The Cost of Following Jesus

Today we will finish Luke chapter 9 (vs. 57-62).  Jesus has been teaching his disciples what it means to be great in God’s eyes, in contrast to what they believed.  The capabilities of Christ seem wasted in merely dying on a cross.  This last section looks at three different men who are going to follow Jesus, but something gets in the way, whether they know it or not.  Jesus as a teacher points these barriers out to them, but also wants his disciples and us today to recognize the cost required in order to follow him.

Regardless of the Provisions

The first guy is found in verses 57-58.  He makes a bold statement of following Jesus “wherever you go.”  Jesus responds by reminding the man that he doesn’t even have a place to lay his head.  Now Jesus doesn’t mean that literally.  He is saying he doesn’t have a place of his own.  He is at the mercy of what God provides.  This issue of provision can become a stumbling block to many.  Christ makes no promise of earthly comforts to his disciples.  “Come follow me,” but I don’t know where I am going to sleep tonight.  The person who wants to follow Jesus is going to have to deal with the worry that rises in the heart of a person regarding provisions. 

This man desires to follow Jesus; however, Christ sees something in his heart.  He is a man who is us attached to certain provisions in his life.  It will be difficult for him to follow Jesus long if he doesn’t face the reality up front.  His good desire to follow Jesus is mixed in with many other desires.  The desire for comfort and certain provisions will eventually be challenged when following Jesus.  “Pick up your cross and follow me,” is no promise of great provisions.  It is a promise that he knows where he is headed and if we follow him God will take care of us.  God always provides, just not what we always desire.

Look at the life of Jesus.  He had meager origins and he lived by meager means.  Those who followed him in those days shared in that.  Even though he had donors who gave gifts to help him out, this is still a worrisome proposition for our flesh.  Thus if we are going to follow Christ then we need to sit down and count the cost.  This man only saw what he would gain in following Jesus.  But, Jesus wants him also to think about what he will lose, or at least might lose.  Jesus promises that if we lose anything in this world for his sake, God will make it up to us with so much more of something better.  Whether in this life or the life to come is not our concern.  God is more concerned with our spiritual growth than he is with our material prosperity.  Though it may serve His needs from time to time to bless a person with material prosperity, it is a test of faith as much as the times of little.  If my heart is overly attached to the material things of this world I will have trouble following Christ in difficult times.  The person who has little is tested in learning to trust the goodness of God.  The person who has much is tested in learning to give God the credit for the goodness and to use it for His glory.  Where your heart is there your treasure will lie.

Regardless of Timing

The second guy is found in verses 59-60.  We see some of the same issues in the next two guys.  So I will focus on the timing issue in this situation.  Here it is Jesus asking the guy to follow him.  Yet, the guy asks for more time in order to deal with his aging father.  Apparently he wants to follow Jesus, but the timing isn’t good for him.  Though the text says he needs to bury his father, it is highly unlikely that he means his dad is already dead.  People were buried very quickly after death.  Most likely his father is old and failing in health and he wants to go back home and wait until this situation has ended.  Of course then the estate will be divided and since he is following a man who can’t promise any provisions…  Well, you get the picture.

God often calls us to do things that are not good timing from our perspective.  “Go talk to your neighbor about their soul.”  Answer: But Lord, I’m not ready yet.  “Follow me.”  Answer: But Lord I have too many things I want to accomplish first.  When I’m retired I will really get down to business in serving you.  It is this “lack of timing” that causes to surface precisely what we need to deal with.  God’s timing is not bad.

We also see that here that good things can get in the way of God’s things.  There is nothing wrong with caring for family, burying those who die, and inheriting an estate.  However, such things can also divert us from doing what God is calling us to do.  In some cases, like missionaries, we have to say goodbye to many good things and simply trust the Lord.  In other cases, we must learn to do those things AND serve the Lord; at the same time.  We must be careful of thinking, “I will do this first and then serve God.”  If God is calling you today, then you either don’t need that which you will have to leave behind.  Besides, maybe he is calling someone else in the family to step in and care for dad.

The response that Jesus gives sounds strange.  “Let the dead bury the dead, but you follow me.”  Jesus is speaking spiritually here.  If the spirit of God is speaking and you are spiritually alive then you need to obey and follow God.  But if you are dead to the Spirit of God then by all means stay and do what you want.  There are many spiritually dead people in this world pursuing the joys and pleasure of this life without a thought for what God wants them to do.  But if you are alive then you can’t live like that.  What are God’s purposes in this world?  And, how do I fit in with those purposes?  These are the questions we need to answer and then act upon.

Regardless of What We Leave Behind

The third man is in verses 61-62.  This man also wants to deal with his affairs and say goodbye to his family.  His seems to be less of a wait and yet a wait nonetheless.  Let’s focus on the things we have to leave behind.  Sometimes family ties can hold us back from God’s call.  Even the mother and brothers of Jesus tried to restrain him from doing what He knew God was calling him to do.  So Jesus understood this problem well.  Dad and mom may not always understand what God is calling you to do.  If you let your good attachments to them get in the way, you may never follow Jesus for yourself.  It is not wrong to love family.  But our love for family should not be greater than our love for our Lord.  We use the phrase, “inordinate love.”  It is a love that is not given the correct order in relation to God.

Jesus also uses an image from farm life: plowing a field.  This metaphor demonstrates the importance of not looking back.  We must keep our focus on the task before us in order to do it well.  Distracted work is not done well.  Jesus does not want us to be distracted workers.  God is worthy of our undivided attention in the task that He gives us.  Thus learning to serve God with a whole heart is primary.  When the Lord calls us to salvation we can be tempted to look back to the pleasures of this world.  Those friends of the world will not be our friends any more unless they follow Jesus too.  It can be difficult to accept such things.  Even in service to the Lord we can be looking back to easier days and “better” things.  We can pause or even stop in our following of Jesus.

In each of these cases, Jesus is not trying to dissuade these men in following him.  But, precisely because he knows the path ahead is difficult, he requires us to count the cost in advance.  We do a disservice to people when we try to remove all the barriers to getting saved and following Jesus.  This is not real life.  Later, when you are not there to remove those barriers for them, they will falter.  God gives us truth so that we can make a decision that is based upon reality rather than fantasy.  May God help us to follow him regardless of these things to which we too easily become inseparably attached.

Cost of Following Jesus audio

A Good Disciple Builds On The Rock

After Jesus had taught His disciples to love their enemies and to be merciful in their judgments, He then challenged them to build their lives upon His words.  In Luke 6 it is clear that this is no call to try to look like God, but rather to change and become like Him within.  It is the nature of God that leads Him to the kindness of giving room for repentance.  Thus the problem of “goodness and evil” lies in the very natures of men.

In Luke 6:43 and following Jesus points us to the reality that good works can only come from a good nature and He does this with the picture of trees in verses 43 to 45.

The Fruit Of A Tree

Jesus uses an illustration from nature to bring home his point about man’s sinful nature.  The Spirit of this Age promotes the idea that men are basically good in their natures and that it is bad influences from society (i.e. religion, superstition, ignorance) that cause evil.  People are basically good.  Of course this idea doesn’t even pass the smell test of our everyday experience.  But, we have a powerful desire for this to be true.  Yet, it begs the question.  If man if only made evil by society then how did society become evil?  Isn’t it made of “good” men?  Clearly there is some slight-of-hand going on with the definitions of good and evil here.  People who are basically good could only build societies that are basically good.  Something is missing.  The Bible would agree that mankind was originally created with a good nature.  But, man also has the power to choose evil.  Through choice man has twisted and perverted his original nature.  Man is bent towards sin (other than God).

Thus Jesus points out that a tree produces fruit after its own kind, or from its underlying nature.  God has designed the creation in such a way that what is seen has a direct connection to that which cannot be seen within it.  In the case of a tree, it is its underlying DNA.  However, Jesus is speaking spiritually here.

Now over time men have learned to distinguish those trees and the fruit that comes from them.  In this we see that some fruit looks good to the eye, but is bad for the body.  On the other hand, some fruit doesn’t look good, but is.  In this analogy the “bad” tree is the one that cannot be eaten by man without ill consequences.  This is a picture of bad teachers and false prophets.  If you eat of their teaching you will be poisoned.  No matter how good their fruit looks there will be death in it.  Spiritually we need to be good at identifying bad and good trees.  There are many trees across this nation offering nothing good and people are clamoring to eat it up.  Only Jesus is the Good Tree that we can trust to give us life.  He is the only Tree of Life.  Do not listen to those teachers who rail against those who “judge them.”  It is the foolish man who eats fruit first before asking if it is poisonous.  Jesus warned us against the teaching of these religious charlatans.  Jesus is the good tree.

Now when Jesus points out that good fruit can only come from a good tree it would be easy to think he is telling his disciples that they are good trees.  Here we have the fact that only a tree with a good nature can give good fruit.  In Luke 18:18-22, a rich young man came to Jesus seeking to know what he needed to do to be saved.  However, he greets Jesus as “Good Teacher.”  Now the man was not wrong to call Jesus “good teacher.”  However, he didn’t understand the importance of what he was saying.  So, Jesus pulls him up short in order to make him think about what he was saying.  “No one is good, but One, that is, God.”  Here Jesus disqualifies all men as a source of good fruit.  The rich young man wanted answers, but the only reason Jesus could help him was because Jesus was the Son of God.  To hear the words of Jesus are to hear the very words of the Father himself.  That is why Jesus ends this discussion by telling the man to sell all his goods and follow Him.  Yes, the rich man lacked treasure in heaven.  But more importantly he lacked The Treasure of Heaven; Jesus himself.  Jesus is good because by nature He is God.

The good news of the Gospel is not that we have a new and improved list of good things to do that are better and simpler than the old ones.  Rather, the good news of the Gospel is that in Jesus, God is now sharing His nature with mankind.  If I am going to be a good tree that produces good fruit, then I am going to need to have my nature changed from me to Him.  God does this not by making us all gods.  Rather, He puts His Spirit within us, which makes our spirit come alive to the “good things” of God.  We still have a fallen human nature that fights against this.  We see this in John 1:12, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”  If I am going to truly love my enemy and be merciful then I am going to need a new nature working within me to produce such good things.  Trying to do this without inner change is not only futile, it will also become a twisted, perverted, and evil thing in the end.  Titus 1:15-16, “To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.  They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.”

In the name of social justice, brotherly love, helping the poor, and unity, the world has been deceived into thinking that man can be good without being transformed by Jesus.  Even more insidious is the parallel working inside the Church to deceive believers into thinking that we can transform Jesus and His Teaching without affecting the fruit it will produce.  Thus the world thinks good can come without Jesus.  The false Church comes to believe that good can come with a new and improved Jesus (read that “another Jesus”).  This is the spirit of antichrist.  Just as the Spirit of God is preparing the chaste bride to be ready for the coming of Christ, so the spirit of this age is preparing the unchaste and adulterous bride for the coming of The Antichrist.  Have you been born again?  Has the Spirit of God taken up residence within you and is the transforming nature beneath what you do?  Don’t settle for a profession alone.  But, rather, believe in your heart upon the Jesus of Scripture and what He said.  In this you will be saved and changed.

The Good Foundation

In verses 46-49, Jesus challenges the notion that people who outwardly look like they are following Him, really are.  Those who call Him “Lord” or “Good Teacher” often do so without really knowing what that means or believing it.  Jesus uses the picture of building a house for the living of a life.  Both need a good foundation upon which to build.

The word “Lord” refers to one who is master.  Thus the disciple is put in the picture as a servant.  The wise servant of Jesus is the one who lives their life by what Jesus said.  This servant will have built a life that will survive the judgment of God.  Digging down to the rock in this parable represents getting down to God’s Word.  It alone is strong and solid enough to hold up our life.  Jesus is The Solid Rock.  Though it may seem like a lot of extra work, and there are plenty of others who offer us short cuts intellectually, the wise servant is the one who digs down to the real Jesus and the real words of Jesus, rather than rely on the words of others.  Your life and the way you have lived it will be tested.  It is tested periodically throughout our life and it is ultimately tested when we stand before God at the Judgment.  Those who actually listened to Jesus will be saved.  They will not be shaken or destroyed by divine judgment.

On the other hand, the foolish servant disobeys and perishes in judgment.  Notice that the foolish servant still builds a house.  In fact the house may look like the wise servant in many ways.  But what makes it a “good” house is not what it looks like.  It is a “bad” house because of the unseen underlying realities.  In this case the foundation is not on something solid.  It is built right on the ground.  We cannot just pick and choose what things of Jesus we want to follow.  Building on the ground is not good enough.  I know we are talking about “servants” of Jesus here, but the illustration works even with unbelievers and atheists.  They have a complete disregard for God and His Son Jesus.  Therefore they build upon a foundation of their own making and wisdom.  It does not matter what it looks like, in the end it will not be good enough to withstand the judgment of God.  However, complete disregard for God’s word is not the problem in this parable of Jesus.  The problem is a person who settles for building upon all the ideas of man that have accumulated over the years on top of Jesus (The Rock).  No matter how great and wise these people may be, their ideas and teachings are mere sand, gravel, and dirt compared to the rock of the words of Jesus.  Even though they are fine sounding religious ideas and traditions that are “based” upon Jesus, they will not hold us up.  We must dig down to Jesus and the testimony of His Apostles for ourselves and build upon that alone.  Though we can take the instruction and words of other disciples to heart, we can never let them come between us and Jesus.  Doing so is a recipe for disaster and ruin throughout this life and particularly at the Day of Judgment.

Thankfully, God part of God’s mercy is that He not only gives us time to repent, embrace Jesus and build our life upon Him, but He also sends periodic storms that will reveal our lack of a proper foundation.  Periodically throughout our lives He is faithful to test us and show us where we have been building upon something other than Him. In this mercy is the joy that we can repent and turn to Christ and be saved from ruin, whether in matters of this life or our ultimate salvation.  Yet, know this.  Like the Great Flood took the ancient world down in Judgment, but only Noah and his family survived, so there is a coming judgment that will expose the lack of foundation of many.  Only the life that is truly built upon Christ will be able to withstand the torrent of His judgment.

Today there is so much redefinition and deception regarding the things of Jesus that I would be remiss if I didn’t challenge all of us to make sure that we are building on the words of Christ and not someone who is twisting His words and misrepresenting His heart.

Good Disciple audio

Becoming A Disciple Of Jesus

We continue our discovery of the True Jesus in the Gospel according to Luke.  In chapter 4 we saw how Jesus was initially rejected by those from his hometown and yet sought out by those who were in the region of the Sea of Galilee.  It is clear that Luke is not giving a strict chronology, although his Gospel does follow the pattern of the birth of Jesus, the ministry of Jesus, and the death of Jesus.  Within this ministry section we find Luke giving detail but also skipping around chronologically.  In chapter 5 Luke gives us insight into the calling of some of the disciples to not just be those who believed him, but to also follow him wherever he went.

Hearing the Word of God

In verses 1-3 we see that Jesus had gone down to the Lake of Gennesaret.  This is just another name for the Sea of Galilee, which is also called Lake Tiberias.  They are most likely near Bethsaida where Peter lived, however the exact location is not stated.  What is stated is that Jesus was there to share the Word of God.  Jesus was popular and soon an unorganized crowd had developed around him as he shared God’s Word.  This is an important part of understanding what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.  It starts with a desire to hear the Word of God and then coming to Jesus to receive it.  He is the ultimate Light of the World that stands above all the prophets of the Old Testament.  To be a disciple is to be one who sees Jesus as the one who has the Word of God.

As it gets crowded on the beach we are told that some fishermen are nearby.  We know that there has been interaction between Jesus, Andrew, and Peter in the past due to John’s gospel.  So Jesus most likely chose this spot and this time on purpose.  He just happens to be preaching when Peter and his partners are cleaning and mending their nets after a long night of fishing.  Notice that Jesus asks Peter for help.  Perhaps if we were there we would think that it was unspiritual or rude of these fishermen to clean their nets while Jesus is teaching.  But Jesus sees an opportunity here.  He asks Peter to lend him his boat so that he can preach from it.  That would solve the practical problem of the difficulty of the crowd to hear and see Jesus.  This is typical of God.  Though he can do all things, He wants us to join Him in what He is doing.

At this point I would ask you what the goal of preaching is.  Why is Jesus preaching to these people?  Simply put they need Truth.  The goal of preaching is for the salvation of its hearers.  Yes, not all believe and are saved.  But without the Truth no one could be saved from not just problems in their life, but primarily the bondage of sin.  The Apostle Paul demonstrates this in Romans 10:13-15.  He starts with the Truth: All who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.  He then asks this question.  How can we get people to call on the Lord?  Answer: they first have to believe that the Lord can help them.  How can they believe?  They have to hear the Truth about Who Jesus is, there own predicament, and what he has done about it.  How can they hear?  Someone has to preach the Truth to them.  Who will preach?  God must give His Truth to someone and send them.  Thus God sends us to preach so that others can hear the Truth, believe in their heart, call upon the Lord and be saved.  Every disciple is the result of that process.

Listening To His Directions

In verses 4-7, Jesus has finished preaching.  However, he now has some personal business for Peter and Andrew.  This part of the story ends with them catching more fish than they could imagine, enough nearly to sink two boats.  Is Jesus just paying them back for helping him?  We could think of this passage as Jesus showing that you can’t out give God.  But I don’t think that is what is going on here.  In fact, there is no indication that Peter and Andrew materially benefit from this catch.  It seems more that Jesus is giving them a personal lesson of just what he can do.

Now it all starts with some simple directions from Jesus.  Go out into the deep and cast out your nets.  Jesus doesn’t ask something difficult, nor is it something illogical.  However, it isn’t the sense or logic that they would have employed.  This is a big obstacle to being a disciple of Jesus.  He will ask us to do things that we wouldn’t.  We have all kinds of reasons why we shouldn’t do it.  We have all kind of feelings that are opposed to doing it (whatever it is).  Other obstacles that can keep us from being true disciples of Jesus are lust, pride, fear, and many others.  Disciples don’t just hear the Word of God from Jesus.  They also listen and obey.  Peter is tired.  He has fished out that whole area.  Why is this carpenter from the hills down here telling me to go back to work when I’m done for the day?  Yet, he responds with surrender.  “I don’t want to, but nevertheless because you ask it I will do it.”  He could have missed out that day.  But he had heard and seen too much of Jesus to not listen to this man.

Now Jesus isn’t just about miracles.  In fact they are actually secondary to why he came to earth.  Miracles are to reinforce the message.  So let me insert an end-times warning at this point.  The Scriptures tell us that the antichrist and false prophet will do lying signs and wonders.  People will be astonished at the power they have.  However, the problem will be that their message is not the message of the True Jesus.  We don’t receive Jesus just because he did miracles.  But we do so because only he has the words of life, the Words of God.  Miracles can help us to surrender our flesh when we know he is right.  But never let it push you to surrender the Truth when the Bible shows someone is wrong.

Understanding The Truth About Jesus And Me

Now verses 8-11 teach us something about being a disciple.  Somewhere in the middle of that great miraculous catch of fish, somewhere in the midst of pulling in nets, signaling the other boat, wrestling all the fish into the boat and struggling to get to shore…somewhere in the middle of all that Peter understands something.  Peter saw himself for what he truly was in contrast with Jesus.  The shame and guilt of his own sin becomes so obvious and hideous to Peter that he begs the Lord to leave him.  Even as the light dawns on Peter, the flesh and the devil are working overtime to keep him in the dark.  Pushing Jesus away because he is so righteous and we are not, is a mistake.  All disciples enter by the narrow gate of understanding this problem.  He is good and I am not.

With great tenderness, as only he can do, Jesus tells Peter to not be afraid.  Don’t let your fears rob you of being my disciple, Peter.  Leave your fears behind and come follow me.  Yes, I am holy, but I am also love.  I don’t love your sins, but I am committed to transforming you if you will enter into relationship with me.  You must understand that your fears will cause you to separate from the very thing you need.  A true disciple of Jesus has to learn to wrestle with fears and lay them at the feet of Jesus.

In fact let me close with this picture.  The Bible tells us that marriage is a picture of Jesus and his disciples, his Church, his bride.  If marriage is a picture of that relationship then we should look at that original marriage of Adam and Eve.  The Bible says that this is why a man will leave his family and cleave to his wife.  All successful marriages learn the lessons of how to leave others behind and cleave to one another.  Forsaking all and following him, Peter became, not just a hearer of Jesus, but a true disciple.

O friend, make sure today that you aren’t chasing Jesus to get something out of Him.  These guys actually walked away from what Jesus supplied that day in order to have a closer relationship with Jesus.  Be a true disciple of the true Jesus today.

Becoming a Disciple audio