Never Look Back
Notes
Transcript
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 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.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Larry Crabb (psychologist, former pastor, and present professor at Colorado Christian University) in his book Inside Out:
“‘A man opened a counseling session with an urgent request: ‘I want to feel better quick.’
I paused for a moment and replied, ‘I suggest you get a case of your favorite alcoholic beverage, find some cooperative women, and go to the Bahamas for a month.’
Now it was his turn to pause. He stared at me, looking puzzled, and then asked, ‘Are you a Christian?’
‘Why do you ask?’
‘Well, your advice doesn’t sound very biblical.’
‘It’s the best I can go given your request. If you really want to feel good right away and get rid of any unpleasant emotion, then I don’t recommend following Christ. Drunkenness, immoral pleasures, and vacations will work far better. Not for long, of course, but in the short run they’ll give you what you want.’
Preachers all across America are building huge congregations on the promise of unblemished happiness now. Our modern understanding of Christian joy envisions an eager excitement as we face each day, yielding to a serene warmth in older years, capped off with the bliss of heaven forever.”
1. “I’ll Follow You!”
1. “I’ll Follow You!”
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
Background: “as they were going along the road”
Luke 9:51-53
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.
2. Really? Are You Sure?
2. Really? Are You Sure?
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.”
This is connected to the event that just occurred in Samaria. The people there rejected him. They didn’t want Jesus in their town.
Count the cost:
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
3. Excuses, Excuses
3. Excuses, Excuses
Excuse #1:
To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
Excuse #2:
Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”
4. What You Must Do to Follow Me
4. What You Must Do to Follow Me
Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Illustration of plow
5. What About Us? Are We Ready?
5. What About Us? Are We Ready?
Are we willing to leave all the past behind and make Jesus the priority in all things? Are willing to live the hard life of a Christian?
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
“We’ve somehow encouraged a separation of our faith from everyday life. We’ve relegated God’s life in us to special times and places and states of mind. And we’ve become so used to this style of life, we are hardly aware of it. . . . Being a Christian, being Christ’s, isn’t thought of as a normal part of life.” ~Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 32.
Are we willing to proclaim God’s kingdom?
For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Are we willing to be rejected?
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
Are we willing to go wherever and to whatever God leads us?
Jesus and the Apostle Peter: John 21:15–17 “When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”
John 21:18-19
Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”
(This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”
By extension:
Are we ready to go into the new year and leave the past behind? (1) Make his Kingdom priority (plow infers work)
(2) Meeting with the church priority - church not as organization, but as the community of believers
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
(3) Loyalty and commitment to each other
(4) Moving forward may mean leaving some things behind
Thomas Schreiner in his book I am a Church Member:
He contrasts a country club with the church: (1) country club: membership means perks, privileges, others will serve me. Just pay the membership dues and you can have others take care of you as you enjoy the life of leisure. (2) The church is about giving, serving, responsibilities, and sacrifices, NOT rights, receiving, entitlements. Tithes and offerings are to be an unconditional cheerful gift to God, NOT membership dues that entitle one to request and then receive.
(5) When we say “I am a Christian, a follower of Jesus,” do we really mean it?
As we enter a new year, put your hand to the plow and don’t look back.