We
kicked off this series two weeks ago by looking at the excuses Moses gave God
for not wanting to do what God had asked Him to do.
As you read
through Exodus chapters 3 and 4 you will see Moses saying to God again and
again, “But I can’t!”
And
as you read through Exodus 3&4 you’ll see how God was saying to Moses: “But I can!”
God
promised to be with Moses as he went and lead the people out from under the
ruthless oppression of the King of Egypt.
I can’t, but God can!
Last
Sunday, Pastor Mike reminded us, by looking at the story of Israel’s first
king, Saul in 1 Samuel 15, that partial obedience is disobedience.
Partial
obedience is disobedience in three ways: It’s rebellious, it’s stubborn and
it’s rejecting
God’s commands.
Today
is a two for one deal. There are two excuses in one passage, and you’ll have
two preachers unpacking this one passage.
But don’t worry,
this doesn’t mean that the sermon will be twice as long.
In
Luke 9:23, Jesus stated that following Him would, could and should cost
something.
“If
anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily
and follow me.” (NIV84)
If
we are going to follow Jesus, there needs to be a daily dying to self and a
daily dependence on the Master.
A short time
after Jesus made this statement, a shift occurs… From this point on in the life
of Jesus, He will be of singular focus; He will be heading to the cross.
Luke
9:51 tells us that: “Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem” (NLT2) from that moment on, Jesus was now beginning
His journey to the cross.
Up
unto this time, Jesus had been teaching His disciples and preparing them to
carry on the ministry that He would entrust to them after His death and
resurrection. This had now been completed.
Jesus
now focused on Jerusalem to face the opposition He would endure that would
cumulate in His death and resurrection.
As
Jesus was on His way, He came across three men, who said they would follow Jesus,
or who had been given an invitation to follow Jesus.
For the sake of
our “discussion” today, we’re going to look at the second and third
interactions and see how their excuses prevented them from following Jesus.
As we read
passage of the day, please keep Luke 9:23 in the back of your minds! We're
going to come back to it again and again.
If you have your
Bible, look at Luke 9:57-62. We’re going to focus on verses 59-62, but for the
sake of some context, we’ll read the entire passage:
“As they were walking
along, someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
58 But Jesus
replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man
has no place even to lay his head.”
59 He said to another
person, “Come, follow me.” The man agreed, but he said, “Lord, first let me
return home and bury my father.”
60 But Jesus told
him, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and
preach about the Kingdom of God.”
61 Another said,
“Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.”
62 But Jesus told
him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the
Kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:57-62, NLT2)
As Jesus and His
disciples were making their way to Jerusalem, by way of Samaria, they came
across a man and Jesus called out to this man and said: "Follow me." (Luke
9:59a, NIV84)
These are the
same words that Jesus had spoken as He was beginning His ministry and calling
His first Disciples, we can read about this in Matthew 4:
“As Jesus was
walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and
his brother Andrew.
They were casting a
net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
19 "Come,
follow me," Jesus said "and I will make you fishers of men."
20 At once they
left their nets and followed him.….” (Matthew
4:18-20, NIV84)
The very same
invitation was given to this man in Luke chapter 9, but a very different
response occurred.
Look again at
the man’s response to Jesus’ invitation to follow Him in the second half of
Luke 9:59: “The
man agreed, but he said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.”
(NLT2)
Sounds reasonable,
doesn’t it?
ILLUSTRATION- When my father passed away, I
was involved in all aspects of his funeral.
We as a family met and choose
his casket, we choose his visiting hours; we picked out the floral
arrangements, and we even decided who would be involved in his service of
remembrance.
So,
it was noble of this man to want to bury his father before following
Jesus.
In
fact, it was his duty as a Jewish man to Honor his father and mother—the fifth
commandment, one that he took seriously.
If this man was
the eldest, he would have been even more responsible to see that his father
received a proper burial.
This
is where things get interesting.
If
this man’s father had died, he wouldn’t have been “out on the town” that day.
He
would have been at home making preparations for the funeral, which would most
likely have occurred the very same day as the death of his father.
ILLUSTRATION- When my father died, I was
busy making preparations, either with the funeral home, or in my office
studying and preparing for the sermon, I wasn’t “out on the town.”
There
is no indication from this passage that this man’s father had died.
This man said that he would follow
Jesus; but he would follow Jesus at a later date.
Remember,
Jesus said that following Him would cost us something; it would cost us our
life… and this man was unwilling to surrender his life over to Jesus.
One
Bible commentator had this to say about our text: “If the father’s funeral had been impending
it would in all probability have occurred the same day, because the custom in
Palestine was to let the burial be held the same day when the death had occurred…
If
the son had engaged in the funeral of his father, a week would have elapsed
before he could have followed Jesus, and by that time our Lord would have been
far away.” (Pentecost,
1981, 271)
This
man’s excuse was a mere pretext for delay.
Could
you be giving such an excuse? Has God asked you to do something, but you’ve replied
with an excuse, such as:
I’ll
follow Jesus; when I’m done living my life;
I’ll
follow Jesus when I get to the end of my rope.
I’ll
follow Jesus when I’ve accomplished everything that I want to accomplish.
All
of these things in and of themselves are noble and good, but when they stand in
direct opposition to what God is asking us to do, they are wrong.
“If
any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take
up your cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23, NLT2)
Jesus is not advocating skirting
around our duties, but He is looking for an undivided heart. A heart that is
completely devoted to following Him.
So,
how's your heart today, are you torn between following and coming up with an
excuse why you can't follow?
Look
at Jesus’ reply to the man’s excuse…. “But Jesus told him, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own
dead! Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God.” (Luke
9:60, NLT2)
When
we follow Jesus, there is work to do; there is a Message to proclaim.
Jesus calls us to follow Him,
not only so we can “Know Him”, but also to Make Him known.
There
are lives to be transformed with the Good News of Jesus Christ, but sometimes
we get caught up in making an excuse….
If
I follow Jesus, He will ruin my fun…
If
I follow Jesus my life will be boring….
If
I follow Jesus, I’ll have to sell everything and move to Antarctica.
But
this is not necessarily the case. Jesus told us in John 10:10 that He has come
to give us abundant life.
That’s abundant life when we get to heaven,
but that’s also abundant life here and now.
Jesus is not a kill joy, He is
the giver of joy and life won’t make complete sense until you are following Him.
Are
you following Him? Or are you giving Jesus an excuse as to why you can’t do
what whatever it might be that He is asking you to do?
As
we’re about to see, following Jesus demands that we make a choice...
Pastor Mike:
come and share the next conversation Jesus had with us.
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