Bible Sermons Online

You say you want to play? Go catch a sunny ray? You want to try to glide On that big circle ride But you know your heart Isn't ready for a start So before you do the deal Better see how you feel . . . Do a gut check, get real!
January 3, 2010 (2nd Sunday in Christmas): CAN YOU PLAY THIS GAME? I WANT YOU TO, BUT ARE YOU ABLE? THAT'S THE BIG QUESTION! Do you know what it's like to be invited to go and do something new and original. And you want to do it. And the guy that invited you wants you to do it. But when you get up close to it, all of a sudden it doesn't look as easy or as possible as it did from a distance. Maybe, even though you want to do this; and others want you to do this, in fact you are unable. This is a real question we have to deal with in everyday life. I discovered the reality of this question last summer when we went to Albuquerque and visited the local amusement park. We wanted to ride lots of the rides there. And the great thing is, the people who were running this park, wanted us to ride on their various machines and rides. We wanted to do it, and they wanted us to do it. Sounds like a "win -- win" situation, doesn't it? Only as we got close to doing this, there was a problem. Not for us so much, but for many of the other families who were there. Some of the rides had this measuring stick or this bar hanging in the air. And if you were so short that you didn't come up to that bar or that mark on the stick, then you could not ride on that ride. You were too short. They wanted you at the park; they wanted to you ride the rides; but not that ride. Not this time. It sort of feels that way when we finally decide it might be a good idea to follow Jesus Christ in this new year. He wants us to follow Him; and finally the conditions have all lined up for us to follow Him. It seems like a perfect match -- like two great families are coming together in love: the family of the Kingdom of God on one side, and the family of "youzes and meezes" on the other side. But then it doesn't happen. Or it doesn't happen very easily anyway. There are problems, obstacles, conditions before we catch up with Jesus. And all of the problems, obstacles, and conditions are all on our side. And none of them are on His side! None of them are his fault. He is not responsible for our falling too short for that particular lifelong amusement park ride. We are the ones who come up short. THE REASONS WHY WE CANNOT/DO NOT FOLLOW JESUS ARE ALL OUR FAULT. This is nothing new. People found that out in Jesus' life time too. They found Him appealing. They were curious about Him; so they went to see Him. Many decided they wanted to become disciples and follow Him The story in Luke 9 shows us this. Jesus wanted people to follow Him. People wanted to follow Him; but they all kept running into problems! And the problems were not on Jesus' side of the fence; the problems were on the peoples' side of the fence. This all comes to the fore when we note that sometimes 1. JESUS INVITES PEOPLE TO FOLLOW . . . . We don't know the names of all the people He talked to, but this set of verses is probably intended to be representative of what Jesus did every day: TEXT: Luke 9: 59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.” Here we have the brief story of a man whose father had died. He must have been in great grief. There are things you have to do when someone dies in your family; and you don't have a whole lot of time to take care of them. We could all consider that to be very high priority. BUT QUITE STRANGELY JESUS CHOSE THAT PRECISE MOMENT IN THIS MAN'S LIFE TO INVITE HIM TO COME ALONG WITH HIM. Thus the summons of Jesus becomes in this man's case almost some kind of a test. It is a test to see what this potential new disciple will consider is the most important or not. He says, "Follow me even in the midst of what you believe to be the highest priority of your life right now. Follow me now, even in the midst of the grief you and your extended family might be experiencing!" It sounds like a very hard thing for him to say; even like some kind of a test to the person whom Jesus is inviting at that moment. We know how this man chose. And so if Jesus was testing him in that moment, then this poor man flunked the test! This invited man tells this to Jesus,"Lord first let me go and see to the funeral arrangements from start to finish!" And then the Lord responds in a way that seems very harsh, stern, and unsympathetic . . . . Now, why would that be. Why is Jesus so harsh here? The answer is because of priorities and personnel. When it comes to personnel Jesus said, "let the dead bury their own dead." By that He meant, "I know there are other persons in your family who are not spiritual. They don't care to follow me. I know this in advance, and so I have not chosen them, I have chosen YOU. But they do know and care to do what is necessary to get things ready for a proper funeral. They will take care of all of this. There are other personnel to do this. And as far as priorities go, Jesus is telling us, you might be facing grief; you might be facing great joy. You have important things to do for your family. But nothing is as important as my singling you out, and sending you to tell others about the Kingdom of God. So the priority there is not just about following Jesus and enjoying the picnic along the way: getting to spend the nights for free in other peoples' houses and eat free food. No, the priority is not in following Jesus in that way. Rather the priority He has for us has to do with something much greater than just tagging along and enjoying the ride. That's because initially He invited this man to follow Him. But then Jesus lets that man know that following Him means telling others about the Kingdom of God. FOLLOWING JESUS MEANS TELLING OTHERS ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

But following Jesus Christ means that for us too. Somehow, no matter what else happens in my life, I must make time, to tell others about this Kingdom of God. It is a kingdom in which people offer healing and forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ. It is a kingdom in which God makes good things start small and grow bigger. It is a kingdom in which God Himself moves ordinary people to great acts of generosity, and they respond because they want to love Him back. "FOLLOW ME," HE STILL SAYS, "BY GOING AND TELLING FORTH THE KINGDOM OF GOD TO ALL YOU MEET." Nothing is more important than that; even the things which move you deeply; even the great needs of your other family members. Even the concerns and dealings of BOTH grief and of joy. That's what happens whenever Jesus does the inviting. But often when Jesus was traveling around, and when he was traveling to Jerusalem in that last year of His life, people would come up to Him. And they would just invite themselves . . . 2. PEOPLE INVITE THEMSELVES TO FOLLOW JESUS . . They would not wait for Him to invite them; instead they would invite themselves!! Like the two people mentioned in this story: TEXT: Luke 9:57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And 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.” 61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Do you see clearly that they are inviting themselves! Some people think it is only a certain type of personality which will dare to do this. Only certain kinds of persons will invite themselves to great events to meet great persons. Have you ever done that? Only when you showed up at the party, you didn't know all that was going to be expected of you.

I know of a guy who crashed a really big birthday party. He had that kind of personality. He was single and he was looking for a big party. I am glad to inform you that this particular event was not being held at the White House (although he probably would have gotten in there just fine!) No, this man crashed this birthday party for the very same reason that you would: it was a big, private birthday party, with lots of guests and lots of goodies. (Most importantly, lots of free food.) And he just invited himself and decided to come; and he did come to the party, because he knew there would be lots of free food, and that there would be a delicious cake. And he was single and looking for a date, and he knew there would be lots of pretty girls there who were also single. And after he got there, the master of ceremonies stood up and announced, "okay, everybody, we're going to divide up into two teams; and we're all going to play the game of charades! And we're all going to play. Nobody gets to sit out on the side lines! We're all going to play."

And my friend Tom was the party crasher; and he said to himself; he said to me later on, "I hate charades! I didn't want to play! I didn't know they were going to do that. It involves acting, and I don't want to act. If I had known I was going to have to do that, I never would have invited myself to this guy's party!" DO YOU SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING THERE? ONCE AGAIN, THE REASON HE CANNOT REALLY FIT IN IS ALL ON HIS SIDE OF THE LINE; NOT ON THE SIDE OF THE GUY THROWING THE PARTY. And today just like my friend, those two men in the bible were party crashers. They decided on their own that they wanted to follow Jesus. But they do not think about what it might cost them. They do not think about all that Jesus might require of them. He tells these two men two different but essential things: "First," he says, "you can follow me, but you need to know I have no permanent home in this world; so neither will you. I will be your home." The other thing He says to the other guy is, "wait a minute, Bob: if you're going to follow me, then we have to leave right now! I mean right now. You don't have time to go back home and say good-bye. I am your home now. You can talk to all of those people later when you come back home and tell them all about what you and I did and all the places we went."

TO FOLLOW JESUS NOW MEANS TO MAKE HIM YOUR HOME! Like this young man from Eddy County named J. D. Brown. When he decided to follow Jesus several years ago, Jesus Christ literally became his home. That's why in the last ten years J. D. has spent more time witnessing for Christ in China, in India, in Hong Kong, in South Korea, in Kenya, and in Germany, than he has at the place where his parents live in the United States. Jesus became his home. There's a great paradox here. We are attracted to Jesus. We want to follow Jesus. And He wants us to follow Him. But oh, these problems, these conditions, these obstacles. And all of them are all our fault! There's enough in what happens in this story to discourage anyone from following Jesus. We don't want to crash the party, and find out there are things there that must be done, that we don't see ourselves doing. We are even hesitant to accept Jesus' invitation to follow Him because other priorities loom so large right now; and we don't want to leave the comfort of home no matter what! What do we do? I say we keep looking at Jesus. Just watch Him. Do you see here today that dogged perseverance of Jesus? The Bible says, "He fixed His face to go to Jerusalem!" He was intent on getting there without destroying any opponents along the way. He was not content in going by Himself. He took His hand-chosen disciples with Him. And he even kept on trying to add to that list of followers! I think that's what we need to know! We can believe today that when we hear His summons to "go and tell out the kingdom of God" we will simply just do it wherever we are. I believe we will. And we also remember this: that all of those human based problems and obstacles never did stop Jesus from wanting to be with people. He found a way to get to us. He doesn't seem to mind the fact that we have problems and excuses. He is saying in affect, "leave behind what you can; bring with you what you must, and follow me. I know who you are, and what your life is. And I love you anyway. So come on with me, and together, let's crash that party that is the Kingdom of God. PRAYER: Lord, Jesus, you make it sound so hard to follow you. And yet you are still calling us! Even today, in this New Year we hear you, and we feel you with us. So help us follow. In your name. Amen. TEXT TO USE: Luke 9:51-62 51 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, 52 and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. 53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. 54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” 55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. 56 For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village. 57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And 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.” 59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.” 61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”