LUKE 9:57-62 CHOOSE TO FOLLOW JESUS2012 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 9:57-62 Choose To Follow Jesus

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2012.

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This morning as we look at this portion, we're looking at and talking about the choice to follow Jesus. Choosing to follow Jesus. And it's something that I want to encourage you and challenge you to do today. I want you to choose to follow Jesus. Now as we consider this idea of choosing to follow Jesus, you need to understand that choosing to follow Jesus is not just a choice.

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is not a one-time, one-occasion type of thing. Choosing to follow Jesus is a daily choice.

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We saw a few verses earlier in Luke chapter 9, verse 23. Jesus says, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Jesus says, if you want to follow me, here's what you need to do. Take up your cross daily. Jesus says,

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that, well, the choice to follow him was not a, you know, one time at a harvest crusade or one time in a church service you raised your hand, you said, yes, I want to follow Jesus. It's not just a one time, one occasion type of thing, but to follow Jesus, you are going to have to make that choice daily. It's a constant choice that you and I make as believers in Jesus Christ. And so,

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And so as we look at the idea of choosing to follow Jesus, you need to understand this is a choice that you need to make today. Even though you may have chosen to follow Jesus a while back and that began your journey with the Lord.

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That continues on day by day as you choose to follow Jesus. And so we'll see three points about choosing to follow Jesus to help us to follow him as we look at Jesus's words to these three different individuals that he encounters.

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Now, on kind of a little bit of a side note, we also looked at this portion of Scripture when we were studying through chapter 8 of Luke, and we were talking about the parable of the soils, and the seed was sown on the different kinds of soil, and we saw that there were three bad kinds of soil and only one good kind of soil.

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And the three bad kinds of soil relate to the instruction that Jesus will be giving here to these three guys. We saw the seed that was sown on the path, the hard soil, and we saw how that related to a hardened heart, which we'll see today in our portion. We also saw the seed that was sown on the rocky soil.

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and how that related to a shallow heart amongst believers. And then finally, we saw the seed that was sown on the thorny soil, and that related to the person who has a divided heart. And so I'm going to hit those three things. If you want to go a little bit more in depth, then you can go back into Luke chapter 8 with the parable of the soils and look at those things once again.

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But as we begin our journey now looking at this choice to follow Jesus, we find the first point along with the first individual here in verses 57 through 58. And the first point today is follow Jesus through discomfort.

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That if you and I are to choose to follow Jesus, if we are going to make that choice, then we must choose to follow Jesus through discomfort. Let's check it out in verse 57. It says,

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We saw that last week. He began that journey to Jerusalem. He set his face towards Jerusalem. He's headed there for the last time. Now along with him are the 12 disciples. But along with those 12 disciples, there's others in the crowd that follows along with him.

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And in the midst of that crowd, there's this one guy that's pointed out here in verse 57 who basically volunteers. He stands up. He lifts his hands in the midst of the crowd. And he says, Lord, I will follow you wherever you go. He's choosing to follow Jesus. This word follow, it means to be in the same way with or to accompany Jesus.

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The idea is he was joining up with Jesus. He was linking himself to Jesus saying, I want to be where you are. I want to hear and follow your teachings. I want to walk with you and be with you as you're accomplishing the work that is set before you. And so he volunteers from the crowd. He's moved by Jesus's words.

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He's responding to the work that is taking place. He's excited about what is going on. He sees Jesus. He says, I want to be with you, Jesus. I will follow you. Now that's his heart. That's his desire. He's been prompted by this that is going on. And so it seems a little bit curious what Jesus says in verse 58. He says, and Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests.

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But the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Can you picture the scene? Here's the crowd. There's all kinds of things going on as usual. But one guy stands up, raises his hand and says, Jesus, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus says, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests.

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But the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Why is Jesus responding this way to this volunteer, to this guy who says, sign me up. I want to join up with you and be with you. Well, we learn something interesting from Matthew chapter 8, where Matthew also records this conversation that goes on.

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And in Matthew chapter 8 verse 19, Matthew points out that this man who volunteers was a scribe. He says, a certain scribe came and said, teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.

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Now the scribes in those times were, well, they were a people who were very well educated, especially in the scriptures, because their job was to copy, to record the scriptures, to maintain the scriptures that they had. And so they were experts in the law of God. They were experts in the prophets. They were experts in the scriptures that they had.

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And so the scribes, because that was their job, they became, well, kind of a high level amongst the Jewish people. They became authoritative leaders. They were high officials or advisors to the high priests. They were teachers of the law. It was a position of prominence there in that time.

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Jesus even talks about this in Mark chapter 12. He says, hey, watch out for some of the scribes because they desire to go around in long robes. They love the greetings in the marketplaces. They love the best seats in the synagogues and the best places at the feasts.

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This is kind of what the scribes would experience, this position of honor. It was something that, you know, hey, a scribe is walking through the marketplace and people would be like, oh, look, it's scribe so-and-so. And they would have these greetings in the marketplace. Oh, I'm such a fan of your work, you know. Thank you for being here. I had this question I want to ask you. There's this attention that's being paid to them. But along with that, they would get the best seats in the synagogues.

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You know, so they'd walk in and be like, oh, all right, scribe, we have the best seat reserved for you. Here you go. Or they walk into a feast. Oh, we've got the best seat for you. You know, they could walk into any restaurant and have the best table. That's the lifestyle of the scribes. And Jesus says, watch out because some of them are in it for that. They love that aspect of their job, of the ministry.

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Now that's really interesting when you understand that this is a scribe who is talking to Jesus and he says, Jesus, I want to follow you wherever you go. It makes a little bit more sense now that Jesus says, Foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Here's what Jesus is doing. He's letting the scribe know, That's great, you want to join with me? You want to follow me?

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That's wonderful. I welcome you. However, you need to understand what you're signing up for. This is not going to be anything like you're used to. This lifestyle will be completely different. If you're with me, there will be many times when you have no place to lay your head.

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You're used to getting the great welcomes in the marketplace. But when you're with me, well, there's going to be lots of rejection. In fact, we saw last week the whole town that rejected Jesus because he was on his way to Jerusalem. And that wasn't just the Samaritans. The Jewish leaders would reject Jesus as well. There were many who were against Jesus. He didn't get the best seats in the synagogue or the best seats at the feast.

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He didn't always even have somewhere to lay his head. Jesus lived in poverty, great simplicity. And so he's letting the scribe know, you're used to a certain manner of life, a certain lifestyle. And when you follow me, you're going to experience something completely different. That is, you're going to experience discomfort.

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This is what he's communicating to the scribe in that day, but it's also what he is communicating to you and I today. As we consider the choice to follow Jesus, you need to know that following Jesus will be uncomfortable. That's a guarantee. That's a promise. It will be uncomfortable. The invitation is for whoever will respond, right? Jesus said back in verse 23, we saw whoever desires to come after me.

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The invitation is for all. But you need to understand what you're getting into when you respond to that invitation. Jesus wants people to count the cost before they commit. He wants them to understand what they're enlisting in or signing up for. You know, some people today within the Christian world or the Christian mindset, they have the mentality that

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Well, what we need to do is just get people to commit to Jesus. And then later on, we'll tell them about the hard stuff, right? We just got to get them to commit. Don't scare them away with all those hard things. Let's just tell them the wonderful things, the nice things, and get them to commit. And then we can kind of ease them into the hard stuff. Well, Jesus didn't have that mentality. He didn't agree with that line of thinking. He said, no, I want you to know at the get-go, scribe,

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You're welcome to follow me. Whoever desires to come, come, follow me. But understand, it will be uncomfortable. It will not be what you're used to. He's challenging this guy regarding his heart. And he's basically saying, scribe, do you have a shallow heart? When we looked at the parable of the soils, we saw the rocky soil.

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And we learned that the rocky soil was not a bunch of little rocks within the dirt, but a big rock with a little bit of dirt on top of it. And so there's a layer of soil. And this thin layer of soil would result in quick growth, quick response. You'd sow seeds and boom, it would shoot right up. But it wouldn't last very long because then the roots would hit the rock. The roots weren't able to go deep.

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And so it was not able to be established. The soil could not sustain it. We saw that this refers to or relates to the shallow heart. The shallow heart. The person who responds quickly when the word of God is sown. They respond quickly as God speaks. But then when things get hard, when it gets difficult, when the fire gets turned up, when there's some opposition, well, then they quickly wither.

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Like the seed that is sown in that soil upon the rock. The shallow heart is when God says, do this and you do it until it gets hard or uncomfortable. And he's testing this guy. Do you have a shallow heart? Are you able to endure even when it's difficult? Even when the heat is on, are you able to endure?

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Paul told Timothy in 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 3, he said, Timothy, you must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. You must endure hardship. This is a requirement. This is a necessity. Today, I want to challenge you and encourage you to choose to follow Jesus. But I want you to know, you're going to have to endure hardship if you make this choice.

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You're going to have to experience discomfort. There's going to be opposition. Will you choose to follow Jesus in the midst of that? Or do you have a shallow heart? I would ask you this morning to consider, when has following Jesus caused you to be uncomfortable? Now there's a lot of difficulties that you and I face in life. Lots of pressures, lots of discomforts,

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For all kinds of reasons. You know, you go to the doctor's office, it's very easy to experience lots of discomfort. Or you get on the freeway and you begin to experience discomfort. You start to pay the bills. You understand what I'm saying. There's lots of things that we're not real excited about in life. But those are things that happen just in life in general. There's lots of difficulties.

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Lots of hardship that we have to face. But I would ask you to consider specifically in following Jesus, what has caused you to be uncomfortable? When are you challenged by the Lord to do things that you're not comfortable doing? When are you required by Him to endure hardship? When has following Jesus caused you to be uncomfortable? Now, I would suggest to you this morning, I think it should be regularly.

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that this happens. It should be normal for the Christian to experience discomfort because they're following Jesus, because they're obeying him. Have you ever had sleepless nights? Of course you have. You know those nights where you're up coughing, you can't sleep because you're sick, and your head's all messed up. But have you ever had sleepless nights because you're following Jesus? Because he said, hey, instead of sleeping tonight, I want you to pray.

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What? Lose sleep, Lord? That's my beauty sleep. How am I going to be beautiful tomorrow? I want you to pray. Discomfort. It's hard. Wow. Maybe he says, I want you to sacrifice your sleep and spend some time studying my word. Following Jesus. Responding to him. Doing what he's called you to do. When has it caused you to be uncomfortable? Where you've had to sacrifice because, well, he's called you to serve. And it takes away from

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Well, something you'd rather be doing. Something you're more comfortable with. Or perhaps you've experienced discomfort in following Jesus because of the persecution or the opposition that takes place. That as you stand up for righteousness, that as you are known to be a follower of Christ, that there's these attacks that come and people come against you just like they did with Jesus. And there's this rejection there now in the workplace or within the family. Have you ever experienced that?

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Rejection because you're following Jesus? Now, you can experience rejection for a lot of reasons. You can just be obnoxious and annoying and people will reject you. But as a result of your obedience to the Lord, you're following His direction, have you experienced that? How about poverty? No place to lay his head, right? Again, there's a lot of ways you can experience poverty. You can be a lousy employee and get fired. You can be lazy and not do the job that you've been given.

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You can be crazy and spend the money that you don't have. There's lots of ways to experience poverty. But have you experienced poverty because you're following Jesus? That Jesus has instructed you, give this money that I've entrusted to you in this way, and now it's cost you. Because in following Jesus, well, you don't have the resources that you're used to.

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You don't have the funds that you're accustomed to. And so, well, now there's some discomfort because he's asked you to take a step of faith, to give to someone in need, to give to a missionary perhaps or some work. Do you ever experience that kind of discomfort because you're following Jesus? How about you ever experience discomfort because you're ministering at a convalescent home called Emeritus and you're dealing with these people you're not used to dealing with?

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You'll have an opportunity to do that on Saturday. But how many times do you and I, as believers who say we love the Lord, how many times do we have the tug of the Lord on our heart, but we hold back because we don't want to be uncomfortable? It's so much easier for us to be comfortable, right?

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I picture Jesus in my life. You know, he's right outside the comfort zone saying, come on, get out of there. There's some things I have for you over here. There's some things he's called us to that are outside of our comfort zone. And I suggest to you that Jesus will be regularly calling you out of your comfort zone to be uncomfortable as you follow him. There's a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. And if you haven't read it, I would encourage you to do so.

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Francis Chan does a really good job of walking us through this idea of crazy love, which is the idea that you love God so much, well, the result is people think you're crazy. I don't mean like insane, but it's crazy how much you give of yourself. It's crazy how you live your life. It doesn't make sense to people because you are making yourself uncomfortable and

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In order to love Jesus. And to love those that he died for. Lynn has following Jesus caused you to be uncomfortable. Jesus wants you to follow him. Even if it costs you your life. Which that's foreign to us. But people around the world have to make that decision. I'm going to follow Jesus. It may very well cost me my life. But he's worth it.

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He died for me. I have salvation in him. What else can I do? I'm going to follow Jesus even if it means my death. Jesus wants you to follow him even if it costs you your life and everything up to that. Even if it costs you your comfort. Even if it costs you your job. Even if it costs you your family. Even if it costs you persecution or rejection. When has following Jesus caused you to be uncomfortable?

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Again, I would suggest it needs to be happening regularly. When you're following him, he's always going to be asking you to step outside of that comfort zone. Well, the second guy we find in verse 59 and 60, and here we have the second point, and that is we are to follow Jesus' commands. If we're to choose to follow Jesus, well, then you also need to choose to follow his commands. Look with me at verse 59. It says,

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Then he said to another, this is Jesus speaking, follow me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. Now, this guy amongst the three that we're looking at today is unique because the other two are volunteering. They're standing up and saying, I want to follow you. This guy is unique because Jesus singles him out in the crowd. He says, you right there. Yep, you in the gray shirt. You follow me.

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You follow me. Everybody's looking, who has a gray shirt on over there? You follow me. He commanded this guy to follow him. The others invited themselves. The word follow, again, it's that word that means to accompany. He's joining up with Jesus or linking himself to Jesus. That's what he's commanded to do. It's in the imperative tense. It means you have to do this. It's a direct command. You, right there, follow.

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follow me. What is the appropriate response to a direct command from Jesus? How about, yes sir, right away sir. Maybe, Lord okay, help me to be able to do what you've asked me to do. What's the appropriate response? Well, this guy did not offer the appropriate response. He said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father.

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Verse 60, Jesus said to him, let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God. So instead of saying, all right, Lord, sign me up. I'm with you.

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I will follow you. This guy says, Lord, let me first go. I like the idea. You've got some interesting points. You're on my to-do list. Unfortunately, you're not right at the top though. I've got some other things I have to take care of and then I'll get to following you. Let me first go bury my father. Now, Jesus' response to our ears as Americans today, it sounds pretty harsh, right?

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Jesus says, let the dead bury their own dead. Wow, Jesus, that's kind of mean. I mean, why are you being so insensitive? That's not like you, Lord. Well, the reason why we see it that way is because our culture is quite a bit different than the Jewish culture that they were living in in that time. We don't understand. We hear those words and we picture this guy's father is in the morgue. He's dead.

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And the guy is trying to put together a funeral service, which is hard work. It's difficult. And God, I just got to take care of this and then I'll follow you. But that's not the picture at all. That's what we understand because of what we know in our culture. But for the Jewish people, it was quite different. They would bury their dead on the day that they died. So if you died today, today's your funeral.

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No waiting for, you know, well, we got to get family in from out of town. They got to book the flights. We got to find the place and find the plot of land and work all of those details out. No, that was all prearranged. And if you were out of town, sorry, you missed it. You died today. You're buried today. That's their practice. That's their culture. And so from that, we understand as Jesus is talking to this guy, his dad is not dead. He's still alive. He's probably not even sick.

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Because again, something different than our culture, you know, what we kind of expect is kids are going to grow up, maybe around 18 years old, they're going to move out. Maybe that was the previous generation. When they get to about 30 years old, they're going to move out. We have that expectation. At some point, sometime between 18 and 30, they're going to move out. That was not the expectation for the Jewish culture.

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The sons would stay with the parents. And when the son got married, he would just build an addition onto the dad's house and bring in the bride there to this new addition that he created. They wouldn't leave. And the eldest especially was expected to take care of the parents until they died. And so it wasn't that they turned 18 and they moved out, but if they ever moved out, it would be after their parents had died.

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That was the expectation. That was the culture. That was what was normal for them. And so what this guy is saying is, look, this is what my family expects. This is what my culture does. You need to understand my culture, Lord. I can't just leave home. My responsibility is to take care of my parents until they die. And so that's what I got to do first. I can't follow you right now.

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Now let's set aside the cultural differences for a moment. Let's pretend it is the way that we picture it. And this guy's father is in the morgue. It would not make a difference. Jesus could still say the same thing. Let the dead bury their own dead. But you go and preach the kingdom of God. Because when Jesus, the creator of the heavens and the earth, says, follow me, go preach the kingdom of God. Listen, it doesn't matter what's happening.

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It doesn't matter how you feel or what you think. When the Creator commands you, you must obey. You must obey. To not obey, to not follow is to say, God, you don't understand what I understand. It's really a form of arrogance saying, God, I know what's going on better than you do. Your timing is bad. Let me instruct you on the right time for me to obey your instructions.

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That's pride. That's arrogance. Considering ourselves to know better than the Lord. No. When Jesus says, follow me, we must follow. And if you want to choose to follow Jesus, you need to choose to follow his commands. To obey him, no matter what you think about it, no matter what your culture expects of you, no matter what your family expects of you.

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Now from this guy, again, we have the reference back to the parable of the soils and the hard soil or the hardened heart. It was the soil that was the wayside where the seed was sown, but it just laid on top because the dirt was hard and then it was taken away by the birds. It represents or it relates to a hardened heart. When God says, do this, and then you refuse. And you say, no, I'm not going to do that. And you might have good reasons why.

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Well, here's how it works in my culture. Here's how it works in my family. Here's why the timing is bad. We have lots of reasons for why we refuse many times. But it's still refusing. It's still disobedience. Lord, let me first go bury my father. Is what this man said. His reason. Demonstrating his hardened heart. Why he will not obey. Now let me give you a contrast to this guy. You remember the calling of the disciples? Yes.

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You can check it out later on in Matthew chapter 4. Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee and he sees two brothers, Peter and Andrew. They're casting a net into the sea. So picture this. These two fishermen, they cast their net into the sea because they're going to catch some fish. They cast their net into the sea. Jesus comes up and says, hey, follow me. And it says that immediately they left their nets and followed him. They just left him in the water.

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They didn't say, okay, wait, hold up a second, Jesus. We got to bring in these and wash them and clean them and then we can follow. They just left everything and followed him. That's how this guy should have responded. Going a little bit farther on the Sea of Galilee in Matthew 4, Jesus sees James and John along with their father in a boat. They're fishermen as well. They're fishing. Jesus says, follow me.

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And it says in Matthew 4, 22, immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. You see, the disciples did not have a hardened heart like this man. They had a soft heart, good ground. And so when God spoke, they responded. It says immediately in both cases, they left their nets, they left the boat, they left their father. These are all counter-cultural things.

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That's not normal. They wouldn't do that. You don't just leave dad with all the work. You don't just leave your nets in the ocean or the sea. But God spoke. Jesus called them to follow and immediately they followed. We see it also in Matthew chapter 9 when Jesus calls Matthew. He's at his job. He's a tax collector. He's in the tax office. Jesus walks by and says, follow me. He quits immediately.

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He leaves it all behind and he follows Jesus. And so that's how we're supposed to respond to Jesus' commands. If we follow his commands, then we will obey no matter what the culture thinks, no matter what our family expects, no matter what we feel like doing, we will obey because he is the creator. He is Jesus. He's our savior.

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And we must obey Him. Whether it's His written word, the scriptures that we have, and there's many direct commands there in the scripture that we are called to obey. Or whether it's those things that God speaks to your heart directly. Those personal things that He gives to you. And as we learn to walk with Him and hear His voice, well, we also need to learn to obey His commands that He puts upon our hearts.

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And it's easy for us to be like this guy and say, well, you know, in my culture, we don't do that. We don't act that way. That's not how we were brought up. That's not how our family was. That's not how our forefathers were. Listen, you need to be a Christian first. Christ before culture. That you walk with Him, you obey Him, no matter what. No matter what. Or we might say, well, the timing isn't good. Christ overrides your timing. You must obey Him.

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When he commands. One popular reason we like to give why we don't obey is, well, I don't think I can. It's just too hard. And so we think we're, you know, whew, having out. I'm just not capable. I'm not gifted, you know, like David Byrne. You know, if I was like that guy, well, then of course I would obey. Listen, we always say it. God's calling is his enabling. He commands you. He'll also help you to do it.

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Again, I ask, what is the appropriate response to a direct command from Jesus? Yes, sir. Right away, Lord. Help me to do it. Follow Jesus' commands. If you're going to choose to follow Jesus, you need to learn to obey him. Well, the third guy, the final point this morning, we find in verse 61 and 62, it's follow Jesus without looking back.

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Follow Jesus without looking back. Look at verse 61. It says, and another also said, Lord, I will follow you, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house. So another guy, we're going back to kind of similar to the first guy. He volunteers. The middle guy is different than the other two because Jesus looks at him and says, you, right there, you, yes, you, follow me. But this one volunteers. It says, Lord, I want to follow you

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But let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house. Now, I've always known and understood this verse in a particular way. But the Lord's changed that as I've been studying it and meditating on it this week. The way that I used to understand this verse was kind of similar to the guy we just looked at. Basically, this guy's saying, God, I've added you to my to-do list. You're not at the top. I got some things to do. And then I'm going to come and follow you.

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You know, and Jesus would be saying to him, hey, there's no time to say goodbye. The call is for you to go right now and don't go say goodbye. Just follow me. Now, that is the perspective of many great Bible teachers and scholars and commentators. And so if you want to hold on to that perspective, you're welcome to do so. You're in good company. But the Lord really changed my perspective on this as I was studying it this week.

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And the way I see it now and the way I want to suggest to you this morning that this is going on is that what this guy is saying is a good thing and it's the right thing. When he says, I will follow you, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house. Here's the reason why I say that. The word farewell, it means to be set apart or to separate.

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to separate yourself or to withdraw yourself, or it means to renounce or forsake. To renounce or forsake. And the way I see this and understand this now is different because what I see is this guy saying, Jesus, I want to follow you and so I'm going to say goodbye to the old life. I'm going to renounce and forsake my old life.

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that I might follow you. And this becomes incredibly appropriate because you and I, we've seen it. Many Christians, they walked with the Lord, but they've fallen away because they did not separate or forsake or renounce the old life. And those old past things sucked them back away from their commitment to the Lord.

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And so I understand this in a different way now that this is a good thing. He's saying, I'm going to forsake and renounce my old life that I might follow you. Now with that perspective, then verse 62 is Jesus agreeing with him. It says, but Jesus said to him, no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. So what I suggest is Jesus is saying, okay, good, go say goodbye to

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Because you can't be effective in the kingdom of God if you're always looking back. He's saying right on. Yes, separate yourself. Renounce, forsake the old life so that you can be wholly devoted to, fully committed to the work of the kingdom of God.

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The difference between this guy then and the previous guy is that the previous guy, it was an indefinite amount of time. It was undetermined. Well, at some point in the future, when my parents are dead, then I'll follow you.

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This guy's saying, I'm going to follow you and I'm going to cut all the old ties. I'm going to make a clean break, renounce the past, and I'm going to devote myself completely to you. Now with that understanding, we have a good picture of that in the prophet Elisha in 1 Kings chapter 19. You can check it out later on. You might remember Elijah was a great prophet and he was coming to the end of his ministry and God said, I want you to

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Put your mantle or your cloak on Elisha and he's going to carry on the ministry that you began. And so Elijah goes to Elisha and puts his cloak on him and signifies, you're going to follow in my footsteps and fulfill the ministry that God gave to me. Well, when that takes place, when he puts his cloak upon him, Elisha is plowing a field.

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Interesting how it relates when Jesus says, no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. So here's Elisha plowing a field. He receives the call. And so he tells Elijah, let me go say goodbye to my family. And Elijah goes, okay, yeah, go for it, do it. And so what Elisha does is interesting. He breaks apart the plow. He uses the wood to make a fire. He slaughters the animal that's pulling the plow. He cooks it.

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He gives it as a meal to his family. He says goodbye and he goes with Elijah and fulfills the ministry that God had given to him. It's a great picture for us because Elisha makes this clean break. He forsakes, he renounces his old life in order to follow this call that God had given to him.

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In doing so, he even broke up the equipment, slaughtered the animal so that he wouldn't be tempted. You know, later on, the ministry's not going so well and he looks back and thinks, well, I can always go back to plowing fields. No, he makes sure that's not a temptation anymore. He cuts all the ties so that he could be wholly devoted to the call that God had given to him. In the parable of the soils, the third bad kind of soil that we saw was the thorny soil.

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which relates to the divided heart. Where there's those other things that come up, that creep up, that choke out the Word of God and the work of God. It's a divided heart. When God says, do this, and you do it until, well, there's something else that gets in the way. Or there's something else that looks better or seems more important. Or one of those past things comes back up and chokes out God's work. It's a divided heart.

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Jesus said, look, you can't have a heart that's divided. You can't be looking back and effective at plowing. You've got to be fully focused, fully engaged in the work that I've entrusted to you and the call to follow me. This idea of looking back also is a reference to Lot's wife. You might remember Sodom and Gomorrah. God brought the judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah, but first he rescued Lot and his family.

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But it tells us in Genesis chapter 19 that Lot's wife, as they're escaping and the judgment is coming down, that she looks back at Sodom and Gomorrah. And not like, you know, like you look at an accident when you're driving by, like, ooh, I wonder what happened. Ooh, that looks pretty bad. Not like that. Not she's just checking out the judgment. The idea is she's looking back with longing, like, no, that's where all my stuff is. That's where all my friends are. I'd rather be back there.

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That's what it means when she was looking back. She's longing for the past, longing for that old life. And you know what happened. She's turned into a pillar of salt there as she looks back. And Jesus is going to call us to remember that later on in Luke chapter 17 verse 32. He says, remember Lot's wife. What happened? She was looking back. She was longing for those old days. No one can

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put his hand to the plow, and be effective in the kingdom of God if they're looking back and longing for that old life. And so if we're to follow Jesus, if we're going to make that choice, well, we need to do so without looking back. Say goodbye to the old life.

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Jesus will tell us later in Luke chapter 14, as he'll once again deal with the cost of following him, he says, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple. You have to be willing to forsake everything in order to be a disciple of Christ, in order to follow Jesus Christ. You have to say goodbye to the old life. And so this morning, it's my desire today

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Well, it's really my call to challenge you. Choose to follow Jesus. But understand the choice that you're making. It's going to be uncomfortable. And you're going to have to make a choice. Again, it's not just a one-time thing, but a daily choice to follow Him through discomfort. Even when He calls you out of your comfort zone. Even when He calls you to things that you're not excited about.

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Even when he calls you to things that will bring about rejection and persecution or bring about poverty, lack, need, choose to follow Jesus. Life is only found in him. An abundant life is found in following him. And so it seems to us like, well, if I'm going to be uncomfortable all the time, I'm going to be miserable. But Jesus is saying, no, then is when you'll truly experience life. But we got to die to ourselves, die to our flesh.

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And follow Jesus through discomfort. I challenge you today to choose to follow Jesus. And that means that you need to obey His commands. And you might not be very excited about all of His commands. But He's looking at you directly and He's saying, Look, you need to follow me. You need to obey me. And do what I have said. And as we choose to follow Jesus, we need to do so without looking back. Separating ourselves from that past life.

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The worship team is going to come up and close us. And the song that they did at the end of worship, which is, I have decided to follow Jesus. And as they lead us in this song, I'm asking you today to really make it your commitment to the Lord. That you today would choose to follow Jesus.

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Again, that word follow, it means to accompany, to link yourself, to join up with Jesus. That's the only way that we can have life. But you also need to count the cost and understand what you're signing up for. It's a daily choice that we must make to follow Him. You can't just rely upon that one time a while back, you raised your hand and said, I want to follow Jesus. But you must take up your cross daily, Jesus said.

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And follow me. It's a daily relationship that we have with him. And as we've been looking at these things, I know that God's been speaking to some of your hearts. And there's been some issues of discomfort for you. Where you've been holding back from following Jesus because you're reluctant to experience discomfort. You're not willing to be uncomfortable. I want to ask you today to do something we don't normally do here.

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But as they lead us in this song, as God has been speaking to your heart and prompting your heart, and you're saying today, I want to choose to follow Jesus. Maybe it's for the first time, or maybe it's for the 500th time. But today you realize God's been speaking to you. You need to follow Him. And so what I want to ask you to do as they lead us in worship is just get up out of your seat and come up to the front here. It might make you a little bit uncomfortable, but listen, if God's speaking to your heart, you need to follow Jesus through discomfort.

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It doesn't matter how you feel about it. You know if God's been speaking to you. And this is for you. This is for your sake. God wants you to respond physically, to make that choice, to make that decision, to stand up and say, yes, I choose to follow Jesus and I know there will be discomfort. I know I will have to obey. I know I'm going to have to cut those ties and let go of those old things. And knowing all of that,

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I choose to follow Jesus. And so if you've been holding back from the Lord, you've been looking back or refusing or holding on to your own comforts and God's been speaking to your heart, just come up during this song and then we'll pray at the end. Let's worship Him together and during this time, choose, decide to follow Jesus.

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I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back.

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I have decided. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back.

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cross before me cross before me the world behind the cross before me the world behind the cross before me the world behind no turning back no turning back

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Though none go with me, still I will follow. Though none go with me, still I will follow. Though none go with me, still I will follow. No turning back, no turning back. Though none go with me.

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I have decided

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I have decided to follow Jesus I have decided to follow Jesus I have decided to follow Jesus No turning back, no turning back I have decided

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I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning. No turning. No turning back.

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Heavenly Father, I pray for those, Lord, who have responded to your voice through your word today. God, you've been speaking to their hearts, and they know it, which is so incredible. Because you, the creator of the heavens and the earth, would humble yourself to minister to us. It's an amazing thing. And so God, as we are here before you, responding, Lord, there's those who've been holding back,

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Those who've been disobedient. Those who've been looking back and going back to those old things. Lord, each one knows exactly where they're at and what you're speaking to their heart. And so God, I pray, Lord, that you would wash them as they confess those things to you. That you would cleanse them just as you said that you're faithful and just to do. And God, I pray that you would anoint them and empower them with your Holy Spirit to choose to follow you.

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In those areas of discomfort, in those commands, Lord, in cutting those ties, help them, God. Give them strength and boldness to follow You, even if nobody else does. Even if it's counter-cultural or against what they were brought up to think or to do. No matter what the cost, God, I pray that You would help us to follow You, to be fully and wholly devoted to You. Thank You, God, for Your goodness and grace.

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which allows us the invitation to come, to follow, to be your disciples. And God, we pray that you would continue to extend that goodness and mercy and grace to us. Lord, that you would help us and enable us to be faithful to your call in our lives. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.