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July 15, 2001
Pentecost 6
Luke 9:51-62
Pastor Joel Zank

Be Selfless in Serving the Savior!

(Luke 9:51-62) As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him;53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem.54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?"55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them,56 and they went to another village.57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."58 Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."59 He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good?by to my family."62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

In Christ Jesus who has called us to faith and to service in his kingdom, dear fellow redeemed,

What makes successful people successful? This question has been asked countless times by the likes of Barbara Walters and others who interview successful people. I've heard Barbara ask any number of celebrities, "To what do you credit your success?" And in almost every case the answer is the name. Success is most often credited to long hours of hard work and unbending determination to stick to one's priorities. I recall one celebrity summarizing the reasons for her success in this way: "I never stopped trying and I never tried stopping."

Although our motivation and goals as disciples of Christ will be different, as people who wish to be successful disciples, we would do well to borrow that celebrity's ideals. Having said so, I offer as our theme this morning this encouragement: Be Selfless in Serving the Savior. Never stop trying; and never try stopping.

I've mentioned that one key to success is a person's unbending determination to stick to his priorities. Jesus was certainly driven by such determination. St. Luke says: "As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem" (v.51). As the all-knowing God-man, Jesus was well aware of the sufferings and death that awaited him in Israel's capitol. Such knowledge would have sent every one of us fleeing in the opposite direction, but not Jesus. The cross in his future was his reason for coming to this world. He was determined to journey to it. But notice that Luke doesn't speak of the cross per se. That's because Jesus wasn't focused on the battle, but rather its outcome. He focused, not on his death, but on his victorious resurrection and his triumphant return to heaven.

Jesus had in mind the big picture, the world's salvation. That's why even though he had so many things on his mind as he made his way to Jerusalem, he still desired to share the good news of his saving mission with as many people as possible, including the Samaritans, a race of people who had been brought to Israel eight centuries earlier by the Assyrians. Although the Samaritans shared some of Israel's religious beliefs, they and the Jews were bitter enemies. So when messengers of Jesus sought to arrange lodging for the Savior and his many followers, Luke tells us, the Samaritans "...refused to welcome him because he was heading for Jerusalem" (v.53). The Samaritans were insulted that this religious teacher felt it necessary to travel on to the Jewish Temple when he could have visited instead the shrine they had built to God on Mount Gerazim.

As one who never stops trying, Jesus was prepared to journey on to another Samaritan village. Perhaps one day in the future those who had refused to welcome him now would worship him as Savior. In the meantime there were so many other people to reach with the gospel. But two of Jesus' disciples, the brothers James and John, were not so ready to move along. Still stinging from the Samaritan's rebuke they said to Jesus: "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" (V.54).

I get the feeling that they viewed their request as a mere technicality. Something tells me they were sure Jesus would give them permission to wipe those ingrates off the face of the earth. How surprised they must have been when Jesus spun around and gave them a stinging rebuke of his own. Perhaps we are just as surprised today to learn that Jesus levels the same rebuke on us. He has to because we are guilty of the same sinful pride that led those first disciples to make such a horrible request.

You know the pride I'm talking about. You know how often sinful self gets in the way of serving Jesus as he would have us serve. Perhaps you've felt the rejection of someone who wanted no part of the gospel you tried to share. We are so quick to take that rejection personally. Our feelings get hurt to the point where we have no desire to try again, not if it means being treated like an outcast.

And isn't it the same sinful pride in us that judges some people in our society as completely undeserving of the Bible's good news? We see those who revel in their immorality, who thumb their noses at God's commandments and rather than seeking to share the Scripture's message of sin and grace with them, we sit back and hope that they will get their just desserts. Such an attitude has the phrase "holier than thou" written all over it. Such an attitude betrays our ignorance and our forgetfulness. Don't we know that sin is sin in God's eyes whether it is our sin of self-righteousness or someone else's adultery? Are we forgetting that if God were as impatient with sinners as we sometimes want him to be, that we would be among the first to deserve his punishment and experience his wrath? Oh how thankful we can be that Jesus was not ignorant nor forgetful of these things. He rebukes us today not with fire from heaven, but with a loving word of correction. He points out our sin so that we might repent of it; and then he points us to Jerusalem, and the mountain there called Calvary where he suffered God's wrath for the Samaritans' sin of rejection, for James' and John's anger, for our despicable pride and for every other sin committed by us and every other sinner of every age. That's where God's anger blazed-on Calvary. That's where we and all sinners were punished in the person of Jesus Christ.

All the more reason, isn't it, for us to Be Selfless in Serving the Savior? Our dear Jesus has earned every sinner's forgiveness from God; and he never stops trying to win sinful hearts over to faith in that forgiveness. As people who have already received this blessing of faith from his gracious hand what room is their for pride or impatience in our hearts? The Savior's forgiving love for us moves us to always keep trying to share his love with others no matter what they've said, no matter what they've done. We won't stop trying and we won't try stopping.

This is the very point that Jesus tried to make with three disciples who expressed interest in serving the Savior. The first young man said to Jesus: "I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head" (vv.57-58). The young man is like the boy who decides he wants to join the army because he has seen soldiers marching in a parade, wearing their colorful dress uniforms and carrying their shiny guns. He's not thinking about the exhausting marches or the fierce battles that are a part of war. So it is with this young disciple. Jesus doesn't mean to discourage him, but he does want the disciple to know that the life of Jesus' followers is a demanding life that involves sacrifice and hard work. Discipleship is not a hobby or even an occupation. It's a frame of mind and a way of life. The disciple of Jesus Christ will prioritize his life so that Jesus and his kingdom always come first.

You can be sure that this is a truth that was not lost on the next two men who spoke with Jesus. Both expressed their desire to serve the Savior, but first each of them requested permission to tend to family business. The one man asked for time to bury his father. The other asked permission to say good-by to his family. These requests do not seem at all unreasonable, but Jesus refuses to grant either. In fact his responses may strike us as a bit cold and uncaring.

But before we judge the Savior, remember that as God he knows things about these men and their hearts that we cannot possibly know. Just as he knows things about us and our hearts that are not evident to anyone else. Perhaps that's what really makes us uncomfortable about the Lord's responses to these men. We're reminded that Jesus knows a poor excuse when he hears one, no matter how convincing we make our excuses sound. Jesus knew that the two men in our text wanted to try stopping before they even got started in their service to Jesus. Jesus know the same about us. He knows how many times we've passed by opportunities to serve in his kingdom because we've convinced ourselves that we are too busy with work or family responsibilities. He knows how many times we've promised to give more of our dollars to the work of his kingdom after we've paid this bill or met that financial obligation. But then when the bills were paid, we found something else to spend our money on. Jesus knows how many times we've set our hand to the plow, how many times we had good intentions of serving him with all our might, but then gave him only half-hearted service because we became disillusioned with the work. It wasn't as easy or as enjoyable or as exciting as we thought it would be and so we let ourselves become distracted by other pursuits. Jesus knows all the times we started and then stopped in our life of service to him. He knows how unfit we are for service in his kingdom.

And yet he is still willing to say to us this day, "Follow me." He's still willing because he who knows our sins so well, knows something else. He knows what he has accomplished for us. We heard Jesus say he had no place to lay his head on earth. That was not because he was so poor, but because he was so busy living a perfect life in our place. It was not Jesus' goal to own real estate or become a millionaire. It was his goal to make us rich with his righteousness, so that we would have, through faith in him alone, all the holiness we need to live in the mansions of heaven forever. My friend, Jesus has accomplished this goal for all of us. In God's eyes we get the credit for Jesus' holy life. Do you know what that means? For Jesus' sake God sees you and me as perfect disciples with perfect priorities and a perfect record of service in the kingdom of our Lord. So if Barbara Walters ever asks, "To what do you credit your success as a disciple of Christ?" You know what to say: "I credit Jesus. He's my success!" He who lived and died and rose for us is the reason God sees us as his selfless servants and because we know and believe this by faith, this is reason we don't want to try stopping. This is the reason why we want to be always more selfless in serving the Savior, to thank him, to praise him, to glorify his saving name every day of our lives. To this end may God grant us his love and strength for Jesus' sake. Amen.