. He entered the city and spent a week teaching in the Temple Mount, there where the beautiful golden dome stands. At the end of the week, he had his last supper probably somewhere up on the western hill. Over across, down to the garden of Gethsemane below. And then his crucifixion just beyond the golden dome. Resurrection. He then spent 40 days, the Bible says, teaching his followers about the Kingdom of God. 

He brought them here to the Mount of Olives to give them one last lesson. In fact, the disciples had a question. As they stood here and they thought about his instruction about the Kingdom of God, they remembered the prophesy of Daniel in which the Son of Man, the Messiah would be placed at the right hand of God and restore the power and glory of Israel that this represented. They said to the teacher, "Lord, is it now that you'll restore the Kingdom of Israel."

He said, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you are to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth." Even he must have been thinking Asia Minor. "Go. Make disciples of all the nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father, in my name, and in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Holy Spirit. And teach them to observe everything I commanded you." 

Then the Bible says  he raised his hands to bless them, overlooking this beautiful city. And while he was lifting his hands, he ascended to Heaven to his Father. What would they have been thinking as he taught and as he ascended? 

Maybe they remembered the time Jesus had been teaching them. In the distance here to the east and the south is the gigantic fortress palace of Herod called the Herodian standing like an artificial mountain, like a volcano. Over farther east, on a clear day at least, you could see the Dead Sea. 

I sort of think one of the disciples as Jesus was teaching, pointed and said, "Look at the mountain that man Herod moved. It's unbelievable what vision and power he had." Jesus, being a typical Jewish rabbi, must have stopped his lesson, turned, looked around him and found a branch of mustard seed. He must have picked one of the sprouts of mustard, called his disciples together, and pinched the mustard seed into his hand - small, little grains about the size of pepper. 

Then maybe with passion, he said, "Herod? Faith? I tell you the truth. If you had faith like a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, 'Go jump in the sea,' and it would go."

I don't know if they understood that. But as they reached Asia Minor, they had faith like mustard seeds, and they did things greater than Herod. Whole cultures, as you'll discover, changed because of their faith.

What would they have been thinking as he taught and as he ascended? Maybe they thought of Daniel's words when he said, "The beasts that lure against God will finally be defeated when the Son of Man is raised and seated at the right hand of the Almighty Power."

But there was something else here that day which I doubt they understood but which was going to be a time bomb, an absolutely provocative piece of their message. For shortly before Jesus' Ascension to Heaven, the Roman emperors had begun the practice of declaring themselves to be divine. It started with Caesar Augustus and his adoptive father, Julius. When Julius was killed, a comet appeared in the sky for seven days. And witnesses came forward and said that was a sign, and, "We saw Julius ascending to Heaven to sit at the right hand of Zeus. He is a god." And so Caesar Augustus is the son of a god. 

And from that time on, when emperors died, witnesses would stand in public and say, "We saw his ascension or his father's ascension, therefore, he is a divine ruler."

The disciples stood here and then they watched as the divine Son of God ascended to sit at his Father's right hand - Lord and ruler of Heaven and earth. And they were the witnesses. 

They would now have to go to a Roman world, to the world of Asia Minor where emperor worship was becoming increasingly common - the rule in fact - and say, "I don't care what witnesses saw. I don't care what the emperor says. He is not God and not the King of Kings. It's Jesus. We saw him ascend. We are his witnesses." And that message would be radically counter-cultural, would result in confrontation with rulers and kings and people around the world, would result in the death of many of those disciples who stood here and watched it. But that message would result in a passionate faith of those early missionaries and the people who heard that message.