A Closed Door or a Christ Delivered Life?

Luke 9:51-56

Luke 9:51–56 NASB 95

51 When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; 52 and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. 53 But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. 54 When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; 56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” And they went on to another village.

Prayer

Message

From the moment Jesus, Peter, James & John descended from the Mt. of Transfiguration, we see a paradigm shift from Luke writing about the miracles to an emphasis of Jesus discipling, pouring Himself into the apostles to further the mission. Even before we begin point one of my message this morning, the triune God of the universe is using every moment as a teaching moment with the disciples.

You remember Peter’s comments on top of the Mt. of Transfiguration:

Luke 9:33-35 “33 And as these were leaving Him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not realizing what he was saying. 34 While he was saying this, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!””

Our heavenly Father made Peter aware on that day and used it as a teaching moment for all of us. Do not live life with a segmented or fragmented focus.

Mark 3:25 “25 If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.”

Luke 16:13 “13 No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.””

Do not live life thinking in three’s as sermons go, but live life with rifle accuracy as to the supreme goal of your life.

Ill-Mary & Martha

Luke 10:42 “42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.””

Philippians 3:13-14 “13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Now obviously the Heavenly Father was correcting Peter and making him aware of the godhead and supremacy of Jesus Christ over any other individual, person, place or thing in this universe. Embedded deeper in the Father’s statement was the fact that Peter, “you must live a life with a singular focus.” You must keep your eyes affixed on Jesus.

Hebrews 12:12 “12 Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,”

The Missional Focus of Jesus

Luke 9:51 “51 When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem;”

Jesus prepares us today as he prepared those disciples over 2,000 years ago. When we have been delivered from death into life because of the sacrificial gift of Jesus giving His life for ours, Jesus is informing them as He informs us that life will be different than the world .

Lets read verse 51:

Luke 9:51 “51 When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem;”

There are three words I want you to underline in your Bibles that teaches volumes around the fact that Jesus’ time here on earth was focused in its entirety toward the mission He came to accomplish.

Top of the order to underline is determined.

Determined-πρόσωπον prosōpon; from 4314 and ὤψ ōps (an eye, face); the face:—ahead*(2), appearance(5), before*(2), coming*(1), face(37), faces(5), openly(1), outwardly*(1), partial*(3), partiality(1), people(1), person(1), persons(1), presence(11), sight(1).

Determined in the Greek means what is your appearance, your statement, what do you present to state what your life is all about.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis:

Genesis 3:8–9 (NASB 95)

8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”

Ill. Facebook

A picture is worth a thousand words. Think about if for a moment. How much can you interpret from pictures on Facebook? Family dynamics, worth or lack thereof, values, hobbies, profession sometimes, interest and the list goes on.

How many seniors do we all know that can watch TV and interpret 90% plus of what is going on and they can not hear?

What am I saying?

Everything about Jesus pointed to what was priority in His life.

Luke 19:10 “10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.””

Luke 2:49-50 “49 And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand the statement which He had made to them.”

May I ask you a question? The Lord asked Adam and Eve “where are you?”

And I would ask you: what are you about? What does your life stand for? What is your aim or mission in this world? If your life will stand for Jesus it will take a singular determination.

The two other words I quickly want to discuss as we think of living a Christ delivered life is that we realize that time is drawing nigh.

Approaching

We must live a Christ delivered life with an urgency.

New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries: Updated Edition 4845 συμπληρόω (sumplēroō)

4845. συμπληρόω sumplēroō; from 4862 and 4137; to fill up completely, hence to fulfill:—approaching(1), come(1), swamped(1).

Sumpleroo means that you are filling a cup or a vessel or a bucket and it is almost at completion of filling. The time was at hand for Jesus to go back to the Father and His mission had to have rifle focus to complete the task the Heavenly Father had sent Him to accomplish.

Dearly beloved, so true of us as being His children and living a Christ delivered life. Our days are as the Scriptures state as a “vapor”

James 4:14 “14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

Psalms 39:5 “5 “Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah.”

Ascension

Our Christ Delivered Life is a heaven focused life.

Hebrews 11:13 “13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.”

A Christ delivered life is heaven centered, heaven directed, and if the desire is truly for that citizenship, our focus is to carry others home with us.

Therein lies the change in us and how we live life differing from the world. We respond differently because our aim is different than the world.

Jesus, God Incarnate, was a living example to live a life focused on the two greatest commandments-Loving God and loving others.

His aim was to reunite with His Heavenly Father in heaven and to take home everyone He can.

If our life theme is Jesus’ life theme, if our aim is His aim, if our focus is His focus, if our objectives are His objectives, you get what I am saying. If our aim is for the Lord to use us to seek and save those who are lost, we will respond different in daily living than the world responds.

The Messenger’s Footsteps for Jesus

Luke 9:52 “52 and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him.”

Let’s remember that Jesus saves, we are His solicitors.

The word solicit means “to make petition; to approach with a request or plea, to urge strongly.

What are you passionate about? What in life cranks your tractor? Therein lies what you value.

Jesus provided us many examples how His disciples prepare for His presence-back to that word “presence” to come to the forefront. Jesus asked the disciples to go and get the donkey, to go and prepare the upper room, to go and see what was available to feed the five thousand.

Let me put it another way. Jesus wants you to be His billboard. My question is this. What are you advertising that your life, or better yet, is your life representing His life?

The title of my message is Cross Roads vs. the Christ Delivered Life.

You will be put to the test, I will be put to the test more than we will ever want to admit as to how we will respond to the cross roads of life and living a Christ delivered life.

The moment these disciples had to go ahead and prepare arrangements for Jesus to stay in Samaria they were faced with a cross road. They were faced with prior prideful, prejudice world thinking.

2 Kings 17:1 “1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned nine years.” Assyria captures Northern Israel.

From that point, the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom began to intermarry with the people of Assyria and there became great prejudices of the people of Southern Israel over the people of Samaria.

Ill. Chaplain story in the Montgomery Advertiser

Chaplain unscathed in non-robbery as Samaritan helps with wasp

Everyday Spirituality

Norris Burkes

Last month, I treated my daughter Brittney to lunch at Shawarma Planet, a popular Syrian restaurant in a South Sacramento’s urban storefront.

From behind the counter, the owner took our order for a lamb gyro, then went back to prepare our food. The dining room was empty, so we dawdled a moment to ogle the amazing baklava display case.

Just then the door opened, and a man quietly slipped in behind us.

'Don’t move,' the stranger told Brittney. 'And don’t panic,' he whispered.

'How could I not panic?' I thought.

We were alone with a 'whispering mugger.'

I cautiously turned my head so I could describe him for the police sketch artist later: 'Light complected African-American male, 5-foot-6, average build, wearing athletic sweatpants and a jogging jacket.'

For a moment, I asked myself if I was assuming him to be robber because he was Black?

No, I decided. I don’t see color. I’m not prejudice. That’s not me. I follow Martin Luther King who said people should 'not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.'

Dana Brownlee, senior contributor at Forbes highlights a problem with quoting the 'I Have a Dream' speech to prove you 'don’t see color.' She says 'it’s like right-handed people saying they don’t notice the trouble that left-handed people have with can openers, zippers and car cup holders.'

Brownlee says people of color hear three things when whites say 'I don’t see color':

'Thank goodness I don’t have to think about race.'

'Please give me credit for not being racist.'

'I plan to do absolutely nothing to combat racism because I don’t see it.'

Suddenly, in this 70% non-white neighborhood, I was definitely seeing color.

With a local crime rate 167% above the national average, I was taking notes about color. I felt sure I’d be the one – the 1 in 13 people who become crime victims in South Sacramento.

Expecting the man to demand my money or my life, I began to imagine how my newspapers might headline my story.

'Brave columnist wounded saving daughter from armed bandit.'

Or perhaps reported with deft alliteration,

'Clever clergy converts culprit to christ.'

It was just then that the man interrupted my racially motivated Walter Mitty moment, to say, 'It’s OK, I’ve got this. Just don’t move.'

I was now hearing what I’d missed. His command wasn’t threatening, it was calmly reassuring.

'Ma’am,' he told Brittney. 'There’s a wasp settled into your coat hood and I’m going to try to remove it.'

With that, he took a piece of cardboard and somehow managed to coax the little creature onto it.

With the threat removed, my daughter and I gushed with gratitude.

Yet the man still wasn’t done amazing us.

He slow-walked the little stinger toward the door, but the now flightless Hymenoptera fell off short of the exit, likely approaching his 22-day average on this earth.

If I had been the rescuer – and I assure you, it would not have been me – I’d have neutralized the threat by stepping on it.

But not this man.

With uncommon gentleness toward a living thing, he scooped it back up and set it safely outside the door.

Now, instead of a heroic headline, my editors are probably considering, 'Cowardly chaplain cowers while stranger removes threat.'

But fortunately, I’m writing this story.

So I’ll emphasize how I paid the man’s pick-up order for him and his wife, and conclude with, 'Grateful chaplain covers meal cost of good Samaritan.'

Just so you know, sometimes our assumptions can really cost us – 4 meals, tip and tax: $85.52.

If you enjoy Norris’s column, his books are available for purchase on his website, thechaplain.net Send comments to [e-mail] or 10556 Combie Road, Suite 6643; Auburn, CA 95602 or via voicemail [phone].

How you respond at the cross roads-the rejections, the blocks if you will, will have all to do with how you live a Christ delivered life.

Let’s look at the dangers of the prideful pitfalls that work against Jesus. Read with me Luke 9:53-55.

The Prideful’s Pitfalls against Jesus

Luke 9:53-55 “53 But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. 54 When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of;”

You need to be very clear that how you respond at the cross roads, the rejections, the blocks, the obstacles of life are not deeply embedded by pride or prejudice in how you react.

If we are not careful, we can put on a religious, pious, self righteous front in the battles of this life and the truth is our issues are deeply embedded pride and prejudices to the matters we encounter.

James & John saw that these Samaritans rejected Jesus and it was as they really wanted it to happen. They wanted a reason to lash out at the Samaritans because they had a hatred for them they may not have even fully recognized. So, in the face of the religious right, call it holy war if you will, they were hungering for an opportunity to bring wrath on them. These two men had just been to the pinnacle of the Mt. of Transfiguration, they were just reminded of the singular focus of living a Christ delivered life, but they saw Elijah and remembered him bringing down fire on the Baal worshippers and they thought this would be good treatment for those good for nothing Samaritans.

Let’s pick an example of the day that is at the forefront of daily life today as a Christian. And, I ask you , how do you respond to these occasions?

LBGTQ-Lesbian, bisexual gender, transgender

Has pride or prejudice been the overarching subliminal motivation and your life “faces” or is “determined” as a face of a holy war against sin or religious war against sin. You have to be honest with yourself as I have to be honest with myself. And, i want to be open and honest with you. I can not relate to it. I am so fearful for my grand kids to the daily exposure they receive as thinking that sinful behavior is normal. I have to be honest and those actions sicken me.

But what we all must discover is are we going to allow any walls, any prejudices hinder or block us from living out a Christ delivered life?

The Messiah’s Pardon in Jesus

Luke 9:56 “56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” And they went on to another village.”

A Christ delivered life does not allow the cinder blocks, the cross roads, the barriers and rejections to hinder how one acts in influencing others for the kingdom.

Let’s address a general attitude this morning on the overall subject of failure or rejection. Let’s travel back many days in our memory and I want to ask you some questions.

Can any of you ever remember being rejected by someone you wanted to ask out when you were dating? Did any of you have have a grade in school that was not acceptable to you norm performance? Did any of you ever interview for a job and was not hired? Were there any of you that worked in sales and the first time you made the presentation you were rejected? Were any of you cut from a team or a cheer leading squad because your performance was not satisfactory? And the list goes on.

My question is simply this. Did those rejections or roadblocks or closed doors define you? No, I absolutely hope not. I assume you asked another out and you sit here in a relationship. You kept interviewing and you got a job. You kept honing your skills in your work and you improved.

So, I close with this. If your life is truly a Christ delivered life and your desire is to live out a singular missional focus for Jesus. If your life statement is to be a messenger of Jesus in daily living, if you are honest with yourself and realize there will be times that we can fall into prideful pitfalls that are against the mission of Jesus, then the way to overcome that is to remember

the Messiah’s pardon that delivered your life.

V. 56 states two very bipolar terms and there is no middle ground in what our lives stand for.

Are you going to allow your life testimony to be destroyer in the lives of others or point people to a Savior. It really is just that simple.

Jesus stated, “I came to seek and save the lost.”

Sports has been a part of my life and I enjoy the competition. I enjoy competition to this day. Regardless of what sport you play, there are obstacles to success.

If we want to win the game called life, dearly beloved, do not get stopped or sidelined, or discombobulated by the obstacles. Keep your eyes on the prize in Christ Jesus.

Ask yourself this simple question. How many defenders, how many blocks, how many obstacles did Jesus go through to get to you?

Romans 5:8 “8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Let’s pray.