Set Your Face Towards His Mission First B Jackson 2016-07-17 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- It is after 09:00, so we should probably get started. My name is Ryan Block. It is amateur hour. I'm gonna be leading worship and Eric Wakup is gonna be preaching. But, please forgive forgive us and bear with us. But please stand and we're gonna we're gonna sing a few a few good songs. We're gonna start with actually my daughter's favorite song, 10,000 reasons. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Amen. I worship your Alright, like Ryan said, we are down two pastors today. Carl had back surgery this week if you didn't know that and so they cleaned up some scar tissue on a herniated disc. So, you can keep him in your prayers for the next couple weeks as he recovers. Ray flew out to Georgia to see his parents for a quick weekend. So you are left with this ensemble. But we're glad to be here this morning. And yes. Oh, man. That'll make that'll make a guy feel great. Won't it, Ryan? Yeah. Right. Alright. But let's get into a few announcements real quick. Summer nursery is available downstairs just so you guys all know from ages zero to five and there is a new nursing room downstairs right across from the nursery as well for all of those nursing mothers. So, feel free to take advantage of that. Monday night is on and it's down the hall, 06:00 meal, music, and message and Blake is gonna be speaking this Monday. Is that right, Blake? That's right. That's right. So, come and check out Blake. Man, everyone's getting a round of applause today. Let's give it up for Conway. Alright. Yeah. Alright. Look at that. Here we go. So come join us. 06:00 meal music and message. Blake's gonna be speaking and it's going to be a great time of fellowship. Solid Rock, a few things. We have a Solid Rock event student event this week. We're gonna do a bike ride. But I wanna talk about a few things in August because we have some deadlines coming up. We are taking kids to Denver to go see the Colorado Rockies and then Elich Gardens. It's an amusement water park down there. There's a bunch of information. I'm not going to go through all of it but the deadline to sign up is July 25. If you want a flyer, all of the youth information is always by that entrance of the church. There's a file folder deal on the wall there. You can grab all of the brochures you like but they're going to be a fun trip. So, grab some of those brochures. If you've got middle school or high school kids and the Denver trip, we only have like 12 spots left. So, if you want to come on that, let me know ASAP but the deadline is Monday, July 25 for that. Then, we also have Lagoon coming up closer to the end of August on the nineteenth and twentieth and we do that every year. That's a good time. Most of you middle school, high school probably know about that trip. We'd love to have you but the the cut off for that is gonna be August 15. So, remember those dates and grab the information if you're not aware of those trips happening and it's by the back door as you leave or you can always text or call me. Also, there is one more thing I want to announce because it is today young adult String Lake Picnic. That is happening today. Can I get a confirmation from a young adult? Yes. That is happening. Okay. And that, the caravanning from the church here at 11AM? Yes. And pack food, tubes, kayaks, and hammocks. Alright. Everything is in your bulletin. So, there's a bunch more announcements in here. So, grab one of these and check it out. Ryan will bring you back with a song. Stand up, greet one another with a high five, handshake, hug, anything that starts with an h. I sing to you forgive and savior I'm overcome with your great love for me. You are worthy. You are worthy. You are worthy. You are worthy of all my praise. You are beautiful. You are beautiful. So I'll lift up my hands and say Jesus only one, I sing to you forgiver and savior. I'm overcome with your great love for me with your great love for me. Psalm eighty six five says, oh Lord, you are so good and so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help. Amen. It's good. Good first. Lord, we we just come before you this morning and what is wanna thank you for your goodness and and for how good you are to us, for your grace and your mercy and your peace that you have on our lives. And we just pray that we would we would respond with our lives. In your name. Name we pray. We're gonna sing a couple songs about the goodness of God. Alone. You're a good, good father. It's who you are. It's who you are. It's It's who who I I am. Am. It's who who I I am. Am. It's who I am. And I've seen many searching for answers perfect in all of your ways. You are perfect in all of your ways. You are perfect in all of your ways. You are so good to me you heal my broken heart you are are beautiful, my sweet, sweet soul. You are beautiful, my sweet, you are my Jesus you are Alright, you may be seated. Frontline team come forward. I'm going to ask Matt Litzleman to say a prayer for our offering this morning. Good morning. Let's pray. Father, thank you. Thank you so much for the opportunity to to give back, to sow back into your kingdom. Lord, I pray this morning as we give and this offering, Lord, that you would multiply it, that you would multiply it to the furthest reaches of the earth, Lord, that you would increase your kingdom through this gift. In Jesus name, amen. Well, good morning. Welcome to First Baptist. It's a joy to be with you this morning. For those of you that may not know me, my name is Eric Wacham. I'm one of the elders here at First Bee. As Renzi mentioned, raised in Georgia and, for the past many weeks, he's been going through the book of Romans verse by verse. We're gonna take a a step away from that, this week, and we're gonna look in in Luke. But Ray will be back next week, and he'll jump back into Romans chapter eight. Also, as Renzi Renzi mentioned, Carl is starting, the book of Luke on Monday nights. So I'd certainly encourage you to join us on Monday evenings down the hall, if today's sermon piques your interest. If you're visiting for the first time, you're from out of town, new to Jackson, welcome. We're really glad you're here. It's a joy to be together. And I would just say, come back next week because the regular guy is way better than I am. But, I'll throw in a couple of y'alls today and maybe a grammar lesson, and you won't even notice he's gone. Also, if you're a visitor, I apologize a little bit for a just a brief moment of of church business. My other role here with the church is the moderator, which means I'm one of the guys that oversees, the church budget. And if you look in your bulletin, you'll see, there's kind of a new note there that, shows our compares our our budget versus our year to date giving. And as a congregation, we're not giving quite as much as we had expected. So if you are a regular attender, I would encourage you, just to take a look at your personal giving and how that compares to what, you had expected and and see if there's a way that you can help close that gap. Again, you know, Ray never mentions the, the budget or or giving from this from the pulpit, and I thought while I'm up here, I'd take the opportunity too. So but, obviously, our our purpose this morning is is to worship God together, to learn from his word. So we're gonna turn turn to Luke chapter nine. And in this chapter, we're we're gonna look at two big ideas. The first big idea well, I should say that a real pastor would probably give you three points. I'm an amateur, so you only get two. The first of those two big ideas is we're gonna look at how Christ approached his mission and his purpose on Earth. And then, the second big idea is we're gonna look at how, as Christians, we should view our mission and our purpose. But first, I'd like to pray. Father God, we thank you and praise you for the ability to be here together this morning. We thank you for your word. We have so much to be thankful for. We thankful thank we are thankful that you lived a perfect life, that you died a perfect death, and that you rose again victorious from the grave. God, I thank you that when you were in the garden that and you did not want to continue with your mission and your purpose that you did anyway because you loved us, because you loved your father. I pray that in the same way our congregation, our church, as part of the bigger church worldwide would follow you even when it's difficult, that we would put you first in all aspects of our lives. Lord, we can only do that with your help. So I pray that you would empower us through your Holy Spirit to live out the purposes that you have for our lives. And we pray this in your name. Amen. I wear glasses. And, actually, I I typically wear contacts, but I haven't always worn glasses. When I was about 18 years old, a freshman in in college, went to a big university, and I was sitting in a big lecture hall, long ways away from the board, and, I I couldn't really read what the professor was writing on the board very clearly. And, you know, all the guys I was sitting with, they didn't seem to have a problem reading Avogadro's number there. And so it wasn't just that the state of Colorado was fuzzy. So on on Christmas break, I came back home and went to the eye doctor. And, turns out I I needed glasses, so he gave me a prescription. Got my glasses a couple days later. And I remember being in, in our house in Rafter Jay, and I put on my glasses and I looked out the window, and I looked up at the mountains up above the the highway. And I thought, there's trees on those hills. And those trees have branches. Wow. Never knew you could even see those. But putting on those glasses changed how I saw the world. A couple months ago, I was driving and I thought, you know, I just don't see quite as well, even with my glasses on, contacts in, I don't see quite as well as as I'd like. So I went back to the eye doctor and it turns out my prescription had changed just a little bit. I needed an adjustment to that prescription. So I got a new pair of contacts, and now I actually see better than I did a couple of months ago. But even so, I still need to wear those contacts or need to wear those those glasses. And it turns out if, if both your father and your mother need glasses, you probably will also. Now our spiritual lives are a lot like that. There comes a moment, I think, in everyone's life where we look around and go, you know, I just can't see. The great news, the great encouragement to me and to you, I hope, is that Jesus has healed a lot of blind people since he walked this Earth. Sometimes after we've been walking with Christ for a while, we realize that our perspective just isn't as sharp as it should be. Just like I noticed my prescription changing, my our spiritual prescription has changed. Our our vision isn't as good as it once was. We need to fix our eyes on Christ as the writers of Hebrews challenges us. But we're gonna look at, Luke chapter nine, and it's gonna reveal something to us about our savior. Christ never needed to go to the eye doctor. His his mission, his purpose, his focus was never fuzzy. He understood who he was. He understood what his mission was. He and he put everything else secondary to following his father's purpose for his life. So let's take a look. We're gonna look at, not the whole chapter of Luke nine. I would encourage you to read it. It's a phenomenal chapter. It's actually fairly lengthy. There's some amazing material in that. We're just gonna pull a few verses out kinda scattered through the through the chapter. But let's start reading in, verses 18 through 20. Now it happened that as he, Jesus, was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, who do the crowds say that I am? And his disciples answered, John the Baptist. Others say Elijah and others that one of the prophets of old has risen. But then Jesus said to his disciples, who do you say that I am? And Peter answered, you are the Christ of God. Now Jesus knew who he was. He wasn't asking them to find out the answer to the question. The context makes that abundantly clear. And when Simon answers the question, Matthew chapter 16 actually gives us a little bit more detail about that. And Jesus answered him and said, blessed are you for getting it right. Jesus commemorated that moment for all time by renaming Simon to Peter, the rock. The truth of that statement was reaffirmed to Peter every time for the rest of his life, every time that someone called him Peter instead of Simon. But we see here in this passage that Christ knew who he was. Do you know him? Do you know who he is? Christ also knew what his mission was. Reading on verses twenty one and twenty two, he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one. That's kinda odd. Saying the son of man must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders, the chief priest, the scribes, the the rulers of his day, and be killed. And on the third day, be raised. Well, that sounds like a triumphant king, doesn't it? But remember, what was his mission? What was Jesus's mission? His mission was to save the world. It was to offer the world redemption through his death on the cross, through his resurrection, through his triumphing over death. Praise God. Why did so in that, why did Jesus want that to be a secret? Was it supposed to remain a secret forever? Clearly not. But the, the popular idea of the Messiah, the savior in that day was one who was a political savior who was going to overthrow Rome and who was gonna elevate the nation of Israel. That's a little different than what Jesus' actual mission and purpose was. His very clear mission was to be a personal savior, to overthrow sin, and to elevate his chosen people, both Jew and Gentile. Jesus notes his future suffering six times in Luke. There's parallel accounts in the other gospels. He clearly knew what he was facing and where he was going. And in the midst of all that, in Luke chapter 13, he says, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem. He knew his mission in a very practical sense. He was going to be going to Jerusalem, a specific place at a specific time to be killed and then to rise again. Skipping ahead a little bit to verse 51 of Luke nine. When the days drew near for him to be taken up, Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem. He set his face towards his mission and his purpose. What do you set your face towards? In Jackson, here in the valley, many homes are actually physically situated to face the to the Grand Teton. In my work, we regularly, survey lots for trophy home development, and we always take a survey bearing right towards the grand. And then during the design, the architect designs a house and orients the whole house so that the big window of the great room faces right at the, the cathedral group, the grand. The whole home is oriented that way. And as a culture, here in Jackson, we're similar. We set our face to the grand. We set our face to adventure, to leisure, to recreation, to tourism. It's what we're all about. What do you set your face towards? Sometimes we make mistakes in what we set our face towards. How often do you see a tourist walking along the square or up in the park, driving maybe, and he's got his face set right here in his screen. The Tetons are soaring 7,000 feet above the valley floor right above him, and we're looking at this. Right? What's he missing? We do the same thing spiritually. We settle for this little screen when we have the grandeur of God above us. Verse 51 here, it's a actually, it's a really important verse in the in the whole book of Luke. It's a hinge for the whole book. From this moment on, we see Jesus more purposely move purposely and inexorably towards the cross. Matthew chapter 16 is a is again a parallel passage to give us a little more information and it tells us that from that moment on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and on the third day be raised. And in that moment, he admonishes Peter to set his mind on the things of God, not on the things of man. What do you set your mind on? Now, we also see that Christ subordinates everything else to his mission and purpose. Moving on a few more verses, verses fifty seven and fifty eight of Luke chapter nine. As they were going along the road, Jesus and his larger group of disciples, someone said to him, Lord, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. We see here a man who hadn't really thought through the, the full cost of following Christ. He was enthusiastic. That's clear. But he was maybe almost a little glib in his response to Christ. We gotta remember that people are not called to an easy life with him. There is hope and there is joy. Absolutely. But do you remember Ray's sermon last week? He talked about how we are promised heartache and trial and suffering, tribulation. The man in this, couple of verses, he hadn't counted that full cost of following Christ, of devoting himself to Christ. Now but was Jesus whining? Was he saying, can somebody please go get us a reservation at the Hampton Inn? This is all getting kind of dusty and tired. No. Rather, he was pointing out that nothing is more important to him than fulfilling his mission. Not property, not home, not family, not the family carpentry business. By extension, none of those things should be more important to us than God's purpose and mission for our lives. Important, yes. More important, no. Luke chapter eight actually gives us, some more insight here. Reading from, chapter eight verses nineteen and twenty one. Then Jesus' mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, your mother and your brothers are standing outside desiring to see you. But Jesus answered them, my mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and who do it. There's always an action there. For additional perspective, Mark chapter three actually tells us that his family was staging an intervention. They had showed up to take him away because they thought he was crazy. Chapter three verse 21 of Mark says that. But what we see here from this passage is that Jesus ordered his life to put his mission first, God's mission for him first, even ahead of family. Now before we jump to any conclusions from just this passage alone, recall, for example, that, we need to balance that with the compassion that Christ showed to his mother as he was hanging on the cross. So it's not to discredit family, but rather is very clear from this passage that Jesus put God's mission for him first and foremost. Moving on in Luke chapter nine verses 59 through 62. To another, he said, follow me. It's a command from Jesus. Follow me. But the man said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. And Jesus said to him, leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go proclaim the kingdom of God. The time to follow Christ is now. It is today in this moment. On the surface, it seems a a reasonable request. Let me go bury my father. But Jesus knew more about this man and his heart, I think, than is revealed to us in in the passage in scripture. He knew all that Jesus knew all the circumstances surrounding it, and he was asking that man to follow him right then. What would you do? Would you have followed him? Reading on verse 61, yet another said, I will follow you, Lord, but first, just let me say farewell to those at my home. And Jesus said to him, no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. Now, you gotta remember that plowing those days, the animals pulling one way, you got your hands here kinda steering the the plow behind the ox or the donkey. If you're looking backwards, you're not going where you should. K? Have you ever driven down a state highway or a little county road in corn country? And you look out the window sideways and you see the rows of corn neat and straight just whipping by. And if the rows are straight, it looks like you could see halfway down the field in between each row. Couple years ago, several years ago, I was driving down the road with my friend Kurt. Kurt's a farmer. And, again, those rows of corn were just whipping by out the window. And we came to one field, and the rows were they were all over the place. It must have been planted by the 12 year old kid in the dark on a tractor that he wasn't used to because because they were anything but neat and straight. And my buddy, Kurt, the farmer, he was he was almost offended by this haphazard planting. But there was a good reason for that because when it comes time to irrigate that field, when it comes time to apply the fertilizer to harvest it, having those rows go all over the place makes your life really difficult. It makes it difficult to accomplish the farmer's purpose. But back to the passage here again, we see that that's not a on the surface, that's not an unreasonable request. Sure, I'll come with you. Just just let me go say goodbye. But Christ was exposing a divided heart. He's asking the question, with whom is your loyalty? Christ demands that we put him first. And if he wasn't the almighty God of the universe, that wouldn't be just. But in fact, Christ fulfilled his purpose. He died on the cross for your sins and mine. He rose from the grave. It is both fitting and just that we put him first in our lives. So with all this talk of mission and purpose, what's yours? What is your mission? Scripture in the New Testament gives us two, very clear and succinct mission statements for the Christian. Both of them coming out of Matthew. The first one is referred to as the great command commandment. You shall love the God, lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment and the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Closing out the book of Matthew, the great commission says, go therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, and the son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all that I've commanded you, and behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age. Two great mission statements. There's the, the great answer to the great question. What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy him forever. And here at First Baptist, we're not content to leave well enough alone. So we say, with all we are loving God and loving others through Christ. There's there's four mission statements that you can leave here today with. And each of those define a very high calling, a very high calling. But that's our that's our God given mission and purpose. If it wasn't on the screen here in front of you, could you define your mission and purpose? Could you articulate it? Write it down. As Christians, we usually struggle, often struggle to keep God's purposes for our lives clearly in our vision. We need to keep checking God's eye chart, his word, to ensure that we're seeing him, to we're seeing our lives, to seeing our per his purposes for our lives clearly. We need to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author, the perfecter of our faith. We need to take up our cross, follow him regardless of where that leads us. It's a pleasure to share with you this morning. Go ahead and stand with us, and we'll we'll finish out with a final song. This this this last song we're gonna do is my hope is in you, and talks about obviously the hope and peace that God offers. Philippians four seven says, and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and and your minds in Christ Jesus. Father name my hope is in you lord all the day long I won't be shaken by drown or storm a peace passes understand drowned or storm. A peace that passes understanding is my song, and I'll sing. My hope is in you long. I'll wait. I'll wait on you. You're my refuge. I'll wait on Amen and we'll finish out with the the great commission. I can't read that. I'm sorry. We're gonna finish out with with our church's mission with all we are and with all that we please. What is it again? Loving God and loving people. Have a great day, guys. Thank you. Thank you.