Luke 9:51 – 62
June 27, 2010
“Standing at the Edge of Tomorrow”
Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The sermon this morning is from the Gospel reading.
“Let the dead bury their own dead….” (Luke 9:60) “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) Today the Gospel of Luke places before us what seem to be difficult decisions. These hardly sound like loving, caring words from Jesus. However, these words show just how much Jesus does care about us and our commitment to God. He has clarified what God expects of us in words we can comprehend. He is preparing us to make a choice by defining what must be our first priority: Our Lord.
A friend of mine during my college years at Michigan State University was part of the swim team. She was a platform diver. Often we would swim together and she offered to teach me a few basic dives off the 3 meter springboard. I also wanted to experience what it would be like to jump from the 10 meter platform—her standard format for diving.
Have you ever jumped off a 10 meter platform? It’s high to look at it, even higher as you climb the ladder to it, but standing at the edge of the platform and looking down from the equivalent of a 3rd story window into 20 feet of water was (for me) quite terrifying. Standing at the edge of the platform I had to choose—jump into the water or go back. No one was forcing me to make the decision. No one was going to make the decision for me. It was just me and the water. I jumped. It was exhilarating.
However, the next time up the ladder and standing at the edge of the platform, I had to once again make the same decision. Jump into the water or go back. Making the choice a second time was just as difficult as the first, even though I had already successfully completed the jump.
We are faced with the same choice regarding God. However, we aren’t standing at the edge of a platform looking down into a pool of water. Rather, think of the choice as standing at the edge of tomorrow. We are looking at our lives graciously given to us by God. We aren’t promised tomorrow.
We have only been given today to make the choice. We are standing at the edge of tomorrow, today. Every today we have the opportunity to choose God. Isn’t that exciting?
When Jesus says, “Let the dead bury the dead,” he is telling us that God must be our priority. We are to go and proclaim the Kingdom of God. When a man asks to say good-bye to his family before following Jesus, Jesus again says no. It’s God that must come first. And here’s the really exciting part—we get to choose whether or not God will be first in our lives. No one is forcing us to make the decision. No one will make the decision for us. Just like I got to choose when standing at the edge of the diving platform whether or not to jump, we get to chose when standing at the edge of tomorrow whether or not God will be first in our lives.
Perhaps the words of the Old Testament sound more familiar to us than those from the Gospel of Luke. Exodus 20:2 - 3: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” Jesus is living and teaching the First Commandment. He states the commandment in everyday language with no room for misinterpretation.
Jesus chose to never waiver from the First Commandment and God’s will for his life. He honored no other gods. Luke tells us that Jesus “set his face on Jerusalem.” Jerusalem, of course, is where Jesus was crucified and died. Where will we set our faces? Will we set our faces toward God or on earthly comforts? What will be our priority—our one single priority? What will we do TODAY as we stand at the edge of tomorrow? You see, we don’t know when our “day will draw near” for us to leave this earth, but it does draw nearer every day. Let’s not wait to make our choice. Let’s choose God every today.
This doesn’t mean it will be easy to make that decision. Often it is easier to ignore or postpone God’s call than it is to learn the life of a disciple. It’s natural to assume there will always be a “tomorrow”—a day in the future when it will be more convenient to put God first. And living at the edge of tomorrow means we may always be just a little uncomfortable because there will be self-examination, learning, and change. We will be trusting God’s love as we grow in our discipleship.
Discipleship requires commitment. Richard J. Schaffer, Jr., Associate Dean of the Seminary at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary states, (quote) “Faith can be expressed and experienced in a variety of ways, but there comes a time in each one’s journey when it is necessary clearly and unequivocally to declare the depth of that commitment.” (end quote) “Partnership with Jesus in his mission”, writes Elaine A. Heath, McCreless Associate Professor of Evangelism at the Perkins School of Theology, “will require rugged commitment. To be a Christ-follower is to walk the way of Jesus regardless of the outcome.” (end quote)
Jesus refers to this commitment in today’s Gospel (Luke 9:58) when he says “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head”. He is referring to the life of a disciple. Earth is not our place to rest—it is our place to learn and live like Jesus. This world is not supposed to be too comfortable. I’m not necessarily referring to creature comforts but rather the challenge of learning, growing, trusting God’s love, applying what we have learned, making mistakes, growing a little more, and trying to fulfill God’s will for our lives. Our prize will be the Kingdom of God. Isn’t that worth the sacrifice, the challenge, and the life of a disciple?
What if we don’t choose God every day? Will God consume us with fire as James and John requested of Jesus for the Samaritans? No, thankfully, He will not. Jesus died so we would NOT be consumed by fire or sin. The phrase “standing at the edge of tomorrow” is a line from the theme song to the TV series “Saved by the Bell: The College Years”. This is appropriate because we ARE saved, not by the bell, of course, but by Jesus. Thus, everything we do, every choice we make, is a response to what Jesus Christ has done for us. Knowing this, will we choose to be a disciple of Jesus?
Jesus was NOT accepted by everyone. When he set his face on Jerusalem, he was not accepted by the Samaritans. He met opposition throughout his life. We may experience the same fate. When we stand at the edge of tomorrow and choose God, there may be some who won’t accept us or our choice. However, we will be in far better company with the likes of Elijah, Elisha, Paul, and Jesus than worrying about what others think of us. Our focus should be on the choice we get to make. It’s about our personal relationship with God and not about what someone else chooses to do or not do.
We are all free to make God first in our lives. The apostle Paul tells us that in the second lesson today. Galatians 5:1, “For freedom, Christ has set us free”. Jesus died so we can have the freedom of choice. His death gives us the choice to stand at the edge of tomorrow and choose—or not choose—God.
So let’s choose God as our priority when experiencing joy and happiness. Let’s choose God as our priority when conflict and doubt enter our lives. Let’s choose God. We do not HAVE to go to church and attend Sunday School, or HAVE to pray and read the Bible, or HAVE to help with Vacation Bible School.
Instead, with God as our chosen priority, we WANT to attend church to worship and glorify God. We are honored to build our relationship with God through prayer and Bible Study. We are excited about the discipleship growth we will experience and share in Vacation Bible School.
Do you sense the difference? It’s about passion because we chose God. Jesus was full of passion. That’s why his words “Let the dead bury their own dead” and don’t “look back” are SO forceful and definitive. He wanted to leave NO doubt as to the fact that God must come first in our lives. He is passionate about our salvation. When standing at the edge of tomorrow and making our choice, Jesus leaves us no room to say we didn’t understand or to rationalize another choice.
Our lives are about standing at the edge of tomorrow. God is calling us. We have the freedom to make the decision to choose God TODAY. Why wait to make our choice? Let’s passionately choose God every today.
We are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ and serve God with no other gods before us. So let the dead bury their own dead and don’t look back. Let’s make our choice for the Kingdom of God. Each of us is standing at the edge of tomorrow—God’s tomorrow—today.
I’d like to close with the Prayer of the Day. Let us pray. “Sovereign God, ruler of all hearts, you call us to obey you, and favor us with true freedom. Keep us faithful to the ways of your Son, that, leaving behind all that hinders us, we may steadfastly follow your paths, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.” Amen.
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