Luke 9 23-26 57-62 Kill The Pig
Don’t be Held hostage by a pig
Break free to be a disciple
Luke 9:23-26, 57-62
I. Rescue Planned for Woman Trapped in Home by Giant Pig
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
A huge pig called Bruce has trapped a terrified woman in her home in Australia.
Caroline Hayes, 63, tried to leave her house in Uki, New South Wales, to use the outdoor toilet, but the animal bit her and shoved her back inside.
Bruce, who is the size of a Shetland pony, showed up at her home 10 days ago after his owners were unable to cope with him and let him loose in the rainforest.
Hayes began feeding the beast, but he became more aggressive, demanding more food and biting her on the leg when she tried to go to the toilet.
Ms Hayes said she had locked herself into her home yesterday afternoon and was too afraid to set foot outside until late this morning.
She said the pig pushed her, snapped a broom in half with his mouth and pulled a mattress out of her garage, tearing it to shreds.
Hayes told how she took pity on the beast, but it soon took over her home.
"When I found it, it had 15 ticks in its eyes which I actually took out," she said.
"One of its eyes it couldn't see out of, so I put cream in it, but apparently it's actually claimed my land and claimed my place.
"It started getting very pushy, started pushing me around, so I started to get a bit frightened, until the stage that it started knocking on my door at 4 a.m., actually head-butting my door.”
The rangers came out to my house with a dog cage and this pig is that big, it's like trying to put an elephant in a dog cage.
They got him half-way in, and he just backed off and went back to my dam, where he was having a lovely time in the water.
Even though Bruce became quite aggressive, trapping Caroline Hayes inside her house and causing a bit of property damage, she did not want him hurt and told council officers not to use a trap to catch him. Local rangers tried to rescue her but could not capture the huge animal.
Mr Hing, who works for the Rural Land Protection Board, said "Someone's got him as a little fella and they've fed him and kept him and all of a sudden he's a fat pig and he's started to cause a bit of drama around the place,"
A Tweed Shire Council spokeswoman said two attempts had previously been made to remove Bruce, but Ms Hayes - who is "an animal lover and a vegetarian" - didn't want a trap to be used. The case has now been handed over to the Rural Lands Protection Board (RLPB), who have promised not to put the animal down.
Held hostage by a pig.
Did she really want to be free?
Was she willing to pay the price?
II. The requirement for discipleship
A. Choose – make a decision
(NKJV) Luke 9 23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me,
1. Available to all
2. Must desire it
B. Deny - Put aside self life
(NKJV) Luke 9 23 … “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself,
1. Self denial
2. No longer pursuing self focus
3. Exchanging own will with God’s will
4. Modeled in Christ
(NKJV) Luke 9 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”
C. Take up cross – total submission
(NKJV) Luke 9 23 … “If anyone desires to come after Me … and take up his cross daily,
1. Self submission – state forced – willing to Christ
2. Follows Samaritan rejection - suffering
3. The life despised by the world - cross
4. The death of independent living
(NKJV) Galatians 2 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
5. Recurring activity
D. Follow: Respond actively
(NKJV) Luke 9 23 … “If anyone desires to come after Me… follow Me
1. Result of the other two
2. Present – emphasis on continuous action
3. Respond
4. Actively
III. Consider the other options
A. Pursue life only to lose it
(NKJV) Luke 9 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
1. Control life? – lose it
2. Surrender life? – gain life
3. Future and present
B. Pursue gain only to have nothing
(NKJV) Luke 9 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
1. Collect everything but lose the more valuable
C. Pursue acceptance only to be shamed
(NKJV) Luke 9 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.
1. Ashamed of Him and what His word to seek glory with the world
2. During time of glory – lose it
IV. Three examples
Three men – challenge –
A. Count the cost
(NKJV) Luke 9 57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
1. Jewish teacher (rabbi) live with students to learn Torah
2. Even animals feel at home somewhere – not a disciple
3. More – Involves homelessness / stranger in the world / rejected
4. Trust God and realize home is with Him
B. Make Him priority
59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
1. Interested but first - Be with his father until he dies
2. Jesus is first priority
3. Prophets commanded to (Ezekial/Jeremiah) forgo funeral because of urgency of the message
4. Or radical statement to capture attention
a) Even an accepted responsibility is not a reason to postpone following Jesus
b) Rejects any excuse for following Jesus
5. Proclamation
C. Persevere when tempted to return
61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”