William H. Willimon - "Journeying with Jesus" (June 28, 1998)

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-	For those of you who are regulars here,	0:11
	you know that today is a bittersweet Sunday for us,	0:15
	because we bid farewell to Deborah Brazell.	0:19
	She has had an extraordinary ministry	0:22
	here among us at Duke Chapel.	0:25
	She will be back among us, periodically,	0:28
	but today is the day when we wish her well	0:31
	in her future ministry, and we express	0:35
	great gratitude for all that Deborah has meant among us.	0:38
	Now on my vacation last week I not only lost a lot of money,	0:45
	but I lost my voice, so I will work today	0:50
	because I have a message for you.	0:56
	In my last congregation, we had a program of evangelism.	1:03
	You know, when we would go out and	1:09
	we would knock on people's doors,	1:11
	and we would invite those people to come join the church,	1:14
	to accept Christ, to become disciples among us.	1:18
	And by all accounts,	1:25
	the program of evangelism did quite well.	1:26
	We recruited a number of people,	1:30
	the church rolls grew,	1:32
	and yet when we got together to evaluate	1:35
	how things were going in our program of evangelism,	1:38
	there in the Evangelistic Committee that night,	1:42
	I remember Gladys saying,	1:45
	"Something bothers me about all this."	1:49
	Why are you bothered? It's working.	1:53
	She said, "Here we go, knocking on our neighbors' doors,	1:57
	urging them to come to church to accept Christ, but	2:01
	what are we inviting them to do?	2:05
	We tell them we have a great youth program.	2:08
	We tell them that we will do	2:11
	this or that for their children.	2:12
	We have great summer activities for all ages,	2:14
	we've got a picnic in the fall,	2:17
	we've got pastoral counseling,	2:19
	we've got good music, we've got preaching.	2:20
	In other words, we've got all these services	2:25
	to meet your needs, to entertain you,	2:29
	to fix whatever's wrong with you."	2:32
	"Well what's wrong with that?" we asked Gladys.	2:37
	After all, isn't the church here to meet peoples' needs?	2:41
	"Well it seems like I remember," continued Gladys,	2:49
	"Somewhere it says take up your cross,	2:53
	and follow me."	2:57
	And we were silent, because Gladys had reminded us	3:02
	that discipleship, Christian discipleship,	3:06
	well that's something else again.	3:11
	How in the world do you call people to Jesus,	3:14
	appealing to their basic selfishness, their needs,	3:18
	and then end up with following Jesus,	3:24
	such as is portrayed in today's Gospel?	3:30
	Hear the Gospel, from Luke.	3:33
	As they were going along the road, someone said to him,	3:38
	"I will follow you, wherever you go."	3:43
	And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes,	3:47
	and birds of the air have nests,	3:51
	but the Son of Man has nowhere, even to lay his head."	3:54
	To another he said, "Follow me."	3:59
	But he said, "Well Lord, first let me go	4:00
	and bury my father."	4:03
	But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead.	4:06
	But as for you, go, proclaim the Kingdom of God."	4:11
	Another said, "I will follow you, Lord,	4:16
	but let me first say farewell to those at home."	4:20
	Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow	4:25
	and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God."	4:29
	This is the Word of the Lord.	4:36
	Now Jesus is on the way, and you know where that way leads,	4:40
	it is the way leading to the cross.	4:46
	He's on his way to death.	4:49
	And on his way, he encounters people who say,	4:52
	"I'll follow you wherever you go,	4:57
	only first let me give my father a decent burial."	5:01
	After all, honor thy father and mother,	5:07
	isn't that what the Bible says?	5:11
	And Jesus replies, "Well accept my condolences,	5:15
	but let the dead bury the dead. Follow me."	5:19
	Another says, "I'll follow you, just let me	5:25
	get a few things in order at home." After all,	5:28
	we're Christians, don't we believe in family values?	5:31
	Jesus replies, "No one who puts his hand to the plow	5:34
	and then looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God."	5:38
	On this pleasant summer Sunday morning, we come to Jesus.	5:46
	And let's say that we're all here this Sunday	5:52
	because we are seeking to follow him.	5:53
	And then on this pleasant summer Sunday,	5:57
	he gives us these tough, demanding words.	6:00
	It's enough to make each of us ask,	6:06
	"Are we prepared to follow this Jesus?"	6:09
	Last year about this time, there was the	6:15
	Tom Cruise movie, Jerry Maguire.	6:17
	At the beginning of the movie, Jerry is caught	6:22
	in a rat race of a job as a sports agent,	6:25
	representing spoiled, overpaid athletes,	6:29
	living off their talent.	6:32
	One night, Jerry has a sort of breakdown,	6:35
	and after tossing and turning and sleeplessness,	6:39
	he jumps up, goes to his computer, and turns out	6:42
	a long mission statement, in which he	6:46
	criticizes what his company has become.	6:50
	And he makes some rather radical proposals	6:53
	for reform of the sports industry.	6:57
	The next morning he copies this memo and puts it	7:01
	in the mailboxes of all of his co-workers.	7:04
	When he timidly enters the office the next day,	7:08
	to his surprise, he receives a standing ovation.	7:12
	His fellow workers praise him for his courage and vision.	7:17
	"Thank God you said it," one of his co-workers says.	7:21
	And then that same co-worker just a moment later,	7:27
	turns to another one and under his breath says,	7:29
	"How long do you give him?"	7:33
	And the other one says, "He'll be gone in a week."	7:35
	I wish I could say that Jerry Maguire's act of courage	7:41
	led to the reform of his business,	7:45
	to a new sense of dedication and integrity.	7:48
	But alas, just one week later, he is tossed	7:52
	out on the street by his friend,	7:56
	with only his goldfish, his life a shambles.	8:00
	Now Jerry Maguire the movie ends on a more positive note,	8:07
	but what I liked about that movie was the realism.	8:09
	The honesty of that very first scene.	8:15
	Because from what I've seen,	8:19
	if you do stand up for what's right,	8:21
	if you speak up for the truth,	8:23
	there may be high cost.	8:28
	And I like that movie because	8:31
	at least at that point,	8:34
	it had the courage not to romanticize	8:35
	or sentimentalize the role of the courageous reformer.	8:38
	And this morning, I don't want to romanticize	8:46
	or to sentimentalize the role of a disciple of Jesus.	8:49
	You've got to give the Gospel of Luke some credit.	8:55
	It depicts following Jesus in a way which is real.	9:00
	Following Jesus is not easy.	9:07
	Sometimes there are choices, and the choices are tough.	9:10
	And they're real choices.	9:14
	The choices given here are not choices between	9:17
	something that's bad, as opposed to something that's good,	9:19
	but it's those tough choices you're	9:22
	sometimes called to make in life,	9:24
	between one good and another good.	9:26
	After all, isn't it important	9:30
	to love and support our families?	9:32
	Isn't the love of children for their parents	9:36
	absolutely essential?	9:38
	Choices are tough.	9:40
	Sometimes it's something so small as a choice between	9:43
	whether to spend an evening at home with the family,	9:46
	or to participate in the church's prison ministry downtown.	9:49
	Yet at other times, the cost seems high.	9:54
	And what I love about this portion of scripture is	9:59
	it doesn't make it easier than it really is.	10:05
	A few years ago I had a tough text to preach here.	10:12
	It was the story of the rich young ruler,	10:15
	some of you know that story.	10:18
	This young upwardly mobile, high SAT-scoring young man	10:20
	comes to Jesus, and says,	10:24
	"What have I got to do to follow you?"	10:26
	And Jesus likes him and says, "Well all you've got to do is	10:30
	to obey all the commandments."	10:35
	And he is rather surprised, I suppose,	10:38
	when the young man comes back and says,	10:41
	"Yeah, I've obeyed all the commandments,	10:43
	ever since I was a kid."	10:45
	And then Jesus looks on him and says,	10:49
	"Could you do just one more little thing for me?	10:53
	Could you go and sell everything you have,	10:56
	and give it to the poor? Then, follow me."	10:59
	And with that Luke says he got real depressed,	11:05
	and he got back in his car and he left,	11:11
	and Jesus says, "It's really hard to get	11:14
	some of these upwardly mobile young	11:18
	well-to-do types to follow."	11:20
	And that's the way the story ends, in failure.	11:25
	It just ends hanging there with Jesus saying,	11:28
	"It is so hard to get people like this to follow me."	11:30
	Well as a preacher, I decided	11:36
	I'm going to try to preach it like that,	11:38
	I'm going to try to leave it like that.	11:40
	I'm not going to explain it to them,	11:42
	I'm not going to say he didn't mean	11:43
	give away everything you've got, he meant pledge 10%	11:46
	off the top or after taxes, that's what he meant.	11:49
	He meant put money in its proper-	11:52
	you've heard those sermons.	11:54
	I was determined I'm not going to do that,	11:55
	I'm just going to say, "Somebody is	11:57
	confronted with the toughness of Jesus,	11:59
	and he goes away sorrowful."	12:03
	And I just kind of ended the sermon that way.	12:06
	Next morning, Monday morning, I was having breakfast	12:10
	in the university cafeteria, I run into the	12:13
	then Dean of the Divinity School.	12:16
	He says to me, "Oh, yesterday, wasn't that a downer?"	12:18
	He said, "Well what could you do? The anthem by the	12:23
	choir was so low, I mean naturally the sermon was dead,	12:26
	I mean what could you do? Everything just laid there.	12:30
	It was depressing, you've got to get	12:34
	the musicians to help you try to	12:36
	get the service up off the floor, and do something with it."	12:37
	I said, "Yeah, I was just thinking that myself	12:42
	about the service."	12:45
	And I turn around, and I encounter	12:46
	the then Chair of the Religion Department.	12:49
	And he with tray in his hands says,	12:52
	"Well what happened yesterday? Just sort of	12:55
	got it all out on the table, didn't we,	12:59
	but didn't know what to do with it, did we?	13:01
	We couldn't think of a way to end the sermon,	13:03
	could we? Well don't you worry, you're usually	13:05
	quite adequate, you do fine.	13:07
	You can't be on every Sunday, can you?"	13:09
	And I staggered over to my seat.	13:14
	There was this graduate student,	13:18
	comes up to me and he says, "Wow, man,	13:21
	after that sermon yesterday,	13:27
	I just, I've really been bothered."	13:28
	And I said, "Look kid, don't start on me about that sermon.	13:31
	I may have to take that off of those people,	13:37
	I don't have to take this off of you.	13:39
	I don't want to hear about the sermon."	13:40
	He said, "Well, of course, you know, I went home,	13:44
	I laid on my bed, I mean I just wanted to cry."	13:46
	I said, "You wanted to cry?"	13:51
	He said, "Yeah, I mean I asked Jesus, you know,	13:54
	'What do you want? What would make you happy?'"	13:58
	You know me, I told you, I had this religious experience	14:02
	when I was in college, and I gave my life to Christ.	14:05
	Someone told me that like following Jesus	14:09
	was a nice thing to do. That you would like be	14:11
	better off afterwards, but it just seems	14:13
	like every Sunday I come to church, and I just	14:16
	get assaulted with some new demand,	14:19
	and I lay on my bunk, and I said to Jesus,	14:21
	"Look, what would make you happy? Can I keep the bicycle,	14:25
	is that okay? What do you want out of me?"	14:28
	And I said to him, "Do you see that aging man	14:35
	sitting over on the side of the cafeteria?	14:40
	Could you go over there and like explain things to him?	14:45
	I think you got it.	14:52
	See, we're here this morning	14:56
	because we want to follow Jesus.	14:58
	In one way or another, you are among those people	15:01
	who when you heard Jesus say, "Follow me," you followed.	15:05
	Some of us, of course, have been following	15:13
	more closely than others.	15:15
	And yet, maybe the good news this morning,	15:19
	is that at least you are following him.	15:24
	You are.	15:30
	Here you are, being instructed by him.	15:32
	Here you are, searchingly examining your own	15:36
	discipleship, maybe correcting it,	15:41
	in submission to his Word.	15:44
	The good news is, the good news is he knows it's not easy.	15:48
	He loves us enough not to make it	15:56
	appear easier than it really is.	15:58
	The choices are tough, and they are large,	16:01
	and he knows it.	16:04
	He warns us.	16:06
	And yet despite the challenges, it's a journey worth taking.	16:10
	He gives our little lives a sense of adventure.	16:17
	We walk with him.	16:23
	We walk with him, sometimes well, and sometimes poorly.	16:24
	But we walk with him, beside him, along the way,	16:29
	which is God's way.	16:36
	I know you. You will leave this sweet hour of worship	16:40
	and return to the world where you've got	16:44
	all sorts of tough choices and difficult demands.	16:48
	But I want you to know this,	16:53
	Jesus knows it is not always easy.	16:56
	Thus, in this service, you will note that we confess	17:01
	our inability to follow as we ought.	17:06
	In this service we pray for strength.	17:10
	We ask for forgiveness when we fail,	17:12
	and we renew our determination to walk with him.	17:15
	We take some bread, we take a little wine,	17:20
	to sustain us for the journey.	17:24
	And the good news is,	17:28
	we journey not alone.	17:30

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "Journeying with Jesus" (June 28, 1998)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 4:40. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 17:37.
In this sermon, the preacher not only encourages people to follow Jesus but also warns them of the cost of discipleship. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4k931m6z

Date:

June 28, 1998

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Luke

Chapter and Verse:

Luke 9:51-62

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0912
ref9973_qdl
uachapelsermaud
duke:320717
dcrau001556
ark:/87924/r4k931m6z
c92201ab-4fe9-47a7-9a23-efc4d1a95781

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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William H. Willimon - "Journeying with Jesus" (June 28, 1998)

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1. William H. Willimon - "Journeying With Jesus" (June 28, 1998)

Duke University Archives

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Duke University Archives

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