We’re going to look at a second story from the Bible this week, this one about Jesus in Luke 9:57-60

57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

59 He said to another man, “Follow me.”

But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Just like yesterday’s story, this is a tough one to interpret, since we probably didn’t expect this kind of response from Jesus.  It sounds to us like the man’s father just died, and Jesus says he can’t mourn.  He comes across as cold and even cruel, but mostly because we lack cultural understanding. There are again two possibilities for why he responds this way:

One option: The man’s father is actually dead, sometime in the recent past.  He’s been put in a very hot middle eastern tomb.  The son wants to wait up to a year, so he can go and place his father’s bones in a bone box, an ossuary, for secondary burial in a family tomb.  This would have been a very important duty for a Jewish son, but Jesus says it’s not as important as God’s kingdom.

Another option: This is a stall tactic.  The man’s father is not dead.  The son wants to wait until his father dies and leaves him the inheritance.  He only wants to follow Jesus when there will be no financial risk.

Following Jesus looks different today – it’s not as simple as joining his entourage on a dusty road.  It changes us in many other ways, and we’re going to explore lots of those changes in the next few weeks.

Either way, we’ll be tempted to delay.  We’ll want to put off financial changes until we retire, service changes until we have more time, and so on.  But Jesus’ response to this man should inform us that Jesus needs to be first in our daytimer.

Question: What aspect of following Jesus are you tempted to put off?

Read the Bible in Sync Today

Ryan Sim - November 14, 2013

Thursday - Act On It - God in Worship

Becoming Like Family

So why do Christians gather to worship week in and week out? The answer is that there are at least three very good reasons: to acknowledge God’s presence and worth, to remember that we are not alone but part of a community that is growing and learning, and to offer a visible witness to ourselves and others. But when we gather to worship for these reasons, what do we do? We celebrate! The keynote of worship is celebration. At times in its long and winding history the church has lost its sight of this. But that is what Sunday mornings are all about—celebrating who we know God is (wow—he is our Father) --celebrating what Jesus has done for us (wow—set us free from the consequences of our sin)---celebrating that can live in relationship with God through the power of the Holy Spirit (wow---we are not alone). God is a God who throws parties. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Jesus told adults to keep their eyes on the children if they wanted to know what God is like. Left on their own, adults develop strange ideas of what worship should be. …in the purely adult world, God frequently comes across as a cranky old grandfather..but children seem to know instinctively that God likes celebration. Christians are people who are called to live in community, and we are a community of learners. We need to realize how impossible it is to be a Christian on our own, not to mention half the fun. As Redeemer Church comes together, we’ll have three approaches to worship, in order: Personal: We encourage you to engage in prayer, particularly on Fridays. We also hope you’ll have personal moments of worship to thank God for what happens in your life day to day. Small Groups: As you share our challenges with friends, we hope your Friday prayers will no longer be something quiet and personal but something you share with the team. Share the moments when God was at work in your life, and pray about them! Celebration Events: Up to now, our celebration events have been just about fun, but in a few months we’ll start to host events with worship component. We want to hear from you what will help you worship God as part of a larger community. Challenge: Complete our online survey about worship here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8TS7K93 Reminder: Earlier in this series, we saw the importance of reading the Bible together in sync, so our new daily bible readings start today in our mobile app and web site.

Related Topics: God, Worship | More Messages from Ryan Sim | Download Audio

From Series: "Becoming Like Family"

This series looks at becoming “like family” with others learning to follow Jesus. We're exploring how the church is not a building, institution or event, but a community of people. It's important that explore what church means as we prepare to launch a new church in Ajax in 2014.

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