Committed To The Committed One?
Sermon
Sermons On The Gospel Readings
For Sundays In Advent, Christmas, And Epiphany
Try this experiment. Turn your radio on. Now dial it to your favorite station. Next, turn the dial just a wee bit more, so that you're still getting the signal, but a lot of static is coming through also.
What's the point? Just as a radio dial must be committed 100 percent to the station to do its job, so must we commit ourselves to Jesus Christ. Yet many of us try to have it both ways. We want to tune into God, yet we also want the world. We want to walk in truth, yet we do not want to discourage temptation entirely. So we get both the music and static.
Jesus said, "No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other" (Matthew 6:24). He said "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart ..." (Deuteronomy 6:5).
Commitment. That's what the text is about.
God's Commitment To Us
At the center of our Christian faith is a cross. Jesus knew this. The text says, "When the days drew near for him to be received up...." That is, when the time of Passover neared ... when the time for the sacrificial lamb to be slain neared ... when the time for Jesus to be crucified ... to atone for our sins ... yes, that's what the text is saying!
Did you hear about the big tomcat sitting on the fence in the moonlight with his kitty? "I'd die for you, you pretty thing!" he crooned, to which she purred, "How many times?"
Christ was willing to lay down his one life for you.
The text says Christ, knowing what awaited him in Jerusalem, "set his face to go." And along the way there he passed through a Samaritan village. The people refused to hear him. The disciples wanted to call down fire on the people. Yet, again, Christ showed his commitment to mercy, refusing to be harsh. Instead he moved on to the next village.
My, but what a flurry of commitments Jesus reveals in this short episode. He is committed to the cross, committed to finishing his atoning labor in Jerusalem, committed to mercy, committed to correcting his disciples' harsh attitude when he rebukes them, and committed to world evangelism when he moves on to the next village.
This is the Christ! God committed to you and to me, to act in our best interest!
Our Commitment To God
Now watch what happens in the text. Seeing Christ's resounding commitment, "a man said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go.' " Yes! The commitment of Jesus elicits from us a commitment of our own.
We are like a man paddling his own little red canoe. He sees Jesus standing on the shore and magnanimously calls out, "Hey, Jesus, hop in and I'll give you a ride!" To which Jesus firmly responds, "What I really want you to do is follow me. Park your little red canoe, and come get in my boat that's parked around the corner and there you can row and take me where I want to go!"
Our commitment in today's church is to invite Jesus Christ into our lives to bless our plans for health ... for wealth ... for fun, and so on. But Jesus isn't interested in our plans. He wants to interest us in his plans.
In The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, "When Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die." That is, we die to our plans, our dreams, our lives that we might live to his.
Now, in the next few verses, watch what Jesus does. He quickly delineates several things that can hold us back in our commitment. First, He mentions comforts.
"Follow me, will you? Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."
Christ was not a nester. He didn't stay holed up in some wallow of comfort. He was on the move, village to village.
I recall lovely Susan Harris 25 years ago. Long blonde hair, single, recent college graduate. Yet there was a call upon her life for Africa. The Sunday night we laid hands upon her and sent her out from the church, she wept. "Here is my home. I am afraid to leave air conditioning. I don't want to have to cut my hair. And I love Dr Pepper soft drinks. And there won't be any where I'm going!" But she went anyway. She's still in the field. She sacrificed her comforts, her hair, her appetites, to go with Jesus to the next village.
Now Christ mentions the next obstacle to hold us back -- our worldly commitments.
The text says the Lord looked into the face of a follower and beckoned him to come. The man said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
Yes! We are a people with entanglements. We have parents who care about us. Sometimes they are sick and need care. Sometimes they want us to take over the family business. We have wives to please, mortgages to satisfy, businesses to run. And these things can make us stay put.
I recall a young professional athlete walking forward in a church service, football in hand. Much to my surprise, he placed the football on the communion table and said, "I never want that to keep me from following and serving the Lord!"
Homes, careers, parents, business contracts -- these are wonderful things. But when Christ calls they must be set aside.
Finally, Jesus mentions our comrades. "Another said, 'Lord, I will follow you 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.' "
Yes, comforts can glue us to our seats. Commitments can cause us to stick. But our comrades, our relationships, they bid us stay as well.
So many times in college I would begin a serious relationship with a girlfriend. And inevitably the question would come, "What are you going to do for a career?" When I answered, "Preacher," that usually ended the relationship within the week. One girl actually told me, "I don't think I can marry a preacher. They move around so much. The antiques I will inherit won't fit into just any house."
Jesus says we're working with God, plowing the fields, sowing seed. And we can't be looking back over our shoulders at the comforts, the worldly commitments, and old friendships that would bid us set the work aside. As he "set his face to go to Jerusalem," committed to die for our sins, so must we respond in kind, and set our hearts in faithfulness to do his will.
Conclusion
Did you hear about the pig and the chicken walking through the impoverished streets of a third world village? The chicken said to the pig, "Look at all these starving people! We ought to do something! Let's cook up some scrambled eggs and ham for them!"
To which the pig replied, "That's only involvement for you, but it's total commitment for me!"
You see, many of us only want to be involved with Christ, not totally committed. But the one who is totally committed to us calls for our full commitment to him.
What's the point? Just as a radio dial must be committed 100 percent to the station to do its job, so must we commit ourselves to Jesus Christ. Yet many of us try to have it both ways. We want to tune into God, yet we also want the world. We want to walk in truth, yet we do not want to discourage temptation entirely. So we get both the music and static.
Jesus said, "No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other" (Matthew 6:24). He said "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart ..." (Deuteronomy 6:5).
Commitment. That's what the text is about.
God's Commitment To Us
At the center of our Christian faith is a cross. Jesus knew this. The text says, "When the days drew near for him to be received up...." That is, when the time of Passover neared ... when the time for the sacrificial lamb to be slain neared ... when the time for Jesus to be crucified ... to atone for our sins ... yes, that's what the text is saying!
Did you hear about the big tomcat sitting on the fence in the moonlight with his kitty? "I'd die for you, you pretty thing!" he crooned, to which she purred, "How many times?"
Christ was willing to lay down his one life for you.
The text says Christ, knowing what awaited him in Jerusalem, "set his face to go." And along the way there he passed through a Samaritan village. The people refused to hear him. The disciples wanted to call down fire on the people. Yet, again, Christ showed his commitment to mercy, refusing to be harsh. Instead he moved on to the next village.
My, but what a flurry of commitments Jesus reveals in this short episode. He is committed to the cross, committed to finishing his atoning labor in Jerusalem, committed to mercy, committed to correcting his disciples' harsh attitude when he rebukes them, and committed to world evangelism when he moves on to the next village.
This is the Christ! God committed to you and to me, to act in our best interest!
Our Commitment To God
Now watch what happens in the text. Seeing Christ's resounding commitment, "a man said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go.' " Yes! The commitment of Jesus elicits from us a commitment of our own.
We are like a man paddling his own little red canoe. He sees Jesus standing on the shore and magnanimously calls out, "Hey, Jesus, hop in and I'll give you a ride!" To which Jesus firmly responds, "What I really want you to do is follow me. Park your little red canoe, and come get in my boat that's parked around the corner and there you can row and take me where I want to go!"
Our commitment in today's church is to invite Jesus Christ into our lives to bless our plans for health ... for wealth ... for fun, and so on. But Jesus isn't interested in our plans. He wants to interest us in his plans.
In The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, "When Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die." That is, we die to our plans, our dreams, our lives that we might live to his.
Now, in the next few verses, watch what Jesus does. He quickly delineates several things that can hold us back in our commitment. First, He mentions comforts.
"Follow me, will you? Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."
Christ was not a nester. He didn't stay holed up in some wallow of comfort. He was on the move, village to village.
I recall lovely Susan Harris 25 years ago. Long blonde hair, single, recent college graduate. Yet there was a call upon her life for Africa. The Sunday night we laid hands upon her and sent her out from the church, she wept. "Here is my home. I am afraid to leave air conditioning. I don't want to have to cut my hair. And I love Dr Pepper soft drinks. And there won't be any where I'm going!" But she went anyway. She's still in the field. She sacrificed her comforts, her hair, her appetites, to go with Jesus to the next village.
Now Christ mentions the next obstacle to hold us back -- our worldly commitments.
The text says the Lord looked into the face of a follower and beckoned him to come. The man said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
Yes! We are a people with entanglements. We have parents who care about us. Sometimes they are sick and need care. Sometimes they want us to take over the family business. We have wives to please, mortgages to satisfy, businesses to run. And these things can make us stay put.
I recall a young professional athlete walking forward in a church service, football in hand. Much to my surprise, he placed the football on the communion table and said, "I never want that to keep me from following and serving the Lord!"
Homes, careers, parents, business contracts -- these are wonderful things. But when Christ calls they must be set aside.
Finally, Jesus mentions our comrades. "Another said, 'Lord, I will follow you 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.' "
Yes, comforts can glue us to our seats. Commitments can cause us to stick. But our comrades, our relationships, they bid us stay as well.
So many times in college I would begin a serious relationship with a girlfriend. And inevitably the question would come, "What are you going to do for a career?" When I answered, "Preacher," that usually ended the relationship within the week. One girl actually told me, "I don't think I can marry a preacher. They move around so much. The antiques I will inherit won't fit into just any house."
Jesus says we're working with God, plowing the fields, sowing seed. And we can't be looking back over our shoulders at the comforts, the worldly commitments, and old friendships that would bid us set the work aside. As he "set his face to go to Jerusalem," committed to die for our sins, so must we respond in kind, and set our hearts in faithfulness to do his will.
Conclusion
Did you hear about the pig and the chicken walking through the impoverished streets of a third world village? The chicken said to the pig, "Look at all these starving people! We ought to do something! Let's cook up some scrambled eggs and ham for them!"
To which the pig replied, "That's only involvement for you, but it's total commitment for me!"
You see, many of us only want to be involved with Christ, not totally committed. But the one who is totally committed to us calls for our full commitment to him.
