Jesus gave up literally everything!
Ever thought how many different things you own? What do you reckon? 600 books. 45 items on our dressing table. 25 pairs socks. 20 biros? What about in the loft? Maybe its 500, 1000, maybe 5000?
And how much we feel secure amongst all our things? Sometimes you see people whose houses have burned down. They say 'I've lost everything'.
What did Jesus say?
I don't have anywhere to live, not even anywhere guaranteed to sleep tonight.
Its funny - Jesus didn't seem to carry any spare gear around with him. Looks like he was completely dependent on the kindness of various people.
So they provided for him, on a kind of ad-hoc basis.
Seems that Jesus didn't have any regular money provided either. When it was time to pay the temple tax, he paid with money that Peter found in the mouth of a fish.
He owned no table to eat at, no bed to sleep in, no place to shelter, nowhere he could call his own.
He didn't own a donkey to ride on, he had to borrow on.
The One who created gold in the hills had no money to pay the temple tax.
He who gave birds their nests had no place to lay his head.
He who made all the animals in creation didn't even own a donkey to ride on.
The One who made everything we see and feel and enjoy, gave up everything.
It seems, all he owned were the clothes he stood up in.
He even gave up his own will.
He gave up his own words.
He would wake up in the morning, and immediately begin to converse with his Father. He would listen to what he should do that day, where he should go, who he should speak to.
And as he walked around, from town to town, he would listen to his Father, so that he could follow his agenda. At every fork in the road, at every point of decision, big or small, at every moment, he gave up his own will, and went along with what his Father commanded. "Go to Capernaum". "Go to the other side of the lake". "Wait a couple of days before going to Bethany". All the time, he listened, he obeyed as instructed.
Again and again the gospels tell us Jesus insisted he did nothing of his own accord.
He owned nothing, not even his own pathway through life.
Well not quite.
You see there came a day, and we don't know when it was, but that day came when Jesus realised where his love would lead. He realised the path he was on. The future came into focus, and there was no avoiding the fact.
And I'm sure he spoke to his Father about it. And for the first time in His life, he heard his Father say "You choose".
This one, who over and over, had said "I do nothing of my own accord" later told his disciples,
This is the only time Jesus ever used the phrase "I do it of my own accord".
At this decision, and this decision only, his Father said "You choose".
The first thing he ever owned in the Gospels is that choice.
And pretty soon, he owned something else.
He owned the decision to give up his life, and now he owns the cross where he is going to lose it.
But because of his choice, and because of his cross . . .
The Bible says … By his blood he has paid the price and purchased you.
The Bible says …You are no longer your own. You are bought with a price.
If you have accepted Jesus forgiveness and been accepted by him, you are not your own.
Take a look at your hands - they don't belong to you.
Feet - don't belong to you..
Lips - don't belong to you.
You are not your own.
Are you carrying on as if your life still belongs to you? Are you trying to make your own decisions about what to do with your hands, your feet, what to do and where to go.
Are you trying to take back control of your mind, of your mouth - what to think and what to say.
You are not your own.
We are to allow the Holy Spirit to control our minds, so that we like Jesus do what the Father does, say what the Father says.
You are so precious to the awesome majestic Lord Jesus Christ. He who created everything with a word, gave it all up, and today what does he have - the scars symbolising his enduring choice of the cross - and you.
No wonder you are precious. You and I have no conception of how valuable we are to God. We are not our own, we are bought with a price, not with precious stones, or silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
May God remind us each day, that our hands and feet, our decisions and choices, our hearts and minds, are not our own, but His.
