ADJUSTING OUR ATTITUDE

Luke 9:46-62

Southwest Airlines is considered a phenomenal success in today’s business world. It’s often used as a model for aspiring companies.  Herbert Keller, CEO of Southwest, says when selecting employees he considers attitude more important than degrees or know-how.  While the hiring process at Southwest includes several interviews, it does not include psychological or aptitude testing.  Keller said, “We don’t care much about education or experience, because we can train people to do whatever they have to do. We hire attitudes.”  In the people they employ, Southwest looks for people who listen well, smile a lot, have a sense of humor, say thank you, and are people of warmth.  That’s what they mean by attitude.

Now all of our lives we’ve been drilled with the importance of a right attitude. A good attitude makes us more effective at our tasks and it influences people in a positive way.  A bad attitude reduces our effectiveness and dampens the enthusiasm of others.  “You’ve got an attitude!”, is a slang term which usually means you’ve got a bad attitude or an arrogant spirit that makes you difficult to live with.  And the funny thing is that most of the time people with bad attitudes don’t even know it.  At least they don’t know the degree to which their poor attitude negatively impacts others.  They usually think of themselves of being realistic or prudent.  “I’m a little cynical, perhaps, but I tell it like it is,” they’ll say.  And they are shocked if someone suggests that they need an attitude adjustment, and they will say, “You just have a wrong perception of me.”

• One negative employee can tun off customers, frustrate leadership, and spread discouragement among all the employees. 
• One sulking team member can disrupt the chemistry of an athletic team and invite defeat. 
• One pouting teenager can disrupt the harmony in the home and sap the whole family of happiness. 
• Just one critical church member can take the edge off the joy for hundreds of people and quench the Holy Spirit’s flow in a group. 

But when Jesus Christ really becomes the Lord of your life, he begins to do work on your attitude.  Philippians 2:5 says, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.”  Once we come to Christ, there should be a different spirit developing within us. But I’ve seen people who’ve been to church all of their lives and they’ve never caught on to this concept that Jesus Christ is to be the Lord of our thinking as well as our behavior.  Now that is evident in several different incidents that are recorded at the end of Luke the 9th chapter.  Tun there with me and as we study this section let’s allow Jesus Christ to be the Lord of attitudes daily as we relate to four different groups of people.

I.                   HUMBLE SERVICE TOWARDS CHURCH FAMILY

I want you to see, first of all, that our attitude should be one of humble servanthood towards our church family.  Verse 46, “An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest.”  I think there were a couple of issues that were on the disciples' minds at this time.  First, they realized that they were on the verge of something big.  Jesus had just boldly stated that he was the Messiah, and that he was going to build his church and even hell wouldn’t stop it.  The disciples, naturally, were excited about that.  Jesus had been performing powerful miracles.  He’d fed 5,000 people.   He’d raised Jairus' daughter from the dead.  The previous paragraph in Luke 9 describes the Transfiguration.  Jesus had gone up a mountain and suddenly his clothing became dazzling white.  Moses and Elijah appeared on either side of Jesus and a voice from heaven said, “This is my son in whom I am well pleased.”  So these disciples knew that they were on the cutting edge of the kingdom of God. And they were pumped up about that. 

But their second thought was troubling.  Not all of them were being treated the same. Peter James and John were receiving favored treatment by Jesus.  Only those three had accompanied Jesus into the bedroom of Jairus’ daughter. The others had to hear about the resurrection second-hand.  The same three had been invited to go up to the top the Mount of Transfiguration. And when they came down with Jesus, the other disciples knew something significant had happened, but Jesus had sworn Peter, James and John to secrecy.  Perceived favoritism can stimulate hard feelings. So it’s not wonder that  an argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest.  You see the same thing happening today: 

• It happens in politics.  We can see that a person is about to be elected and there is a jockeying for position to see who will be most influential in the new administration.
• That happens in athletics.  The team is doing well and all of a sudden the focus is on who scores the most points?  Who gets the most press?  Who’s the greatest? 
• It happens in families. Another baby is born and there is sibling rivalry.  Who’s the favorite?

But our attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ. And verse 47 says, “Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. And then he said to hem, ‘Whoever welcomes this little child in my name, welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me, welcomes the one who sent me.  For he who is least among you all, he is the greatest.’”  You see, the disciples were concerned about associating with influential people. But Jesus said, “If you want to be great in my kingdom, then you prepare to spend the rest of your life serving and loving people who in the eyes of the world don’t matter very much,  like this little child.” 

• Are you willing to serve children as well as adults, even though you may not get much encouragement or feedback? 
• Do you talk as long to an elderly widow as you do to a person of your own age? 
• Would you give as much attention to a disabled person in a wheelchair as you would a famous athlete?
• An unattractive person as much as a beautiful woman?  
• A blue-collar worker as well as a CEO? 

Jesus said, “When you serve the least of these, you serve me and you’ll be great in God’s eyes.  But you’ve got to be willing to disregard the world’s status symbols.” And I guarantee you the disciples didn’t catch on.  Because months later, on the very last night of his life, in the Upper Room, the disciples were still bickering with each other about who was going to be the greatest. So Jesus gave them another illustration.  He took a basin of water and a towel and he washed their feet. And he told them, “Just as I have served you, I want you to have this humble attitude of servanthood to one another.”

Someone wrote, “The Almighty did not act High and Mighty.  The only One who is Holy did not act holier-than-thou.  The only one who knew it all, did not act like a know-it-all.  And the only one who owned all the stuff, never strutted his stuff.” And our attitude is to be like Jesus Christ; an attitude of humble servanthood towards one another.

II.                GRACIOUS ACCEPTANCE TOWARDS OTHER BELIEVERS

Now the next section in Luke 9 suggests that our attitude should be one of gracious acceptance towards other believers.  Verse 49, “John said, ‘Master, we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he is not one of us.’  Do not stop him, Jesus said, for whoever is not against you is for you.”  You see, Johns’ reaction against this unfamiliar disciple was one of exclusiveness and judgmentalism.  It didn’t seem to matter to John at this moment that a man was cured of a demon.  John regarded the healer as a competitor and tired to stop him.   You can see that same intolerance today in certain circles. 

A couple of weeks ago the Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky hosted the North American Christian Convention.  Thousands of people from all across the Untied States gathered in Louisville for kind of a giant revival.  One of the speakers the this year’s convention was Chuck Colson, formerly of Watergate, now with prison Fellowship Ministry, author of Born Again and many other books.  But there was a note that circulated among many Christian churches protesting Chuck Colson’s inclusion in the program because he’s not from the Christian church.  The letter included all kinds of accusations:

·         He’s too sympathetic to Catholics

·         He's opposed to capital punishment

·         He isn’t putting enough emphasis on baptism.

And the final line of the letter read, “Perhaps the Executive Committee will allow Bill Clinton to speak on morality at the 2001 convention since he’ll be out of a job by then.  One makes as much sense as the other.”  Now that is a bad attitude. In my opinion, Chuck Colson is about the most articulate apologists for the Christian faith that we have in the world today. And yet here’s some anonymous corporal in the Christian army ripping on the General because he’s not one of us. Romans 14:4 says, “Who are you to judge some else’s servant?  To his own master he stands or falls, and he will stand for the Lord is able to make him stand.”  You see the bible tells us that we sometimes have to inspect fruit to tell the difference between true prophets and false prophets.  But if a person believes in the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the authority of the Scripture and they are bearing positive fruit, we must leave the ultimate judgement up to God because they must answer to him and not to us!

Now our attitude toward other believers should be one of gracious acceptance and encouragement.  Just because this man didn’t share the same experiences as John, or wasn’t a part of John’s group so John wasn’t aquatinted with him, that was not reason to condemn him.  Jesus said, “John, don’t write him off the list if he’s doing positive things in my name and not opposing us.”  Now the founders of our Movement that we call the Restoration Movement, or Christian Churches, had a wonderful slogan and that slogan was, “We are not the only Christians, but we are Christians only.”  They recognized that God has people that are not of our fold.  They may worship differently, they may dress differently, they may be organized differently, they may pray differently, but the church is a body with many parts. And rather than attack each other, we ought to seek unity based on the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the authority of the Scriptures. 

M.R. Cottonmyer, a Christian author told about visiting and asylum for the criminally insane shortly after WWII.  He said, “I looked out over the grounds and I saw over 100 inmates, each of which had records for extreme violence and neurotic behavior.  100 inmates but there were only 3 guards.  And it disturbed me and I asked an official, ‘Isn’t that a pretty poor ratio?  Just 3 guards to 100 of these inmates?’ And the official said, ‘Oh no.  don’t’ worry.  Lunatics never unite!’”  But you know what?  Wise people do.  God’s people should.  Jesus prayed, “May they be one, Father as I am one in you so that the world will believe that you have sent me.”  And our attitude toward other believes ought to be like Jesus Christ.  Be gracious toward those who are other believers.

III.             PATIENT TOLERANCE TOWARDS HOSTILE UNBELIEVERS

Then, verse 51-56 suggests our attitude should be one of patient tolerance towards hostile unbelievers.  “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.  He sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him because he was heading for Jerusalem.  When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, ‘Lord, do you want us to call dried own from heaven to destroy them?’”  Now, understand that bitter racial hatred existed between the Jews and the Samaritans. They despised each other.  But Jesus sought to be a bridge-builder. While other sought to avoid any contact with the Samaritans, Jesus would go through Samaria.  He'd stop in their villages and eat and talk, and stay with them.  But when this particular group of Samaritan people learned that Jesus was headed for Jerusalem, the Jewish headquarters, they did not welcome him.  I take it, they would not let him eat there.  They would not let him stay there.  James and John had nicknames, “the sons of Thunder,” because hey had violent tempers.  And they could not tolerate the intolerance of the Samaritans.  And they said, “Let’s fry those guys!  Let’s call down fire from heaven and destroy them.”

Don’t you see that today?  People who are intolerant of intolerance?  I heard this week about a Christian Children's home that released and employee who violated their policy against homosexual activity. She is now suing the home for their perceived intolerance.  You see, today we call down fire by lawsuits.  In the decade of the 70’s there were fewer than 200 lawsuits against preachers and church organizations.  Today there are thousands every year.  Someone said, “The new persecution is prosecution.”  But this woman’s argument is that she doesn't want what is happening to her to happen to others.  She doesn't want anyone else to lose their job because of sexual orientation. But think about it. If she is successful, the Christian home will in al likelihood lose considerable funding. Scores of people will lose their jobs because of her sexual preference and hundreds of children will not have the best of care.  You see, many people talk a good game about tolerance, but that tolerance is usually extended to those who agree with our basic philosophy.  Jesus said, “If you do good to those who do good o you, what reward do you have?  Even the pagans do that.”  He said, “your challenge is to love your enemy and do good to those who treat you spitefully.”  Our attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ who encouraged his disciples to be patient and tolerant towards the Samaritans.  When they refused to allow him to stay overnight in Samaria, he didn’t call down fire from heaven, he just left and went to another area.

And interesting fact about Samaria, by the way, is that a few years later it is a very responsive evangelistic field.  Acts the 8th chapter, verse 5, “Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed Christ there. And when the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many.  Many paralytic and cripples were healed and so there was great joy in that city.”  And later in that section it says, “many men and women were baptized because they believed in Christ.”  Now, had the disciples been successful in calling down fire from heaven and destroying this Samaritan city, these people would have never had the opportunity to be saved.  And we need to remember that some of those people who are hostile unbelievers today could possibly be hot prospects for Christ tomorrow.  And they are more likely to be won by a patient, tolerant spirit than by vicious attacks.  You now what the bible says, “You speak the truth with a loving attitude.  And love is patient. Love is kind.  Love is not rude.  It is not easily angered.  It always perseveres.  Love never fails.” 

IV. DECISIVE ALLEGIANCE TOWARD JESUS CHRIST

Then, finally, if Jesus becomes Lord of our life our attitude toward Him should be one of decisive allegiance.  Our attitude toward Jesus should be one of decisive allegiance.  The next section in Luke 9 records three potential followers who apparently didn’t make the cut because of indecision and lukewarmness. The first we could label a security-seeker.  Verse 57, “As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’

Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of Man has no place to lay his head.’” 

Apparently this man was accustomed to a very comfortable lifestyle. And Jesus said to him, “If you’re going to follow me, understand that it’s not always going to be easy.  We don’t; sty in  5-star hotels.  We don’t eat in the best restaurants.  It’s going to be tough.” And there are some Christians today who expect everything about the Christian life to be easy.  But Jesus Christ said, “If you follow me, it’s going to take sacrifice and there’s going to be a cross and you’ve got to toughen up.”

Then Jesus invited  procrastinator to follow him.  Verse 59, “He said to another a man, ‘Come follow me.’

But the man replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’

Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’”

Now, at first that sounds rather harsh until you understand that obviously this man’s father had not yet died because in that day they buried someone within 24 hours of their death.  What this man was saying was, “I’ll follow you, Lord, but later.  Right now I need to stay home until my father dies.”  Well, that could take years. And Jesus’ answer to him was, “The spiritually dead ought to bury the physically dead.  The spiritually alive need to get busy proclaiming the good news right now.”  William Barclay wrote, “The point that Jesus was making is that in everything there is a crucial moment. And if that moment is missed the thing will most likely never be done at all. This a man had stirrings in his heart to get out of his spiritually dead surroundings, but if he missed this moment, he would never get out.” 

The third man also volunteered but could not follow Christ because he was apparently a hesitant homebody.  Verse 61, “Still another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.’”  Now, there’s nothing wrong with loving your family and wanting to have a fond farewell.  But this request probably would have involved days and weeks of parties and pleas for reconsideration.  Remember in Genesis 24 when Rebecca agreed to go with the servant  to become Isaac’s bride?  The next day the servant said, “Well, let’s go.” And the family of Rebecca said, “Oh, no!  That’s too fast.  Let the girl remain with us 10 days or so and then she may go.”  But the servant said, “No.  I need to go today.”  So they asked Rebecca, “Do you want to go now or wait?” And Rebecca said, “I will go.” And they left that day. 

Our commitment to Jesus Christ needs to be one of decisive obedience.  We make the right choice now while there’s time, and we don't look back.  The last verse reads, “Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”  Now, maybe some of you here today made a commitment when you were young to follow Jesus Christ but you looked back big time in college, or mid-life crises, or during an out-of-town trip and you’ve got these major deviations in your life’s furrow where you wandered from the straight and narrow path.  But the point here is; from this day forward, your attitude needs to be one of stubborn allegiance to Christ that never looks back; never again questions the wisdom of the decision, or never longs for the sinful ways of your former days.

Right now, some of you may need to decide it’s time to get back on the right path.  Others need to decide today is the day I get my life on track with God’s will.  Some of you here today are already living for Christ and need to identify yourself as a part of a local church body.  Whatever your decision is, make it right now as we stand and sing . .