Luke 9:37-62
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Introduction:
The disciples often get a bad rap. It’s somewhat of a cliché today to talk about how Peter is always putting his foot in his mouth. We Christians of the 21st Century often look back on the stories involving the twelve and go “why don’t you get it?” and “how can you do that?” and “how can you argue like that?” Reading of Peter denying Jesus three times, we are shocked and sometimes disgusted by it.
We do it a lot with the Exodus story too. Have you ever read the book of Exodus and how the people in the wilderness failed God over and over and you say “What’s wrong with you people? How can you not get it?” The moment they make a golden calf to worship instead of God is unbelievable!
Well, the stories today aren’t going to help the disciples’ reputations much! In this sermon, and the next too, we see the disciples fail multiple times in multiple ways. But rather than sit and point at them and judge them as we so often do, I want us to instead recognize how we so very often can fail in just the same kinds of ways. Let’s let their failings be an opportunity for us to learn and grow.
Theme: Three Ways the Disciples Failed – And What We can Learn from Them
Text: Luke 9:37-62
Verses 37-43 – First Failure: Being Faithless and Twisted
At first this looks like Jesus has insulted this unfortunate man whose child is suffering. But that’s because, for whatever reason, English translations rarely translate plural you. Whether you is referring to one person, or you is referring to many people, it is translated you.
But in Greek it is not that way. What Jesus says in verse 41 is really this “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you all and bear with you all? Bring your (singular) son here.”
Generation refers to all of Jesus’ contemporaries. By this word and the plural you, we know that He is referring to mankind in general with this comment. Not the suffering man. If it is directed at anyone in particular, it is directed at Jesus’ disciples. Jesus’ comment follows right after the revelation of their failure. It was their lack of faith and twistedness that prevented them from being able to cast out the demon.
Look back at 9:1 “And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons…”
Were these twelve disciples given power and authority over just a couple of demons or all of them? All of them. So why couldn’t they cast it out? Jesus says it – faithlessness and twistedness. The Greek word for twistedness, by the way, actually means to turn out of the way. It means going the wrong way: away from God. If you are aligned yourself to anything other than God, you are twisted.
Those are both failings common to mankind. For the disciples, Jesus had given them power and authority to help this man, but evidently they did not truly believe Him, hence the rebuke. And in some sense, perhaps because of their lack of faith, they were also going the wrong way.
But really, it’s a human problem. Jesus says generation. It’s not just something to point at the disciples and say “You goofballs! How can you lack faith and still be sinful? I’d never do something like that!”
How many times have you doubted Jesus or failed Him? A lot I bet!
Jesus has given us many blessings and promises. Do you have faith in those promises? What about this promise: He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ.
God is doing good things in you. He is gradually making you holier and more like Jesus. One day that work will be complete. Do you believe that, or do you believe that you are the one doing a good work in you and that you will bring it to completion? Or do you fail to believe and rest in the fact that it will all be better some day?
It’s interesting that we can trust God for our salvation, but we can then have a hard time trusting God for our spiritual growth. Our own efforts didn’t save us from sin to begin with, what makes us think we can do it on our own now?
Another similar promise: God has promised that we aren’t slaves to sin. Sin has no power over us.
Do you trust God in that and walk in that freedom? Or do you look at sin as something that can’t be helped and that has you trapped? If you don’t trust God’s Word that says a believer is not a slave to sin, then it can lead to a lot of needless frustration and failure in your life.
And sometimes we can be twisted too – going the wrong way. God says “love me, love others, do good.” And we say “that’s nice, but right now I’d really rather just love me.”
It’s important that we trust Jesus, walk by faith, and stay going the right way. Otherwise we won’t live up to the calling we have received, just like the disciples sometimes did not.
We really do have a lot of things in common with the disciples. I see myself in them all the time. And that can be both discouraging and encouraging.
Here’s some good news: one of the ways that it is encouraging is that Jesus can and does succeed where we fail. The disciples failed. That was disappointing. But Jesus did not fail. He healed the boy and handed him back to his father. In the end, He made it right.
The disciples messed up many times, but Jesus never abandoned them and He always helped them.
So it is with us, there will be mistakes and failures and disappointments as we walk this path in life. But Jesus is going to make things right in the end.
Verses 43-45 – Second Failure: Not Understanding and Not Asking
Some people have read these verses and they see “it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it” and conclude that God is the one who concealed it from the disciples so that they could not perceive it. Now, there are times – though rare – where for one reason or another God will cause people to not see or understand something. But that comes as a judgment against them. And in this case, it especially doesn’t make sense to say that God did not want them to understand, because Jesus explicitly says “Let these words sink into your ears!” That’s Greek for “Get this into your head!” He wants it to sink in and sink in deep.
But it doesn’t. And it doesn’t because they don’t understand. It’s not as though He has been unclear. Just a few verses before this He was extremely clear when He said that “the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
They didn’t understand it. Having not understood it, the meaning was covered over for them so that they did not perceive the meaning of the comment. Perhaps the adversary played some part in hiding it from them. Or perhaps they thought Jesus meant more along the lines that he was going to be handed over for a good thing. Who knows what they thought.
The real problem is that they knew they didn’t understand, but chose to remain in ignorance through fear of embarrassment. Now again, aren’t the disciples so relatable if we are honest with ourselves?
How many times have you thought: “I don’t understand it. But I don’t want to ask a question about it because I don’t want to look stupid.”
When I was around 7 years old I got dunked in some water – “baptism” – but I wasn’t really baptized because I didn’t understand what was happening or how to actually be saved.
I can remember the pastor of the church trying to explain something about it to me. I can’t remember what exactly he was trying to say, because I didn’t understand him. He and I were in a room together, and he kept walking in and out of a door trying to illustrate something. I really have no idea what. I can just remember him going through the door a few times and saying some words and asking “do you understand?”
Well, I was a shy boy and pretty sensitive and didn’t want to look stupid, so although I had no idea what he was talking about, I just nodded my head and said “yes, yes.” And not long after that I was dunked in some water. I thought that getting dunked in the water would help make sure I was saved, and so long as I didn’t do any real bad sins like kill someone, then I was in the clear now.
Well, lesson learned: if you encounter something said by Jesus or said in the Bible that you don’t understand, ask about it. Better to be a little embarrassed to ask than to remain in ignorance. Imagine the heartache the disciples could have avoided had they known and understood that Jesus dying on the cross really was part of the plan and that he’d be back in just a few days.
The majority of the Bible is easy enough to understand, if you’re reading a translation you can understand. But there’s plenty in there that isn’t easy to understand. And it can be particularly hard to understand if you haven’t read it a lot. One thing in particular that is challenging is the fact that believers are not under the Mosaic Law. If you’re a new believer reading through the Old Testament, you can get very confused and troubled reading about all the laws that we no longer observe.
If you run into something that God tells you that you don’t understand, seek out the answer!
We do ourselves unnecessary harm by choosing to remain in ignorance.
Verses 46-48 – Third Failure: Assuming that Christianity is a Competition
If Christianity is a race or a competition, it is one in which we are striving to see who can be the least self-serving and most loving of all. But it’s not a competition.
The disciples got into an argument about who was the greatest. I would like to have been a fly on the wall to hear what kinds of things they were trying to lift up as evidence of their greatness. Perhaps they were comparing who left the most wealth to follow Jesus. Perhaps they were saying “hey I cast out 5 demons” and the other guy says “well that’s nothing, I cast out 7 demons and I did it with my hands tied behind my back!” Maybe Peter, James, and John were bragging that they got to see Jesus in His glory. Who knows?
They were wrong to be arguing about it though because Jesus says whoever is the least among you all is the one who is great. Translation: the one least concerned with their own glory is the one on the right track.
What must have really shocked them though is that Jesus says that children are able to be His messengers and representatives on earth. That’s surprising and humbling! If a small child shares the Gospel with someone, they are an honest to goodness missionary. They aren’t half missionaries whose message is only half sufficient. Anyone who receives that child receives Jesus and whoever receives Jesus receives God.
That means that for all of the disciples petty arguing about who was the greatest, a small child is able to share Jesus just as well and their Gospel presentation counts just as much.
What would be your normal reaction to a kid sharing the Gospel with you? Most people would be like “Oh, that’s cute, but they’re just a kid so what do they know?” But Jesus says: if you accept that child, you accept me and him who sent me. If you reject that child, you reject me and him who sent me.
It’s not about how big or smart or old or whatever that a person is. It’s not a competition. The one who considers themselves the least is the one who is greatest, which goes back to what we talked about last week. It’s about denying yourself, picking up your cross daily, and following Jesus.
Some people think too highly of themselves. They may or may not be particularly gifted in an area, and they think that makes them a superhero. That’s not the case in any area of life; it’s especially false when it comes to Christianity. All the goodness, knowledge, and gifts that we have come from God.
And let’s be real here: the disciples were mostly fishermen. And one at least was a tax collector. None of them were chosen because they were superheroes. Actually, the Bible even says very specifically – to our embarrassment – that God chooses the foolish and weak people of the world to put to shame the wise and strong. Yes, it says that in 1 Corinthians 2:7. Read those words some time and let that sink in.
Let’s also remember, all of us have been saved by grace through faith. There is not a one of us in here who merited salvation more than anyone else. Everyone is equal at the foot of the cross. Similarly, it is God who is at work in us to will and to work for His good pleasure. And it is God who makes us. And it is God who gives the gifts. It’s silly to be prideful when you were not responsible for your physical birth or your spiritual birth or any of the talents and gifts that come with that.
On the flip side, there are some people who think too little of themselves and think that they aren’t able or worthy to share Jesus with other people. That’s also not true. Even children can share Jesus with others and are counted as 100% legit representatives. It’s not about you, so just obey and don’t worry about it.
Be humble, serve, and give glory to God.
Application:
- Faithlessness and Twistedness – Trust and Stay on the Right Path
- Choosing to Remain in Ignorance – Discover the Meaning of God’s Words
- Treating Christianity Like a Competition – Be Humble, Serve, and Give Glory to God