“Raising the Bar!”
Luke 9:51-62; Galations 5:1; 13-25; Psalm 77:11-20
Pastor Durk K. Peterson
St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, Bloomington, MN
How many followers do you have? Followers on Twitter? The other day I learned that an old neighbor of mine, Jim Braaten, has 6,000 followers on his nature/hunting Twitter feed. One day a friend of my son was bragging about his 300 followers on Twitter. I write a blog and have several people who follow or read my blog articles. For whatever it means, our culture has come to place a high value on “followers” for Twitter or friends on Facebook. The question is: do we know who is following us or friending us? When it comes to following Jesus, as we will discover today, it is deeper than clicking to follow or friending someone on Facebook. There is a much stronger relationship and deeper meaning attached than our social media can touch today.
The focus of my sermon for you today is Jesus’ call for us to follow him, to follow as a disciple. I came across a quote the other day that said,
“Discipleship is like riding a bicycle -
if you don't peddle forward, you'll fall off.”
In other words, as we pay attention to following Jesus and make the effort to grow in our following or discipleship, we will move forward by God’s grace and love.
I invite you to imagine if Jesus were to appear in the flesh here at St. Luke’s today. He appears and comes alongside us and says, “follow me.” He then explains:
I want you to follow me right now
and here are few things
I want you to do right now.
How would we react? Would you say that you need for time? Or, that you are not in a position at this current time to do so? Or, offer other qualifying statements?
In Luke’s gospel we meet up with Jesus and his disciples. They are walking to Jerusalem. Making their way to that city where Jesus would die on the cross and be raised from the dead. When he calls them to follow he calls them to be his disciples.
As they walked along one of the followers turned to him and said,
“I will follow you wherever you go!”
Jesus looks him in the eye and responds by saying that the Son of Man does not have anywhere to lay his head. Jesus then turns to another and says, “Follow me.” One responds, “But, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus says to let the dead bury the dead and go proclaim the kingdom of God. Then another says “I will follow you, but first let me go and say farewell to my family.” Jesus responds, “No one who puts their hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.
As you hear this story from Luke today, did you hear the initial responses of the second and third. Very natural and very understandable right? Reponses for a slight delay. Understandable reasons to wait for a few minutes. One says he needs to bury his father and the other that he needs to go and say good-by to his family. Excuses! Jesus clearly does not want to hear this. Not at all. He wants action or an immediate response!
Maybe you’ve heard some of this brief quotations about excuses:
An excuse is worse than a lie, for an excuse is a lie, guarded.
Don’t make excuses, make good.
Every vice has its excuse ready.
He who is good for making excuses is seldom good for
anything else. (Ben Franklin)
He who excuses himself, accuses himself.
What kinds of excuses have you heard lately for not getting the job done or for not showing up or for not being engaged?
Today we encounter Jesus who comes off as impatient and demanding. Yes, Jesus is impatient and, yes, he is demanding. Impatient! I really don’t care what you have going on today, you need to follow and follow now without any excuses. Demanding! follow me and follow me now! You might wonder why Jesus is so impatient and demanding . All we need to do is to see what lays ahead for him - the cross and the resurrection are looming. The pressure is building. The time and movement toward Jerusalem is urgent. Jesus’ time is short and he is on his way to Jerusalem to die on the cross. Earlier in chapter 9, Jesus predicts his suffering and death . Three times he tells the disciples three times, that he is going to Jerusalem.
I don’t know about you but I find myself getting a bit uncomfortable or put on the spot with Jesus in this passage. Here we encounter a side of Jesus you may not want to face….you are not alone. We would rather meet up with the patient and loving Jesus. Or, the comforting Jesus. The healing Jesus. The compassionate Jesus. The assuring Jesus. Right. Jesus, Jesus as the Good Shepherd Or as I often point out at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, the smiling Jesus. No, instead we experience Jesus who is rushed and Jesus who is being Impatient, yes! Demanding, yes!
Elsewhere in the gospels we hear Jesus issue calls to discipleship. Whoever doesn’t deny himself, cannot be my disciples. You must take up your cross and follow me if you would be my disciple. You must love your neighbor as yourself . Not “sort of” or “kind of” or “you might want to” or “if you have time” No, if you want to be my disciple you will do this… Demands. Hard demands.
Here is what Jesus doesn’t say:
I would like for you to consider the idea of following me and what merits this might bring or not.
Why don’t you think about this whole discipleship business and get back to me when you can.
Please know that I understand that you have many commitments and obligations, don’t worry, I can settle for a low-commitment follower of Jesus.
Why don’t you take your time and figure out is this whole Jesus thing is working for you or not…
Go ahead and take care of things- wrap up any loose ends and then get back to me when you are ready to follow me.
No, instead what Jesus says is this: “Follow me!” “Take up your cross and follow me.” If any want to become my followers let them take up their cross and follow. For those who want to save their life will lose it and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
What happens to us when we hear that hard word of Jesus? When we hear the demand of Jesus? When we hear the word of the law? As the reformer Martin Luther said hundreds of years ago, it drives us to Christ. It turns us and directs us to Jesus and his mercy.
So, what about us here at St. Luke’s this morning?
How are you doing in your life of following Jesus?
Your life of discipleship?
What are you doing in your life to change or
to follow Jesus more faithfully?
What kinds of decisions are you making
that reflect you devotion to Jesus and his church.
How are you setting your priorities?
Just so you know, in the waters of baptism we are saved.
What happens after we are baptized-
this is discipleship or sanctification,
the time in which we grow in our faith.
The hard and demanding call of Jesus reminds me of our daughter Laura’s piano teachers and our son’s coaches. Over the years of piano lessons that began in elementary and now continue in college, our daughter has been fortunate to have teachers that were very skilled, very supportive….and yet very demanding. Demanding with high expectations. Practice, practice, practice and improvement. Competitions, pressure, along with successes and failures.
Our son Eric plays High School Lacrosse and Football. Last spring he commented that the coach had changed. “How?” I asked. Well, practices are longer and hard and you need to improve according to a set schedule. More demands and higher expectations. His football program in MG has turned into a year-round program in that last couple years- running, weight training, etc. Of course, if you want to play, you need to work hard, very hard and rise up to the expectations and demands of the coaching staff.
When it comes to church life, to being part of the body of Christ here at St. Luke’s, what are the expectations? Are there requirements or demands? Describe a typical new member class. Leadership expectations. Bible reading, prayer, worship, service, and generosity. The really hard expectation to communicate is the need to give and to give faithfully and generously.
Over the years there is a book on discipleship that I’ve found myself returning to again and again. It is Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book The Cost of Discipleship. In this book he talks about our human tendency to create “cheap grace.” Or, to take the easy way out. Cheap grace is grace received without cost or commitment or discipleship. Bonhoeffer’s assessment of the Christian life can give pause all of us who are called to follow as disciples. I would like to share with you a quotation from an excellent recent translation of his work, The Cost of Discipleship.
“Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of the church.
Our struggletoday is for costly grace.
Cheap grace mean grace at bargain basement good,
cut-rate forgiveness, cut-rate comfort, cut-rate sacrament.
It is grace without a price, without costs.
Cheap grace means justification of sin but not of the sinner.
Cheap grace is preaching forgiveness without repentance.
Costly grace is the hidden treasure in the field, for the sake of which people go and sell with you everything they have.
It is the call of Jesus Christ which causes a disciple
to leave his nets and follow him.
It is costly because it calls to discipleship;
it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ.”
One other author gives us an image for learning to follow Jesus. Greg Ogden says that Jesus acted as a master trainer,” His destiny was the cross. He was the man born to die. Yet converging on that moment would be the necessity of having his disciples prepared to carry on his mission after his resurrection and return to the Father.
Stage One: Jesus was a living example. “The disciples watched him carefully and therefore began to absorb his message and his ministry.”
At Stage Two, Jesus was a provocative educator. “His intent was not only to inform the disciples of a new kingdom perspective but also to dislodge the wrong-headed ideas and assumptions that they had picked up from a religious and secular world in rebellion against God.”
At Stage Three, Jesus was a supportive coach. “The disciples were sent on a short-term mission within Jesus’ clear parameters, knowing that he was there for a supportive debriefing upon their return.”
At Stage Four, Jesus was the ultimate delegator. “The disciples had internalized enough to survive their scattering at Jesus’ crucifixion, to be regrouped after the resurrection and empowered by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. His ministry had become theirs.”
Conclusion:
Following Jesus will cost you everything.
And, it will cost you nothing.
