Robert Fulghum, who became famous for his book All I
Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten, has
written another funny book titled, It Was On Fire When I
Lay Down On It. He has officiated at over 1000 weddings
and knows by experience that they are the events that bring
out the ding dong in most everyone involved. They are the
comedies of life, and he writes, "Not that they are intended as
such. But since weddings are high state occasions involving
amateurs under pressure, everything NEVER goes right.
Weddings seem to be magnets for mishap and for whatever
craziness lures in family closets."
He begins his book with this example. When the bride
announced her wedding day the mother literally went bezerk.
She was so delighted she was going to make this the wedding
of the century. It would be a royal wedding fit for a princess.
She had the money and 7 months to work toward the
grandiose goal. I won't bore you with the details, but
everything was engraved, and an 18 piece brass and wind
ensemble was engaged. Cecil B. DeMille could not have
planned a bigger scene. The final hour arrived with a church
packed with people in formal attire. The orchestra was in
place, and candle power equivalent to the Northern Lights
filled the sanctuary. The mother of the bride glowed as she
took her place. Nine chiffon-draped bridesmaids stepped
down the isle, and finally the wedding march thundered, and
all stood to watch the bride.
The bride who was a nervous wreck because of all this
preparation had slipped to the reception hall to eat
something to calm her nerves. She started popping pink,
yellow, and green mints and mixed nuts, and a couple of
shrimp blanketed in bacon, and a cracker piled with liver
pate. When people looked at her they saw a face as white as
her dress. As she walked down the isle she was a living
grenade with the pin pulled out. She was ready to explode,
and that is what she did. There is no nice way to describe it.
She threw up and shot used gourmet goodies all over the
front of the church, hosing two bridesmaids, the groom, a
ring bearer, and the pastor. The bride went limp in her
father's arms, and the groom was so stunned that he sat on
the floor. The mother of the bride fainted. Bridesmaids and
groomsmen with weak stomachs ran for the exists. In the
chaos Fulghum says he is not sure of many details, but the
mother of the bride thought of everything. She had three
video cameras going so that all would be preserved.
Guests were invited to adjourn to the reception hall until
all was cleaned up, and the bride could change into one of the
bridesmaid dresses. Then the wedding was continued. The
mother of the bride wanted it to be a memorable occasion,
and it was. Nobody there will ever forget it. But the bottom
line is, they have been married for 12 years now, and have
three lovely children. This true story illustrates the need for
determination to achieve a goal. There are all kinds of things
that can go wrong in any plan, and you have to be
determined to overcome these obstacles, or you will not
arrive at the goal for which you are aiming.
Our text begins with the announcement that the time had
come for Jesus to be taken up to heaven. He was to finish
His mission on earth and come home to the Father. Unlike
the Prodigal Son who went into the far country to waste his
substance in riotous living, here was a Son who had come
into the far country to save it from riotous living, and to
restore it to the kingdom of God, His Father. It was now
time to achieve this goal, and that meant the cross.
The cross was the only way back to heaven for Jesus that
would open the door to heaven for His bride to follow. If He
chose another route the door would be closed to man, and
Jesus would fail in His mission to be their Savior. The way of
the cross leads home for Christ and His people, and no other
way does. The cross was not one of several options. It was
the only way. As Jesus is the only way to the Father, so the
cross was His only way to the Father that would fulfill His
plan. The cross was the single most important goal Jesus had
to get to in order to be the Savior of the world. The entire
plan of God for man's salvation depended upon Jesus
reaching this goal. Thus, we see the absolutely determined
face of Jesus. I like the KJV here which says, "He steadfastly
set His face to go to Jerusalem." Thank God for a
stubbornly determined Savior.
Nothing could stop Jesus from the cross. It was a rough
road with pot holes galore, and obstacles everywhere, but He
plowed ahead not looking back. He said that no one who
puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in
the kingdom of God. He set the example, even though His
plow would take him to the hill of Golgotha. It was an uphill
road all the way. Jerusalem is up in the mountains, and
Golgotha was a hill up there, and so the road to our
redemption was literally and psychologically a climb. Just
look at the obstacles Jesus had to face in the few verses of our
text.
The people of the Samaritan village where He wanted to
stay the night were prejudiced against the Jews, and they did
not want Jesus to stay there, for He was headed for the
Jewish capital. They were petty and prejudice people. Most
of us would have sided with the hot heads James and John,
and vote to call fire down from heaven to roast these rotten
rebels. These disciples did not even know Jesus was going to
Jerusalem to die for these very sinners who rejected Him. All
they knew was that Jesus was a perfect and loving man, and
He deserved respect. They could not tolerate the blind
prejudice of these people, and they wanted to eliminate them
from the earth. Jesus had just pointed His face in the
direction of the cross, and already He was facing two
obstacles to His goal: Prejudice and intolerance.
The prejudice that rejected Him could have made Jesus
question His goal. Why should I bother to go to the cross to
save the likes of these people who will not even let me stay in
their town because they hate Jews? They are so unworthy of
my love. They chose to hate people who are different. This is
the cause of the wars and man's inhumanity to man all
through history. Why should I die for them? I could take a
short cut back to heaven and escape the cross, and men like
this would be lost forever, and justly so. But if such thoughts
ever entered the mind of Jesus, He did not let them change
His mind, or the direction He was determined to go. The
unworthiness of man could not stop Jesus from going to the
cross.
His own disciples are urging Him to destroy these scum of
the earth people, but Jesus has set His face to go to the cross
and die for them. He would not be pulled off course by their
wickedness. The love of God and the Gospel of grace is great
when you are the object of it, and you are forgiven and
accepted into the family of God. But when the Gospel is
offered to people you can't stand, because of their
wickedness, that is so disgusting, it is hard to swallow. It was
hard for James and John. They were so repulsed by the
injustice of prejudice against Jesus that they became equally
prejudiced against Samaritans. They wanted nothing short
of capital punishment for this sin of prejudice. If these two
were permitted to make the laws, a large proportion of
mankind would be executed, for prejudice is almost
universal. Jesus rebuked these hot heads of His own
disciples, for they did not grasp at all that if you fight evil
with evil, you are part of the problem and not part of the
solution.
Here is another obstacle to the cross. His own followers
did not grasp His spirit. If just getting rid of evil people was
the goal, He could have wiped out the Samaritans long ago,
as well as the Jews, and every other race. The solution of
violent elimination of the sinner is an abuse of power that
James and John would have used, and many in history have
used. It is one of the obstacles to the cross, for Jesus could
have said, "Why should I die for men when they will often in
my name kill people and think they are doing me a favor? Is
man worth dying for when he is so unloving toward others?"
He wants to solve the problem of evil, but not by killing evil
people. His whole plan is to solve the problem of evil by
saving evil people and making them righteous people. The
Savior's solution to every sin problem is the cross. Atone for
sin and make it possible for every sinner to be forgiven and
restored to fellowship with God where he can become a godly
person.
Man's way is revenge, but God's way is redemption. Paul
states it in a way that is shocking in Rom. 4:5 where he says,
"However, to the man who does not work but trusts God
who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as
righteousness." Paul says God justifies the wicked. This
often makes good people mad, as it did James and John on
this occasion. Whose side is God on anyway? He should be
justifying the good people and not the wicked. God is like a
great criminal lawyer who knows his clients are guilty of sin,
yet He finds a clever way to get them off and acquitted. That
is what the cross is all about. It is about God being for the
bad guy. Jesus told us to love our enemies because that is
just what God does. He loves them and He gives His Son to
die for them that they might no longer be His enemies, but
His sons and daughters.
This wondrous Gospel is hard to grasp when it is applied
to your enemies. Just ask yourself, who do you most despise
in the world? What kind of sinner do you get repulsed
by-the rapist, the homosexual, the serial killer, or the child
abuser? You name it, and it is not easy to accept the fact
that Jesus went to the cross to die for such scum. We
probably would have advised against it, and voted for
revising the will of God. Our plan would have Jesus skip
death altogether, and just deal with sin by brute force, like
sending down fire from heaven. That would suit us just fine.
If Jesus had to die, then let it not be for the sins of the whole
world, but just the minor sins like lying, cheating, gossip, and
all the things most of us are guilty of, but let the bad sinners
pay for their own sin.
The majority of Christians would probably vote for a
package like this, and that is why God does not submit His
plan to a vote. The Gospel is not of man, but is solely the
plan of God. Good men not liking it, however, was one of the
obstacles Jesus faced as He headed for the cross. Anyone of
us might have been an obstacle to Jesus, for His
determination to die for all men is far beyond our
determination to do anything for people we do not like. So
before Jesus takes a step toward the cross He is hindered
from both within and without. Then we come to verse 57,
and they are walking along the road on their way to
Jerusalem and to the cross. In the next few verses Jesus is
confronted by three men who appear to want to be disciples,
but they are defective in their desire.
The first in verse 57 makes an absolute commitment and
says, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus is not
impressed by people who get emotionally excited and promise
the moon. He wants people who will count the cost. Jesus is
clearly more concerned here with quality rather than
quantity. He wants no mass of followers who will forsake
Him at the first sign of a problem. His response to the first
man implies that the man hoped to gain some dignity by
following Jesus. Jesus said, "Foxes have holes and birds of
the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His
head." In other words, the perks are few if any, unless you
consider it a pleasure to sleep out in the open fields.
Jesus is heading for the cross, and He will not deceive
anyone into thinking that if they follow Him it will be a gravy
train to glory. It is going to be a terrible ordeal for His
disciples, and even the best will fall away and forsake Him.
So He is not recruiting any half-hearted adventurers who
want to tag along. Only those 100% committed to Him as
Lord will survive what He is heading for.
The second man said to His call to follow, "Lord, first let
me go and bury my father." This sounds like a reasonable
request, but we know this was not a request to just finish a
funeral. It is request to stay at home and care for his father
until he does die and is buried. He is saying, "I'll follow you
someday when it is more convenient, and I have other
obligations out of the way." In other words, when it fits my
schedule and I can fit you into my life, then I will follow you.
Again, this is an obstacle to the cross, for Jesus could be
discouraged by all this evasion from wanting to give His life
for those who only had leftovers for Him. Let the dead bury
the dead was the comment of Jesus. That is, let those who
are not believers handle the affairs of this life. Believers need
to be busy about the affairs of the life to come. Get your
priorities straight and go proclaim the kingdom of God. A
major obstacle to the cross was the fact that He knew His
disciples would get so involved with the obligations of this
world that their labors for the world to come would take a
back seat.
I am often appalled by the demands of secular life. The
enormous number of hours it takes just to deal with personal
and family matters. Shopping, keeping your car and home in
shape, and dealing with all the issues of records and taxes,
plus health issues, all take a great deal of time. The point I
am getting at is not that this is not important, but that it is
possible to get so involved in the important that we fail to
achieve the best. Jesus knew we would have endless
obligations in trying to keep life orderly, but He gave up His
all for us, and the cross demands that we do some sacrificing
for Him. The issue is priorities. He was determined to go to
the cross, for He made it the number one priority of His life.
He expects His followers to seek first the kingdom of God,
and not make it the choice of convenience. Jesus knew some
would say, "I'll do your will Lord when I get all my other
obligations in order. I'll seek first the kingdom of man, and
the kingdom of God I'll get to when I can squeeze it in."
The third man said, "I will follow you Lord but first let
me go back and say good-by to my family." Again, not only
does this seem like a reasonable request, but one that should
be granted just out of courtesy to the family. It seems
ridiculous for Jesus to expect a man just to take off following
Him, and not even say good-by to his family. This seems
contrary to all that the Bible teaches about loving others and
being kind and considerate. Sometimes Jesus can sound too
harsh, and it does not seem to fit His loving character. But
you have to see the context, and recognize Jesus is trying to
teach the lesson by words that He is, at this point in His life,
living out- the lesson of priority and determination.
The cross is His goal and the number one priority of His
life, and nothing will hinder His getting to that goal. He is
now being very strong in teaching His disciples that they too
must be committed to godly goals that become their first
priority. They must let nothing hinder their determination to
get to those goals. The implication is that these would be
followers of Jesus were saying, "I want to follow you Jesus,
but I've got some other things that take priority, and as soon
as I get these accomplished I will be right behind you." Jesus
sees these men as half-hearted followers who will soon fall
away when He gets to Jerusalem and is crucified. They will
not stick with the kingdom of God, for they put their hand to
the plow, but are always looking back at all the other things
they should be doing. As soon as they feel all is not right in
the kingdom of God they will flee back to the kingdom of self.
Jesus is looking for disciples who are as determined to
serve the kingdom of God as He is determined to go to the
cross. Determination is dominating Him and He wants that
in all who follow Him. Jesus knows that success demands
determined disciples. Madam Curie and her husband had
just failed in their 487th try to discover radium. He cried out
in despair at the futility of it all, "It can't be done, I tell you it
can't be done! Maybe in a 100 years it can be done, but
never in our life time." But he turned and sees his wife's
determined face, and she says, "If it takes a 100 years, Pierre,
it will be a pity. But I dare do no less than work for it as long
as I live." She had every reason to fold and walk away, but
she was determined, and she pressed on, and her discovery
has led to modern technology that has saved many millions of
lives. Radium was her cross, and she set her face steadfastly
to reach it, and did not stop till she did. That is what Jesus
wants in His disciples.
Get a goal you know is a goal for the kingdom of God and
make it a priority you will reach for, and be determined to let
nothing hinder your reaching it. That is taking up the cross
and following Jesus. We are saved by the Savior's stubborn
determination to get to the cross, and our lives are saved for
the kingdom when we have a stubborn determination to see
that the good news of the cross is conveyed to people in our
lives. Jesus reveals the three key ingredients to success in the
kingdom of God. They apply to every realm of life, and they
are:
1. Destination.
2. Direction.
3. Determination.
First you have a goal. The goal of Jesus was the cross.
That was His destination. Second, you make sure you know
how to get there. For Him it was to get to Jerusalem. He
knew that would lead to the cross, for on Palm Sunday He
would provoke the leaders of Israel to show their hand, and
carry out their plot to eliminate Him. Third, you have to be
determined to stay on the road until you reach your
destination.
These three steps are the key to Christian
growth. You may be trying to achieve a goal as simple as
memorizing a Bible verse. That is your destination, and the
direction to get there is by repeating it over and over until it
is part of you. Your determination is to do it daily and let
nothing hinder you from finding the time to repeat the verse.
The end result is that you will succeed, for with these three
steps success is guaranteed. Jesus by His life and teaching is
our example of how these three steps can lead us to be
successful disciples. Elect a destination; establish the
direction, and exhibit the determination to overcome all
obstacles to get there. This was the plan by which Jesus
saved us, and it is the plan by which we can be successful in
serving Him, and reaching goals for His glory.
