Disciples or Consumers
Preached by Benjamin Vrbicek
May 21, 2017
This morning, we will be in Luke 7:18–35. We have two more sermons in the gospel of Luke, and then for the summer we’ll be teaching through 2 Samuel. Last summer we taught through 1 Samuel, which dealt with the rise of young King David to the throne, and 2 Samuel continues that story about David as a king. This won’t begin for three weeks, but I wanted to mention it now so that you could begin reading the book. We’ll pick Luke’s gospel back up in the fall.
Scripture Reading
Again, if you have a Bible, please turn with me to Luke 7:18–35. If you are using the brown Bible’s on the end of the row, it’s on page 980. After I read, we’ll pray and then study this together.18 The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, 19 calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 20 And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” 21 In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. 22 And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”24 When John's messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 25 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings' courts. 26 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is he of whom it is written,“‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way before you.’
28 I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” 29 (When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John, 30 but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)31 “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,“‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge,
and you did not weep.’
33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.”
Introduction
Before I worked as a pastor, I worked in the office of a construction company. For the first two years of work I was a full-time employee. But after that, I added full-time seminary to my schedule. (Seminary is graduate school for pastors.) Except for summers and a few other weeks during the year, I then spent the next four years as a part-time employee.When my time was wrapping up at that office I wouldn’t say it ended very well, at least some aspect didn’t end well. To this day that makes me sad. I won’t go into all of the reasons why but I will mention one source of tension. It had to do with who was the primary beneficiary in our working relationship.As an employee, I was given tremendous flexibility with my schedule. As long as I did my work during certain portions of the day and was available at other portions, I could re-arrange my workweek each semester based on my class schedule. It was so helpful. I was paid fairly well. I was sent to a few conferences and was put on a team of industry professionals from across the country, which were great opportunities for me. And perhaps most helpful was this: when I told my boss I was going to eventually be a pastor, thus not work for him at some point in the future, he didn’t fire me. That was a huge benefit to me.On the other hand, at some point near the end of my six years there I started to notice that I was given the most difficult, most technical construction projects, and I was given the projects with our best, but most demanding, clients. And yet I was paid the least in the department.So, as I already alluded to, this caused a bit of tension. We both tended to think that the other person was undervaluing the services being rendered by the other person.My point in bringing this up is not to say who was right and who was wrong in that relationship, although the more removed from the situation I am, the more inclined I am to see the ways in which I was wrong; I’m so thankful for what that job meant to me and my family during those years. My point in mentioning all of this is simply to say that having the proper understanding of your relationship with someone is important, and this is exponentially true in your relationship with God. In your relationship with God, you need to know whether you are in the driver’s seat (which you’re not), or whether you are an undeserving beneficiary of gospel riches (which if you’re a Christian, you are). To say it another way, in your relationship with God you need to know whether you are a disciple or a consumer.In this passage, it seems to me that both disciples and consumers show up, and they both, we might say, have their questions. But one group we might better refer to their questions as concerns, while the other group doesn’t so much have questions as they have demands. And the way Jesus responds to each—concerns or demands, disciples or consumers—is very different.
1. Concerns from Disciples, vv. 18–29
Let’s start with the concerns from disciples. In the first few verses of the passage a man named John sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus a question. The question goes like this: “Are you, Jesus, the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”That language of “the one to come” is loaded with Messiah expectations from the Old Testament. And it’s a simple question, but why a man named John would ask this question, and why he couldn’t ask it himself, and why he would send others to ask this question when he did, are important to know if we want to make sense of this passage. Although you might not be asking in exactly the same wording, I would venture to say that John’s concern is not only his concern. It’s been a concern of disciples throughout the Bible and church history, especially when we are suffering and when evil seems to triumph.Let me back up to explain what I mean. This man named John is called, “John the Baptist.” Not to be silly, but we call him this because he baptized people. The existence of a protestant denomination called Baptists came much, much later. And while to us it may feel like he comes out of nowhere in Luke 7, he’s made several appearances before and will make more before Luke’s gospel is done.We first met John’s father and mother back in chapter 1. Zachariah was a priest and he and his wife Elizabeth were disciples of God, but they were old and they were concerned that they would never have a child. But late in life—far too late to be merely a natural birth—an angel appears to Zachariah, telling him he will have a son who will prepare the way of the Lord (1:17). When John is born, his father prophesied that his son would “go before the Lord to prepare his ways” (v. 77). Again, this is Old Testament language, especially from Isaiah 40 and Malachi 3. And after his father’s prophecy, we read this detail:
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
Then another chapter of Luke goes by without comment on John. But in chapter three he has his longest appearance in the gospel, where we learn again that he is the prophet who will prepare the way of the Lord’s coming. We even have excerpts from a sermon he preached. And it was a fiery sermon! He said things like, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? . . . Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Luke 3:7, 9). He preached with such intensity because he believed, as many places in the Old Testament indicate, that the Messiah would usher in a great judgment on evil (see Malachi 3:1ff for example).Later in this section, we read that John’s ministry of baptism even included baptizing Jesus (3:21–22). John saw something special in Jesus, and he told people about it (we see this in other gospel accounts when he says things like, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).Because we’ve spent a year going through Luke, I didn’t want to presume that everyone remembered all of that background. Now, just one more detail. Between John’s sermon and his baptism of Jesus, we read this:
19 But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife [i.e., for his adulterous relationship], and for all the evil things that Herod had done, 20 added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.
John went to prison because he told a government official who claimed to be religious that his marriage was adulterous.Ahhh . . . Do you see why the details at the beginning of our passage are so significant? John sent his disciples to Jesus to share his concerns with him because John can’t go to Jesus because he’s in prison. John sends them to ask, “Are you, Jesus, the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” He’s getting disillusioned because things weren’t happening fast enough.Jesus, I’m in prison. I’m here because I’m following you. I’ve done nothing wrong. Are you the Messiah or not? My experience of your rule and reign does not look like I think it should look, even how the Bible seems in some places to say it will look?Some of us might say, Jesus, I have cancer. My experience of your rule and reign does not look like I think it should look, even how the Bible seems in some places to say it will look?Others say might say, Jesus, I have lost my job. My experience of your rule and reign does not look like I think it should look, even how the Bible seems in some places to say it will look?Or, Jesus, my house was robbed, and now I’m afraid to be home by myself. My experience of your rule and reign does not look like I think it should look, even how the Bible seems in some places to say it will look?Jesus, my parents are getting a divorce, and I don’t want to split time between them. I want them to love each other, and I want us to be a family (just like you want us to be!). My experience of your rule and reign does not look like I think it should look, even how the Bible seems in some places to say it will look?Jesus, I don’t know why, but when I eat certain foods (and I don’t even know which ones) my body treats some food like poison, and I’m sick of being sick two or maybe four days a week for the last three years. My experience of your rule and reign does not look like I think it should look, even how the Bible seems in some places to say it will look?Recently I read a book by one of my favorite Christian authors that had this paragraph in it:
I have a problem with all the “chase your dreams!” cheerleading from Christian leaders. It’s not because I begrudge people who want to achieve their dreams, but because I think we don’t readily see how easy it is to conflate our dream-chasing with God’s will in Christ. You know, it’s possible that God’s plan for us is littleness. His plan for us maybe personal failure. It’s possible that when another door closes, it’s not because he plans to open the window but because he plans to have the building fall down on you. The question we must ask ourselves is this: Will Christ be enough?1
Two things make this quote especially relevant to John the Baptist. First, the statement about “littleness.” Of the several famous quotes by John the Baptists, one that he said of Jesus is this: “He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). The second reason the quote is so relevant to John is because of the statement about closing doors and not opening a window. The author is spoofing what is common among Christian-lingo, that a closed door must mean another opportunity, a better opportunity, will always arise. But it’s possible that won’t be the case . . . it was for John. When God sent him to prison, later in Luke’s gospel we’ll read that he is executed there (Luke 9:7–9; cf. Matthew 14:1–12; Mark 6:14–29).Will Jesus be enough for John when he “decreases” and dies in prison, and will he be enough for us disciples when we get “littleness” and the “window doesn’t open”?I find it interesting that Jesus doesn’t answer John’s concern—not directly anyway. If I was at an airport, and I saw someone who looked like Michael Jordan, and I went up to him and said, “Excuse me, are you MJ?” The person could answer me with a “Yes.”Or, I suppose, the person could unzip his athletic warm-up to reveal a Chicago Bulls uniform, and then he could grab a basketball from his bag—and when he does, you notice his fingers are covered in NBA Championship rings—and then he could start dribbling down the airport terminal and then jump over three people pretending to dunk the basketball on a ledge that looks 12 feet high, all while doing it in his iconic Nike “jumpman” pose. That, I supposed, would be one way to answer the question, “Are you Michael Jordan or should I look for another?”“Jesus,” John, asks, “are you the one who is enough for every need we could ever have?” Jesus answers: “Well, I could tell you a simple Yes, but why don’t I spend an hour or two doing many of the things that the book of Isaiah promised the Messiah would do (various passages, but especially Isaiah 61:1ff). I’ll heal the sick and the lepers, give sight to the blind, and raise the dead, preach the good news to the poor.” In short, Jesus says, “I am the one who was to come. And I am enough.”When you stand up for what’s right and end up in jail; when you have cancer; when you lose your job; when your house is robbed; your parents get a divorce; when certain foods become poison-like to you . . . Church, Jesus is still Jesus. And he’s enough for you.Jesus says, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (v. 23). (The word for “offend” means to turn back, two throw in the towel.) In other words, Jesus will do for us more good than we could fathom, but he might not do it in your timing or in the exact way we think he should. It’s not that Jesus doesn’t “proclaim liberty to the captives” (Luke 4:18, quoting Isaiah 61:1), but rather that he might not do it in the way and the timing we would most like. He has his own timing.Jesus is saying to you and me, “If you stay with me, if you will remain my disciple even with all of your concerns and confusion, then you are blessed. In fact, not only are you blessed, but because you are alive after my death and resurrection, and therefore you know more of the gospel story in this life than John did in his life, even though John was the greatest in a long line of prophets, even the one among you who is the very least in your ability to explain my good news story to others, you are still greater than John the Baptist because you’ve tasted and seen more of my good news than he ever did in his earthly life.” (That’s my expanded paraphrase of vv. 24–28.)And to this, all of the disciples of Jesus, those who had been baptized by John (including former rebel tax collectors), despite all their concerns about John’s imprisonment and their own personal concerns over their wellbeing, when they are reminded that Jesus is enough, in v. 29 they “declared God just.” In other words, “We don’t get it, but we get it. We don’t see all that you’re doing, and your plan is hard and strange, but we see that you’re the Messiah and there is no other.”But not everyone feels this way, do they? I wish I had more time, but very briefly having looked at the gentle, encouraging way that Jesus addresses the concerns of his disciples, let me just spend one page looking at the way Jesus treats the demands of consumers.
2. Demands from Consumers, vv. 30–35
Let me read vv. 30–35 again.
30 but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)
31 “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,
“‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’
33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.”
Now what does this mean? Admittedly, some of the statements are confusing. Jesus asks what this generation is like. I take that statement to mean the part of that generation, and any generation, who does not submit to the purposes of God. Then he makes a comparison. What is he doing with the comparison? Children in a market place playing one thing, now changing their minds and playing another. What is with this comparison?I think this is want’s going on. Sure, in a sense, the religious leaders wanted God—just as many people do today—but they wanted God on their terms. They were consumers who believed they were always right and must be catered to.You see, John was a wildman in the desert. He preached loud and long. His sermons were fiery. No one was taking quotes from his sermons and overlaying them on pictures of floral backgrounds and posting John’s sermon quotes to social media—“Ahh, look at that inspiring quote.” They didn’t do that. John had too much grit, too much heat, too much holiness and righteousness and repentance and judgment, too much “the axe is laid at the root of the tree . . .” People didn’t know what to do with him. He was too intense. “Come on, John, back off your soapbox. Stop your street preaching with your megaphone. You’re possessed, man. Surely our religious system can’t be near as dysfunctional as you say. Just play some pop music with some encouraging but vague words about the love of God. Play something uplifting; play something we can dance to.” But John wouldn’t dance.And what of Jesus? Well, he’s all about love for enemies and concern for the poor. He loves the outcasts and outlaws, traitors such as tax collectors. And he’s incarnational—his love isn’t theoretical but up close and personal. He. Eats. With. Sinners. He seems to actually like them. To this, people complain that he lack judgment, and they assume Jesus must not care about sin and holiness because he doesn’t follow all of their holiness rules. “Jesus,” they say, “look at all these sinners. This culture is godless. If you knew anything about anything you’d know it’s the time for a funeral, not a party.” But Jesus won’t weep. The bridegroom is with his people in a joyful marriage ceremony. The Messiah has arrived, and it’s a time of joy not weeping.Your consumers with demands, in the end, don’t end up with a gospel. They don’t have gospel-forgivness and Messiah-hope. What they have is what they want: they are their own god in this life, and then there is judgment and hell. But God’s wisdom is justified by all her children. God’s wisdom is shown when the disciples of Jesus come to him with all of their concerns and see in him something so special that they don’t turn away even when they don’t understand.
Conclusion
Church, if the Jesus you worship believes all of the same things that you believe, than you don’t have the real Jesus. If the Jesus you “have” believes the “chase your dreams” theology just as culture does, and has the same sexual ethics as culture, has the same view of following God that the Pharisees have (i.e., I’ll follow you, but I’ll do it privately and won’t make a public profession of my faith in baptism), then you might not have the real Jesus.But oh, church, the real Jesus is so enough for you. He’s enough for every need you’ll ever have. “Blessed [forever] is the one who is not offended by Jesus.”
1 (Jared C. Wilson, The Story of Everything, 122.)
