Jesus: Creator, Savior, Lord and King #41 Jesus and The Lost Disciples Text: Luke 9:57-62

 

Jesus: Creator, Savior, Lord and King #41
Jesus and The Lost Disciples

Text: Luke 9:57-62

Introduction:

The story of the pig and the chicken hearing about a missions fund drive at the local Baptist church. A pig and a chicken were walking by a church where a gala charity event was taking place. Getting caught up in the spirit, the pig suggested to the chicken that they each make a contribution. “Great idea! ” the chicken cried.

“Let’s offer them ham and eggs?” “Not so fast,” said the pig testily. “For you, that’s a contribution. For me, it’s a total commitment.”

In verse 51 Jesus begins his trip toward Jerusalem, the Bible says, “Luke 9:51  And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,” As he traveled he tried to stay in a Samaritan village something not usually done by Jews on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The Samaritan seeing that Jesus was traveling toward Jerusalem for the Passover, refuse to let him stay. John and James, nicknamed the sons of Thunder, are so upset at the inhospitality and dishonoring of their Lord, ask Jesus in verse 54, Luke 9:54  Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?” Whoa, that sure escalated quickly, from rudeness to annihilation.

Jesus rebukes them with an answer that sums up His entire life’s mission in statement, “Luke 9:55-56 Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.” They go to another village, rest and we take up the narrative in vs 57. Where we see more of Luke’s theme of the cost of discipleship and the cost of truly following Jesus.

Earlier in Luke 9, just before the transfiguration, Jesus had given the definition of a true disciple. Go back to Luke 9:23-26 23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? 26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.

When we come to the 57th verse of this chapter Luke records three examples of those who would not be disciples even though called by He sought them or they sought him.

 Ishmael The Insecure - Luke 9:57-58

And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

Unable to Anchor in Jesus

Look at our first lost disciple Ishmael the Insecure. He shows great promise, great potential.  In Matthew 8:19-22 we find out that this man was a scribe, “And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Ishmael eagerly, enthusiastically comes to Christ. His words are full of seeming devotion and desire to follow Jesus.  

Jesus though is much less enthusiastic, Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

Jesus’ response to Ishmael shows us once again that God always looks upon the heart. What we see is a willing, qualified, enthusiastic future disciple, but what Jesus sees is someone who wants security more than service, safety more than sacrifice.

Probably thinking of that rejection to even spend the night in Samaria, Jesus is telling Ishmael, to follow me, to be my disciple is to be as I am, without earthly security. Jesus may have seen in this scribe the seeds planted on stony ground that immediately spring up, but then when difficult times come, that seed has no root and it withers away. Jesus' words to this man were for the purpose of revealing the what Jesus saw to the man himself and as always to instruct his true disciples, those with Him on the road to Jerusalem and those who walk with Him today.

Luke doesn’t tell us what happened to Ishmael, but because of the place Luke grouped these three together we are left with the implication that he did not follow Jesus that day. He needed the security of the world more than the security of the Savior.

Trusting True Security

There are many, many security needing Ishmaels, aren’t there? Things like a owning your own home, having a good paying job, saving lots of money in the bank, having college degree, or even trusting in my own abilities and talents. Insecure Ishmaels need these things more than they need the Lord’s promises. Not in all things but very much in these things.

I’m not disparaging these or saying in any way its wrong to have them. I pray and hope we all have them. These securities are God's gifts and blessings to us, but as a disciple, not just a believer, in Jesus Christ, there comes a time when I must realize that the world’s security must be subordinated to my obedience in following and obeying Jesus Christ.

As a disciple, my security, my safety, my survival must be built upon the surety of the Savior.

The securities of this world will always be limited to this world and subject to the circumstances of time, events and chance. They are short-lived and can be all be lost in a moment, but the security promised me by the Lord is eternal and it can never be lost or taken from me.

To be a disciple of Jesus, I must step outside the circle of my earthly, temporal securities and step inside the circle of Jesus’ heavenly, eternal security. A true disciple of Christ fully trusts the absolute, unfailing, unwavering strength of the Lord’s unparalleled, powerful, God’s Word of God.

Jesus teaches this truth over and over again in the Gospels and it is dramatically portrayed in Luke 12:16-23 the Parable of the Rich Fool.

16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. 22 And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. 23 The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.

Listen to what Moses said in the oldest of all the Psalms, Psalm 90

1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. 3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. 4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. 5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. 6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth. …12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

In vs. 59 Luke introduces us to another unknown lost disciple, we will call him Reuben The Responsible.

Reuben The Responsible - Luke 9:59-60

And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

Unable to Establish Priorities

This time we see Jesus taking the initiative. He seeks and calls a potential disciple, and simply says, "Follow me." The same invitation Jesus gave to the original disciples, Peter, Andrew, James and John. But instead of doing what they did and immediately leave their nets behind, this man answers “First, allow me to bury my father."

Now you might think that Jesus was walking by a funeral procession and the man is walking along and Jesus calls out to him to follow. And it seems that Jesus is being arbitrary and even cruel in not letting this man bury his own father, but that is not the case here. This man’s father is not dead at all. Jesus has encountered this man while traveling back to Jerusalem, they are all on their way to the Passover so this is not about an immediate burial.

The man’s response is about his duties as the oldest child in his family. As the oldest son, he was responsible for the future burial of his parents. This duty was important under Jewish law it            superseded military duties and Temple duties, including going to Passover. Responsible Rueben is saying "Let me first, fulfill my duties at home and then I will follow you."

His priorities were not the Lord first, but family first. His following Jesus would have to wait until he fulfilled his familial duties.

Proper Priorities Set

Once again, being responsible to your family is a good thing, an important thing, a Biblical thing. This was not a matter of forsaking his family, instead it is a matter of understanding and setting priorities. In order to be a disciple we must know that following the Lord must be my first priority. We will also be lost disciples if we cannot put the Lord first in our priorities of life.

Example When I taught theology at Independent Baptist College, there was a young man in my class.  He was already well educated, he even spoke Russian, his father was a pastor and he was in school to be a missionary to Russia.  He was newly married and before he was out of school he had a new baby and a new job and a new car.  I saw him years later at a Missions conference it had been at least 6 years since last I had seen him.  I asked what he was doing.  He told me he was still working at a well paying job in order to pay for his last new car or new child or new home. He was and is a very responsible man, a good man, but he is a lost disciple because he could not get his priorities straight.

When a scribe came and asked Jesus what is the most important commandment in Mark 12:29-31  this was His answer, “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

That has been the prioity since God called Abraham out of Ur and told him to seek a city built by God. That has been the priority since Moses led the children of Israel under the pillar of fire to the Promised Land. That has been the priority since Jesus called the four fisherman and it is still the priority today.

God is first. First in my love, first in my spirit, first in my thoughts, first in my labor. Matthew 6:33 Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Saying that Jesus and His Kingdom is our first priority with our lips but not showing it in our life is nothing but a lie.

We see Jesus living this priority throughout his life,

Often misunderstood by his brothers and sisters, and even having to make difficult choices when it came to his family. He always knew that God’s work and calling  must come first, but He never abandoned his family, never deserted them nor failed them. One of the most heartbreaking scenes at the crucifixion is when Jesus sees his mother and John the apostle closest to him and he tells Mary, Woman, behold thy son!” and to John, “Behold thy mother!” John then took Mary into his own home and fulfilled the duties that Jesus would not be able to.

He fulfilled his duty to God, first but Jesus still fulfilled his duty to his mother. In reality you cannot fully fulfill your duty to your family, without making God and His work your first priority. You will only end up failing them both.

Jesus’ response to us when we offer up our feeble excuses for not following him, is the same today as it was to Responsible Rueben. "Let the dead bury the dead." He is saying, “Let the world take care of itself. Your relationship and duty to me must be first.”

 I was almost a lost disciple.

I had run from the call to preach for 5 years.  I was now married and running my very small pool cleaning business in Yuma, Az. But I couldn’t get away from what God had placed on my soul, and one day spent mostly in a sick bed, I was reading a book entitles, “The Church that Jesus Built” and I suddenly realized I was a fool for running from God’s call in my life. I surrendered and said, “Lord, I’ll do what you want me to do.”  

Then I called my grandfather Van George in Pecan Gap, Texas. He was long time pastor and preacher and I wanted to tell him.  I called and said, “I’ve surrendered to the ministry and I’m coming to school.” He was so happy and told me he and Grandma Bunna had been praying for years. A few days later he called and said he had heard of a place to stay and that they were hiring at UPS.  I needed to get to Texas right away.  “Well Granddad, I can’t come right now.  I’ve got to do something about my job down here someone has to take over. I owe that to the people that depend on me being there.” 

“Kris, do you remember what Jesus said to the man who wanted to go back and bury his father?”  “I thought for a moment and then said, Umm, Let the dead bury the dead.” 

“Well, Kris that’s what you need to do.” 

I said, “Ok, Granddad.  I’ll be there when school starts.”

What I wanted to say was, “OK, Granddad, I can’t fight you and God.”

And you know the rest of the story at least the good parts. Following Jesus, putting Him first in my life was the right choice, the best choice, the eternal choice. He has never failed me and He has blessed LeeOra and I every step of the way. Just think I would never have met any of you wonderful people who have blessed my life nor any of the other blessings that only come when you obey and follow the Lord, first.

I would have just wound up cleaning swimming pools in Yuma, Arizona for the rest of my life. I probably would have had a killer tan, but it is frightening to think of all that would have been lost in not putting the Lord first.

Let’s look at Hiram the Hesitant, our last lost disciple.

Hiram The Hesitant - Luke 9:61-62

And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

Unable to Look Forward.

These last two statements of Jesus are considered to be some of the most difficult ones in the Bible, not so much in understanding what they mean, but in very hard in applying them to our own lives.

Jesus hears another man say, “I will follow you but let me first go home and say goodbye to everyone at home. Let me have one more time with my old life before I start my new life with you.”

Hiram seems to want to follow Jesus but he is hesitant to make the commitment. First, he wanted to go home and say good-bye. Probably, he wanted to go home and get their opinion and seek their input about his choice. This was one last opportunity to visit the world he was leaving behind before committing his life to follow Jesus.

Hiram was wanting to open the door and leave it unlocked in case he wanted to return to the world he was supposed to leave behind. He didn’t want to close that door permanently and he did not want to completely commit to a new life being the Lord’s disciple.

How do we know this, but listening to Jesus’ reply, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

In other words, Jesus is saying, “No man can plow correctly while looking backward over his shoulder.”  

Notice the tense of the verb here, "Looking" is in the present tense. You cannot plow a field properly while at the same time looking backward over your shoulder at where you have been.

Jesus, seeing the real intent of this man is to go home, is saying, “You cannot serve God fully, truly and fittingly while continuing to look back at what you are leaving behind. Your commitment must be to the future with Jesus not the past with the world you must leave behind. Your focus must be set on the eternal not the temporal. 

Looking To What Is Ahead

Have any of you every plowed a field? That same Grandfather that told me let the dead bury the dead had an old 1932 FarmsAll tractor, the descendant of the original steel bladed plow. He let me sit on the sit and try to plow a furrow on some land he owned not far from here in Delta county. He told me the trick is to set you eyes on the end of the furrow and never to look behind. If you look behind your hand will turn the wheel and your furrow will be crooked. It won’t be a very good job when and if you finish.

I wish I could tell you how straight I plowed that field but instead I couldn’t help but look around every once a while to see how I was doing and every time I looked behind instead of focusing on what was ahead, I ruined the row I was working on. Granddad had to come back and replow the entire field.

If Jesus were talking to us today, instead of talking about a plow, and we said I want to follow you, just let me go back and visit my old life first, He would tell us, “You can’t decide to go on a roadtrip with me, if when you get in the car and start the engine, you keep looking backward in the rearview mirror.”

To be a disciple I must commit myself to the future the Lord has planned for me and quit worrying about anything that is behind me in my old life, before I decided to follow Jesus.  

Instead of being Hesitant Hiram we need to be like Paul when he wrote in Philippians 3:7-14 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the  fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

That is what commitment is, that is what discipleship is, that is what following Jesus is.  

 Conclusion: Spartan Mother's words.

You’ve all heard of the Greek city state of Sparta. I conquered the Greek peninsula before Alexander the Great and held off the mighty Persian invasion of 10s of thousands with only 300 warriors at the Battle of Thermopylae one the most famous military victories of the ancient world. They were a people committed to their cause, committed to being Spartans.

When their sons would leave to go into their first battle the Spartan mother would hand a shield to her son and say, "Return home, my son, with this or on this." To the Spartan warrior, it was fight and return in victory carrying your shield or die in battle and be carried home on your shield. There was no other option, only total commitment. 

When a child of God makes the commitment to be a disciple perhaps we will think not of a shield but of the Bible, a symbol of our commitment to follow Jesus Christ. And hear the Lord say as He sends out forth, “Return my child, living with this in your hand or in death on this lay down your life.”

Paul said it in Philippians 1:20-21 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

That is commitment to the cause of Christ. That is discipleship in the Lord’s service. That is what it means to follow Jesus.

This morning ask yourself, Am I truly disciple of Jesus Christ.