church

INI
16th Sunday after Pentecost
October 2, 2011
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

NOTHING WILL KEEP ME FROM FOLLOWING JESUS
Luke 9:57-62

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our
Savior. Amen. The text that we'll consider this morning comes from the ninth
chapter of St Luke's Gospel, beginning with the 57th verse, as follows:

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." Then He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, let
me first go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own
dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God." And another also said,
"Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at
my house." But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow,
and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." This is the Word of God.

In the Name of Jesus Christ, Our Priceless Treasure, Dear Fellow Redeemed,

Everyone recognizes that having good leaders is important, but in many cases
being a good follower is equally or even more important. Sometimes it’s a
matter of life and death. USA Today had an in-depth article on the World Trade
Center attack. They found that people that day lived or died in groups, rather
than as individuals. That is, people tended to follow their leaders. There were
offices in which everyone got out, and offices in which one did. For many that
day, whether or not they escaped the coming disaster depended largely on who
they chose to follow.

It's significant that the word "follow" comes up three times in the text I just
read to you. This part of the Gospel of Luke is about discipleship, about
following Jesus. It's about going to work in the kingdom of God. And here too,
being a good follower is critical. It can in fact mean the difference between life
and death – eternal life and death! How good are you at following Christ? Do
you sometimes feel like you're not quite in sync with the Lord and Master of
your life? Like your loyalties are being pulled in several directions at the same
time? Then it's time to get back to the single-minded discipleship and service
that God wants you to have. I hope you’ll join me this morning in confidently
affirming the words of our theme:

NOTHING WILL KEEP ME FROM FOLLOWING JESUS
I. No false assumptions.
II. No worldly obligations.
III. No divided loyalties.

Various things can get in the way of our discipleship. Sometimes these things
are obvious, but sometimes they’re not. E.g., your boss is never going to say to
you, “I’d like you come in to work this Sunday so you can help take inventory
and weaken your Christian faith.” You have to be able to identify the spiritual
trade-offs for yourself. Our text for today is designed to help you do that. In it,
the Holy Spirit shows us three men, and three ways in which we can become
distracted from following Christ. The idea is for you to avoid those same
pitfalls. For you to be able to say, NOTHING WILL KEEP ME FROM
FOLLOWING JESUS.

So let’s have a look at them. The parallel account in Matthew tells us that the
first man was a scribe. He had a very common problem. When it came to
following Jesus, he was laboring under false assumptions. Now it happened as
they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, "Lord, I will follow You
wherever You go."

Now, all by itself, that’s a terrific statement. "Lord, I will follow You wherever
You go!” This man evidently had the best of intentions. There’s no reason to
think he was anything but completely sincere. “I don’t care where you’re going,
Lord. I don’t care how hard the road is, I’m ready to leave everything and follow
You!” He was ready and eager to go. A little too ready, perhaps? A little too
eager?

We can’t read hearts, but Jesus can. Jesus looked into the man’s heart and saw
the problem immediately: he was laboring under false assumptions. He assumed
that following Jesus would be splendid and glorious. He saw the leader who
could cast out demons, heal people with a word and produce bread and fish for
thousands seemingly out of thin air. What he didn’t see were the sorrows and
hardships and trials that accompany a disciple’s life. 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." My life is one of trouble and discomfort and hardship, Jesus told
him. I haven’t even the comfort that the wild animals have. And those who
would be My followers must take up the cross and share that life.

Let me ask you: what do you think the Christian life should look like? Are you
laboring under false assumptions? Lots of people are. The fastest-growing
church trend in this country is the so-called “Prosperity Gospel.” Its adherents
teach that the Bible is a kind of guidebook, which if you follow it will make you
wealthy, materially successful and happy in your life. In fact, you can tell a true
believer, they say, because he’s one who’s wealthy and successful. Talk about
false assumptions! By those standards the Apostle Paul was one of the worst
Christians who ever lived – in prison half the time, beaten, hungry,
shipwrecked. But Paul had no false assumptions. He expected a life of trials,
and trials didn’t discourage him. He said, We are hard-pressed on every side, yet
not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken;
struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying
of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. II
Cor 4:8-10. Paul's whole life proclaimed, NOTHING WILL KEEP ME FROM
FOLLOWING JESUS.

Of course, Scripture everywhere teaches the opposite of the Prosperity Gospel.
It teaches that a believer’s life will have plenty of hardships and trials. Last
week we heard the words of Jesus Himself, Enter by the narrow gate; for wide
is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many
who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which
leads to life, and there are few who find it. -- Mt 7:13-14.

So the path of a Christian is going to be difficult. But what’s the encouraging
part? This is the path that leads to eternal life! And even here, where Jesus is
describing the difficult life of a believer, there’s a little beam of sunshine. Did
you notice it? Jesus refers to Himself the “Son of Man.” Those three words are a
Gospel sermon all by themselves. For “Son of Man” was a well-known
expression in Israel, that could only mean one thing to the ear of a Jewish
scribe: Savior! Jesus was and is the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world.
My fellow Christians, Jesus is the one who gave up the splendors of heaven for
your sakes. Who came to earth to be “…born of a woman, born under the Law,
that He might redeem those who were under the Law.” Jesus is the one who
died the death of a criminal so that you might be released from the punishment
of your sin, so that you might inherit the riches of eternal life. For you know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul says, that though He was rich, yet for your
sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. 2 Cor
8:9.

I think one of the most encouraging things about Jesus’ response is what He
doesn’t say. He doesn’t tell the scribe, “You can’t follow me.” He doesn’t say,
“You’re not tough enough, you can’t endure the trials that come with the
Christian life.” You can follow Jesus. He wants you to follow Him. He also
wants you to be aware, to leave your false assumptions and your rose-colored
glasses behind. Open your eyes and do count the cost of discipleship. But then,
by all means, follow Jesus. There will be tough times, but with the power of
God strengthening you, there is nothing you can’t accomplish for the kingdom.
Paul said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. - Phi 4:14.
You can do all things, so LET NOTHING KEEP YOU FROM FOLLOWING
JESUS.

Well, if the first man was too fast, the second man was too slow. Jesus said to
another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."
And, again, this response sounds perfectly reasonable. His father had died, and
he had to attend the funeral. But again, Jesus read the speaker’s heart and
knows that there’s something else going on here. He saw that this man was
about to make a spiritually fatal mistake: he was allowing worldly obligations to
keep him from following Jesus.

What did the Lord reply? "Let the dead bury their own dead.” Jesus meant, let
the spiritually dead bury the physically dead. Let those who are without Christ
take care of the mundane matter of disposing of a dead body. This seems a
harsh word from Jesus, doesn't it? Don’t go to your own father’s funeral? But
our Lord isn’t telling us not to attend to family obligations. Indeed Scripture
commands us to do so. What Jesus is telling us is that we can't allow any
worldly obligation - no matter how important it seems at the time - to interfere
with our discipleship. Not even, as in this case, a funeral. Jesus could have
pulled his punches. He could have mumbled empty platitudes and meaningless
comfort as so many in our day do when an unbeliever dies. But the kindest
thing to say is the truth: "Let the dead bury their own dead.” Scripture says “It
is appointed to man once to die, and after this the judgment.” You can’t do
anything for a person after they’re dead, Jesus said, so concentrate on the living!
As for you, He told the man, you go and preach the kingdom of God.
Concentrate on the living! Bring them the Gospel! There are many who may yet
be saved, so put your efforts there. LET NOTHING - not even this - KEEP
YOU FROM FOLLOWING JESUS.

In this man’s case there was evidently a choice to be made – either follow Jesus
OR take care of this other obligation. And how often those choices come up in
our lives, and how tempting it is to say, “Let me first do this one thing, and then
I’ll follow Jesus. Let me first take care of these few obligations I’ve got, and
then I’ll be free to really focus on serving my Savior.” It comes up even in your
daily schedule, doesn’t it? “I know I need to pray, but I just want to check my
e-mail first.” “I going to get to my Bible reading, just as soon as I get this
cleaning done, or make this phone call. Let me just do that first.” NO! That’s
not first! FIRST IS JESUS! But how often we’ve failed. How often we’ve
abandoned our commitment to follow Christ. Certainly each of us has much to
repent of, and many sins like this to confess. But don't be discouraged!
Remember the one Man who refused to allow any worldly obligations to distract
Him. Jesus Christ wouldn't let anything interfere with His mission to redeem
you from your sins! The writer to the Hebrews says, Look unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against
Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. Hebrews 12:1

First there was the man who was too eager, and then the man who was too
hesitant. Finally we meet a man who is too conflicted. He has feelings and
emotions that are pulling him in opposite directions. But that's not the way to
effective discipleship. I'm sure each of us wants to be able to say, NOTHING
WILL KEEP ME FROM FOLLOWING JESUS. But there's one final thing we
have to get rid of, and that's divided loyalties.

Jesus was moving down the road when …Another also said, "Lord, I will
follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house."
Once again it sounds like a reasonable request. He had relatives and friends
back home. He just wanted to go back and hang out with them for a while
before embarking on his work with Jesus. But Jesus can read his heart, and He
sees a problem there. Once again the Lord recognizes the man’s words for what
they really are: an excuse to postpone discipleship. And once again, the kindest
and truest words Jesus could have said to him, are words that were hard for him
to hear. Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and
looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

I think there may be one or two people here who remember the days when
farmers plowed with horses. For you this metaphor will make perfect sense. For
what is the one task of a ploughman? To plow a straight furrow. Evidently it
was also a very difficult task, one that took quite a lot of experience to achieve.
The only way to plow a straight furrow, they used to say, was to focus on a
distant goal and keep heading straight for that. And still it was hard. Any little
thing that distracted the ploughman was liable to make his furrow go crooked.
But it goes without saying that, if your plow's headed one way and you're
looking back in the opposite direction, you won't just have a crooked furrow.
You won't be able to plow at all!

Let me ask you this: how straight has your furrow been lately? Have you been
focusing on the distant goal of eternal life and striving single-mindedly toward
that? Or have you, like the man in our text, been guilty of divided loyalties?
Have you been distracted by worldly things, or maybe even so consumed by one
particular thing that you've been looking in the opposite direction altogether?
My Christian friends, farmer can't plow that way, and a Christian can’t live that
way! You can't work for Christ with divided loyalties. Perhaps you have old
friends and associates who are pulling you in an ungodly direction. Maybe it's a
family member who, in subtle ways, is driving a wedge between you and your
Savior. Maybe it's a hobby or a pastime, a club or an association that really
doesn't mesh with your walk as a Christian. It's distracting you, pulling you off
your line.

Well, whatever it is, leave it behind! Turn your back on it, slap your hands to
the plow and forge ahead! Paul said, One thing I do, forgetting those things
which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press
toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.--Phil
3:13-14 May we all say the same thing. I’m not going to divide my loyalties! I’m
not going to look back. NOTHING WILL KEEP ME FROM FOLLOWING
JESUS!

S. I. McMillen, in his book None of These Diseases, tells a story of a young
woman who wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when she read the
question on the application that asked, “Are you a leader?” Being an honest and
conscientious young woman, she wrote, “No,” and returned the application,
expecting the worst. To her surprise, she received this letter from the college:
Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our
college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is
important that they have at least one follower.” Leadership is so loudly praised
in our society that we sometimes forget that the important thing for a Christian
is to be a follower - that is, a faithful follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. So let us
clear away the obstacles to discipleship - all the false assumptions, each worldly
obligation, every divided loyalty. I hope each of us will make the resolution this
morning that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, NOTHING WILL KEEP ME
FROM FOLLOWING JESUS! AMEN.