LUKE 9:57-62
(Reading: Matthew 10:1-42; Luke 9:51-62)

Complete Commitment!

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ…

	There are people in our society who believe they are saved simply because they have prayed a so-called “believer’s prayer.”
		Since they have recited a certain formula they think they have invited Jesus into their hearts.

	Yet with many of these people there is no apparent change in the way they live.
		There isn’t one single shred of evidence to show that they have been saved!

	Perhaps you personally know someone like this.
		They once publicly declared they were Christians.
			In front of church or that evangelistic meeting they professed to being a Christian.
	But since that time they’ve shown little or nothing of a Christ-like walk.
		They’re not interested in fellowshipping with God’s people, in hearing God’s Word preached, or in showing those around them that the Lord Jesus holds a special place in their hearts.	

	It’s obvious they’re missing something, isn’t congregation?
		That thing they lack is commitment.
			These people show they are not dedicating themselves to the Lord Jesus.
				They are not being guided by His Spirit.

	Now, we obviously see their lack.
		But if we come a little closer to home, we can apply this also to ourselves.
			Are you able to say that you’re committed the way you should be to the Lord Jesus?

	I mean, we should have a complete commitment.
		You and I are in His Body.
			We’re a part of His Bride, the Church.
	And yet when we look to how the Head of the Body, the Groom Himself lived, we’re almost missing parts!
		Then aren’t we so often run-away brides?

	Congregation, look at how Luke pictures the Lord just before our text.
		In verse 52 of Luke 9, he writes, “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem... .” 

	Everything in Jesus was fixed on this one purpose.
		He was completely committed on going to the cross.
			So much so that it was the way of suffering far beyond what any of us can ever know or endure.

	You know, that’s all He asks of us!
		If you’re His true disciple you have to be prepared to pay the same price.
			And that means real commitment.

	Believer, there is the highest cost involved in being a follower of Jesus.
		A cost the Lord wants us to realise through the text this morning.
			For in three different examples He shows us what Christian commitment isn’t.

	These three examples make up the three aspects to this sermon.
		For we will see, firstly, A CHRISTIAN COMMITMENT IS NOT AN EASY PATH.
			Then, secondly, we will learn that A CHRISTIAN COMMITMENT HAS NO EXCUSES.
				And, thirdly, you will hear how A CHRISTIAN COMMITMENT MEANS NO TURNING BACK.

	Firstly, then, A CHRISTIAN COMMITMENT IS NOT AN EASY PATH.
		This comes to us from the verses 57 and 58.
			There we read, “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.”

	Here is a man keen to follow Jesus.
		He saw all those wonderful things the Lord had been doing.
			He was there when Jesus healed all those sick people.
				He saw how popular Jesus was with those huge crowds that followed Him everywhere.

	This man saw Jesus as trendy.
		The Lord was in, “flavour of the month,” and all that kind of thing.

	And why wouldn’t He be?
		He was a Jewish hero in a Roman-dominated Palestine.

	So when this man says to our Lord, “I will follow you wherever you go,” it’s not quite what you may at first expect.
		And Christ, being who He is, sees him for who he really is.
			That’s why He answers him the way he does. 
				Because He says to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

	That man was looking for a ‘cool’ lifestyle.
		He wanted the exciting, thrilling action, with lots of good times around.
			But Jesus points him to the harsh reality of His life.
	For if he really wants to follow Jesus it will mean exactly the opposite to what he’s thinking now!
		What happened to the Lord in the verses just before, with a village refusing to have Jesus, is what that man will face for his whole life!

	A good example of what this meant for a disciple of Jesus is what the apostle Paul testified to in his own life.
		Many time he and his companions found themselves ejected from towns, because they dared to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.	
			
	On one occasion Paul was writing to a church which had very popular leaders.
		It was a church that was “with it”!
			A church which didn’t much like Paul because he made them feel so uncomfortable.
	Listen to the testimony he gave them.
		For in 2nd Corinthians 11 he says, “I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.
			“Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.
	“Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move.
		“I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger from the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.
			“I have laboured and toiled and have gone without sleep often; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. (vv23-27)”

	 That’s no life!
		Definitely not OSH approved!
			And yet this is exactly what Jesus expects from every one of His followers!

	Perhaps the big majority of us won’t be called upon to endure what Paul endured.
		Yet we must be prepared to do just as much!
			The attitude you have to have is one of unselfish devotion.

	Unselfish – that means you think of someone other than yourself.
		You think of the Lord and the needs of His gospel.
			And devotion means that you give yourself up exclusively to do exactly that.
		
	That’s why Paul could endure the way he did.
		And that’s why Jesus challenges that man who says that he will follow Him.

	One commentator describes this reply of the Lord in an interesting way.
		He says it’s “a glimpse of the cost of the incarnation.”

	Now, how often do we think about that?
		When do you really stop and reflect about the cost to Jesus by just being on this earth?

	Oh, we know all about His suffering and dying on our behalf.
		But how much do we appreciate that simply being here was an immense burden upon our Lord.
			He suffered all through His earthly life!
	Christ Jesus was the Son of God and yet He was sharing all the brokenness and poverty of man.
		That’s an anguish you don’t really think about!

	As the Master’s servants we have to also share in that suffering.
		This is what Jesus meant in our reading from Matthew 10.
			For in verse 38 there He says, “anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

	Friend, are you willing to be totally rejected for being a follower of Jesus?
		Would you lay your career, your closest relationship, your bank account, your life, on the line for him?

	Perhaps your life is quite straight forward at the moment.
		How would you handle it, though, if it suddenly changed?
			Maybe you are struck down by a debilitating illness.
	Or you are faced with either pleasing the lecturer with giving him the essay he wants or the one that witnesses to the gospel.
		Perhaps to get that deal at work you need to bend a few rules?

	It’s easy being a Christian when your life is a flowery bed of ease.
		But it’s when things get tough that you show who’s you are!
			In fact, if faith isn’t a struggle for you, you have to wonder if you’ve got any faith!

	Jesus addresses that man the same way.
		He drives home the point that being committed to Him is not the easy way.
			He’s going to have to be unselfishly devoted.

	Well, that’s a hard call.
		You can really sense that just with this first example, Jesus has already hit us hard.
			But then there comes the second part to a Christian commitment.
				For A CHRISTIAN COMMITMENT HAS NO EXCUSES.

	In this second example it’s Jesus who addresses a particular man.
		That’s what we read in verse 59.
			For there “He said to another man, ‘Follow me.’”

	We don’t know the precise situation the man is in to whom Jesus directs this instruction.
		Perhaps he was one of the crowd around Him.
			Maybe it was someone who was in the local town looking on as Jesus passes through.

	Whatever the case, what Jesus does is clear.
		He calls this man to follow Him.

	But this man, it seems, has a legitimate excuse as to why he shouldn’t go.
		He replies to Jesus, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

	You see, for the Jews a proper burial was very important.
		In their society the duty of burying your close relatives was more important than the study of the Law, than the Temple service, than the killing of the Passover sacrifice- even more important than the observance of circumcision!

	It was indeed a good reason this man gives Jesus for not being able to straight-away come and follow Him.
		If we didn’t know what Jesus said next, wouldn’t you have said to him, “Yes, you go off and bury your father.
			“We’ll wait for you!”

	That’s not what Jesus says, though.
		He couldn’t have responded more differently!
			Because He goes right against what he said.
				For He says in verse 60, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

	What’s He saying?
		How can the dead bury their own dead?

	Ah, it all depends on who the dead are that are to bury the dead!
		Because, of course, if you understood it physically this would be nonsense.
			But if you took it spiritually it makes the most sense of all.

	You see, Jesus has called this man.
		A call to proclaim nothing less than the gospel itself.
			The good news to bring forth life.
	It’s the will of the Lord Himself.
		And yet he wants to turn aside!
			He wants to let his physical family be more important to him than his spiritual family.

	“That’s not on,” says Jesus.
		In fact, in Matthew 10 verse 37 He said, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.”

	This is why Jesus really exposes that man for what he is.
		Because he is not one of His.
			There are no excuses for not doing the Lord’s work.

	Does it sound more than a little unfair?
		Couldn’t Jesus be a bit more loving?

	Dear friend, if you’re thinking like that you’re heading the way of that man.
		Unless Christ has your complete and undivided attention you have been making excuses too.
			
	You think about how you’ve been living your life.
		Has Jesus been missed out, while you’ve got quite a lot of your own way?
			You know what I mean.
				[What about the call from the Lord to come to this afternoon’s service?]

	This second example further reinforces the first.
		We again realise that the way of the cross is not an easy way.
			And, yet, brother, sister, young person, Christ’s way is the only way!
			
	Proclaiming God’s Kingdom in this world is the only life.
		This is the truth!

	All other paths lead the wrong way.
		They lead to where God isn’t.
			They get you lost!

	Perhaps this means you have to take seriously a call to serve in a particular part of God’s Kingdom.
		Could it be that the Lord wants one of our young men to undergo theological study?
			Or is it something you could be doing closer to home, in your local church?

	You’ll always come up with an excuse if you don’t want to do something.
		So you think about how you’re responding to opportunities to serve the Lord.
			Are you asking then, “What would the Lord have me to do?”

	The more we struggle with that question, the less excuses will dominate our lives.
		And the more clearer God’s will for your life will be then!

	And then there’s the third aspect.
		This tells us that A CHRISTIAN COMMITMENT MEANS NO TURNING BACK.

	We find this point in the verses 61 and 62.
		There we read, “Still another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.’”
			“Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’”

	Like the second man, this man’s request seems reasonable enough.
		After all, didn’t Matthew (Levi) the disciple also have a farewell celebration at his home, after being called by Jesus?

	But, again, we must examine this man’s motives in asking this of Jesus.
		For on the surface it seems reasonable enough.
			But Jesus, being who He is, has a special knowledge of that man.
	He knows that his request to say goodbye to his family hides a reluctance he has in making decisive decisions to do God’s work.
		He is really copping out.

	Jesus sees that.
		He knows that if he goes home he’ll be influenced to go in a different direction.
			Those at home would plead with him not to follow this Jesus.
				They would lure him with the ways of this world.

	That man’s priorities in life hadn’t yet been well-established.
		He doesn’t realise that he’s meant to be at odds with his family – the family he knows will try to influence him otherwise.
			It’s just as the Lord had also said in Matthew 10.
	For there in verses 35 and 36 he was quite blunt.
		He said that he had “come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law – a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’”
 
	And they would have been!
		There can be no turning back.
			Once you’re on the narrow way there can be no other way!

	Jesus emphasises this point through the illustration of putting one’s hand to the plough.
		Because in the first century A.D. there was no farm machinery.
			When you ploughed a field so that it would be ready for planting the crop, you had to do it by holding firm and straight to the plough attached to the oxen.
	You had to look straight ahead so that the ploughing was perfectly straight.
		Trying to look back would only mess you up!

	Dear friend, looking back to what this world offers you is a bad reflection on God’s Kingdom.
		When your personal walk with the Lord suffers then God’s work suffers.
			How much don’t we see that when Christian leaders fall into immorality!
				But it’s devastating for any Christian who goes that way.

	The most obvious example of what happens when you look back is Lot’s wife.
		The angel of the Lord had clearly told her, her husband, and the family what to do, as we read in Genesis 19 verse 17.
			There we read that the angel said to them, “Flee for your lives!
	“Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere on the plain!
		“Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

	But Lot’s wife did look back.
		She couldn’t keep her hand to the plough.
			And she became that pillar of salt.

	Congregation, don’t look back!
		Don’t let yourself become caught up by the snares of this world.
			Instead, commit yourself totally to the work of the Lord.
				Look forward in faith!

	You know what the Lord requires of you.
		You know what it is to do what he wants you to do.

	There will be times when you stumble and fall. 
		There will be times of doubt and hesitation.
		
	But don’t let those times dominant you.
		Don’t let them distract you from the work you have to do.
			Be prepared to confess your wrong-doing.
				Be humble to learn again, at the feet of the Master.

	That’s why Hebrews 12 puts us in the right perspective.
		It says in verse 2, “Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God.”

	Congregation, He’s reigning up there because He’s done it.
		He’s giving you everything you need to carry your cross because He carried His cross.
			He has made you fit for service in God’s kingdom because He has all the power.

	He is the King.
		Don’t you think He’ll give you everything?
			Amen.

PRAYER:
Let’s pray…
	Our great God and yet our loving heavenly Father through Jesus Christ, we lay ourselves and all we are before You now.
		Your will alone is the only way that matters.
			And it’s living by Your Word that keeps us focussed on You.
	So help us to do.
		May we be faithful pilgrims here below, putting You first in everything, and holding fast to your gracious promises.
			Through Christ our Lord, we pray.