Does Jesus Ask Too Much of You?

6th Sunday after Pentecost, 6/30/13
Luke 9:51-62


Does Jesus Ask Too Much of You?
I. Not if you understand his mission for you
II. Not if you know his commitment to you


Consciously and unconsciously every day we’re asking ourselves the question, “What will this cost me?” That question can consume a great deal of your time if you’re contemplating the purchase of a home or a vehicle. Long before you get to the bargaining table, you do your homework. You arrive at a figure or a range of figures. That’s what you’re willing to pay.

On a smaller scale we do the same thing at department stores and restaurants. How much does this article of clothing cost? What are they charging for this menu item?
Millions of people will take vacations at some point in the next 6-8 weeks. Not too many of them will thoughtlessly keep swiping their charge card. Most will get at least some idea of what they’re willing to spend.

We even do that same mental exercise when it comes to non-monetary decisions. If I decide to take this action, what will it cost me? What will be the benefits verses the fallout? What will I gain and what will I lose? Is it worth it?
All of these calculations and millions others similar to them aren’t a waste of time. It’s the better part of wisdom to count the cost. Not to do so is foolishness. We know people who failed to accurately count the cost and it caused them all sorts of grief. They didn’t see what was coming.
Jesus doesn’t want the same thing to happen in our lives as Christians. While it is God’s saving truth that our forgiveness and eternal life cost us nothing, it’s also true that living as a Christian comes with certain costs. That’s why today’s worship theme encourages us to count the cost of discipleship.

Jesus speaks about that very thing in today’s Gospel. Following Jesus means that we’re going to face some terrible opposition at times and we’re going to have to make some difficult choices at times. It’s not going to be easy. In other words, if living as a Christian is easy for you, then perhaps you’re not doing a very good job of it. It’s going to be tough.

But I don’t mean to discourage you. In fact, my goal this morning is to encourage you to make a deeper commitment to your Savior, Jesus. And I’ll do so by asking you this question, “Does Jesus ask too much of you?” May the Holy Spirit lead each of us to reply with a resounding, “No!” and to renew our commitment to Jesus.

Part I.

More than once my lack of knowledge or understanding has caused me embarrassment. I’m thinking especially of those times when I didn’t realize the time and effort someone else was putting into something for me. The time and effort I was putting into something for them was much less. Shame on me!

Do you understand what time and effort Jesus was putting in as described by Luke here in our text? Luke doesn’t use these words, but Jesus was literally on his death march to Jerusalem. He writes, “Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” The original language states that he “set his face towards Jerusalem.” He knew exactly what awaited him when he arrived. He wasn’t going there for a vacation or a party. He was going there to suffer and die. He was going there to finish his work as our Savior. And he couldn’t be more determined to carry it out.

But he wasn’t alone. Luke refers to others traveling with him. We know that included his 12 disciples. From other places in the Bible we know that many women from Galilee went with him. It seems as if he had quite a number of people who were following him to Jerusalem. They were with Jesus as he began this final part of the glorious work of being the world’s Savior from sin.

And then it happened. Jesus met opposition. Luke tells us, Jesus “sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem.” Recall that the Jews and the Samaritans were not on the best of terms. That didn’t matter to Jesus. On more than one occasion during his ministry on earth he had reached out to them. That’s what he’s doing here as well. He wants to spend time with them in order to share his saving word with them as he makes his way to finish that work of salvation. But they reject him. Luke tells us why. “He was heading for Jerusalem.” Jesus wasn’t heading to their place of worship where truth was mixed with error. He was heading to Jerusalem, where God’s place of worship was. He was asking them to give up their false ways and trust in him alone. But that was too much for them. They weren’t willing to pay that price to follow Jesus. They liked their lives and their religion just the way they were. If Jesus was unwilling to accept them on their terms, then they wanted nothing to do with him.

By God’s grace, we don’t share the Samaritans’ opinion of Jesus. Instead, we believe in him and in his work for our salvation. We know that through Jesus alone we have forgiveness and eternal life. But we do share some of the same sinful tendencies with the Samaritans. It was too much for them to give up their way of life and their false religious ideas to follow Jesus. Too often we want it both ways. We want to follow Jesus and keep our sinful ways. We want to follow Jesus but not bring all that he says into our place of work, or into our relationships with friends and family members. We’ll do our own thing the way we always have over here, but we’ll follow Jesus over there. And we’re sure that he’ll understand. After all, we’re not perfect. No one is. And that’s exactly the point. We don’t follow Jesus the way we should and yet he still set out for Jerusalem to complete his work of winning our forgiveness and eternal life. As we understand that his death march to Jerusalem was necessary because we so often fail to follow him, we’re equipped to count the cost. We know and believe in our complete forgiveness. Love for him empowers us to walk with him each day.
Does Jesus ask too much of you? Not if you understand his mission for you.

Part II.

I’m sure you’ve experienced more than once in your lifetime someone who helped you tremendously by telling you what was difficult to say. Perhaps it regarded your career path. You felt confident that you had the gifts and abilities to continue pursuing your dreams. But you were only fooling yourself. And someone loved you enough to tell you what was difficult for you to hear.

At first glance, some of the things Jesus states in the second half of our text are difficult to hear. In fact, you might say they’re brutal.

But you have to understand the context. First, this event occurred late in Jesus’ ministry. Those who were following him had nearly three years to understand who Jesus was and what he wanted his followers to do. He was here to sacrifice himself for the sins of the world. He made that perfectly clear. On several occasions he had sent his followers out to share that message as a way of preparing them for their work.

In just a few short months, that’s exactly what his followers would begin doing. After his ascension, an event Luke mentions in our text, Jesus would send his followers out to the ends of the earth with the message of salvation through the crucified, risen, and ascended Lord Jesus.

The first man to approach Jesus offers to follow Jesus wherever he goes. It sounds like an honest, humble offer made out of love for Jesus. But Jesus doesn’t immediately accept his offer. Notice, however, that he doesn’t reject it either. As one who can read hearts, Jesus knows that this well-intentioned follower hasn’t considered his offer carefully. He’s a little naive. Following him might mean few or no creature comforts, such as a place to lay your head, let alone a roof over it.

When Jesus tells a second man, “Follow me,” the man makes what appears to be a reasonable request. “Let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus rebukes him in a way that surprises us. “Let the dead bury their own dead.” The best way of understanding these words is that his father died in unbelief. Let his fellow unbelievers attend to his burial. This man has an obligation now to spread the saving news of Jesus. Nothing is more important than that.

Thirdly, another man offers to follow him but wants to bid farewell to his family. Again, it sounds like a reasonable request. But Jesus can read his heart. He can see that this follower doesn’t put Jesus first in his life and that will simply not do for one who is willing to follow Jesus and share his word with others.

Each one of these situations involves blessings from the Lord—material blessings that meet our needs such as a home, as well as the blessings of family. Jesus wants us to enjoy these blessings as he intended. But he never wants them to hinder our relationship with him.

But that’s exactly what happens. We think we can follow Jesus and have all the things of this world, too. What is it or who is it that gets in the way of a closer relationship with Jesus? Whatever it is, it needs to change or it needs to go. Jesus wants 100% commitment to him. Does Jesus ask too much of you? Not when you know his commitment to you. Again, he set his face to Jerusalem, knowing that was the place where he would sacrifice himself for you, for your sins, for your eternal life. And that’s exactly what he did! He has washed our sins away and has given us the status of priests in his kingdom so that we can serve him and live with him forever. Does Jesus ask too much of you? Not at all when you consider what he gave up for us. Live for him who died for you! Amen.