This
week we are looking at an encounter that a large crowd had with Jesus that is
recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of
Luke. Yesterday, we looked on as Jesus made two amazing demands of the crowds
that were following Him. We looked on as Jesus made the demand to the crowds
listening, and to His followers throughout history, that our primary allegiance
must be to Him. As followers of Jesus, our allegiance is to be to Jesus first
and foremost, even over our allegiance to our family.
And we
looked on as Jesus made the demand to the crowds listening, and to His
followers throughout history, is that we embrace the kingdom mission that He
has given us, just as He embraced the kingdom mission that was given to Him.
Jesus kingdom mission was to enter into humanity to live the life we were
created to live but refused to live, and then willingly allow Himself to be
treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives, through His death on
the cross, so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect
life.
Our
kingdom mission is to partner together as a part of the body of Christ, the
church, to be the vehicle that God uses to reveal Jesus to a lost, hurting and
broken world. And Jesus demands not only our allegiance to Him first and
foremost; Jesus also demands that we embrace and invest our lives in the
kingdom mission that He has given us.
Today a
question that could arise at this point is “Well, Dave you are just taking Jesus
words too seriously. Dave you are misunderstanding what Jesus is saying in
these verses when it comes to His expectations and demands for His followers”.
How can we really be sure that is what Jesus means here?”
That is
a fair question. Fortunately for us, Jesus Himself provides the answer to those
questions in the verses that follow. So let’s look at those verses together,
beginning in Luke 14:28:
"For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first
sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?
"Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all
who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was
not able to finish.'
Here we see Jesus illustrate His demands of His followers
by telling a parable. A parable is an earthly story that is designed to reveal
a deeper spiritual truth. Jesus tells a parable that involves a story of a
builder constructing a building. This past summer, the Fusion students and
staff decided to float down the Colorado River. About halfway into our trip, I
remember looking over on the Nevada side of the river at a rusted out
foundation and shell of a building that consisted of twisted metal and
concrete. You probably have seen this building yourselves as you drive on 95 or
the parkway.
I asked one of the Fusion staff what happened to the
building. The staff member explained to me that the building was going to be a
casino at one time, yet the contractor ran into financial difficulties and was
unable to finish the project. All that was left of this contractor’s attempts
to build a casino was a rusted out concrete shell. This shell was unable to be
used for anything due to the foundations exposure to the elements over time. As
you can imagine, the contractor was ridiculed and his company’s reputation was
ruined.
Jesus tells this parable to reveal for us the reality
that in the same way, the cause and mission of Christ suffers ridicule and
rejection by the world around us when we fail to remain committed to finish
what we start as His followers. Jesus uses
this parable to reveal the reality that He demands that His followers be
committed to finish what they start when it comes to following Jesus and
engaging in the mission that we have been given by Jesus. Jesus then tells the
crowds following Him a second parable in verse 31:
"Or what king, when he sets out
to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he
is strong enough with ten thousand men
to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? "Or
else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for
terms of peace.
Luke explains that Jesus then told a second parable, this
time of a king facing an invading army. Jesus explained to the crowds listening
that as a king prepares to face an invading army in battle, he must consider
and pick his battles very carefully. To help give us some perspective this
morning when it comes to what Jesus is saying here, here is something to
consider: When two nations prepare to go to war,
does either nation desire to lose the war? Of course not!
Yet, in
many instances, in the lead up to and during a military conflict, there is usually
one side that has a decided advantage over another, either in manpower,
machinery, or territory. For example, in World War II, as the war progressed,
it became evident that the allied forces increasingly gained the upper hand.
Yet the Japanese did not surrender until after two atomic weapons were dropped
on their country.
At that
point, the Japanese leadership realized that continued fighting would result in
the deaths of hundreds of thousands more of their citizens. So, even though the
Japanese leadership desired victory in the worst way, they surrendered that
desire and their country to the allied forces.
By
telling this parable, Jesus here is revealing for us the reality that He
demands that we make a similar sacrifice as His followers. Jesus uses this
parable to reveal the reality that He demands that His followers be committed
to sacrifice whatever is necessary in order to follow Him. Jesus point is that
as followers of Jesus, we must be willing to sacrifice our desires to what
Jesus may desire for our lives.
Friday
we will see Jesus, after telling these two parables, hammer His point home...
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