Introduction:
As a follower of Jesus
(Luke 9:51-62)...
- I must abandon my Appetite to Judge . (Luke 9:51-56)
- I must Concede my Comfort . (Luke 9:57-58)
- I must part with my Priority Problem . (Luke 9:59-60)
- I must Let Go of Looking Back . (Luke 9:61-62)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:36-00:41
Good morning. It's an honor to be able to share God's Word with you this morning.
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Let's pray before we get started. Lord God, I thank you for this morning that you've given us. I thank you for your Word. I pray that you would just open our hearts right now and prepare us to receive what you would have for us today, Lord. I ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen.
01:07-01:23
Open your Bibles with me please to the book of Luke chapter 9. And as you're turning there, you know, many years ago in a galaxy far far away, I was a teenager.
01:24-01:29
Now, I know that today, there are probably teenagers in this very room.
01:30-01:35
And there are some of others, like myself, who need to think back a ways.
01:36-01:40
But how many remember the joy of getting your driver's license at that time?
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For me, I was so excited.
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My mom and dad needed a grocery run, needed the car filled up.
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Whatever it was, I'm in.
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But the reason that we get so excited about that is because you can drive and go and hang out with your friends.
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That's the primary driver there.
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I remember one time years ago, I drove over to my friend's house and we were hanging out, and then we were both going to drive over and meet another guy over at a diner in Monroeville.
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And for whatever reason, when we left his house, we left separately.
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So I'm driving alone, and it's very dark, but I'm almost there.
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I'm almost to the diner.
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I have one more turn to make, and I'm sitting at the light waiting to get the green arrow.
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So then I get the arrow, and I turn.
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I can see the diner up ahead.
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And then I also see two bright lights coming straight toward me.
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And at that moment I realized I was in the wrong lane.
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I had turned directly into oncoming traffic.
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So I swung the wheel to the right to get out of the way, and that's when I found out about the median between the two lanes.
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And so, as my car went over it, it made this horrible scraping, crashing, crunching sound like I was driving over a chainsaw or something.
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And I slammed down to the other side.
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But by the grace of God, I was okay.
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He protected me from a very foolish and dangerous mistake.
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I drove five or ten more seconds, and then I pulled into the diner parking lot.
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Not my best moment.
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So why am I telling you this?
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Well, it's not actually because of me.
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It's because - do you remember my friend who drove separately?
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Do you know where he was when this was going on?
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He was following me!
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(Laughter)
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He followed me into oncoming traffic.
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He followed me over the median.
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He followed me into the parking lot and then followed me walking into the diner as we prayed together that our cars wouldn't explode from what just happened.
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So actually, you know what?
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Praise the Lord a second time for protecting both of us from a foolish and dangerous mistake.
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But what's the point?
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The point is, there was a cost to following me that night.
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In the case of my friend, there was car damage and probably mild psychological damage, if we're being honest.
04:54-05:00
But you know, there's a cost to following someone, even if you're following the right person.
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And what we're going to see today is there's a cost to following Jesus.
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Jesus himself says that following him requires sacrifice and not a burnt offering like in the Old Testament.
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It's a different kind of sacrifice.
05:20-05:33
Today's sermon is titled, "Four Things Followers Must Forfeit." And you know, so often when we talk about following Jesus, we talk about what we get with good reason, right?
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But many times Jesus also spoke about things that we have to give up, and that's what we're going to dig into today. So the first one of those things that we're going to see is number one on your outline. As a follower of Jesus, I must abandon my appetite to judge. So let's go to the text, Luke chapter 9, and we're gonna pick it up in verse 51. It to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem." So pause there for a moment just to understand the scene. Jerusalem is where Jesus will die on the cross, so we understand why Jesus set his face to go there, right? Setting his face meaning he was resolving himself for what's ahead.
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But why did this Samaritan village reject Jesus because of Jerusalem? Well, very quickly, Samaritans despised Jews and Jerusalem, and Jesus was a Jew heading to Jerusalem. So that was enough that this village just didn't want to hear what he had to teach. So let's continue 54. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But he turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village. Now, let's be fair to James and John, but I think it's kind of relevant that these guys were known as the sons of thunder, don't you? Hey Jesus, this village rejected you so we were wondering, do you want us to supernaturally set them on fire? I mean seriously, why did James and John say that? Were they trying to impress Jesus? Were they trying to help him out? As in, we assume you're gonna do this, do you want us to just take care of it, my best guess is yes, they were trying to impress him, but we also have to ask why did James and John even think they could pull an Elijah and do something like this? And that's actually a positive for them, because James and John showed incredible faith, believing that they could do this through the authority that Jesus gave them. But here's the big question. Why did James and John want to call down fire? Why would they want to call down fire? And this one unfortunately is the easiest question for us to answer, isn't it? Because if we're honest, there are times that we want to. I mean, look around us. Everyone on the edge of their seat, chomping at the bit, starving to judge someone else.
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And everyone gets angry when they're rejected.
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And even within the church, we know those feelings.
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So think of it this way.
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When I was four years old, I had to have surgery.
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And praise God, it's a long story, but I'm totally fine.
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But because of that, I had to be in the hospital for a couple of weeks, hooked up to an IV It's a whole deal.
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So, as you know, hospitals have a playroom for recovering kids.
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So, after my surgery, I was able to go in there, and they had Nintendo, and yes, I am talking the OG.
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So, I'm playing when all of a sudden, another little boy comes tearing across the room, which is fine, it's a playroom.
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The problem was, brace yourself, the IV that I mentioned, before he came sprinting across the room, I was still connected to it.
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But as vivid as that moment is still in my memory, that wasn't my biggest problem.
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My biggest problem was they had to put the IV back in.
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It ultimately took four nurses to hold me down to do that.
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And the whole reason that I told that story is just to bring up those wonderful nurses.
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Because, think about what was going through their head then.
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They were doing their job.
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They knew that I needed the IV and they were trying to help me.
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And I was fighting back, rejecting their help because I didn't understand.
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Do you think that incident was frustrating for them?
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Yeah, I think so.
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Now, they knew I was just a child, of course, and they got it done, but I think we all understand that feeling.
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We understand how upsetting it is when you are genuinely, truly trying to help someone, and they just throw it back in your face.
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And that sounds a lot like James and John, doesn't it?
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Samaritan Village, we are genuinely trying to help you.
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Don't you understand how important knowing Jesus is?
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See, Jesus rebuked James and John, not because they were wrong about the importance, they were right about that.
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Ultimately, judgment will come for those who reject Jesus.
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Jesus rebuked them though, because he handles judgment on his timing and we don't.
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So we have to ask ourselves, yeah, I've never called down fire on somebody, but how many times have I had that attitude?
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How many times have I been rejected for Christ or otherwise and felt that burning rage inside myself?
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Listen, we've all had the feelings of frustration when you're trying your best to help someone and they just don't get it.
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And I would guess most of us here know the pain of rejection.
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But we need to focus on our job, sharing the gospel and being a light in this world in spite of that frustration.
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As followers of Jesus, we have to intentionally and purposefully abandoned that appetite to judge.
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Point number two today, as a follower of Jesus, I must concede my comfort.
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So as we go back to the text now, we're gonna see a dramatic change of scenery.
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Let's pick it up with verse 57.
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It says, "As they were going along the road, Someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." 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." Stop there.
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Do you see the incredible contrast here?
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We went from a misguided following, like as followers of Jesus, we're righteous and we're gonna judge these lost people, to Jesus teaching, this is what following me is actually about.
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This person said to Jesus, I will follow you wherever you go.
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And that's an amazing statement.
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And Jesus certainly does not discourage him.
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But Jesus responds by kind of giving a warning, like let's make sure we're on the same page about what following me actually means.
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Verse 58 says, "Foxes have holes.
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"Foxes dig holes to live in." That's their home, okay.
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"Birds of the air have nests." Same thing, a nest is a bird's home, okay.
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Then Jesus makes his point.
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"But the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." So Jesus declares that though foxes and birds have homes, He does not have a place like that to rest, to be comfortable, be at home.
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Now we know that Jesus' home is where?
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He came to earth from where?
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Heaven, exactly.
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So what Jesus is really saying is, this place is not my home.
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I have no home here.
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And Jesus would say, The same is true of anyone who follows me.
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Your home is not here.
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And ultimately that's incredibly joyful for us as followers because our home is in heaven too, amen?
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But for today, it means we're going to be uncomfortable because we're not home.
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We are in this world, but not of this world.
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Have you ever heard someone say, "You're not from around here?" Maybe it's an accent, maybe it's whether you say soda or pop or sub or hoagie, whatever it is, people can usually guess when you're from out of town.
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And listen, when people see you following Jesus, it's the same.
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They're gonna know you're not from around here.
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When a conversation at work turns into gossiping about another employee, and you choose not to participate in that, you're not from around here.
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Alex and Stacy, our financial peace coaches, when you start handling money God's way, what do people say?
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That's weird, you're not from around here.
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If you follow Jesus, then Jesus reveals himself to other people through you.
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But remember, the people in that village rejected Jesus.
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And just as people rejected him, they're going to reject you because of him.
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Jesus is saying, if you're going to follow him and live as he teaches us to live, get ready for that.
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Because it's inevitable, but it's not comfortable.
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and we have to be willing to give that comfort up.
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Point number three, as a follower of Jesus, I must part with my priority problem.
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Jesus continues to teach about what following him requires in verse 59.
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It says, "To another, he said," he being Jesus, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." And Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead.
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"But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." So the first person approached Jesus and declared that he wanted to be a follower.
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And this time, Jesus called someone to follow him, and this man responds, kind of reasonably at first glance, doesn't he?
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I mean, we recognize the importance of saying goodbye.
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When we lose someone in our family, we drop everything to handle that.
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And in ancient Israel, even more so, it was the top priority.
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Everything else is going on the back burner.
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So when Jesus responded with, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead," that would have been jaw-dropping. I mean, it's a silly phrase. Of course, dead people can't literally bury other dead people. What was so shocking was the implication that burying your father would be a lower priority than anything else. And that's exactly why Jesus said it.
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because the principle he's teaching is nothing is a higher priority than following Jesus.
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Nothing. Now, let's be clear. Does that mean we should bail on all of our family responsibilities?
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Absolutely not. Does that mean we should stop having funerals? No. Those things are important and they're not wrong. We have God-given responsibilities to our family, to our vocation to other people in our lives, we have important things we have to do.
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What Jesus is pointing out is the priority. We have a priority problem.
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Now, was Jesus being harsh pointing it out to this guy? It might seem that way at first, but no. Scholars speculate on whether this man's father was already dead, dying, or maybe even totally fine. But it's not like the funeral was in progress and Jesus was delaying this guy to go give the eulogy. No. Jesus knew that this man was the one who was delaying. As in, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." We try to pull that same thing, don't we?
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Lord, let me first graduate high school or college, and then I'll follow you.
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Lord, let me first focus on getting this promotion at work, and then I'll follow you.
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Lord, things are so hectic right now.
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Let me first get everything to settle down, and then I'll follow you.
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Listen, obviously there's nothing wrong with education or work or a busy season, but there's only one first. And shout out to Harvest Year One, Jesus is first!
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Maybe you're thinking, "Justin, still not with you." Okay, think about it this way.
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January 1st, New Year's resolutions.
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Let's be honest, what's the story with most New Year's resolutions?
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I know, maybe yours are different, but most of my resolutions go something like this.
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At some point, I think something like, "I need to get up at 5 a.m. and exercise before work." Then the next morning, the alarm goes off, And I think, well, I'm not gonna start today, but I'll definitely start in January.
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How does that usually turn out?
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Maybe a few times it works, but most of the time, just doesn't happen.
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That's the same exact thing going on in this man's response to Jesus.
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Jesus tells him, "Follow me," and it's as if the man replies, "Well, not today, but I'll definitely follow you in the new year." Jesus says, "You cannot put this off.
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Absolutely nothing, not even the best excuse, which this man had, comes before this.
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Our first has to be Jesus." And he threw in a job for us to do. Did you see that?
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Verse 60, "Go and proclaim the kingdom of God." So we aren't going to dive further into that today, but Jesus is giving a preview of the Great Commission.
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The full story is in Matthew 28, but for today I would just say that though Jesus does not call everyone to full-time ministry, he does call everyone who follows him to ministry.
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So maybe you're thinking, well, if my first priority is following Jesus, and then I need to proclaim his kingdom, "Where does all the other stuff that I have to do fit in?
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What does Jesus say about all this other stuff?" Well, Jesus says that those who love him keep his commandments.
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So if you truly follow Jesus as your first priority, the rest of your priorities fall into place.
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If you're married, you will love and serve your spouse because you follow Jesus.
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If you have children, you will love and serve your children because you follow Jesus.
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If you're employed, you will be the best employee you can be.
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Your boss will love that you work for them because you follow Jesus.
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And on down the entire list.
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So we've seen Jesus teach that his followers must give up their priority problem and their comfort.
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and their appetite to judge. And there's one more person who approaches Jesus in this passage. Point number four, as a follower of Jesus I must let go of looking back. Let's go back to the text in verse 61.
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It says, "Yet another said, 'I will follow you, Lord, "but let me first say farewell to those at my home.' "Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow "and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.'" Let me first say farewell.
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Do you know what that reminds me of?
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Have you ever thought about New Year's resolutions?
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I'm just kidding.
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We're not gonna do that again.
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Sure, what we talked about with priority could apply to this guy's statement, but if you look at Jesus' response, he's actually teaching a separate principle here.
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Look at verse 62.
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No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.
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What's that about?
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Well, in Jesus' day, nobody was riding a John Deere, right?
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A farmer plowing a field meant guiding some oxen and hooking them up to this big plow thing and keeping the whole apparatus moving straight.
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Jesus is saying that once the farmer puts his hand to the plow and starts doing that, there's no looking back.
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You're in.
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If you start to plow the field, you have to stay fully focused and fully committed to finishing the work.
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Now, maybe it's just me, but I suspect most of us can't easily jump into that picture of plowing, but we certainly understand the idea of not looking back, don't we?
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We still use that phrase, "not looking back," to express true and wholehearted commitment.
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And that shows up all around us.
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I'll give you one example.
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There's a famous endurance athlete named David Goggins.
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And, long story short, the first endurance race that Goggins entered was a 100-mile ultramarathon.
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Yes, I said "the first," and yes, I said "100 miles." Now, one issue, of many, with Goggins entering this race was he didn't train.
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he signed up a few days before the 100-mile race occurred.
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As you might be surprised to find out, there were problems with this plan.
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One problem was, while running the race, Goggins broke his foot.
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But he kept running.
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And he broke his other foot.
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And he kept running on two broken feet.
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Then he went into kidney failure, and he kept running until ultimately he had to be hospitalized.
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Why are we talking about this?
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It's because with two broken feet and multiple failing organs, he finished that race.
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And for good measure, and this is a true story, he accidentally ran an extra lap, so he finished at 101 miles.
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So first off, please do not do that.
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I told the story, but I do not want to be held responsible for somebody entering a 100-mile race, or even a 5K for that matter.
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Please train before you run a race.
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But while we should not emulate that part of the story, I want us to ask, how did he finish that race by not looking back. That is absolutely refusing to look back.
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That is focused on the finish line ahead, wholehearted, total commitment, and that part we can emulate because in the same way following Jesus is an all-in, wholehearted, total commitment. Jesus is saying, "Once you follow me, there's no looking back. There's no going back to the old way of living." Now, does not looking back mean not asking any questions? No. The Bible tells us that facing the cross, Jesus himself asked God questions, but for our sake, he pressed on and he finished that race. Does not looking back mean you never make a mistake? No. We all fall down, we all screw up, we all have moments of uncertainty, we all break a foot or two along the way as we follow Jesus. Not looking back means when that happens through him you get back up and you keep running your race.
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Amen? Amen? And so as we begin to close, we have to answer one more question. Why would I do this? I mean, I get that Jesus tells his followers to do this, but all we've talked about today are things that he asks his followers to give up. Why I would point out that Jesus himself demonstrated all of the sacrifices that he asks his followers to make.
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Think about it.
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Jesus is the only person in history who could have righteously, justifiably passed judgment on anyone he wanted to.
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And someday he will return as judge.
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But instead of passing judgment on us like we deserved, Jesus came to earth himself to receive our judgment for us.
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Did Jesus give up his comfort?
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The incarnation alone, the act of God almighty leaving the comfort of heaven to live among us in flesh and blood is more uncomfortable than we can even comprehend.
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And that's before we consider what he endured on the cross.
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What about priority?
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Jesus literally put the needs of every single other human being other than himself first.
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He made God's will his priority, which meant making us his priority.
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And not looking back?
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Well, as we read at the beginning of the passage, Jesus set his face to Jerusalem, and he completed the work that he set out to do. So if you're following him I would ask you, is he revealing some things to you today that you're hanging on to and you need to give up? And if you're not following him I want you to know that Jesus did all of those things for you. And just like we read in the passage, Jesus is still calling out, "Follow me." Through Jesus Christ and his death burial and resurrection, he can save your life today. He can lead you to sacrifice the things that you don't need and replace them with the one thing you absolutely do need, himself. So if that's you, don't wait. Find someone from our prayer team or the elders, I'll be in the back after service, you can start following Jesus today. Yes, following Jesus does require sacrifice along the way, but anything we have to give up is worth it. Let's pray together.
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Lord God, we thank you for sending your Son.
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We thank you that in Jesus we have our salvation, Lord, and we also thank you that in Jesus we have our example.
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We thank you for the sacrifice that Jesus made.
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And Lord, I just pray that for all of us here today, You would make us aware of the things, Lord, that you ask us to give up as we pursue following you, Lord.
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I pray that God, not only for an awareness, but just a passion and a desire, God, to follow you for all of us.
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We thank you for the love that Jesus showed coming to earth, God.
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And God, I just pray that as we follow Him, God, we would be willing and understand your purpose in the things that we give up.
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God, we thank you for our time this morning and ask all these things in the name of Jesus, amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Luke 9:51-62
What is one thing that God revealed to you personally during the sermon?
Have you ever been in a situation where you were trying to help someone and they didn’t want your help? How did you handle that emotionally (or how should you have handled that)?
Which is the most challenging for you to give up: a judgmental attitude, a desire for comfort, a priority problem, or looking back?
Why is it difficult for followers of Jesus to sacrifice things for Him even when we know they aren’t good for us anyway?
Breakout
Pray for one another.