JESUS INVITES US TO FOLLOW HIM
LUKE 9:51—62 JULY 20, 2003
LUKE 9:51-62
51As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" 55But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 56and they went to another village.
57As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."
58Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
59He said to another man, "Follow me."
But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
60Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
61Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."
62Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Precious Saints in the Lord:
You and I receive many different kinds of invitations during our lifetime. We receive invitations for birthdays, anniversaries, confirmations, graduations, weddings and the list goes on and on. How we react to those invitations of course, depends on what type of celebration it is, how close we know the people who invited and again, the list goes on and on too. Today the Lord extends to us, His believers, His invitation to follow Him. Our sinful nature doesn’t react very excitedly when we receive such an invitation because our sinful nature is just content to walk down the path of destruction and go along merrily on it’s own way. Our Christian nature realizes the invitation Jesus extends to us, His believers, is very precious. It’s the most important invitation that any of us will ever receive. We understand that because we look at the one who extends the invitation. From the gospel of John he says to us, "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ’I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’"(JOHN 8:12). In the morning, we don’t think too much of darkness but when the night falls, then we see the darkness and we like to have light around us. None of us likes to stumble or fall. None of us likes to stub a toe in darkness.
Here we have today, once again, the light of the world saying to you and I as believers, ‘Come follow me.’ We’re going to look at these words that God has placed before us this morning, realizing that
JESUS INVITES US TO FOLLOW HIM
I. Without any hesitation
II. With steadfast mercy
I. Without any hesitation
We are going to look at the last part of our text first. We see Jesus and His disciples on the path going to Jerusalem, making a pilgrimage – they are going there to worship. 57As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." We could picture Jesus and His disciples walking along, probably a good-sized crowd also following them. A man approaches that group of people and says, ‘I’m going to follow you wherever you go.’ It sounds kind of impulsive doesn’t it? Jesus wants him to stop and think what he is really saying. 58Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." He said, ‘you want to follow Me but we’re not going to go home at night to our own beds. You want to follow Me but we’re not going to find a house to live in.’ Jesus was not even accepted anymore in His own country. The people in His hometown didn’t want to hear Jesus preaching anymore. They didn’t even want to see Him perform any miracles. Jesus reminded this man who said, ‘I’m going to follow you’, that animals have a place to lay their head; the birds have nests, but not the Son of Man. Here is one who volunteers and probably changes his mind because of his impulsive action.
59He said to another man, "Follow me." Jesus extends His invitation. ‘Follow me,’ He says. But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." It would seem a reasonable request but again, we see that this contains some hesitation. Then we have the reaction of Jesus. 60Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." It seems almost harsh to us to hear Jesus saying those things as if He were not allowing this person to bury his own father. We have to understand that this person’s father, in all likelihood, was not yet dead. If his father had been dead, this person would have been doing the preparations for the funeral. He would have been taking care of burying his father. Instead, this man is saying, ‘But Lord, my father is living and I’m going to wait around until he dies.’ Jesus says, ‘Now is the time to proclaim the kingdom of God.’
Then we have a third person -- 61Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." Again, he has that hesitation. ‘I’ll serve you, but when I’m ready. I’ll serve you but when I’m done.’ 62Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." Jesus uses an example that they knew. As they are driving their oxen to plow the field, if they didn’t keep their oxen in a straight line, they would wander all over. They would have a very ‘crookedly’ plowed field. Jesus says if a person does not keep focused on what is ahead of him, he is not fit for service in the kingdom of God. If he hesitates, he’s going to be wandering.
In all three of these examples, we can hear the doubt. We can see the hesitation of each one as they say, ‘Lord, yes, I will follow but maybe not now. Lord I will follow – but my family…’ They hesitate. The Lord invites us today to follow Him without hesitation. It’s easy for us to look at these examples and say, ‘Well, I would never do the same thing.’ Yet, as we look at our life we realize there are many times that we say to the Lord, ‘Well, I will follow but I’ve got other things to do.’ You and I know that from time to time, we miss coming to God’s house – and for what reason? Is it because we’re too busy planting or harvesting? Is it because we have too many things to do with our family or we’re off attending some seminar or convention? We too, hesitate. We too, sometimes say, ‘Lord, I’m too busy for your invitation.’ We also know how easily our family can come between us and loving the Lord our God above all things.
The Lord reminds us this morning, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him"(1 JOHN 2:15). The ‘world’ is all those things that we can see and feel and touch. Sometimes they become a great love in our life. So, yes, we are no different than these three. We are no different than anyone else who sometimes stumbles. We also sometimes hesitate and say to the Lord, ‘Not now, I’ve got other things to do.’ The Lord invites us to follow Him. The Lord promises that those who follow Him are not going to be forsaken nor forgotten.
We look at the Old Testament father of all nations, Abraham. In his old age, the Lord came to him with a promise and said he would be the father of many nations. His descendants would be as great as the sands on the seashore and the stars in the sky. Abraham believed. He believed because he knew the promises of God. Paul quotes him in Romans and he reminds us that you and I still look ahead to the promises of God and we too believe. "Yet he (Abraham) did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised"(ROMANS 4:20,21). Abraham was fully persuaded that God could do what he fully promised and the Lord did. I think that’s where we doubt God or hesitate in our worshipping God. Sometimes, our sinful nature doesn’t have us see that God is fully able to do what He promises. We know how it goes. It seems like each year when it comes time to plant, we wonder if it’s worth planting – if there will be any harvest. Yet God says, ‘The one who sows, he will reap.’ Today we bring the fruits of our harvest because the Lord has power to do what He has promised. Our gracious God has the power to do even beyond the predictions of any weather forecaster, the predictions of anyone else in this world who acts as if they would know more than God might know.
How are we to overcome our hesitation? How are we to overcome the fact that our sinful nature always wants to drag our focus away from God and into the things of this world? Jesus very simply said in MATTHEW 6:33, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” In that section, he talked about the people who worried about what is going to happen tomorrow. Jesus reminded them that He even clothes the lilies of the field. He reminds us today as we concentrate on God’s kingdom, we are less worried about this earthly kingdom we live in. As we concentrate more on God’s kingdom, we are less worried about setting up our own kingdom here on earth – full of goods and possessions and all sorts of things of this world. Jesus invites us as believers to follow Him without hesitation, not doubting but firmly believing that God has the power to do even more than we ask or imagine. Then, He asks us to follow Him
II. With steadfast mercy
In this trip of Jesus and His disciples to Jerusalem, we see Jesus’ example of steadfast mercy. The beginning of our text very accurately translates the original. 51As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. The original says he set his face on Jerusalem. We can almost picture Jesus looking toward Jerusalem and going there – going on a journey to the temple to worship. As he goes there, they are going to travel through Samaria. We’re told, 52And he sent messengers on ahead. They were to prepare a place for Him. Jesus wasn’t just by Himself. Even though He did not have a place to call His own, a place for His bed at night, yet He still had people who traveled with Him – His apostles and others who were disciples. They went to prepare a place to make sure there was room for them all. They went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for them, but the people there did not welcome Him because He was heading for Jerusalem. They didn’t want to see another Jew come into their village and stay overnight and then leave the next day. The Samaritans and the Jews didn’t get along, did they? The Samaritans didn’t like the Jews and the Jews, of course, looked at the Samaritans as unclean and untouchable. Yet, very often, when the Jewish people came from the north down into Jerusalem, they traveled through Samaria. The journey would require staying overnight so they would stay overnight in a Samaritan village. The Samaritans weren’t always happy with that. They thought the Jews were using up all their land by walking across it day in and day out. After all, there wasn’t anything they wanted to do in Samaria. They simply wanted to get to Jerusalem. There was a national resentment of the Samaritans against the Jews. That’s why they didn’t want Jesus there – He was another Jew on another pilgrimage, just going to stop for the night and then go on.
How did the disciples react? 54When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" James and John were called the ‘Sons of Thunder’ and now we see why. They thought these Samaritans had rejected Jesus’ word and His preaching, so they were willing to call down thunder to destroy this Samaritan village. They had forgotten their backgrounds. Their differences of nationality had set them apart. That’s why the Samaritans didn’t want Jesus there, or His disciples or any Jews for that matter. The disciples were willing to quickly condemn, judge and even destroy.
55But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 56and they went to another village. We find Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem and on the way He is going to practice mercy. He could have easily destroyed that Samaritan village. The Samaritans here were not rejecting Him and His word; they were rejecting His nationality, His ‘ethnicity’ they would call it today. Jesus shows them mercy and kindness rather than judgement and condemnation and destruction.
You and I are eternally thankful that the Lord does the same for us today. You and I, who day in and day out, get up and sometimes care little about what God’s kingdom has in store for us that day. Instead, we live to fulfill our fleshly desires and thus lead a life filled with wicked words, evil actions and sinful thoughts. The Lord could quickly condemn us and assign us to the eternal punishment that we truly deserve. God does not do that, does He? Instead, He steadfastly shows us mercy day in and day out. In the book of Ephesians, the second chapter, verses 8 and 9, we’re told we are saved by grace, by faith, not works. Before those verses it tells us why. EPHESIANS 2:4,5 we read these words: "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.” He made us alive even in the death of our sinfulness. Jesus invites us to follow Him with steadfast mercy – steadfast mercy that He shows us so that we too can show steadfast mercy to others.
But, we live in a world described just like these Sons of Thunder. James and John wanted quickly to destroy and condemn. If we pay attention to the news, that goes on around us, it seems as if anybody makes a mis-step, especially if he’s important in this world, people are there quickly to condemn him – even without knowing all the details. Our world acts quickly on judgement –quickly to condemn and judge without the facts. Retractions are sometimes made later--very quietly. We sometimes fall into that same category – quick to condemn without knowing the situation. What does the Lord remind us? "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God"(MICAH 6:8). You and I know the difference between right and wrong. You and I know that the Lord deals with us, each one of us, very compassionately. We are told to love mercy. In a world around us that is quick to condemn, it’s all the more important for you and I to love mercy and to show mercy to others. Rather than quickly condemn, we can take our neighbors’ actions and his words in the kindest possible way. Later on, if he/she is guilty of some grievous sin then the world will rightly, quickly condemn them. For you and I, we can show mercy. Later on, if their sins are sins against us, we can forgive them if they seek forgiveness. This isn’t speaking of anything doctrinal. For those that continue in spiritual error, they are to be condemned and shown the error of their ways. In all other things, the Lord says we are to love and show mercy because the Lord has loved us with His mercy.
Jesus invites us to follow Him with steadfast mercy. As we walk, focused on what is yet ahead, we look ahead just like Jesus, and set our face toward heaven. Along the way, as we walk this path of life towards heaven, we can show mercy and love to show mercy (not grudgingly). Isaiah describes this and tells us why. "Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame"(ISAIAH 50:7). Again, the hardness of flint – my face is set like flint because the Lord is on my side. You and I can set our face like flint. We can be firm in our stance to show mercy. What a refreshing concept in a world that is quick to condemn and even more so to judge.
The Lord invites us to follow Him. His invitation is an invitation far greater than any invitation we have received on this earth to any celebration. His invitation is to follow Him without any hesitation. He says to leave out the ifs, ands, and buts --- just follow. As we follow Him on this path of life, we realize that He has shown us mercy so that you and I can show mercy to those who need mercy. How are we going to do that? We will do it just as Jesus says in Revelation. He says you and I are going to face all kinds of difficulties and persecutions. Some might even be put into prison because of their faith. "Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life"(REVELATION 2:10b). Jesus invites us to follow Him during this life, even to the point of death, without hesitation and steadfastly showing mercy. He invites us to follow Him every day of our earthly life and then right into eternal life. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
