The Buts in life

Breaking Through the 'Buts': Committing Fully to Christ

Good evening!!!

Turn with me to Luke chapter 9 tonight.

Prayer

Is it okay if we have a couple of laughs tonight?  Scripture tells us that “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”  

Joke

Last February was Brent and Pat’s 60 year wedding anniversary. Valentines Day to be exact.

They decided they were going to take a last minute anniversary trip to south Florida to the same hotel where they celebrated their honeymoon.

Brent being the amazing husband he is booked the plane tickets out of Huntsville but to his surprise, flights were full so they had to make a tough decision and take separate flights. After much thought and prayer Brent booked what he could get.

Brent said he would take the early flight down to the historic hotel and wait on Pat to arrive.

Brent left on a Thursday morning but unfortunately Pat was scheduled to leave on the following Friday morning.

So Brent arrives Thursday about lunch, gets checked into the room then walked down to the lobby.

To Brent’s surprise they had computers set up in the lobby area for the guest to use so he sets down to send Pat an email to let her know he arrived safely.

Brent did not realize when he sent the email that he made a huge mistake and left a letter out of Pats email address.

That same day there was a pastors wife in Cincinnati, OH who had just buried her beloved husband and pastor of the church.

There was some family who could not make it to the celebration of life due to the booked airlines so the wife went to check her email to see if they had wrote to her.

As she opened her email she could not believe what she seen and passed out.

Her son ran in to check on her and looked at the computer.

He was devastated!!!

This is what he read.

“To my loving wife, I have arrived, they even have computers down here now and let me use one to send this message.”

“Everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow and I can’t wait to see you”

“I hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.”

PS. “It’s hot down here!!”

Tonight we are going to look at three short stories in Luke 9:57‑62 and ask why Jesus responded the way He did.  

Each story introduces a person who wants to follow Jesus but has a “but” that stands in the way, and our own excuses often look very similar to what we are about to study.

Before reading, let me point out that Luke places these stories immediately after Jesus “set his face toward Jerusalem,” beginning His final journey to the cross (Luke 9:51).  

Reading: Luke 9:57‑62 —

New Living Translation Chapter 9

57 As they were walking along, someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

58 But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.”

59 He said to another person, “Come, follow me.”

The man agreed, but he said, “Lord,

We read that Jesus responds differently to each would be disciple because He knows their hearts and sees the “buts” that would prevent wholehearted commitment.

You all know I love to use props!

I love a visual to get your attention!

Look around and you will see about 120 buts in the room with you, and you even brought your own.

Here is the important thing I want you to think about, you may be carrying some “but” statements in your heart that you need to kick.  

Tonight we want to talk about different “buts”—the excuses that keep us from fully committing to Jesus.

The First “But” is Comfort and Security from (Luke 9:57‑58)

The first man said “I will follow you wherever you go Lord!!!”

It sounds noble right?

I tell the Lord that all the time!

I pray Lord not my will but your will be done!

But Jesus hears something deeper. 

He knew what was in this mans heart.

Here is what every disciple knew during this time.

If you were following a traveling rabbi, you expected a place to sleep and food to eat.

But following Jesus was different.

Jesus was on a mission and Jesus himself had nowhere to lay his head, revealing that personal comfort was truly this man’s priority.

Luke tells us that Jesus responds, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head”

We take these securities for granted because we all have homes and pretty normal expectations in life, but do they take second place to Jesus?

Jesus was, and is still seeking authentic commitment from his followers.

This man was prepared to follow only on his own convenient terms.

Here is the “but” we deal with in this modern age we live in.

We want to follow Christ “but” we want it to be comfortable!

Jesus wants this man (and us) to know that following Him means leaving personal comfort behind.

If we only obey when it’s convenient or comfortable, we will never leave the couch!

Matt touched on something Sunday when he preached that cut my heart about how I use to be with church.

Before, March of 2023, church was an option to me.

I came, if and when I wanted to, and would make excuses why I should lay in the bed or watch the service from the couch.

I would say But God, I like my cozy bed too much!” or “But Lord, I just got my dream house; I just want to watch the service on my tv and drink my coffee.”  

Remember my “butt” prop?  

Sometimes we treat our couch like an altar and our recliner like a pew.  

Jesus isn’t forbidding nice furniture or a nice house. I believe Jesus wants to bless us and I know for a fact His blessings and mercy is new every morning, not because we deserve them, but because He loves us so much.

He’s questioning whether comfort has become an idol in our life.  

He knows that if we make comfort the standard for discerning His will, we will say “no” every time following Him requires sacrifice.  

Now... attending church is not an option its a part of my everyday life.

If you don't see me here on a Wednesday or Sunday just know I am either sick and don’t want to infect you or I am preaching at another church.

Application: Identify Your Comfort “But”

• So ask yourself, What comforts am I unwilling to surrender to follow Jesus?  Is it a home, a schedule, a career, or even a certain pew?

• Remember that animals have dens, but the Son of Man had nowhere to lay His head.  

Don’t expect a disciple’s journey to be easier than your Lord’s.

The Second “But” is Convenience and Priorities (Luke 9:59‑60)

The second man doesn’t volunteer like the first man did; Jesus invites him directly: “Follow me.”  

Jesus saw something very special in this man.

This man answers, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”  

Underline the word first or highlight it because this man had an inheritance first in his life and not Jesus.

Jesus wants to be first, He does not want to take second place to anyone or anything.

You my think the reply was harsh when Jesus said; (“Let the dead bury their own dead”), but context reveals that this mans father was still alive.  

In that culture, burials occurred within 24 hours, so if his father had just died he likely wouldn’t have been walking down the road listening to Jesus.  

The man was saying, “Let me wait until my father dies; once I receive my inheritance I will have some money and can afford a place to stay and food to eat.

The man’s hesitation was legitimate.

Caring for our parents and family is very important, its Biblical.

Ephesians 6:1–4 Is based off Exodus 20:12 This is the first commandment from the ten commandments with a promise.

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” “Honor your father and mother” “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”  

The promise from Exodus is if you honor your parents you will live a long life.

The call for this man and us is to follow Jesus now!

However this man’s problem was divided attention.

When he felt Gods call he looked at his situation and put off the call to follow Jesus.

You see if we wait for perfect circumstances to follow, we miss the point; the Kingdom of God demands our focus now, not when everything else is handled and our life is in order.

It’s not that Jesus despises funerals; He is revealing our disobedience.  

We say, “But Lord, once I finish school … once the kids are grown and out of college… once I get the promotion … then I will serve You.”  That “then” never comes or if it does we make other excuses.

But Jesus pursues after us just like he did this man.

Jesus said let the dead bury the dead. Let the spiritually dead people—those uninterested in following Jesus bury the dead.

I hate to break the news to you but if you are dead there is no second chance.

Nathan spoke last Wednesday night on making that choice to follow Jesus.

Scripture says every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.

The question is will you do it on this side of eternity or when its too late?

That’s why Jesus says “But you go and proclaim the Kingdom of God!”

Jesus preached “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

The Kingdom was at hand 2000 years ago and it is still at hand today.

Application: Expose Your Convenience “But”

• So examine your priorities.  Are there obligations or goals you use to justify delaying obedience?

• Beware of the myth of later because convenience rarely arrives.  

If we wait until life feels convenient, we will never go on a mission trip, share the gospel, or volunteer to serve.

Joe McClure told me something he heard a few weeks ago. “Hell is full of good men who were going to do it tomorrow”

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6 For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.

Choose urgency.  “Are we ready to follow Him with no excuses?

No waiting for something else to take priority?”

The kingdom isn’t a leisurely stroll; it’s a rescue mission.

I signed up for a gym membership at the Rec Center last year with all the intentions to go workout at least four days a week.

I did good for a few months, BUT, by month three I got busy every time it was gym day or I wanted to sleep in.

I might as well be working out in my dreams.

Just like my gym membership, following Jesus requires active participation rather than just dreaming about it.

The Third “But” I want to talk about is Compromise and Divided Loyalty. (Luke 9:61‑62)

The third would‑be disciple seems more reasonable: “I will follow You, Lord, but first let me say good‑bye to my family.”  

He also had a first in his life that seems legitimate but there is a good lesson here to.

Jesus answers with this image of a man plowing a field: “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”  

Farmers in Jesus’ day used oxen to plow straight furrows; if the plowman looked back, the row would become crooked. 

I was in Illinois a few years ago deer hunting and it is beautiful farm land as far as you can see.

They have these huge tractors that are mind blowing how big they are and the attachments to disc the fields are massive.

Unlike the oxen and single plow they used 2000 years ago these tractors are impressive and have a GPS that guides them across the fields.

They can sometimes plow and plant at the same time.

The GPS uses satellites above the earth to keep these tractors on a straight line and separate the rows perfectly.

We, have God’s Positioning System living inside us “Gods Holy Spirit”.

God sees the beginning, the middle and the end of the field and calls us to trust Him by looking forward.

Jesus calls us to complete and undistracted devotion; looking back to our past mistakes, our old habits and the life Jesus calls us to leave behind will cause us to loose connection with the satellite and veer off course.

I was off course for many years and I don't ever want to take my eyes off the One who set me free!

This man’s “but” reveals compromise.  

The man made the decision and started following Jesus but still wants to cling to old attachments.  

In 1 Kings 19 Elijah finds Elisha plowing in the filed and throws his cloak over Elisha’s back.

This was the beginning of Elisha’s calling but Elisha asked Elijah for permission to say good‑bye to his parents.

Elisha ran to the filed and burned his plow, cooked the oxen and never looked back after saying goodbye to his parents.

Elisha burned his ties to his past. He burned his back up plan.

As Dillian preached a few weeks ago “Burn the Ships”

Philippians 3:13–14 “Brothers and Sisters, 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.”

Elisha butchered his oxen and burned his plow, symbolizing no return.  

What symbolic plow might you need to burn—a past addiction, a secret sin, or a backup plan that keeps you from fully trusting Jesus?

I encourage you to stay focused, don’t look back. Stay connected to our Holy satellite.

We’ve identified three big “buts” in the text; comfort, convenience and compromise; that hinder wholehearted discipleship.  

Now let’s look at the most powerful “but” in Scripture: “But God.”  

Paul writes, in Ephesians 2:4–5 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.

These two words could be considered the most important words in the Bible. 

 The word “but” indicates a change of direction; we were headed toward death and judgment, but God intervened.

God’s “but” represents His sovereign grace stepping into our hopelessness and turning it around .

This phrase “but God” appears all throughout Scripture:

Genesis 8:1 But God remembered Noah during the flood

Genesis 50:20 is one of my favorite scriptures.

Joseph told his brothers, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good”

Acts 3:15

Peter proclaimed, “You killed the Author of life, but God raised Him from the dead” Amen!!! We serve a risen Savior!!

In each scripture, human sin, disaster or despair is met with divine intervention.  

The gospel begins with our spiritual death...... but God—rich in mercy—makes us alive in Christ.  

We don’t have the power to save ourselves; it is entirely God’s work.

There is a reason I brought this scripture up tonight when talking about our failures and excuses!

Because the cure to our “buts” is to remember what God has done in spite of our but’s.  

When God calls us we say (And I am guilty of this); “But God, I’ve done too much wrong,”

Gods word says, “But God, being rich in mercy, forgave you.”  

When we say, “But I’m not qualified,” God says, “I will equip you with all you need for doing My will.”  

We say “But I’m afraid”—“But God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

When we protest, “But I can’t go talk to that person about you,” God reminds us that He sent His Son on the greatest mission trip ever—to leave Heaven’s comfort, embrace inconvenience, and save us.  

The cross shows that God overcame every obstacle to rescue us; our excuses are nothing in comparison.

Here is my encouragement to you; Turn your “But” into “But God” and Trust Him!

When God led the Israelites out of Egypt they saw all the miracles He worked.

They witnessed the ten plagues.

They took the lamb, ate it and covered their door post.

They plundered the Egyptians, even some of the Egyptians wanted to go with them after they see who the real God was.

They set off walking with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day and made it to the red sea.

They look back and see the Egyptian army behind them and the ultimate Baptism in front of them, the red sea and what did they do!

They doubted and were overtaken with fear.

After all the miracles!!!

We should have stayed in Egypt and died there at least we had graves in Egypt!

But GOD!!!!

God parted the water and destroyed the enemy!!!

They journeyed for a couple days and the whole congregation of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin.

They were hungry so God provided manna, they were thirsty so God provided water.

Everything they needed God provided!!!

Listen to me!!

Everything you will ever need God will provide!!

Trust Him!

Choose this day whom you will serve!

I choose to serve the God who provides all my needs and will never leave me!

He loves you so much and He wants to change your life!!

Will you let Him!

Prayer!