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A Resolute Action in the Right Direction Luke 9:51-52 Read Luke 9:51-62 This was the first week of Lent...the celebration that begins the Easter season. Lent is a strange celebration though because it represents the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert being tempted by Satan… It begins with Ash Wednesday and ends with Holy Saturday, the day before Jesus rose from the grave. And so we celebrate the great temptation prior to the great days of grace, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. And so this is a strange connection, temptation and grace leads us to the cross and beyond. Verse 51 fits nicely at the beginning of this journey... and the lessons in this passage are Lentian lessons, lessons of temptation and RESOLUTE ACTION. RESOLUTE ACTION in the right direction. When it came time to make the decision that offered grace to the world, Jesus did it with resolution in the perfect direction. Sadly this is pretty hard for us… As I have been focusing more on Abiding Satisfaction and living with true Hope I have also been confronted with how easily it is to be unsatisfied and hopeless. Saturday morning I sat and read some of my journal entries at the website and thought, "I should apply some of those thoughts!" It dawned on me how easy it is to simply have right thoughts and then let them fade into the dust behind us as we journey through life. As my life has been lived out and I have been confronted with events that seem like utter failure my first reaction is to be discouraged. But, I think that got wants RESOLUTE ACTION from us not hapless reaction. And that RESOLUTE ACTION must be anchored in the will of God for each of our lives... and this is a personal thing. I can't determine it for you, I know pastors often do, but I can't, I'm either not as connected to God as they are or not as full of myself as they are... though I do get full of myself at times. A. So the first challenge as we walk with Jesus is to make A RESOLUTE ACTION IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. 1) Think of how many actions you have made in the wrong direction. a. Sadly that statement is often a perfect definition of what it means to live a human life… no matter how good we start we aren’t very resolute in the end. b. What is beautiful is that if we walk with Jesus not only are we headed in the right direction but His grace covers the mistakes we make… c. And lets us keeps walking in this eternally significant relationship. 2) 9:51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. I love this verse as I continue to walk with Jesus… it is full of eternally focused encouragement! a. In the KJV that last statement is translated, “he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,” This verse lets me taste determined hope, the kind that will head in the dangerous direction for the right reasons. b. And this verse gives me reason for the abiding satisfaction that I am trying to fill my life with. · I know that Jesus has resolutely set out to fill my life with His grace and an abiding satisfaction. · And it encourages me to keep on walking with Him no matter the situations of life. 3) Real trust in Jesus is found in faith that is resolved to act in the right direction… to truly walk with Him. B. And this true walk with Jesus requires A RESOLUTION TO ACT WITH THE HEART OF JESUS. Religious people often forget to act in accord with the heart of God. 1) It is so easy to take our religious knowledge and turn it on others and ourselves… a. As the time approached for the greatest act of love the earth has ever seen, the sacrifice of God at the cross, Jesus wasn’t going to forget His own motivation. · But we forget that the Great Commandment is all about loving God and loving people. · Those two things are intimately connected. b. But we forget this… and we forget it quickly when things don’t go our way. · I am sure guilty of this… the journey that Jesus has taken us on at Highlands Community Church has been incredible, · But it has been disappointing too. And I have let my frustration at people get in the way of loving people just because they haven’t acted the way I needed them to. 9:52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 9:53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 9:54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" · I hate to admit that there have been times when I’ve felt like that… c. And it is Christ’s enduring love for others and for me that hasn’t allowed me to have my way… 9:55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 9:56 and they went to another village 2) Jesus is always offering people opportunities, giving second, third and fourth chances. a. And we need them because we don’t listen very well. We like our own way… b. And we don’t like these teachings because they are hard. Jesus speaks hard teachings that make no sense in the kingdom of this world, but are powerful in the Kingdom of God! C. Jesus asks us to MAKE A RESOLUTION TO WALK LIKE HIM. Three people come up to Jesus as He was walking, each with a desire to follow Him and Jesus lets them know what walking with Jesus is all about. 9:57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." 9:58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." 1) Walking with Jesus means that you don’t buy into the comforts of this world; instead you focus on the eternal comforts of the Kingdom of Heaven. 2) At first reading this next statement seems harsh… 9:59 He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." 9:60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." a. The guy just wants to go back and bury his dead father, is Jesus some kind of sadistic jerk? · The reality is that his father wasn’t dead yet. · The guy was buying time… b. And think of how many times you have put God off, telling Him that you’ll follow him once you done this or experienced that… · Following Jesus is A RESOLUTE ACTION IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. · It is a determination to do what Jesus did, to love people in the deepest and most eternal ways, to care for them with true love and honest grace. 9:61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." 3) Think about this excuse… this guy has already left his family and is out there following Jesus… He just wants to follow on his own terms. “Let me come and go as I please.” 9:62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." 4) Jesus desires, as Brennan Manning has stated, RUTHLESS TRUST. a. Sure we are going to live here in this world. We aren’t going to abandon the people around us… b. But we are going to realize that those people around us are eternally significant to Jesus… just as we are. · And so we must make a determination and quit playing games with God, and some of us have gotten so good at playing games with God that it is simply our lifestyle. · Jesus has some determined words for people like that, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." · It is time to get to work for the right person, in the right way and for the right reason. It is time for each of us to make A RESOLUTE ACTION IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.
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