Journey Into Discipleship

Luke 9:51 When the days  drew  near for Him to be taken up, (ascension)  He set his face to go to  Jerusalem.

31 who appeared in glory  and spoke of his departure  (τὴν ἔξοδον),  which he was about to  accomplish at Jerusalem

Luke 9:23 And he said to all,  "If anyone would come after  me,  let him deny himself   and take up his cross daily and follow me."

Luke 14: 27 "Whoever does not bear  his own cross  and come  after me  cannot be my disciple."

See the bookends here: three pictures of why you should be a disciple in Luke 14, paralleling the three examples of poor discipleship we looked at last week in chapter 9: the fellows who wanted to have a house first, wanted to go home first, or looked back.

Chapter ten tells us about Loving others and loving God.

The bottom line issues of these two sections in chapters 10 and 11 are about the outward look toward others and the upward look towards the Lord.

Both deal with the real problem for discipleship: we are all by nature self-centred narcissistic people.

Narcissist.  You have heard the term. 

Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental health condition in which people have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance. They need and seek too much attention and want people to admire them. People with this disorder may lack the ability to understand or care about the feelings of others.

What are the symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder?

SPECIAL ME 

Sense of self-importance

Preoccupation with power, beauty, or success 

Entitled

Can only be around people who are important or special

Interpersonally exploitative for their own gain

Arrogant

Lack empathy

Must be admired

Envious of others or believe that others are envious of them

There Are Three Sorts of People

The Beater­Uppers 

There are a lot of beater-uppers. Pornographers are beater-uppers. Race haters are

beater-uppers. A lot of beater-uppers! People who oppress the poor are beater-uppers. People who push dope are beater-uppers. The world is filled with the beater-uppers.

The Passer-byers

And then there are the passer-­uppers. I think this is the group that really broke the heart of the Lord Jesus. Here this lawyer was one of these passer-­uppers, I'm just quite certain: "He, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbour?" (Luke 10:29) Not wanting to spend any extra effort. Not wanting to go and dirty his hands with helping anybody that he didn't have to help. If he's got to love his neighbor, he wants to make certain that he doesn't overdo it.

Now the passer-­uppers are subdivided into two groups. First of all, there was a priest in verse 31. Look and you'll see there was a priest: "And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side." (Luke 10:31) Now the priest represents religion. When you think of a priest, you think of religion. And there's nothing wrong with being an Old Testament priest. Of course, in the New Testament, all of us are priests. And we don't know anything of priestcraft, because we're all priests in the New Testament. But there's nothing wrong with being a priest. God ordained priests in the Old Testament. But here was a man who had religion, but he didn't have Jesus.

How do I know he had religion but he didn't have Jesus? Well, he didn't care about people. Look, I don't care how holy you are; I don't care how much money you give to this church; I don't care how you can sing or how you teach: if you don't have a love for these people who have been beat up by the devil, I don't think you know the Lord Jesus. I just don't think you do. And this priest was religious. He was up to his ear in religion. But he just passed by. Now, let me tell you something about religion. Religion without Christ is one of the meanest things around. Did you know that? You give a man religion but don't let him have the Lord Jesus, and you will make him a bigot and you'll make him cruel. The Apostle Paul before he was saved was a religious man, and that religious man participated in the persecution of the church and the stoning of Stephen. He had all of the accompaniments of religion. I mean, he had it all! He was a royal blueblood. And if you think religion is going to get you to heaven, I'm going to tell you, dear friend, it will carry you to hell just like that. It was a religious crowd that crucified Jesus. Jesus and relationship to Christ is different from pure old religion, as such. Now the priest, representing the religious crowd, just simply passed him by. Now Jesus, when He came to this world, came to save men from sin and religion. And many times it was easier to do the first than to do the second. As a matter of fact, Jesus said to those Pharisees, the religious crowd of His day, that "the harlots, the tax collectors, the sinners are going to heaven before you do." (Matthew 21:31) It was easier. You see, when a man is lost in religion,  he's really lost. It's a terrible thing for a person to have a form of godliness, to be outwardly religious, but not be born again. These people are mean, proud, bigoted, arrogant, and insensitive.

Then the Levite came. That's the second subgroup in this second group. The Levite represents the law. They were the custodians of the law, the givers of the law.  Verse 31: "And by chance there came down a certain priest." (Luke 10:31) verse 32: "And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him." (Luke 10:32) Yeah, you'd expect the Levite to do that. "Look at you!" he says. What a mess you are! What were you doing out here by yourself, anyway? You're not fit to live. Boy, I believe you're going to die. You deserve to die, ignoramus! Let that be a lesson to you!"

You see, that's all the law can do. This man is trying to justify himself by the law.

And Jesus said the law wasn't much of a help to this man. The Levite wasn't much of a help to this man. You see, what the law can do is describe us, and the law can condemn us; but the law cannot lift us, and the law cannot save us.

C. The Picker­Uppers

Then, there's a third group there;; it wasn't a group, just one person, a Samaritan: the picker-­upper. Look, if you will, in verse 33 and following of this same chapter: "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,"—do you know what the word compassion means? It means "to suffer with, to feel with"—com-­, meaning "with"; -­passion, "to feel"—"and he went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own donkey, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him." (Luke 10:33–34)

Now, whom does that represent? Well, I want to tell you whom it represents. It pictures Jesus Christ Himself. That Good Samaritan was Jesus' way of describing Himself. Now, who were the Samaritans? Well, they certainly weren't like the priests. The Samaritans  were despised and rejected.

They had been people brought from Assyria, from all the countries the Assyrians had conquered an amalgum of people, who were to repopulate the area of Israel after the Israelites had been sent by God into permanent exile. They were despised and hated by the Jews (Judeans who had gone into exile and returned to the Land.  Jesus was despised and rejected of man. This one that everybody else looked down on, this one that everybody else criticized, I believe Jesus used as a model, as a description, of Himself. And I want you to see how like Jesus this Good Samaritan was, and why I believe that Jesus was using the Good Samaritan as an illustration of Himself.

Now in the first place, he was out there seeking people to help. You say, "How do you know?" Well, look at the scripture again in verse 33: "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was." (Luke 10:33) Now the others, by chance; but this man comes right there. I mean, he's looking for someone to help. You see, the others came by chance. But not this man. Did you know that when he came, he had bandages with him—because he bound up the wounds? He had oil with him. He had wine with him. I mean, he was out there looking for somebody to help. His eyes are seeking all around—not by chance.

Luke 19:10 says, "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."

The Lord Jesus Christ, through His body, the church those who area really His, since He has ascended to heaven, His body, the church, is in the business of seeking and saving the lost. You see, not only was He seeking; He was also saving. He came to this man who is at the point of death,  and he binds up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine.  And here comes this man, this despised and rejected Samaritan: he's seeking, he's saving, and he is securing. He brings him to an inn and says, "Take care of him. Take care of him at my expense. And whatever you spend, I'll repay when I come again."

The Lord Jesus as compassion on these people.

Compassion

He Comforts

He Covers

He Carries

He Cares

His church is to Comfort those beaten up by life.

His church is to Cover and help those beaten up by life.

His church is to Carry those beaten up by life.

His church is to care for those beaten up by life.

 Now by this time I think about all the hot air had gone out of this lawyer. I think he had probably gotten the lesson. I think he had seen there was nothing he could do to inherit eternal life. And he couldn't justify himself. And "by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." (Galatians 2:16) And all of his religion was no good. You see, the law requires love. But love requires life. And life requires the Lord Jesus. He is the answer to the whole thing.

 

The Law Demands Love

The law demands love. You can just take all of the Bible and just sum it up: The law demands love. Love God with all of your being. Love your neighbor as yourself. This much the lawyer got right.

All of God's commandments can be summarized in two simple directives: "Love God with all you've got" and "Love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus said all Old Testament Law and Prophets are summarized in these two directives. The first four of the Ten Commandments deal with loving God. If you love God you won't take His name in vain or worship an idol. The last six of the Ten Commandments deal with loving others. If you love your neighbor, you won't steal or lie.

 

Love Requires His Life

But there's something else you need to see: Not only does the law demand love, but love requires life. You see, how is he going to love? It's one thing to describe it, but it's another thing to do it. It's one thing to have the right answer; it's quite another thing to have the right action.  You can have all the right answers, and go to hell. Have you ever thought about the fact that when Herod wanted to know where Jesus would be born, he went to the scribes? And the scribes said He was going to be born, the Messiah would be born, in thus-­and-­such a place. And yet they were the ones that hated Him and demanded His execution and crucifixion. Isn't that strange that they at the same time had all of the facts, and yet in spite of all of the facts, they did not know the Lord?

The proof that a man has met the Good Samaritan, the Lord Jesus, is that he is going to do as the Good Samaritan does: "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." (John 20:21) And I believe with all of my heart that everybody is in one of three categories. Some of you are beater-­uppers. Most of you are passer-­byers. Thank God there are some picker-­uppers. I believe the picker-­uppers are like Jesus. And I don't see how a man can claim to be a Christian and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ if he neglects the commands of Jesus.

We Should Have a Genuine Compassion

We Should Have a Gracious Compassion

We Should Have a Gentle Compassion