A Journey with Jesus

All right, let's read together from Luke's Gospel, chapter 9, verses 51 to 62, as we begin a new series tonight called The Call to Discipleship from Luke 9-12.

This is the word of the Lord.

When the days drew near for Jesus 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 towards Jerusalem.

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 He rebuked them, and they went on to another village.

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.

To another He said,

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.

But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.

Yet another said,

I will follow you, Lord.

But let me first say farewell to those at my home.

And Jesus said to him,

No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

This is God's holy word.

We turn this evening to that passage that Corey read for us in Luke chapter 9,

Luke 9 · chapter mention

just at the end of the chapter from verse 51 to verse 62.

Some years ago now,

I conducted the funeral of a lady from a small holding,

a farm near Trenent in East Lothian.

She was a woman and she died in her mid-80s.

And I went to visit her sister in Portobello

and to kind of find out a little bit about her and her life.

And one of the striking things I learned about her was this,

that in all her days,

she had never traveled any further than Edinburgh.

She'd never been abroad.

She'd never been to England.

She'd never been to Fife.

Well, you can understand that.

But she'd never even,

she'd never even been to Glasgow.

And it seems incredible to us.

I was quite astonished.

In our age, trains, planes, automobiles, and the rest,

someone could live their whole life

and never travel more than just a few miles from their home.

And yet, as I reflected on it,

in times past,

this woman's experience would have been the norm

rather than the exception.

In ancient times,

people didn't travel far from their homes.

People seldom have ever traveled anywhere.

Travel was often the luxury of the rich or merchants

or perhaps those conscripted for military service.

Those wealthy enough for horses could travel a distance,

but frequently didn't because of the potential dangers.

Many people stayed in their local communities

all their lives.

And that was true for most people in Jesus' world too.

Perhaps with one major exception,

Jews regularly made one journey each year

as a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Often it might take a walk of two or three days.

And this was frequently made at the time of the Passover.

As the people traveled,

they would retell the story of the Exodus,

of God's redemption of His people

when their ancestors made that journey

from slavery in Egypt

to ultimately the Promised Land.

And I think it's that kind of journey

that provides the background

to what is happening here

in this section of Luke's Gospel.

Here, Jesus is kind of beginning

a journey to Jerusalem

that will mark His own exodus.

We read in verse 51,

when the days drew near for Him to be taken up,

He set His face to go to Jerusalem.

And these words really mark a turning point

in Luke's Gospel.

From this point onward,

Luke traces the journey of our Lord Jesus Christ

towards the city

where He would accomplish

His great work of redemption.

Earlier on in chapter 9,

we don't have time to read that,

on the Mount of Transfiguration,

we're told there in verses 30 and 31,

Behold, two men were talking with Him,

Moses and Elijah,

who appeared in glory

and spoke of His departure,

which He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.

And that word translated departure

is literally the word Exodus.

Jesus is here beginning a journey

that will lead to His departure

or Exodus in Jerusalem.

And all through this great section of the Gospel

really runs into chapter 19.

Luke reminds us that Jesus is on a journey.

In fact, one might say that Luke

is presenting us here

with the most significant

and important journey

ever taken by any human being.

A journey that leaves Christopher Columbus

and Marco Polo

and Neil Armstrong

all together in the shade.

And over the next couple of months,

God willing,

in our evening service,

we're going to follow

part of that journey with Jesus.

Much of the material here

relates to the whole issue

of Christian discipleship

and what it means

to be a follower of Jesus.

It's a journey

that's not just to be understood

in some geographical sense.

Because in truth,

it is a redemptive journey

that Jesus is taking.

And in a sense,

it's a journey that Luke invites us

to join with Him.

He invites us to follow Jesus

on this journey

towards His exodus

to heaven and glory.

He invites us, in fact,

to become His followers.

Through Luke's words,

Jesus Himself

calls us

to come

and to follow

after Him.

And so,

in this little section

before us this evening,

let me highlight

three things

about Jesus

and His journey.

And the first thing

I want you to notice

here in the text

is the resolve

that Jesus

displays.

The resolve

Jesus displays here.

We find that

in verse 51

and again

in verse 53.

When the days

drew near

for Him

to be taken up,

He set His face

to go to Jerusalem.

Verse 53,

the people did not receive Him,

that's the Samaritans,

because His face

was set

toward Jerusalem.

It's as if

in these verses,

if you imagine

a camera,

a filmmaker,

the camera lens

lens,

zooms in,

as it were,

on the countenance

of Jesus.

He is resolute,

He is steadfast,

He is unflinching.

He sets His face

towards Jerusalem,

knowing full well

what will await Him

there.

And that expression,

set His face,

it echoes words

of the prophet Isaiah.

It occurs as part of

what we know

as the third servant song

in Isaiah 50.

The context there

is that of the servant

facing unexplained suffering,

and yet he faces it

with confidence

and trust in God.

So, we read in Isaiah 50,

Isaiah 50:7

verse 7,

But the Lord God

helps me,

therefore I have not

been disgraced,

therefore I have set

my face

like a flint,

and I know

that I shall not

be put to shame.

The servant sets

his face

like a flint,

for he knows

that Yahweh

will carry him

through his suffering

and bring vindication.

And so,

Jesus too

sets His face

towards Jerusalem,

knowing what lies ahead,

betrayal,

suffering,

the cross,

and beyond that,

vindication

in His resurrection

and ascension.

We're told here

that in Jerusalem,

Jesus will be

taken up.

And that phrase

is a kind of

unusual one.

It almost certainly,

I think,

refers to what will happen

at the end of this gospel

when Jesus ascends

to the Father.

Remember,

Luke's gospel

ends not with

the resurrection,

but with an account

of the ascension

of Jesus.

And this is the goal

towards which

the gospel is moving.

Jesus is accomplishing

the redemption

of His people

and returning

to His Father.

He is making

His exodus journey.

It's a journey

with a glorious goal.

But that road

to glory

is one that must

pass through

great sorrow

and pain

and rejection

and suffering.

Jesus must travel

the way of the cross.

And so,

He sets His face

towards Jerusalem.

He is determined

to fulfill

God's plan

and purpose

come what may.

God's plan

to fulfill

His life.

That's why already,

again,

earlier in this chapter,

when we read

of Peter's confession

of Jesus

as the Christ of God,

Jesus speaks

of His impending death

in just those kind

of terms.

In chapter 9,

verse 22,

He says,

the Son of Man

must suffer

many things.

This suffering

and death

is a must

for Jesus

because it is

a must

in the very heart

of God Himself.

It's the divine must

that lies

at the heart

of the gospel,

the divine imperative

of God's love.

Jesus must suffer

and be killed

for sinners

to be redeemed,

for sinful men

and women

to enter heaven.

Jesus,

God's Son,

must die.

Jesus is no

reluctant victim.

He is the willing

Lamb of God

marching deliberately

towards the cross

for the joy

set before Him,

the joy of fulfilling

the divine purpose,

redeeming a people

for Himself.

So, we have to be clear.

The cross

was not a surprise

to Jesus.

It wasn't something

He sought to evade

or avoid.

He embraced it

because it was

the very reason

He came.

Before He would be

taken up to His Father,

He knew that He would

be taken up

and impaled

on a cross.

Lifted up

was He to die.

It is finished

was His cry.

That's why He had

come into the world

to live

and then to die

on a cross.

He had come

to do His Father's will

to secure

His people's salvation.

Octavius Winslow,

he was a Baptist

preacher in England,

a contemporary

of C.H. Spurgeon,

he wrote this,

Who delivered Jesus

up to die?

Not Judas for money,

not Barabbas for freedom,

not Pilate for fear,

not the crowd for blood,

not the Jews for envy,

but the Father

for love.

And so here we see

Jesus setting

His face

towards Jerusalem,

towards the agony

of the cross,

becoming obedient

to death,

even death

on a cross,

preparing to shed

His blood

for the forgiveness

of His people's sin.

And as Jesus

sets His face

to the cross,

so it is for those

who would come

after Him,

for they too

are called

to travel

the way

of the cross.

And indeed,

just a few verses

earlier,

again,

earlier in this chapter,

Jesus has spoken

to His disciples

in just those terms.

Verses 23 and 24,

If anyone would come

after Me,

let him deny himself

and take up his cross

and follow Me.

For whoever would

save his life

will lose it,

but whoever loses

his life for My sake

will save it.

Those words

fly in the face,

don't they,

of much contemporary

Christian thinking.

He describes discipleship

not in terms of

personal piety

and devotion,

nor in terms

of a kind of

purpose-driven life,

or any particular

kind of spiritual

experience.

No,

Jesus says,

Christian discipleship

means losing

your life

to Me.

Carrying

our cross

means nothing

less than giving

over our whole

life to Jesus

as our King.

Bonhoeffer,

who Corey quoted

earlier,

famously wrote,

when Christ bids a man,

He bids him

come die.

The man with the cross

is one whose life

is forfeit.

It's no longer

his own.

And so,

Jesus confronts

and challenges

the sovereignty

of our individual

consciousness.

He is Lord

and God.

He is God,

not us.

He confronts

the idolatry

of self

that is at the

heart of all

human rebellion

against God.

And He invites us

and calls us

to follow Him

in the way

of the cross.

He calls us

to set our face

not towards Jerusalem,

but towards Him.

The resolve

Jesus displays.

And that brings me

to the second thing

here.

And that's the rebuke

Jesus gives

in verses 52

through 56.

We're told

in verse 52,

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 towards Jerusalem.

So,

messengers

are sent ahead

probably to prepare

suitable food

and lodging

and they enter

a Samaritan village,

but the villagers

there refuse

to receive Jesus.

They want nothing

to do with Him.

Why was that?

Well,

we're told

because His face

was set towards

Jerusalem.

And the background

to their refusal

is,

of course,

they can have

age-old

antagonism

between the Jews

and the Samaritans.

The Samaritans

had their own rival

temple

on Mount Gerizim

and they were

in no way

disposed

to offer

hospitality

to Jews

going to the temple

in Jerusalem.

And so,

with Jesus'

approach,

this long-standing

enmity

with the Jews

flares up.

They will not

welcome one

whose destiny

lies

in the holy city

of their enemies.

When the disciples,

James and Joss,

saw it,

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.

Rejection

is never easy

to take.

How we handle it

can often be

a very important issue.

How we deal

with, you know,

maybe it's a failed

interview or test

or the person

who doesn't want

anything to do

with us,

with people

who won't let us

be part of what

they're doing,

with those who want

to keep us

at arm's length.

Dealing with rejection

is never easy.

And here the disciples,

James and John,

appear not to handle

it terribly well.

In fact,

they're very angry.

They're raging

about what has happened.

Those sons of thunder,

actually,

they're righteously

indignant

at this rejection

of Jesus,

their master.

And they're rightly

jealous of Jesus' honor.

They're rightly,

perhaps,

enraged

at this slight

done to Him.

And so,

they respond,

Lord,

do you want us

to tell fire

to come down

from heaven

and consume them,

obliterate them?

They want those

wicked and ungrateful

Samaritans

dealt with immediately

and in no uncertain terms.

And commentators

kind of surmise

that they may well

have had in mind

that incident

back in the Old Testament

in 2 Kings chapter 1

2 Kings 1:9–18

verses 9 through 18,

when fire fell

and consumed

King Ahaziah's

captain

and his fifty men

as a judgment

from God

because they rejected

and they gave

ill treatment

to Elijah,

God's prophet.

We read there

in chapter 1 verse 10

of 2 Kings,

let fire come down

from heaven

and consume you

and your fifty.

Because,

you see,

they're rejecting

God's prophet

is a serious business.

Yet,

even so,

here,

Jesus does not

endorse this suggestion.

Quite the reverse,

He returned

and rebuked them.

He immediately

rebukes His disciples.

Their response

is wholly inappropriate here.

Well,

we might have

perhaps expected

a fuller explanation.

There is in the footnote

in the ESV there,

some manuscripts,

you do not know

what man of spirit

you are,

for the Son of Man

came not to destroy

people's lives,

but to save them.

Perhaps the reason

for that

omission

in many manuscripts

is that the explanation

is in the story

itself.

It is in

the journey

that Jesus

is taking

to Jerusalem

and to the cross

for people

who have rejected

God.

He's traveling

the road of mercy

for sinners.

Now is not

the time

for judgment.

Now is the time

for mercy.

Yes,

we need to understand

there will come

a time

for judgment

and God's

righteous anger

will be shown

to hard hearts.

But in this

current age,

the call

of Christ's

disciples

is to reach out

with the good news

of His grace

and mercy.

Today is a day

of grace.

Paul says

in 2 Corinthians 6,

behold,

now is the favorable

time.

Behold,

now is the day

of salvation.

We're living

in a day

of good news,

a day of salvation

and rescue

from divine judgment.

We're living

in a day

of mercy,

a day in which

there is yet time

for men and women

to discover

and experience

for themselves

the mercy

of God.

And friends,

those of us

who are Christian

believers need

to remember

that judgment

is Jesus'

job,

not ours.

Tragically,

down through

the centuries,

many have

discarded

or ignored

this teaching.

And a misguided

zeal for God.

They've behaved

despicably,

inflicting pain

and harm

on others

in the name

of Jesus.

Not just calling

down fire

of judgment,

but actually

enacting it.

Crusades,

Inquisition,

great European

wars of religion,

thousands put

to death

in the name

of Christ.

What a travesty

of the gospel

message.

What a repudiation

and rejection

of Jesus

and His teaching.

And yes,

of course,

zeal and passion

for God's glory

and honor

are good things.

And we are called

to stand for the truth

and to reject error.

But we have no business

seeking vengeance

on others.

Zeal that spills over

into violence

on others

is unholy

and unchristian.

Paul writes

to the Christians

in Rome,

Romans 12,

19 and 21,

Beloved,

never avenge yourselves,

but leave it

to the wrath of God.

For it's written,

vengeance is mine,

I will repay,

says the Lord.

Do not be overcome

with evil,

but overcome evil

with good.

And yes,

it is a serious matter

to reject Jesus,

to despise His Word.

But those caught up

in theological error

are not to be

put to the sword.

We're not in the business

of burning heretics.

But we are in the business

of praying and interceding

and holding out

the gospel of God's grace,

conscious indeed

that the great day

of judgment will come

and men and women

will have to be ready

for it.

It's interesting

that in Luke's

second volume,

the book of Acts,

he tells of

a man,

an evangelist,

Philip,

who traveled

to Samaria

and did just that.

What did he do?

He preached

the gospel

of Jesus' death

and resurrection.

You can read about it

in Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

We're told there,

he proclaimed

to them the Christ,

and there was much joy

in that city.

So, let's not forget

Jesus' words

of rebuke here.

The Son of Man

came not to destroy lives,

but to save them.

And here is grace

in the face

of rejection.

Our Lord presses on

undeterred,

His mission one of mercy,

not destruction.

And in this,

He teaches us

that true discipleship

is not marked

by retaliatory zeal,

but by the patience

and long suffering

of the Savior Himself.

The resolve Jesus displays,

the rebuke Jesus gives.

And thirdly,

finally,

I'll not say briefly,

but anyway,

the reality

that Jesus highlights

in verses 57 to 62.

You notice there

at the end

of the chapter,

there follows

these three separate

encounters

with three would-be

followers of Jesus.

Each man expresses

a desire to follow Jesus,

to become his disciple.

But it's clear

that each and in his own way

has misunderstood

what the discipleship is

in the kingdom of God,

what it really entails.

And in these encounters,

Jesus reveals to us

something of the reality

of discipleship.

In the first encounter,

he reminds us

that discipleship

has a cost.

The first man approaches

enthusiastically,

I'll follow you

wherever you go.

Sounds very promising,

doesn't it?

And yet,

Jesus replies,

foxes of holes,

birds of the air

of nests,

the Son of Man

has nowhere

to lay his head.

So,

Jesus immediately

strips away

any romantic illusions

about being

a disciple.

Discipleship

may not mean

health,

wealth,

and happiness,

as some

want to suggest.

Indeed,

it may mean

poverty and homelessness.

To follow Jesus,

security in this world

may have to be

sacrificed.

To follow Him

is to embrace

insecurity in this world,

to find no lasting home

here because

our citizenship

is in heaven.

He Himself,

the very Creator of all,

became homeless

for our sake.

Discipleship means

identifying

with one

who was despised

and rejected,

who had no place

to rest His head

until it was

bowed in death

on the cross.

Many of us here

in the Western world

want to hedge

our commitment

to Jesus

with all manner

of qualifications.

Yes, Jesus,

I'll follow You

wherever You go,

as long as

it's not there,

as long as

I don't have to

give up this,

or as long as

I don't have to

give up that.

As long as

I can still

have what I want.

But friends,

Jesus tells us here

genuine discipleship

involves a cost.

And then the second man,

discipleship,

not only has a cost,

it has a priority.

Jesus issues

this man

with a very direct call,

follow me.

But the response

is this,

Lord,

let me first go

and bury

my father.

It seems a reasonable,

maybe even a dutiful request,

honoring one's parents

as commanded

in Scripture,

after all.

And yet Jesus says,

leave the dead

to bury their own dead,

but as for you,

go and proclaim

the kingdom of God.

Harsh words?

No.

Simply, I think,

an uncomfortable truth.

almost certainly

the man's father

was not yet dead.

Funerals

in that

time and culture

followed on

very quickly

from the death

of an individual.

Now,

this was really

a way of saying,

let me wait

until my family

obligations

are fulfilled.

Then I'll follow you,

Jesus.

But Jesus

reigns

on this man's

parade of allegiance

because the kingdom

of God

will tolerate

no delays.

The call of Christ

is an urgent one.

It demands

precedence

over even

the most sacred

of earthly times.

Those who are

spiritually dead

can attend

to earthly matters,

but those awakened

by grace

must proclaim

the life

that is found

only in Jesus.

qualified discipleship

isn't really

an option.

And so,

Jesus demands

first place,

not out of tyranny,

but because

of who He is

and because

He alone

is worthy.

The kingdom

He proclaims

is no marginal

concern.

It is the peril

of great price

worth selling

all to obtain.

Jesus must

come first.

We mustn't

allow anything

to deflect us

or take us

away from making

or following

Jesus

as our priority.

Discipleship

has a cost.

Discipleship

has a priority.

And then,

thirdly here,

discipleship

has a focus.

The third man,

I'll follow you,

Lord.

Let me first

say farewell

to those at my home.

And again,

that sounds

innocent enough.

Elijah,

back in 1 Kings 19,

permitted Elisha

to say farewell

to his family.

But Jesus

replies,

no one who

puts his hand

to the plow

and looks back

is fit for the

kingdom of God.

Plowing a straight

furrow

requires fixed

concentration.

One glance back

and the row

becomes all

skew-whiff,

crooked.

And so it is

in the kingdom.

To follow Christ

is to set

your face

resolutely

forward,

like Him,

without nostalgic

looking back

to what lies

behind.

Those who

look back

all too often

want to go

back.

But following

Jesus is not

a short-term

temporary

commitment.

The call

to discipleship

is not for

a season,

but for a

lifetime.

And so

the question

is,

are our eyes

focused this

evening?

Are we

looking back

or are we

looking forward?

Are we

fixing our

eyes on

Jesus

or on

something

or someone

else?

What kind

of furrow

are we

plowing?

Are you

cutting a

straight line?

Are you

veering all

over the

place?

Friends,

these encounters,

three encounters,

are not meant

to discourage

us,

but to awaken

us to the

true nature

of Christian

discipleship.

Jesus is not

marketing a

comfortable,

kind of easy

going religion.

It's not your

best life

now.

He's calling

sinners like

us to a

cross-shaped

life.

The cost

is high.

No earthly

security,

no divided

loyalties,

no looking

back.

Yet we

must never

forget that

this apparently

demanding

Savior is

the one who

first set

his face

toward Jerusalem

for us.

Going to

the cross

to bear

our sin,

bearing the

ultimate cost,

forsaken by

God,

homeless in

death,

cut off

from every

earthly tie

that we

might have a

place in

his Father's

house.

The call to

discipleship then

is not

to a life of

grim self-denial,

but to a

life centered

on Christ

crucified and

risen, a

life joined

and united

to Jesus.

And to

follow him

is to lose

our lives,

but in

losing them,

to find

them.

Because in

union with

him, the

cost becomes

a joy and

a delight.

His demands

become

privileges.

By the

Spirit,

his

resoluteness

strengthens

our weak

resolve.

His rejection

secures our

acceptance.

His single-minded

obedience covers

over our

wandering and

often divided

hearts.

And so

tonight, Jesus

calls us

to journey

with him.

He wants

to take us

on the

greatest journey

of all,

because that

is what

Christian

discipleship

is.

It is to

take the

path to

glory that

Jesus took.

It is to

place our

faith in

him, to

follow him

resolutely on

the Calvary

road, to

follow him in

showing mercy

to others,

to follow him

by loving him

and by putting

him first.

Therefore, as the

writer to

Hebrews tells

us, let us

fix our eyes

on Jesus,

the author

and perfecter

of faith,

who for the

joy set

before him

endured the

cross,

despising the

shame,

and is now

seated at the

right hand of

the throne of

God.

Lord, may we

like him

set our faces

towards the

heavenly Jerusalem

and follow

wherever he

chooses to

lead us.

Let's pray

together.

Lord, give us

ears to hear

your call

to follow

Jesus,

to be

your disciples.

Lord, we

know that we

cannot embark

on that

journey in

our own

strength,

in our own

wisdom.

We need

your help.

We need

the guidance

and direction

and illumination

of your Holy

Spirit.

Lord, open

our eyes

that we

might see

Jesus,

and seeing

him, follow

him, and

trust him

always.

We pray this

in his name.

Amen.