{"id":1259,"date":"2013-06-30T18:06:35","date_gmt":"2013-06-30T18:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/?p=1259"},"modified":"2020-12-02T11:17:11","modified_gmt":"2020-12-02T11:17:11","slug":"setting-your-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/setting-your-face\/","title":{"rendered":"Setting Your Face"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Luke 9:51-62<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

June 30, 2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today is literally the middle of 2013, 181 days are over and there are 184 days left. We are in our summer mode. Two weeks of Day Camp has already happened. Our Summer Series begins next Sunday. And our mind is focused on an upcoming vacation or at least, a slower pace at work. But for some reason you are here on a summer Sunday in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a preacher, I know that anybody preaching on Jesus has got to use some discretion. No preacher ever got hurt for quoting Jesus on \u201cconsider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin.\u201d But there are other words of Jesus, when spoken over a summer-time focused, complacent congregation, that feel like all work and no play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when there is a collection of Scriptures that we could choose from to preach on, we might avoid the more challenging, the more demanding ones and choose a nice word to preach. We might sugarcoat it so that you might not turn away and never come back. After all, it is summer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The church that we attended in Pennsylvania used to have a slogan that says, \u201cOpen Minds, Open Hearts, Open Doors.\u201d The purpose for this is to attract many to our church. I\u2019m all for drawing more toward the church but some people reacted with words like, \u201cThese are all very attractive and welcoming words, but they never mention Jesus.\u201d When a church consultant replied to the comments, he said, \u201cOur research has shown us that the word, \u201cJesus\u201d is a turnoff for many in our target audience. Better stick with the sweet and sentimental.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus\u2019 word may be the word of life, but they\u2019re often too tough for nine out of ten average self-centered Americans. For the most part, you want to hear a prosperity gospel. You would rather that I preach the Prayer of Jabez, \u201cIncrease my holdings!\u201d than to castigate the rich. You prefer that I coddle the rich and desert the poor in our cities and the impoverished countryside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toward Jerusalem<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In today\u2019s Gospel lesson, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. And we all know that when Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, he\u2019s not going on a summer vacation. First, someone comes up to Jesus and said he would follow him wherever he goes, but apparently, he was not ready to leave his home because Jesus said to him, \u201cFoxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.\u201d Sounds like this would-be follower wanted to have a confirmed hotel reservation before going on any further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then someone comes up to him and says, \u201cI\u2019ll follow you but first let me go bury my father.\u201d After all, doesn\u2019t one of the Ten Commandments tell us to honor our fathers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus responds, \u201cLet the dead bury their own dead; come with me and preach the Kingdom!\u201d Jesus is not saying to disrespect those who have died, but rather he seems to be saying to us to not dwell over such things when the dead are already with God and start focusing on what\u2019s ahead for you<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then finally another says, \u201cI\u2019ll follow you, but just let me say goodbye to my dear family.\u201d After all, don\u2019t we believe in family values?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus says, \u201cNo one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God\u201d which means no one who worries about such mundane and ordinary matters ought to try to be his disciples. Jesus is not into multi-tasking; he wants you to do only one thing and that is to follow him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hard words! No wonder many, like the rich young man, went away sadly. But what surprises me is that you are here. Despite all the good reasons for turning away, staying back or going in another direction, you are here. Many have turned away, but you, dear ones gathered here, have turned toward him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We wonder if Luke recorded these tough words of Jesus in order to judge us or to discourage us from following Jesus. Many, according to Luke, upon hearing the tough, demanding words of Jesus, turned away from Jesus, refused to follow. Let\u2019s face it, if you had reasons like needing a place to stay or attend a funeral especially since it\u2019s your father\u2019s or take a few seconds to say farewell before going on a long journey like going to missions in Thailand, you would say that those are pretty reasonable excuses. But Jesus didn\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Jesus<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s social media feeds allow friends to follow you as you go through your typical day. If you are writing a blog, or hosting a blog, you want to have as many \u201cfollowers\u201d as possible. Our son, Greg is very much into such social media by having people \u201cFollow Greg.\u201d One time I click his blog on and I saw him eating a muffin while driving to work! Why? I ask!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Greg is a piece of cake or muffin. But following Jesus is tough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The great Baptist theologian James McClendon said that when he was twelve his mother told him, \u201cIt\u2019s time for you to make a profession of faith and be baptized.\u201d McClendon replied, \u201cMama, I don\u2019t feel I want to be baptized yet.\u201d She replied, \u201cI don\u2019t care what you feel, you go tell the preacher that you have accepted Jesus and want to be baptized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So he went. His Baptist preacher said, \u201cSo, you want to be a Christian? Well, you know that if you are baptized it means that you promise to listen to Jesus and to do whatever he tells you. He might tell you to go to Africa and preach the gospel to the cannibals. He might tell you to get on a boat and go to China. We\u2019ve had two hundred Baptist missionaries killed in China. Jesus might tell you to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McClendon said that either the pastor didn\u2019t know anything about the perverted mind of a twelve-year old male or that he knew everything about the perverted mind of a twelve-year-old but his reply was, \u201cThis is great! Where do I sign up? I didn\u2019t know being a Christian would be this much fun!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think that\u2019s what the Thailand Mission Team said when they were presented with the opportunity to travel to the rural hill tribes in Thailand. When this challenging and demanding opportunity came to our church to trench along the road and to lay down water pipes, to mix and pour heavy concrete, to build latrines, to sweat and deal with mosquitoes and the possibility of malaria, the 18 people must have said, \u201cThis is great! Where do I sign up? I didn\u2019t know being a Christian would be this much fun!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Jesus as his disciples has never been easy. Following Jesus is not trying to attract lots and lots of people to come to our church for a sweet and sentimental experience of having \u201cOpen Minds, Open Hearts, Open Doors.\u201d Following Jesus is to hear him say to us hard, disruptive, but life-giving words. When we hear these tough and adventuresome words, we respond not with the normal, \u201cI can\u2019t do that!\u201d but rather with a hearty, \u201cHere I am, send me!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set His Face<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our lesson for today, the passage begins with \u201cWhen the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.\u201d Setting one\u2019s face is a common idiom in the Old Testament that denotes an individual\u2019s resolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem knowing what fate is waiting for him there. He is no passive victim of state-sponsored violence. But he has resolutely decided to go, knowing that it means a certain death. He didn\u2019t have to go. He resolutely decides to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus is not simply a victim of evil and violence; he is the strong warrior marching resolutely to engage the enemy. Rather than being portrayed as a victim, he is the potential victor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setting his face toward Jerusalem, Jesus did not permit anything or anyone to distract him from his mission. Whenever he met individuals who were preoccupied with other matters, even these would-be disciples along the way, Jesus kept his focus with his face toward Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is your Jerusalem? Where is God calling you to put your life on the line, letting go of all the things that you feel are that important to follow him? Those who went on the Thailand followed Jesus and set their faces on Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you were to set your face on something worthwhile, what might that be? Could it be to stop what you are so busily doing day after day so that you can do something new and transformative on a new day?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you know, I pray that I have been faithful to the Lord by setting my face toward Jerusalem. Honestly, my Jerusalems have been to come to San Francisco and to this fine church two times. My Jerusalem was going to Valley Forge and serve there for 20 plus years. And now God has added another Jerusalem for me and that is to set my face on the American Baptist denomination to serve as its President for the next two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Methodist Bishop William Willimon was the chaplain at Duke University, he attended a campus meeting one night when Teach America was there to recruit students. He went to see and listen to what all the fuss was about. He got to the auditorium where about 200 students were gathered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A woman arrived from Teach America. She stood up, looked out at the gathered students, and said, \u201cI don\u2019t know why I\u2019m here tonight. I can look at you and see that Duke is a first-class university. I know that this is a \u201cBMW school.\u201d You are all smart and ambitious. You can go on from here and get jobs on Wall Street, in government and industry. And here I am trying to talk you into throwing away some of the best years of your life teaching in some of the worst schools in the country for about $20,000 a year. We had two of our teachers beaten to death last year in their classroom! I can tell by looking at you that none of you are interested in that. So I won\u2019t keep you. But if by chance any of you think you\u2019re up for this, I\u2019ve got these brochures and you can come up here and get one. Meeting\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that those students jumped up and, pushing and shoving one another, mobbed the front and began fighting over those brochures. And Willimon sat there thinking, \u201cThe woman\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It just maybe that we are really eager to make a real difference in the world with our lives but no one has invited us to do this. Maybe we have grown so accustomed to the \u201cgood life\u201d of living in San Francisco where the rents are too high and houses are too expensive that we have this feeling that we have done our part and let others do the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We might not consider ourselves as would-be disciples but regardless of what our age or stage of life might be, perhaps we have too much house to care for or too many people we know who have health problems demanding our attention or too many relations that we can\u2019t possibly get away to set our faces toward Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus would say to us, \u201cNo one puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is indeed a tough text for a gentle warm summer Sunday like today. But Jesus is calling you to follow him today and if you are ready to hear his hard words, let us say, \u201cHere am I, send me! Take my life and use it for your kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forgive us, Lord, for the times when we lag behind in our life as followers of your Son. Forgive us when we give lip service instead of serving with our hearts. Forgive us when we falter because it is expected of us to not follow through instead of serving with passion. Stir within us a yearning to be more that we are, and create in us an enthusiasm so burning that others might see the light of Jesus the Christ in us. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke 9:51-62 June 30, 2013 Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco. Today is literally the middle of 2013, 181 days areContinue readingSetting Your Face<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[11,18],"class_list":["post-1259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donald-ng-sermons","tag-fcbc","tag-luke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1259"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2274,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1259\/revisions\/2274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}