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For the scripture reading this
evening, we turn to Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9. The parallel
passage for the text is found in Matthew 8, verses 18 through
22. We will not be reading that section
together, but that's just for your awareness. Matthew 8, verses
18 through 22. Luke 9. is what we're going to be reading,
starting at verse 43, and the text is verses 57 through 62. We will not reread that passage
because it's at the end of the scripture reading. Luke 9, beginning
at verse 43. This is after Jesus and his disciples
came down from the Mount of Transfiguration, and he heals the child, the demon-possessed
child, and delivers him again to his father. Verse 43, and
they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they
wondered, every one, at all things which Jesus did, he said unto
his disciples, let these sayings sink down into your ears. for
the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men. But they
understood not this saying, and it was hid from them that they
perceived it not, and they feared to ask him of that saying. Then there arose a reasoning
among them which of them should be greatest. And Jesus, perceiving
the thought of their heart, took a child and set him by him and
said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name
receiveth me, and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that
sent me. For he that is least among you
all, the same shall be great. And John answered and said, Master,
we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade him,
because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him,
Forbid him not, for he that is not against us is for us. And it came to pass, when the
time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly
set his face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his
face. And they went and entered into a village of the Samaritans
to make ready for him. And they did not receive him,
because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And
when his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord,
wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and
consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned and rebuked
them and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For
the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save
them. And they went to another village. And now begin the words of the
text. 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. And Jesus said unto him, foxes have holes and the birds
of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not where to
lay his head. And he said unto another, follow
me. But he said, Lord, suffer me
first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, let the
dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of
God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me
first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And
Jesus said unto him, no man, having put his hand to the plow
and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." So far,
we read God's holy and infallible Word. We will be looking at this
passage. It will be profitable to keep
our Bibles open as we walk through this passage together. Beloved
congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the introduction of
this sermon, I want to draw your attention especially to verse
51. Let's go back and reread verse
51. And it came to pass when the
time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly
set his face to go to Jerusalem. Now here with verse 51, it's
hard to see with the chapter divisions, but here with verse
51, we have a major turning point in the book of Luke. Verse 51
marks a new section in the gospel of Luke. Up to this point in
the book, Jesus has been mainly in the northern area of Galilee,
preaching the gospel of the kingdom and performing miracles. And
he's spent a couple of years carrying out this work. But now
with verse 51, there's a shift in Jesus's focus. Now Jesus,
as it were, sets his face as a flint to Jerusalem. And now
he's focusing more intently on the main work that he came to
do, namely, to lay down his life on the cross for the sins of
his people. And he's already started to talk
about it with his disciples. We read it in verse 44. Jesus
is very explicit. If we would go earlier in the
chapter, verse 22, Jesus is, again, very Exact, the son of man must suffer
many things and be rejected of the elders and chief priests
and scribes and be slain and be raised the third day. And now with verse 51, Jesus
starts making his final trek to Jerusalem. Time-wise, it's
still going to take about nine months for Jesus to get to Jerusalem
and die on the cross, but here in a sense is where this final
journey begins. And the point is this, Jesus
is absolutely determined to go up to Jerusalem. Jesus is absolutely
committed to do everything that he's been called to do from his
Father for our salvation. Now as verse 51 makes clear,
Jesus knew that his journey to Jerusalem wasn't just a journey
that led to his death, but it was a journey that would ultimately
lead to his ascension into heaven. It was a journey that had a higher
destiny than just his death on the cross. It was a journey that
would lead to glory at the right hand of his heavenly father.
Yes, the journey involved Jesus carrying a cross, but it was
a journey in which his cross would eventually be exchanged
for a crown. And once Jesus fixes his gaze
on the direction of Jerusalem and the work that is before him
and the joy that is set before him, Jesus will not look back. Nothing will deter him. Nothing
is going to distract him from this high calling that his heavenly
Father has given him to do. Now, why do I bring all of this
up by way of introduction on a sermon on discipleship? Well,
exactly, because there's a thematic connection between Jesus' attitude
in verse 51, as he begins to set out towards Jerusalem, and
the attitude that his disciples also must have, as it's described
and looked at in verses 57 through 62. That's the connection here
with the text. In the text this evening, what
Jesus is basically saying is this. If you want to be my disciple,
if you want to follow me, know where I'm going. Know the attitude
that I have as I walk my pathway. Realize it's going to cost you
if you're going to follow after me. Count the cost and be committed. This is the attitude I have and
must have as I go the way that the Father has ordained for me,
and this is the attitude you must have as well if you would
be my disciple. An attitude of complete commitment,
an attitude of being committed to go all the way, following
where I go, and an attitude of not looking back as you walk
your way. Oh, it's certainly true. We don't
walk the same path as Jesus in the sense that we too must die
on the cross to atone for sin. No, that's where Jesus has finished
the labors. He's done the work already. But
nevertheless, to be Jesus' disciple, we must take that path of suffering
and self-denial that Jesus has marked out for all those who
would follow after him. The servant is not greater than
his master. That's really what this passage
is about, the thematic connection. between verse 51 and the passage
before us. Well, in the text itself, what
we have are three men whom Jesus encounters on his way to Jerusalem.
Three men who would be followers of Jesus. Three men who seem
to have every intention of following Jesus. And yet, these three men
evidently don't realize the kind of commitment and self-denial
that Jesus requires of those who would be his disciples. And
what Jesus emphasizes in the passage is the sheer impossibility
of following Jesus on our own terms. The impossibility of following
Jesus if we're not willing to give up everything to follow
him. Just like Jesus himself had to
give up everything to follow the way of his heavenly father,
so we too must be willing and ready to give up everything,
our own lives also, in order to follow after Jesus. On the
sermon this evening, we're going to simply walk through the passage,
through these three interactions Jesus has with each one of these
men, and this is going to be a good word for these young ladies
who've made confession of faith this evening, and it's a good
reminder for all of us who've made vows of commitment to follow
after Jesus. We take as our theme, The Cost
of Discipleship, Part One. Lord willing, in a future sermon,
We'll look at part two, another passage from the book of Luke.
This evening, we look at just Luke chapter nine. And we look
at that theme under three points, giving up the comforts of home,
giving up the claims of family, and giving up everything. We're
simply walking through the passage. In verse 57, we read this, 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. Now you can imagine at this point
in Jesus' ministry, there is a great cloud of people who are
following Jesus. Actually, it's worth commenting
on, if you would look at Matthew's account in Matthew 8, we read
that this man came up to Jesus while Jesus was still in the
region of Galilee around Capernaum, and he's about to board a ship
to cross the Sea of Galilee. And here in Luke's account, it
reads a little different. It reads as if this event happens
when Jesus is in the land of Samaria, passing through Samaria
on his way to Jerusalem. Well, how do you explain the
discrepancy? Well, the proper explanation is this. Here in
Luke, Luke isn't interested in giving us information that's
happening chronologically. in sequence of time. Luke is
emphasizing themes. Luke is bringing different ideas
together and Luke is very comfortable to write about something that
happens and then take in something else that happens at an entirely
different time in Jesus' ministry to emphasize a certain theme
or teaching. And that's what Luke is doing
here. He's emphasizing a theme. Matthew's account, at least with
these first two individuals, Matthew's account would perhaps
appear to be more chronological. Either way, you can imagine that
as Jesus is walking on the way, there is a great group of people
following him, whether he's in the northern region or walking
through Samaria. And now out of that group, a
man suddenly shouts, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou
goest. And that's how we should picture this event, so that as
we encounter this man in verse 57, there's a few things going
on here, and a few things we can say about this man. First
of all, this is a man who sounds like he's caught up in the excitement
of the moment. This is a man who's caught up
with the emotion. He's very, very eager to follow
Jesus. In fact, I think it's legitimate
to picture this man like someone who's at a concert today, who's
been moved by the powerful music, who hears maybe an altar call
to come forward to accept Jesus, and they run forward to the stage
with great enthusiasm. If you would read the account
in Matthew 8, you would see that this man has been, must have
been witnessing the mighty miracles of Jesus. He's seen the power
of Jesus, and he is ready to commit his life to Jesus. He's
caught up in the excitement of the moment. Second of all, we
can say that this man is a man who evidently knows something
about the demands of discipleship. After all, just look at how he
puts it. I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. This man knows that
that's how discipleship works. In these days, where there was
a rabbi, where there was a master or a teacher, that rabbi had
his little flock of students that followed him as disciples.
And this man must have seen Jesus' disciples following after him.
And so this man also says, I will follow you wherever you go. And
implied is that this man knows that discipleship is going to
take more than just a momentary commitment. He volunteers without
any conditions to go anywhere and everywhere with Jesus. And
third of all, what we can say about this man is that this man
was a scribe. That's what we learned from Matthew's
account in the parallel passage. This man was a scribe. And that
adds something to this passage. adds something interesting because
scribes were very highly esteemed people in Jesus' day. Scribes,
we could say, were lawyers. And not just any lawyers, but
religious lawyers. who were trained and then authorized
to interpret the teachings of the Bible, both politically and
religiously for the people, for the Jews, for the nation. They
were a very important part of the Jewish social system in those
days, and they were very institutional, they were very loyal to the nation,
and with that, they were very legalistic. And so by and large,
these scribes were hostile to Jesus. They saw Jesus as a threat
to their authority and to the nation. The scribes were part
of the people who plotted against Jesus' death. But now here's
this man, a scribe, educated, who declares publicly that he
will follow Jesus wherever he goes. It's very powerful, it's
very striking. And so the point is, everything
about this man sounds good. It sounds like this man is going
to be a great convert for Jesus. He can maybe use this man as
an example to the people, look, I even have scribes who are following
me. What a powerful witness he could be. But then you keep reading,
you get to verse 58, and you read how Jesus interacts with
this man, and that too is striking. And Jesus said unto him, foxes
have holes. birds of the air have nests,
but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." And what Jesus
is basically pointing out is that this would-be disciple fails
to understand and appreciate the implications of discipleship.
Jesus says, basically, you want to follow me? You want to follow
me? Realize you're going to have
to give up even the basic comforts of your home. The foxes have
holes. They have their dens that they can go back to every night.
The birds of the air, they have their nests to go to each night.
But realize if you want to follow me, you're traveling with a homeless
evangelist. I don't even have a place to
go to each night. I don't have a place to go home
each night. And not only was Jesus saying
that, but to go deeper, what Jesus was really saying was this.
You think you have it in yourself to follow me? You're too self-confident. You're too emotional. You're
too caught up with the large crowds and the power you see
and the glory that you think you see in me. The reality is
I don't even have a place to call home. The reality is I am
one who's unwanted on the earth. I am the man of sorrows acquainted
with grief. People shake their head at me
and they walk around me on the other side of the street. Yes,
I do have friends who open up their homes to me, but the reality
is I'm a pilgrim and a stranger. Are you ready to live that way? Well, reading these words does
remind us of the many things that Jesus gave up in order to
follow His Father's will, don't they? We can start off at the
very beginning of Jesus' earthly life. It was always this way
for Jesus. Here was the son of God who was dwelling in the glory
of heavenly life, surrounded by the praise of the angels.
Right? We saw it in adult Bible study
this past week. He's the one who Isaiah saw sitting
on the throne, high and lifted up, bedecked in the riches of
heavenly life. And yet from that great glory,
he came down into this dark and sin-cursed world. And right from
the beginning, there was no place for him. Born in Bethlehem, and
there's no room for him in the inn. while he's still in the
womb of his mother. When he comes to his hometown
of Nazareth, preaching the gospel, they tried casting him off a
cliff. When he goes to the land of the Gadarenes, even though
he heals a demon-possessed man, the people implore him, they
beg him to just leave their coasts. And even here in Luke chapter
9, we read of how Jesus and his disciples are traveling through
Samaria on their way down to Jerusalem. And what do we read?
Luke 9 verse 52, we read of how Jesus sends messengers ahead
to prepare lodging at the next village. And in Luke 9 verse
53, we read, they did not receive him. That is to say, the people
of the village refused to let Jesus rest there for the evening.
Because, as we read, his face was as though he would go to
Jerusalem. And of course, we need to have some background
information there, right? We need to be aware of the relationship
that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans at this time.
The Jews and the Samaritans hated each other. The Samaritans thought
we should be worshiping at Mount Gerizim. They have their own
temple. And so the Jews that are passing through their land
on the way to Jerusalem, to the temple, They did not like them. They would not help out the Jews. You even read of how the Samaritans
sometimes killed the people who passed through Samaria to worship
in Jerusalem. Now, oftentimes the Jews would
skirt around Samaria, but sometimes they would pass right through,
just as Jesus was doing on this occasion. And here Jesus is passing through
Samaria, and the reality is he has no place to lay his head.
And then when he gets to Jerusalem, the people don't want him there
either. He's betrayed with a kiss, seized by the authorities, and
the crowds of people cry out early in the morning with hatred,
crucify him, crucify him. That's Jesus. In the end, he
was suspended on a cross between heaven and earth, earth rejecting
him, heaven forsaking him. And that's what Jesus had to
endure in order to follow his father's will and walk the path
that his father had marked for him. And it's as if Jesus is
saying to this man, are you ready for that? Are you ready to follow
me where I'm going? This is the cost of discipleship. It's a very sobering interaction,
isn't it? Now, we don't know what happened to this particular
man, this scribe, this first man in the text. There are a
few things that we can point out by way of application, things
we can consider. I have three things. First of
all, I think what we have here in this man is a pretty accurate
picture of what so much of modern evangelicalism looks like and
what it wants to have today. I mean, honestly, even in our
own circles, we would love to hear people who come to church
and cry out, I will follow Jesus wherever he goes. In a sense,
that kind of passion is entirely right. And this is even the kind
of emotional response that church leaders even try to evoke through
the preaching and through the music and through the lighting
and everything else. There's the fiery preaching,
there's the heart-rending stories that tug at the heartstrings.
And as I was thinking about this this past week, I look back at
my youth and coming across a few videos from Rob Bell, maybe some
of you who are my age or a little older remember those videos,
those new months they were called, and they were powerful stuff. But now look at Jesus. Jesus
here in this passage isn't playing on anyone's heartstrings. Jesus
rather has a very sobering way of interacting with this prospective
disciple. He gets right to the heart of
it. And what Jesus says is this, discipleship is no easy breezy
one-time decision. This is a lifelong commitment.
It requires complete devotion. It's no one-time event. It's
the rest of your life. And it will cost you the rest
of your life. As Jesus says elsewhere, we've
already considered this in a previous sermon on this occasion of confession
of faith, if anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself. I think that how Jesus interacts
with this man flies in the face of so much of modern day evangelical
efforts, evangelism efforts, where people are inclined to
say right away, Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for
your life, when the reality is, follow Jesus, And He has a difficult
plan for your life. Now, we know the joys of the
gospel. We know it is a wonderful plan. We know the joys of following
Jesus. But the point is, Jesus is always
honest and direct with the costs involved in following Him. Second
of all, what we can point out is this. I think what we see
in this would-be follower of Jesus is an example of one who
is perhaps a very strong-willed and strong-minded person. This
man, it would seem, has too much self-confidence, too much assurance
that he would be able to follow Jesus wherever Jesus went. And
the question has to be asked, really, with all three, but with
this man particularly, do you know anything of your sin? Do
you know anything of your need for Jesus as the Savior? Oh yes,
you say you're willing to give your heart to Christ, but the
reality is this, salvation comes from Christ giving something
to you. And what Jesus gives us, first of all, is this, a
sorrow over our sin, and a sense of our complete dependence upon
Him. The gospel is not this. What am I willing to do for Jesus?
That's not the gospel. The gospel is this. What has
Jesus done for sinners, sinners such as me? And no matter where
the disciple of Jesus is in his life, that's the posture at the
center of his heart. He even says, even in my discipleship,
day by day, I have need of thee. Leave me not, O Lord, lest I
wander from thee, because I go astray as a sheep so easily.
And it's that gospel of Jesus redeeming work, of what Jesus
does that propels the disciple and compels him in his walk of
discipleship. This is why I follow Jesus, because
I know what He has done for my soul. I don't want to be too
hard on this would-be follower, but I think in the response Jesus
gives this man, Jesus is showing that He knows the heart of this
man, and He knows what this man needs to hear. That's the point. too self-confident. And being
a disciple of Jesus does not mean we're just strong-willed
and strong-minded people. Being a disciple of Jesus means
having a posture of reliance upon Jesus as our Savior. Third of all, what we can point
out is this, how easy it is to let earthly things get in the
way of true discipleship. Discipleship may very well involve
giving up the comforts of home. Discipleship is much more than
just the excitement of adding Jesus to your life. It involves
sacrifice. It involves trials. It involves
making choices that go directly against what you, according to
the flesh, would envision for your life and desire for your
short time here on earth. It involves living in ways that
don't make rational sense. to your neighbor who's not a
believer, who isn't a disciple of Jesus. It doesn't make sense
to them why you're doing what you're doing because, and you
do that, you're living that way because you're a disciple of
Christ. Now, Jesus doesn't always call
us, He doesn't call us all to experience this sacrifice and
self-denial in exactly the same way, but it does involve these
things. You know it yourself. And the
question Jesus puts before us is this. you willing. You must
be willing. And if Jesus asks something of
you, whatever it may be, you must do as He asks. Perhaps it
was there that that verse came to my mind, God makes us willing
in the day of His power. Well, that's what Jesus is putting
before this first would-be disciple. Well then, in verses 59 through
60, we come across the second would-be disciple of Jesus. We
read in verse 59, And just as it was with that first would-be
follower of Jesus, we can imagine that Jesus is walking here in
a crowd of people, a crowd who is following him. So the point
is, with saying that is that this
man, in a certain sense, is already a disciple of Jesus. Right? He's part of the crowd following
Jesus. And that becomes even clearer
when you consider that at the end of verse 60, Jesus calls
this man to preach the kingdom of God. The point is, this man
is already fully acquainted with the preaching of Jesus. He knows
what Jesus' teaching is on the kingdom of God. And Jesus says,
preach the kingdom. But look at how this man responds.
The first man that we just finished looking at, he seems, in a sense,
too eager, too fast to follow Jesus. And the second man that
we come across, he seems too slow to follow Jesus. He says,
first, let me go and bury my father. You see, this man has
other things that come before Jesus, really. He wants to follow
Jesus on his own terms. Now, that seems hard right away.
but Jesus' interaction with him shows that this is what Jesus
is thinking. There's two different ways to understand the language
and especially what Jesus says in verse 60. First, there are
those who say that this man's father wasn't actually dead yet.
And according to that view, the idea is that this man was asking
Jesus to let him go back home and take care of his father during
his declining years until his father died. And then after his
father died and he buried his father, he would find Jesus and
start following Jesus. And there are many who hold to
that understanding of the passage because they say, why would this
man be in the crowd of people following Jesus if his father
had actually just physically died? Because in these days when
people died, they would be buried very soon. If possible, they
would be buried the self same day, if not the very next day.
And so if this man's father has just died, this man wouldn't
be in this crowd of people. And then in addition, for those
who take this view, they will say that this man was waiting
for his father to die so that this man could receive his father's
inheritance. As if the language he uses was
kind of a saying in those days, first let me go and bury my father.
That kind of language meaning that first let me receive my
father's inheritance and then I will follow you. So that the
idea is this man is characterized as one who's worried about his
money first, rather than about following Jesus. That's a possible
way of understanding the passage. The second way to understand
the language, however, is like this. To understand that the
man's father has indeed just died physically, and the man
is in transit, he's on his way to bury his father. So that when
Jesus tells him to follow Jesus, the man very honestly says, let
me go first bury my father. That to me fits more with the
passage and the language that's used. This man is asking Jesus
for permission to go home and bury his father who has just
died. And if that's the case, then
what Jesus says is very powerful indeed. Jesus basically says,
no, you've got more important things to do. He says in verse
60, Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom
of God." And what Jesus means is this, let those who are spiritually
dead take care of these earthly things. You, you be busy in spiritual
things. Now, I think that reading is
the better way to read the passage, but if that is the reading, then
it does sound like a very harsh statement on Jesus' part. It
sounds harsh. And it sounds harsh, of course,
because we should be careful to honor our parents. The man
seems right. This is a reasonable request,
to go home and first bury his father. But the point Jesus is
making is this, no, nothing comes before following me. When Jesus
says, follow me, you don't say, first let me do this. No, you
follow him. You follow him. That's where
our priorities must lie. Now we don't know all the circumstances
here, right? Maybe when this man said, suffer me first to
bury my father, it was revealing that his heart wasn't entirely
devoted to Jesus. If you would look at the parallel
passage in Matthew chapter 8, you would see that when Jesus
speaks these words to this man, The man, Jesus, is about to board
a ship to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. And so
maybe that's the context. So that the idea would then be,
this man needs to make a choice right here, right now. Either
get in the ship with Jesus, or choose your family. Which will
it be? Jesus says, you follow me. Come with me. Now, we shouldn't
take this passage to an extreme and conclude that we can't be
involved in burying our loved ones because we have to be involved
instead in spiritual things. Of course, there are times when
caring for your loved ones is exactly the way that Jesus wants
you to follow him as his disciple. But the point is, for this man,
at this particular time in his life, this is what he needed
to be confronted with. Jesus' word to him was this,
follow me. He needs to commit to Jesus. The claims of family have their
God-given place in life, but we must never let a false sense
of duty get in the way of our real duty to Christ, whatever
that is in our particular situation. And that, again, is the word
we need to take from these verses, right? How do I define myself?
Young ladies who've made confession of faith, how do you define yourself? How do we define ourselves? Do you define yourself first
by your family relationships? Do you define yourself first
as a husband, or as a wife, or as a daughter, or as a sister,
or as a son, or a brother? Do you define yourself first
as a student, or as an engineer, or as a farmer? Or do you define
yourself first as a follower of Jesus? The point is, the kingdom
takes the priority. Lord willing, we'll look at it
in this future sermon, part two, of the cost of discipleship,
but what we have here in Luke 9 is very similar to Luke 14,
where Jesus says, if any man come to me and hate not his father
and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea,
and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And that might
sound like strong language, But the reality is, beloved, it's
very reasonable. It's very, very reasonable if
only we remember who Jesus is. Who is Jesus? Jesus of Nazareth. who lived and walked on the earth
2,000 years ago is the eternal and natural son of God. He is
the Emmanuel, God come in the flesh. He is the savior of sinners,
the seed of the woman who laid down his life on the cross and
who went through the agonies of hell for me. For me, these
young women have said this evening. And with all due respect, With
all due respect, does my father or does my mother or does anyone
else hold a candle to Jesus? And if my father or mother or
anyone else also knew and knows who Jesus is, wouldn't they say
amen to that? And say the exact same thing
if you know who Jesus is. And if you know what He has done,
what He has done for you that is of eternal significance, then
there's no way around it. He takes top priority. He's first
in my life. Isn't that exactly what God wanted
to see in Abraham's life when God called Abraham to offer up
his only begotten son, Isaac? That's the attitude of discipleship. giving up, if the Lord calls
me to do it, the claims of family. That's the second would-be disciple
of Jesus. And when we get to the third
would-be disciple of Jesus, it's the same thing, although in a
sense, it's intensified. You can't even say goodbye to
your family members. We read in verse 61, and another
also said, Lord, I will follow Thee, but let me first co-bid
them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto
him, no man, having put his hand to
the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. That's
what Jesus is emphasizing. When it comes to discipleship,
Jesus will not take second place. When it comes to discipleship,
Jesus will not hear these words, but first this, Master. First
this, Master. Jesus demands everything. Even
the normal courtesies of family affection must give way to the
overriding demands of the kingdom of God. To use the language of
Colossians 1 verse 18, Jesus must have the preeminence, so
that in all things He might have the preeminence. That's God's
purpose with Jesus. That's God's calling with our
lives. No man, having put his hand to the plow and looking
back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Children, you know what
I think? When I read that, maybe you teenagers can understand. I think of mowing the lawn. Because when I was a teenager,
living at home with my parents, I had to mow the lawn. And in
order to mow the lawn, what was required? Sitting there on the
lawnmower, what was required was this. You had to focus on
where you were going. You had to keep your eye on the
grass to make sure you're making the most economical use of the
lawnmower every strip you're going down and to keep the lines
nice and straight. You need to be focused so that
you do a faithful job. It's like the same with a farmer
who's plowing or in the harvest season, a combine going through
the harvest, going through the field, singular devotion. That's what Jesus is talking
about here. You need a singular focus on the kingdom of heaven. You can't halt between two positions
and you can't put your hand to the plow and look around you
and be focused on other things or be longingly looking back
at something else maybe that could have been in your life.
So especially you can't do this. You can't put your hand to the
plow and look longingly back to your previous life of sin. There's no looking back there.
Discipleship involves total commitment. Well, as we consider these three
would-be disciples of Jesus, it's hard for us not to wonder
what actually became of them, right? We don't read that. We
can't read positively or negatively what happened to them. What did
become of them? Did they ever decide to follow
Jesus, make Him their willing choice? Well, we don't know. The one thing we do know is what
Jesus did after these interactions. Jesus, of course, after these
interactions, kept going ahead on his way to Jerusalem. Having
set his face toward that great city, nothing could deter him
from reaching his appointed destination. He had already himself given
up all the things that he was calling his disciples to give
up as they followed him. And with single-minded, wholehearted
devotion to the glory of God, Jesus made it to Jerusalem. And
he made it to the cross before also being taken up to glory
where he exchanged his cross for a crown. And now Jesus calls us to follow
after him, to make whatever sacrifices he calls us to make. and carry
the cross that he gives us to carry here below. And he calls
us also to set our face like a flint, being devoted to walking
with single-mindedness in his way, carrying our cross, also
knowing the joy that has been set before us in heavenly glory,
the crown that we will be given in heavenly glory. We know what
He has done for us. We know the gospel of our salvation. We know also where the pathway
ends, just as Jesus had the hope that was set before Him and endured. Knowing these things, thankfulness,
love, and reverence move us to follow in His way and not look
back. So may it be with you three young
ladies, in the pathway that Jesus calls you to walk through this
earthly life. Knowing the cross that God gives
you to bear, but knowing also that there will be that time
when you will be received up into glory to be with your Christ,
your King, your Lord in the world to come and life everlasting.
May God encourage you and bless you and give you strength on
your way, as he certainly will. Amen, let us pray. Our Father, we thank Thee for
these words. They are sobering words, but
they are right. And there is nothing less than
what Thou hast demanded us. There is nothing less that we
should expect than what Thou hast demanded us. For Thou art
worthy. Thou the God of our salvation.
Thou the Savior of our souls and of our bodies. To Thee belong
the glory. Command what Thou wilt and give
what Thou dost command. Bless us preaching to our hearts
and to our lives. Strengthen us through the means
of grace. And bless us all in our daily
walk with Thee and our personal devotion to Thee and Thy Son,
Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.
The Cost of Discipleship (Part 1)
Series Disciples of Jesus
| Sermon ID | 10152402273852 |
| Duration | 42:55 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | Luke 9:57-62 |
| Language | English |
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