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[779.86 --> 785.70] point right and i'll even be more honest there's a few different interpretations of this passage uh maybe
[785.70 --> 791.06] more than i even read one interpretation especially of the dead burying their own dead one was maybe jesus
[791.06 --> 796.18] is speaking spiritually let the the spiritually dead who do not know about jesus let them bury their own
[796.18 --> 801.86] dead and you then go and proclaim and share and speak about jesus christ the lord of life right
[801.86 --> 807.14] evangelize another take and i didn't know this is that the burial process in the first century was a
[807.14 --> 812.42] long one first you would bury your parents and they'd be in a sort of a tomb in the in the side of a rock
[812.42 --> 817.22] face and then a year later you go and collect the bones and then you collect those bones in a bone box
[817.22 --> 822.34] and it took a long time and so maybe one writer was suggesting this delay is actually quite a long
[822.34 --> 827.22] delay and this person you know they're not going to sign up for it after such a long period of waiting
[827.22 --> 834.02] to follow jesus i'm not particularly convinced of either of those interpretations because i think
[834.02 --> 839.94] what jesus is doing and we see this in other parts of luke and matthew is he's speaking very strong
[840.58 --> 846.98] very hyperbolic language to make his point as strongly as possible and the point is this
[846.98 --> 854.10] that loyalty to jesus and the kingdom of god must supersede and transcend all other loyalties
[854.82 --> 861.54] all other commitments all other things that you are interested in including family did you notice how
[861.54 --> 868.50] the excuse in both cases are related to family and most commentators actually link this teaching
[868.50 --> 874.98] in luke chapter 9 to another teaching of discipleship on the road in luke chapter 14 and i had one dad
[874.98 --> 879.78] who asked me to preach on this specific passage and instead i'm lumping it into this sermon so
[879.78 --> 884.42] this is luke chapter 14 and just listen to the strength of these words it doesn't get any stronger
[884.42 --> 892.18] than this large crowds were traveling with jesus and turning to them he said if anyone comes to me and does
[892.18 --> 898.18] not hate father and mother wife and children brothers and sisters yes even their own
[898.18 --> 904.42] life such a person cannot be my disciple and whoever does not carry their cross and follow me
[904.42 --> 910.90] cannot be my disciple and one person i was reading this week about this passage he said i don't think
[910.90 --> 916.02] jesus could ever have a mega church he just drives everybody away like this is a strong statement
[916.74 --> 920.26] and let me ask you does jesus want us to hate our moms and dads
[921.86 --> 926.66] no in fact that goes against the old testament law the ten commandments to honor our mother and father
[926.66 --> 933.54] does jesus want us to hate our brothers and sisters and our own lives no this is hyperbolic language
[933.54 --> 939.94] because what does jesus want he wants our loyalty to him to be above all those other relationships
[939.94 --> 945.62] and our commitment to his direction on our lives to be prioritized above all those other relationships
[945.62 --> 952.50] including the most intimate of family relationships and it's at this point i need to name and sometimes
[952.50 --> 957.06] this is not the case in the west right now but in the first century and in many parts of the world
[957.06 --> 966.50] even now family is everything right you do not disagree with mom and dad you do not deviate from
[966.50 --> 971.38] what they say is going to be the case you don't disagree with what they teach about how you should live
[971.38 --> 977.54] and there are many cases in the first century and throughout church history where people hear the call
[977.54 --> 987.22] of jesus to follow him and they know they know it means going against mom and dad brother and sister
[987.22 --> 994.58] and other family members and they have to count the cost and say it's either i go with what mom and dad
[994.58 --> 1002.66] say or siblings say or the family unit says or i follow the call of jesus christ and he is truly the top
[1002.66 --> 1010.42] he has all the authority his word is the final word many christians in the first century and beyond
[1010.42 --> 1016.34] had to give up a great deal of family respect christians would be disinherited unwelcome from the
[1016.34 --> 1022.74] table pushed out of the family system because they have chosen to make jesus christ the lord of their lives
[1023.94 --> 1028.42] that's counting the cost and i'll just bring this closer to home i am aware
[1028.42 --> 1035.78] that for a number of people even our own church their journey of becoming a christian had a deep
[1035.78 --> 1042.98] wrestling with family right i know of a few parents who say to their kids there's no way you can believe
[1042.98 --> 1049.62] that garbage that pastors like me preach on sundays there's no way you can buy into the crazy teachings
[1049.62 --> 1056.02] of this old ancient book and parents who say like okay you can believe it but don't you dare bring that
[1056.02 --> 1060.82] teaching into the home don't you speak about it around the table and i'm aware as well that even
[1060.82 --> 1066.90] for those of us who follow jesus right now we have to be careful around family because our allegiance to
[1066.90 --> 1072.10] jesus puts us at odds if our family believes something completely different and has their
[1072.10 --> 1078.90] faith and everyone has faith in something other than jesus we have to count the cost and what jesus is
[1078.90 --> 1087.14] saying in both luke 9 and luke 14 is our allegiance to him must be above even our closest family members
[1088.10 --> 1093.46] and i know we love our families there is some amazing families in our church i've met a bunch of
[1093.46 --> 1100.10] them but jesus christ is above those and if there's ever a difference between what christ says by his word
[1100.10 --> 1105.78] to us and what our family teaches us we must make that hard choice of saying christ is lord
[1105.78 --> 1112.18] above my family above my friends above other commitments that's what jesus is teaching in luke
[1112.18 --> 1120.10] chapter 9 in summary jesus is saying in these three conversations if you want to follow me count the
[1120.10 --> 1125.94] cost following me often is the path of rejection of being unwelcome it's economically vulnerable and
[1125.94 --> 1130.10] insecure is that what you want it's not going to be wealth it's not going to be safety it's not going
[1130.10 --> 1136.50] to be comfort and secondly are you willing to allow allegiance to me to transcend and be above
[1136.50 --> 1142.10] family friends and all other loyalties that's discipleship
[1144.74 --> 1150.34] now it's at this point i want to just pause and acknowledge with you that these are very hard words
[1151.62 --> 1157.62] two times this week i found myself working on the sermon just kind of processing these words and i need
[1157.62 --> 1162.58] to go on a walk with god and i need to talk through some of my own compromise some of the ways where
[1162.58 --> 1169.06] i felt my allegiance is so divided and i realize that this word just penetrates our hearts and it makes
[1169.06 --> 1178.82] us ask hard questions i think jesus wants us to feel the tension he wants us to ask the hard questions is
[1178.82 --> 1185.38] this what we signed up for and if you're here visiting and you're exploring the christian faith
[1185.38 --> 1187.86] i just want to say this is what jesus invites you to
[1191.14 --> 1196.90] last november i had a chance to listen to a lecture by a pastor who is actually a campus pastor
[1196.90 --> 1202.18] at a university in phoenix and he spent most of his time sharing the gospel with students who did not
[1202.18 --> 1206.90] know jesus and i got to listen to how he did it which was really encouraging i got to listen to like
[1206.90 --> 1211.54] what he's learned about evangelism how not to do it but he shared one thing that he does that was
[1211.54 --> 1215.94] very intriguing to me many of the students he'd have conversation with and just kind of
[1216.50 --> 1221.14] listen to and hear the stories he would ask him he said would you be willing to draw on a sheet of
[1221.14 --> 1226.66] paper how you understand the christian faith and of course some said no and others said absolutely
[1226.66 --> 1231.22] and a few times he got an art major who gave him like a piece of art that described the way they see
[1231.22 --> 1236.42] the christian faith but one student in particular drew the christian faith in this way i don't have it
[1236.42 --> 1242.42] with me but i'll just imagine this it's a person pushing a shopping cart and inside the shopping
[1242.42 --> 1246.34] cart in a supermarket inside the shopping cart there's all these things like there's a nike swoosh
[1246.34 --> 1250.82] there's sports equipment there's food and all these things kind of represent the various dimensions of
[1250.82 --> 1256.98] our lives right family friends work school and then the person was grabbing a cross and sort of putting
[1256.98 --> 1263.46] the cross in the shopping cart to represent christianity and knowingly or unknowingly i think this
[1263.46 --> 1269.62] student gave a brilliant summary of how so many of us see the christian faith it's sort of one more
[1269.62 --> 1276.02] little religious thing to add to our shopping cart and i mean how how fitting is it and appropriate to
[1276.02 --> 1282.42] our culture that the image they even had of our life is the shopping cart a consumer society and you're
[1282.42 --> 1288.58] just adding a little bit of jesus into that full cart of all the things you have and if i were to bring
[1288.58 --> 1295.62] jesus from luke chapter 9 into the image of the shopping cart that this student drew what i picture
[1295.62 --> 1302.66] is jesus coming to the shopping cart and flipping it up entirely on its end and saying to all of us
[1302.66 --> 1310.18] i'm the resurrection in the life i'm the first and i am the last i am the lord over the universe i am
[1310.18 --> 1318.10] the firstborn among the dead all of your life commitments must be organized around me because in me
[1319.14 --> 1328.18] is life jesus is not just one more consumer good to put in our full lives he's not just one more
[1328.18 --> 1335.86] religious addition to add to our already busy and full lives he's the center stake the person who makes
[1335.86 --> 1343.30] meaning of all history around which we organize everything else and discipleship is the organization
[1343.30 --> 1350.58] of your whole life around jesus christ it is taking your financial life and saying lord not my will but
[1350.58 --> 1356.26] your be done and taking your friendship life your leisure life your married life your sexual life
[1356.26 --> 1363.46] all the dimensions of our existence and saying lord we hold it before you your will be done in every
[1363.46 --> 1373.06] corner of my life of our lives together over the last couple years i've come to enjoy the writings
[1373.06 --> 1378.58] of dallas willard and maybe you know who he is he's one of the earliest writers that i can remember who
[1378.58 --> 1384.50] is describing how in north america we don't just have a discipleship problem we have a discipleship crisis
[1384.50 --> 1389.86] and the way he would name it is if discipleship is being with jesus it's becoming like jesus and it's
[1389.86 --> 1394.58] doing what jesus did together as the church well we have a whole lot of churches that aren't interested
[1394.58 --> 1400.82] in being with jesus or becoming like jesus or doing what jesus did that's a discipleship crisis
[1400.82 --> 1404.34] and i want to read for you words that have challenged me over the years these come this