Sunday
Morning Bible Study
November
29, 2015
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it address the person who is: Empty, lonely, guilty, or afraid
to die? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision Is the church loved? Regular: 2900 words Communion:
2500 words Video=75wpm
Luke was a doctor and a travelling companion of the apostle Paul.
He wrote this book while Paul was in prison.
In writing this book about Jesus, Luke made use of other older documents
like the Gospel of Mark, as well as extensive eyewitness accounts.
Jesus’ ministry is well under way, and the people have been amazed not just
at the things He’s been teaching, but the things He’s been doing.
Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem.
As He is traveling, there are people who want to join His band of
disciples.
Earlier we read
(Luke 9:49–50 NKJV) —49 Now John
answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and
we forbade him because he does not follow with us.” 50
But Jesus said to him, “Do not forbid him,
for he who is not against us is on our side.”
Though there were some who were
doing work in Jesus’ name without being part of Jesus’ band of disciples, there
are going to be some who will want to join, and others who will be asked to
join.
9:57-62 Full Discipleship
:57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said
to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”
:57 as they journeyed on the road
journeyed – poreuomai
– to lead over, carry over, transfer; to pursue the journey on which one
has entered, to continue on one’s journey
Jesus was raised in the city of
Nazareth.
We have called the city of
Capernaum his “base of operations” because He spent more time there than other
cities.
For 3 ½ years, Jesus was basically an itinerant preacher.
He moved from place to place.
This conversation doesn’t take place in His living room, but on the road.
:57 someone said to Him
Matthew calls him a “scribe” (Mat. 8:19)
(Matthew 8:19 NKJV) Then a
certain scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You
go.”
:57 Lord, I will follow You wherever You go
Lord – kurios
– he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of
deciding; master, lord
I will follow – akoloutheo
– to follow one who precedes, join him as his attendant, accompany him; to
join one as a disciple, become or be his disciple; side with his party
Future active indicative
go – aperchomai
– to go away, depart; to go away in order to follow any one, go after him,
to follow his party, follow him as a leader; to go away
Present, deponent, subjunctive
This man has stepped forward and asked to join with Jesus’ group of
disciples.
This man seems to have no conditions to his statement.
But not really. Jesus will challenge
the man’s heart.
:58 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.”
:58 Foxes … birds
Even animals have places they call home.
foxes – alopex
– a fox; metaph. a sly or crafty man
holes – pholeos
– a lurking hole, a burrow; a lair
birds – peteinon
– flying, winged; flying or winged animals, birds; the birds of the heaven,
i.e. flying in the heaven (air)
have nests – kataskenosis
– the pitching of tents, encamping; place of tarrying, encampment, abode;
of the nest of birds
:58 but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head
to lay – klino
– transitively; to incline, bow; to cause to fall back; to recline; in a
place for repose
The title “Son of Man” does refer to the humanity of Jesus.
But it also has a Messianic significance.
Daniel the prophet described the Son of Man as a glorious individual who
would one day rule the nations with the authority of God (Dan. 7:13-14)
(Daniel 7:13–14
NKJV) —13 “I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son
of Man, Coming with
the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before
Him. 14 Then to Him
was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and
languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall
not pass away, And His
kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.
This person has no home.
Lesson
Ok with uncomfortable
I imagine that when people seeing something going well, they would like to
go along for the ride.
Big crowds have been following Jesus.
Yet for the 33 years that He was on the earth, the glorious Son of Man did not
live a “glorious” life.
Illustration
A child is born in an obscure village. He is brought up in another obscure
village. He works in a carpenter shop until he is thirty, and then for three
brief years is an itinerant preacher, proclaiming a message and living a life.
He never writes a book. He never holds an office. He never raises an army. He
never has a family of his own. He never owns a home. He never goes to college.
He never travels two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He gathers
a little group of friends about him and teaches them his way of life. While
still a young man, the tide of popular feeling turns against him. One denies
him; another betrays him. He is turned over to his enemies. He goes through the
mockery of a trial; he is nailed to a cross between two thieves, and when dead
is laid in a borrowed grave by the kindness of a friend. Those are the facts of
his human life. He rises from the dead. Today we look back across nineteen
hundred years and ask, What kind of trail has he left across the centuries?
When we try to sum up his influence, all the armies that ever marched, all the
parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned are absolutely
picayune in their influence on mankind compared with that of this one solitary
life.
It is thought that
this is the original essay by Dr James Allan Francis in "The Real Jesus
and Other Sermons" C 1926 by the Judson Press of Philadelphia (pp 123-124
titled "Arise Sir Knight!"). Graham Pockett
Here is one of the problems I have with these “prosperity” teachers on TBN.
They make it sound as if you come to Jesus you will become healthy and
wealthy.
This message appeals to people who would rather “get more”, than give to
others. Like last Friday …
Here’s a guy working with his friends to surprise others by paying for
their groceries. He’s giving rather than
receiving.
Living the Christian life is not about your comfort.
There are no immediate perks to following Jesus.
He isn’t offering a 401k plan or medical insurance.
Don’t get me wrong.
There is great reward in following after Jesus.
But the real rewards come when we get to heaven.
:59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first
go and bury my father.”
:59 He said to another, “Follow Me.”
follow – akoloutheo
– to follow one who precedes, join him as his attendant, accompany him; to
join one as a disciple, become or be his disciple; side with his party
Jesus challenged this fellow to
follow Him. Luke doesn’t record that Jesus made that offer to the previous
fellow.
Some people decide in themselves
they are going to follow.
Others need to be challenged to
follow.
This man is a “casual disciple”. He’s around Jesus, but has not yet made
the commitment to actually seriously “follow” Jesus.
When Jesus challenges him to get serious about following, he offers up an
excuse.
:59 let me first go and bury my father
let me – epitrepo – to
permit, allow
Aorist active imperative
go – aperchomai
– to go away, depart; to go away in order to follow any one, go after him,
to follow his party, follow him as a leader; to go away
bury – thapto
– to bury, inter
Burying your parents is a sacred duty.
When Abraham died,
(Genesis 25:9 NKJV)
And
his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, which is
before Mamre, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite,
The people of Jesus’ day would have been familiar with the book of Tobit, which
is part of the Apocrypha.
We don’t look at the Apocrypha as inspired Scripture (like the Catholic
church does), but it has interesting things that give us insight into ancient
times.
Tobit is the story of a righteous man named Tobit, who lived in Nineveh
after the fall of the northern kingdom. He had a son named Tobias who would
travel to Media to marry a girl named Sarah. Before he leaves on his journey,
his dad has some instructions:
(Tobit
4:3 NRSV) Then he called his son Tobias, and when he came to him he said, “My
son, when I die, give me a proper burial. Honor your mother and do not abandon
her all the days of her life. Do whatever pleases her, and do not grieve her in
anything.
Tobias would marry his wife, go back home, and eventually
bury his father and mother before returning to Media with his wife.
Some Jews took this as an obligation of a son to be there
to bury his parents.
This fellow with Jesus has not recently lost his father.
Even today, when a Jew dies, they are buried immediately.
If the dad was already dead, the fellow would have buried him before
following Jesus.
It is more likely that the fellow is talking about what he feels his
obligations are to his parents.
He feels that he shouldn’t go and preach until his parents die.
That means I wouldn’t have started my ministry until this year.
:60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and
preach the kingdom of God.”
:60 Let the dead bury their own dead
dead – nekros
– properly; one that has breathed his last, lifeless; deceased, departed,
one whose soul is in heaven or hell; spiritually dead
bury – thapto
– to bury, inter
A better way to understand this is …
Let those who are spiritually dead take care of burying those who are
literally dead.
Sounds kind of callous, doesn’t it?
A spiritually alive father would allow his son to follow Jesus.
This man is using his spiritually dead father as an excuse for not getting
serious about Jesus.
:60 Let the dead
Let – aphiemi – to permit,
allow
Aorist active imperative
This may be a different word translated “let” than in vs. 59, but the
concept is the same.
The fellow wanted Jesus to give him “permission” to wait to first bury his
father. Jesus told the man to give the “dead” permission to bury their own
dead.
Lesson
Take Responsibility
This is about learning to take responsibility for your own decisions.
Illustration
A game hunter went on safari with his wife
and mother-in-law. One morning, while deep in the forest, the wife awoke to
find her mother gone. Rushing to her husband, she insisted on them both trying
to find her mother. The hunter picked up his rifle and started to look for her.
In a clearing not far from the camp, they came upon a chilling sight: the
mother-in-law was backed up against a big rock, a large lion stood right in
front of her. The wife cried, “What are we going to do?” “Nothing,” said the
hunter husband. “How can you just do nothing?” the wife screamed at him. “The
lion got himself into this mess, let him get himself out of it.”
Just like the lion, it’s
important to learn to take responsibility for your own life.
Sometimes we are wanting to use Jesus as an excuse for doing or not doing
things.
We want to put the blame on the
person in authority.
I have heard people over the years use all sorts of Scripture to justify
their reason for not taking a step of obedience to follow Jesus.
In reality, we need to realize that we have the authority to make decisions
in our lives.
This man wants Jesus to make up his mind for him. He wants Jesus to say
it’s okay for him to stay home.
Instead, Jesus is telling the man that he has the authority to give
permission here.
He gives him the authority to give permission to the dead
to bury their own dead.
Learn to take responsibility over your own life.
Don’t blame Jesus for the things that you decide.
:60 but you go and preach the kingdom of God
There is a single command (imperative) here, the word “preach”
go – aperchomai
– to go away, depart; to go away in order to follow any one
aorist active participle
“But you, while going, preach…”
preach – diaggello
– to carry a message through, announce everywhere, through places, through
assemblies of men etc.
Present active imperative
Lesson
Family and priorities
God is concerned that you have a healthy family life.
Our marriages are supposed to be a picture to the world of what Christ’s
love is all about.
(Ephesians
5:25 NKJV) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and
gave Himself for her,
Moms and Dads have a responsibility to love their kids and teach them about
God.
(Ephesians
6:4 NKJV) And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring
them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
Of course raising kids is not difficult at all…
Video: When We Have Kids
Paul taught that kids ought to be taking care of their parents in their old
age.
(1
Timothy 5:8 NKJV) But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for
those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an
unbeliever.
Yet as important as family is to God, sometimes family can stand in the way
of what God is wanting to do in your life.
God wants to be your first priority in life. He wants the right to out
“vote” what others say you should be doing with your life.
(Matthew
10:37 NKJV) He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And
he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
Luke records Jesus saying it in an
even harsher way. Even though we are to love our families, compared to how we
love God, our love for our families might even seem like “hate”.
(Luke 14:26 NKJV) “If
anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children,
brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.
This all takes great balance.
Some people make the mistake of using God as their excuse to ignore their
family.
They sacrifice their family on the altar of the church.
They spend every waking moment at church and neglect their
family.
That’s not God’s heart.
I don’t come to everything we do at church. There’s too much.
On the other hand, other people allow their family to have such sway on
them, that they never obey the call of God on their life.
They are more concerned about disappointing their parents
or their spouse than they are with pleasing God.
Even though God must take first priority, we need to bring a healthy
balance in our priorities.
:61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and
bid them farewell who are at my house.”
:61 Lord, I will follow You
follow – akoloutheo
– to follow one who precedes, join him as his attendant, accompany him; to
join one as a disciple, become or be his disciple; side with his party
Future active indicative
Just like fellow #1.
This fellow is like the first one. He has come to declare he wants to
follow Jesus.
:61 but let me first go
let – epitrepo
– to turn to, transfer, commit, instruct; to permit, allow, give leave
go … bid … farewell – apotassomai
– to set apart, separate; to separate one’s self, withdraw one’s self from
anyone; to take leave of, bid farewell to; to renounce, forsake
house – oikos
– a house; the inmates of a house, all the persons forming one family, a
household
This fellow wants Jesus to meet some conditions before he decides to
completely follow Jesus.
Remember, Jesus is on the road. If this fellow is talking with Jesus, then
he’s already left those at home to be on the road with Jesus.
:62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and
looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
:62 having put his hand to the plow
put – epiballo
– to cast upon, to lay upon; to throw one’s self upon, rush in; to put
one’s mind upon a thing; attend to
Aorist active participle
plow – arotron
– a plough
looking – blepo
– to see, discern, of the bodily eye
back – opiso
– back, behind, after, afterwards; of place: things that are behind
This isn’t someone who is meeting Jesus for the first time.
This is a man who has already decided to follow Jesus, but is having second
thoughts.
He’s already put his hand to the plow.
This is an ancient agricultural proverb that goes back at least 750 BC (the
Greek poet Hesiod used it).
From the most ancient of times, the man guiding the plow made it his aim to
plow a straight furrow.
Plowing a straight furrow requires that you keep looking forward.
The Roman author Pliny (AD 23-79) wrote that the ploughman who does not
bend attentively to his work goes crooked (Robertson)
:62 No one…looking back, is fit
fit – euthetos – well placed; useful
To plough straight furrows, you need to be looking forward. To be useful, you need to be moving forward.
The man has already come out to
follow Jesus. They’re on the road. Why
does he need to go back to his family and bid them farewell?
I’d say he’s beginning to have
second thoughts.
A decision to follow Jesus is a
serious one.
Lesson
Second thoughts
Serious decisions require that you
count the cost.
(Luke 14:25–30 NKJV) —25 Now great
multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot
be My disciple.
We’ve already dealt with this
concept…
27 And whoever does not bear his cross and
come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which
of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost,
whether he has enough to finish it—29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to
finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
Building a tower requires a lot of
planning, materials, and hard work.
A wise builder will make sure he
has enough to finish a project before he starts.
Lesson
Moving Forward
Sometimes it’s not so easy to stay on your feet.
Even when you’re on your feet, it’s not always easy to move forward…
I think there is value to recognizing where you have come from, what’s
behind you.
I think there can be value in realizing that some of your past has made you
what you are today, and you need to deal with it.
Sometimes a person struggling with addiction will find that unresolved
issues in their past continue to haunt them and trigger them to relapse again
and again.
Until you learn to deal with the past, it’s hard to move
forward.
Yet there can be such a thing as a person who is simply stuck in the past.
All through your life you rehash the same issues, replaying that same thing
that hurt you over and over again.
Your life is like a farmer trying to plough a straight furrow, but you’re
driving the tractor looking over your shoulder.
Some things in life don’t work so well when you’re moving backwards.
Video: Backwards Bicycle Fail
How well would you do if you decided to drive backwards on the freeway?
Video: Chinese Woman Backwards on
Highway
There comes a point in life where you have to learn to deal with certain
things in your past and move forward.
Sometimes there are people who have hurt you that you simply
have to learn to let it go. Learn go forgive.
Holding that grudge may come in handy when that person
continues to disappoint you. You can always pull it out of its “grudge case”
and use it against that other person. But you have to learn to let it go
because it is hurting you more than its hurting the other person.
There are some things in life where you are not going to
be able to do anything about it. It was a tragedy. No one was to blame. And you
have to learn to move on.
Paul is talking about becoming a mature believer when he writes,
(Philippians
3:12–14 NKJV) —12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I
press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold
of me. 13 Brethren, I
do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are
ahead, 14 I press
toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Are you ready to let go of the past and move forward?