The Cost of Following Jesus

My name is Joshua Franco. As you guys know now, I lead the ministry, the college ministry, along with my wife, Vanessa. She’s sitting over there. As a church for about a year and a half, maybe a little bit more than that, we’ve been in a series focused on the ministry of Jesus, in which we’ve been focused on looking at encounters of Jesus with many different people in various situations. Throughout the series, we’ve been aiming to be reminded that we aren’t Jesus in these stories. Though we want to be, we’re better off learning from the people that are being spoken to, corrected, and helped because that is us. Jesus is interacting with us in that way, helping, teaching, and correcting us. The passage that we’re going to study today takes place shortly after Jesus and the 12 actually walk through Samaria, and they’ve been rejected. They’re walking through and nobody is inviting them in. Nobody is showing them any hospitality. Nobody is showing any care, even though they’ve seen what Jesus has been doing prior to that. So at this point in their journey, they’re heading towards Jerusalem and they have an understanding that we’re walking there and the goal is Jesus is going to die.

That’s the goal, He’s going to be there, He’s going to be eventually killed. He’s going to be tortured. But along the way, there are three conversations that Jesus ends up having with three different men. They’re rooted in the thought of discipleship. They’re rooted in the cost of becoming a disciple, the cost of being a student to the Messiah, and the sacrifice demanded if we want to be servants to the King of everything. We’ll read the whole portion of this passage verses then we’ll break it down. Luke 9, verses 57 to 62, that’s where we’re going to be today. So if you don’t have a Bible, it’ll be up here on the screen. But it says, As they were walking along, a man said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus replied, Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. He said to another man, Follow me. But he replied, Lord, first, let me go bury my father. Jesus said to him, Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.

Still, another said, I will follow you, Lord. But first, let me go back and say goodbye to my family. Jesus replied, No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God. Off of a first read, you can see that these are not easygoing conversations. The content of these road trip conversations are heavy, they sting. You are probably asking questions right now. They make us ask questions. But I want to encourage you not to run from these words. Rather than coding these things in something sweet to soften the blow. Jesus says these things plainly. Because if they aren’t said plainly, then there’s a good chance that you missed the weight, you missed the significance of the subject of following Christ. Then it can be twisted, it can be made into something that’s not true, and then you’re led to believe that you’re living a life praising God, a life pleasing to God, but yet you’re far from that. So rather than being sweet with the words, he’s being straightforward and plain. Rather than that being the case, Jesus finds value in making sure that it’s clear that we understand we need to prioritize him.

There’s also an account of this in Matthew 8 if you want to study that out. But in that account, Matthew actually gives titles to these men. The first gentleman is a teacher of the law who takes the initiative to let Jesus know, “Hey, I want to follow you. The second gentleman was apparently a follower, but he wanted first to go and bury his father before continuing to follow. The third man mentioned here in Luke’s account is not mentioned in the account of Matthew. Today, we’re going to be focused on the account in Luke, but I just wanted to read that and let you guys know about the Matthew 8 one. If you wanted to, after this, go and study that out, that’s for you. As I was studying this account in Luke, a commentator that I read was mentioning that Luke’s purpose in not including the titles of these men is so that everybody can read it and be able to find themselves in the story. So rather than someone saying, “Oh, well, I’m not a teacher of the law, so that’s not for me.”

Or, “Hey, I’m thinking about following Jesus, but I’m not really doing that right now, so that piece isn’t for me.” This is something that all of us can be able to glean from, to be able to take away from. In doing so, I want us to be able to try to put ourselves in these shoes. As this question is being asked, try to think for yourself, what is a way to think about that question for today within my life? The three interactions that Jesus had here today are going to serve to show us something. It’s going to serve as a reminder to the disciples, and it should inform anyone that is trying to seek or follow after Jesus that the demands of discipleship are not light. They are anything but that. You probably gathered that from just reading it from the beginning, but we’re going to dive in, even more, to be able to see more of the weight there. But rather the decision to follow Christ is the heaviest decision of any decision you can make, the heaviest. Heavier than the decision to move out, the decision of which college to go to, then your decision to change jobs and maybe move because of it, the decision to date or marry someone, or even to have a child.

It is the heaviest decision that we can make. If you’re here this morning and have made that shift in your priorities to be able to become a disciple, to follow Jesus and to put Him above everything, to devote yourself to Jesus, you know how serious the decision is and how radically it changes your life. Though many decisions in life have significant weight to them, Jesus demands an unqualified commitment from us. But as we continue to read through the scriptures, we see that He gives even more commitment to us. But let us dive in, verse 57, says, “As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus and the guys, they’re pretty much on this road trip by foot. When a man walking along the road next to them tells Jesus he will follow wherever Jesus goes. Something to note is this man approaches Jesus. This isn’t a situation where Jesus is like, Hey, you come to follow me, this man has initiative. What he proclaims sounds great. It sounds like, Hey, this man, he’s loyal. If he’s willing to go wherever and he doesn’t know too much, that sounds great.

He says he’ll go wherever Jesus goes. The interesting thing here is he probably has zero clue of what that means. He has zero clue where he’s headed. He doesn’t know if he’s going back to this town, to that town. He doesn’t know what this entails. His statement about following wherever Jesus goes sounds very comparable to Peter when Peter is like, Hey, I won’t leave you. The comments that he makes about abandoning Christ at the last supper. It’s easy to make this commitment while not knowing where Jesus is headed. He’s on his way to Jerusalem to be arrested. Do you still want to go? He is on his way to be tortured. Do you still want to be shotgun? He’s on his way to be tortured, crucified, and killed. But this man is approaching with the idea of, Wow, if I’m walking with Jesus, I got a front-row seat. He’s going to heal people, oh, that’s awesome. I’ll pay for tickets for that. I’m going to be with him while he’s like multiplying bread. I love bread. He’s going to multiply fish. He’s going to be healing people. He can heal my family. He’s going to be doing so many great miracles, and I’ll be right there.

I’ll be the 13th one right there. Of course, I want to do that. But that’s not all that encompasses Jesus’s Ministry. And rather than being excited for another member to join this group, Jesus gives some clarity to the man that’s trying to make this type of commitment. He put some bones to that discussion. In verses 57 and 58, Jesus replied, Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. The way that Christ addresses this proclamation shows that He has no interest, zero interest in a thoughtless or impulsive decision to follow Him. To make a decision this heavy, we need to first count the cost. Jesus uses wild animals and the comforts that they have to contrast the lack of comfort that comes from being a disciple of His. Remember, just before this interaction, He and the 12 were just coming from a place where they weren’t welcomed, they were rejected. They weren’t given a place to rest. They weren’t shown any kindness. They didn’t have what you may say birds have. They didn’t have what you may say the foxes have. And so Jesus saw more value in making sure this man understands that rather than letting him follow without the concept of the fact that this will cost him.

This decision will cost. He explains foxes and birds will have more comfort than you if you truly give up your life and follow me. That’s difficult. If you follow, your life will no longer be about prioritizing your own comforts, but it’ll be about prioritizing the will of God. Are you still in? This conversation reminds me of when I was about 10, maybe 13 years old. My parents had gotten a divorce and so when I would go see my dad on the weekends, every other weekend, we would go to a church. Me being there, it was interesting. I didn’t know how to participate. They would sing songs and I just felt weird. They would say, “Hey, we’re going to turn to this passage.” I had no clue where it was in the Bible. While I’m flipping through the pages, they were already done reading it and it was frustrating. But there was one Sunday that I went and the gentleman was preaching on Exodus. He’s talking about the plagues and I’m like, this sounds like a movie. Water to blood bugs eating everything. This is crazy. At that point, the gentleman was getting to the point where he was explaining, if they didn’t put blood on the doorpost, then the firstborn child would die.

Had no clue what was coming. The gentleman’s like, Hey, I want all the firstborn sons to stand up. I stand up, I’m like, Oh, I’m participating. Oh, man, this is good. He’s like, If this were to happen today, this story, you’d all be dead. I was like, What? But I had no context. I had no understanding of this. But after that, I sat down and I was terrified. I knew I wasn’t a good kid. At 10 years old, I was rough. I knew I wasn’t a good kid. For me, I’m like, If I die, if I die like this guy was saying, that’s hell for me. That’s what I think. After that, they did an altar call and they’re like, Hey, if any of you want to come up and you want to… I ran up there. They take me to a back room. A gentleman prays with me and he’s like, All right, man, I’ll see you in heaven. In my mind at 10, 11, 12, 13, whatever age I was, I’m like, That’s it? All right. Why isn’t everybody doing this? If it’s that easy, why aren’t we doing this? But then it wasn’t until years later that reading through the scriptures, someone showed me, being able to study the scriptures out, it’s not like that.

It isn’t that easy, it’s not supposed to be that way they took a 10-year-old kid and said “Go, I’m not going to tell you about the cost that it is. I’m not going to tell you about the difficulty that might come. I’m not going to tell you what that means about your priorities with your friends, with your family, with whatever, just go. Jesus doesn’t want that. Jesus doesn’t want that commitment. He doesn’t want someone to commit to Him out of just a fear of hell. He’s not interested in that. He doesn’t want somebody to commit to Him because the prospect of heaven sounds great. He’s not into that. We don’t flippantly come to Jesus and say, Well, since my family did it, I guess I’ll do it. I don’t really know what all that means, but I’ll do it because they’re doing it. We don’t, because we’re dating somebody, well, I mean, if I don’t do it, they break up with me, so I guess. That’s not the thing that Jesus is calling us to do. Hey, my life will be easier if I do this. Everything will become more positive.

That’s not what He wants people to believe because it’s not true. He says that plainly. Following Christ is a long-term commitment that comes at a cost. Wherever Christ may lead you, you go. Through whatever Christ may lead you through, you go. Whatever you may prioritize most, it is no longer even in the conversation of competition to where you’ve placed Christ. It’s not a decision to make out of pure emotion. It’s one to think deeply about. Jesus gives clarity on this all over the scriptures, but I’ll read one from a little bit earlier in Luke 9. Luke 9, verses 23 to 25, says, Then he said to them all, whoever wants to be my disciple. If you want to be, this gentleman came up to Christ-like, I’ll follow you wherever you go. He wanted it. Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it. But whoever loses their life for me will save it. Whoever wants to be a disciple of Christ, these things must be considered. You must deny living with you as the primary focus.

You must die to yourself. Give up the life that you’re trying to build to benefit just you daily and follow where Christ leads. Laying down my life to pick up the life that Jesus calls me to, allowing my dreams for my life to dissolve, to embrace the vision Christ has for me and for the Kingdom and how I can be a part of that. A cost that should be considered deeply before committing, not living for your own gain and from your own wisdom before the gain of the Kingdom and by the wisdom of Christ. This answer Jesus gave the man wanting to follow Him is not a rejection of him, though. I don’t want us to think that. It’s not a rejection of him. He’s trying to make sure he understands that there’s clarity for anyone who would want to follow and understand that cost. That way there’s no, Oh, you didn’t tell me about this. I didn’t know that this was coming. I thought it was just going to be you heal my family and then we’re good. I did a little for you. You do some for me. It’s not that. It’s you give up everything and whatever he may give you, you take and be grateful for it because he doesn’t have to give that to you.

Let’s look at this second conversation. Verse 59, says, He said to another man, Follow me. But he replied, Lord, first, let me go and bury my father. This is the first time Jesus gives that specific command, Hey, follow me. Come follow me. Since he called the 12 earlier on in Luke. This man, he might have been close enough to see the conversation that Jesus just had. He may have been close enough to hear, Oh, the commitment, the following Christ. That’s something to really think about before jumping in. The birds and foxes have it easier in some ways. Okay, let me think about that. The man he was calling says, Lord. There is an element of respect that’s there. He’s looking at Jesus and it’s not just this, I don’t really know who you are, it’s Lord. With all due respect, can I follow after I do this? As I was reading through commentaries, there were a lot of different opinions on what could have happened.

Some people think that the man’s father is still alive, so this is just an excuse that he’s making. Some people think that he just procrastinated burying his father, which is not a good thing in the Jewish faith. Some people think of other things that were interesting, and I’m not going to share them with you. But regardless of which one of those commentators were correct, Jesus has stern words for this man. It says, Jesus said to him, Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the Kingdom of God. For Jesus to tell someone not to go home and bury their father, but instead prioritize following Him and proclaim the Kingdom of God, that call to be a disciple of Christ has to be so high, so holy, and so important that it would make burying your father insignificant comparatively to following Christ. Jesus’ response puts it plainly that there is something more important than tending to the dead. The word Jesus uses here for dead is necrosed. Do you want to say that? This word properly means that someone has breathed their last, they are lifeless. But it also has a spiritual metaphoric meaning of being spiritually dead.

So referring to someone who does not recognize nor is devoted to God, spiritually dead. What Jesus is saying in his passage is a play on that word on the cross. It would read something like this, Jesus said to him, Let the spiritually dead bury their own physically dead, but you go and proclaim the Kingdom of God. The priority of proclaiming the Kingdom of God is of more importance than fulfilling cultural priorities. The work of the Kingdom is the work of life. The gospel that we proclaim, the gospel that we teach about or we share about or we explain, that’s one of life. Jesus is saying, Let those that aren’t concerned about proclaiming the Kingdom handle matters of finishing burial responsibilities. You come with me in the other 12 and handle matters about bringing about eternal life. Jesus demands an allegiance transcending even the greatest honorable obligations. Commitment to Jesus takes precedence over all commitments. Sitting here week in and week out, I believe it’s very beneficial for us to be able to learn more about the Word intellectually, but the call is to go out. Once you finish sitting here, once you finish having conversations to be encouraged, when you go out, proclaim.

The way that you live, proclaim. The way that you give, the way that you love, the way that you sacrifice, proclaim. The way that you speak, the way that you work, the way that you are in school, proclaim. The way you handle stuff with your family, proclaim. The way you are with strength, proclaim the good news about the kingdom, about God. To engage in the matters that bring about life in those that don’t live committed to God. The priority of evangelism, seeking that which is lost is high and it’s expected. It’s not a recommendation, it’s demanded to place it above things that we deem honorable. Not that we don’t handle other things that are honorable, but that there’s a priority that’s clear. It’s God first before I hang out with my brother for his birthday. It’s God first before whatever seems honorable culturally, it’s God first. Now that we’ve covered that, let’s go ahead and look at the last conversation. This is one that has probably been quoted the most. You probably know the most about it. But verse 61, says, Still another said, I will follow you, Lord.

Another bit of respect there. But first, let me go back and say goodbye to my family. This third gentleman has a request, and it seems very similar to the one that Elisha makes in 1 Kings 19. In that story, Elijah gives Elisha permission to, Hey, go ahead and take care of what you need to take care of. Come back and we’ll get on the road. We’ll get towards the mission that we have. But here we see Jesus does not grant that same permission. A commentary that I was reading was mentioning that this is possible because the Kingdom of God is here now. If you’re not going to prioritize it now, then there’s just no time to wait, it’s moving, it’s here. Seeking the Kingdom of God is the chief business of Christian life. The chief one seeking the kingdom first. Seeking to know the king, to learn from the king, to serve the king, to live a life in devotion to the King’s will. It’s a decision to give thought to the cost of it, but it’s not a decision to delay anything or for anyone.

Verse 62, Jesus replied, No one who puts his hands to the plow and looks back is fit for the service, for service in the Kingdom of God. This conversation is very similar to the one that we just unpacked, but Jesus’ response is slightly different. For farmers back in this day, once they got their ox moving and they got their plow set up, they would set up a point in the distance as a reference, and they would look at that and make sure that they were moving in that direction. Something as simple as looking back puts you off just a little bit, and then now you’ve potentially messed up your field. Now you’re not focused on the job, the task that’s at hand, and it’s just not good. Something as simple as looking over the shoulder had a negative effect that could have been avoided had there been focus. The analogy communicates that when someone decides to follow Jesus, to be a servant of His kingdom, them looking back and not focused on doing the will of God is, Jesus puts it plainly, a person that’s not fit for service in the kingdom. So some of you may be in a position where you have to hire people that would be of service to your brand or your company.

If you recognize that there are certain things like them not being focused on the goal, but more looking back, looking to the side, they’re not fit to work here. Thanks for the application, it’s not going to work here. If you’re going to work here, and I’m going to be paying you, we need to have some focus. Jesus is like, I’m God and I’m calling you to live a certain way. If there’s no focus on that, then I’m not going to force that. We’re going to keep on trying to see if other people want to do that. We’re going to see if others want that responsibility because you’re not fit for the service in the Kingdom of God. Something else became more of a priority and that’s not okay. The word phrase, “look back” refers to gazing back on things that have been abandoned in order to follow Christ. So to start following Christ, but then to get caught up in things that you left to follow Christ, you’re not fit. That’s something to address and refocus on. By now, you’ve probably noticed the theme within these conversations of Jesus demanding that we prioritize Him above all things, above it all.

Not treating following Him as a second endeavor in our lives, but Luke inspired by the Holy Spirit here demonstrates forcefully that discipleship demands a radical shift in priorities. A shift in understanding the commitment of Jesus, the commitment Jesus desires, and for us to be committed. A shift to prioritize working in the Kingdom of God, serving, evangelizing, not only relying on our intellectual belief, but actively participating in following where Jesus goes and listening to what He demands. Discipleship, demands it. The person of Jesus, His heart, His motives, His teachings, that those be first and nothing else should give competition to that positioning. He will not accept second place to anyone or anything or any responsibility. That includes anything that we would deem good or the culture would deem good. No one on earth and no situation on earth is worth prioritizing above Him and His commands, nothing. At the end of these three conversations, we don’t get clarity on where the men go. We don’t get clarity on what their decision is. We don’t see what happens after these quick conversations, these powerful conversations with Jesus. That seems very purposeful. We read these situations generally, but we also have the opportunity to self-reflect to see where are we with the way we prioritize Christ.

Would Christ say your priorities are fit for the Kingdom? It’s not a question I want you to rush to answer. It’s one that I would want you to write down and think about because this question affects how you live in the next few seconds of your life, the next few years of your life. It affects it, period. Take time to reflect. Please don’t cling to the past where you felt you were really committed. That’s still doing looking back, I used to. This is just an opportunity, a graceful opportunity for us to be able to recognize I can be more committed. I have let my priorities shift and shake things, and they’ve gotten into a range where it’s not good. It’s not fit for the kingdom. I’m grateful that that’s been addressed, help me. My friend, I recognize that my priorities aren’t really there, help me. Scriptures, do you have any? Can you help me out? Conversations, prayer. But today, how’s it going? I’m confident that we all have space to grow, all of us. I thank God for the grace displayed in letting us be reminded of this, or maybe to learn this for the first time.

But as we wrap up, I want to acknowledge again that I know that discipleship is demanding and difficult. What we talked about today is not some simple discussion, but I want you to know that the standard has not changed. The call back then is still the call today, and it hasn’t changed since the beginning of Jesus’s ministry. Do you remember when Jesus first called the disciples? Do you remember what they were doing? They were fishing, they were doing their job, and they were doing something to take care of their family. When Jesus calls them, they leave their boats, they leave their nets, and they follow. They abandon things that they prioritized to prioritize something better. Moving a little further, he saw some more men that were fishing, and he did the same thing, Come follow me. They left their nets, they left their boat, and they left their father to follow Christ. They left that behind to obey. A key component of that response, to that type of obedience, was they knew and believed who Jesus was. It’s very difficult to see, Oh, wow. Those are some wild commands. I’m not going to follow that if you don’t know him if you don’t know the heart that he has if you don’t know the motives if you don’t know the wisdom if you don’t understand or have any inclination of the person of Jesus, none of this makes sense. But for those gentlemen, those first few disciples to leave, they knew. They keep, this is the one that came to sacrifice his life. They believed that he was king and he was the savior. They recognized that this wasn’t just some friend calling. It wasn’t just their favorite uncle. It was the one who created them. It was the one whom all things were created and who all things were created for. What he would call them to would be more important than all else that would come their way. What he calls us today is more important than anything else that could come our way. My prayer is that we would grow in having the same mindset as Christ about the will of God, about the way to love others, about the way to organize our priorities, about how we go about our relationships, our goals, our time spent, that we would have the same priorities as Him. For us to grow, to embrace, being called to a higher standard that is His, called to more sacrifice, and called to growth. As you prepare for Communion, I’m going to read a passage to you guys.

I just want you to reflect on it. It’s Philippians 2, verses 5 through 11. I’ll just read it for you. It says, In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in very nature, God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant. Being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. Every tongue acknowledged that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The demand to sacrifice that Jesus gives us is heavy, but the way that he sacrificed for us was much heavier. Jesus prioritized walking in obedience to his father, his father’s will, even to the point of his death. If we are going to follow Him, we must do the same. If not, then it isn’t discipleship, it isn’t following him, it’s not following where he goes, it’s not following what he wants us to do, it’s not following what he demands. In that, I want us to reflect on our priorities. I pray that you have a great Sunday. Thank you. Let’s go to God in prayer.