The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
1 Samuel 2quoted at the opening to lead worship: 'there is no one holy like the Lord'
1 Hannah prayed, and said: “My heart exults in Yahweh! My horn is exalted in Yahweh. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.
2 There is no one as holy as Yahweh, For there is no one besides you, nor is there any rock like our God.
3 “Don’t keep talking so exceedingly proudly. Don’t let arrogance come out of your mouth, For Yahweh is a God of knowledge. By him actions are weighed.
4 “The bows of the mighty men are broken. Those who stumbled are armed with strength.
5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread. Those who were hungry are satisfied. Yes, the barren has borne seven. She who has many children languishes.
6 “Yahweh kills, and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol, and brings up.
7 Yahweh makes poor, and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up.
8 He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the needy from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes, and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh’s. He has set the world on them.
9 He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness; for no man shall prevail by strength.
10 Those who strive with Yahweh shall be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them in the sky. “Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
11 Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. The child served Yahweh before Eli the priest.
12 Now the sons of Eli were wicked men. They didn’t know Yahweh.
13 The custom of the priests with the people was that when anyone offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant came while the meat was boiling, with a fork of three teeth in his hand;
14 and he stabbed it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot. The priest took all that the fork brought up for himself. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.
15 Yes, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, “Give meat to roast for the priest; for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw.”
16 If the man said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take as much as your soul desires”; then he would say, “No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force.”
17 The sin of the young men was very great before Yahweh; for the men despised the offering of Yahweh.
18 But Samuel ministered before Yahweh, being a child, clothed with a linen ephod.
19 Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
20 Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, “May Yahweh give you offspring from this woman for the petition which was asked of Yahweh.” Then they went to their own home.
21 Yahweh visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew before Yahweh.
22 Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they slept with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
23 He said to them, “Why do you do such things? for I hear of your evil dealings from all this people.
24 No, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear! You make Yahweh’s people disobey.
25 If one man sins against another, God will judge him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who will intercede for him?” Notwithstanding, they didn’t listen to the voice of their father, because Yahweh intended to kill them.
26 The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Yahweh, and also with men.
27 A man of God came to Eli, and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Did I reveal myself to the house of your father, when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh’s house?
28 Didn’t I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? Didn’t I give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire?
29 Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?’
30 “Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me forever.’ But now Yahweh says, ‘Far be it from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me will be cursed.
31 Behold, the days come, that I will cut off your arm, and the arm of your father’s house, that there will not be an old man in your house.
32 You will see the affliction of my habitation, in all the wealth which I will give Israel; and there shall not be an old man in your house forever.
33 The man of yours, whom I don’t cut off from my altar, will consume your eyes and grieve your heart; and all the increase of your house will die in the flower of their age.
34 “‘This will be the sign to you, that will come on your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they will both die.
35 I will raise me up a faithful priest, that will do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house; and he will walk before my anointed forever.
36 It will happen, that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and will say, “Please put me into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’”
cited as inspiration for the song Morning by Morning: 'because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, his mercies never fail, they are new every morning'
22 It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail.
23 They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem, sends messengers through Samaria, is rejected, rebukes James and John for wanting to call down fire
51 It came to pass, when the days were near that he should be taken up, he intently set his face to go to Jerusalem,
52 and sent messengers before his face. They went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, so as to prepare for him.
53 They didn’t receive him, because he was traveling with his face set towards Jerusalem.
54 When his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from the sky, and destroy them, just as Elijah did?”
55 But he turned and rebuked them, “You don’t know of what kind of spirit you are.
56 For the Son of Man didn’t come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” They went to another village.
quoted as the teaching James and John were drawing on when they asked to call down fire: 'if two of you agree on earth about anything that you may ask'
19 Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them.”
Elijah throws his mantle over Elisha, Elisha asks to kiss his parents goodbye before following
19 So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. Elijah went over to him, and put his mantle on him.
20 Elisha left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, “Let me please kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” He said to him, “Go back again; for what have I done to you?”
21 He returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and killed them, and boiled their meat with the instruments of the oxen, and gave to the people, and they ate. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and served him.
cited to call the congregation to hold firmly to their confession of hope, encourage one another in love and good deeds, and not forsake meeting together
23 let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering; for he who promised is faithful.
24 Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works,
25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Matt was away the previous Sunday, and this week he returned to lead the congregation through a stretch of scripture where Jesus turns toward Jerusalem and begins preparing his disciples for what that journey will actually cost. The message traced several encounters along the way, each one pressing on the question of what it means to follow Jesus without looking back. Communion closed the service as a direct expression of that same theme.
What was said
John's Gospel notes that Jesus stayed in Galilee because people in Judea were seeking to kill him. When his brothers urged him to go public in Judea and make a name for himself, he told them his time had not yet come. Pastor Matt pointed out that the brothers who grew up in the same house with Jesus did not believe in him, and their words carry a mocking edge. The application he drew was direct: some people have been around the church their whole lives and are in exactly that position, near Jesus but not yet trusting him.
When Jesus did turn toward Jerusalem, he chose to travel through Samaria rather than take the longer route around it that most Jews preferred. His advance team went ahead to arrange lodging, but the Samaritans refused them because Jesus was heading toward Jerusalem rather than their own worship site at Gerizim. The refusal was religious and tribal, the human habit, as Pastor Matt put it, of dividing into teams.
James and John responded to the rejection by asking Jesus for permission to call down fire on the village, reasoning that the two of them together had just heard Jesus say that anything two disciples agree on can be asked of the Father. Jesus rebuked them. The point Pastor Matt drew was that this is the age of invitation, not the age of judgment, and responding to rejection with prayer and moving on is simply the more peaceable way to live.
Three would-be followers appear in quick succession. One volunteers eagerly. Jesus warns him that following means having nowhere to lay your head. A second is called directly by Jesus but asks to go home first and wait until his father dies. A third volunteers but wants to say goodbye to his household, which Pastor Matt set alongside the story of Elijah calling Elisha, where that same request was granted without rebuke.
Jesus tells the third man that no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. Pastor Matt read this alongside Israel looking back to Egypt and Lot's wife looking back at Sodom, both of which scripture treats as failures. The pattern is consistent: once the commitment is made, looking back undoes it. He was careful to say the text does not blame any of the three individuals or tell us how they responded. The passages are there for everyone who reads them, not to condemn characters in a story.
The sermon moved into Hebrews 10 from there, with the call to hold firmly to the confession of hope without wavering, to consider how to encourage one another into love and good deeds, and not to give up meeting together. Pastor Matt tied this directly to the communion that followed, arguing that every time disciples eat and drink they are meant to remember Jesus, and that the Lord's table is the regular, embodied way the church declares it intends to keep following rather than look back.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
The pastor talked about Jesus' brothers mocking him and said, 'Some of us have been brothers of Jesus for a long time, right? We have been in a family that claims to know Christ, and we're not really believing him.' What does it look like in practice to be close to Jesus without actually trusting him?
When the Samaritans refused to receive Jesus, James and John wanted to call fire down from heaven on them. The pastor said this is not the age of judgment but the age of grace, and that Jesus rebuked that impulse. Where do you see that same impulse showing up in your own life or in the church today?
Speaker 2Alright. Good morning, everybody. How are you? It's good to see you. Good to see you as people are coming in.
And what do you say we worship in song together? And if you would, would you stand with me and we'll sing? But here's a good word from first Samuel two to lead us in worship as we sing about holiness. In first Samuel, it says, there is no one holy. There's no one holy like the Lord, holy, other, unique in himself, in a category of his own.
How about we start by singing of God's holiness?
Speaker 1Amen.
Speaker 2Perfect in love, power, and unity. Alright. Holy holy.
Speaker 1See, I've got a few announcements. We will discover them together. Monday nights at first b. What's happening, Carl?
Speaker 2Yeah. So we're we're on down the hall. 06:00 meal, music message Felix in Guadalupe. We'll be sharing a great
Speaker 1dinner and Mexican feast night tomorrow night? Yes. Yes.
Speaker 2Yes. Okay. Then we're in March. So we're gonna look at the miracle of the healing of the paralytic and the calling of Matthew and the dinner party that followed. And they're just good stuff there.
They're great takeaways for us. So
Speaker 1that's Monday nights, meal, music and a message down the hall tomorrow night, 06:00. Awana is happening at the same time. It's back in session. You see, it's actually an oval, I noticed, this week instead of a circle, but we are working in this room with kids starting out in this room, and then they spread out all over the whole rest of the church, pouring scripture into their minds to reach their hearts. Lots of volunteers are required for such an undertaking, it's just a beautiful thing.
Awana is great. So it's happening tomorrow night, six ish. If you would check the lost and found, it'd be helpful for yourselves, hope, and for us too. There's a lot of stuff still left back there in the corner up under the coat rack beside the gray sofa right back here. So if you would check that, you might find something you've been missing for a while.
It might not even fit anymore. Who knows? It's been a while. There's a food drive going on, still happening. You see the boxes out there and the desired food items.
But if you have anything, please bring it that you'd like to give. But the desired items are listed out there. They're also listed on our website and you can figure that out. There is a Friendsgiving that's going to be happening here, Thanksgiving Day, four to eight. Nick, did you want to say any more about it?
So Friendsgiving, you are invited. It's four to eight p. M. On Thanksgiving Day, dinner at five board games to follow. It's a good time.
It's fun and it's for anybody and everybody. We're winding the scope a bit, I guess. Everybody has always officially been welcomed, but now they're being invited and welcomed. So there you go. That will be fun on Thanksgiving.
Operation Christmas Child, there are boxes available in the entryway now. There's a packing party coming up pretty quick, November 16. Packed boxes if you desire to pack them yourself. You can pack them yourself, but bring them in by the nineteenth. That's when we're going to take them away from here.
And you can look at the website, firstbjaxson.org for packing restrictions and for ideas over in the back corner back there. You all know what that is. Children's Christmas Choir. I think this might be the first time that we're announcing this. Do you all know Lisa Landis?
How many of you know Lisa Landis? I'll get a picture up there. She's in the nursery serving downstairs in the nursery this Sunday. But, if you would, let her know that you'd like to sign up. If you're a child, you let her know directly or your parents can let her know.
But, all children are welcome. Weekly rehearsals are going to be downstairs after the nine a. Service. They're going to start, November 13, which is next Sunday. So the Espectaculo, the show is going to happen December 18.
It will be a combined service at ten a. M. But if you want to be a part of the children's choir or if you'd like to help with that, please talk to Lisa Landis. And you can sign up or ask questions by texting that number or talking to her between services or afterwards today. Anybody have any questions about that?
It seems sort of self explanatory. Children's choir is pretty awesome. It's fun. JH Women's Christmas Luncheon will be happening, looks like at the Snow King Ballroom, December 7. There was some question as to whether that would be happening there or here.
But worship, message and lunch are happening at Snow King Ballroom, December 7 at twelve noon. It's open to the public. That's a great that's a pretty amazing thing, actually. So we'll get more information as we get closer. There is Connect Hour happening down the hall in between services today.
You have something else to add to this?
Speaker 2Just yes, volunteers need it always for the meal for Monday night and also for the Connect hour. So, it is really a great way to serve.
Speaker 1Yep. Spreading the blessing around and I think that's it. I'm glad you're here this morning. I'm glad to be here this morning. That's would you stand with us and we're gonna sing, let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
So, if you if you believe it, sing it like you mean it.
Speaker 2What a great reminder here from first Thessalonians is always be joyful. Recognizing the grace of God, that's what joy is. Never stop praying and be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for us in Christ Jesus. God, I thank you that we don't just get to read the scriptures and hear the screen scriptures. We we get to sing.
We we're seeing the story here of your life, your death, your resurrection, your ascension, the birth of the church, why we're singing right now. So thank you, God, for that privilege. And may this message sink deep in our hearts today. And what would we overflow with joy because of it? In Jesus' name.
Power in hand, And you can have a a seat here for a moment. This is the the worship through giving part of the service, and I'll invite the ushers to come on forward. And we'll get to sing a new song called Morning by Morning. And the inspiration in this one is Lamentations three, and it says, because of the Lord's great love, we're we're not consumed for his mercies never fail. They're new every morning.
Great is your faith. So I wanna sing a prayer. Would you pray first?
Speaker 1Yeah. God, thank you for this morning. Your mercies are new every morning, Lord. We're so thankful for that. We stack up trouble sometimes, Lord.
And allow us to live in the day that we're in. Allow us that grace, Lord, where we can concentrate on today. Living and following after you, living surrendered lives to you. Lord, would you direct us today as to how you would have us serve you and other people. In Jesus' name, Lord, we ask that you'd give us divine inspiration and that you'd give us the strength.
The same power, Lord, that raised Jesus from the dead is the power that is active, the Holy Spirit. God, would you nudge us in the direction you would have us to go? Would you give us the power to walk it out? In Jesus' name, Lord, we pray that as a collective, as a church, as a body, we would be doing your will and your way. Lord, we ask that you would supply the needs of the community around us, that you'd use us in that endeavor.
In Jesus' name, we want to see your kingdom extended to the very uttermost parts. Lord, show us your way and allow us the grace to walk in it. In Jesus' name. Amen. Alright.
It's time for children's church downstairs. Middle school and high school also. Good morning. I appreciated Matt speaking last week, and I was on the road. I was actually looking at the Atlantic Ocean when when Matt started preaching last week and then rolling back this way.
It was a pretty blessed time on the road and kinda trying to finish up some pastoral tasks, but also just getting some time out alone with God. So it's really, really good. I thank you for that. And we're going forward in scripture today. This one's a long title, and it's not quite as long.
If you'll see Matthew eight, it's just a few verses, and Luke is just a few verses. Then John, it says it's almost two chapters. I'm really not going do that this morning. That's the that to me is the conceptual framework. But this week, if you've been reading first B in the Bible each morning in your inbox, e mail, John seven and John eight were both covered, who were really, really good.
You might want to go back and read those. And I might come around to them next week. But I have been doing a study of the synoptic gospel, so Matthew, Mark and Luke, all at the same time in a harmony approach. But in this place, I feel like John just kinda interjects something that needs to be dealt with before we go forward. In Luke, Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem, and he is walking out the passion.
He's already started. He's turned his face from the Galilean teaching of the disciples. There's a lot more to learn, and we see that because the disciples have failed actually quite a bit recently. And we'll see it again today. We see this is kind of the end of this.
In John, it says, after these things Jesus was walking in Galilee. There's a lot that's been going on, and he's been in this Galilean ministry, but we see him turn the page. So this is something we were leaving behind for he was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him. So he was strategically retreated to Galilee to teach and to start the process of the disciples, getting them ready for the time when he would ascend. But here we go.
This is what I was planning on looking at today. I'm gonna drop the two chapters of John, though, so it's not a whole lot of scripture. We're working our way towards the Lord's table, though. If you'll think about this, conceptually, what Jesus had turned his face towards was the crucifixion, and we'll see him walking that out. And in the discipleship lessons today, what he's talking about is this is not an easy road for him, and it's not going to be an easy road for his disciples.
So here we go. Now the Feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths was near. If you're keeping up on the calendar, this is about the middle to end of October. And we know the crucifixion was sometime in March, so we're six months out from the crucifixion. So his brothers Jesus had brothers.
So his brothers said to him, Move on from here. He's in Galilee. We know that from that verse just before that. If he's with his brothers, he's likely to have been in Nazareth. That's not certain, but he's with his brothers.
So his brother said to him, move on from here. Get out of here. Go down to Judea so that your disciples I'm sorry. I'm reading that that way, but I think that's what he was saying. That's what they're saying to him.
Get get on away from here. We've all they've already tried to throw you off this ridge one time, Jesus. Get out of here. Go down to Judea. That's the big show.
So your disciples also may see your works, you're doing. We hear all about it, Jesus. Yeah. Can you imagine growing up in the same house as Jesus? For no one does anything in secret when he himself is striving to be known publicly.
They are seeing what he's doing as something to glorify himself. This is what his brothers, the folks who grew up in the same house with him, little brothers. For no one does anything in secret when he himself is striving to be known publicly. You're doing these things. Go show yourself to the world.
What are you doing in Galilee? For not even his brothers believed in him. That's John that's stating that. That's got to be a hard thing to grow up in a house and kind of know your mission and await your time. And then when you start into your ministry, your hometown rejects you first.
And then his brothers aren't even believing in him. And it sounds like, honestly, you read it with that in mind, and they're they're kind of mocking him. So Jesus said to them, my time's not yet here. He's been saying this all along. He said it at the wedding in Cana Of Galilee when Mary said, do it, do it, do it.
Fix the situation. And he's go, mama. Actually, he says woman, but hey, my time is not here. And he said it over and over, but his time is approaching and we've seen that. My time is not yet here.
But your time, brothers, is always ready. You can always humble yourself before God. You can always it's not my unique mission for you. You can always open yourself up to what it is. And I want for us to take that lesson right now.
Some of us have been brothers of Jesus for a long time, right? We have been in a family that claims to know Christ, and we're not really believing him. Does that make sense to you? You feel like that? Our time is always ready.
His specific role, his unique role, he said, my time is not yet here. The world can't hate you. You are a part of the world, brothers. It hates me because I testify about it, that its deeds, the way that the world does stuff is evil. It's just wrong.
It's just self serving and awful. And the world hates me because that's not the way I live my life. I'm I'm going to testify to the truth of how it's that's not the way to live, but that is the way that you live. Y'all go ahead on up to the feast yourselves. I'm not going up to this feast right because my time has not yet fully arrived.
Now having said these things, he stayed in Galilee. So he stayed and let them go on behind. The very next verse says that he went up to the feast. I don't quite get that. I'm working through that.
But he didn't go with them. I haven't said these things. He stayed back in Galilee. Now we're gonna go to Luke. I mentioned this verse just as a turning point.
I touched on it a while back, but we're in Luke nine fifty one. When the days were approaching for his ascension some people argue about the ascension to being lifted up as being the crucifixion, and some people argue for that being the actual ascension where he is lifted up into heaven. Really, doesn't matter. Days were approaching for both of those things. But the days were approaching for his ascension, he was determined.
He set his face to go to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers on ahead of him. These were his disciples, ones who are sent out. He sent messengers on ahead of him and they went and they entered into a village of the Samaritans. Wait a second. He's going from Galilee, probably Nazareth, it looks like, from Nazareth to Jerusalem.
It would have taken three days longer to go down to the Jordan River, go down to Jericho, go up the mountain to get to Jerusalem, but that's the way almost all of the Jews almost always did it. Three days longer, when you're camping, there's not a best Western. They took three days to go out of the way to not go through Samaria. But Jesus, after his brothers left and were going, he sent messengers on ahead of him to prepare the way, they went and they entered in the village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for him. So he's going through Samaria, and they didn't receive him.
They didn't receive him because he was traveling towards Jerusalem. Now there's a lot of history between the Samaritans and the Jews, and they hate each other's guts. We know after studying history and thinking about it for a long time, we know that the temple was destroyed in seventy AD, and that's a commonplace thing for us to know because we've read the New Testament, we've read history, and we know that. But do you all know that the Samaritans worshiped at Gerizim? Gerizim, the Samaritan woman at the well talked to Jesus about it and said, well, you all say we ought to worship here.
We say we should worship here. And Jesus is saying, no. The time is coming and has already come when anyone who is going to worship him has to do it in spirit and in truth. And it's not important at the location. He knew he had to go to Jerusalem in order to be rejected and eventually killed.
And he said that multiple times by this. He's going through Samaria, and he's sent messengers out ahead of him, and he's carrying a message of life. He's carrying a message of good news. But they didn't receive him because he was traveling toward Jerusalem. Their religious ideas and context said, Gerasim is the place.
And if that guy is going towards Jerusalem, bump him. We don't need that guy around here. He's not one of us. The human way, the world's way, is to divide into teams. It just is.
We see it over and over and over again. They didn't receive him because he was traveling towards Jerusalem. No. No quarter for that guy. This is fun too.
When his disciples, James and John, saw this, they didn't receive you, Jesus. We made a real good offer. You're a really good guy. And they said, Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? Think about that.
There are two of them. They're brothers, James and John. And our most recent teaching from Jesus is this. Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything that you may ask, it shall be done for them by my father who's in heaven. For where two or three have gathered in my name, there am I in the midst.
And that's what they're saying, hey, here are two of us, Lord. We can do this. Give us permission and we will cast down fire like Elijah. But he turned and rebuked them and said, No. It's an open invitation to receive me.
The invitation is open to receive me, and this is the time for for saying, Will you accept it? Will you allow him in? This is not the time for saying, There are consequences when you don't. You understand what I'm saying? If I can make this happen, I'm going to.
I can't. There it goes. And we're that.
Speaker 2Be do so that.
Speaker 1Where you just feel like going, And God, they're just so against you. They're so wrong. They don't do things right religiously, and they had a chance here, Lord, and they said, No. Let's just smoke them now. And Right?
Jesus turns and he rebukes that. And they went on to another village. Doesn't that seem like a more peaceable way to live life? If somebody accepts what you have to say, praise God, that's wonderful. You've given them new a new chance at an abundant life.
Right? But if they don't, pray for them. He's already taught them to shake the dust off their sandals. They've already done this in a couple of occasions. But, they should have let us in, Jesus.
He turned. He rebuked them. They went on to another village. And as they were going on the road so they're walking along. They're headed towards the feast.
And someone said to him, it doesn't say who, it's nonspecific. I don't think the person matters, but it is a volunteer. It's someone who volunteered and said, I'll follow you wherever you go. I'm with you, Jesus, and I'm gonna stick with you no matter what. Then Matthew tells us it was a scribe that came forward.
This is a guy who had studied the scriptures, knew him pretty well. And he said to him, teacher so he sees him as a good rabbi. He says, teacher, I'll follow you wherever you go. Same verbiage. And Jesus said to him, there's there might be more to it than you think.
The foxes have holes, birds of the sky have their nest, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Like, we're walking this out in faith every day. We might be sleeping outside, we might have somebody that allows us in, but it might be hard than you think. You'll follow you wherever you go. Sometimes it's going to be difficult.
The foxes have holes, the birds of the sky have their nest, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. If you're with me, this might be your role. Matthew says the same thing. Jesus said to him, foxes have holes, the birds of the sky have nests, son of man has nowhere to lay his head. And he said to another so the first guy volunteered and said, I'll go wherever.
And the next one is Jesus saying, follow me. Now we have some example in Matthew of him saying, follow me, and they dropped their nets and they followed after him. Right? Or tax collector, Follow me. He Come on.
Come to my house for supper. Yeah. Let's follow me. And they do. But he says to another along this way, Follow me.
But the guy he said, follow me to said, Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father. There's scholarly debate over whether this guy's father had already died and he's in between the death and the burial, which is kinda unlikely. Chances are he wouldn't have been out of the house if he's between the death and the burial. Ceremonially unclean and all that sort of stuff. It's more likely that he's saying, My dad's old.
Let me just go take care of him until he dies, and then I'm with you, Jesus. He's saying my priority first is to family. And honestly, biblically, Old Testament, wise, honoring your father and mother wise, that's the that's not a bad thing is to want to take care of your family. One of the teachings we've just had from Jesus toward the Pharisees about them using the concept of Corbin not to take care of their parents. This is a decent request from a guy.
Lord, permit me first to hang out with my folks until they pass and then bury them, and then I'm with you, Lord. And Jesus says, allow the dead to bury their own dead. This sounds like hyperbole. Certainly, can't be literal because dead folks don't bury dead folks. But I think he is saying allow the spiritually dead.
You have a chance at life here. You have a chance at life here if you'll just grab onto it and allow those who are spiritually dead to just deal with things the way they've always dealt with them. This is a new way. Discipleship is costly, and it's going to be different than you've seen it before. He said to them, Allow the dead to bury their own dead.
Actually, Matthew has this story also, another of the disciples. So this is someone who has been following him for some time, another of the disciples. So Jesus had already said, follow me. And this guy says, Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father. And Jesus says, follow me and let the dead bury their own dead.
Same thing that Luke had said. Luke adds this though, but as for you, disciple, one who I've called to follow me, As for you, you go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God. You carry this message, the same message that I've been sharing and the same message I've been authenticating with the miraculous. As for you, you've seen it. You know that it's true.
No matter where it is that you go, you be going and proclaiming it everywhere, the kingdom of God. This is your task. Don't go back and just do the old expectations. Yours is a message of hope and good news, and it should be carried everywhere. That's what you need to do in place of doing what you think you ought to do.
Allow the dead to bury their own dead. As for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God. It doesn't talk about the response. Didn't talk about the response for the first one. We don't know whether that guy went or hung with him.
Another also said, this is the third. So there are three examples. One of them, the first one is a volunteer. The second one is a recruit, Jesus calls. And then this third one sounds like a volunteer too.
Another one also said, I will follow you, Lord. But first permit me to say goodbye to those at my home. Now this, a lot of people see in this a reference to first Kings. You remember Elijah and Elisha, prophets of God? Elijah has this miraculous ministry and pretty bold against the kings against the kings, also the small g gods and Baals and whatnot.
But he's passing along his ministry, Elijah, to Elisha. And he departed from there and he found Elisha, the son of Shaphat. Does any of y'all read that at Snapchat? He did. I knew that somebody would.
Shaphat. Yeah. So he departed from there and found Elisha, the son of Shaphat, while he was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen in front of him. And he with the twelfth and Elijah came to him and he threw his cloak or his mantle over him. This is saying, you're going to be carrying this office forward.
And then he left the oxen in it behind, and he ran after Elijah. Please let me go kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you. Biblical precedents. This sounds like something the guy's been mulling over. I just need to say goodbye to my folks.
And he said, Yes, go ahead. Go on back. What have I done to you? I'm not going to take that away from you. Go ahead and say goodbye to mom and daddy.
So he returned from following me, took the pair of oxen, sacrificed and cooked the meat, the implements of the oxen, gave it to the people there, and they ate. Then he got up and followed Elijah and served him. We don't hear anything. That's nothing bad about Elisha. That seems like a reasonable thing.
But I think that Jesus, when he said to him, no one after putting his hand to this plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. This is a new era in, how do I say it, redemptive history. This is something new. It's bigger than Elijah and Elisha. Yes, they were great examples of obedience to God, but this is something that's new, and it's costly, and it's difficult.
And this road that I'm walking through Samaria at this point, the Via Dolorosa has already begun, and everybody who's walking with me is going to experience this. Don't look back. That's what he said. Just don't look back. We have examples, and they're rife.
We have the Israel look back to Egypt. Why'd you bring us out here, Moses? Because you were slaves in Egypt? Yeah. But we had good stuff to eat.
We had a place to lay our heads. Yeah. But I'm taking you to the place that God has promised you. Don't look back. Oh, this miserable food.
It's manna from heaven. Quails when you got tired of it. Israel looked back to Egypt, and and it is universally in the scriptures, universally, it is decried that they look back. Right? We know better.
We know better. Once you well, let me keep going. Lot's wife. Oh, she had it so great in Sodom. Right?
Oh, Sodom's a terrible place. Don't look back. Don't look back. Just go forward. Once we commit to Jesus, we're to hold fast to Jesus.
That's it. That's the point of this little section. It doesn't blame any of those people, and we don't know whether they accepted the charge or not. It doesn't matter. The point is for everybody who reads it to see that discipleship is costly and worthwhile.
Once we commit to Jesus, we're to hold fast to Jesus. It reminds me of Hebrews 10, which we've covered together before. We're
Speaker 2able
Speaker 1to to
Speaker 2do
Speaker 1And we're this. I personally think he means every single time you eat. Every single time you eat and drink, be thinking of me. I'm not I love this too. I like this expression of it.
But I think that he's saying that every time that you ingest anything, you think about me. Every time that you take in anything that is the life sustaining force, think of me because that's what I am. So in Hebrews, the author of Hebrews says, let's hold firmly. Let's hold on, hold fast, hold firmly to the confession of our hope. That is Jesus.
Without wavering. For he who promised is faithful. And let's be considering as the continuing body of Christ on earth. Let's consider how to encourage one another into love and good deeds. It says love and good deeds, not smiting, not calling down fire from heaven on all the infidels.
If we live the life where we are spurring one another on into love and good deeds And we're not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some. But we're encouraging one another and we're doing that all the more as we see the day approaching. The day of grace is the day we're in, right? We're in the age of grace. We're not in the age of judgment.
Judgment's coming. And as we're getting closer to it, we ought to be encouraging one another, even more to be winsome examples of followers of Christ. And it will cause ugly results in some cases. It'll cause people to question your motives because nobody does that. But if we are loving others just like we're loving ourselves, if we love our enemies and we pray for those who persecute us, we won't be doing things the way the world does things, where we've just divided into teams and we're just bumping against each other like this, never to win.
Let's hold firmly to our confession of hope without wavering. Jesus, we are stating when we do this. When we do this in remembrance of you, we are stating that we want to be like you. By your spirit, would you fill us with your spirit, Lord, and allow us the grace of understanding how you would respond and give us the strength to respond in that way. When slapped on one cheek, Lord, may it be a natural response for us as a child of God to offer the other instead of swinging back.
In Jesus' name, Lord, I pray that you would have your will in your way in us this morning individually and collectively. Amen. I'm gonna invite the ushers to come forward the elders to come forward, actually. And Florian, would you play something pretty? Thank you.
Already headed that way. God, I ask you to bless this time of communion. I think it's great. We have a connect hour every single week all. And honestly, most of the time, there's something down there to nibble on even if it's in the middle of the week, Lord.
And each time that we thank you before we have a meal, Lord, may we consider the cost of discipleship. Maybe we let goods and kindred go this mortal life also. Lord, may we find ourselves in the mighty fortress that is our God. May we be, Lord, part of this continuing body of Christ going forward that when rejected keeps on going, keeps on offering life. In Jesus' name, Lord, I pray that you'd work your will and your way in us this morning.
Would you bless this little wafer, this little cracker as we distribute it, Lord. For anyone who has put their faith in you, whether it's been eighty years ago or five minutes ago, Lord, I pray that when they take this in, that they would sense what it is to walk out in this life the will of God like you did. Lord God, I pray that you would use this as a meaningful representation of the life that you live. Amen. On the same night that Jesus was betrayed, even that points to the cost of discipleship, doesn't it?
On the same night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread after supper and he broke it, and he after he'd given thanks, he offered it to his disciples who were there with him. I think continuing forward is offering it to us there and says, this is my body which is broken for you. Take this in and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Lord God almighty, I thank you for the way that you empowered Jesus to walk it out, to walk it out, to live a perfect life, to have a perfect record, Lord. But I also thank you that he voluntarily laid down his innocent blood as a ransom for many, for all who would put their faith in him.
In Jesus' name, Lord, I pray that you'd bless this cup, this little plastic cup of juice that we're gonna distribute here in a minute, that it would represent the innocent blood that was shed on behalf of all of those who recognize their lack and look to you for their fulfillment. In Jesus' name, Lord, Amen. After the bread, he also took the cup and he said to his disciples there that this is the new covenant in my blood, the new covenant. Something that they had been expectedly looking for, did not have any idea how it would look. And in that room and in this one, in humility, may we receive that new covenant that it's in Jesus' blood.
He said, this is a new covenant in my blood. Take this and drink and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Lord God, may we live after you considering the cost of discipleship following, considering it all, learning from you and walking it out. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Would you stand with us and we're gonna sing another song? With the band? A new command I give to you, Jesus said, to love one another just as I have loved you. So you must love one another. By that, everyone will know that you're my disciples.
If you love one another, Lord, would you increase our love for you, recognize your love for us, and be able to spread that to all around us. In Jesus' name, amen.
