Sermon Tone Analysis

*Luke** 9:57-62**  and **Mark** 14:29-31*

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Three men could have become disciples, but they would not meet the conditions that Jesus laid down, one we will look at, failed, but did it well

Luke 9:57-62

57 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.”

58 And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

59 And He said to another, “Follow Me.”

But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.”

60 But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.”

61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.”

62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

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PRAY

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I.       The first man was a scribe PP (Matt.

8:19)

!! A.   All three center around the term “follow” (9:57, 59, 61).

!! B.   Last half of Verse 57 “I will follow You wherever You go.”

!! C.

He approached and wanted to follow and volunteered to go

!!! 1.     Hardship was the issue keeping him from being a disciple

!!! 2.     Until he heard the cost

!!! 3.     The first man, when he heard of possible hardships, he had to die to self

!!! 4.     A person desiring to follow Jesus must give up what others consider necessities

!!! 5.     Jesus while he was here on earth

!!!! a)      He did not think himself entitled to the delights and ornaments of great princes, or palaces

!!!! b)      But such accommodations for mere necessity

!!!! c)      As the /foxes/ have, and the /birds of the air a place for the night/

!!!! d)      See what a /depth of poverty/ our Lord Jesus submitted to for us

!!!!! (1)   To purchase for us a larger allowance of grace, that we through his poverty might be rich,

2 Corinthians 8:9

9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.

!!! 6.     Jesus paid men the compliment of pitching his demands so high that they cannot be higher

!!! 7.     Some pastors have done a great deal of harm to the church

!!!! a)      By letting people think that church membership does not make a difference

!!!! b)      It should make all the difference in the world

!!!!! (1)   We might have fewer people

!!!!! (2)   But those we had would be really pledged to Christ

!!! 8.     We can not lessen the standards Jesus set       

!!!! a)      Jesus had no home of His own nor did His followers

!!! 9.     Apparently he was accustomed to a comfortable home

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II.

The second man was called by Jesus

!! A.   Kinship or family was the second and the third persons reasons for not being a disciple….

!! B.   Jesus called the next man with the same words with which He had called His disciples (5:27)

!!! 1.

What an honor!

You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, *John** 15:16*.

!! C.   For a Jew this was a religious duty having precedence over everything else

!!! 1.

The problems of life comes first…..The burial of one’s father was a sacred duty

*Genesis 25:9*

9  Then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre,

 

!!!! a)      Only in the case of a temporary Nazirite vow (Num 6:6-7)

!!!! b)      If one were the high priest (Lev 21:10-11) could one be absolved from this duty

!!! 2.     The second man was concerned about the wrong funeral

!!!! a)      He was worried about somebody else’s funeral when he should have been planning his own

!!!!! (1)   He should have taken up his cross,

!!!!! (2)    Died to self,

!!!!! (3)    And obeyed God’s will

!!! 3.     “I will follow you after my father has died.”

!!!! a)      This could mean the second burial after His father died ~~1 year later…

!!! 4.     How about

!!!! a)      “I’ll go to church with my kids when they are older…..

!!!! b)      I’ll get that straightened out when I have more time….

!!!! c)      I am too busy with life and work right now to be bothered by Jesus demands, or HIS CALLINGS

!!!! d)      I will go when I receive my inheritance, (retirement)  so I can be self supporting

!!!! e)      I will go when I retire…..

I will have more time

!!!! f)        I will go when the kids leave, when they are in school, when they are married, when they have grandkids, when the grand kids are grown when the great grand kids come, when they go… if we are so lucky!!!!          

!! D.   Jesus is not suggesting here that we dishonor our parents

!!! 1.     Lets join the profession of Christianity with secular advantages Christ did not do this

!!! 2.     We should not permit our love for family to weaken our love for the Lord

!!!! a)      PARENTS DO WE PUT OUR KIDS AHEAD OF GOD?

!!!! b)      KIDS DO WE IDOLIZE OUR PARENTS OR THEIR OPINIONS OF

!!!!! (1)   WHAT WE DO

!!!!! (2)   OR HOW WE LIVE

!!!!! (3)   TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT GOD COULD NOT BREAK IN ON US IF HE YELLED IT TO US?

!!!! c)      We are tempted to /defer/ the doing of that which we know to be our duty, and to put if off to some other time

!!!! d)      In everything there is a crucial moment; if that moment is missed the thing most likely will never be done at all

!!!!! (1)   The man in the story had stirrings in his heart to get out of his spiritually dead surroundings

!!!!! (2)   If he missed that moment he would never get out

!!!! e)      The danger is The emotion becomes a substitute for the action

!!!!! (1)   Take one example—sometimes we feel that we would like to write a letter, perhaps of sympathy, perhaps of thanks, perhaps of congratulations

!!!!! (2)   If we put it off until to-morrow, it will in all likelihood never be written

!!! 3.     Jesus urges us to act at once when our hearts are stirred

*1 Timothy 4:1-5*

1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,

2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars *seared in their own conscience* as with a branding iron,

3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.

4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude;

5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.

!! E.   We need to respond to Jesus when he calls lest we allow the enemy to sear our conscience (hamburger) and we having been seared finding it hard to recover from the burn….

!! F.    We should love Christ so much that our love for family would look like hatred in comparison

*Luke** 14:26*

26  “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.

!! G.  The man’s reply that he first wanted to go and bury his father has been variously interpreted

!!! 1.

Some maintain that the man’s father was dead already

!!!! a)      It would seem strange if that was the case for he would certainly have been engaged in the burial procedure already

!!! 2.     It is more likely that the man’s father was ready to die

!!!! a)      His request was to let him wait just a little while before following Jesus

!!! 3.     Perhaps the man also wanted to receive the inheritance from his father’s estate

!!!! a)      Whatever the reason no reason is sufficient for disobedience

!!!! b)      *Let the dead bury their own dead, *implies that the spiritually dead can bury the physically dead   

!! H.   We are not to neglect our family duties but we are not to let our family duties stand in the way of obedience to God    

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III.