The Call To Discipleship Part 2: False Starts Series

When Jesus calls us to follow Him, to be His disciples, Jesus did not call for any halfway measures. How many of us, after the holidays, or before summer season starts say we are going to diet, join a gym, and get healthy? With good intentions we jump right into. However, by day 3 of our diet, and or the second or third time to the gym, what happens? By the next month, the resolution to get fit and healthy becomes a thing of the past. Most gyms makes their money from absentee members.

We get motivated and inspired with sayings like “when the going gets tough, the tough gets goings.” The fact of the matter is for most of us, “when the going gets tough, we wimp out, go home, sit in our easy chair, break out the snacks and turn on the television.”

One of the 12 disciples, Peter, was one not to be undone. Jesus was telling Peter the night before He went to the cross:

Luke 22:31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat;

Well you know Simon Peter, he tends to speak before he thinks. Peter would hear none of this.

Luke 22:33 But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!”

Big talk, but you know the story. Jesus, who knows the heart, replied back to Peter

Luke 22:34 And He said, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”

The fact is, most of us are not unlike Peter. Today we are looking at False Starts. We start off with all the right and good intentions, but things happen? Right? Stuff comes up and we just don’t do the things we know we ought to be doing. We have a good beginnings but in a few weeks, a few months, perhaps for some, in a few years, we burn out and fall away from the commitments we have made. We are going to look at a few false starts from scriptures today.

Luke 9:57–62

Excuses, excuses. You have known people like that who always have an excuse for everything. They are people who cannot get the job done, but they are quite ready with an excuse as to why they fell short. But that’s not us. We can’t be talking about us. What we have are distractions (but not excuses). I believe Satan uses distraction as a way to move us further from following Jesus.

Normally, I would never ask you to get out your cell phones during worship, but for the next few seconds, if you have a cell phone take it out, and hold it up.

Now keeping holding it - - - did you know that statistics indicate –

- The average person checks their cell phone 110 times a day. In a 12 hour day, that’s 9 times per hour.

- 55% of cell phone users text while driving.

- 84% of cell phone users don’t believe they could go a day without their phone.

- 50% of teens admit to being addicted to their cell phones.

- Now, I want to give you a test ... Since you’ve been holding your phones – how many of you, unlocked your phone and checked you email, checked your text messages, perhaps some of you even checked Facebook while I stood up here talking about it? (no, I’m going to ask for a show of hands) Can we agree, we live in a distracted culture? [1]

From the passage, Jesus identifies and calls out 3 ways we’re distracted when it comes to following Him in discipleship. From the three examples we have three types of false starts:

1. The eager beaver.

2. The excuse maker.

3. The procrastinator.

Each of these have their own distraction. Before we look at each one, I want to but this whole passage into perspective, or into context, if you will.

Luke 9:57a As they were going along the road ...

Where were they going? After the transfiguration, Jesus begins His Journey to Jerusalem.

Luke 9:51 When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem;

What awaited for Jesus in Jerusalem but rejection, suffering , and death? Who will follow Jesus if they knew what waits for them? We read about his journey in the chapters that follow. What happens next in chapter 10, immediately following our focal passage, Jesus sends out the 70, to preach, and to teach and to heal the sick. Here was the situation:

Luke 10:2 And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.