Deo Gloria
Sermon for June 26, 2022
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Luke 9:51-62
Theme: Following Jesus Takes Total Commitment!
- To be patient with those who oppose Jesus
- To not let anything else get in the way
Are you an avid fisherman, the kind who goes out fishing at least once or twice a week, perhaps early in the morning or after work or after supper, the kind who includes fishing on every vacation, who even plans an entire trip just for fishing? Or are you a more casual fisherman? You might stick a pole in the water when you go up to the cabin for the weekend or if you happen to be camping near a lake. That’s plenty good for you.
How about when it comes to the Vikings? Are you an avid Vikings fan, the kind who can hardly wait for the season to start, one who watches every game and knows every player by name and number? Or are you a more casual fan? You watch a game here and there, unless of course they make it to the playoffs. Then you follow them a bit more closely.
Our Savior Jesus isn’t looking for casual disciples. He doesn’t want half-hearted followers. He wants followers who are all in, who love him more than anything else and aren’t going to let anything stop them from following him and serving him. That’s the lesson we learn from this portion of God’s Word this morning: Following Jesus takes total commitment!
Jesus had spent the last 18 months in Galilee, the northern province of Israel, preaching and teaching about the kingdom of God in places like Bethsaida and Capernaum and Nazareth. In the process he performed many miracles, healed many who were sick, drove out many demons, and even raised at least two people from the dead, all demonstrating that he was indeed the Son of God and promised Savior. But that ministry had now come to end. As Luke notes in the very first verse, the time was approaching for Jesus to be taken up to heaven. So Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. Literally the Greek says that “he firmly set his face to go to Jerusalem.” This was now crunch time. This was the fourth quarter and all the chips were on the table. The time had come for Jesus to carry out the greatest and most important part of his ministry: to suffer and die for the sins of the world, to conquer sin and death, to rise from the dead in glorious triumph and to ascend once again to heaven. And Jesus was well aware of that. In fact, he told his disciples in the first part of ch. 9: “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life”(v. 22) But that didn’t deter him—not at all. Jesus was determined to go. He was determined to carry out the work he was sent to accomplish and save our souls from sin and death. So he resolutely set out for Jerusalem.
As they traveled along, they came to a Samaritan village. Jesus sent messengers ahead to get things ready for him, but the people there refused to welcome him. It didn’t help, of course, that the Jews and Samaritans were not on friendly terms. The Jews despised the Samaritans and the Samaritans despised the Jews. On top of that the people of the village found out that Jesus wasn’t really interested in spending time with them. All he was looking for was a place to stay for the night and then on to Jerusalem. So they said, “No, you can’t stay here. Go stay somewhere else.”
When James and John saw it, they were incensed. How dare they! How dare they give Jesus the cold shoulder and refuse to even let him stay there for the night! In their anger they asked Jesus if they should call down fire from heaven and consume them. But Jesus rebuked them and they went to another village.
There is a lesson here for you and me, a lesson about patience in sharing the gospel. As we strive to share the good news about Jesus with other people, not everyone is going to believe. Some will, but others won’t. In fact, some might be rather stubborn and obstinate in their rejection, and maybe even rather rude to us. Maybe it’s a neighbor or a co-worker at the office. Maybe it’s a friend from school. Maybe it’s your aunt or uncle or even your own spouse. You try to share Jesus with them. You try. But whenever you do, they become upset. They aren’t interested in talking about Jesus. They do their best to change the subject. They make fun of you or insult you. In some cases they may even ask you to leave. At times like that we have to be careful not to let our anger get the best of us. We may be tempted to condemn them for their stubborn rejection and refusal to listen. We may even be tempted to wish or even pray that God would just take them out, that he would just send down fire from heaven and take them out. But then how will they be saved? Our goal as followers of Jesus is not to condemn people. We leave that to Jesus. Our goal is to share Jesus with everyone and anyone we can so they too can be saved. And in some cases that may take a bit of patience on our part, perhaps a lot of patience and forgiveness and kindness and love. In fact, it may not be our words that win them over in the end. It may be our patience and forgiveness and kindness and love. So keep on being patient and keep on showing love and keep on watching for opportunities to share Jesus whenever you can. That’s what following Jesus takes: a commitment to be patient in sharing the gospel, especially with those who oppose him.
As Jesus and the disciples continue their journey to Jerusalem, Luke records three different encounters with three different people. The first comes up to Jesus and tells him that he will follow him wherever he goes. We have to admire his zeal and his enthusiasm, but was he really ready to make such a commitment? Jesus points out the sacrifice he would need to make. “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head”(v. 58). Jesus didn’t have a home and his disciples didn’t either. They didn’t have a nice, quiet family room to relax in at night or a nice, comfy bed to sleep in. They had left all that behind. They lived off the generosity of others. If someone like Mary and Martha invited them into their home and made them a home-cooked meal and let them stay in their guest room, great. But if not, they had sleep outside and cook their food (or whatever they could scrouge up) over the fire. It was not a comfy, cousy lifestyle. It was pretty spartan, pretty bare bones. Was he ready for that, ready to make that kind of sacrifice?
The second two encounters have to do with family commitments and family relationships. In one case Jesus asks a man to follow him, but he asks for permission to go back and bury his father first. It seems like a reasonable request, but Jesus had something more important for him to do: to go and proclaim the kingdom of God. In the other a man volunteers to follow Jesus, but then asks for permission to go and say good-by to his family first. But here’s the thing: Would he? Would he still follow Jesus if he went back to say good-by to his family first? Would he have second thoughts about leaving them behind? Would they try to convince him not to go? Jesus makes it clear that there is no turning back. Following him has to come first: “If you put your hand to plow but then you keep looking back over your shoulder, you’re not fit for the kingdom of God”(v. 62).
So how are you when it comes to those family commitments and family relationships? Now don’t get me wrong, family is important. Family is very important to Jesus. He created the family. He loves the family. And he wants us to love our families too, to provide for them and care for them and protect them and guide them and teach them and love them. But he still comes first. Yes, we are to love our families, to love them dearly from the bottom of our hearts; but he still comes first. We are to love Jesus first and follow Jesus first and put Jesus first. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew ch. 10? “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me”(vv. 37+38).
I know a lady whose husband isn’t a Christian. Every weekend he wants to go camping. And if it isn’t camping, then it’s fishing or it’s four wheeling or it’s snowmobiling. They’re constantly gone on the weekends and sadly she’s is hardly ever in church. I know another couple who seldom make it to church because their daughter always has tournaments on the weekend. One weekend it’s a softball tournament. The next weekend it’s a soccer tournament. In the winter time it’s basketball. I mean it’s great that they’re supporting their daughter, but where’s the commitment to Jesus? And what about when it comes to serving Jesus in some capacity here at church—as an usher or Sunday School teacher, as a school board member or an elder, as a member of the choir or a member of the outreach team? Do you always have a ready excuse? “Well, you know Monday night is baseball night for Billy and Tuesday night is dance lessons for Sarah and Wednesday night is soccer and Thursday night is bowling and Friday night is family night and Saturday is the weekend, so sorry. I’m just too busy to help out.” Is that putting Jesus first?
And what about when it comes to making sacrificing in following Jesus? Would you be willing, for example, for your Savior’s sake—would you be willing to put off getting a new HD TV or remodeling the kitchen or the bathroom or getting a new pickup? Would you be willing to put off such a purchase or such a project for a year or two or three or maybe even permanently so you could be more generous in your offerings to the Lord?
When I think about what Jesus is saying in these verses, I have to ask myself some soul-searching questions. Have I always put Jesus first? Have I always loved Jesus first even before my own family? Have I always put Jesus ahead of myself, my own wants, my own desires, my own comforts, my own convenience? And you know, the truth is the harder I look, the more I have to hang my head in shame because I know haven’t done it. I haven’t always put Jesus first, first in my life, first in my heart, first in my family, first in my desires. I haven’t always been committed to Jesus…not like the way Jesus was committed to me.
Jesus was committed to us, wasn’t he? Totally committed. In love for us he left behind all the glory and all the comforts of his heavenly home and came into this lousy, sin-infested world of ours because we needed a Savior. In love he resolutely set out for Jerusalem so he could accomplish our salvation. He was committed to going to Jerusalem. He was committed to going to Calvary. He was committed to going to the cross so that he might lay down in his life in payment for our sins so that we might have forgiveness and eternal life in heaven. And nothing was going to stop him—not rejection by a bunch of Samaritans, not half-hearted commitment from followers, not rejection by Jewish leaders, not even rejection by his own family–nothing was going to stop him from going to Jerusalem, because we needed a Savior. And he was bound and determined to be that Savior—your Savior, my Savior, the Savior of all.
So how can I hold back? How can I not put Jesus first and be committed to him and to following him as he was to me? Lord, help me. Help us. First of all, forgive us for all our failures and our lack of commitment. And then renew us, from the inside out. Help us to be more like you, to be committed to you as you were to us, to love you with all our hearts, to put you first in our lives, first in our homes, first in our families, first in our jobs, to love you more than anyone or anything else, and to serve you faithfully all our lives. That’s what following Jesus means. That’s what following Jesus takes: commitment, total commitment. Amen.