BUT .. BUT .. BUT
Luke 9
57 And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.
62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
BUT…BUT..BUT
Jesus calls us to radical discipleship, the reasons given by the last two people seem very reasonable, after all aren’t we supposed to respect our parents?
The first man wanted to follow Christ, but Jesus told him that he would lose his comfortable life. When we follow Jesus, we leave our comfort zone. Jesus had no place to lay his head, he had no comfy bed to lie in. He was saying to the first man, you want to follow me, do you? Realise this, if you do follow me, you may have no place to lay your head, earlier in Luke 9, Jesus makes this strong statement.
23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
Jesus said many times people had to count the cost, are you prepared to count the cost?
The final two said they would follow Jesus, BUT gave reasons, why they couldn’t. The first one said he had to bury his father, was his father dead? If he was dead, then this son, had to stay with the family for one year after his death, he said he would follow, but in his time, he wanted to set the agenda, he wanted to say to Jesus, I will serve you, but in my time. It doesn’t work like that.
Obedience has to be immediate, God sets the agenda.. not us.
The second man made another excuse, he said
but let me first go bid them farewell
He put himself before anything else, it seems he cared about his family, when in fact, he didn’t want to lose his comfort.
Jesus makes it clear that you cant start something and then turn back, you do one thing or another, you either follow Christ or you don’t.
He makes this clear in this passage:
Luke 14
28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,
30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Count the cost, Jesus repeats this over and over to the crowds, he lost followers because he said it.
Joshua 24
14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Jesus says:
If you follow me, you must count the cost, are you prepared to count the cost?
God bless you
keith