No Turning Back
Sermon by: Rev. R. Prabhu
Scripture Portion: Luke 9: 57-62
Date: 01-Feb-2015
Introduction
- Jesus called for a following with not much promises
- Christ was preparing His disciples for the ministry a head
- His Disciples were still struggling to understand the depth of God’s calling
Denial of self is the Demand of Discipleship
- The first man, a scribe (Matthew 8:19) appeared to have good intentions when he said “ I will follow you wherever you go”
- He did not know His path: The path of the Cross – this was an unconditional submission
- For following Christ (criteria explained by Him)
- Believe that He is “The Christ of God”
- Be willing to take up the cross and die daily
- Be willing to lose their life as Jesus’ cousin and their friend John the Baptist did (under the wicked hand of Herod)
- It is not a call for an easy life
- Suffering and rejection were evident in Jesus’ life
- People used to think that the Messiah will come down to earth on a throne (earthly king’s image)
- But the actual picture of Messiah: He is a servant who suffers
- He is the Son of Man, but He has no place of his own
- No comforts will be promised when me follow Christ – We will be stretched out of our comfort zones
- You cannot translate the Kingdom of God in terms of the kingdom here
- James and John wanted to sit on both sides of Jesus – We cannot sit on par with God, because God is God
Delayed obedience is disobedience
- First one was a self initiated following
- The next call was initiated by Jesus
- It was a conditional obedience
- However, the person said that he would want to first go and bury his father
- His father could have been still alive
- The burial would take a long time – 30 days of mourning and reburial of the bones after a year
- He was trying to borrow some time to respond to the calling
- God has to work deeply within us to change our agendas
- When we follow Christ, our plans don’t take priority anymore – His plans matter more
- Jesus did not deny His filial responsibility
- John 19:26 – John was told to take care of Jesus’ mother
- However, demand of filial responsibility is not an excuse
- Luke 9:60 – “There are others to handle that issue”
- When we follow Christ, we have to put God above all other relationships
Distractions are there but stay focused
- The third also voluntarily responded with a “but”
- “but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home” – what we fail to realise is that sometimes the first opposition comes from home
- This man had a divided heart – distractions
- Jesus was able to read the motives of this man’s heart
- There are dangers attached to distractions. For example, when plowing, if we are distracted we may
- Hit a rock or root and damage the plow
- Plow a crooked row and cause loss of crops
- Don’t turn back – The world is attractive, but following Christ is important
