Expectations Of Jesus Series

JUST JESUS: CHAPTER BY CHAPTER THRU LUKE

Expectations of Jesus

Luke 9:57-62

#JustJesus

INTRODUCTION… THINGS YOU SHOULD NOT DO HALF-WAY (P)

There are some things in life that we should never do halfway. Most things in life we should give our best effort, persevere, and see to completion.

* Giving half-effort while swimming means that we drown and die.

* Giving half-effort when running away from a wild bear results in you being eaten.

* Giving half-effort when walking I believe is called “tripping” and you can get hurt and never get where you are going.

* Doing a test in school only halfway means you get 50% or lower which is an F, a failing grade.

* Wearing only half your clothes means the other half of you is naked which no one wants to see.

* Wearing half of your shoes makes for an awkward day with you hobbling along.

* Only working half the amount of hours you should means you will get fired.

* Washing only half your body means you stink.

There are of course more serious things that we should never do halfway, but that list will get us thinking. There are some things in life that we should never do halfway because the normal thought is that “you finish what you start.” The normal thought is that when doing something, we should give “our best effort” all the time. A normal attitude in sports, board games, fundraising opportunities, and working is that we finish what we start and give our utmost while doing it. At least that seems normal to me.

This morning we are going to look at discipleship. The word “discipleship” simply means “following Christ.” “Discipleship” means (a more complicated definition) the process by which someone grows in faith and practice in Christ and is equipped by the Holy Spirit to live life faithfully to God. The passage that we are going to dig into this morning is Luke 9:57-62 where we will see that Jesus is calling us to full lifetime effort with Him when it comes to following Him as a disciple. Jesus specifically targets, in this passage, the excuses we might use to give half-effort when being His disciple. Jesus does not want half-effort from us.

READ Luke 9:57-62 (ESV)

57 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “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.” 59 To another He said, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow You, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.”

In this passage, people are following Jesus from town to town and they want to be His disciples. They want to be His students. They want to be like Him. They see Him heal the sick and drive out demons and they want to be close to this miracle-working Man. They hear His parables which confound them and push them towards God and they want to be near this wise Teacher Who teaches and preaches about God. In our passage, Jesus encounters three different people who want to follow Him, but really, they only want to do it halfway.

EXCUSES IN THE SCRIPTURE

First, we have a guy (verse 57) come to Jesus and he claims to want to follow Jesus “wherever” He goes. That is the actual words the fellow uses… “wherever.” Being a Christian is following Jesus in all things wherever Jesus leads. Jesus replies to this first man that following Him is not always easy. Specifically, Jesus points out that Jesus’ travels are non-stop and they don’t call anywhere home. There are no breaks. Jesus and His disciples spend day and night traveling and teaching and ministering to growing crowds of people. I think Jesus divinely looks into the heart of this man and knows that constantly following Him is not something he can do or is actually willing to do. The man wants comfort. Jesus doesn’t have that.

So, the first excuse given not to follow Jesus in this Scripture is that following Jesus was tough, not what the person expected, and so he opted out.

Second, we have another man (verse 59) who comes and Jesus gives him the same command He gave His disciples. When Jesus gave the command “follow me” (Matthew 4:18, Mark 1:17) to fishermen Peter, Andrew, James, and John; they dropped their nets and followed Jesus full-time. When Jesus gave the command “follow me” to Matthew the tax collector (Matthew 9:9, Mark 2:14, Luke 5:27), Matthew left his life of tax collecting and followed Jesus full-time. When Jesus told the rich young ruler “follow me” (Matthew 19:21, Mark 10:21, Luke 18:22), he did not because he did not want to give up his wealth and had other priorities. Jesus told Philip “follow me” (John 1:43) and not only did he follow Jesus full-time, but he went and found his friend Nathanael who also followed Jesus.