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.

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."