The Disciples Jesus Deserves

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I know that none of you have ever had to deal with anybody who’s entitled, right? There’s none of that in your world. I heard a really deeper than expected laugh over there. Now, we all deal with people who are entitled from time to time. If you work in any kind of retail setting or any kind of food service setting, you probably deal with that more than most of us do. I used to run into a lot more entitled people when I was younger and used to work at the grocery store. And when I worked at Homeland some 20, 25 years ago, we used to have sales on Blue Bell ice cream. They probably still do that, but we just order groceries from Walmart and don’t think about it. But they would have sales on Blue Bell ice cream. The sale paper would come out. And if I would see that on sale, I would begin wondering if it was too late to call in sick or change careers or that sort of thing.

Because they would never order enough. These people would come out of the woodwork and they would come in to stock up. My grandmother was one of them. Sometimes I would forget that there was a sale until I would see her at the store and think, oh, this is going to be a rough weekend. Not because of her, but just because I knew it was on sale. They would never order enough for the demand. And so people would get there expecting their bluebell two for six or whatever it was. I don’t think you get those days back. Whatever this really cheap price was, and we wouldn’t have enough, and they would start throwing a fit. Now, we were able, if they requested it, we were able to write them a rain check so they could bring it back in and still get the sale price. But there was one lady in particular that was not good enough. We were supposed to make it right. Like, I had personally wronged her.

because we had run out of bluebell. And I don’t know what she wanted exactly because everything I suggested, everything the manager suggested, it was not good enough. I think she wanted us to go out into the parking lot and milk the secret herd of cattle that we had and make her some more bluebell on the spot. But what makes somebody entitled and what makes it so difficult to deal with them is that there is a big gap between what they deserve and what they think they deserve. And when we see that gap in the wrong direction, where somebody thinks they deserve way more than they actually do, she did deserve to come in and be able to buy her bluebell. She deserved to be treated with respect, and she was. But she demanded things that were not reasonable. When somebody expects more than they actually deserve, it becomes frustrating for everybody around them.

And so you have to look at somebody that has high demands and say, what do they actually deserve? Is this reasonable? When we look at Jesus, His demands on us as His children, as His followers, His demands on us are incredibly high. But there’s no gap here between what He demands and what He deserves. This morning, I want us to look at what it is Jesus deserves out of His followers. What kind of disciples does Jesus deserve? And there’s no gap here. We’re going to see these high demands, but they’re not unreasonable. Nobody looks at this and thinks, well, Jesus is acting entitled, because we understand that He’s worth whatever He can expect of us and so much more. Even if we fulfilled everything that He expected, He would still be worthy of more.

So we’re going to look at three would-be disciples this morning and where they fell short of what Jesus deserved, of what Jesus expected, and what this shows us about the kinds of followers He deserves for us to be. And we need to understand going into this that you and I will never be able to do any or all of these three things perfectly, but these are the things that And so this is what we aim for. We don’t ever treat it like he’s expecting too much out of us. So we’re going to be in Luke chapter 9 this morning. Some of you may have already turned there. If you haven’t, please turn there with me so we can read together. And once you find it, if you’ll stand with me as we read together from God’s Word, if you don’t have your Bible or can’t find Luke chapter 9, it’ll be here on the screen for you where you can follow along. But starting in verse 57, here’s what Luke records for us.

It says, as they were going along the road, someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, the foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. And he said to another, follow me. But he said, Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father. but he said to him, allow the dead to bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God. Another also said, I will follow you, Lord, but first permit me to say goodbye to those at home. But Jesus said to him, no one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. And you may be seated.

This morning, we’re going to look at these three men and exactly where they went wrong, because most of what they’re most of what they are proposing to Jesus does not sound unreasonable at least the way we understand it but when we look at it through the lens of their culture and their society and and what these things would have meant to them we understand that what they are asking is actually unreasonable in light of what Jesus deserves I don’t think these were evil men I don’t think they were wicked. I think they were just run-of-the-mill people going about their daily life and trying to try to work Jesus into their life as kind of an accessory. You know how there are some things that we just kind of squeeze into our lives as we have time? That’s kind of what they’re trying to do with Jesus. That doesn’t make them evil, but it doesn’t make them disciples either.

And so Jesus uses these three men and these events as teachable moments for those around them, those around him, and for us as well. So we look at this first man who comes to Jesus seemingly unprompted and says, I’ll follow you wherever you go. Now, Matthew tells us that this man was a scribe. For him to follow Jesus was going to be a sacrifice. I think he probably knew there would be some sacrifice involved, but I don’t think he understood the depth of the sacrifice that Jesus was actually calling on him to make. And so as we go through this first man story, we’re going to see that Jesus deserves any sacrifice we can endure. Anything that he puts in front of us that he says, this is the cost of following me. any price it costs us, he’s worthy of. For this man, there was going to be a sacrifice, and Jesus was worthy of him enduring that sacrifice. So what was this sacrifice?

Again, Matthew tells us that this man was a scribe. He was one of the religious leaders, and he came to Jesus here and said, I will follow you. This is a little bit unusual for one of these religious leaders to come to Jesus and say, I want to follow you. I want to go with you. Now, follow him where? If you look back just a few verses before this, back at Luke 9 51, it says, when the days were approaching for his ascension, he was determined to go to Jerusalem. He had made it very clear to everybody who was listening and paying attention that he was heading to Jerusalem. There were going to be a few stops on the way, but his ultimate destination was Jerusalem.

And when you take that, the fact that they all knew he was headed toward Jerusalem, and you pair that with the rampant misunderstandings that everybody has, that everybody has been dealing with in Luke chapter 9 about what it actually meant that Jesus was their king, that Jesus was the Messiah. You pair the going to Jerusalem with what they thought the Messiah was going to do. They’re thinking he’s going to Jerusalem because it’s time to set up the kingdom. And so this scribe believes in Jesus enough to say, I think he’s the real deal, but like his disciples, who also believed in him, they still didn’t understand what that meant. And they thought he was going to Jerusalem to be an earthly king. And this man says, I believe in him enough that I want to go and be part of that. He’s willing to make a little bit of a sacrifice to follow Jesus, to go with him, to set up his kingdom.

And if you think about it from their perspective, that was probably an exciting prospect. The Messiah has finally come. He’s going to usher in this golden age to Israel. Everything’s going to be wonderful, and I get to be there and see it happen. I get to be in on the ground floor. I get to be involved. Maybe there will be some place for me in the Messiah’s kingdom, sort of like when the disciples ask, can we be on your right hand and left hand? Everybody wants to be part of this. It’s a movement, and they’re willing to pay a little bit of a price to be part of this, but we know this man misunderstood something because Jesus’ response only makes sense if he misunderstood. This man basically professes loyalty to Jesus, and Jesus says, hold up here, there’s sacrifice involved. There’s going to be a cost here. That tells us that the man did not fully understand.

what it was going to cost him to follow Jesus in the way that he was talking about. He says in verse 58, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Now, if you’re like me, you’ve probably read this before and thought, okay, he’s just making the point that it’s going to be tough. If you want to follow me, you’re going to be deprived of some things. It’s not always going to be easy. And that is absolutely true. That is absolutely true as far as it goes. But I find myself, as I read the biblical text, a lot of times asking why. Why did he say that? Seriously, of all the examples he could have used, why in the world did he talk about foxes and birds? Is this a common expression? It doesn’t seem to be a common idiom that they would have used that I could have found, that I could find.

And so I start digging into, where does the Bible mention these creatures otherwise? Trying to understand why, as he’s talking to that group of people, why he would use these animals as examples. And the first thing we notice is that foxes are unclean animals under Jewish law. Under the Old Testament law, you could not eat foxes. First of all, Madeline, good news, right? Her favorite animal. You could not eat foxes. Really weren’t supposed to handle foxes. You didn’t want foxes around for a number of reasons. Not only are they unclean, they’re kind of scavengers, but they’re also predators. They’ll attack your chickens. They might attack people. They’re just not an animal that they were excited about having around. They were unclean. They were also considered to be just a little bit wily, a little bit devious. And the term fox was used as an insult.

I think Jesus even called King Herod a fox. That was not a compliment the way some people would use it today. It meant you’re sneaky and you’re up to something. So you’ve got something that was unclean, something that was despised, something that was not trusted. And then when you look at what Jesus says about birds elsewhere, he talks in multiple of the Gospels about birds not having much economic value. Later on in Luke 12, he talks about how you could buy five birds for a coin.

and he uses them as an example saying these birds are basically worthless but they don’t drop out of the sky without your father noticing so how much more does he care about you these birds are a symbol of something that’s worthless and when you look at those two things together what a fox would have meant to them what a bird would have meant to them I can’t help but see parallels between that and other people in the society that Jesus inhabited who were treated in the same way. The Gentiles were looked at like foxes. They were unclean. They weren’t trusted. The religious leader certainly didn’t want them around. Then you’ve got other people that even though they’re Jewish, they’re kind of outcast. They’re poor. they’re socially unacceptable, they’re crippled, and they just didn’t have very much value in the eyes of the elites.

And so I think on one hand, yes, Jesus is making a very clear surface point that there’s going to be a sacrifice here, because if you follow me, you’re not even going to have the basic expectation that you have a home of your own, because you’re going to wander from place to place like I do preaching the kingdom. But I think it goes further than that, because he compares himself to the foxes and the birds. And he says, even the unclean animal has their nest. Even the worthless animal has its roosting place, but the Son of Man has nothing. And I think this is something that they would have understood as saying, you’re coming in as a scribe. You’re coming in as one of the elite people. You’re coming in as somebody who’s respected and powerful and you’re part of the in crowd in this society.

But you’re wanting to follow me and I’m going to be as rejected in those circles as the Gentiles, as the poor, as the vulnerable. I think this is pointing out that he’s not going to Jerusalem to set up this earthly kingdom they’re anticipating. He is going to Jerusalem to be rejected by the very people that this scribe represents. And so not only are we talking here about sacrificing the comforts of home, we’re talking about sacrificing reputation. We’re talking about sacrificing social standing, maybe our dignity, if that’s what is required to follow Jesus. This scribe was a prominent man, but following him wherever he went was going to require humility and sacrifice. Salvation is absolutely free to us. Jesus has paid the cost. But there is absolutely a cost to us in following Him.

Now, when He tells this man, you know, you want to follow me, but I don’t have a home that even the foxes and the birds have. It’s not telling us that to follow Jesus we can’t have homes. Most of us in this room are in trouble. What it means is if we’re wanting to follow Him, if we desire to follow Him, especially if we desire to follow Him in the way that He deserves, we have to be willing to suffer. We have to be willing to be deprived. We have to be willing to be rejected. But he is worth the sacrifice. And then we come to the second man. And we see from his account that Jesus deserves to be our first priority. With this second man, Jesus actually approached him. He’s the only one of the three that Jesus approached about following him. The other two came to Jesus and just volunteered. This man, Jesus goes to him, and in verse 59 says, come follow me.

So in response, this man asks him in verse 59, Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father. Okay, that does not sound like an unreasonable request, does it? I think we would all say, yeah, go, go, do that, go take care of that. Jesus doesn’t say, go take care of that. Jesus says, let the dead bury their own dead. And for you and me, again, if we don’t look at it through the lens of what they would have understood and what that meant to them, it sounds like a very harsh response. But there’s a few things for us to consider. If the man’s father was already dead, it makes it sound like you can’t go to your father’s funeral. If the man was already dead, if the father was already dead, that’s exactly where he would be, is already burying his father. Unless there were some extraordinary, extenuating circumstances. When somebody died in that culture, they were buried before sundown.

You just didn’t dawdle and drag it out, and sometimes it’s a week later that you bury somebody here. Maybe longer. They buried them that day before sundown. If they died during the night, it was before the next sundown, unless it was the Sabbath. But they were supposed to be right on it. So if the man’s father was already dead and he’s saying, I want to go to the funeral, he would already be at the funeral. So for him to say, let me first go bury my father, he is either looking ahead and realizing my father’s old and he can’t live forever. Eventually he’s going to die. I want to be here for that. I want to be here with him. And so he’s saying, eventually I’ll come follow you. Let me put it off until it’s convenient.

Or he’s talking about something that happened a year after somebody died, when they would gather up the bones that were left, and they would reinter them in this ossuary, this bone box, and they would go and put it away, and that’s when the inheritance was distributed. So he’s either saying, let me wait until my father dies, whenever that’ll be, but whenever it’s convenient, I’ll come follow you. Or let me wait until we’ve reburied the bones and I’ve got all my money and I’ve tied up all my loose ends. What he is asking is not a simple, hey, can I go to my father’s funeral and I’ll be back in a few hours and then I’ll follow you. And Jesus is completely unreasonable and says, no, you come now or not at all. This man is saying, can I come and follow you when it’s convenient? Can I come follow you when it’s convenient?

So he’s attempting to delay discipleship until some future moment when it’s actually convenient. But I know this from experience, and you probably do too. If we come to Jesus with a mindset that says, I will follow you when it’s convenient, if we have some reason why we’re going to delay obedience to him, if we have some reason why we’re going to delay our devotion to him, there will always be another reason. It’s sort of like me and Weight Watchers, all right? I’ll do really well for a month, maybe two, and then I’ll fall off the wagon. We’ll have something delicious here at church, and I’ll fall off the wagon. I’ll start back tomorrow. Tomorrow comes, and it’s busy. I’ll start back Tuesday. Oh, wait, somebody’s having a birthday. Somebody is always having a birthday at my house.

or oh the the grandparents are going to be in town this weekend they’re going to want to go eat well i can’t not have solaces okay there is always a reason to put it off till tomorrow getting back on if you’re waiting for it to be convenient to follow jesus there will always be something that you say oh it can wait till just a little bit longer let me take care of this first but then as soon as we take care of this, there’s something else on the horizon. Oh, just a few more days, just a little while longer. That’s what this man was doing. But the excuses aren’t worth it because Jesus deserves to be our priority. That’s why he told the man, let the dead bury their dead. What he meant by that is the spiritually dead, those who did not know him, let them go deal with these earthly concerns.

All of the things that you think you’ve got to work out, all the loose ends that you’ve got to tie up, all the ducks you’ve got to get in a row, all the cliches and idioms that we use to excuse putting off obeying Jesus. He says, let the people who don’t follow me deal with those earthly concerns. You just follow me. The time for us to follow him is always today. And I say that recognizing that that is a very easy thing to say and a very difficult thing to do consistently. But that is the goal we shoot for as believers. To not consistently say, oh, whatever he’s called me to do here that I’m putting off, I’ll do it tomorrow. Or I’ll do it when I take care of this or that. If he’s calling you to do it today, step out and do it today. He deserves to be our top priority. And then we see with this third man that Jesus deserves our full devotion.

The third man came to Jesus offering to follow him. But again, only if he could go home and say goodbye to his family. In verse 61. Now again, that sounds reasonable. But what he’s talking about here is really going home and setting his affairs in order. Again, not something evil. something pretty responsible, actually. Let me go home, let my family know what’s going on, let us make plans for the contingency, what they’re supposed to do in my absence, let’s figure this out, and then I’ll come follow you. But Jesus’ response, and all of that still sounds reasonable, until you look at Jesus’ response and see from Jesus’ response that he saw something in the man that we don’t see. And what he saw in the man based on his response was that this man was committed with half of his heart to serve Jesus and was committed with half of his heart to being back at home.

Because Jesus’ response, Jesus’ response in verse 62 is, no one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. I don’t think that’s talking about salvation, because they’re talking about following him. They’re talking about service in the kingdom. but nobody putting their hand to the plow and looking back is fit for service in that kingdom. If you want to serve God, your focus needs to be on Him. Again, that does not mean that we should be irresponsible. Balance your checkbook, pay your bills, do the things we’re supposed to do. It’s talking about where our hearts are and where our focus is. For somebody to look back from the plow. Now, this is a biblical metaphor that’s actually really easy to understand, because I’ve gardened enough to know. I’ve even used an old plow. Apparently, you’re supposed to hook it up to horses.

It makes it easier, but you can try to push it, too, if you want. Don’t recommend it. But whether you’ve got a plow or a tiller or whatever you’re trying to do, if you’re trying to get those rows ready for cultivation, you want to look forward straight into the distance because then you’re always headed toward that mark and you’re going to plow a straight line. If you’re plowing or tilling, whatever it is, and you’re looking all over the place, pretty soon you’re going to be twisting and turning and all over the place. And you make a mess and you don’t do it right. And the same thing is true. If we’re trying to serve the Lord, but our hearts are everywhere else, we’re not going to be able to plow straight rows. We’re going to make a mess.

When we literally look back from the plow, we lose focus, we make a mess, this kind of looking back is the spiritual equivalent, and it shows that there’s a half-hearted devotion to Jesus. He deserves our full devotion. Jesus deserves more than half of our heart. there’s no part of our lives that Jesus does not deserve to be Lord of. And again, that is extraordinarily easy to say and very difficult to live out. But the question that I have to ask myself when I find myself struggling with this, and maybe it’ll help you as well, is to mentally make a list of all the parts of my life that Jesus doesn’t deserve. And when I think about it in those terms, I cannot bring myself to say out loud that he does not deserve to be Lord of this or that, and I realize how foolish I’ve been. This man, his problem was not that he wanted to set affairs in order and be responsible.

His problem was what Jesus saw beyond that, that his heart was halfway in it. When Jesus deserves our whole heart. So we look at these three men. We see what they had in mind about being as disciples. They had some desire to follow Jesus. but there was something that was lacking in each of them. And we look at these men and this really happened. God’s word teaches it like it really happened. But I think we can also look and see ourselves in one or more of these men. Maybe all three, maybe different ones at varying times. And so the question that you and I need to ask ourselves and that we need to answer is, are we living as the kind of disciple that Jesus deserves? And some days the answer might be yes for you. Some days the answer might be no. And we don’t ask that just so we can answer no and then feel bad about it and continue to feel bad about it. We ask this question of ourselves.

We compare ourselves. We hold up the mirror of Scripture to our lives to see where we fall short so that it can be fixed. And if we come to a point where we say, Lord, I’m trying to hold back from you in this and not give you my full devotion in this area, will you help me turn it over to you? He’ll do it. Father, I find that I’m not willing to count the cost and pay the cost to follow Jesus. Will you help me become willing? He’ll help us. Father, I’ve been putting my priorities in the wrong order. Will you help me? And he’ll help us. Folks, those are prayers that God delights to answer. Those prayers that make us more like Jesus and help us to follow him more effectively. So this morning with these three very simple stories, I just want us to look at these men and learn from where they fell short.

and learn to identify these things in ourselves so that we can be the kinds of disciples that Jesus deserves to have. of.

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