What Path Will You Follow?

[00:00:00] Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. [00:00:09] Jesus, in our gospel reading today, he's saying, I'm not going to turn aside just because I'm afraid of death. [00:00:19] Some Pharisees are saying to him, herod's going to kill you. And he says, nope, I'm going to keep going today and tomorrow and the next day, finish my course. He's talking about going to Jerusalem to die. He knows what's at the end of his road, and he's not going to turn aside. [00:00:40] Now. You and I, every day, we encounter challenges, opportunities, and we face choices. [00:00:55] It's kind of like walking. Jesus describes his own journey that way and our journey following him. I mean, that's what following is, right? It's following. [00:01:06] So as we walk, it's kind of like. I mean, the way we experience it is sort of doors open, you know, and it's like, okay, which or paths. Paths open up in front of us. Which path am I going to go down? And. [00:01:21] And one of the standard ways that this plays out is that we take the path of least resistance. So we're going along. It's like, well, that path looks a little easier. We'll take that one. Why do we do that? Well, I mean, I guess you could say, give a lot of answers to that. It's sort of natural. You see it in water. You know, water takes the path of least resistance and such, but that's not always the right path to take. In fact, many times it's not the right path to take. [00:01:57] My sister just got married yesterday, and so that was fun. We were down in Denver for that wedding. And, you know, getting married isn't the path of least resistance. [00:02:12] It's just not like, you know, I mean, it's not. All right, so. And the thing is, it's like, it's more of a mystery than you realize when you get married. I mean, you don't know how it's going to go. You don't know what's coming for you in the future when you get married. [00:02:37] You don't. I mean, basically, life's going to throw everything at you that it's got. And maybe it comes gradually or incrementally or maybe it doesn't, you know, but my sister and her new husband, Andrew, they don't know what's coming for them, what's ahead, but they're walking the path and they've. I mean, they've made a hard. A hard choice. I mean, easy in some ways. Because they've grown to love each other. [00:03:06] But lifelong commitment to one another, in sickness and in health, I mean, that's. [00:03:13] There's really no way to know what you're signing up for, you know, and we also know that God brings blessings through that. [00:03:23] You know, I've been married now 11 years, but it was kind of fun to be at a wedding and to think, 11 years ago, this was us, you know, and look how much we've changed and changed each other. And look at the challenges that we didn't know we were going to face or the, you know, the path that we've ended up taking. [00:03:43] And here we are very different. And looking at them, then it's like, oh, okay, you're just getting started, you know, and who knows what God has in store for you? [00:03:55] But. [00:03:57] So I guess getting married, it's like taking up responsibility, in a sense. [00:04:05] And that's not the path of least resistance, but it sure is valuable. You could say that about all kinds of choices that we make in life. But as they come, what's our criteria for making the choice? Like, why take this path or the other? And taking the path of least resistance is, in some sense, avoiding suffering, which is natural. None of us like things that hurt or aren't fun. We'd rather do something enjoyable in the moment or something that is less difficult. [00:04:45] But it's obvious that. That, I don't know, sitting on the couch for my life is, you know, my entire life is like, not the right choice. It's like, I need to take up responsibility. Those are kind of extremes. [00:05:04] But through difficulty, God brings blessing. Now, of course, Jesus is the extreme of this taking on the cross for us, taking up the cross, walking to his death in Jerusalem for our sake, that is not the path of least resistance. But he takes it. He takes it for us. [00:05:28] Now, Knox has joined Jesus in his death and resurrection. It's kind of cool at this church. Yesterday it was Trinity Lutheran on Yale in Denver, they have a baptismal font. Of course, it's in the center in the aisle, and in the water, there's a cross, actually a crucifix. So you see Jesus on the cross at the bottom of the font. [00:05:57] So. Which is a surprise. You know, you're not expecting to see that. But then you get up to it and you see Jesus there on the cross for us in the water. [00:06:09] And that's the thing. I mean, Hebrews, Romans 6 says that we've been united to Jesus in his death through baptism. If we've been baptized into Christ, we've been baptized into his death and that's the meaning in the water. There we become joined to Jesus in his death. And that means, that means a life of the cross. [00:06:35] Now it doesn't mean that like Christians are necessarily going to suffer more than everybody else or something like that. [00:06:44] I think it more means a different attitude. I mean, it can, it can. [00:06:51] Especially if you're one of the apostles and you're taking the Gospel out to, to the nations, you know, following Jesus Great commission and then you die for your faith. Like that's right. Or if you're a Coptic Christian right now in Egypt, you very well may suffer physically an inexperience for your faith. [00:07:13] But for anybody, being united to Jesus in his death means a different approach to the cross. [00:07:21] And by cross I mean suffering. I mean that's, that's what it is. That's what it was designed for, to make people suffer. [00:07:29] And Jesus, he accepted it. He willingly took it on. He says, nobody takes my life from me. I lay it down. [00:07:39] He laid it down for the sake of his sheep. So he willingly took up the cross, didn't avoid suffering and went down that path for us. [00:07:50] And we as those who follow Jesus, as we who are in Christ, who have life in him, on whose heart has been imprinted Jesus image. [00:08:02] That's our story too. We have a different approach to the cross, a different view of the cross that doesn't say avoid suffering at all cost, but that just looks to Jesus and says, through Jesus to God, your will be done, not mine. Whatever that means. It means not turning aside from responsibility and the call of God, right, For the sake of avoiding suffering. Part of the reason we're taking this approach this morning is the epistle reading from Philippians 3. [00:08:42] Brothers, join in imitating me. Okay? Paul says so. He says, follow me, imitate me, watch what I'm doing and do it. He's just said, here's the one thing I do. So if you're going to imitate Paul, alright, he's just told you one thing I do. So that's what you're to imitate. [00:09:02] We're to imitate. He says one thing I do. Forgetting what lies behind is and straining forward to what lies ahead. [00:09:09] I press on toward the goal. Again, there's a traveling image. I press on toward the goal of the prize, of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. [00:09:21] So brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. [00:09:31] For many of whom I have often told you and now tell you, even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. [00:09:41] Their end is destruction, their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame with mind set on earthly things. [00:09:49] So you see, I mean, who are those who walk as enemies of the cross of Christ? What does that even mean? It kind of struck me this time more than any other that the enemies of the cross of Christ are those who avoid suffering at all cost. [00:10:06] Those who, as they walk the path following Jesus, turn aside in order to avoid suffering. [00:10:18] Their God is their belly. Like, if you don't want to ever be suffering, then you just. [00:10:24] Just go after pleasures. I think that's what their goddess, their belly, is getting after. [00:10:29] They glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things. But you, Paul says, for you it's different. [00:10:39] For us it's different. He says our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord. My beloved, Paul writes this to you and to me and to Knox this morning. [00:11:10] Stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved, we have been put on a journey in Christ so that our lives, they're not just. They don't just take. Like our life does not just take its course randomly. It's not like a flow of water that just follows the least resistance, the course of the path of least resistance. Following Jesus means following him wherever he leads. Our life is governed by Christ, it's led by Christ. [00:11:42] And Knox here, he's at the beginning of his life and he's got, well, who knows what's ahead for him. [00:11:49] But we know that life's going to throw all the challenges possible, Adam, and that one day we're all going to die. I mean, ultimately, it's like suffering is coming, suffering is coming. But God has provided Jesus Christ, who made the cross not into the ultimate evil, but actually something beautiful through self sacrifice. [00:12:18] He made the cross into our salvation so that those who followed him, his apostles, went out to the world not afraid of it, in fact willingly accepting it for the sake of knowing Jesus Christ their Lord and of bringing more people into Christ. And so Knox, what does he have to be afraid of? He's got Jesus Christ. He's been united to him in his death and his resurrection. And the same is true for you and me. In Christ, in His name, Amen.