The Life of Christ

By Jesus ’ response to this man, we find it unwise to commit to any measure of following the Lord until we have counted the cost.

• The fact that Jesus has nowhere to lay His head says there are no assurances when it comes to comforts or securities when we serve in the kingdom.

Lk. 9:59 And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Permit me first to go and bury my father.”

To bury the dead usually meant that the father hadn't yet died; afterward this man thought he would try to catch up with Jesus.

• Jesus backs one off, while encouraging the other.

• The strategy of the Spirit is to always address us from whichever side needs adjustment.

• Jesus will either comfort the afflicted or afflict the comforted!

Lk. 9:60-61 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.” 61 And another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.”

When following the Lord, there are no “if, ands, or buts” !

• The Lord demands full, uncompromising obedience in all matters of life.

To look back is to compromise.

•

Lk. 9:62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

The reason the ploughman must not look back was not because he would fail to plough in a straight line.

• Rather, it was because he needed all his concentration so that he might push down hard and dig deep enough into the ground. 33

• Ps. 63:8 (KJV) says, “My soul follows hard after thee. . .”

• To “follow hard” is to not look back but throw all our concentration into the effort of serving God today, and not thinking about what might have been, or what we left behind.

• Rather than look back, we are to follow Paul’s admonition from Phil. 3:13 that says, “forgetting those things which are behind.”

33 Gower, The New Manners & Customs of Bible Times (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1987), 93.

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