Sermons

Introduction

Well, good morning, everybody; so nice to be with you. If you have your Bibles, could you open them up to Luke chapter 9? Luke chapter 9. Let's take a moment before we look at the passage to pray and ask God for help. Let's take a moment to pray.

[Prayer] Our heavenly Father, we are so grateful that Your mercy is more. We are so grateful that Jesus paid it all. For we who know and love You, we are so conscious that week by week we seem to understand more and more of our own depravity, the hardness of our heart, the depth that sin found within it; and yet Christ paid it all. We thank You that You loved us long before we ever loved You.

We thank You for the full and complete commitment of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to come. We thank You that Your word is true. But we thank You that through the power of the Spirit it operates like a sword. It's able to separate joint and marrow. It's able to cut to the depths of our being and cause us to understand ourselves before You in a way that we cannot independently. And, Lord, we ask for that grace, though the lessons of the word may be hard and difficult for us to hear in these moments, we pray for the grace to be able to examine our hearts, to see where we are lacking, and to run afresh to Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith, to fix our eyes on Him, to learn from His example, but also to be comforted by the richness of His mercy that He has made available through His sacrificial work. We give thanks to You because of Him, and we ask for the grace of the Helper to be busy amongst us, for it's in the name of our Savior, we pray. Amen. [End]

It's amazing, isn't it, as Christians, how so often we think, read, sing about the all-sufficient work of Jesus. If you are here today and you classify yourself as part of the Protestant tradition, one of the things that distinguishes the Protestant tradition is we believe that it is only by grace. It is only through the work of Christ. It is only by Him alone that we are saved, that we have redemption, that we are forgiven.

We know from our study of Scripture is it cost Him tremendously. We sang how He paid it all. There was an insurmountable debt that we owed. He didn't pay 90 percent. He didn't even pay 99 percent. He paid it all. And the strange thing for most Christian communities like this one is we know that truth, and yet when it comes down to our own personal commitment we often accept scraps. We think that simply because, "Well, I come. I identify as a Christian." You know, if somebody was to ask in Starbucks, I would say, "Oh yes, I am a believer." And we gain lots of comfort in easy faith. We're very content to have our Christianity, our Jesus, our religion, but it's family first. It's the promotion that we want first. It's our hobbies first.

And so, He gives it all, and we give the leftover 7, 10, maybe 20 percent that we have. But when it comes to Scripture, when Jesus Himself describes the type of commitment required of His followers, it is an all or nothing commitment. It is a Jesus first commitment. His call to follow Him that He issued to those disciples, that wasn't a hint or a gentle invitation, it was a complete all or nothing command. And so, as we come this morning to Luke chapter 9, we see in verse 51, a perfect example of what wholehearted commitment looks like, and it's quickly followed by four broken examples, broken but common examples amongst the community of faith, at least the visible community of faith, of lacking commitment. So, let me read the text and then we'll begin to work our way down through it: Luke chapter 9 and reading from verse 51. Luke chapter 9, reading from verse 51.

"When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. And they did not receive Him because He was traveling to Jerusalem. When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, 'Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?' But He turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village.

"As they were going on the road, someone said to Him, 'I will follow You wherever you go.' And Jesus said to him, 'The foxes have holes and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.' And He said to another, 'Follow Me.' But he said, 'Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.' But He said to him, 'Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.' Another also said, 'I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say goodbye to those at my home.' But Jesus said to him, 'No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.'"

I said a few moments ago this passage begins with the ultimate, the perfect, the greatest of great examples, and it's Jesus Himself there in verse 51. If you want to understand what it looks like to follow the call, to live out what God's will is for your life, to pursue discipleship to the outermost, to follow the call of God in your life, then we can look first and foremost at the modeled example set before us in verse 51, the example of Jesus Himself.

Verse 51 says, "When the days were approaching for His ascension," – literally His taking up – "He was determined, literally, He set His face – "to go to Jerusalem." Jesus models here a perfect commitment to the plan and the purpose of His Father. The text stresses – do you notice – what it was that drove Him all the way through this ministry. What was it that pushed Him forward? We have a tendency to think that Jesus through His earthly pilgrimage was moved by the cross.

But what does verse 51 say? It wasn't so much the cross, but what came after His ascension, "When the days were approaching for His ascension." It's a word that is used to speak of His being brought up, His being taken up into heaven. It's a word that appears in various aspects of Jewish literature generally. It's only used here specifically in the New Testament, but it's a word that appears in the Old Testament in 2 Kings 2:11 to describe how Elijah went up in a whirlwind into heaven. That's the word. The verb form of the word appears three times in Acts. In Acts chapter 1, remember Luke, the doctor who wrote the gospel we're studying. He also wrote Acts, and he employed the verb form of this word three times in Acts chapter 1, verse 2, verse 11, verse 22. Each time it is being used to describe Jesus' ascension into heaven.

And so, what we're learning here is that what drove Jesus through His earthly pilgrimage, what caused Him to take each step closer and closer to the cross, to His punishment, to all that trial that lay before Him was not the cross, not even His resurrection, but it was the hope of His ascension. It was that that motivated Him to set His face like a flint to go to Jerusalem.

It's a really helpful lesson. Sometimes people have in their heads Jesus is some sort of masochist that runs towards suffering. He wasn't drawn to the suffering itself. He wasn't seeking to be some sort of liberal Christian example of sacrifice for sacrifice's sake. Rather, do you remember what Hebrews 12:2 says? "It was for the joy that was set before Him that He endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of God the Father."

When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was filled with this determination to keep going to Jerusalem. That's a helpful lesson for us as Christians. If you have lived long enough, you know there are trials, difficulties, disappointments, hardships that come with being a believer in this present age. How do you keep stepping forward? Well, our modeled example here shows us. It's not simply to finish, it's what lies beyond that finish line. It's the hope of heaven. It's the hope of paradise. It's the hope primarily of being with Him that drives us.

Sometimes as Christians, we can get pulled into only thinking of the here and now. Our Lord shows us the example of how one can move through this life in a consistent way, and it comes by not focusing on simply the here and now, or even the end of our earthly pilgrimage, but fixing our eyes beyond that to the reward and the fellowship, the rich fellowship we will enjoy with God himself.

Here Jesus is moved by the hope of a glory that is rightfully His, a place at the Father's right hand, a place He is abundantly worthy for. But He is eager to be there. He's eager to go through the suffering because of what awaits Him on the other side. And the text says, literally, "He set His face," He was determined. The translation there, "determined," is a good translation, or that, "He set His face." It means that He can't be moved, He can't be wavered, He can't be swung another direction. He is determined, He is settled, He is unmovable in His desire to go.

We would say today His heart was set upon it at the very core of who He was, that He was determined to head to Jerusalem. He knew what was ahead, and yet He was bold and settled on going. He was committed to doing His father's will even though what lay ahead was hard, and even though it came with great cost. He trusted that the result at the end, that ascension to the right hand of the Father, that would make it worth it. And that unwavering commitment through trial and fire, because of the glory that was set before Him, what an example He leaves with us, an unwavering determination to keep stepping forward through this earthly pilgrimage, no matter how hard it is, no matter how difficult the next few steps will be. That's true commitment, that's amazing commitment, and it's the type of commitment that God calls us to.

What comes next in the text is the opposite. What comes next in the text is we see four examples of how people often get it wrong, how people often compromise, how people are willing in their own heart to tolerate a much less significant commitment, something that falls short of what God requires for us. And if that's the case, like we'll see with James and John, it'll hinder your service. And sometimes, as we'll see with the other three examples, it stops your service ever beginning.

Combative Commitment

Look, first of all, at the combative commitment, that faulty combative commitment that we see in verses 54 and 55. In fact, look at verse 52 to see the context. It says in verse 52, "and Jesus sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. And they did not receive Him because He was traveling toward Jerusalem."

The context of what we're going to see in James and John comes around a tension that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Jews and the Samaritans and some didn't like each other. They were hostile to each other. They were probably as close as you could get – kind of like the Canadians and the Americans – as close as you could get, but still very different, okay? You know what I mean.

There was a lot of similarities in their history. In fact, they traced their history through the same lines. But for the Jews, the Samaritans were the half-breeds, the ones who were genetically compromised, and not just genetically compromised, far more important to them than that, they were religiously compromised. They had a similar but different religious system. You think of the way we think of many of the cults today. Some of the cults – think of Jehovah Witnesses or the Mormons – they use a lot of Christiany language, but they are not us; they're very, very different. Well, that was the tension that we have before us between the Jews and the Samaritans.

Do you remember in John chapter 4, Jesus sits down at the well and the Samaritan woman comes. What does she do? Well, she asks Him the question, "Should we be worshiping in our place or in Jerusalem in Your place?" They were very conscious of that tension. And what really to the Samaritan mind exemplified that tension and difference was Jerusalem because that's where the temple was. That's where the Jewish religious system that they were excluded from. That's where its Mecca was, where the heart of all that would take place in that system took place. And so for the Samaritans, they were hostile to the Jews, but they were particularly hostile when they saw them going on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to that religious center.

And so, these particular Samaritans in the text, they see the, "Here they are again, Jewish travelers coming down the road, heading to that other place, and they come in and they want to engage in commerce by ourselves. Well, we have no time for them." That's the mentality. They didn't want to engage. They didn't want to be part of it. And so, verse 54, "When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, 'Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?'"

Do you know these two boys? They have a nickname. Remember? Like, "Jesus, yes." What was it? The sons of thunder. Now, you don't call somebody a son of thunder because they're cute and cuddly. If a son of thunder is playing Monopoly with you, you want to be just outside arm's reach. You know what a son of thunder is like. There's a passion, there's a seal, there's an enthusiasm, but boy could it explode into violence at any moment. And that's these two men. They are enthusiastic, they are sincere. They are followers of Jesus, but they have no control over that passion, and it comes out in aggressive ways.

What's interesting is it's not an anti-biblical way of expressing itself. That request in verse 54, "Let us pray down fire"; well, Elijah did that very thing. Elijah prayed that fire would come down and consume an army that was seeking to destroy. And you think of the Bible, often in the Bible we see language, especially eschatological language of fire being used to judge righteously those who are enemies of God. And so, you can imagine James and John being like, "We're just praying the Bible. We're just saying the Bible." They felt that they were not just entitled to their claim, but righteous in their claim. They have an incredible zeal here, but one that is wholly unacceptable to God.

Look at verse 55: "But Jesus turned and rebuked them." That word "rebuked," that's a very strong word. That's an intense word. Usually it's only employed to describe how Jesus rebuked demons. And here He takes that same language. That same language is used to describe the tone of the rebuke He issued against these two followers. Jesus is insisting here that His kingdom is not to be built by fights through judgment and zealous attacks, His kingdom has always been built through weakness, through suffering, and over the centuries, through death. Jesus didn't commission these two to condemn sinners to judgment; rather, He commissions us all to hold out the grace of the gospel, to hold out good news to a lost and dying world. That's altogether different.

I think it's so easy for followers of Christ to fall into the trap especially, especially in a world where we can literally communicate what we think in the heat of a moment so quickly to everybody. It is so easy to fall into the trap of having a ministry of attack rather than a ministry of good news proclamation. That's very different. We think both are Christian; that's altogether different.

So, let me ask you, "Are there places where you draw lines? Are there points where you would refuse to hold out the gospel, particular groups within Dallas, immigrants that have come in and settled, particular social classes that you do not click with, people who come from particular messy backgrounds, maybe people who have come with a legacy of sexuality issues and sin. Sometimes, like these two men, we can become marked by a type of commitment that is more combative than true.

Now, don't get me wrong. Jesus never condones sin. I'm not asking you to do that. But Jesus was a friend of sinners. And even those who wouldn't sell Him food, He considered the bigoted anger of His disciples in that moment demonic. Jesus calls His followers to live as aliens in this world, to be salt, to be light. We're not judge and executioner, we leave that to the Lord. We hold out the gospel of good news. That's the first broken commitment that someone fall into the trap of being marked by a combative commitment to Jesus.

Comfort Commitment

The second broken commitment is a comfort commitment, a comfort commitment. Look at verse 57: "As they were going on the road, someone said to Him, 'I will follow You wherever You go.'" That looks good, doesn't it? We love to hear some of these, particularly that type of commitment to Jesus. Here's the point though: words are easy to say. People can say all the right things and their heart be still alien from God. They can articulate a true repentance, a true commitment, and yet the reality is they are estranged from the Savior.

And so, Jesus, He knows the heart and He speaks right to that moment, and He says in verse 58, "The foxes of holes and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." The "Son of Man," that's a term obviously speaking of Jesus. It's not talking about the fact He was human – though He very much was 100 percent human, too – it's a term that first appears in the book of Daniel and it's used to speak of one in particular who would come and live in this world but reign overall, a mighty warrior, an unstoppable king, one who has ultimate power, ultimate authority, who will rule over all.

So, it's not a soft title, it's a significant title. It's a strong title. It's a warrior title. And this One who is over and above all, Jesus says here will lack even the basic comforts in this life. Foxes are better off than He is. Birds of the air are better off than He is, for they have nests. The implication is this King of kings and Lord of lords, He won't even have a pillow. And if He doesn't, well, how can His followers expect anything less themselves?

You see, Jesus' kingdom is not of this world, and so committed followers of Jesus can't hope in comfort or presume on comfort. In fact, biblically, given the vast evidence in the Scripture and in church history, we'd be better presuming the opposite, that there will be difficulties and hardship and trials and opposition that mark our existence in this world. And yet so many run around wanting comfort first: "I'm committed to Jesus as long as everything's easy."

And in that mentality, it's so easy to slip into, but it affects everything. So often people adopt that mentality even when it comes to worship: "Oh, I'm one who worships Jesus. I go to church when the time suits me and it doesn't clash with a game. I go but I don't serve because that's a little too much like hard work."

Do you remember what we were singing earlier? "He came. He paid it all," not part, all, all. And yet you won't turn up unless you get a cup of coffee first. That's not following Jesus. Too often we think we're doing okay. That's not following Jesus, that's fair-weather Christianity and it ultimately will break down. It cannot last. Too many seek the pseudo-commitment when it's comfortable and only comfortable, and that's not real.

Convenience Commitment

So, you have this combative commitment, you have this comfort commitment. You have a convenience commitment to also reflect it in the text. Look at verse 59: "And He said to another, 'Follow Me." But he said, 'Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.'"

Now, that word "first" is very important, we'll talk a little bit more about that in a moment. But notice the request in and of itself in verse 59. The inquirer, he says here, "Just let me go and bury my father first of all." Now that wasn't bad. In fact, it's good. If a family member dies, you should be involved in honoring and recognizing the death. It was important, it still is important. In fact, we can go even further and say it was commanded. Exodus 18:20 commanded that "you should bury the dead." That wasn't an optional thing in that sense.

And yet, look at how Jesus responds to that request in verse 60: "He said to him, 'Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.'" That's sharp, isn't it, maybe even harsh when we first read it. Certainly, it's dramatically in contrast to the values that mark Jewish society, and indeed, even the values, we could say, that marked the Mosaic Law and the way it was understood in that society. It's still shocking for us today. If you called one of the elders here at Trinity and asked them for advice about burying your loved one, and they said, "Let the dead bury their own dead," there may be a church transfer going on very quickly.

Jesus' words here are so poignant, but they're purposeful. Jesus is saying that in that moment, His presence and the priority, remember, "Let me first go," the priority of following Him, that takes precedent over everything else, even the Mosaic Law. Jesus is making a statement here of His greatness, of His superiority, of the priority that goes with Jesus for the child of God. He is the one that must be first.

Now, obviously, He does affect our relationship with our family. He calls us to love, to care, to honor, all of that's true. But the issue here that He's drawing attention to is priority: Who comes first? We do love our family, we do work hard, we do behave in reasonable ways under His lordship, but it's His lordship that He's highlighting here must be the central element in our life. He is saying here He is greater than even the Law, and He must come first.

He calls us, doesn't He? If we are followers of Him, like Him, we are to love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength, and love our neighbor as ourselves. That's what He said. But so often we can twist or prioritize other things, the letter of the law, over and above that.

Do you remember the story Jesus told of the Good Samaritan? It's a great example, isn't it? This Jewish man is mugged, left for dead at the side of the road. The first two men that come across him are religious men, and they cross over to the opposite side of the road to head on their way to church to worship. To engage with him would have left them unclean, so they continue on their way because church comes first. Did you see how subtly we can use even the word of God, the law, to overshadow the priorities that Christ has called us to live with? That's the point here. Jesus is saying that our heart must first and foremost be moved under His lordship. He must come first.

So often we try and entice people to Jesus by, I think, ultimately sending out the wrong message: "Come to church with me. Try this Christianity thing, you might find it's good. You might find it's nice. You might like a little bit of this. You might find it helps you a little bit in life." Where do you find that in here?

What does Jesus say? In fact, what did He say here? He issues not an invitation but an order. "Follow Me," is the command. He's not saying, "Guys, if you want to, come along. We'll make you feel warm and cozy. Follow Me." He's issuing an order to dying men and women, "Follow Me," and it's an all or nothing command. It's a, "Follow Me," as in Jesus comes first. He takes priority. Is your commitment to Jesus first or a commitment to Him only when it suits, only whenever everything else is in place, only whenever it's convenient for me.

Cultural Commitment

A combative commitment, a comfort commitment, a convenience commitment. The last broken commitment in verses 61 and 62 is a "cultural commitment, a cultural commitment." Look at verse 61: "Another also said, 'I will follow You, Lord; but first' – again there's our word – 'permit me to say goodbye to those at my home.'"

Again, that's not weird. In Jewish tradition that would have been the baseline expectation. It still is the baseline expectation. Like, if some of these children in the front row were suddenly to go off down the road and get frozen yogurt or whatever it happens to be, there would be an expectation, a command, that you first and foremost said to mom and dad; like, that's normal. That's how society tends to work. You would inform.

In fact, you think back to Elijah. When Elijah identifies Elisha as the one to be his ultimate successor, and they're going to have this overlap in ministry, Elijah gives permission in 1 Kings chapter 19 for Elisha to go home and to say goodbye to his family first. So, it's not without precedent. But Jesus' ministry here is bigger than the Mosaic Law. It's even bigger than the example of the prophets; for this is Jesus Himself, and everything else has to secede to His authority, even present.

I remember whenever I first went to Emmanuel Baptist Church where I currently serve, and I said this in the first hour, I should have not said it in the second because I'm worried it's going to get me in trouble. When I first went to the church, we would have these meetings where we would try and make decisions, and everything that we were deciding, the main argument that was brought to the table was, "Well, there's a precedent for that." Your precedent decide it, at that stage anyway – hopefully it's different now – over this Book being opened, and it's talking about what the Lord requires.

Precedent can be a very dangerous thing, in the life of the church. Cultural expectations can be a very dangerous thing in our commitment to following Jesus. Do we follow only when the world expects us to follow? Do we come to church only when our parents expect us to turn up at church? Do we do it only whenever it's convenient and it fits in with expectations at our workplace? When the world says you must and at the same time Jesus says you must, who wins? Is it family first or Jesus first? Is it work first or Jesus first? Is it your hobby first or Jesus first? Now, he obviously, under His lordship, he has instruction, and there's implications for all these other spheres of life. But the question and the issue when it comes to commitment and following is priority: "Is He the first and foremost priority?"

The question raised here at the end of chapter 9 is, "Does Jesus come first? because, well, nothing else matters, or does something else take over?" Is He more important than home? Is He the driver more than family? Is He what dictates how the day is spent more than the promotion we're aiming or angling for? Is He first over sport, even if you're good at it? And does He come first in the call He issues over your life more than your happiness or immediate happiness that you imagine you will get?

Look at verse 62: "But Jesus said to him, 'No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.'" Jesus never softens or apologizes for the high call of discipleship. His call, His standard is higher than you have in your head right now. It's a full, complete, total commitment. That's what He requires from His followers. That's what He's calling for here.

You've heard the Bible say, "No one can serve two masters." That's true. You cannot serve two masters, primarily because Jesus won't accept it. In the world, people are happy for you to serve two masters, please your wife, please your boss, please whatever. We're full of compromise in the world. But when it comes to the call of Christ, He says, "No one can serve two masters." He demands a full and a complete commitment from His followers. He must come first. Well, are you committed to Jesus that way?

Jesus wasn't committed to do His Father's will whenever it suited Him, He followed and was committed to His Father's will though it brought great cost. And that's the pattern that He calls His followers to engage in. And yet the reality is most of us do fall short because we get caught up in a combative mentality. We get stuck in prioritizing our comfort. It's only whenever everything's convenient for us or it's only as the culture, or family, or world around us prioritizes what the Bible says we should prioritize. Remember what the Bible says: "The gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow, and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it." You have some level of commitment this morning if you're here, but what label would you put on your commitment this morning? What one of these descriptors mark your commitment?

Now, James and John obviously were true disciples of Jesus, and in this moment, their walk is being hindered by their faulty commitment, but they're true. See the other three? We have no reason to think that there was any truth in them. Even the one that spoke those bold words in verse 57, "I will follow You wherever You go," they were empty words. We have no reason to believe from the text that there was anything more than words there. Be very careful if you simply base your assumptions on what somebody says. Words are easy, following is very, very different.

James and John, they were true Christians. Their progress was hurt through their wonky commitment. These others, it was completely empty. They flirted with commitment. They said the prayer, they said the right words, but ultimately, they never responded to the true call of Jesus. There is no place for, "I will be committed on the condition that." There is no place for, "I will be committed, but first let me."

Has your commitment to Jesus to this point been false, been one of these broken versions that ultimately ends in destruction? The amazing thing with Jesus is when we are committed to Him, He is committed to us. And the way that shows itself is when the individual is truly a follower of Jesus, there will be transformation that comes in their life. That has to happen. In fact, as we close, open your Bibles to Acts chapter 8. I saw everybody talking to each other trying to work out what happened there.

The book of Acts is the second volume. The Dr. Luke, he wrote the gospel of Luke, and he wrote Acts, and he, I think, maybe had a chuckle to himself as he recorded the history here of what took place because true disciples change. And John, that son of thunder, who in Luke 9:54 said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" is the same character we read about in Acts 8:14.

"Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and" uh-oh – "John," - it's going to get violent; verse 15 – "who came down and prayed for them that they would receive the Holy Spirit. For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." Verse 17, "Then they" – that's Peter and that son of thunder that wanted the Samaritans all burnt – "he began laying hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit." At one stage he wanted to call fire down upon them, now he's praying that the fire of the Holy Spirit would indwell them. Isn't that amazing?

And even better, look down to verse 25: "So, when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans." They're going back to Jerusalem. Remember that's what they were doing the last time? Now they're doing it again. But this time, per John – I say, per Peter. I think Peter was trying to get back to Jerusalem. John, every time he sees the Samaritan village, hooks Peter in the arm and goes, "Let's do one more. Let's do one more. Let's do one more." He can't walk past the Samaritan village on the way to Jerusalem because he so wants to proclaim to those people he was once hateful towards the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. How does that happen? How does a son of thunder become, as he was dubbed by the early church, the apostle of love? Jesus brings transformation. True followers of Jesus, He will change. He will change.

Conclusion

Now, why do I say that? Because while I do want you to examine yourself and recognize if your commitment to Christ is absent, lacking, partial and insufficient, I also want to remind you that the hope of change is not in yourself. You may be a broken mess this morning, and I want to proclaim to you that Jesus is better. And Jesus, the mercy He offers, as we sang earlier, is more, and it is sufficient, not simply to save you, but ultimately to complete that work that He begins in you to bring it to completion, to transform us into the image of Christ, not through simply our effort, but through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us and insisting on conforming us to the image of Christ.

Now, it starts, true discipleship always starts with an appeal to God for mercy. Jesus told that story about the sinner in the temple who, broken by the reality of who he was, simply beat his chest and said, "God, have mercy on me, the sinner." The Bible assures us that while there is salvation found in no one else than Jesus Christ, we can't conjure this up by ourself, it is found in Jesus Christ. The Bible declares, "He who seeks Me will find Me when he seeks Me with all his heart." There is hope to be found in Jesus.

You've come to church for a very long time and you're sitting, under the word of Scripture and you see that there has just been routine and half-hearted commitment at best, not the zealous priority of Jesus Christ that He calls us to. How do you respond? You respond, as Scripture says, by calling out first and foremost to God to forgive, to show mercy, not trusting in yourself or even your prayerfulness in that moment, but trusting in the fact that God is a generous God who is merciful to all who call genuinely to Him in repentance. Let's pray.

[Prayer] Our heavenly Father, we love You. We are so thankful that You loved us before we ever could love You. And You so loved us that You sent Your Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. We thank You for the grace that has called us to follow Him. And Lord, we pray for a sincerity in our repentance. We pray for a genuineness in our commitment to Jesus Christ. And we ask that we would leave this place and not simply slip into the broken patterns and marks of distraction and half-heartedness and any and every other priority, but that we would truly fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and that You would give us the grace to run well, the race marked out for us.

"Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."