Luke Part 28: Foxes, Funerals, and Furrows

Transcription

1 Message Notes Luke Part 28: Foxes, Funerals, and Furrows I. Introduction: A. The Journey to Jerusalem: Knowing that the time was approaching for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out from Galilee for Jerusalem. He was visiting many towns and villages along the way. During this journey, there were many people following Him. And He had decided to send messengers ahead to every place He was planning to go on His way to Jerusalem. Some of these messengers were volunteers. And some were people he had tapped on the shoulder and challenged to step up. Let s meet a few of them! Luke 9:57-10:3 B. Putting the Two Groups Together: Note the connection here between the 3 men with excuses and the 72 messengers that were sent out after. In 10:1 it says; After this the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them two by two ahead of him... Others is used to distinguish between two groups of people. It distinguishes the 72 who were sent from the group that was being looked at previously, the 3 who were not sent. There were probably more than three who did not get sent out by Jesus; but the three anonymous candidates are presented as examples of those who did not make the cut. The actions of one group must be seen in the light of the actions of the other. They are being contrasted with each other. Maybe we should sub-title this whole section as The 75 Messengers. C. A Caution in Our Understanding: This is the kind of passage that makes me tremble as a pastor. As we seek to understand this passage, I neither want to soften Jesus words, nor make them harder than He intended. Jesus words were obviously intended to discomfort the comfortable and to challenge people s superficial understanding of what it means to follow Him or to be saved. But most of us would like to have a place to call home. And most of us have some family responsibilities. And most of us find ourselves occasionally glancing longingly over our shoulder at those who seem to have life easier, or have fewer evenings committed to church stuff, or maybe just have the weekend off! What does being a faithful follower of Jesus look like today? II. Three Would Be Disciples: 9:56-62 A. Conditional Obedience: 9:56-57 The first man we meet as we journey down the road with Jesus is a willing volunteer. And his verbal statement indicates a willingness to follow Jesus unconditionally; I will follow you wherever you go. I suspect we would have been tempted to appoint this man to a position of leadership. After all, we always need more willing hands and volunteers. But Jesus is not so quick to accept his offer. There are many reasons why people volunteer to serve, and honestly we all struggle with mixed motives at times for serving Christ. But let s not be naïve. Some 1 P a g e

2 people s primary motivation is completely self-centered, not based on love for God and love for people. Service can be driven by fear or selfish pride or compensation for guilt. And predators happily volunteer to serve but for all the wrong reasons. And the more popular a church or ministry becomes, the more it attracts the self-centered and the power hungry. A Particular Call: I think Jesus saw through this man. What he says to this man about foxes and birds, is not repeated for the next two men. In other words, this doesn t seem to be a standard response to test all would be disciples, but a particular challenge to the real priorities in this man s life. This statement seems to be tailored to an issue in this man s life. We see a parallel of this in John s Gospel s when Jesus meets Nicodemus and says to him You must be born again. But in the next chapter He tells the woman at the well to If you ask me, I can give you Living Water. He does not say to her You must be born again. Being born again was not a formula response for initiating an evangelistic conversation. It was a statement particularly suited to Nicodemus who as a good Jew was trusting in his first birth, his physical descent as a Jew from Abraham, to make him a member of God s kingdom. He was unaware of his need to be spiritually reborn. On the other hand, the woman at the well was thirsty. She was trying to satisfy her thirst for love and approval by lookin for love in all the wrong places. 1. Why did Jesus say to this man, Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Luke 9:58? a. Jesus knows the idols and the stuck places in my life. He knows the unwritten, unstated, and even the unconscious conditions we place on obedience. He also knows that most of us have several I will follow you if... statements tucked away in the depths of our hearts. I will follow you if... you bless me financially. I will follow you if... you give me good health. I will follow you if... I m successful and recognized for it. I will follow you if... Jesus has a way of putting his finger on the things that are holding us back from full surrender. Jesus is not trying to discourage or drive this man away, but to reveal what is really in his heart. b. Being a Christian is not a Carnival Cruise to the Bahamas. Jesus isn t here to make you peaceful, happy, comfortable, and fulfilled. He is the Master of the Universe calling us to sacrifice and denying yourself in this life, that you may gain His approval and reward in the next. Peace, happiness, comfort, and 2 P a g e

3 fulfillment are byproducts of such a life, not the goal! His call demands all out commitment from us, not simply kicking the tires of the faith and admiring the chrome! There are two things salespeople do to qualify or test the genuineness or commitment of sales prospects. They ask you questions and they place certain barriers to a sale in front of you to see how serious you are. When you go to a car dealership, the sales people will come over and start asking if you have a particular type of car in mind, have you been looking for similar cars at other dealerships, do you have a trade-in or planning on using cash? They are trying to figure out how serious you are about making a purchase. They will show you around, but ultimately they will suggest you put in an offer. They are putting a barrier up to test how serious you are. They may make it sound like they are really flexible to encourage you to make an offer. But the real negotiations happen with the sales manager. And you don t a minute of his time until your commitment has been tested. You have to commit yourself to an offer sheet. c. So, what s the principle we need to apply to our lives? Jesus was testing this man s commitment and putting his finger on a sticking point in this man s life. He was asking this man to forsake the comfort of a home. I do not think Jesus is calling all Christians to live as wanderers and to never buy a home. This seems to be a particular call on this man s life and it may be God s call on your life. Jesus is not establishing a general principle that owning real estate is a sin. But maybe being owned by your real estate is! Maybe the principle that Jesus is raising here is more like the point in Hebrews about way Abraham lived. "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." (Hebrews 11:8-10) Canaan wasn t Abraham s final destination. He lived there as a temporary alien. Tenting wasn t his only option for accommodation, but His priorities and choices in life placed a much higher priority on his future lasting home. You don t overly invest in a place you are only staying temporarily. You don t spend too much on fixing up a place you are only renting for a short period of time. When you are not planning to stay very long you don t bother decorating much. The Bible says our citizenship is in heaven. We are living here as aliens. But we are tempted to try and make it home; to make ourselves comfortable and live for the present rather than eternity and heaven. Living like an alien means denying yourself and making sacrifices now with your time, your talents, your money, and your comfort because you are looking forward to a the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Luke 9:58 3 P a g e

4 B. Delayed Obedience: 9:59-60 The next man is someone Jesus tapped on the shoulder and challenged. Jesus said to him, Follow me. What could be simpler? But it does not seem so simple to this man, and his response is a strange one to us. He says; 'Lord, first let me go and bury my father.' On the surface, this seems like a modest request. If his father had died, it only makes sense that he should take a few days to mourn and honor his father. But if his father has just died, why is he tagging along following Jesus right now? Even if his father was sick, he would probably have left and gone home to care for him. Or else he would have asked Jesus to heal him. This is not a request for a few days to deal with a family funeral. His father is neither dead nor sick. It is a Jewish way of saying; Look, I have responsibilities to my father as long as he lives. I m not free to follow you right now. But when he dies, then I can follow. You know what? There is always a GOOD reason not to serve Jesus today. There is always something that seems more important. It always seems like it will be more workable to do what He is asking you do later. When the kids grow up, when school is finished, when I get a job, after we get married, when I get that promotion, when my aging parents pass away. The list of reasons is unending. It will always be more convenient to serve Jesus tomorrow! Jesus responds in hyperbole. That means He is overstating the case to make a point. He says; Let the dead bury the dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God. He is not saying that Christians aren t supposed to attend their parent s funeral! He is saying those who are spiritually dead can put other responsibilities in front of following Jesus. But if we are truly His disciples, His followers, we must choose to follow him NOW in whatever he is calling us to do.! There is something Jesus is calling each one of us to do. If you are a mom with young kids, there are limits on your strength and time. If you are elderly or infirm, you can t do some of the things you used to do. But God has a job for you if you are a follower of Jesus. Now is not only the time to worship. It is the time to give your heart. And Now is the time to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus; obeying what he has told you to do. C. Half-hearted Obedience: A third candidate for the messenger mission of Jesus is also presented. Evidently Jesus invited him to follow as well. And he too has a reason why the timing doesn t quite work for him. He says; I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family. Once again the request seems quite reasonable and Jesus response seems harsh. But maybe Jesus response helps us to understand what the issue is that he is addressing. He says; No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God. Luke 9:62 There is something different about Jesus answer. This response is stated as a general principle. It says No one who puts a hand to the plow... It is not stated as a particular call for a particular person. It is addressed to anyone who wants to follow Jesus. 4 P a g e

5 2. So what is the principle Jesus is stating here? Plowing and serving Jesus require single minded focus. He is re-stating an ancient proverb. "You can't plow a furrow looking backwards." Whether your plow is pulled by a mule or a tractor, there is one no-no. You never try to plow while looking over your shoulder. If you do, your rows are crooked and your field is difficult to work. If you try to plow while looking back, you're not fit to be in the field. You'd be fired in a hurry by the farmer. Rather, plowmen fix their eyes on a point at the far end of the field and move steadily toward it, not veering to the right side or to the left. Jesus is saying, "Look, you can't follow Me looking backwards. You can't have a divided heart. You cannot try to serve God and also gain the whole world. It is another way of saying; No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can t serve both God and Money. Matt. 6:24 He could have applied it by saying; You can serve both God and success. Or You can t fear God and fear what people think of you. Maybe it would have been okay for someone else to run home and tell his family good-bye. Family relationships are important. But they are not more important than doing what Jesus has called you to do. And perhaps Jesus could see that this was the critical issue in this man s life. Maybe this man felt he needed his parent s approval before he took the radical step of following Christ or maybe he was afraid of losing his inheritance. But in Matthew 10 Jesus says; Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10:37-39 Are you plowing crooked furrows? Are you a half-hearted follower of Christ? Are you fooling yourself into thinking that you are a disciple because you show up at church fairly regularly; but your focus in life is not on the other end of the field? It is the flash and dazzle of the world over your shoulder which is drawing your attention. III. The 72: We don t have much time today to spend with the 72. But in contrast to the three who liked Jesus and answered his call to follow him with a Yes, but... ; the seventy-two simply replied Yes. They had pressing issues in their lives too. They had good reasons to put off this trip, this mission. They preferred the comfort of sleeping in their own beds just like everybody else. There were things they wanted to do, people they wanted to please, money they wanted to make, responsibilities they were supposed to fulfill. But none of those things was a good enough reason to put off following Jesus today. The harvest was plentiful and it still is today; but the workers are few. And Jesus is saying; Follow me. 5 P a g e