Walking in His Footsteps: No Turning Back

READ (LUKE 9:57-62)

“I have decided to follow Jesus / No turning back”

There is a reality to Christianity that is not popular in our culture.

The disciples are literally on the road toward Jerusalem. Luke assembled three conversations that people had with Jesus on the way. We have read letter messages from Jesus about discipleship that are pivotal for every person to understand on this journey.

1. Count the cost before you follow Jesus.

“I’ll follow you wherever you go” - “I’ll go anywhere”

Well intentioned for sure, but this person did not realize the nature of the demands in God’s kingdom.

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow. For whoever would save his life will ose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” - (Luke 9:23-24)

Following Jesus would not just mean walking after him, but being involved in the important work of the kingdom.

The man understood the terminology of discipleship, but struggled to realize the applications.

Jesus emphasized rejection, but also suffering.

“After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” - (John 6:66)

These were the people who were fed in the group of 5000.

They left the moment situations became challenging.

“To be a follower of the Crucified Christ means, sooner or later, a personal encounter with the cross. And the cross always entails loss.” - Elisabeth Elliot

You cannot be a disciple until you have counted the cost of following Jesus.

2. A radical transfer of loyalty.

In this case, Jesus sought out a disciple. The Jews counted proper burial as most important. To leave a father unburied was something scandalous to a Jew.

It was a religious, social, and family obligation to provide a suitable funeral for one’s father.

Jesus was not implying that people were not to honor their parents. He was pointing toward the demands of the kingdom.

There is an urgent demand to walk with Jesus. In this situation, he was walking toward the cross. He would only be with the people in person for a short season. There was work and ministry to be done.

There was no delay to a heavenly calling.

“The day I surrendered to Jesus was the day I let him decide where I get my mail.” - Lowrie

Loyalty - A strong feeling of support or allegiance.

A life as a disciplined follower of Jesus requires a radical willingess to walk after God’s plan at the expense of everything else.

Family, culture, esteem, etc.

The world will not understand this for you. This requires intentionality. We ARE fanatical about Christ.

The cost of following Jesus requires a willingness to lose in this world.

3. No looking back.

What is wrong with Jesus here?

This person wants to go home and say goodbye.

“Plow” - The plowman concentrates on the furrow before him, guiding the the plow with his left hand, while goading the oxen with the right. Looking away would result in a crooked furrow.

People were not just being saved by a gospel of salvation, but a gospel of God’s kingdom. There is work to be done every day in the name of Jesus Christ.

The work is so critical that even family duty cannot take precedence.

Passages like these are why preaching a cheap gospel is pointless.

“Following Jesus doesn’t just entail a sacrificial abandonment of our lives, it requires a supreme affection from our hearts.” - David Platt

People do not simply “decide” to follow Jesus.

“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” - (Romans 6:6-8)

Part of our spiritual discipline is not only learning how to be alive in Christ, but to put to death our allegiance to this world.

By looking both ways, we become crosseyed and unable to fulfill to mission God has set before us. Therefore, we must place our attention in the direction of Christ.

We stay on the path with our eyes pressed on the prize before us.

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus had made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.” - (Philippians 3:12-16)