Lessons In Love

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0:00In case I haven't said already and you don't know who I am, my name is Joel and I serve here as pastor. We did a little mini-series on Jonah. Now we're getting back into the Gospel of Luke today.

0:18And we are picking right up at a transition point in the Gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 9 verse 51. That's the transition point. Jesus pivots. He's been doing ministry in Galilee. Now he's turning and he's beginning his journey to Jerusalem where he's going to finish his mission as Messiah. His eyes now have become fixed. Starting right here in this text, it's become fixed on his goal of doing what he was sent to do as the Messiah. The kingdom of God is at hand. He's been saying that over and over.

0:54And he is going to do something in Jerusalem decisively to establish his kingdom. After that, he's going to return to his father. And so his focus now and for the next few chapters ahead is preparing his disciples for the future. In this section of Luke, there's a lot, there's hardly any miracles. In fact, it's mostly just Jesus teaching. And he has a way of finding any opportunity he can to teach his disciples something. They'll be walking down the road, traveling, and something will happen and he'll start to teach them.

1:31They will say something and it will lead him into saying something back to them and instructing them. They'll have an interaction with the religious leaders and he'll take them aside and he'll talk to them. It's almost like he's looking for any opportunity he can to kind of take his disciples aside, not just the 12 apostles, but all who are following him and give them some instruction. Teenagers, do you ever feel like your parents are like finding any opportunity they can to say like, okay, listen, I've got something to teach you right now.

2:06You'll be going to the grocery store and somebody will say something and suddenly you're having a big conversation about life and about, and you're like, why, it happens all the time. They're constantly having these conversations with me.

2:24And that's because they love you. If you're not a teenager anymore, think back to when you were a teenager and how you had those conversations with your parents. You were on the receiving end of those conversations. They would come out of nowhere and suddenly you'd be listening. And I just have to say as an adult now, I wish that I had stopped a little bit longer and listened a little bit harder to those conversations because there was wisdom that was being offered to me.

2:55And that's exactly what Jesus is offering to his disciples. Jesus wants his disciples to walk in a new way of life. He's getting them ready to walk in a new way of life. They're going to be guided by his words, but even better, they're going to be guided by his Holy Spirit, which they don't even have anything, it's not even on their radar yet that they would be given the Spirit of God inside of them to guide them. So both of these things are going to be their guiding light in the future.

3:25The Spirit in them and the words that Jesus told them. But the theme of these next nine chapters is life in the kingdom of God. And Jesus does a lot of teaching. And here in this passage, Jesus finds opportunities to teach on the very basics of the faith, loving God and loving neighbor. That's what we're talking about today. So turn with me to the Gospel of Luke. It's in your bulletin. It's up on the screen. And some of you may even have actual physical Bibles with you.

3:57You can turn there too. Hear the word of the Lord. Receive it as the word of the Lord. It's completely reliable. It's infallible. We can build our lives upon this because God has given it to us and he does not lie.

4:16When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent his 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 rebuked them. And they went on to another village.

4:52As 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. 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 in my home.

5:27Jesus said to him, no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. Pray with me. Lord Jesus, we have a lot to learn from you. And I pray that you would attend to us, help our minds to be attentive, our hearts to be soft ground for your word. But, Lord, we know that it's not just the principles we understand, but it is nearness to you that really changes us. So we pray that you yourself would draw near to us as your word goes forth.

6:02And that you, Jesus, by your spirit would change us so that we would know the hope that we have in you and that we would be empowered and excited and driven into obedience to you because of the great work you have done in us and for us. And Jesus, we pray this in your name.

6:28So today, Jesus gives lessons in love. Jesus empowers us to be merciful to others and devoted to him. This passage comes down to two words, really. If you forget everything else, remember these two words, mercy and devotion. It comes down to those two words. And those are our two sections for today. Let's start with this. Loving others with timely mercy. So Samaria was located between Judea and Galilee. Judea was in the south. That's where Jerusalem was.

7:02And Galilee was in the north. I think there's a map. There we go. So you can see Nazareth, where Jesus was from, was up in Galilee. Judea is down south where he's going. So he's been up in Galilee doing his ministry, and he's going to go down to Judea. Samaria was right in between. The Samaritans, they emerged between the period, between the Old Testament and the New Testament. They had Jewish ancestors, but they had intermarried with other nations, and they had formed their own culture, their own worship practices.

7:34They had adopted some things that those other countries and nations were doing. So they adopted those things into their own practice. They had their own way of doing things. They had become separated from the Jewish nation. They didn't go to Jerusalem to worship at the temple there. They didn't even want to. Instead, they set up their own shrine at Mount Gerizim. That might even be on there, right there in the dead center, Mount Gerizim. That's where they would go and worship.

8:02They only acknowledged Genesis through Deuteronomy as being true scripture. The other things were not true scripture to them. Psalms, the Proverbs, all the prophetic books. They didn't hold those as being scripture. So as you can imagine, Jews and Samaritans did not get along. Jews looked down on Samaritans for the compromises that they'd made over many, many years. And they looked down on them for leaving the faith. They wanted nothing to do with them.

8:35Most Jews would travel around Samaria all the way through Perea, the Decapolis, along the Jordan River. They would travel around Samaria if they wanted to get to and from Judea and Galilee, even though it meant many more days of travel. They didn't even want to go through Samaria. Except for Jesus. He's going through Samaria. His saving mission, you may know this, it was to all tribes and tongues and nations, including the Samaritans. And so he is deliberate.

9:10It's not just that he wanted to save some time. He wanted to go through Samaria. You may remember the woman at the well from John 4. She was a Samaritan. Another time that Jesus went into a Samaritan village to do ministry. So he wants to visit this town. It was customary in the ancient Near East to show hospitality. Travelers would be, people were traveling all the time. There were no rest stops. There were no Chick-fil-A's. You would stop in a town and visit.

9:42And it would be customary for that town to host visitors. That's what would happen. But Jesus is traveling with about 100 people. So this is kind of hard. It's taxing for a one little village to host 100 people. So Jesus sent word ahead. Hey, I'm coming. I'm coming to you. Make preparations. He's helping them out by sending them word. You may know this, but the Carter family takes part in this thing called warm showers where people who are doing cross-country bike trips can sign up for staying at their house.

10:13And so they'll get noticed that someone's coming on a certain day and they'll prepare a meal for them. And they'll have dinner together and they've got a place for them to sleep, right? So the Carters will get word. Hey, someone's going to be here on this day. And so they'll make preparations, right? This is what Jesus is doing. He's saying, I'm coming. Make preparations. But the Samaritan village sends back word. Keep on moving, Jesus. We don't want you here.

10:42Imagine if the Carters sent back word to someone who was coming to their house. They might get kicked out of the whole warm showers, you know, program if you did that. Why? Why'd they do this? Because his face was set towards Jerusalem. Jerusalem, remember, that's the place of worship that long ago they had said, we don't want to do that anymore. We got our own thing going on. We don't want to go to Jerusalem. The Jerusalem is the center point of all of the ongoing conflict and estrangement between the Samaritans and the Jews.

11:19Just the mention of Jerusalem would have kind of frustrated them, raised their ire a little bit. This village got word that Jesus was intent on going to Jerusalem. He had set his face towards Jerusalem. That's where he was going. And they say, oh, here we go again with this whole Jerusalem thing. When are they just going to let it go and just let us do our own thing? They believed that they were right to live and worship as the way they wanted to.

11:50And here comes Jesus. Unlike every other Jew, he wants to come visit them. And unlike every other Jew, he's the Savior. Think about that. Grace is coming to their town. The embodiment of grace is coming to their town in Jesus. But he didn't affirm how they lived, how they worshiped, so they reject him. Now, there's something here for us to pay attention to. We are a lot like the Samaritans. We think, you know, if someone truly loves me, they will accept me as I am.

12:32You ever hear that? You ever think that? I think we all at some point do think that. They'll accept me as I am if they truly love me. And not just my quirks, but my practices, my beliefs, everything about how I am right now. They will accept me if they really love me.

12:54Listen, when Jesus comes near, it is a gracious gift. Always, it's a gracious gift. But Jesus will not affirm everything that you do or say or believe.

13:11Don't reject the gift of his coming simply because he doesn't affirm you as you stand today. Receive him and listen to him. He did not come to enshrine you in your own kingdom. He came to bring you into his kingdom. That's mercy. That's grace coming near. And we do well to listen to him, even when it's challenging.

13:39But what happens next is what leads to Jesus' lesson. Jesus actually doesn't take much time here to give the Samaritans a lesson. James and John hear about the rejection, and they are livid with great arrogance. They offer to take care of it, to be Jesus' fixers. Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them? It's straight out of like a mafia movie. You want us to take care of them, boss?

14:11You know, mafia movies would be funny if they weren't realistic. Their hearts have been exposed. They're judgmental. They're self-righteous. In this moment, Jesus is not a person to follow or become like. Jesus, he's a convenience. He's a powerful person that's on their side. That's all Jesus is to them. A powerful person that has taken their side in the dispute.

14:43They're saying, look, Jesus, we all know that they're wrong. Let the hammer fall down. If you were here for the sermon series on the book of Jonah, this may remind you of Jonah. It's exactly the spirit that he had towards Nineveh. Now, two verbs are used to show how forceful Jesus' correction is. He turned, so he was walking, right? And he stopped and turned. The whole procession stops. And then he rebuked them. We don't know what he said, but we know that this was a strong rebuke.

15:23That is not how you're called to live, James and John. In the kingdom of God, timing is crucial. Jesus' first mission was a saving mission. This is what he said. I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He's talking about his first coming. I came to save, not to judge. That's what I'm doing. James, John, you don't get it. His words and his work, they cause division and conflict, but he did not come with God's judgment in hand. We all know how bad it feels if we're in the middle of suffering for someone to say something to us that is well-meaning, something like, oh, I'm sure God's trying to teach you something.

16:09Right? That may be true, but the timing is off. The timing is off here for James and for John. Way off. My first mission is to save. When Jesus returns, rest assured, everyone will be raised and brought forward for judgment. That is true. That is true. But in the present time, it's a time for mercy. It's a time for grace. Jesus, we're called to repay no one evil for evil. We are to live peaceably with all, Paul says. If your enemy is hungry, feed him.

16:48If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. That's what's called for today because now is the favorable time. Now is the day of salvation. Jesus has delayed the judgment, and his disciples are having a hard time figuring that out. Mercy is what you're called for today. Let's talk about the culture wars for a second. James and John were swept up in the culture war of their day.

17:18The culture wars now are louder than ever. There are so many different ideologies at play. Many of them are deeply opposed to God's character and God's commands. These are contentious times. There's no doubt for that. No doubt, too, Christians need to stand on biblical principles, but listen, we must do it with a Christ-like attitude.

17:44Biblical principles by themselves are not enough. Christ-like attitudes like Jesus is calling for here. Our words and our posture should reflect mercy. The same mercy that you and I have experienced in Christ.

18:04We should exude that mercy. We should refute ideas without resorting to character attacks. We should pray for a change of heart, not for the person or the people to just go away entirely. This is the way to live at the present time. Mercy towards others. Even as we stand on biblical principles, we must have mercy. Patience, peace, living peaceably with all. Praying for a change of heart, not for someone to just be wiped off the map. That's literally what James and John were doing.

18:48And I think at some point, it's tempting for all of us to go there. Mercy is what's called for. So Jesus had a chance to teach. See how he took an opportunity to rebuke them. He saw what was going on. He's like, whoop, hold on. We're stopping for a second. No. No. Mercy. We're not doing that, James and John. Next, something else happens where he teaches a lesson on loving God.

19:19Let's talk about loving God with wholehearted devotion. Have you ever described somebody or heard someone described as having commitment issues? That's what Jesus is about to talk about. I heard yesterday from Bree that when you're playing volleyball, if you call here, you have to commit to it. If you're going to call that that's my ball, you have to commit and move towards it. That's basically what Jesus is saying in this next part. If you're going to call here and mine on Jesus, commit.

19:48Move towards it. Each one of these stories involves the word follow. Look for that. Look for that in your bulletin. Encircle it, the word follow. So they're walking down the road. Someone says something extravagant to Jesus. I will follow you wherever you go. It's a big promise. It reminds me of a lot of songs. Songwriters make big promises when they write songs. Forever love. Eternal commitment. Just call my name and I'll be there. I will always love you.

20:23And of course, who can forget? Never going to give you up. Never going to let you down. Now this is the way it should be. Don't get me wrong. This is the way it should be. No one wants to hear, just call my name and I might be there. No one wants to hear Dolly Partner, Whitney Houston sing, I will sometimes love you. No one wants to hear, I'm probably never going to give you up.

21:02Passionate love leads us to make promises of eternal commitment. This is the way it should be in marriage, and this is the way it should be in discipleship. That's why Jesus doesn't rebuke the guy. He doesn't say, ah, you don't really mean that. But he does remind them of the cost. Even animals have homes and beds, but not me, Jesus says. In other words, if you follow me, you leave earthly security behind. I'm glad that you'll follow me wherever I go.

21:37But do you know that? Jesus is saying, I'm glad, but do you know what you're getting into? On the way to the men's retreat, I passed a volunteer fire station in Prince George. The marquee on the front said, help wanted, no pay, bad hours, cool hats.

22:00Now that's truth in advertising. Help wanted, no pay, bad hours, cool hats. It's what we have to offer. Following Jesus means leaving behind a life built on our own choices, our own preferences. It's taking on a new life, guided by him.

22:25Now Jesus calls out to somebody else, follow me. He finds somebody else, follow me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. Now it's likely that this man's father is not actually dead, but is near death.

22:43After all, if the man's father was dead, he would either be attending to him, preparing him for the funeral, he would be in mourning somewhere, or he would be at the funeral. The man is probably asking to wait until his father passes away, whenever that may happen. In other words, he's procrastinating. He seems to have in his hand what seems like the most defensible reason ever to just wait a little bit longer to start following Jesus. I'll follow you, Jesus, but just give me some more time.

23:22Right now, my family needs me. Jesus' response, it sounds harsh, but he is cutting through the rationalization that's happening in this man. He's cutting through it like a knife. He's saying, look, my call should have priority in your life. Nothing should postpone the response. Start following me now.

23:46If you've ever procrastinated, you know that it can come out of fear. It can come out of feeling inadequate. Feeling like you're just overwhelmed at what's in front of you. So Jesus is kind. He makes, he helps the man by making the call more specific and more action-oriented. Go and proclaim the kingdom of God. He gives the man something to do. This is what I'm asking you to do. A concrete step to take. And notice this, it's something that the man can do without leaving home.

24:22Jesus says, don't wait until the right time. Follow me now. Follow me now. Now the last person of the three tells Jesus, I'll follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to those in my home. Now this, again, sounds pretty reasonable, right? He just wants a nice goodbye. But here's the thing. Plenty of disciples visited loved ones after they started following Jesus. You can read about it in the New Testament. Peter, Paul, plenty of them go back and they visit their loved ones after they started following Jesus.

25:03In 1 Corinthians, Paul even says, look, if you've become a Christian, but your spouse isn't, don't leave, remain married. In other words, Jesus never said that following him means that we can never see our friends and family again. This isn't Scientology.

25:24Jesus never said that. But this guy assumed it, or he was acting like that was true. So this hesitation is really a sign of a divided heart. He's not fully in it. He's looking back and he won't let go. That's why Jesus calls him out. Jesus is like, look, I never said that you couldn't see your friends and family again. But what's this talk about going back and saying goodbye? There's something else going on for you. There's some competition in your heart.

25:55But Jesus isn't cool with playing second fiddle. He wants to be your number one. It doesn't build up a healthy marriage to keep cards and pictures of your old flames, to keep them stashed away somewhere. Memories of what used to be before you got married. No, that does not make for a healthy marriage. Vitality can't happen if you're yearning for others. Jesus compares it to farming. Look, you can't go forward plowing and look backward and plow a nice straight line.

26:37I've never plowed before, but it seems to have the ring of truth, doesn't it? You can't move forward while looking behind. You won't go straight. Following Jesus means not looking back longingly on how life used to be before you were a disciple.

27:01So those are the lessons. I want to close giving a couple thoughts on how we can move forward with this. The first one is this. If you read this passage and you hear the sermon and you feel the Spirit convicting you, I mean an honest-to-goodness conviction, then the first thing you should do and the most often thing you should do is pray about it. Go to God and pray and ask Him for help. He wants to lead you forward in this. He wants to help you.

27:31Jesus doesn't bring these things up and then make His disciples figure it out on their own. I'm constantly surprised at how often we have to remind Cadence and Bree to ask for help. It's almost like they have our DNA or something because I don't ask for help oftentimes. It's nothing that we do consistently is asking God for help. The second thing I want to tell you is that if you're feeling guilty, if you're feeling guilty right now because you've been trying to be merciful, to be devoted, but you're not doing it perfectly, I want you to hear this clearly.

28:15I want you to remember the smile of your Father. When you sincerely try to obey God, He is delighted in you. He's delighted in you. When you sincerely try to obey Him, He's delighted in you, even though it's not perfect.

28:45He accepts it, and He's pleased, even though it has all kinds of mistakes in it. Sometimes we ask Cadence and Bree to make dinner, and boy, I love those meals. And it has nothing to do with the menu that they've put together, the food they've fixed, or even how it tastes. They have sincerely served our family, and those meals are delightful.

29:17Of course, we can all be more merciful. We can all be more devoted to God, and we should pray for that, but His delight in you does not wait until you're perfect. It's for you today.

29:34If you're sincerely trying to practice mercy and follow Him with devotion, then be encouraged and keep at it. God is smiling on you. The last thing I want to tell you is this. For every one look at yourself, take ten looks at your Savior, because here is what you'll see.

29:59You'll remember that He was not always a human man. From all eternity, He enjoyed perfect, glorious fellowship within the Trinity. But there were people in need of rescue. And so He went.

30:18He set that glory aside, and He went after us. Into this world. Into our flesh and blood. Into the role of a servant. And then He went further. Further into obedience, into scorn, into injustice.

30:37And then He went to the cross. With its suffering, its humiliation, He went before judgment. And there, He who knew no sin became sin for us. He did this not for loyal friends, but for His enemies. His enemies.

31:01People who had rejected Him and His Father. He did it to spare them punishment. So they could receive mercy and righteousness through faith. He chased after rebels like you and me to bring them home. To change their hearts. To make them His sons and daughters and His friends and to sit them at His table.

31:28The greatest mercy and the greatest devotion ever to be found are both found in Jesus. He's the one who calls you today. Saying, walk in mercy, be devoted to me, because look at me. Look at me, child. I have already done this for you.

31:53Let's pray. Jesus, what a friend we have in you. What a Savior. Words cannot express how amazing it is that you have done for us. You went to rescue us, Lord. We were turning our backs and you came after us. What mercy. What undeserved devotion to us. Lord, will you please remind us of that? Help us rest in your work for us and help us to walk as you want your disciples to walk with mercy towards others and firm devotion towards you. Jesus, thank you for your fatherly smile on us, that you love us even when we make mistakes and our obedience isn't perfect.

32:54Please, God, lead us forward. Help us to listen to you and help us to draw near and be changed by you. We love you, Lord, and we pray this in your name.