“YOU GO FIRST!” THE FOLLOWING GOSPEL
Luke 9:18-27: LIFEWAY WINTER QUARTERLY 2020/21 SESSION 13
I had two good friends: Brian and Jill a married couple who ran a camp ministry way up in the mountains near Yosemite Valley. Late one night in their parsonage, shortly after they had gotten settled, Jill woke up to the sound of what she thought was Brian rummaging around in the kitchen… He was making an awful racket and she could see the light on from their refrigerator door. Angry and wanting to get back to sleep- Jill stomped into the kitchen to tell Brian to close the ice box door, don’t wake the girls, and come back to bed! BUT in the soft glow of the appliance light she saw the back of a large head with spiky black fur, and stubby ears and a massive paw holding the refrigerator door open! It was a Black Bear staring into the ice box trying to decide what to get into first! Jill screamed and the bear turned its head grunted at her and lumbered out the door he had crashed open! Jill made some new rules for Brian to follow after this incident… From now on Brian would not hold the door open for Jill to go in the house but would enter the house first! Mountain Lions, Panthers, Snakes, Bats, Burglars, and Bears- BEWARE: her “hubby” is here… “You go first, dear!” Somehow, I don’t think Brian ever felt that confident or courageous as he stepped in the door! The things you do for the ones you love. If that bear could chuckle- he would…
In our lesson this week Luke turns a corner in Jesus’ ministry as Jesus begins His journey towards Jerusalem and His rejection by the religious leaders, suffering, sacrificial death and rising again (v.22). Jesus shows and defines for His followers what it means to be His disciple and the importance of His being FIRST as our Messiah and the significance of His mission and sacrifice by being LAST (servant of all as LORD of all…) carrying His cross and suffering for our sakes. Our interpretive format for The Gospel of Luke will not only define for us the cost of discipleship but God’s provision for our lifetime of a powerful- power-filled disciple of faith, obedience and testimony! Let’s take a look…
Chapter 9 is a major transition in Luke’s Gospel from Jesus’ public ministry to the fulfillment of His mission as the Son of God and the Son of Man. The “good news” of the Gospel to this point is that Messiah Jesus has come as a gift from heaven and been revealed and proclaimed by the miracles of healing He has shown, His teachings and revelations of the Kingdom of God, and by His offered forgiveness of sins. Luke makes clear that salvation and forgiveness is given to anyone that believes and has faith in His name while certain judgment awaits those who reject Him.
Luke now transitions to answering the question of HOW does faith in Jesus bring salvation; by what means? The answer is Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross which is the payment for our sins and His resurrection which is definitive evidence of Jesus’ identity as God incarnate (Son of God) and as the one and only appropriate and complete payment for our sins as the perfect righteous “second Adam” (the Son of Man). Jesus is not just “a messiah” Jesus is THE Messiah anointed by God and revealed by His actions, teachings, and person. Luke’s Gospel from chapter 9 forward will show clearly Jesus’ salvation message and mission and the extent of His love offered through the sacrifice of the cross and by the wonder of His resurrection (see v.22). Jesus as the Messiah has a particular mission of salvation that is completely sacrificial and selfless and looks nothing like the self-serving missions and agendas of the World. In fact, this is a major point of Jesus’ temptation that is leveled against Him by Satan in Luke 4- to bring salvation in a “worldly way” or change His mission contrary to Father God’s will and plan- Satan trying to get Jesus to save others the way they expect instead of the way God desires… This is a temptation not just for Jesus but for His disciples as well, and one that Jesus warns them strictly about by not equating His LORDSHIP with a worldly self-serving, self-aggrandizing gospel that associates meeting the people’s physical needs at the expense of the Spiritual Truth of His identity. Jesus’ miracles were not to “prove” who He was- His miracles were to “reveal” (revelation) of the before time- eternally established Truth of His Identity (Jesus as God- Jesus as Lord of all) which requires faith, understanding, relationship, and commitment. Something the “crowd” was clueless and unwilling to do and whose faithlessness and future rejection Jesus was using to test, affirm and strengthen His disciples’ spiritual understanding about what they had been called “out of” and called “into” by faith… Out of the World and into His Kingdom.
In verses 18-20 Jesus tests to see if the disciples can understand the difference between whom the World claims and wants Jesus to be, and who He actually is. The world wanted a powerful political king, or a prophet who would restore Israel’s fortunes and physical blessings through conquest, political, religious and/or diplomatic means. They didn’t see Jesus as THE MESSIAH, but a forerunner to Messiah which Jesus and His disciples and Luke’s hearers knew had already been fulfilled through John the Baptist. Jesus could not be the crowd’s Messiah because He did not fit their “mold” of what Messiah looked, sounded, or acted like. They were blind to the fulfillment of the scriptures (a major point in Matthew’s Gospel) and refused to believe and have faith in anything that was different from what they wanted to hear or hope for. Matthew makes clear in his account of Peter’s confession that the only way the disciples could know that Jesus was THE MESSIAH was if the Holy Spirit revealed it to them (see Matt 16). The crowd wasn’t seeking faith in Jesus, they were seeking fulfillment in their wishes. Jesus wanted to know if his disciples knew the difference between faith in Him and fulfillment in their own expectations. Peter’s answer is for the group and showed that they did and were indeed called- “Who do you say that I am?”
All Christians must answer that question. AND it doesn’t matter what we think but it matters completely what we know and act on by faith. It is a “doctrinal” question. How well does what you think about Jesus match up to whom He actually is as declared by scripture? We know Him as Messiah and at the same time as we study, grow, carry our cross and depend upon the Holy Spirit daily to reveal Truth to our minds, hearts, and lives, protect, enable, overcome and deliver us from the world each day we will come to know Him better as our Messiah like the disciples did (see 1 Cor 1:18-31, 2 Cor 4:1-15, Phil 1:5-7, 2:1-8, Heb 12:1-13). Part of the cross we carry is to die to our own flawed presuppositions and inadequate thinking of Christ’s identity {see Romans 12:1-2}). Think of the Disciples understanding here in Luke versus- their understanding at the end of Luke, at the beginning of Acts, and at their martyrdom or of John and His vision of Revelation on Patmos! To grow in our understanding of Jesus as Christ we need to daily ask the Spirit to reveal Him to us as we follow and walk in His steps by faith! Don’t be “taken in” by the world’s opinions on this question or their vision of Jesus as a “Republican or Democrat messiah.” You cannot base the LORDSHIP of Christ or make Him the True Lord over your life by categorizing Him to your perspective. You must have the humble faith to see Him for who scripture and He Himself claims to be (Prov 3:5-6) and you cannot do that unless you bear the cross- your cross. Seven times in John’s Gospel Jesus uses the phrase: ego e mii: “I am” the door, the bread of life, the light of the World… When we see and apply these Truths then we are able to satisfactorily answer Jesus’ test of: “Who do you say that I am?” “You are the Christ the Son of the Living God.”
Jesus’ command to His followers to “deny self and pick up their crosses and follow AFTER Him” not only strengthens the revelation of His identity with His disciples but strengthens their identity in Him and reminds them that everything Jesus commands He provides for through His promises and His divine strength by the Holy Spirit. Some translations of Hebrews 12 instead of using “author and finisher” use the words “pioneer and perfecter (New NIV)”of our faith- the one who has gone and blazed the trail the pathway before us. Jesus “went first” for us! And unlike my friend Brian, only HE could do it. Only He could face the “Old Rugged Cross” and hence turn our rugged shameful crosses into gold for our crown! He faced death, He faced the spiritual Mountain Lions, Snakes, Bats, Burglars, and Bears of our called out lives. Yes, there will be persecutions; we are bearing a cross that calls us to die to our old selves and way of doing things but Jesus went first for us!
We are not the Master anymore but the slave- but look who we belong to! It is costly and it might cost us our lives physically just as much as it WILL cost our life and everything we have and are spiritually but the reward is great (see Luke 6:17-23) and the cost of the failure to step out in faith and carry our cross- to proclaim Jesus and His WAY of the Gospel is grim judgment (6:24-26 {only Luke mentions a reversal of fortune in the beatitudes}v. 25-26) and honestly we won’t do it IF we have no growing understanding of what we have received in and by Him- if we don’t understand HOW WE GO WITH JESUS. Verse 23 is what we call a “positive if” statement in Greek; it is an expectation that the listener of the letter receiving instruction will respond positively to the teaching and follow through. Jesus expresses that confidence in His Disciples and He does with us when we KNOW Him and allow that knowledge to grow in our hearts, minds, hands and self as we “FOLLOW AFTER HIM”.
Perhaps you have heard several sermons on this passage and come to the conclusion that you have to “toughen up” for Jesus. You have to: “suck it up buttercup!” in your sufferings, but you’re just setting yourself up for failure that way. God’s way is dependence upon Him. You don’t have to be tough for Jesus, you don’t have to be tough to carry your cross- you must be TENDER. Just like a tough steak burns so will our devotion burn away if we try to carry our cross in our own strength. Ah, but Darrin- tender steaks get “eaten”! Yes, and if you want to be a delight to God and a beacon for His Kingdom you will have to face being “eaten” by the World when you don’t respond the way they do but the way Christ responded to us while we were yet sinners (sacrificial grace, mercy, love)!
Now we come to the most ironic “reversal of fortune” statements in Luke’s Gospel… Verses 24 to 25. Luke wants us to realize that the irony of carrying our cross as Jesus’ followers is that though the cost is high and might result in earthly death- the way of the cross leads to Life- eternal life not death. We trade what is temporary for what is eternal (see Paul’s understanding in 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10). The “ashamed” here in verse 26 emphasizes a lack of courage to take action on our faith. It is a giving in to the doubt generated by our fear over our boldness and confidence that can be generated by our faith. Jesus wanted the disciples to know that courage leads to consistency and consistency leads to hopeful/ hope-filled confidence (see Romans 5:1-11). And it is by this confidence that we experience and see the Kingdom of God in our midst. Look at verse 27…
What did Jesus mean by this statement, “some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Kingdom of God”? Scholars are mixed on it: was He talking about the “end times” or the resurrection or the transfiguration which is recorded next in Luke’s account? I believe the answer is… YES! The thing we need to notice is “the Kingdom of God in this passage is not a place as much as it is the nearness of God’s reign.” The reign of Jesus is near. The question we need to ask is: did the disciples see the Kingdom of God (KOG) did they experience the KOG? For the disciples, spiritually seeing the KOG was accomplished through experiencing the KOG by the obedient faith of “picking up their cross and daily following Jesus.” One could argue convincingly that the whole book of Acts is the disciples turned apostles seeing the KOG come in great power through their obediently listening to the Holy Spirit, denying themselves, and carrying their cross of personal sacrifice to the world through living out and proclaiming the Gospel they had received.
The seeing of the KOG in our midst is what daily reveals and reminds us of the reality of God’s rule over our lives and over this fallen world which He came to redeem and it gives us confidence to persevere.Have you and I seen the KOG in our lives? It’s already here, and its consummation and fulfillment is coming soon!Let’s not “wait around” today like so many do, like we are in the doctor’s office (you know the ones with the old magazines, the loop TV program about vitamins, and bran muffins {yuck!} with slow clocks and screaming kids) endlessly waiting, desiring, cringing to be done- wanting to forget the world Jesus came to save and left us here as His ambassadors (see 2 Cor 5:14-6:3) as fellow brothers and sisters in His Mission! Jesus came into our darkness, He went first to the cross, we follow after Him and in His Following Gospel lies our eternal life and the redemption of all He holds dear and wants us to hold dear as well.Be encouraged today! God isn’t done with us, our work isn’t done the fields around us are ripe for the harvest. When we focus on Him and see the Kingdom we will have everything we need to do His will, proclaim His name and find peace, joy, and purpose in this fallen World for the sake of others as well as our own till He calls all of us Home! Be a light to others this week!
Love to you all and all the Best! Darrin.