Set Your Face Towards His Mission

In one paragraph

Eric Wacham, one of the elders at First B, stepped in to preach while Pastor Ray was away. He took a detour from the ongoing series in Romans to look at several passages in Luke chapter nine, exploring what Christ's clarity of mission can teach us about our own. Eric opened with a personal illustration about needing glasses. When he finally got a prescription at eighteen, he could suddenly see...

Read together

1. Psalm 86:5 read aloud before worship songs as a statement about God's readiness to forgive
2. Luke 9:18-20 Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ of God
3. Matthew 16 parallel to Luke 9:18-20, Jesus blesses Peter and renames him
4. Luke 9:21-22 Jesus charges disciples to tell no one and predicts his suffering, death, and resurrection
5. Luke 13 Jesus says he must go on his way today and tomorrow toward Jerusalem
6. Luke 9:51 Jesus sets his face to go to Jerusalem, described as a hinge verse for the book
7. Matthew 16 parallel to Luke 9:51, Jesus tells Peter to set his mind on things of God not of man
8. Luke 9:57-58 a would-be follower pledges to go anywhere; Jesus says the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head
9. Luke 8:19-21 Jesus' mother and brothers cannot reach him; Jesus says his family are those who hear and do God's word
10. Mark 3:21 Jesus' family came to take him away because they thought he was crazy
11. Luke 9:59-62 two men ask to delay following Jesus; Jesus says leave the dead to bury their dead and no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom
12. Matthew 22 the Great Commandment: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself
13. Matthew 28 the Great Commission: go make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them
14. Philippians 4:7 read before the closing song: the peace of God that transcends all understanding guards hearts and minds in Christ Jesus

Talk about it

1. Eric opened with the image of putting on glasses and suddenly seeing trees and branches on the mountains he had looked at his whole life. Has there been a moment in your own walk with God where something came into focus that you had not been able to see before? What changed?
2. Eric pointed out that Jesus knew exactly who he was and what his mission was, and that he never let anything make that vision fuzzy. How clearly can you describe your own sense of purpose as a follower of Christ, and what tends to blur it?
3. Eric asked, 'What do you set your face towards?' and used the example of a tourist ignoring the Tetons because he was staring at his phone. What are the things in your own life, good or ordinary things, that end up drawing your attention away from God's purposes?
4. In the passage where someone asks Jesus for permission to go bury his father first, and another wants to say farewell to his family before following, Eric said Christ was exposing a divided heart. When has something that seemed like a reasonable delay actually been a way of putting off obedience?
5. Eric closed by naming four mission statements, the great commandment, the great commission, the Westminster answer, and First Baptist's own statement, and asked whether we could articulate our mission if it were not on a screen in front of us. How would you describe in your own words what God has called you to, and how does your daily life reflect that?