Fully Devoted Followers

Knowing your purpose gives direction in life.

We believe that our purpose is to Give God Glory and Enjoy Him forever.

We believe that this is more important than everything else.

How will that purpose translate into our life this week. How does it look to Give God Glory and Enjoy him forever?

At our church, we use the following phrase as a guide for everything else we do.

Introduce People to Jesus and Together Become Fully Devoted Followers

Let me connect the dots.

If our chief goal is to give God glory we need a way to do that. We can’t give glory on our own strength, we’ll never have this enjoyment left to our own resources.

The problem is sin. Sin has absolutley and terribly seperated people from God. We cannot do what is most important because of sin.

God loves us. He hates what sin does to us. And he wants for people to have abundant eternal life.

And so Jesus has come to make that possible. He dealt with sin once for all time on the cross. Because of Jesus sacrifice, his life in place of ours, we can come to him and be forgiven of sin.

Because of Jesus we can live lives that Glorify God and Enjoy him forever.

And so, that it is why it is so important to our church that we Introduce people to Jesus and Together become fully devoted followers.

Jesus is the only way to God. There is no other name by which we can be saved. God help us to introduce people to Jesus and his saving power.

We can use the phrases “Fully Devoted Followers” and “Disciples” interchangeably. Although they both give us differnt angles on what it means to be a Christian.

A Disciple follows their teacher in order to learn.

ex: People who are training to become doctors are admitted into a residency program. They go to the hospital, to be with doctors, that they will learn from. They observe, they ask questions, and they are given many oppertunities to put into practice what they have been taught.

ex: People who are training to become electricians are called apprentices. They work with a Master Electrician, and each year that they are with him they aquire more skill, until one day they are the master electrician.

When we think about being a disciple of Jesus, we are talking about learning what Jesus taught so that we can live what Jesus taught.

It is a process that invlolves growing in different skills, growing in knowledge, and growing in our heart attitudes and perspectives.

While none of us would ever say that we have fully arrived, and are “Master Christians”, we can all aim to become mature disciples.

We recognize that being a disciple of Jesus takes encourament and help form others. And so we encourage everyone to be a part of a small group of people who will provide this encouragment to you. Who will challenge you and who will help you to learn and live out the life of Christian.

The phrase that we are focussing on today is “Fully Devoted Followers”.

Jesus made it clear, that following him was exclusively for those who would be fully devoted followers.

Luke 9 Context

There is a lot of ground that happens in Luke 9. We are studying verses 57-62. What happens in the first portion?

Power and Authority are given from Jesus to his 12 apostles. They go from town to town proclaiming the good news and healing everyone. Luke 9:1-2

King Herod becomes very interested in who Jesus is, he want’s to meet Jesus. Luke 9:7-9

The apostles return from their trip with reports of God’s work. Luke 9:10

A crowd of 5000 people are fed miraculously by Jesus. Luke 9:12-17

Peter has a revelation from God, answering that Jesus is “God’s Messiah”. Luke 9:20

Jesus explains that he must suffer many things, by rejected by Jewish authorietes, be killed and raised the third day. Luke 9:21-23

Peter, James & John accompany Jesus up a mountain, where he is transfigured before their eyes. The glory of God shines all around Jesus and Moses and Elijah appear with him, speaking of his death. Luke 9:28-36

On their return there is a boy who is having violent seizures, the disciples who are there are unable to heal him. But Jesus heals the boy. Everyone is astonished at the greatness of God. Luke 9:37-45

Jesus tells them again that he is going to be betrayed, but the disciples don’t understand and are too afraid to ask what is going on. Luke 9:43-45

An argument breaks out about which one of the disciples is the greatest. Jesus teaches that whoever is least amoung you — this one is great Luke 9:46-48

Jesus, who is very much aware of the time and the season, knows that it is time to make his last trip to Jerusalem. The trip where he will utlimatly be killed, and raised back to life. Luke 9:51-56

And that brings us to our passage for today. In this passage we are going to learn what it means to be a “fully devoted follower” of Jesus.

Luke 9:57 HCSB

57 As they were traveling on the road someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go!”

Look at that sentance. It starts off with,

As they were traveling on the road...

This is the road to Jerusalem and this is the last time Jesus travels it on the way to his death. Time is important in this passage. They are headed their for a reason. God’s eternal timeline is in play.

Who is the “they” that is mentioned. It is a group of disciples travelling with Jesus. This group is much larger than the 12 disciples that we know by name. There are also many who are disciples in the sense that they want to learn from Jesus and they are willing to travel with Jesus in order to do that. These have left their homes, they are on the road. The three people that Jesus is about to have conversations with, are people who are already travelling with him on the road.

Somone, we don’t know his name, says, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

What a great sentiment. Many of us have that same desire. We say to Jesus,

Where You go, I'll go Where You stay, I'll stay When You move, I'll move I will follow You

- Chris Tomlin / Jason Ingram / Ruben Morgan “I Will Follow”

But what does Jesus say to that beautiful statement?

Luke 9:58 HCSB

58 Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”

What does it mean that Jesus is God’s Messiah? Does it mean that his followers gain security. Does following Jesus mean that now you’ve got it made? By saying, “I will follow You”, are your problems over.

ALthough that sounds nice, its not what’s best for us.

That’s not what God the Father had for his own son. If Jesus is King of Kings, you think he would have had it made on the earth. No problems. But what’s he saying,

Foxes have place for safety at night. Birds don’t have to fly all the time, they can find safety in their nests. But I don’t have that.

And we can see from the context of Luke 9 that Jesus is heade towards death. Is the one who is saying “I Will Follow You anwhere” able to follow Jesus to the cross?

When we say yes to Jesus, we sometimes do an equation where we think he owes us. And that shows up when bad things happen.

Sickness that we didn’t see coming.

Unexpected Unemployment.

A really hard season in life.

Small things that feel like big things.

It changes our lives, and if our minds aren’t in a healthy place we acuse God of breaking is part of the deal.

It’s not fair. We deserve better.

Following Jesus does not obligate God to make our lives easy and without hardship.

Jesus, the one who we are following, had no place to lay his head. Why do we think that we deserve security. Jesus went to the cross, why do we think that we deserve health?

The amazing thing is that so often he does bless us with these things. But we see that our following of Jesus is following him no matter what.

Before you declare, “I’ll follow you anyhwere”, first count the cost. First surrender all of your dreams and goals to Jesus. Because following him only guarantees that you will get Jesus. And that is why we follow him, because he is the one that we want.

Luke 9:59 HCSB

59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” “Lord,” he said, “first let me go bury my father.”

See the fifth word, “another”. This is another person who was travelling as a disciple. But was he a fully devoted follower? How does he respond to Jesus call to follow?

Lord, first let me...

When we read the Bible we have to remember that we are reading it through the lens of our culture. But it was a different culture that originally recieved the Gospel of Luke.

In our culture, if someone asks to bury their father, its because their father has just passed away and a funeral is being planned. That’s how I originally read this verse. It sounds like a reasonable request. So, I did a little research to see what the 1st Century Jewish Culture was like to help me better understand the passage. Here are three different insights.

The phrase, “I must bury my father” was a common figure of speech meaning, “Let me wait until I receive my inheritance.”

-John MacArthur (MacArther Study Bible

That’s a different take. I have less empathy for this request if its just a request to wait around for money instead of one to plan an iminent funeral.

Another perspective is offered by Alberto S Valdes (Grace New Testament Commentary)

to allow him to transfer the boones of his father from a tomb to an ossuary after about a one-year period of decomposition.

This option would be socially advantageous for the man. Those in his community would admire him, he would gain standing.

In the first option, its an indefinate wait for the sake of an inheritance.

In the second, its a year long wait for social standing.

Timothy Keller offers a third perspective. (The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive)

“When I am asbolutely sure that following you will not alienate my father, I’ll be happy to come.”

What if the man’s father wasn’t a fan of Jesus. Would following Jesus mean that the man would lose the love and respect of his father? Maybe he would put off following until his father could no longer be dissapointed in him.

The law in those days stated that if the man’s father was on death’s doorstep, the son would be obligated to be with him. The fact that he is with Jesus, traveling with him down the road, indicates that his dad was not close to death. There is something else going on.

Lord, let me first...

What religous reasons do we give. Lord, I’d follow you, but first i need to...

Think about what reason you might give. If you are comfortable, share it with the person beside you.

How does Jesus respond?

Luke 9:60 HCSB

60 But He told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.”

We know that physically, its impossible for the dead to bury the dead. Some of taken the phrase to mean that the spiritually dead should have the task.

The context shows me that Jesus is making a strong point here about priority.

If Jesus says to you,

Follow Me

that call to follow must recieve the upmost priority in your life.

Sure, there are things that will come to your mind to push that call off. But we can’t use any reason to excuse us from following Christ, because quite simply, Jesus demands all.

Jesus is not being insestive to that man, and he is not being insensitive to you either. In fact, no one loves you more than God.

This is a call to abundant life. But if you aren’t willing to lay down everything for God, then whatever you are holding on to will be what is standing between you and Jesus. It is love that calls for us to be “fully devoted followers”.

Let the Dead Bury their own Dead

is not a command to neglect our families, and our responsbilities. But it is a command to not use responsbility and obbligations as reasons to put off following Jesus.

Remember, that the one that Jesus speaks to in Luke 9 is travelling ont he road with him. In our context, we might say, its somebody who is going to church with us. Somebody who has seen God at work, somebody who has sung the songs. And somebody who is not yet a fully devoted follower. There is something that they want to do first, before they commit.

Jesus says to that one what he says to all who will be his disciples

Luke 9:60 HCSB

60 But He told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.”

Spread the news of the Kingdom of God. Tell what Jesus has done.

Are we fully devoted followers? If yes, then spread the news of the Kingdom of God. Preach it to your self daily, practice living out the gospel, and spread the news.

Luke 9:61–62 HCSB

61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord, but first let me go and say good-bye to those at my house.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Doesn’t seem so bad to me. He just wants to go home and say goodbye. This guy doesn’t have a cell phone that he can explain where he is. Maybe it makes sense for him to be able to go and do that.

But the context is what really pulls this one into focus.

Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem. He is going there to die. There is no time to spare. If this fellow wants to go all the way home and back again, he’s going to miss everything. Jesus needs his followers in that moment, on that road, now, not in two weeks when he returns. Its urgent.

Jesus compares the man to an unworthy farmer.

No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.

I want to be fit for the Kingdom, and I’m not too concerned about plowing. So what can I learn here?

Back in those days, you held the plow in one hand an a long stick called a goad in the other. You had an ox pulling the plow, you used the goad to poke the ox when it stopped going, and you used your other hand to steer.

So you tell me, if I’m trying to plow straight rows but am also looking back over my shoulder, how straight are the lines going to be?

Would you hire a worker for your farm that plowed lines that went all over the place.

The only way to plow a straight line is to keep your eyes fixed on a point in the distance, and go straight towards it. Take your eyes off of that point, and you begin to drift.

The man wanted to go home, and say goodbye. But the time of Jesus death was iminent. He needed people with focus, people who could be in the moment and not off thinking about other things.

I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back

What does Jesus ask of us today? How do those questions look.

We see that Jesus is very demanding. He makes no allowance for his followers to have competing allegiences and priorities.

When Jesus says to you, “Follow Me” how do you respond?

Security.

The first one who offered to follow Jesus did so without counting the costs. But Jesus reminded him that the Son of Man had no place to lay his head. Nothing on this world had a hold on Jesus. THere is no earthly security for Christ’s followers. You have Jesus, and that is enough.

Do you long for safety? We all do at some degree. But Jesus calls us to give up security so that we can fully follow.

Top Priority

The second said, “I will follow you, but first let me...”

He had other competing allegiences. He had counted the cost, and he wanted Jesus after he had attended to other proriets.

The call to follow Jesus takes priority over all other calls in life.

What has a hold on you? WHat is more important to you than Jesus. Ask for help to see him as your highest value, your King and your God.

Fully Devoted

No one who puts their hand to plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.

Sometimes I shop at Costco. There are two types of shoppers. There are those who want to see everything in the store. They are in no rush. The slowly criss cross from aisle to aisle, enjoying the activity. THey are buying all sorts of things they never even knew they needed before they arrived.

The other type is focussed on getting in and getting out. They know what they want, and they go for it.

There are a lot of things to look at enjoy in our world. A lot of good things. A lot of things that really just add up to entertaining distractions.

But we don’t have time to criss cross through life from distraction to distraction. Putting all sorts of things into our life that we never intended, and possibly missing out on our purpose in life.

So fix your gaze on Jesus and his Kingdom. Spread the good news. So many things want to compete for your focus, and it takes real effort to be a fully devoted follower.

Discipleship & Fully Devoted Followers

This is why in order to be fully devoted followers of Jesus, we need to be in a discipleship process. We need the encouragment that we get from others. We need the perspective, the focus, the prayers. We need to allow other people into all the parts of our lives, so that they can help us and challenge us to be devoted in every way.

We were created by God so that we could glorify God and enjoy him forever. This happens through disicpleship. This happens as we are fully devoted followers. This happens a we introduce others to Jesus.

Jesus says it so well,

Luke 9:23–24 HCSB

23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will save it.

There are a lot of amazing things to enjoy in this world. THere are a lot of terrible things in this world that promise you good and bring death. But no good thing or evil thing should be allowed in any of our lives to distract us from the call to be Fully Devoted Followers of Christ.