Sermon Tone Analysis
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*Intro* – Last week we saw Lu 9:51 is a dividing point in the book.
“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”
Prior to this Luke tells about Jesus’ coming from heaven and the question is, “Who is Jesus?”
Answer: He is God.
From here on it is about His going back to heaven.
Key Question, “Why did Jesus come?”
Answer: “To seek and to save those who were lost.”
To accomplish that, He goes back to heaven by way of Jerusalem where He dies to pay the penalty for sin.
At this division, we also move from a theme of acceptance to one of rejection.
We see it immediately.
Jesus comes to Samaria but v. 53, “But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.”
Because He was a Jew going to Passover, they reject Him, and thus they miss the One who was actually on His way to die for their sins.
Bad theology kept them from Christ.
Now Luke introduces 3 vignettes of people ready to follow Christ, but each encounters a hurdle.
They demo 3 anchors that keep people from saving faith.
Many have misinterpreted this passage by saying that these 3 are believers, debating whether to serve Christ.
They teach we can receive Jesus as Savior now and as Lord later.
Become a Christian now, a disciple later.
This is a grave mistake not taught by the Bible.
Several reasons mitigate against it.
*Person of Christ* – To split Jesus’ Saviorhood from His Lordship is like saying, “I accept Pres Obama as a basketball player, but not as pres.”
(I know some would like to do that, but it’s not possible, is it?)
You can’t say, “I’ll play basketball with him, but I don’t accept any of his presidential decisions.”
It just doesn’t work that way.
You have to accept someone for all they are, not just part.
The same is true with Jesus.
You can’t carve Him up into Savior and Lord and decide to take part now, and maybe part later.
You don’t become a Xn now and disciple later.
It’s all or nothing.
(Rom 10:9)
*Meaning of “Follow”* – “Follow” also indicates salvation is the issue.
It always speaks of saving faith.
You can’t be a follower of Christ without being saved, and you can’t be saved without being a follower of Jesus.
There is no such thing as a believer who is still on the fence about following Jesus.
Jesus says in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Those who follow Jesus walk in light; those who don’t are in darkness.
Those who follow have life; those who do not follow have not life.
When Jesus says, “Follow me,” it’s an invitation to salvation, not to greater service.
“Follow me” is a present imperative which implies a lifelong commitment.
It’s a one-time decision that leads to a lifetime change.
There will be failure – sometimes dramatic.
But to live in permanent apathy is to show that one was never genuine in the first place.
*Context* – One final reason to say this is talking about a salvation commitment is v. 59 where Jesus says, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
To not follow is to not be “fit for the kingdom.”
To be a Xn and a disciple are one and the same thing.
You can’t be one without the other.
Francis Chan in Crazy Love summarizes the issue clearly, “Some people claim that we can be Christians without necessarily becoming disciples.
I wonder, then, why the last thing Jesus told us was to go to the world, making disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all that he commanded?
You'll notice that he didn't add, "But hey, if that's too much to ask, tell them to just become Christians – you know, the people who get to go to heaven without having to commit to anything."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer called that “cheap grace” because it doesn’t exist in the Bible.
Paul says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord”, not just Savior, but Lord – you will be saved.
So 3 reasons people reject Jesus.
*I.
Personal Comfort*
V. 57: As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Mt 8:19 tells us this was a scribe – an elite OT scholar.
Most were Pharisees and in opposition to Jesus.
To have him as a follower would have been a coup.
We’d have said, “You want to follow Jesus?
Well, then pray this prayer, sign this card and you’re in.”
Another notch on our spiritual gun.
But Jesus is looking for genuine, not numbers.
When He looked into this man’s heart He saw a “comfort”.
V. 58, “And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
It’s almost like Jesus is trying to scare him off.
Strange way to do evangelism?
To us this looks counterproductive, naïve, even a bit stupid.
We’d be saying, “Strike while the iron is hot.
Don’t scare him away.
Tell him about all that the hard stuff later, if at all!” That’s what we’d say, isn’t it?
Promise anything – just get him in.
That’s why so many start well, but drop out at the first sign of trouble.
They’ve been duped.
They’ve been told, “Come to Jesus and everything will be great.”
They’re committing to happy endings, not Jesus!
This man said the right things, but Jesus knew deep in his heart he was seeing the crowds, the miracles, the enthusiasm, the excitement.
That’s what he was signing up for.
Who wouldn’t want that?
He understood nothing of true discipleship – of self-denial, sacrifice, service and suffering.
He was in for the glory, not for the guts.
He was an early adopter of the prosperity gospel.
I heard one televangelist brag to another not long ago (names you would recognize) that he is not just a millionaire, but a multi-millionaire.
He said, “If He is my comforter, I live in comfort.
That’s not only spiritually – that’s physically too.
Because when you’ve got some stuff it brings comfort.”
Those who think otherwise “know nothing about the Bible.”
I think that shoe’s on the other foot.
Jesus’ said nothing about making this man a millionaire or giving him comfort through “stuff.”
Just the opposite, He challenged Him with this truth: “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
Follow me and that’s where it leads.
Some preachers claim that Jesus was rich – had a treasurer, had a home in Capernaum, had designer clothes that the soldiers gambled for at the cross.
But that’s a crock, Beloved.
Jesus’ own testimony was that He had little of this world’s goods.
And He challenge us in Lu 14:27, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?”
This man had not counted the cost.
He wanted Jesus, but He wanted His comfort first – and Jesus won’t be 2nd to anything.
So if Jesus asked you, would you give up your comfortable house and car and job and air conditioning and TV?
Is Jesus more important than those?
Can you be moved out of your easy chair to prepare a lesson for kids, or bring help to the poor?
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