Luke 9:51-62 (NLT)
51As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus
resolutely set out for Jerusalem.
·
The
ESV puts it like this: He
(meaning Jesus) He set his face to go to Jerusalem.
·
And
the KJV puts it like this: He (again Jesus) He steadfastly
set his face to go to Jerusalem.
52He sent messengers ahead to a Samaritan village to prepare for
his arrival. 53But the people of the village did not welcome Jesus because He
was on his way to Jerusalem.
And I love this part,
54When James and John (Remember, Jesus renamed them, The Sons of Thunder) When James and John saw this, they said to Jesus, “Lord,
should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?”
55But Jesus turned and rebuked (or
scolded) them.
56So they went on to another village.
Right
here, God gives us a perfect example of what not to be like.
Even
within the Apostles, bring with Jesus Christ, they fell to sin, thinking that
THEY were superior to others.
Just
Because they were walking with Christ, “Being of Churched People”, they felt
that they could look down their noses upon others.
(So
the village told them to go on, not to stop there and they did just that. They
moved on to the next village.)
But
57As they were walking along, someone said to Jesus, “I will
follow you wherever you go.”
·
58But Jesus replied,
“Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no
place even to lay his head.”
59He said to another person, “Come, follow me.”
·
The man agreed, but he
said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.”
·
60But Jesus told him,
“Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and preach
about the Kingdom of God.”
61Another said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me
say good-bye to my family.”
·
62But Jesus told him,
“Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the
Kingdom of God.”
Awhile back, an 81-year-old man found himself alone, 5000 feet above ground, with his friend slumped over at the controls.
This 81-year-old man was flying with his friend, a 52-year-old man who unexpectedly died while they were in their flight and the elder passenger knew absolutely nothing about flying and a bunch less about landing a plane!
In the
next twenty minutes you can bet that this man gave his total attention to the
voices which came across the radio and to the instructions which were given to
him.
There
was another pilot who was nearby and he coached him on the basics of flying
this small craft and what was even more important, how to land it.
After
circling the airport three times, he came in to land. After bouncing a few
times, and then sliding a bunch, he landed this plane in a soggy field.
Incredibly,
there was no damage to the plane except for a bent propeller.
If
this happened to you or to me today, our
number one priority would be determined for us very-very quickly!
You most
certainly would not have used these last 20 minutes planning his friends
funeral nor that he would be arriving late to his appointment.
The main thing and the only
thing would be to land that plane without tearing it apart!
In Stephen
Covey book titled First Things First,
he says that the “Issue for Life is
just that – First Things First!”
·
I hear a very convincing and persuading question
which comes out of our Gospel reading today.
·
From the Book of Luke, Chapter 9, the BIG IDEA
is:
o
How do we keep the
§ "MAIN
THING" – Remaining the MAIN THING within our lives?
o
And, of course the question which should follow
is,
§ Just what is the "MAIN THING"?
One
day, right after Jesus had been snubbed and rejected by the people in a
Samaritan village,
·
Someone came up to Jesus and promised,
o
"I will follow you wherever you go."
·
Then a bit later, we hear Jesus telling another
person to,
o
"Follow me."
o
But that person excused himself by saying:
§ "Lord, let me
first go and bury my father."
·
Jesus turns to another,
o
"Follow me."
o
But that person responds with,
§ "Excuse me,
Jesus, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family."
o
Jesus' response is very firm and direct —
§ And if
we didn’t know that this was from Jesus,
§ We most
certainly would be calling his reply being insensitive, unmoving, motionless, and
almost hateful.
§ "Let the dead
bury the dead;
·
but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God ...
·
no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the
kingdom of God"
With
this scripture today, we must understand that it is a tough one to accept
because the direction is so different from our world today.
·
Obviously, it is emotional.
We may
feel we see a side of Jesus which we really don’t want to admit that we see nor
that we like.
It is
OK.
Many
of us will feel that Jesus is being way-way-way too hard, to critical and harsh
with these people.
It is
OK.
For most
of us, that is how we will feel towards these Words,
·
That is until we understand them.
·
Even for myself, I have had difficulty
understanding why Jesus would be so-so harsh and cold towards these people who
seemed to be just wanting to do the right thing.
o
Let me go home and bury my father or let me go
home and say good-bye.
In
this last reference which Jesus used, Jesus knew what skills the farmer needed
to have to be successful.
·
And unless you come from a farming background,
it is difficult to understand.
But
let’s try to figure it out.
·
When a farmer is planting a field, and it is most
critical on your first pass through the field, it is very important that the
farmer plants in a straight line.
·
And there are so many reasons for this.
·
One reason to plant in a straight line is so
there is no over lapping within the planting. Planting over what has already
been planted.
o
When the farmer sows a field, he uses the ideal
amount of seed that this field will support.
§ If you
plant too much, the extra seed trying to grow will starve the ground of
moisture which hurts all those plants.
§ And if
you plant less than it will support, the ground will produce weeds which will grow
up and will choke out your crop.
o
If you plant too wide, making gaps between the
planting, during wet seasons, weeds will grow and during dry seasons, these blank
areas will have a tendency to start to blow.
§ And once
the dirt begins to blow, the movement of the soil will gradually take over your
entire field and you will not only lose all of your top soil but also with it
goes your crop.
·
To avoid these mistakes,
o
Before a farmer enters into the field, he picks
out a target on the other side.
§ He
begins into the field with his eyes remaining on that target.
§ And no
matter how short of a time it takes but when the farmer takes his eyes off of
that target and looks away, the tractor and back then, your team of horses or
oxen would wonder way off course.
o
When you turn around and look back to where you
have been, you will most certainly drift off course and once you have done this,
there is no way in which you can correct it.
o
The mistake is done.
Jesus
heard many excuses in his short three-years of ministry.
·
Some excuses were very lame.
·
Many seemed to be admirable.
·
Some were even laughably.
·
And many excuses would seem to be worthy.
And it
is hard to think of a better excuse than the one where this man wanted to
return home to take care of his family.
In our
modern world, people’s family lives are in a world of hurt.
·
Priorities are all screwed up so badly that nearly
half of all marriages end up in divorce.
·
This leads to the next generation confused and
hurt.
·
They feel that living together,
o
Having children out of wedlock,
o
Living a non-committing live style is their way
of avoiding that type of hurt.
·
Which leads to custody battles,
o
Deadbeat fathers,
o
Abuse,
o
Incest,
o
And neglect running rampant among us.
·
But what could seem to be a better, a more
admirable task than taking care for one's family?
How
many times have you and I said, "My family is first"?
The
most
·
Righteous,
·
Respectable,
·
And acceptable statement which
o
Politicians,
o
CEOs,
o
And Even Pastors
o
And all others make when changing careers is,
§ "I'm quitting so I can
take more time for my family."
Wouldn’t
it have been easier for us
·
If Jesus would have found someone else to make
an example of.
·
To select someone else who would not have
claimed that they have to take care of family first and then I will be able to
follow you.
·
Why did Jesus find two examples, back to back,
claiming FAMILY as being their first responsibility?
·
If Jesus had done that, wouldn’t that make it easier
for us to understand?
·
Who here would think that taking care of your Family
would be, or should be an acceptable excuse for God to accept over what He
wants us to do?
o
To take care of Our Family —
§ That's
an admirable,
§ Genuine,
§ Authentic
excuse.
§ Isn’t
it?
But God
calls us to not make family first —
·
But to make the kingdom first!
How do we keep the main thing the main thing?
The
Bible is full of excusers who were called to do God's work.
·
Gideon excused himself and complained that
o
His family was poor
o
And that he was even the least within his
family.
·
Moses excused himself because
o
He was not eloquent in speech, he had a
studder.
o
And thus tried to disqualify himself from
leading the Hebrews out of bondage from the land of the Egyptians.
·
Jeremiah said he was too young.
·
And even I, Pastor Dan, my excuse in delaying
my pursuit of my calling was that I didn’t want to be “Just one of the guys”.
o
I wanted to make sure that my call into
ministry was genuine and from God.
The
amazing thing is that God is able to use our excusers - once we have gotten
beyond those excuses.
When
we live in
·
Our baptismal covenant
·
And are bathed in God's Grace in Christ,
·
We can say this to one another.
·
"Let me hear your excuses and I'll
tell you mine, and then we will travel together a bit with them and eventually
we will get to the Real Issue."
What is the REAL ISSUE?
Consider
the little boy playing hide and seek. He ran quickly and found an isolated
cabinet in the house. “THIS HAS TO BE THE GREATEST PLACE TO HIDE,
he thought, as he climbs in and closes the door.
·
He remains motionless, and absolutely quiet.
·
But his sister saw his shoelace sticking out from
underneath the closed cabinet door.
·
She approached the cabinet and she found her
brother.
Excuses
are like shoelaces.
Follow
them and eventually, they will lead you to the TRUE SOURCE and the REAL ISSUE.
Let me
ask you,
What
is the main reason why people who used to go to church,
·
Maybe even a lot,
·
Why are they not going to church today?
·
I bet you that their main reason will be found
either in FEAR, GRIEF, GUILT or some type of a HURT.
o
So – so often, we have someone who is associated
within the church itself how has caused these reasons why these people stay
away.
Remember
what James and John wanted to do to the Samaritan village?
When James and John saw this, they said to Jesus, “Lord, should
we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?”
55But Jesus turned and rebuked them.
How we
treat others can hurt them so deeply and people hang on to this hurt.
They
hang on to them for many reasons.
·
Because they feel they have experienced this
hurt.
·
Because they have been wronged.
·
They don’t want to be hurt again.
·
But all the while they hang on to these
feelings, it continues to drive a wedge between them and God and all too often,
it becomes so deep that they even lose sight of the true reason why they feel
this way.
Are
not the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the writings of the New Testament,
isn’t it just full of Christ asking us to follow Him?
·
Someone, come and follow ME?
And if
we agree that the Word is full of His Calling, then why are we not asking that very
same question today?
Our
questions of today are full of:
·
“Do you believe?”
·
“Do you believe in God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit?”
·
“Do you believe in the genuineness of the
Scriptures and of Confession?”
·
“Do you believe in the unity and purity of the
church?”
·
“Do you believe in Jesus Christ?”
Haven’t
we changed the questions from “Are you FOLLOWING GOD” to “Do you BELIEVE in
God” because the belief question is easier to answer?
There
is almost always no hesitation within the answers of those “Do you Believe” questions.
But scripture
even says that the demons believe in God, we had an example of this in the
story of the Legion from last week.
·
So let me ask, if we just believe, how does
that separate us from the demons?
·
And if there is no difference, then shouldn’t
our fate be the same as the demons?
But
what about the question, “Are you following Jesus?”
·
Do we even know what “FOLLOWING CHRIST JESUS”
is like?
·
Doesn’t that answer come to you with some type of
cost tied to it?
A Yes
to that answer requires, it demands for us to live a different type of
Lifestyle.
·
It requires a change within our attitudes.
·
It changes our value system.
·
It requires us to surrender to God for His Work
to be done.
I do
not know about you but for me,
·
It is easy.
·
It is almost painless.
·
And I am in totally comfort and peace to
confess
o
That I believe in God.
·
That I believe in God the Father, God the Son
and God the Holy Spirit.
·
I Do BELIEVE!!!
I
confess my faith within my prayers, within my preachings and in my teachings
and in my life.
But, -
I live a comfortable lifestyle.
·
I have two vehicles,
·
Several trailers and a canoe.
·
And I own a house.
·
I have a closet full of ‘My Clothes’,
·
I have a livable retirement pension,
·
And all of the things which make up a Great
American Life.
Can
you relate with me?
Are
you also living a life which is close to how I live?
But
what about the questions,
·
‘Am I FOLLOWING
Jesus in a world of hunger and deprivation?’
·
‘Am I FOLLOWING
Jesus when I deplete the earth’s resources?’
·
‘Am I FOLLOWING
Jesus if I am not washing my neighbors’ feet within Love, Compassion and
Generosity?’
We are taught of the
instructions found in
Ephesians 2:8-9:
God saved you by his grace when you
believed. And you can’t take credit
for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things
we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
Yes,
that is all very-very TRUE.
But
what about the very next verse?
Ephesians 2:10:
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in
Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Of
course
·
We are never saved by works,
·
We are saved FOR works.
"Are
you Following Christ Jesus or Believing in Christ Jesus?"
·
Do you struggle with that question?
·
Does that question seem to be somewhat unfair
or artificial
·
Because the two are inseparable, the two are as
one?
·
In the Idealistic World, yes, they are
inseparable.
·
But in the Practical World, within our world
today, no, they are most certainly two different things.
We
separate them all the time.
As
Harry Wendt says,
·
"One can believe without following,
·
But one cannot follow without
believing."
"Come follow me," Jesus says over and over within the
gospels.
"Let the dead bury the dead; but as for you go and proclaim
the kingdom of God...."
I
believe it is agreeable with most, if not with all of the Scholars that when
the man said he would follow Christ after he has buried his father. (in verse
59) “Lord, first let me
return home and bury my father.”
·
It is
agreed that this man’s motives were not as pure as we may think they are.
·
With
his father’s death being close, he wanted to return home so he could collect
the portion of his father’s estate which belongs to him.
o
Isn’t
this man acting much as we does today?
§ I will follow you Lord as long as I
can do it in comfort and with the things that I like.
Remember the story of the rich man?
·
He
wanted to be with the Lord but his money got in the way and he was too afraid
to live without it so he remains lost.
o
Does
your money get in the way of FOLLOWING GOD?
o
Is
your way of life too important to you?
o
TO
YOU, is there a difference within the meaning between the words
§ BELIEVING in God.
§ And FOLLOWING God
·
60But Jesus told him, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own
dead!
·
(KJV) Let the dead
bury their dead
·
(ESV) Leave the dead to bury their own dead.
·
Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God.”
What
do you think Jesus meant by the “DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD?”
·
Jesus is warning us not to lose sight of the
Big Picture.
·
There are many distractions that the evil one
has placed before us but if we want to FOLLOW the Lord, we must keep our eyes
upon Him.
In 1 Kings 19, we see where Elijah not only anoints
Elisha as his replacement but Elijah also allows Elisha's to do as he had
request. “First let me go and kiss my father and
mother good-bye, and then I will go with you!”
I
believe here we see man, even as Holy of a man as Elijah was, he has allowed
God’s VISION to be changed to fit within the human lives of his day.
It does
seem respectful, it seems right for him to allow Elisha to return home and to say
Good Bye to his folks.
Jesus
on the other hand, seems to be less tolerant and insists on first things
first.
Jesus keeps
the main thing the main thing.
I
believe it is important here that we need to recognize that God Does Not
Change.
He
does not put His Plans through the filters of our world today so that they
would seem to be more acceptable to us today.
·
Yes, Our world changes.
o
Take a look at the changes which have occurred
since you were a youngster.
God on
the other hand does not – He NEVER changes.
o
His ideas stay the same.
o
His tolerance for sin remains the same.
o
His acceptance remains the same.
o
His Laws of Truth remain a constant.
·
But the world which we live in continues to change,
o
We have the Removal of Prayer from schools.
o
Removing our rights to talk about God in the work
place.
o
Recently, we have the Changing within the
structure of marriage.
o
Changing the rules that anyone can enter into
the restroom of their choice regardless of sex.
o
Changing the structure of having true boy
sports and true girl sports.
o
What about the “Good and Respectful People” who
do not believe that Jesus is THE WAY and THE LIGHT but they will still go to
heaven?
o
This list goes on and on.
But –
we should not – WE CAN NOT – expect God to change his values as our world
changes.
·
He does not lower the ruler, nor does He become
more tolerant, more bendable, and more acceptable so that those who live within
the world of today can be with Him for eternity.
We must stay Focused upon Him.
One great
way of putting FIRST THINGS FIRST is to begin to live by the compass and not by
the clock.
·
The clock represents:
o
Our appointments,
o
Our commitments,
o
Schedules, Goals, and Activities —
o
What we do and how well we manage our time.
Often
we are overscheduled – over booked
And the
time which originally was given as a gift has now become a cruelty.
The
compass on the other hand represents:
·
Our direction,
·
Our vision,
·
Our values,
·
Principles,
·
Our Conscience, Purpose, and Mission —
o
It represents what we feel is truly important
as God lives and leads us within our lives.
Is
that not What the main thing is?
o
To earnestly seek and FOLLOW Jesus
o
And to proclaim the Kingdom to all
o
In word and in deed.
John Wesley, wrote in
his diary:
Sunday a.m. May 5 —
Preached in St. Anne's. Was asked not to come back anymore.
Sunday p.m. May 5 —
Preached in St. John's. Deacons said get out and stay out.
Sunday a.m. May 12 —
Preached in St. Jude's. Can't go back there either.
Sunday a.m. May 19 — Preached
in St. Somebody Elses. Deacons called a special meeting and said I couldn't
return.
Sunday p.m. — Preached
on street. Kicked off the street.
Sunday a.m. — Preached
in meadow. Chased out of the meadow as bull was turned loose during service.
Sunday a.m. — Preached
out at the edge of town. Kicked off highway.
Sunday p.m. — June
afternoon, preached in a pasture. Ten thousand people came out to hear me.
Jesus
says, "No
one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom
of God."
It is
all about having FIRST THINGS REMAIN FIRST. Amen.
