I WANT SOME OF THAT
2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14 & Luke 9:51-62
I started this sermon with the story of the two very different prophets Elijah and his student Elisha. The student wanted to have the confidence and Spirit of his mentor Elijah and so as they are saying goodbye Elisha asks for a double share of his teacher’s Spirit. And as you see in the scripture he receives that spiritual power. He too can part the water of the
One writer has comments on this story: “The “takeaway” from this text is that the history of God’s people is populated by a succession of incredible witnesses, and that every time it seems the story is drawing to a close, someone new surfaces to carry the mantle forward. Add that this is our story, that is, the story of the people of God, and we are expected to carry God’s banner forward in our day and in our part of the world.”
In the gospel Luke 9 tells us that Jesus has many followers but some of them come to him hear his invitation and yet each has an impediment in their discipleship.
I use GALATIONS 5:1, for freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. To remind us that we what Jesus is offering, He is offering us the freedom to become his disciples. I illustrate that fact with a story from the great teacher of preaching Fred Craddock.
“Dr. Craddock tells of the time when he was twenty years old and learned that Albert Schweitzer was going to be in Cleveland, Ohio, to give an organ concert in a big church there. Not only was Albert Schweitzer a master organist, but he was also a medical doctor, philosopher, biblical scholar, lecturer, writer, and missionary. Following the concert, Dr. Schweitzer was going to remain in the fellowship hall for a dialogue and discussion with those who had questions for him.
“Craddock said that he had read Dr. Schweitzer's groundbreaking book, Quest for the Historical Jesus, and, as a naive twenty-year-old ministerial student, had disagreed with many of the conclusions Schweitzer reached in that classic work. So Craddock bought a Greyhound bus ticket and went to Cleveland, and all the way there, he listed the statements in Schweitzer's book with which he disagreed, along with specific references to page numbers. This was going to be his one chance to expose this scholar's faulty conclusions about Jesus. Craddock went there, heard Schweitzer's marvelous concert, then rushed to the fellowship hall, got a seat in the front row, and waited with his questions for the world-renowned scholar. After a while, Schweitzer came in, shaggy hair, big white mustache, stooped, and seventy-five years old, fifty-five years Craddock's senior. Schweitzer came in with a cup of tea and some refreshments, stood in front of the group and said, "You've been very warm and hospitable to me. I thank you for it, and I wish I could stay longer among you, but I must go back to Africa because my people there are poor and diseased and hungry and dying, and I have to go. We have a medical station at Lambarene. If there's anyone here in this room who has the love of Jesus, would you be prompted by that love to go with me and help me?"
“And Craddock said he looked down at all of his notes and his lap full of questions, and all of a sudden, those carefully crafted questions seemed utterly stupid and irrelevant. Craddock said it was there that day that he learned what it means to be a Christian and had hopes that he could be that someday (
“In the end, what matters most is not what we think about Jesus, what we say about Jesus, or even what we believe about Jesus, but whether we follow him.”
Holy Savior, you created us to be free and so often we bind our lives to things and people and give up our ability to follow you into the freedom that you offer. Help us to bury what is dead and not of your Spirit of new life so that we may follow you. Amen.
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