Life

LIFE

To another he said, "Follow me." But he said,
"Lord, let me first go and bury my father."
But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury
their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim
the kingdom of God." Luke 9:59-60

What's Jesus saying here? Is he saying that we shouldn't
even bury our dead? Is he saying that we should ignore
the fact of death? Not at all. Sooner or later we are
all faced with the fact of death .... our loved ones die.
People reading these words have lost a child,

a wife,

a husband,
parents,
family through death,

and we know that our own stay here in this realm of flesh
and blood is temporary. Unless the King comes back soon,
we're all going to die.

Jesus isn't telling us to ignore the fact of death. In
fact, he wants us to keep it very much in mind.

One of the multitude said to him, "Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me." But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?" And he said to them, "Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' And he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they
be?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself,

and is not rich toward God." Luke 12:13-21

The father of this house has died and instead of considering

the meaning of that death and purpose of his own life, this

man is fighting with his brother over the money. Jesus says

to the man,

"Have another look at your father's death.
What good is his money to him now? What
good will it be to you very soon? Start
becoming rich toward God for the day when
your riches will do you no good."

To another he said, "Follow me." But he
said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my
father'." But he said to him, "Leave the
dead to bury their own dead; but as for
you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."

No, Jesus is not telling this man, or us, to ignore the
fact of death or to shirk our responsibilities when
loved ones die. Jesus is telling this man, and us,
that we've been living our lives in an atmosphere of
death. We've been dead while we eat and sleep and
worry and fuss and take care of business because we’ve
been fighting over the inheritance instead of being
rich toward God.... because we're not wholeheartedly
answering the call of God which brings us to life.

"Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but

as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of

God. Wake up, man! ..... woman!"

But on the first day of the week, at early
dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices
which they had prepared. And they found the
stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they
went in they did not find the body. While
they were perplexed about this, behold, two
men stood by them in dazzling apparel; and as
they were frightened and bowed their faces to
the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you
seek the living among the dead?"

Luke 21:1-5

Same message:

"You aren't going to find Jesus in a tomb."

“You aren't going to get the job done as long
as you're walking around with this funeral
mind-set, this funeral attitude."

"Awake 0 sleeper, and arise from the dead,
and Christ shall give you light."

And when they turned away from the tomb, they found them-
selves looking into the face of Jesus, risen from the
dead, and they rose from the dead.

After this the son of the woman, the mistress
of the house, became ill; and his illness was
so severe that there was no breath left in him.
And she said to Elijah, "What have you against
me, 0 man of God? You have come to me to bring
my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death
of my son!" And he said to her, "Give me your
son." And he took him from her bosom, and
carried him up into the upper chamber, where
he lodged, and laid him upon his own bed. And
he cried is the Lord, "0 Lord my God, hast thou
brought calamity even upon the widow with whom
I sojourn, by slaying her son?" Then he stretched
himself upon the child three times, and cried to
the Lord, "0 Lord my God, let this child's soul
come into him again." And the Lord hearkened

to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child
came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah
took the child, and brought him down from the
upper chamber into the house, and delivered him
to his mother; and Elijah said, "See, your son
lives." And the woman said to Elijah, "Now I
know that you are a man of God, and that the
word of the Lord in your mouth is truth."

I Kings 17:17-24

When the widow came to Elijah with her dead son, Elijah

could have shaken his head and said,

"What do you expect me to do woman? Your child

is dead ... I'm not God. What else is there to
do here but to have a funeral."

Elijah could have said, "Lord, I'll answer your call, but let

me first bury this child." But the call of God on Elijah was

not to bury this child, but to revive him. Elijah has divine

life burning in him because he was answering the call

of God.

So, he takes the dead son of the widow, carries him

to his own room, lays him on his own bed, cries out

to God in strong intercession for the widow’s broken

heart, lies down on top of the dead boy three times

absorbing his death into his life as he prays,

"0 Lord, let this child's soul come into
him again!"

and the boy comes to life.

Whenever we look into the face of death, as we do

every day, if we are answering God's call on our

lives, somehow we swallow up that death with life.

When Stephen was stoned to death as the first Christian
martyr, Stephen was not raised from the dead ... his
body was buried. But out of that death came a tremendous

resurrection of the Body of Christ. Revival broke out and

spread in the midst of persecution.

-The boy Elijah revived is the church.

- The resurrection that followed Stephen's
martyrdom is the church coming to life.

- The body that rose with Jesus when he rose
from the dead is the church

And Jesus is saying to the church, to your church,

"Wake up! Come alive! Leave the dead to bury
their own dead. I am risen, you will not find
me in a tomb or a museum. You will find me

as you answer my call on your life! And
you’ll rise from the dead and you'll raise
the dead."

If there is any word the Spirit of God has been

speaking to God’s people it's this twofold
counsel:

1. Don't be wasting time at the tomb. Pursue the
risen Christ by^- answering his call on your life.

2. Don't be wasting time reasoning, arguing, listening
or hanging around with people who insist on remaining
dead. Shake the dust off your feet and get on with
your calling to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen to
those who will listen and who will come to life.

Don't be wasting time at the tomb. Pursue the risen
Christ by answering his call on your life.

Not one believer found Jesus in the tomb. They met him as
they were leaving the tomb, or as he was breaking bread,
or as they gathered at his command on a mountain in
Galilee. And we need to leave the tomb of dead works,

   dead attitudes,
   dead memories,
   dead regrets,
   dead ambitions,

and settle for nothing less than knowing Jesus alive from the dead.

And notice that every meeting those first believers had
with Jesus alive from the dead was somehow a reminder of
Calvary.

- When he broke the bread...this was a reminder
of Calvary,

- When he showed them his hand and his side...
...this was a reminder
of Calvary.

- when he invited them to come and dine with him

on the shore of Galilee ... it was a reminder of

the broken bread of his body.

When Jesus says to us, "Follow me,” it's "Follow me to

Calvary where my blood will purge your conscience from

dead works to serve the living God."

"Follow me to Calvary where I will raise you
from the death of self-centeredness,
self-pity,
self-righteousness, by
teaching you to lay down your life everyday
right where you are in my name.”

Awake 0 sleeper, and arise from the dead by
answering your call, and Christ shall give
you light."

Don't be wasting time reasoning, arguing, listening or
hanging around with people who insist on remaining dead.

Shake the dust off your feet and get on with your

calling to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, to those
who will listen.

"But whenever you enter a town and they do not
receive you, go into its streets and say,
'Even the dust of your town that clings to our
feet, we wipe off against you; nevertheless
know this, that the kingdom of God has come
near.' I tell you, it shall be more tolerable
on that day for Sodom than for that town."

Luke 10:10-12

The next sabbath almost the whole city gathered
together to hear the word of God. But when the
Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with
jealousy, and contradicted what was spoken by
Paul, and reviled him. And Paul and Barnabas
spoke out boldly saying, "It was necessary that
the word of God should be spoken first to you.
Since you thrust it from you, and judge your
selves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn
to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded
us saying,

'I have^-set you to be a light for the
Gentiles that you may bring salvation to

the uttermost parts of the earth.’ "

And when the Gentiles heard this, they were

glad and glorified the word of God; and as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
And the word of the Lord spread throughout all

the region. Acts 13:44-49

In our ordinary daily lives every one of us is surrounded
by people who are hungering and thirsting for a living
word .... lost sheep who are longing for someone to bring
them home. But so often we're still beating our heads
against the wall trying to minister to people who insist

on remaining dead....

Leave the dead to bury their own dead. Shake
off the dust and proclaim the kingdom to those
who will listen.

We never see Jesus hammering away repeatedly at those
who by their indifference,

their deceit,
their scorn,
their arrogance, are saying, "No."

Jesus simply moves on.... and so must we.

Open your eyes and see that widow coming to
you with her dead son.

Look at those sheep without a shepherd. That
man or that woman who lives within 500 feet of
your house who needs a little kindness,

a word of encouragement,
in the name of the Lord and they will rise from the dead.

There is a work of the Spirit going on in the Body of Christ
which is calling for two specific changes in our lives:

1. "Follow me,".... that we rise from the dead.

Come out of our stupor, our preoccupation

with ourselves ..... get away from the tomb,

("Why do you seek the living among the dead?")

and follow Jesus to our own life-giving Calvary each day.

2. "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. Shake

off the dust and proclaim the kingdom of God...."

That we stop trying to play amateur providence to
those who insist on remaining dead ... who have told us
in a thousand ways they don't want to change, and go
on to proclaim the kingdom to those who will hear.