Growing & Going

Last week’s text revealed some practices that should be avoided if one is to follow Christ. This week Jesus prunes off some of the edges so that we can focus on the bullseye of the target.

Discipleship ReOrders our Priorities (9:57-62)

The Call to Grow must be Informed (vv.57-58)

1. Some must be recruited to do the right thing, others volunteer. V.57 starts with a man who volunteers, but Jesus responds in a way that would discourage any but the most adventurous.

2. Over my decades of pastoring I have seen several people come and go in church attendance.

a. I’ve done pre-marital preparation with couple who claim they want to build their marriage on Christ, but have never been seen after the honeymoon. If the sanctuary is nice and the price is right, you would be surprised at how many dating couples can find time for church.

b. I’ve had attendees who sold insurance and after a couple years when they have gleaned all the new customers they can, they move on to the church down the street.

c. I’ve had some who are in church consistently leading up to the printing of their political brochure who disappear after the balloting, until the next election cycle.

3. Unfortunately, people connect with religious movements for many different reasons, and Jesus tells this man that what he is volunteering for may not be what he expects.

I never collected baseball cards. Did any of you?

My understanding is that rookie card of someone who later enters the Hall of Fame is one that can become quite valuable.

I have a friend whom I just learned 2 weeks ago collect pennies. She has hundreds of dollars worth of pennies. Most of those pennies are not worth the metal required to make them, but she collects in the hope that she finds a few that bear value to collectors.

In High School I had a close friend who played in a rock band. They played some free gigs and were paid $50-$100 to play some private parties. One of their biggest gigs was when they were invited to play at the local Water Slide. In 1981 they printed some posters used to promote the band and I got one autographed by all 4 members of Seven. I knew that if I could prove I knew them before they became famous, some day that poster would make me rich.

4. Jesus tells this man, “If you are following me because you hope to become rich or powerful, you are severely mistaken!” If you want to follow me it will mean a life of insecurity and discomfort.

The Call to Grow is Immediate (vv.59-60)

1. The social expectation in Jesus’ day was that the oldest son would provide for the burial of a father. This responsibility was so sacred that soon after Jesus, Jewish writings excused a man from daily prayers if he was busy making funeral arrangements.

2. There is a lot of speculation about what the man is actually asking of Jesus.

a. It is unlikely that the father has recently passed. If he had passed in the previous day or two, this man would not be out on the road interacting with a visiting Rabbi.

b. Some assert that the father was terminal, and that burial would be required in the upcoming days or weeks. The wait would have been impossible to estimate.

c. It was common in Jesus day to prepare a body for burial as you imagine Jesus’ body being wrapped in cloth and spices and laid on a stone bed in a tomb. After a year, the flesh would decay and the bones would be repackaged in a smaller box, called an ossuary, to be buried awaiting the final resurrection. In this case, the man would have been asking for a delay of up to a year.

d. Others figure that the man stood to gain or lose his inheritance based upon the way he treated his father’s body.

3. Jesus’ call to follow him was contrary to social expectations and carries the idea that spreading the news of the kingdom was more important than any estate he may inherit.

The Call to Grow is Immutable (vv.61-62)

1. Immutable means “unchanging”; so why didn’t I use that word? Because the outline needed and “I”.

2. Seriously, I never want to “dumb down” the teaching of God’s Word and “immutable” is a word that you may encounter if you read books about God.

3. I believe we all are capable of growth. Occasionally learning a new word opens our minds to expanding ideas.

This week I tried something new, I smoked a head of cabbage. My brother-in-law recommended it as a way of cooking cabbage without the whole house smelling like cooked cabbage. Since I was smoking the cabbage, I decided to try smoking a corned beef brisket as well. A comment on a friend’s BBQ page said when corned beef is smoked, it is called Pastrami. So then I had to research the difference between Corned Beef and Pastrami. You’ll have to ask me about that after church if you are interested.

The point is that new words open our minds to new ideas.

4. By saying “the call to following Jesus is immutable” I mean that there is no going back.

5. The idea of “til death do us part” is becoming less acceptable in our society that has substituted “serial monogamy” – the idea that we can have many partners in a lifetime, but only commit to one at a time.

6. Serial monogamy reduces our relationships to little more than our favorite shoes or favorite pair of jeans. These are comfortable now, but if a better pair comes along I can always change.

7. V.62 says that once we commit to harvesting in His fields, to participating in the spread of His kingdom, there is no looking over your shoulder at other options.

William Whiting Borden

1. I believe I’ve showed a video in the past about the life of William Borden, the Chicago millionaire heir to the Borden dairy.

In 1905 Borden entered Yale University and began encouraging student prayer groups like our own FCA. During his sophomore year he was challenged by Samuel Zwemer to consider world missions, which fanned a flame that was sparked by an around-the-world trip at age 16.

In 1909 Borden entered Princeton Theological Seminary and by the age of 22 he was invited onto the Board of Directors as my alma mater, The Moody Bible Institute, and also the North American Council of China Inland Mission.

It is recorded that when he renounced his place in the Borden organization in order to become a missionary himself, he wrote the words “No Reserve”

In 1912 he boarded a ship for Egypt where he could learn Arabic and Muslim culture in order to reach a people group in NW China. His father told him he would never hold a position in the family business. In those days missionaries often packed their belongings in a wooden crate that would serve as their casket if they never came back. So Borden wrote in his Bible under the words “No Reserve” the 2 words “No Retreat”

In 1913 while studying in Egypt he contracted cerebral meningitis and died a few weeks later. Having never reached China before his death at the age of 25, His mother found in his Bible 2 more words—“No Regrets”.

Application

Borden is an American example of the paragraph in front of us.

He understood that following Jesus is not a promise of comfort.

He acted on the belief that the gospel requires immediacy.

He lived his life to the end without retreat or regret.

Transition: As Jesus sets his fac toward Jerusalem and knows His time on earth is limited, He ramps up participation in the mission that will take off after the resurrection. Following Jesus in discipleship automatically moves toward mission. As we continue growing, we begin going.

Discipleship Requires our Participation (10:1-12)

The Call to Go is a Broad Mission (vv.1-2)

1. There is some confusion in the earliest copies of Luke’s manuscripts of if there are 70 or 72 volunteers. The difference can be traced to Hebrew and Greek groups of believers.

2. There are seventy names listed in the table of nations in the Hebrew text of Genesis 10, and seventy-two names listed in the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament (lxx). This difference in numbers could account for the textual problem in Luke, where some manuscripts read “seventy” and others “seventy-two” (10:1, 17). Luke may have written “seventy-two” and later scribes altered his text to agree with the Hebrew text of Genesis 10.[i]

3. Remembering that Luke wrote this gospel based upon testimony that had been given him years AFTER it happened, I don’t believe these textual variants should shatter our faith in the truthfulness of Scripture. The Holy Spirit inspired Luke to write the correct number in his original writing and if Greeks later changed the number from 70-72 or Jews changed it from 72 to 70, the point is that Jesus is sending out witnesses who will eventually take the Gospel to EVERY people group who has descended from Noah and his 3 sons.

4. Just as in Isaiah’s vision in Isaiah 6 asks the question “Who will go?”… and the answer comes back “Here am I! send me.” When we ask the Lord to send people to reach the lost, it is often us whom He sends.

I received a letter this week from a person who lives in the Kansas City area, but has in-laws who live in Chase County. She had been praying for their salvation and that they would find a good church here.

She writes, “God put this idea into my head—so He’s going to bless it.” And she sent a check made out to our church because she wants to be involved in reaching her own in-laws.

5. The mission is broad (all people groups), but it is carried out in every individual town and place as described in v.1

6. As we go to our own neighbors, I am praying that God would call some of us to also go to the nations. The most effective cross-cultural missionaries are those who do it at home before they do it elsewhere.

The Call to Go is a Focused Mission (vv.3-4, 7-8)

1. Disciples cannot get distracted by detractors

· Not everyone will receive our message; our “lamb” demeanor is sometimes met by “wolf” responses.

Some of you follow me on social media and you saw that I encountered a man who thought “conservative Christians are the most selfish people alive.”

My experience, and the experience of many who commented from several states is that Christians are often (not always) the kindest and most generous of people.

Something had happened to this man that left him with an antagonism and angst toward anyone who would presume to offer him a “lamb” invitation to the kingdom.

I pray that his heart will be softened so that at some point he could receive the seed of truth and it could change him from the inside out.

· But in the meantime, I remember Jesus said

John 15:18–19 ESV:2016

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

2. Disciples cannot get distracted by greed

· Jesus will double back in chapter 12 to this theme introduced earlier in chapter 9.

Luke 12:15 ESV:2016

15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

3. Disciples cannot go off message.

a. The instruction to “greet no one on the road” seems contrary to all the rest of the Bible that places such a high value on hospitality. Since this prohibition follows the traveling instruction, I believe it is saying, “don’t get sidetracked by small talk.”

b. There is a wonderful old English wording that I first heard as a child associated with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. The emphasis in modern translations tends to unfortunately get softened. The phrasing is “must needs” and can be found in John 4:4 in most English translations before 1970.

John 4:4 KJV 1900

4 And he must needs go through Samaria.

c. The Apostle Paul picks up this urgency in 1 Cor 9:16

1 Corinthians 9:16 ESV:2016

16 For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

The Call to Go is a Divisive Mission (vv.5-6, 9-12)

1. We offer the gospel that peace is available in Christ and if they receive it, great! If they don’t, it isn’t a personal rejection!

2. Our job is to bring the gospel near (v. 9 & 11) to people so that they can choose it or not.

3. We cannot change the message to make it more palatable. The message is what it is—God’s kingdom is near if you would enter it by faith.

4. Our job is to faithfully proclaim in a way that our presentation does not create any additional barriers and to present with an urgency that if they reject it there will be serious consequences.

Transition: Jesus is calling us to grow deeper with Him, by re-ordering our priorities. And He is calling us to go wider for Him, by participating in His mission.

Conclusion:

In 2018 Christian Band for KING & COUNTRY released an album titled “Burn the Ships”. The story behind the title cut is that a family member was dealing with an addiction to prescription pills and she needs to physically flush the pills as a symbolic “burning of the ships” so that she could resolve to move forward in recovery.

Before a Christian album, there is the story of Hernán Cortés in 1519, a Spaniard who led an expedition to Mexico. Fearful that his men would mutiny and return to Spain, the story goes that he called his 600 men to the beach then burned their ships as a symbol that retreat was not an option, then went on to plunder the Aztecs.

Legends exist that Julius Caesar did the same thing when the Romans invaded the Celts and that Alexander the Great did the same thing in 334 BC when battling in Asia Minor.

If modern addictions and ancient warfare both deserve this type of resolution, Jesus is calling us to determine with equal tenacity that we will grow deep and go wide with no opportunity for retreat.

Song of Response #379 “Take My Life and Let it Be”

Benediction: Jude 24–25 (ESV) — Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

[i] Clinton E. Arnold, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 410.