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Sermon

#1014. The cost of obedience can be rejection (19/3/24)

Community Church Putney Sermons

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  1. This week in our Come to Jesus Daily Devotionals, we continue in the gospel of Luke. In Luke 9:51-62 we see that we are called to model our lives on the costly obedience that Jesus showed to His Father. Today, we see that our obedience, Like Jesus’, may lead to our being rejected.

    Luke 9:51–62

  2. ‘And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem.  When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”  But Jesus turned and rebuked them. Then he and his disciples went to another village.’ (Luke 9:52-56)

    Luke 9:52–56

  3. Lesson: Like Jesus, our obedience to God may well earn our rejection or disrespect.

  4. You can listen to this devotional below (It’s also available on Spotify on the Community Church Putney podcast)

  5. https://youtu.be/267t3Z0WqEg

  6. Maybe you’ve had the experience of a friend or group of friends turning on you. Once you were close and happily having fun together, but now you’re ostracised. In our day of social media, this problem has become a much more common experience as It’s never been easier to gang up on and bully someone. Here, Jesus is being shunned by these Samaritans because He was going to Jerusalem.

  7. Their rejection of Jesus is likely linked to their disagreement with the Jews over the proper place of worship. For example, we read in John 4:

  8. ‘“Sir,’ the woman said, ‘I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”’ (John‬ ‭4‬:‭19‬-‭20‬)

  9. Among a number of beliefs, the Samaritans believed that the one holy place was Mount Gerizim, the ‘this mountain’ mention by the Samaritan woman, and not Jerusalem as Jesus is now intimating.

  10. Jesus, in going to Jerusalem, in siding with the Jews’ in its central importance, clearly offended them. Jesus was prepared to ‘carry His cross’ and be rejected for the truth. Jesus did not change His mission or message in order to be acceptable.

  11. Response

  12. Like Jesus, our obedience to God may well earn our rejection or disrespect. How important is truth to us? In the Christian life there are primary and secondary issues; some things we can agree to differ on, whilst other things are to be held onto even at the cost of rejection. To narrow this down to our text, Jesus death for sin is the only way we can be saved and this is non-negotiable. Peter, writes:

  13. ‘“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”’ (Acts 4:12)

    Acts 4:12

  14. Like Jesus, are we prepared to carry the cross of rejection because we are faithful to the truth? Or like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, will it be said of us:

  15. ‘”They loved human praise more than praise from God.“‘ (John‬ ‭12‬:‭43‬)

  16. Are you and I prepared to follow Jesus even if it means rejection?