#80 Lu. 9:57-62 THE RIGID REQUIREMENTS OF DISCIPLESHIP

Introduction:

    In our previous text Jesus was rejected by the people of a
Samaritan village.  In our text today Luke deals with the subject of
discipleship.  He selects three different men whom Jesus had
encountered to point out the rigid requirements that Jesus set for
those who would be His disciples.  There is no reason to think that
these men had come to Jesus all three in succession-- one right after
the other.  Neither is there any reason to doubt that all three of them
did come to Him at one time or another.  These requirements are in
keeping with what Jesus had already said.  He had said, "If any man
will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily
and follow me."

I.  The first of the three men

    V. 57, "And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way..."
That is, Jesus and His disciples were traveling along the roadway on
their journey.  It may be that none of these men came to Jesus after He
left the Samaritan village where He was rejected.  It could be that
they had taken place at some time prior to this.
    (V. 57), "...a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee
whithersoever thou goest."  Matthew identified this man as a scribe.
Apparently he was not one of the scribes who were so bitterly opposed
to Jesus.  Rather he was one of the few scribes who believed in Jesus.
   Let me say that this man expressed a very noble intention.  He
declares his intention of following Jesus wherever Jesus should go.  I
do not for a moment doubt his intention.  The problem was that he
simply was not aware of what he was saying.  He was not aware of what
would be required of him.  He was not aware of the hardships that would
be placed upon him if he should follow Jesus all the way.
    Jesus set about to correct that man's understanding and to inform
him of at least some of the things he would be up against.  V. 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."  That is, Jesus did
not have a place of His own to lay His head at night.  He could not lie
down in His own home in His own bed and sleep between His own sheets.
He would travel from place to place and would be dependant of the
hospitality of others to take Him in and furnish Him a bed in which to
sleep.  In the event that He was not received in a town, as had
happened in the Samaritan village, He and His disciples had to sleep
out under the stars and in the weather whatever it might be.
    As Deity God, Jesus is the Creator of the whole world.  He is the
rightful owner of the whole world.  But as man, He did not own so much
as a place to lay His head.  Even the wild creatures of the animal
kingdom were better off than He.  The foxes had holes which they had
dug in the earth that served as a home for them.  There they were
protected from the heat in the summer and from the cold in the winter.
They were also protected from other animals that might prey on them.
The same was true of the birds.  The birds had nests which served them
very well as a home.  But Jesus had no home in this world that He could
count on for provision and protection.
    Now Jesus, of course, was not saying this in order to get the
sympathy of that man nor of any man.  Rather He was calling this to his
attention because He wanted that man to realize that the followers of
Jesus suffered the same hardships that Jesus suffered.  Those who chose
to follow Him had to leave their homes behind.  They had to leave their
comforts behind.  They had to leave the ready source of provisions
behind and they had to suffer whatever inconvenience and whatever
discomfort that Jesus suffered.
    What Jesus knew was that the man had not taken this into
consideration when he said that he would follow Him anywhere.  That man
was looking only at the glamor.  He was looking at the great crowds of
people gathering around Jesus and listening admiringly to every word.
He was listening to all the praises that people were heaping upon the
Lord after the miracles that He performed.  He was not looking ahead to
Jerusalem where Jesus would be arrested and where the disciples would
be scattered.  He was not looking to the time when he would have to
stand at a distance and see Jesus nailed to a cross.  He was not
looking to the time when Jesus would be gone away into heaven and he
and the other Christians would be alone to face the cruelty of a
hostile world.  There is no way that he could fully understand all this
at this point of time, but Jesus did give him to understand that if he
chose to follow Jesus it was going to mean sacrifice on his part.  It
would mean discomfort on his part.  It would mean giving up the time
that he might normally spend on himself for his own pleasure and well
being.  There was at least an implication that he might have to suffer
reproach and persecution for the name of Jesus.

II.  The second man

    Luke does not tell us whether the first man then chose to follow
Jesus or not.  What Luke does is to go on to tell about another man in
a similar situation.  V. 59, "And he said unto another, Follow me. But
he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father."  The first
man volunteered to follow Jesus.  But Jesus called for this second man
to follow Him.  Matthew tells us that this second man, like the first,
was already a disciple.  He was a believer in Christ, but he was not
following Jesus on a full time basis.  Jesus called on him to do like
the twelve whom He had called out.  He called upon him to leave all
behind and to follow Him.
    This second man quite readily agreed to do so.  He agreed to follow
Jesus, but he asked permission to first bury his father.  Not that his
father was already dead, but he felt that he should stay at home with
his dad until his father did die.  Then he would be free to go with
Jesus and do His work.
    But that was not good enough to satisfy Jesus.  V. 60, "Jesus said
unto him, Let the dead bury their dead..."  Jesus was talking, of
course, about letting the spiritually dead, the unsaved, bury the ones
who are physically dead.  "Let the unsaved family members stay home and
take care of dad until he dies.  You come and follow me as I asked you
to do." On a previous occasion Jesus had said, "He that loveth father
or mother more than me is not worthy of me."  Jesus was now calling
upon this man to leave his father and his mother and follow Him.  It
would be wrong for that man to put father and mother ahead of Jesus.
It is certainly understandable that a person should love father
and mother.  The Bible commands that everyone honor his parents.  But
the same Bible forbids that we put father and mother ahead of Jesus.
    (V. 60), "...but go thou and preach the kingdom of God."  This man
was being called to preach.  He was being called by the Lord to go and
preach the gospel.  It ought to be easy for any Christian to see that
when God calls a man to preach He expects that man to put Jesus first.
It many not be quite so easy to see that the Lord expects the same
thing of every Christian, but it is true, never-the-less.  Just as
Jesus expects the preacher to put Him first, He also expects every
Christian to put Him first.  You can be saved without putting Jesus
first, but you cannot follow Jesus without putting Jesus first.  You
cannot follow Jesus without putting Him ahead of father, mother,
sister and brother.

III.  The third man

    Luke now moves on to speak about a third man.  V. 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."  This third man, like the
others, first agreed to follow the Lord.  Thus, like the second man, he
offered an excuse for not doing so immediately.  He said, "Let me
first, return home and bid farewell to those who are there."  He was
not wanting to wait until somebody should die before he should follow
Jesus. He was not wanting to wait until he buried anybody.  What he
wanted was just a little delay so that he could return back home and
spend just a little bit of time saying a proper "Good-bye."
    This, like burying the dead, sounds like a perfectly legitimate
reason for delay.  From the human point of view, it is.  But it is not
good enough to satisfy the Lord.  When the Lord calls upon a man to
leave all and follow Him, He means for that person to do so without
delay.
    There are two perfectly good reasons why this was not a good reason
for delay.  In the first place, the Lord's work is so urgent that there
should be no delay.  The formality of telling the family good-bye is
just that.  It is a formality.  It is based on human sentimentality and
human reason.  But the call of God to follow Jesus is a divine call and
should not be delayed for human reasons.
    In the second place, Jesus knew that parents, especially unsaved
parents, are inclined to frown upon a man surrendering to do the work
of the ministry.  Even saved parents may not particularly want their
son in the ministry.  Parents usually want their son to have the very
best income.  They are usually afraid that he is not going get along
financially in the ministry as they would like for him to do.
    Parents are not only inclined to frown upon their son getting into
the gospel ministry, but they are usually quite outspoken in their
feelings about the matter.  Many a preacher has surrendered to the
ministry over the objections of his parents.  They are afraid he will
not make enough money to take care of their grand-children in the style
that they would like.

IV.  A summation of what Jesus was talking about

    V. 62, "And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the
plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."  Jesus here is
not only answering this third man, but He is talking about all three.
He is talking about far more than just those three men.  Jesus is
talking about any man who puts his hand to the plow to work in the
vineyard of the Lord and then decides, "I don't think I want to work
for the Lord after all."  He is talking about any man who fails to
recognize to start with that there will be hardships and then lets
those hardships discourage him and make him quit.  That is the kind of
man Jesus is talking about.
    Any man who will put his hand to the plow to work for the Lord and
then decides that mother and dad come first is not fit for the kingdom
of God.  Nay man who puts his hand to the plow to serve the Lord and
lets anything or anybody interfere is not worthy of the kingdom of God.
Any man who knows that there is work to be done for the Lord, but lets
family ties or customs or hardships or comfort or anything else in this
world delay him in that work is not fit for the kingdom of God.
    Now Jesus is not saying that this man will not go to heaven.  Jesus
is just saying that this man is not fit to be working in God's kingdom
business.  Any man, any Christian whether preacher of not, any
Christian who will let frivolous things interfere with working for the
Lord is not fit to work for the Lord.  The Christian should not let
hardships hinder his work for the Lord.  The Christian should not let
father or mother or any family tie hinder him from the work of the
Lord.  He should not let week-end jobs hinder him from doing the work
of the Lord.  He should not let mowing the yard, plowing the garden or
sleeping late or going fishing or golfing or anything else hinder his
work for the Lord.  The Christian should let nothing hinder him from
doing the work of the Lord.  If we are going to serve the Lord then
whether preacher, Sunday school teacher, deacon or layman we must be
willing to sacrifice for the Lord and do things which are inconvenient
for us to do.  One can go to heaven without sacrificing for Jesus, but
he cannot serve Jesus without sacrificing for Him.

Conclusion:

    One will never make a good follower of the Lord until he first gets
saved. Especially, do not attempt to become a follower of Jesus in an
effort to get saved. Rather first trust in Jesus and get saved and then
get you life lined out to follow Jesus and do His work.
    If you are saved I am going to ask that you give yourself in
service to follow Jesus.  As an expression of your desire to follow
Jesus I am going to ask you to come this morning.
    If you are saved and you are in need of a church home and you feel
that God would be pleased to have you to join Pleasant Hill, then I am
going to ask that you step out and come.  Come and resent yourself to
this church as a candidate for baptism or come and present yourself for
membership upon the promise of a church letter or by statement.  You
come and let you wishes be known and we will take care of the business
of trying to get the church letter.
    If you are not sure that you are saved and you would like to have
some help in finding out whether or not you are saved then come and I
will try to help you find out.
    If you know for certain that you are lost and headed for hell then
come this morning and place your trust in Jesus Christ and let Him save
your soul.