The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
June 26, 2016
Luke 9:51-62
As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “LORD, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village. As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But the man replied, “LORD, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, LORD; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Are you familiar with the website called indeed.com? It is one of the premier websites to use if: a) you are looking for a job; b) you are looking for someone to fill an open position at your place of business. Basically, indeed.com takes help wanted ads from all over the country and places them on your computer or Smartphone. You just type in the kind of job you’re interested in finding and the location where you want to work and hit “Search.” There is even a link for you to upload your resume so that potential employers can contact you! As of yesterday (Saturday, June 25) there were 5,205,540 stories from people in the United States who found a job in indeed.com!
Just out of curiosity I typed “pastor” into the search box. I immediately got a list of 1,292 “new” postings for “pastor.” When I clicked on the ad for “Lead Pastor” at Salina Community Church in Salina, OK, I found that the job summary included five aspects: “1. Teaching/preaching of traditional doctrine 2. Caregiving, such as visitation, counseling, comforting, and taking care of the needs of people 3. Performing rites of passages, such as baptisms, weddings and funerals 4. Administration, such as taking care of meetings, putting together a bulletin, and developing programs for the church and evangelism 5. And finally, serving as ambassador of the church to the community.” All-in-all pretty standard pastoral duties. Since my curiosity was piqued I typed “Christian disciple” into the search box. I instantly got a list of 158 job openings ranging from Elementary School Teacher to Facilities Coordinator.
We, of course, know that through the power of God the Holy Spirit working through the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ we have been called to be disciples, followers, of our dear Lord and Savior. And while we generally know that it means to be a disciple, sometimes we might be a little “fuzzy” on some of the day-to-day details concerning our discipleship.
Our sermon text for today, my friends, gives us the opportunity to examine four different aspects of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Hopefully the good Lord has given us all the ability to do well in all four of these areas. If not, today we have the opportunity to see where we can improve. With that goal in mind let’s study our text under the theme: Wanted: Dedicated Disciples.
The first aspect of being a dedicated disciple is found in the opening portion of our text. Luke writes, “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, ‘Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?’ But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village.”
The overall emphasis here is quite simple and quite clear. Jesus knew that according to the heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation for this world it was time for Jesus to make His way to Jerusalem so that He could be betrayed, arrested, crucified, rise and victoriously ascend into heaven. As Jesus “set His face” on achieving His goal for you and for me, He sent some disciples into a Samaritan village to make arrangements for food, lodging, etc. The Samaritans were undoubtedly thrilled to hear that Jesus was coming— until they heard that He was just passing through on His way to Jerusalem. Then they let their jealousy and their prejudice get the better of them. They told Jesus’ disciples that He was not welcome in their village. James and John in turn let their “dislike” for the Samaritans get the better of them and asked Jesus for permission to “call fire down from heaven to destroy them.” Jesus, of course, absolutely refused. His mission, His goal, was to do everything that was necessary to save sinners, not destroy them.
Because our old sinful nature is both vengeful and vindictive we could easily find ourselves in a situation where like James and John we wish we could “call down fire from heaven” to destroy those who oppose and openly reject our dear Lord Jesus, the message He proclaims and the Church He has established. We get tired of being lumped together with some kind of “right wing radical conspiracy.” We begin to bristle at being labeled “intolerant” and “unloving.” We easily forget that one of the first and most prominent characteristics of being a disciple of Jesus Christ is found in our Savior’s words, “I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:44, 45). Even when we have been wronged, even if we are convinced that someone deserves to be punished for their spiteful words and hateful actions toward Jesus we still need to take a deep breath, count to whatever we need to count to and remember what our God tells us in Romans 12:18, 19: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.” Anything less and we are the ones who need to stand next to James and John with our heads bowed low and be “rebuked” by the Lord.
The second aspect of being a dedicated disciple of Jesus is found in verses 57 and 58 of our text. Luke writes, “As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, ’I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’”
These verses emphasize the reality of what it means to be a dedicated disciple of Jesus. There are days when we are so “on fire” for the Lord that we are willing to follow Jesus wherever He wants us to go! We hear stories of mission work being done in other parts of the world and like Isaiah our hearts cry out “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8). But what we always need to remember are the sacrifices that are required in this type of commitment. Following Jesus wherever He leads us could easily require that we don’t have our hearts set on having a beautiful home, a nice salary and a cornucopia of earthly comforts. We would do well to remember that while He was here on this earth even the Son of Man had “no place to lay his head.”
Does that mean that if we do have a beautiful home, a nice salary and lots of earthly comforts that we are being dedicated disciples of Jesus? No, it does not! But if our stewardship of time, talent and treasure (the offerings we place on the altar of our God) reveals that our goals and our priorities in this life focus more on our home, our money and our “stuff” instead of Jesus and His work, then it may mean that we need to spend more time at the foot of the cross asking our Lord to help us put Him and His work a little bit higher on our personal priority list.
That point ties in well with the third aspect of being a dedicated disciple. Look at verses 59 and 60 of our text. Luke continues, “He said to another man, ‘Follow me.’ But the man replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’” With these words Jesus emphasizes the cost of being His disciple. There may be times when the cost of following Jesus will include putting Jesus and proclaiming His Truth ahead of everything else— even our own family. While it may only happen on rare occasions, if we have to choose— either we follow Jesus and proclaim His Truth or we take care of family obligations— we need to remember what our salvation cost Jesus (Pointing to the cross) and be willing to put Him first.
The final aspect of being a dedicated disciple of Jesus is found in the closing verses of our text. Luke writes, “Still another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.’ Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’”
Here we see the urgency of being a dedicated disciple of Jesus. All too often we might think that following Jesus whole-heartedly can wait— at least a little bit. We might say to ourselves, “After I get my degree or after I get my career off the ground or after I have my family or after I retire then I’ll have more time or more money or more energy to give to the Lord and to His work.” While we are waiting opportunities to share the cross of Jesus Christ are being lost. While we are waiting Satan is working furiously. No matter what other responsibilities we have in our life, my friends, we need to stay focused on the fact that as disciples of Jesus Christ there is indeed an urgency to our calling to be witnesses for Him! (Pointing to the cross)
Millions of people turn to websites like indeed.com to either look for a job or to look for an employee. Thousands upon thousands of job openings are posted each and every day. Virtually all of them contain some kind of job summary so that everyone knows exactly what that job entails.
Purely by the grace and power of God you have been called to the most glorious “job” on the face of this earth— being a disciple of Jesus. My prayer this morning is that while you rejoice at being His disciple you will also turn to portions of Scripture such as our text on a regular basis so that you can learn and grow in your understanding of what it means to live on a day-to-day as His disciple. (Pointing to the cross)
To God be the glory!
Amen