An Unconditional Commitment to Christ

Listen Online:

Transcript:

Have you ever driven down the street and seen those signs on a street corner or in front of Walmart where they’re advertising legal services? I’ve seen a lot of them in the city. I’ve seen some in Shawnee, I think.

I may have even seen some here in Seminole, but it’s hard to remember. What these signs are advertising is uncontested divorce. And they’ll say uncontested divorce and they’ll give a price.

According to these signs, you can get out of the covenant of marriage for as little as a phone call and $100, or $150 if you happen to have minor children. When I see these signs, and I remember that it would take at least $300 to get out of my commitment to my satellite TV company, I realize that we have an incredibly skewed idea of commitment in our country. This view of commitment that it’s something we can just jump into and jump out of, that it’s not really set in stone, it explains why celebrity marriages that last a month or less aren’t all that uncommon.

And it probably explains why lots of young people are foregoing the concept of marriage altogether. This view of commitment tells us that it’s okay to cut out when we don’t feel like things are working for us anymore, when we’re not fulfilled, or when we think there’s something else we’d rather be doing. And as bad as that is, in marriage it becomes even worse when we apply it to our relationship with Jesus.

We may try to follow Jesus half-heartedly, and then we wonder why we’re not growing, why we don’t feel close to Him. We may know that these on-again, off-again attempts to follow Him aren’t working, but we don’t really know what to do. And we may even convince ourselves that limping along in this kind of strained, half-hearted substitute for discipleship is the best thing we can, frankly, hope for spiritually.

But it’s not. If you’re a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, you were created to walk with him in intimate fellowship. That’s what he made you for.

To follow him wherever he leads by faith and to grow to be more like him. So we know that’s what we were made for, so what do we do? God’s word has answers for us.

This lack of commitment isn’t just a complication of modern life. This was going on during Jesus’ day. This idea of half-hearted commitment was going on during Jesus’ day.

Turn with me to Luke chapter 9, if you haven’t already, where we’re going to see how Jesus addressed the subject of commitment with three of his would-be followers. Luke chapter 9, starting in verse 57, says, And it came to pass that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me.

But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me first go bid them farewell which are at home at my house.

And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Being a follower of Jesus isn’t something that we really can start or stop when it suits us, right? To really follow Jesus requires a lifelong commitment, one that’s going to persevere through times of inconvenience, trial, tragedy, even death.

Now these three men were on the verge of being dissuaded from serving Jesus for different reasons. One was worried about being comfortable. One wanted to wait until all the circumstances were just right, and one still had one foot in his own life.

Now, each one of these men says he’s willing to follow Jesus, but the conditions that each one places on his commitment actually serves to undermine what that word actually means. Each time we see this word follow in the passage, it’s the Greek word akolotheo. But it describes a journey.

It describes a journey that you take down the road with someone. The same word is used several times in the Gospels to describe how the crowds literally follow Jesus from place to place, from town to town. So when Jesus calls a disciple and says, follow me, he doesn’t mean that we’re supposed to follow him the same way we would follow somebody on social media, you know, where we push a button and we create a virtual connection.

And then every once in a while, we check in to see what they’re up to. Jesus calls his disciples. When he said, follow me, Jesus called his disciples, calls us to actually get up, walk away from what they’re doing, and go on a lifelong journey with him, following the trail that he blazes for us.

And these men don’t seem to understand that. Let’s look again at verse 57. The first man says, basically, Jesus, I’ll follow you anywhere.

But Jesus knows what’s in the man’s heart and what’s really important to him. And he knows that this is someone who worries about the future. He’s somebody who worries about his security.

and his comfort. So Jesus points out that following him is not going to be some luxury vacation. It’s not an easy road to travel following Jesus.

To drive this point home in verse 58, he contrasts his own state with the foxes and the birds. He says, foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not where to lay his head. So even the foxes have a place to hide when there’s danger.

They have a place to rest when they get tired. They have a place to warm up when it’s cold. Even the birds have a place to retreat, somewhere to rest, somewhere to hide their eggs from predators.

Even the animals have a place of comfort, but Jesus had no place to call home. Now, folks, he’s not saying that we have to all be homeless in order to follow him. What he’s telling them, what he’s telling this man, is that if he’s looking for a comfortable, easy life, then following Jesus is not the right place to look.

On the contrary, instead of promising us an easy life. Jesus says in John 16, 33, excuse me, in the world, you shall have tribulation. It’s a promise.

You’re going to have trouble. The second man is also there, and he’s one of the disciples. Some historians tell us maybe the disciple Philip.

Someone Jesus has already called to follow him for a purpose. And in verse 59, this man asked Jesus for permission to first go and bury his father before he begins his ministry. And we might think that this sounds like a reasonable request. After unscriptural about taking care of your family responsibilities.

But there are a couple of problems with what he’s asking. Some of the historical records show us that in the ancient Middle East, burial often took place the same day that somebody died. So if he’s asking to, if this disciple’s father was already dead, he would probably be already gone dealing with the burial. So the logical conclusion that a lot of scholars have come to is that this disciple’s father is merely old or sick.

He hadn’t even died yet. And so he’s asking, he’s wanting to wait until his father dies to get started. And he’s asking this having no idea how long it’s going to actually take.

Another issue with this request is that sometimes the issues surrounding burial took much longer than the burial itself. The body might be buried that day, but there was a period of mourning and there were matters of inheritance and all this could take up to a year. And there’s been a lot of debate about what this part of the conversation actually means, but the bottom line is that this disciple has been called to preach the gospel.

We can see that, but he wants to wait until all of his ducks are in a row, until all the circumstances are exactly right before he follows Jesus. But you know, there’s always an excuse to put something off. We all know this is true.

Okay, when the temperature warms up, I fully intend to clean out my garage, just like I fully intended last year. But then it gets too hot and I have to wait for it to cool off again, right? But then it’s too cold.

Circumstances are never exactly right, never exactly what I want them to be. So two years later, my garage is still a horrible mess. He’s doing the same thing.

So Jesus tells him in verse 60, let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. Don’t be confused here by what Jesus is saying. He’s not telling the man to disrespect his father.

He’s not telling the man to leave his father unburied. When he says, let the dead bury their dead. In the culture, in their culture, it wasn’t unusual to call somebody who wasn’t in the service of God dead.

So what Jesus is saying here to this disciple is that there are others who are not following him who could easily attend to the burial. This man had been called to preach the gospel and he had a higher calling that demanded his focus. Instead of splitting his attention among several good things that he could be doing, Jesus is calling this man to focus his entire life on the best thing that he could possibly be doing, following Jesus. So we too, as followers of Jesus, are called on to stop wasting our time.

He calls us to stop wasting our time on things of lesser importance, stop wasting our time waiting for all the circumstances to be just right for us to start obeying. Instead, he calls us to follow him now. He calls us to follow him now.

Then there’s a third man. He wants to follow Jesus. Even hearing all of this, he’s willing to go through the challenges that are going to be involved, but at the moment, he can’t bring himself to completely let go of his old life.

In verse 61, he tells Jesus that he needs to run home and say goodbye first. This, too, seems like a reasonable request, but the Bible indicates that he’s talking about here more than saying goodbye. The word that he uses in Greek implies an exit where everything has been put in order first. So what he’s asking then is for time to go home and tie up all the loose ends. Not only are there relationships that need closure, but in all likelihood there are financial and other responsibilities that he needs time to address.

None of those things are wrong in and of themselves. None of those things are wrong, but they become a problem when they become an excuse not to commit to following Jesus. when they become an excuse not to follow Jesus when he tells us to come.

We know that’s what’s happening with this man because of the way Jesus responds. In verse 62, Jesus tells him, No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. When Jesus says this, he’s comparing the life of a disciple to the work of a plowman.

And those of you in this room who have worked on a farm or in a garden at some point in your lives, you understand the truth of what Jesus is saying here, right? If you set out to plow a straight row in your field or in your garden, the way you do it is you fix your eyes on a single point off in the distance, off in the horizon, and you plow straight toward it. You look at that and you plow straight toward it.

If you take your eyes off of where you’re going, if you stop to look back or you look around, your rows are going to end up crooked. You’re just going to make a mess out of the whole situation. So he’s telling this disciple, this man, that a plowman like that is not fit for service in the kingdom.

You can’t plow forward all while you’re casting these longing glances backward and hope to be of any use in the fields of the Lord. Today, we might say that this man had one foot in the kingdom and one foot in the world. He wants to serve Jesus.

He does, but he can’t bear to tear himself away from his old way of life. He wants to follow Jesus, but that requires a willingness to walk away from everything else if he asks you to. Jesus makes it clear to the man that he can’t have it both ways.

And folks, you and I are faced with the same choice. We cannot remain with one foot in the kingdom and one foot in the world and expect that to be enough for God. We are called to jump into the kingdom and the work of the kingdom with both feet.

Now, each of these men was more than willing to follow Jesus, but on his own terms. He’s willing to do it as long as they were on his own terms. There were conditions, and you and I sometimes try to put conditions on our obedience as well. I do. I’ll serve God when I’m getting what I want, but I might find obedience a little less enticing when it goes against my own desires.

And we have to consider whether any of these men represent our attitudes as we look at them. Do you see yourself in the first man who says, I’ll follow you, Lord, as long as I’m comfortable? Do you see yourself doing that?

I’ll follow you, Lord, as long as I’m comfortable. As long as my preferences are met, as long as my routine isn’t interrupted, as long as I’m never challenged, or you don’t send me to do anything that I don’t want to do. Doesn’t that sound good?

That’s the attitude of the first man. Do you see yourself in the second man? Do you see yourself in the second man, the one who says, I’ll follow you, Lord, once everything falls into place just right?

When I’m not so busy, when I’m not so tired, when I grow up, when my kids grow up, when I have more money, when I finish this project, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. When everything falls just into place, I’ll follow you, Lord. Do you see yourself in that first man?

Or do you see yourself in the third man who says, I’ll follow you, Lord. I’ll follow you if you don’t ask me to give up my old way of doing things. If you don’t ask me to make any changes.

If you don’t ask me to drop everything else when you call. I’ll follow you. Just don’t ask me to change anything.

I think we probably all see ourselves in one or more of these men at times. And if we look in our own hearts and see these attitudes there, we have to face the hard truth that we’re trying to make our commitment to Jesus Christ conditional. Instead of acknowledging him as our Lord and the one who makes the rules, this conditional commitment means that we’re trying to make the rules and set up the conditions that Jesus has to meet in order to earn our cooperation. That’s the opposite of what it means to follow Christ. That is the exact opposite of what it means to follow Christ. In his conversation with these three men, it becomes really clear that to follow Jesus means to follow him unconditionally.

There’s no other way to follow Jesus other than unconditionally, or we’re not really following. So the lesson we should take from this passage of scripture is that commitment to Christ cannot come with conditions. It’s a lot of C’s there for you.

Easy to remember. Commitment to Christ cannot come with conditions. If it comes with conditions, it’s not a commitment, it’s a transaction.

But when we read what Jesus says about the matter, we can see he’s not negotiating a transaction here. He’s not saying, if you’ll follow me, I’ll give you something in return so that you’ll do that. He’s not saying, well, I’m not really willing to meet that condition so you don’t have to follow me in this area.

That is not how Jesus works, ever. No, he looks at these believers and he says, follow me. Follow me, period.

No conditions, no negotiations, just follow me. That’s his message to them, just follow me. So they brought him their conditions, they tried to negotiate their terms, And still Jesus’ answer was every time, follow me.

He wasn’t interested in the conditions that they could use as loopholes or excuses for disobedience. He called them to commit. Follow me.

Commitment to Christ cannot come with conditions. Maybe this morning you’re still in a place where you’re coming to Jesus with your conditions. Maybe you’re trying to negotiate your cooperation with Jesus like a business transaction instead of offering your obedience as a disciple of Jesus.

I do this sometimes. I think we all do. Folks, Jesus is calling you this morning to commit yourself to him as a faithful follower.

He’s calling you, like the first disciples, to follow him. And as that original Greek word tells us, to get up, walk away from what we’re doing, and go on a lifelong journey with him, going where he goes. And folks, his plans for you are much too important.

His plans, hear me on this, his plans for you are much too important, And his love for you is much too great for him to settle for half of your heart and half of your allegiance. Instead, he calls you to commit readily, fully, and unconditionally. Commitment to Christ cannot come with conditions.

I realize that saying this is the easy part. Telling you this this morning, that’s the easy part. Doing it is much harder.

I realize that, and so does anybody in this room that has ever followed Jesus, has been following Jesus for any length of time. Our sinful human nature leads us over and over to take our focus off of Jesus. It leads us to disobey and then rationalize because of our discomfort.

It leads us to disobey and justify it because all the other good things we can do instead. It leads us to disobey and minimize it because we were obedient in some areas, so it’s okay if we’re disobedient over here. And little by little, little by little, the flesh wears down our resolve to follow Jesus until our commitment is way too conditional to even matter.

Folks, that’s part of the problem of being human. We have to fight back against that. Because we have this sin nature, we can’t just commit once and then say, oh, I don’t have to worry about it anymore.

No, every day these conditions are going to rear their ugly heads and we have to refuse the temptation to follow him conditionally. Every day. Every day our commitment to following Jesus is worth renewing.

We have to make that commitment anew every day. How do we do this? How do we fight back against these fleshly conditions and follow Jesus the way a true disciple should?

How do we do this? We start by taking heart to what Jesus taught these three men. Jesus addresses the problem and gives us the solution at the same time.

First of all, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying life, but we’re not called to follow Jesus only when it’s comfortable. A commitment to following Jesus requires us to put our comfort on the back burner. It requires us to step out in faith and it requires us to do something that makes us uncomfortable when he calls us to.

Has he ever called you to do something that was uncomfortable for you? Well, he has me all the time. So a lot of times I don’t want to say, yes, Lord.

I’m sad to admit there are some times I don’t say, yes, Lord. That’s the problem. We can’t just follow him when it’s comfortable.

We have to be willing to step out and do the things that make us uncomfortable when he calls us to. But if we wait to make the decision in the moment, whether we’re going to follow him or not, more often than not, we’re going to end up settling for what feels good or makes us happy in the moment. Folks, if you want to follow him, make the decision ahead of time.

This applies to so many things in life. Make the decision ahead of time that what he wants matters more than what you want. What he wants matters more than what I want.

And that we’re willing to obey no matter how it may inconvenience us personally. There you go. You’ve got to make the decision ahead of time.

If you find yourself in the place of that first man, you’ve got to make the decision ahead of time that what he wants matters more, and that I’m going to go and I’m going to follow even when it’s uncomfortable to do so. Second of all, we’ve got to rearrange our priorities. We have to rearrange our priorities.

If you’re like me, you often find yourself distracted by all the things you have to do. This is part of life. And many of the things we have to do are good and worthwhile.

But as a friend of mine used to say, the good is the enemy of the best. And it would be a shame if we allowed ourselves to squander the time that God has given us on this earth, doing things that are merely good while we neglect doing the things that are most important. You can spend your time each day on plenty of good things, but the best thing you can spend your time on is the obedient thing. The thing He’s called you to do, being obedient to that is the best way that you can spend your time.

If you want to follow Him, you need to find out. You need to find out what he’s assigned you to do, what he’s commanded you to do, and then you’ve got to make that your priority. And third of all, take a look at where your affections lie.

Is there something that you love as much as Jesus? Is there something that you love more than Jesus? Is there something that has such a hold on your heart that it keeps you from following Jesus unconditionally?

Maybe you’re concerned like this third man with what the folks back home are going to say. Maybe you’re attached to your old habits and your old way of life. Maybe you’re trying to keep one foot in the kingdom while keeping the other foot in the world.

Maybe you’re trying to push the plow forward while stopping to cast longing glances backwards. But you’ll never be able to follow Jesus while you remain divided. If you want to follow him, look for those things that compete with Jesus for your allegiance and get rid of them.

Get rid of them. The times that you and I live in are substantially different from Jesus’ day. But human nature hasn’t really changed all that much.

and the temptation to become distracted or dissuaded from our service, that hasn’t changed. We’re faced with the same temptations that these three men were. The temptation to place conditions on our commitment to Christ, it hasn’t changed.

But the truth of what Jesus said that day also has not changed. We cannot just follow him when it’s convenient. Our commitment to Christ cannot come with conditions.

An unconditional commitment looks like this. In Luke 14, verses 26 and 27, Jesus says, If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, in his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

He’s not saying here that we should literally hate our families. That’s a bad verse to take out of context. The Bible clearly teaches the opposite, that we’re supposed to love our families.

He’s engaging in a comparison here. Commitment to Jesus, following Jesus means this. It means that our love for Jesus, our love for Jesus should be so strong, so broad, so deep, so overwhelming of everything else that it makes all other love look like hate in comparison.

And then when we have that kind of love in our hearts, that makes our obedience to Jesus our greatest priority. When we love him more than, when our love for him overshadows everything else, then our obedience to him is going to be our greatest priority. And at that point, we can take up our cross, as he says there.

Take up our cross and follow him. Dying to our fleshly desires and willfully, even joyfully, enduring the challenge, every challenge that we come across for his sake. This idea of taking up the cross to follow Jesus is a picture of embracing death.

that’s relatively unlikely that you or I living here in America are ever going to lose our lives as a direct consequence of following Christ. What this means for us then is a willingness to dive to our old way of doing things, our old selfish habits, our preferences, our pride, all the sinful things, all the sinful things that we enjoy for a season, to be willing to die to all those things, all for the lasting joy of walking with Jesus. So each one of us has a choice to make this morning, whether we’re going to follow Christ the way God calls us to, the way he calls us to, or not. We’re faced with a choice just like these three men.

Some of you in this room have already trusted in Christ for your salvation, and you’ve been trying to follow him ever since. But maybe you haven’t been consistently obedient, because in your mind and in your heart you’ve placed conditions, like we all do at times, on the commitment that you’ve made. That’s not a question I can answer for you.

I can’t tell you, well, you’ve placed this condition, you’ve placed this condition. It’s one that only you can answer as you look inside yourself. It’s one the Holy Spirit can help you answer as you look inside yourself.

And I’d invite you to look inside yourself this morning and see if there’s any area of your life where you’ve said, no, Lord, I can’t follow you there. If so, ladies and gentlemen, today is the day to let go once and for all of what you’re holding on to and commit to following him unconditionally. Some of you have never trusted Jesus as your Savior.

That’s the first step on this whole journey. Remember, following him is a journey, as that word teaches us. You cannot follow him unless you’ve taken that first step and put your trust in him.

It’s about more than believing he exists. It’s about more than believing even that he’s God’s son. It’s about believing that he died to pay for your sins.

Each of us has disobeyed God. Each of us has disobeyed God. By doing what God says is wrong, we’re not doing what God says is right.

We’ve all disobeyed him. God calls that disobedience sin. God is a righteous judge.

because he’s a righteous judge. He can’t simply ignore our sin or act like it’s okay. It has to be punished.

The law has been broken and a punishment is owed. And the consequence of our sin is that we’re separated from God, both in this life and in eternity to come. In eternity, that separation means that instead of enjoying his presence in heaven, we’re destined to remain separate from him in hell.

But folks, God is also loving. The punishment for sin has to be handed out, But he didn’t abandon us just to endure it ourselves. Instead, he sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect sinless life so that he could take responsibility for my sins and yours and be punished in our place.

Instead of being punished for his own sins, he was punished for ours. And that’s exactly what he did. Jesus was nailed to the cross.

He shed his blood and he died all to pay for my sins and for yours so that we wouldn’t have to. Now because of this, God offers salvation to us as a free gift. We don’t get it by working for it or paying for it.

We can have salvation simply because Jesus paid the price in full on the cross. Salvation means that your sins are forgiven, that you have a relationship with God, and that you’ll have eternal life in heaven. All because of what Jesus Christ did.

Not because of anything you can do, but today because of what Jesus Christ did. And receiving that gift is so simple. All you have to do is realize that you’ve sinned and can’t save yourself and need a Savior.

Believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for those sins in full. That he rose again the third day to prove it. And ask God to forgive you for what you’ve done.

And when you ask God for that salvation that he provides. And you believe with your whole heart that he’ll save you just like he promised he would. God will save you.

He’ll forgive you. He’ll call you his child. And he’ll welcome you into eternal life.

Then he’ll also give you his Holy Spirit. will change you from that day on from the inside out. We’ll begin to change you to help you follow Jesus and make you more like Him.