Jump Start # 3674

Luke 9:57 “And as they were going along the road, someone said to Him, ‘I will follow You where You go.’”

Our verse today introduces an interesting exchange and conversation Jesus had with three different people. A common thread running in all of these conversations is following Jesus. The first man and the third man initiate the conversation. They both begin by telling Jesus, “I will follow You.” I will—a declarative statement. An affirmation. This is what I will do. What wonderful words to hear. Most times we hear the opposite.

The second man was asked by Jesus. The Lord said to him, “Follow Me.” Both the second and the third man had a priority and perspective issue. They would follow Jesus, but first, they had to do something else. The second man had to bury his father. The third man had to say good-bye to those at home. First, let me bury my father. First, let me say good-bye to family. Their order of things was simply out of order.

The first man declared that he would follow Jesus, however, he did not know where Jesus was going. This is why Jesus said, “…the Son of Man ha sno where to lay His head.” Jesus was going to Jerusalem. Did he know that? Jesus was heading to a cruel death on the cross. Did he know that? Impulsive is what this first man was. And, impulse often leads to regret and buyers remorse. Our emotions get a head of us. We stop thinking with our heads and start following our feelings. This logic fuels pep rallies. Walk into a high school gym before the big home coming game. The band is playing loudly. The cheerleaders are jumping up and down. The team is high fiving each other. A lot of energy. A lot of emotion. A lot of feeling. This same idea is the outcome of mobs. Someone screaming in a meg-a-phone gets the crowd to chant a phrase over and over and people get excited, pumped up and ready to move to action, even if it is illegal and destructive. Impulsive. Not thinking things through.

I will follow You, Jesus. Will you? To the baptistery? To worship services? To godly and righteous living? To resisting temptation? To obeying the commands of the Lord? Later in Luke, Jesus talked about counting the cost. Salvation is free, but discipleship comes with a cost. Too many have been baptized never to show their faces again. They didn’t know where following Jesus would take them.

The second and third men had trouble with self. They would follow Jesus, but it was on their terms and in their timetable. First, I must bury my father. First, I must say good-bye to family. Both men failed to understand the core principle of following Jesus is to deny self. Deny self comes before taking up our cross. Deny self comes before following Jesus. Until we rid ourselves of self, we will only do what we want to do. We will only do what feels good. And, we will not make it very long with the Lord.

Now, some thoughts:

First, following Jesus is not always convenient, comfortable or to our liking. Do you think the apostles enjoyed going to Samaria or up into Gentile country? On their own, without Jesus, they would have never done that. Do you think apologizing is comfortable or easy? Do you think having a hard conversation with someone about the choices in their life is easy and to our liking? For Paul, following Jesus led to often being hungry and thirsty. He was homeless and defined his life as being the scum of the earth.

The world will not like you. Satan doesn’t like you. We must stop trying to package Christianity as something that gets along with everyone. It’s like those “Co-Exist” bumper stickers. A Jew and a Muslim? A Christian and a Hindu? Nothing in common. No starting point. No foundation to stand upon. Nothing agreeable to put on the table. Not in the same galaxy with one another. Christianity is counter culture. It’s light in darkness. It’s swimming upstream in a world that is flowing downstream. It is focused and has direction. Following Jesus is not comfortable.

Second, following Jesus has consequences. There are positive consequences, such as salvation and reconciliation with God. Positive consequences such as fellowship with God’s family. Consequences such as being engaged in the greatest work in the world, kingdom work. But there are negative consequences. You can’t do everything that others do. You won’t see every movie that is popular. You won’t go to every concert that your friends talk about. You won’t watch every sitcom on TV. And, the reason is you are following Jesus. He will lead you away from wrong. He will walk in righteousness. Following Jesus means there are choices greater than myself that must be made. There are thoughts about influence and impressions upon others. If I want to follow Jesus, I must walk away from the world. Jesus and the world are moving different directions. If I follow Jesus, I am walking away from the world.

Third, following Jesus is more than just a wish or something that I say. These three men in our context wanted to follow Jesus. Did they? Would they? Following Jesus means action. It means moving the direction that Jesus is going. It means making the right choices and changes in your life.

I will follow You…but first, I gotta watch the game on TV. I will follow You…but I don’t want to belong to a church. I will follow You…but the kids are coming over. I will follow You…but there are a bunch of us going out after work. I will follow You…but I don’t want to stop drinking. I like that. I will follow You…but don’t ask me to give any money. I will follow You…but I’m not interested in doctrine and things like that. I will follow You…but don’t talk about my marriage. I will follow You…but I have a few ideas that I want to share with You. I will follow You…but be sure and go the direction that I want to go. I will follow You…but I don’t want to have to do anything. I will follow You…but don’t make it on a weekend. That’s my day off. I will follow You…but can we stop and do some shopping along the way? I will follow You…if the weather is nice. I don’t like getting out in the cold. I will follow You…if the crowd is not too big. I’m not a fan of big crowds. I will follow You…if it’s not too early in the morning. I don’t like getting up early. I will follow You…but I have to do some housework first. I will follow You…but does that mean I have to read the Bible? I don’t like to read. I will follow You…but if a certain person shows up, I’m not going. I don’t like that person. I will follow You…but do You have to go so far? Can’t we stay near my house? I will follow You…but I’m expecting a phone call first. I will follow You…

…but wait, where has He gone?

Roger

Jump Start # 2582

Luke 9:57 “And as they were going a long the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.”

In the context of our verse today we read about three men. Two of them openly said to Jesus, “I will follow You.” The third man was asked by Jesus, “Follow Me.” Following Jesus is the nature of discipleship. Have you ever noticed a family taking a walk together? There is always one child who wants to be out front. He has to lead. As the family is going along, the child out front turns around and makes sure that everyone else is still in sight. That’s the way some are with Jesus.

Some want to lead Jesus. They want to take the Lord to places the Lord never went nor intended to go. They want to lead. They want Jesus to follow them. Having the Lord with them gives credibility to what they are doing. It’s like a divine approval.

Others want to follow Jesus at a distance. They want to keep Jesus in sight, but not too close. They want the freedom to do things their own way. They want to stop when they want to stop and go when they want to go. As long as they can still see Jesus off in the distance, they are ok. But the more they drop behind, the more that they really do not see Jesus. They miss out. They are not seeing what they ought to see.

Then there are those from our passage today. They will follow, but it has to be when they are ready. In our context, two of the three men say, “Permit me first.” I will follow, but I have something I have to do. I can’t follow you until I first do this other thing. What I have to do is more important than following you.

One wanted to bury his father. The other wanted to say good-bye to those at home. I’ll follow, but first let me do something else.

Following Jesus back then, and following Jesus today, is not always the easiest thing to do. Back then, it meant going from village to village and not having any definite roots anywhere. It meant growing crowds and then growing opposition. It meant a destination for Jesus at the Cross. This wasn’t going to be a parade. This wasn’t a short walk down a path in the park. This was a journey that would change their lives. This was a journey of commitment, dedication and faith.

Following Jesus today doesn’t mean walking from village to village, as it did in the first century, but it means a similar journey of commitment, dedication and faith. Modern churches have tried to make Jesus “cool.” T-shirts. Marketing. Merchandise. Trendy. Popular. But following Jesus was never “cool.” Jesus didn’t fit in with the Jewish upper crust. Following Jesus didn’t set well with Romans. The message was foolish to Gentiles. The apostles weren’t rock stars. They were considered scum of the earth. And, to stay very close to Jesus hasn’t changed much today. If you stick with His word as it says, you are considered narrow, bigoted, legalistic.

Following Jesus. That’s a grand idea and a true Biblical principle. But the question remains how will I follow Jesus?

Will I follow Jesus as long as He is going where I want to go? What if the Lord goes someplace I don’t want to go? Will I still follow? Or, will I stop, and wait for Him to go where I want to go and then I will catch up with Him there? The Lord will take you to villages such as forgiveness. Will you follow Him there? Will you forgive? The Lord will go to places such as purity and holiness. Will you follow the Lord there? The Lord will travel to destinations such as responsibility, opportunity and obligation. These are about the kingdom, His kingdom. Will I travel there? Along the way the Lord expects us to use our talents to do all that we can. Will we? Or, will we just go along for a nice walk on a sunny day? What about those days when the Lord goes through the dark valleys of death? Will I stick with Him? Will He find me right behind Him? Will I stay with Jesus when others are wanting me to go another direction? What then? Which path will I choose?

The men in our context claimed that they wanted to follow Jesus, but their words and their feet didn’t match up. They weren’t fully in. They wanted to do other things first. They wanted to follow, but on their terms. They had quick excuses to justify why they couldn’t go right now. Jesus wasn’t going to wait for one to deal with a dead person, or for the other to tell everyone at home, good-bye. Jesus was on a mission. He was on the move. Follow me meant right now.

We are not told what happened to these three people. Did they follow? Did they go home and come back and find out that Jesus wasn’t waiting. He was gone. Did they miss out? Did they complain to others how insensitive Jesus was for not allowing them to do what they wanted to do? Did they ever follow?

Do we truly follow? What do we do when things are tough? What do we do when we don’t feel like it?

I will follow you, Lord. I will. Can you say that? Can you do that?

Roger