Luke The Orderly Account of Truth - Tough Guys Don't Look Back - Luke 9:57-62

God, we thank you for this time right now where we get to open

up your word and go through it. God, we just pray that you

do a work in our hearts as we read your word. God, I

don't really I'm not interested in changing people based on the cleverness of my words.

But God, I desperately want your word to change all of us.

So God, let your word pierce us today. We're inviting you to do

it, to correct us, to encourage us, to rebuke us, to

just spur us on to whatever you have for us. So God, we

just give you permission to do what you want to do in our hearts today

as we're going through your word, and we thank you for this time in

Jesus' name. Everybody said, amen. All right. We've been in a

series called Luke The Orderly Account of Truth. We're going verse by verse to

the whole book of Luke and we get to see, based on Luke's investigated

account, all of what Jesus taught and all of who he is and what

he did. So because of this orderly account, we can know the exact

truth about who Jesus is, which is amazing that we get that benefit.

Last week we got to see Jesus correct his disciples three times, not once,

not twice, but thrice. Jesus corrected his disciples. Is thrice really

the word for three? If it's not, it should be. I agree

with Wendy. Thrice three times Jesus corrected his disciples. He corrected them for

their prideful hearts and them trying to just elevate themselves. They wanted to elevate

themselves above each other. They wanted to elevate themselves above and over others that

were around them. But Jesus corrected them and put them on the path toward

humility. And we also got to talk about Jesus being this perfect example of

what true humility looks like, because nobody went from a higher place to a

lower place than Jesus, who is god fully man and fully and truly god

and fully and truly man, being born in flesh. That is the biggest

and most incredible example of humility that we could ever see. That he went

on to willingly and undeserving laid down his life by being crucified for us,

it's amazing, and that is the model that we are supposed to follow.

That's the example that was set for us as believers to follow. So when

we start to feel a little prideful, or maybe we start to think that

we're a little bit better than others, or maybe just put our interests above

the interests of others, I said, we need to stop. We need

to do what Jesus did. We need to humble ourselves and serve others,

because that's what he did all except for the being prideful part. He stopped

and he humbled himself and served others, which is amazing. Not always easy

to do, but it is so important that we do. And that was

all last week. This week's text that we're going through today is awesome.

It's very straightforward, which I really appreciate SoSE it makes it easier for me

to understand, because sometimes the Bible's a little tougher to understand. Today it's

pretty straightforward. We're going to be finishing chapter nine in the Book of Luke

and we're going to be reading through verses fifty seven through sixty two. So

if you have your Bibles, that's where we're going to be. And today's

text is actually sandwiched between two passages that will help us understand it. You

guys, like a good sandwich. I think sandwiches are great. I love

sandwiches. We just had sandwiches at a wedding yesterday. It was amazing because

we got to make it ourselves too. I mean, it's awesome when someone

makes a sandwich for you, but when you get to make your own sandwich,

you get to do it exactly the way you want. Chef's kiss sandwich.

You take and stack up a bunch of these delicious ingredients in this perfect

medley of flavor. Right, that's what a sandwich is. But we all

know the best part of the sandwich is what you put on the inside.

It's what's in the middle that's the best part. Right. Some of you

are like, but I love bread. Though I love bread, but the

middle is where it's all about. But even though the middle is the best

part, the bread still has a very very important like part of the sandwich.

Right, still very important. The bread holds together all these amazing ingredients.

For us, a sandwich without bread is a huge mess. Right.

Why am I talking about sandwiches, Well, it's because today's text. I

want you to think about the verses before today's text and after today's text.

As the sandwich, it's the bread for our sandwich today. That's why I'm

talking about sandwiches. It's very important because it holds everything together. It's what's

going to give our passage today its context, which is super important when you're

reading the Bible. To know the context of what's being spoken about. It'll

give more weight to what's being taught by Jesus, and it will help us

understand what is actually being said, why Jesus said it, and why Luke

even included it in the Book of Luke, because that's something to consider when

you're reading through the Gospel counts. Why did this gospel writer include this moment

right now? Why did he put it all together? So what's the bread

of our sandwich today? Well, Jesus just got done teaching the disciples to

be humble, right, that life isn't about putting themselves first. It's about

putting others first. So that's the top piece of the bread. The bottom

piece of our bread is the or the text that's gonna come after is actually

when Jesus sends out seventy two of his disciples, right, but before Jesus

sends him out, we have our texts. Today. He's going to teach

one more lesson. Before he does that, he's going to teach the people

what it costs to follow him. That's the inside of our sandwich today,

or the meat of our sandwich, or for our vegans, it's the impossible

burger of our sandwich, right, impossible meat. Sasha knows that it's like,

it's impossibly. It's impossible for that to be healthy for you, because

what is it made of? Nobody knows. It does taste pretty good,

though I'm not gonna lie. I like real meat more than fake meat.

But you know, anyway, through all these today, what we're gonna see

is we're gonna see three very short conversations between Jesus and another person who's following

him. And through these conversations, we're gonna see what it costs us to

follow Jesus and be on his mission with him. Jesus was getting the people

ready to send them out on mission, right, getting ready to send the

seventy two out. And I believe that as we read this, he's also

getting us ready to be sent out on the mission. As we read texts

just like this in the Bible today, you guys, ready, all right,

let's get through our six hole verses Luke nine, starting in verse fifty

seven. As they were walking along the road, 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 and 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.

Us replied, no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back

is fit for service in the Kingdom of God. You guys, see what

I mean. It's pretty clear what Jesus is saying. He's not putting it

behind a veil of secrecy. Jesus is addressing the priorities in their hearts and

in their lives, and he's telling us what it will cost us to follow

him. Who likes action movies? Anybody like action movies. It's a solid

twenty eight and a half percent of you in here. Action movies. The

fighting, the heroic deeds, the good guys beat the bad guys. It's

pretty awesome. I mean, we can forgive a terrible plot as long as

it's got some good action, right. But I think the best part of

all action movies is the explosions. That's when things explode, which you're like,

can calm down, Greg, I like things exploding for some reason.

I don't know. It's just really cool. It's all the action. I

think that Michael Bays onto something by putting eight hundred explosions in all of his

films. But nothing is cooler than that moment where the hero sets off the

explosion and does the unflinching walk. He guys know what the un unflinching walk

is. He like, sets the explosion and he just walks away like this,

and it's explodes behind him, doesn't even flinch, just keeps walking away.

That's the radest part of action films, when this explosion goes off and

does the unflinching walk. Not he's completely unbothered by this explosion that just happened.

You guys know, the wolverine meme cameras looking up at him. He's

just like, he's just got that look. And the helicopter's exploding behind him.

Yeah, it's amazing old school RoboCop guys, remember the classic RoboCop.

He does it too, but it's not Ferris. He's part robot, so

he doesn't even feel the heat probably right. Still looks cool, though it

matters. My personal favorite is Iron Man one though, and anyone who remembers

the movie is gonna be like, I get it right. Tony Stark figures

out how his suit works. He finishes making the suit, he can figure

out how to fly it and all that stuff, and he's watching the news

in his lab and sees refugees being mistreated and attacked, right, so he's

like, I'm gonna go do something about this. So he flies out there

right, takes care of the bad guys. Pretty awesome, right, that's

not the cool part. As he's flying away, gets shot out of the

sky by a tank right, and then lands. But what does he do?

He looks at the tank, points his arm out there and she wass

this tiny little rocket. It's like think, and just goes in there and

nothing happens, turns away and walks away. Two seconds later, this ball

of fire behind him and he's just walking away and Dad in it. Dann

it right, come on, name a cooler moment in any action movie than

that the explosions and just walking away completely unbothered. That's my favorite is when

iron Man walked away. Such an epic moment. Well, Jesus finished his

teaching. Here's a good transition. How about that for a segue. Jesus

finished his teaching by saying what no one who puts his hand to the plow

and looks back is fit for the service, is fit for service in the

Kingdom of God. So today's message is this, tough guys don't look back.

Tough guys don't look back, just like iron Man, who follows Jesus

Earth. I wish iron Man followed Jesus. Maybe he does. I don't

know. Let's keep writing in the comics just like iron Man. When we

follow Jesus is what I'm trying to say. We're on and when we're on

mission with him, we don't look back. We don't look back, no

matter what's exploding behind us. And I know it's a completely ridiculous example,

but that's what I want you to walk away with today. We're gonna talk

through these six verses and I need you to just latch onto one thing and

don't look back. Don't look back. There's nothing more important than following Jesus,

nothing, nothing on this planet. His mission takes priority over everything else

in our lives, no matter what it is, everything else. In order

to follow Jesus, we must let go of everything else. There is no

reason to look back. So let's break this text down. We're gonna We're

just gonna break it down. But Jesus literally just got rejected by the Samaritan

village right in last week's text. And when he's on the road to a

different village because he wasn't going to go to the one he was rejected from.

On the way, a man comes up and makes an extremely bold claim.

So look at verse fifty seven again. As they were walking along the

road, a man said to him, I will follow you wherever you go.

It's a pretty bold claim. 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. Who is this man, Well,

we know from Matthew eight nineteen that this is one of the teachers of

the law. Well that should sound a little familiar, because the teachers of

the law were often with the other religious elites of the day, with the

Pharisees who were challenging Jesus. He was one of the experts who knew God's

law and taught it to others. And for one of the teachers a law

to say specifically, I will follow you wherever you go, that's kind of

a rare thing to happen because usually they're the ones trying to catch Jesus slipping.

Right, They're trying to catch him blaspheming, or doing something wrong or

healing on the Sabbath or anything right, they're trying to catch him slipping.

Now, we don't know what this man's motivation was for saying that he will

follow Jesus wherever he goes, but he came up to Jesus and he said

it. And at this point, there's people all over the place following Jesus.

Just a few weeks ago, we were teaching about Jesus feeding and the

Disciples feeding the five thousand men plus women and children. It's a lot of

people. So people are following Jesus all the time. So what makes this

man any different, What makes him different than one of these people who are

just walking around following Jesus. Well, he didn't just follow Jesus. He

said something out loud. He made a verbal commitment, right, And I

think a verbal commitment will change things a little bit. When you say something

out of your mouth, it's different. So I'm super slow to say I'll

do anything because if I say I'm going to do it, then I have

to do it right. God's people need to be people of their word.

We were men and women of our word. Let our yes b yes,

and our no be no. So this verbal commitment kind of changes things because

the hard part's not saying. The hard part isn't necessarily saying it out loud.

It's following through and what you just said you would do. And this

man just told Jesus what, I will follow you wherever you go. That's

what he just said. He's making a verbal commitment to Jesus. But Jesus

wants this man to understand exactly what it is he's committing to. He's saying,

you don't even know what you're agreeing to, bro Like, that's basically

what Jesus saying. That's the greg translation of it. You don't even know

what you're agreeing to. And it makes me think of when James and John

their mom came up to Jesus and made this completely absurd request. In Matthew

chapter twenty, I didn't put on the on the screen, so don't freak

out, Patricia. But in Matthew chapter twenty, she comes up to Jesus

and says, can James and John sit at your right hand in your left

hand in your kingdom? And what did Jesus say to them? He said,

you don't know what you're asking. You don't know what you're asking.

You have no clue what you're asking for. The implication here is if you

knew what you were asking, you wouldn't be asking it. And if you

go on to read that story, which you should, at some point in

Matthew twenty, he's like, you can't drink the cup? You will?

Or can you drink the cup? Is what he asked them, and they're

like, yes, we can. He's like, you will drink the cup,

but I can't make you sit at my right hand and left. It's

not mine to give, it's the fathers to give. But the implication in

that question of Jesus, what Jesus is saying is if you knew what you

were asking for you wouldn't be asking for it. And I think that's the

same kind of idea here with what Jesus is saying. So what did Jesus

say to the man? Let's look at fifty eight again. Jesus replied,

Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the son of man has no

place to lay his head. If you want to follow me, then you

need to understand you have no place to lay your head. The animals of

the world have a place to lay out and rest, but those who follow

me have no place to lay their head. They have no comforts, they

don't have any of that. Way back in the day, this is not

really that far ago. Before you could play video games online with your friends.

So a long time ago, you still have to invite all your friends

over. If you want to play video games together, you'd actually have to

go to people's houses, right, And we would have these things called land

parties local area network for those nerds out there, a land party, and

you would say, come on over, bring your TVs and your consoles,

and we're gonna play video games together. We're gonna link all our systems together.

So I invited fifteen of my friends over to my house when my parents,

who were sitting right there, said don't have any parties because they left

for town. And I had a bunch of people over. It wasn't like

that kind of party though. I invited fifteen of my friends over and we

set up TVs in different rooms, linked all of our xboxes together and had

a Halo party. Right. It was awesome. So things are we played

basically laid into the night, things are winding down, time to go to

bed. I go into my room and three of my friends are all crammed

on my twin size bed. But there's a small sliver at the bottom of

the bed and I was like, oh sweet, I can just climb in

there. But it was only big enough for my body to lay there.

So I grabbed my drum throne for my drum set, set it to the

end of my bed, put my pillow on there, laid on the bed,

and then my head off of the bed onto the pillow on the drum

throne. I had no place to lay my head. That's what Jesus is

talking about, right, It's exactly the same thing. That's what I thought

about anyway. But we know that Jesus isn't just talking about a physical place

to lay your head, right, He's not just talking about that aspect of

it. He's talking about something a little bit more intense than just not being

not having a pillow or not laying your head down somewhere. He's talking about

everything that comes with having a place to lay your head, having a home.

How about having a place just to relax and recover. Have you ever

not had a place to relax and recover, Like maybe you're traveling somewhere and

you just didn't have a space, A place of safety and security, a

place of acceptance. Generally speaking, we're always accepted at home, a place

to be welcomed. These are the kind of things that Jesus is talking about

when he says the son of Man has no place to lay his head.

These are the things that he will be without. Jesus was saying, I

have no bed, I have no home. I am not welcomed everywhere I

go. In fact, he was rejected in most places that he went to.

He was rejected by the Samaritans. We just read that last week.

He was consistently rejected by the religious leaders for calling them out on their sin.

He was rejected by the Gentiles after he cast the legion of demons out

into the pigs and they ran into the water. Right, you guys,

remember that Pastor Jordan preached that here. You preached that, right? Yeah?

What was their response? You're freaking us out, Get out of here.

They rejected. Jesus was rejected by the people in his own hometown.

The mission that Jesus was on put him at odds everywhere he went. But

Jesus himself said he didn't come to bring peace on earth, but he came

to bring a sword that's in Matthew ten. He knew that the mission he

was on was gonna make a lot of people hate him, hate him enough

to try to kill him multiple times, and finally go on to crucify him.

So Jesus is telling this man, if you want to follow me,

then this is what you can expect. You'd better count the cost before you

commit to following me. It's easy to say what you just said, but

I need you to understand what you're talking about. You better count the cost.

And it's the same thing that he warns the crowds that were following him

four chapters later in Luke and I'm not gonna preach through it, but I'm

just gonna mention it. In Luke fourteen, he gives example of somebody building

a tower making sure he counts the cost he doesn't run out of money before

he builds the tower, And he also talks about a king who counts his

army to make sure he can win the battle. You should count your cost

before count the cost of following Jesus before you set out. And I think

it's really interesting that it seems like there's a lot of work that goes into

convincing people to follow Jesus nowadays, Like I'm trying to convince you to follow

Jesus. Well, if you read what Jesus did in scriptures, it seems

like most of the time he's convincing people to not follow him. He's like,

are you sure about that? You really want to follow me? Look

at my life? Is this what you want? Are you ready for this?

But I think what Jesus was actually doing is he was getting people to

stop for a moment and count the cost of what it meant to follow him.

Instead of making a unthoughtful rush decision, he was getting to stop and

really count the cost. Let me think about it. How much more resolute

are you to, like any decision to accomplish something, how much more resolute

are you once you stopped and count the costs? I think you're a whole

lot more. I think I'm a whole lot more if I wanted to do

Let's say, like you want to climb a mountain and you stop and say,

Okay, what are all the things that could potentially happen when I'm climbing

a mountain? And you're gonna list those things out? It's really hard work,

sweaty, a little dangerous. Maybe you'll fall and break your neck.

But once you look at that list, you're like, I'm gonna do it

anyway. You've considered all the things that could go wrong, and you still

chose to do it. How much more? Like nothing's going to stop you

from reaching the top at that point because you're like, I already know what's

coming, I already know what could happen, and I'm gonna do it.

We are way more resolute when we've stopped and considered the cost of doing something

still choose to do it. And I think that's exactly what Jesus is doing

when he asked these types of questions or makes these kinds of statements. He's

making sure that anyone who wants to follow him will have the resolve to finish

the race, to accomplish the mission, that they won't quit part way through,

and just to tie it in that they won't look back. The son

of Man has no place to lay his head. So the big idea,

which I really think is two kind of big ideas, is this, count

the cost of following Jesus. You might be rejected everywhere you go. Just

kind of putting a little bow on these first two verses, count the cost

of following Jesus. You might be rejected everywhere you go. Know what it

will cost you consider to the full extent what you're agreeing to. And one

of those cost is you might get rejected rather than welcomed. I mean,

it doesn't take long to get rejected if you're following Jesus. Just stand up

and say, I believe in the Bible and everything God says. Just start

there. There's plenty of things that God makes extremely clear in scripture that are

true, they are good, and they are right, and the world rejects

it, and they will reject you for having believed it. There's just a

lot of things that God says the world hates. He created every one of

us as a man or woman, and you can't change that. A marriage

is only between a man and a woman. Life begins a conception. Therefore

abortion is murder. Those are just a couple hot like a few hot button

topics nowadays, you will be rejected and hated for saying you believe any one

of those three today. But even if you're called a hateful bigot, we

must stand firm in God's truth. We must stand firm in God's truth.

It doesn't mean we love these people any less for the record, no,

but we will always stand firm in God's truth. And when you are called

a hateful bigot, because I'm encouraging you to follow God's commands and by God's

truths that He's clear about in scripture. So when someone calls you a hateful

bigot, I need you to remember two things, and we're gonna turn to

the scriptures for those things. The first one's in First Peter four and it

says, dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has

come on you to test you, as though something stranger happening to you.

But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you

may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of

the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the spirit of glory and

of God rests on you. Come on, now, that's awesome. If

you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other

kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. Don't do wrong things,

That's what that's saying. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do

not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. So that's

one thing, right. Don't be surprised you're participating in the sufferings of ges

What did he suffer? Persecution? He's the one whose teachings were following right,

And the second reminder and encouragement is found in John chapter fifteen, spoken

by Jesus himself. If the world hates you, keep in mind that what

say it loud? It hated me first. If you belong to the world,

it would love you as its own. If you belong to the world,

it would love you as its own as it is. You do not

belong to the world. But I have chosen you out of the world.

That is why the world hates you. We are not of this world.

We've been chosen out of it by Jesus. And if the world hates us,

or maybe I should say when the world hates us, we need to

remember that the world hated Jesus first, and we should rejoice in our persecution.

Rejoice because this world is not our home. If you've put faith in

Jesus, this world is not your home, and we belong to Jesus.

Amen. Okay, look at the next two verses. After speaking to the

teachers of the Law, Jesus turns and engages with another man. So instead

of someone coming up to Jesus, he turns to someone else. Let's look

at verses fifty nine and sixty. He said to another man, follow me,

But he replied, Lord, first, let me go and bury my

father. Jesus said to him, let the dead bury their own dead,

but you go and proclaim the Kingdom of God. So this man is another

one of the disciples who are just following Jesus. It's not really anyone specific

of note or any title or position, just one of the disciples. But

Jesus turns and tells him to follow him, and the guy in return or

in reply gives what seems like a pretty legitimate reason to say, like not

yet, or to delay. Right. He wants to go bury his father,

which could mean that the father had already died or was just getting close

to death, and he wanted to wait until he died so he could bury

his father. And some commentators would speculate or did speculate, that he might

have been waiting to receive his inheritance. So if he didn't stay until his

dad died, he wouldn't receive that inheritance if he wasn't there. So there's

a little bit of that speculation, which is kind of like the rich young

ruler who when you read through that story in scripture, uncovers that he was

more interested in his wealth than actually following Jesus. So what it seems like.

But even if that isn't the case, if this guy's father was dying

or just died, it seems like a pretty important reason one that might be

important enough to wait to follow Jesus. But that's not what Jesus thought.

Now, Jesus told him to let the dead bury the dead. And I

love that God uses the most extreme example right out the gates that even what

we think might be the most important reason to delay following Jesus still isn't important

enough. So my question for you is this, what reason do you have

for not immediately saying yes Lord when Jesus calls you to follow him? What

reason do you have for not immediately saying yes Lord when Jesus calls you to

follow him? Is it your job? What are they gonna do if I'm

not there? There's so much stuff that's not gonna get done. Is your

schedule already booked in full? You can't cram anything more in your schedule?

What are we gonna do with the kids? How are they gonna do?

I just got into a relationship. I can't leave that relationship. Did your

dad die or is he dying? No? Well, even if he was,

Jesus still says that's not an important enough reason, it's still not a

good enough reason to not immediately follow him. Following Jesus takes priority over everything

else, And Jesus gives us a little bit more insight into what he means

when he's saying to follow him, and it means being on the same mission

that he's on. Let's read that verse again. Verse sixty. Jesus said

to him, let the dead bury their own dead. But you what,

you go and proclaim the Kingdom of God. Said, let the dead bury

the dead, or let the spiritually dead tend to worldly matters. Let them

take care of the worldly matters. But you, you go and proclaim the

Kingdom of God. This is what Jesus means when he's telling these people to

follow him, saying, you go and claim the Kingdom of God. This

is the mission. It's the mission they were on with him. It's actually

the same mission we're on with him. Does this text sound a little familiar?

Does it sound a little bit like the Great Commission from Matthew twenty eight.

Let's turn there Matthew eighteen through twenty. Then Jesus came to them and

said, all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me. Therefore

do whatever I say. I mean. If Jesus saying all authority in heaven

on earth has been given to me, that means we should probably listen up

right. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the

name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and

teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, And surely I am with

you always to the very end of the age. Our mission is to go

and proclaim the good news, the Gospel of Jesus to everyone everywhere. That's

what our job is. To make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in

the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

And then we teach them to obey everything that Jesus has commanded. That's our

mission. What does it mean to follow someone anyone is you do the things

that they do right. So if we follow Jesus, we're on the same

mission he's on. And so the big idea from these two verses is this,

there's no reason good enough to delay following Jesus. There's no reason good

enough to delay following Jesus. There's nothing more important than following him immediately.

And I can't stress that word immediately enough because what's the big thing here.

Jesus is talking to these people and they keep saying yes, but first yes,

but first no, immediately, there's nothing more important that should get us

to stop following Jesus immediately. When Jesus calls we answer or to put it

in those like nineteen sixties ads, don't delay follow today, right sixties?

Maybe I don't know, but whatever is holding you back, get rid of

it. Whatever it is, get rid of it, leave it all behind,

don't look back, which leads us to our last two verses. After

telling the man to let the dead bury the dead, another man spoke up

and Jesus gets more specific on how we should approach being on mission. So

let's look at these last two verses and see what Jesus is saying about how

to be on mission. Still another said, I will follow you Lord in

those famous words, 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. Is there any

farmers in here? Anyone ever plowed a field before? No? Literally,

no one. Awesome, you can't plow a field you're looking backwards. It's

the moral of that story, right, You can't plow a field if you're

looking behind you. You have to focus on the job at hand. So

this guy who approached Jesus might thought like Okay, if a dead if my

dad's dying or dead, that's not a good enough reason. What about someone

who's still living, So my family, right, surely Jesus would understand me

going to say goodbye to them first. Surely that's a good enough reason.

But don't you think about well, I mean, if you think about literally

any other situation in your life, like if your boss sends you on a

business trip, or as the military sends soldiers on mission, or think about

just leaving for work in the morning. In all of those situations, you

would go back and say goodbye to your family. Right, you get an

opportunity to say goodbye to them. But what's Jesus saying here? What he

say in verse sixty two, who puts a hand to the plow and looks

back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God. You aren't fit for

service. You aren't fit for the mission if you look back. That's what

he's saying. Your eyes must be locked on target. You have to be

focused on the goal. You can't be worried about anything else. I mean,

I've always thought of it like this. If I was sitting at home,

it's chilling doing whatever, and I hear knock at the door, and

I go and answer the door, and is Jesus standing there. He doesn't

say anything to me except for this, let's go. What's my response?

How do I respond to that? What would I do? What would you

do? Jesus came up your door, knocked on that door, You open

the door, and he just says, let's go? What would you do?

Would you say? Let me go and say goodbye real quick, I'm

gonna go. Let me pack a bag. Maybe I gotta sell my boss

real fast. Let me shoot him a text. I like my house,

I like my bed. I have a special pillow. Can we see who

wins the game first? What would you or what are you struggling to let

go? That would stop you from just walking out that door and following Jesus,

What are you struggling to let go of? What are you holding on

to you? Maybe it's not a what, Maybe it's a who. In

Matthew ten, which we've referenced before, right after Jesus tells the people that

he didn't come to bring peace to on earth, but to bring a sword,

he helps us see the proper way to prioritize our relationships. And I'm

gonna turn there. It's in Matthew ten Verses thirty seven through thirty nine.

This is some of those harder to diges Versus. Well, when we're challenged,

we say, God, help me figure it out, like, explain

it to me on the way. But I'm gonna say, yes, anyone

who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

Anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of

me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life

for my sake will find it. Jesus is crystal clear who's first. Jesus

is first. He is not making it hard to understand he's first. He

must be supreme in your life, over all things, over every other relationship,

over your own children. And that's a hard one. I think it's

easier to say over my own life. That's easy for me to say over

my children's life. Yes, over my children's lives. There is nothing and

no one who is more important than Jesus. We must love him more.

We have to love him more. Jesus saying is that if you're If he's

not first in your heart and your focus in your eyes, then you aren't

fit for service. You aren't fit for the mission. And I put it

this way. It's just kind of cheesy, but the bottom line is this.

Soldiers don't charge backwards. Soldiers don't charge backwards. That's not how it

works. You if Jesus saying, if you're on the mission, you can't

be looking back, you have to be looking forward, think about it.

If a soldier did that in the middle of battle, start charging backwards doesn't

work. I mean, listen, if we're charged, if we're charging into

battle, going at the enemy, I want to be standing next to someone

who's looking forward. That's the only way we're going to make it out of

there alive, let alone accomplish whatever mission we're on. We have to be

looking forward. I want to be standing next to someone who's laser focused on

the mission. That's how we get the job done. And Jesus is saying

the same idea here. If you can't fix your eyes on the mission,

if you can't be looking forward, focused on what's happening, what job you're

doing, then you are not fit for the job. If you are if

whoever puts their hand to the plow, which means I'm going to work and

looks back is not fit because you've stopped looking at what God's called you to

do. You stopped looking what the job is, what the mission is.

And this is the same kind of mindset that Paul modeled to the Philippians.

Can I get the band to come up? Please? This laser focus on

what's in front of him. That's what Paul modeled, and that's in Philippians

Chapter three. Let's look at Versus thirteen and fourteen. This is kind of

like in the middle of a bunch of what he's saying. Definitely go back

and read it because it's fantastic. But this is the crux of kind of

what to pull from these verses here, Brothers and sisters, I do not

consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, hold of what He's gonna

explain. But one thing I do forgetting what is behind and straining toward what

is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which

God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Yeah, that was the end

of the verse. But the thing I want to focus in here is Paulden

just let go of what was behind him was to say he forgot it all

together. He could just let go of what was behind him. He forgot

it all together. He knew that what he was running toward was a far

greater worth than what he's left behind. That in view of God's mercy on

us, it's an easy choice to forget everything behind us. For those that

Jesus has saved, called out a darkness into light, taken from spiritual death

to spiritual life, remove the scales from our eyes. The decision to follow

him with everything, it just makes a whole lot more sense. We don't

look back, and I feel like this is a place where I got to

take a pause and remind us that we don't do any of this in order

to gain our salvation. God has saved us not by works, but by

grace, through faith, through faith in what Jesus perfect life, his sufficient

death and his prophesied resurrection, His perfect life, sinless, spotless lamb,

his sufficient death, his blood covers all sin. It's the perfect that satisfies

God's requirement and his prophesied resurrection. According to the scriptures, it was prophesied

by God long ago and it came to pass exactly the way he said it

would. There's nothing else by which we can receive forgiveness for a lifetime of

sin. There's nothing else that we can do. There's no other way to

be in right standing with the creator of all things. There's no other way

to be raised to eternal life, to be face to face with Jesus.

Our following Jesus, our being holy, our doing the right thing, our

obedience, our being on mission with him, all of that is response to

his grace and mercy upon us. It's all a response, a response to

his incredible salvation. So in our text today, what we see Jesus saying

to his followers is this, before you decide to truly follow me, I

want you to count the costs. I want you to consider this. That's

what he said to the first guy. You won't have a place to lay

your head. He says, the mission is more important than anything you can

come up with. That was the second guy's example, and the third was,

if you look back, you aren't fit for service in the kingdom.

Are you sure you're ready to follow me? But if that's what he's asking

them, what does that mean for us today? Jesus called us to follow

him. So what should we do? What should we do in response to

Jesus calling us to follow him? And I think we should do what Elisha

did when God called him to the prophet Elijah Elishah Elijah Ja. It gets

a little confusing, but stick with me. It's in First We're not going

to turn there, but it's in First King's Chapter nineteen. Elijah made sure

that he had nothing to look back at. He made sure that he had

nothing even to go back to. He was plowing a field with twelve yoke

of oxen when Elijah called, You know what he did. He took those

twelve yoke of oxen, slaughtered them all and burned them and the plowing equipment

to a chris. He had a barbecue what he had, but he burned

it all. He got rid of it all. He got rid of any

reason for him to look back his no equipments, no animals to take care

of his land. God called and he immediately answered. God said let go,

or let's go, and he said, yes, Lord. I think

it's the same thing we need to do. I think when the Lord calls

us, when Jesus calls us to go We need to follow him with our

entire heart, follow him with everything as of first importance. Nothing should be

more important to you. You have to be all in, all in,

We can't be lukewarm. Revelation three, Jesus rebukes the church and Laodicea for

being lukewarm. What does he say about and he says he's about to spit

them out of his mouth metaphorically meaning like who wants you either want to drink

hot or you want to drink cold. No one knows a lukewarm drink.

It's disgusting. He's going to spit him out of their mouth. He's rebuking

them for being lukewarm. We can't be back and forth, can't be wishy

washy, we can't be half hearted. And a very sad but true thing

is that I think a huge majority of people who say they are a Christian

fall into this category today. They say they love and follow Jesus, but

there's a massive lack of evidence to show that to be true in their life.

Let that not be us. They will follow Jesus when it's convenient for

them, or if they're around other saved Christians. It might bend their beliefs

based on their own feelings when they hear something, or maybe in the feelings

of others. Let that not be us. We cannot be lukewarm. We

must be firm in our resolve, with our eyes fixed forward, following Jesus

and accomplishing his mission. And I actually read this, read this really good

quote from RC. Sproll that I wanted to share, and it says this,

to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to have the following of Jesus

Christ be that which defines who you are as a person. I want to

read that again. To be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to have the

following of Jesus Christ be that which defines you. Defines who you are as

a person. At the most core of who we are we just saw inside

out to last night, I started thinking about the emotions and the core and

the memory corps at the most core of who we are. To be a

disciple of Jesus, following him must be what defines us. That has to

be what defines us. We have to get rid of all of the distractions,

all of the things in our life that would take us off of having

ourselves be defined as a disciple of Christ, let go of everything else,

to never look back. And I had another quote that showed up on I

don't know something. I don't have it on the screen, but I'm gonna

read it. And this is from Stephen Lawson says, the Christian life is

all about Christ. This is to know Christ, to worship Christ, to

follow Christ, to obey Christ, to serve Christ, and to become like

Christ. What's our mission at the roots? Somebody say it loud, It's

all about Jesus. It's not about me, it's not about you. It's

all about Jesus. Our lives are marked and defined by Christ. It's all

about Jesus. So what am I asking you to do today? What I'm

asking you to do is burn the plow. I want you to burn the

plow. What in your life are you still holding on to? What are

you tempted to look back at rather than keep your eyes fixed on the mission?

What would stop you from following Jesus with everything? Jesus knocked on your

door and said, let's go. What's your but first? What is the

thing that would make you say but first? Let me What is stopping you

from immediately and wholeheartedly following Jesus, whatever it is, I want you to

burn it, get rid of it, reprioritize it, whatever you got to

do to make sure it does not stop you from immediately following Jesus. Nothing

is more important than following Jesus and being on his mission. So let's all

be tough guys on jesus mission, and tough guys never look back, right,

amen? Can you guys stand your feet for me