Complete Devotion

It would seem that Jesus needed a marketing consultant. (This isn’t the way to get more volunteers and recruits.)

(Bob Deffinbaugh) “It looks to us as though Jesus does not want volunteers at all, as though He is trying to drive people off, rather than to “attract” followers. … Do you notice that Jesus is not nearly as eager to attract or to accept followers as we are?”

Jesus isn’t attracting followers for the sake of having a large following. He’s after something different.

And Jesus sometimes uses shock value to make his point. But that is not to say that he doesn’t mean it. In fact, he definitely does.

These 3 examples then serve as warnings: Discipleship takes greater commitment than many think. Following Jesus has greater reward but higher cost than most are willing to pay. - What we find with these 3 would-be disciples, 3 volunteers, 3 enlisters, is that each one betrays implied limits to their commitment. The question becomes one of divided loyalty, a lack of total commitment, which should cause us to ask what things are we inclined to love more than Christ. This divided loyalty is more serious than we seem to think. Loving, pursuing, worshiping something more than God, more than Jesus, is called idolatry.

In complete devotion to Jesus, there is no place for idolatry of any kind. Idolatry is undoubtedly more pervasive than we realize.

Paul Tripp: “Remember the biblical principle of idolatry: desire for a good thing becomes a bad thing when that desire becomes a ruling thing.”

Deffinbaugh “Anything that competes with Christ for our loyalty must be forsaken as an idol.”

Only Jesus (God) is worthy of your wholehearted worship and complete devotion (total commitment). That means we must be measuring all other values in life and bringing them into submission under this first priority—following Jesus.

The first scenario is one where a would-be disciple says that he’ll follow Jesus wherever/whenever he goes. It’s a pretty bold statement of unconditional commitment. - Is this verbal expression of devotion exaggerated?

Saying it is one thing. Doing it is quite another. - The difference is between commitment that is total or casual, between mere interest or full commitment — Ask yourself: Is following Jesus (being his disciple) an important aspect of your life or the single most important focus through which all other commitments funnel and filter?

Following Jesus is a commitment that supersedes earthly comfort & acceptance. (vv. 57-58)

In the broad context of the culture and situation, these people are coming to Jesus to be his “students,” particularly someone like this who is volunteering to be his disciple. (In Matthew this is a scribe [probably a young one] who comes up and says this, addressing Jesus as “teacher.”) Jesus clarifies that those who follow him must be more than mere students. - Jesus is more than a good example and a wise teacher. He is the way, the truth, and the life.

Consequently, Christ indicates quite emphatically that following him is more than lip service. Using a couple of images from the animal kingdom, he shows us that we may even be asked to forsake our earthly homes.

Why didn’t Jesus have a home? Two reasons: Itinerant (mobile) ministry, and rejection (alienation from this world). - Jesus didn’t even have an RV. He and his crew were dependent on the hospitality of others. But what just happened in one Samaritan village (v. 53)?

Of course, it isn’t a sin to have a home. But what would be sin is idolizing my home. I want to be a good steward and a good testimony with my home (something I specifically explain to my daughters when working hard to take care of things), but I certainly don’t want to idolize it. I don’t want it to consume my heart and my mind. Kept in its proper place, a home is a place for us to have shelter and minister to others.

(Deffinbaugh) “This man’s focus is on where he would be willing to go; Jesus’ focus is on what one is willing to leave behind in order to go. Following Jesus requires leaving; specifically, it requires leaving home.” - It’s as if Jesus is saying… When the romance and adventure of following me wears off, will you still imitate me in every aspect of life and ministry? Will you still make the hard sacrifice to have no “home” on this earth? Jesus asks: When the world rejects you, will you still savor my love and serve me in suffering?

(Steve Cole) “Jesus wasn’t a dishonest recruiter. He wants us to know up front that He is enlisting us in warfare against the powers of darkness, and that warfare is often difficult. If we’re looking for a program where our personal comfort is paramount, we should look elsewhere. Following Jesus must be more important than our personal comfort.”

Being in a state of comfort is not sin; loving that comfort more than Christ is. - Jesus undoubtedly at times was well fed and rested, content and comfortable. But you can tell from his compassionate ministry that such was far from being an end in itself. - Some of you might live by the motto, “I’ll sleep/rest when I die.” As good stewards of our bodies and minds, we need rhythms of rest. But some of us idolize it, bordering on laziness.

Only Jesus is worthy of your complete devotion. Home and safety, comfort and acceptance, must take a back seat to our total commitment to Christ.

Jesus hits us where it hurts, and its close to home. The truth of that pun becomes increasingly more evident as we continue with the two remaining responses from Jesus:

Following Jesus is a commitment that supersedes and encompasses all responsibilities, and all relationships. Look again at vv. 59&60.

Following Jesus is a commitment that supersedes and encompasses all responsibilities. (vv. 59-60)

(even good ones, like familial obligations)

In this middle case of a would-be disciple, it is Jesus who calls. His response sounds something like, “I will commit as soon as I finish this one last (important) thing.” (when, if, after - sometime and in some way, just not immediately)

Now, notice that this and the next response are based in good things that therefore sound like good reasons. (And under most circumstances, they probably are.) - I’m convinced that Jesus attacks (with his responses) such things that sound so good and reasonable precisely to make the point: Christ is worthy of nothing less than complete devotion. (These are good, but what is best?)

Jesus’ response includes a pun of his own: “leave the dead to bury their own dead” - The first dead is reference to the spiritually dead and the second of course the one who actually dies physically as well. What is Jesus saying?

An unbeliever can handle the burial just as well as any believer (oversee preparing the body, securing the spot, putting the dead body in, and covering it up). Let the unbeliever take care of it. (Don’t be distracted from the point and assume here that Jesus is saying believers should never be involved in funerals and such.)

What point does Jesus make?

Don’t let even this important duty be an excuse to not follow me immediately and totally. What Jesus suggests would sound shocking, but perhaps less shocking than we imagine, removed from the context. This man’s father has almost certainly not just died. “Family members would not be outside talking with rabbis during the mourning period, the week immediately following the death. The initial burial took place shortly after a person’s decease, and would have already occurred by the time this man would be speaking with Jesus. But a year after the first burial, after the flesh had rotted off the bones, the son would return to rebury the bones in a special box in a slot in the tomb wall. Thus the son here could be asking for as much as a year’s delay.” -Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Lk 9:59–60.

Jesus is saying that there are more important things even than honoring the dead. “Go and proclaim” the gospel, “the kingdom of God.” That is in fact what we ought to use funerals for!

Again, the dramatic emphasis is the point: *IF* I had to choose between burying my father or following Jesus, which should I clearly choose? (based upon eternal value) “The former does nothing that others who are spiritually dead cannot do; the latter proclaims a message by which men can escape the bonds of death and receive the gift of eternal life.” (Deffinbaugh) Eternal life extends beyond the grave. Following me, belonging to me, learning to proclaim my kingdom, has eternal value which supersedes even the grave.

Look, there’s no way on earth that Jesus is telling us to be irresponsible about earthly duties.

Even in the context given, in which caring for a deceased parent was considered an important duty in Jewish life, it is Jesus himself who so clearly demonstrates the importance of upholding the command to honor our parents, even or particularly when they are elderly. In Matthew 15:1-9 he unveils the hypocrisy of the Pharisees for refusing to financially care for their aged parents with the lame excuse that the money is going instead toward God’s work.

Jesus himself made sure, even as he hung on a cross, that his aging mother would be cared for by the unnamed “disciple whom he loved,” whom we believe to be John. (John 19:26-27)

Elsewhere in the Bible, of which Jesus is the primary figure and fulfillment, further states the seriousness of familial obligation. This comes in the specific context of having a widow in the family:

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

A second line of biblical reasoning confirms that Jesus isn’t haphazardly throwing out necessary responsibilities. The Bible teaches us to be good stewards (good managers) of what God has given:

1 Peter 4:10–11 ESV

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

The principle of being a good steward in God’s household applies to all our resources and responsibilities: abilities, knowledge, time, finances, and so on. Jesus isn’t telling us to neglect our parents or our other duties.

For example, during the season when God has called you to be a student, you are responsible to him to be diligent in that endeavor. In a season of life where you have small children in your household, you should devote significant time to their discipline and instruction… and as they grow older, significant effort into their spiritual depth, their ability to grow in wisdom and discernment, to see them flourish in ministry for the maturity of Christ’s church. … Again, all responsibilities that we do well to manage with utmost diligence.

What is Jesus doing then? He would have us not make excuses for our lack of immediate obedience that springs from complete devotion to him first and foremost. “Here (as in 14:25–26) Jesus insists that following him must take precedence over every other relationship and obligation. This does not imply that Jesus’ followers can never care for their family obligations, but when they do, it must be out of obedience to Jesus, not instead of obedience to Jesus.” -The ESV Study Bible

ONLY Jesus deserves first priority, your complete worship and devotion. Other responsibilities must submit to this singular focus: to know and grow in Jesus, and to make him known—“go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

So it is also the case with the 3rd man, who professes a desire to say goodbye to his family. And on the surface this appears so minor, one would think it’s not big deal for Jesus to grant the request. — “Well, sure, are we talking a thirty minute delay... one day, or what?”

But no, instead Jesus gives him an answer that indicates it would be wrong in this case for him to do so. Again, we are perhaps led to believe that Jesus tells him this because he knows his heart. And he, like we, needs to learn that…

Following Jesus is a commitment that supersedes and encompasses all relationships. (vv. 61-62)

(even our closest ones)

Jesus makes this clear with his illustration, that devotion to him must come first and be constant.

“If you want to plow a straight furrow, you must keep the plow lined up by fixing on some object ahead, and aiming toward it. Anyone who tries to plow while looking backward is in trouble. It would be similar to attempting to drive while looking only at the rear view mirror.” (Deffinbaugh)

And Jesus is indeed being deliberately dramatic with this example, because his audience might likely recall a similar occurence in the O.T., with a different result. “When Elijah found Elisha plowing, he called him to follow but allowed him first to bid farewell to his family (1 Kings 19:19–21). Jesus’ call here is more radical than that of a radical prophet.” -Keener, Ibid.

It causes us to wonder: if this man goes to his family to say goodbye, would he be talked out of following Jesus? (What does Jesus know that we don’t? Does Jesus know that he has a yearning to stay home instead of following him?) - “His father might take him aside and remind him of his obligations to his family. His wife might remind him that she was pregnant, and that this was no time for reckless decisions. His mother might start sobbing uncontrollably. It was not his going back to say good-bye that was wrong; it was that doing so would keep him from following Christ.” (Deffinbaugh)

When things got tough for the Israelites after leaving Egypt, some wanted to go back. (Better than going on to the promised land?… short-sighted, focused on present comfort) - It’s when the going gets tough that our service, our sacrifice, our patience finally displays Jesus... and conforms us even more into his image.

Even with things that might seem like insignificant compromises, anything that pulls our hearts away from full commitment to Christ is a thing to avoid (like a plague).

Some of us aren’t willing to burn bridges with past life. - Burn it down. Consider a relationship connected to adultery, or to substance abuse… stop trying to save the good with the bad or whatever your excuse in your mind. Burn it down… now. Don’t linger in long goodbyes. Burn it down. Don’t look back.

Lot’s wife turned to a pillar of salt because she was determined to look back longingly at the life that was lost… when in reality God just rescued them from his wrath against the rampant sin in Sodom and Gomorrah.

Such a one is not “fit for the kingdom.” Who then is fit to be a follower of Jesus? - One who has responded to Jesus with sincere faith, a total trust that demonstrates itself in complete devotion.

In this text today, perhaps you noticed that the focus isn’t on the ultimate responses of the three individuals. Luke is silent on this so that he can emphasize Jesus’ responses to the three and put us in the place of determining how we’ll respond to the questions raised by Jesus.

Jesus isn’t selling a product. He’s offering life. And that life has a new way of living, one of total commitment.

For the Christian, all earthly endeavors must submit to this first love: complete devotion to Christ.

Such is what we have learned from these three examples of would-be followers.

I’ll follow you anywhere. — Jesus indicates that it isn’t about where (geography). It’s about complete devotion. When Jesus references no place to call home, he means that we must not be earthbound in our hearts in any way. Earthly comfort and acceptance aren’t wrong, but they aren’t priorities for Christ followers.

First let me complete my familial obligation. — Jesus must come first. The priority to advance the gospel, to proclaim the kingdom, must come even before seemingly monumental things like burying the dead. (Focus your mind on eternity, and you will quickly see that there are higher priorities than the ones you might be pursuing.)

Wouldn’t it be alright for me to look back just to say goodbye to my family? — No, leave old distractions behind entirely. (“We demonstrate our love for God, most often, when we love our family. But we must never put [even] family above God.” -Deffinbaugh)

Jesus seems to be saying: It’s either these things or it’s me. One or the other. I don’t want half-hearted disciples. I don’t want partial worship. - Nothing is inherently wrong with any of the things… unless they keep you from fully and wholeheartedly following Jesus. He isn’t ultimately suggesting that believers should have no home, no familial obligations, no familial bonds or friendships. Jesus is saying that having right priorities means that you are first willing to give up ALL these things in order toto pursue what is best, to focus on eternity and to grow in being a useful instrument for his purposes.

This applies to even good things (home, family, provision responsibility, and so on) … Love for country—called patriotism… even protection of the good things from our constitution. All these things—[slowly] family, country, business, education, ministry—all good things that can often hold a place of idolatry in our hearts.

Put Jesus first. Above the person you have strong feelings for. Above your family. Above your plans. Above your personal influence. Above your finances. Above your current or future comfort (now or in retirement). Above your education. - Jesus isn’t telling you to be foolish and forsake all prudence and wise planning. He’s saying that we have a tendency to love and worship things and people and ideals rather than God.

Only Jesus is worthy of your worship and complete devotion.

Closing Prayer

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