TOPIC:“Living For Christ By Fractions”
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
TEXT:St. Luke 9:57-62
“And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (9:62)
In the Bible verses before us Jesus sets forth the cost of following Him. Three distinct individuals are mentioned as wanting to become followers of our Lord. The first man, an impulsive scribe, was willing immediately to follow Jesus. He thought that such a relationship would be popular, easy and delightful. It seems he was seeking fame by following such a popular teacher and miracle worker as Jesus. But our Lord showed him that it would mean hardship, poverty, self-denial, and perhaps, a cross.
Listen to what Christ said to him about the hardship of following Him: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20, NKJV). There you have homelessness. No place to rest His body and relax His feet. F. Godet, in his commentary on St. Luke's Gospel, writes: “Night by night Jesus received from the hand of his Father, a resting place, which He knew not in the morning; the beasts were better off in respect of comfort.” What insecurity! Here Jesus is letting this man know that this would be no easy assignment for the faint hearted.
The second man seemed eager to follow Jesus, but he wanted permission to go home to bury his dying father. It was probably a poor excuse in order for him to receive his inheritance from his father's estate. I want you to notice the stern reply of our Lord to this man: “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead” (Matthew 8:22). Now here Jesus wanted this man to realize that following Him carried with it the highest priority. He was asking for a radical commitment. No matter how close our relationship is with another or how sacred the service one renders, loyalty to Christ must come first.
But for this message I want us to look at the third man who desired to follow Jesus and what our Master had to say to him. Three things stand out. Let me mention them.
I.
The first thing that I want you to think about from our text is this: A DIVIDED SURRENDER. We read about it in verse 61: “And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, who are at home at my place.” The New Living Translation is even clearer: “Another said, Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.”
The problem with the man we are now dealing with is that he wanted to follow Jesus, but . . .