I Will Follow Jesus...Conditionally

I Will Follow Jesus Conditionally Luke 9:57-62

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

11:35 AM

The Bible is very clear, if we are going to make it to heaven we are going to have to follow Jesus. Jesus himself, said in Luke 14:27 "And whoseover doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple."

Those are some strong words, but they are true words.

There is something about Human nature that may want to follow Jesus but on their own terms. We find Jesus addressing this on several occasions that I want to with the Lord's help deal with this morning.

Following Jesus requires:

No ConditionsOne lesson we must learn about being a disciple of Christ is that there is no bargaining with God. Look at verse 61: And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but….We do not set the conditions of the agreement if we are going to follow Jesus. This seems to be what happened to the rich young ruler who came to Jesus in Luke 18Luke 18:18-24 (KJV)

18 And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.

21 And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

24 And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

The rich young ruler wanted to follow Jesus but not depend on him - He wanted to depend on his riches (His faith was in the wrong place)The rich young ruler did not want to leave, he really wanted to follow Jesus but on his own conditions.

In our scripture reading we are hit head on with the stark reality that we do not follow Jesus conditionally - Verses 57-58

57 And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

We are not told whether or not this certain man followed Jesus or not, we are left to surmise that he did not, because he wanted to follow Jesus as long as he had a nice place to sleep at night.

How about us? Do we place conditions upon being a Jesus follower? I will follow Jesus only if I get this or have that, or am sure of not being thought of as crazy, or fanatic, or whatever other ideas are going through your mind at the moment.

We get so used to negotiating in our Jobs, purchases, life in general, but there is no conditions we make upon God in order to follow him.

Jesus did not try to stop the rich young ruler, he didn't run after him, he didn't change his mind, or come back with a counter offer.

He looked on with tears streaming down his face, and made the statement, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!"

We are reminded of this truth again in verse 58-60 59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 60 † Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.Now this passage gives me hope - hope that the young man who was called by Jesus, did go and follow Jesus. This verse sounds almost harsh - but we find an interesting situation here - this young man wanted to wait around the house until his parents passed away and then go and preach. Jesus said - it doesn't work that way - you must come follow me now.

Again we see this in the last scenario of this passage in verses 61-62

61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. 62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. It wasn't that Jesus was saying - you can't go give your Mom and Dad a hug goodbye - it seems this man wanted to go ask everyone if this was a good idea or not - and Jesus says, if you are going to follow me, you are going to have to set your face like a flint - no matter the opinions of others. You will have to follow me without conditions. You will sign the blank contract - you will say Yes to Jesus

No Compromise (With self or sin)

Luke 14:27 (KJV)

27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:33 (KJV)

33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

No Competition

Luke 14:26 is another example of this -

Luke 14:26 (KJV)

26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Sometimes we sing in church with our lips:

Anywhere, Anywhere Fear I shall not know Anywhere with Jesus I shall safely go.

But I think our hearts and lives are really screaming:

Maybe here, maybe there

Fear shall have control

Perhaps somewhere with Jesus I will nervously go.

God holds out before us the greatest opportunity in the world, we just must accept whatever it is, with not conditions -

Jim Elliot the missionary martyr from back in the fifties found this out. He wrote:

I have found that the most extravagant dreams of boyhood have not surpassed the great experience of being in the will of God, and I believe that nothing could be better.

Jim Elliot

1001 Quotes, Illustrations, and Humorous Stories: For Preachers, Teachers, and Writers.

How about you this morning?

Are you making conditions to follow Jesus?

Are you trying to compromise your walk with Jesus

Are you causing your walk with Jesus to compete with other things?

You will never be completely satisfied, or content until you go all out for God.

If that means selling all you have

Going now instead of waiting till a better time

Not waiting to ask opinions hoping someone will talk you out of it

God had a reason for putting this on my heart this morning - there is someone here who needed to hear this truth -

Please don't reject it.

What are you going to do about it? The choice is in your hands, the ball in your court.

You can follow Jesus fully

Or walk away sorrowfully this morning!!!

I want every head bowed, every eye closed - no one looking around a serious moment of decision lets respect that

Has God spoken to you about something this morning? Is he calling you or put a desire in your heart to follow Him? Just quietly raise your hand saying "Pastor God is talking to me, please pray for me"

I won't embarrass you I'm not going to make you come to the altar unless you want to, we will gladly pray with you.

Pray!!!