Image by Alastair Dunning via Flickr

 

“…I Will Follow You…”

 

Luke 9:61 – 62: “And another also said, ‘Lord, I will follow you; 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 plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’”

 

This seems like a harsh standard on the part of Jesus, but it is what following God requires. Now there is a part of this standard that we all seem to overlook: none of us are fit for the Kingdom of God. None of us can earn our way into God’s Kingdom. Each and every one of us will fail God at some point. This does not mean that God will reject us. It does not mean that God does not want us to try.

 

Each one of us has come to God with a sincere and honest desire to follow God. We have every intention of making our best effort to do what God wants us to do. Unfortunately, good intentions only get you so far. If we take this teaching of Jesus at face value, then all of us should not even bother to come to God. None of us are worthy of salvation. So accept our fate and move no.

 

But contrast this verse with John 6:37:

 

“All that the Father gives me shall come to me; and he who comes to me I will in no wise cast out.”

 

Is there a contradiction in teachings here? Not really. I notice that in Luke’s passage Jesus is telling us that we are not fit for the Kingdom of God. He does not say that He will not accept us. Jesus was dealing with a specific situation and we run into problems when we take the response of Jesus to a specific situation or person and then try to give it universal application without first checking to make sure it has that kind of application.

 

Jesus was addressing a half-hearted commitment in Luke’s passage. Jesus was calling out to people to follow; but each person wanted to negotiate with Him before committing. Their hearts were not in it. I believe that this is the key to the response of Jesus. They were not sincere about their following God. But by contrast in John’s passage Jesus notes that God has to be the one bringing each person to Jesus. As God draws us, our hearts are responding. Anyone who comes to Jesus sincerely will be accepted by Jesus. Neither God nor Jesus are willing to let anyone go to Hell. Both will do all that They can to encourage each person to come to them. The invitation is made to all.

 

Someone once complained that “How can God let someone go to Hell?” In response the minister pointed out that in order for someone to get to Hell they have to step over the body of Jesus who is blocking the road to keep them out. They have to knock Him down as He stands in front of the door yelling for us to go back. They have to pry the fingers of Jesus off of the doorknob that opens the door to Hell, and then tear the hands of Jesus off their arm and leg as He tries to hold them back from jumping through the door. Jesus has done everything He can do to keep us from going there. The only thing He did not do or cannot do is make the decision for us.

 

So the invitation is made to all: “Follow me.” But the response must be sincere. People who go forward to an invitation as “fire insurance” and there is not commitment in the effort run the risk that if it is not a sincere response to God; God may fail to recognize it. God wants to recognize it; but there is a legal system controlling how we are saved. God cannot ignore those legal requirements.

 

In a legal system we have to sign the contract for the contract to be binding. A half-hearted commitment is not signing the contract. It’s picking it up. It’s putting it into your pocket and offering to look at it later. But until you take it out of the pocket, open it up and sign it; it is not a commitment. If you are willing to commit; then Jesus will do all He can to bring you into the fold and make you one of His own.

 

The choice to follow Jesus is the most important choice you can make. While the acceptance of Jesus as our Savior is the first step in following Jesus, the decision to follow Jesus is not just a one-time thing. Now don’t misunderstand me. The decision to accept the offer of Jesus to save us is a one-time decision. It is binding for the rest of our lives. It’s the signature on the contract that lasts forever. But following Jesus is the daily decision. Success is rarely by accident. It is a focus of the mind and the heart.

 

We take up the cross daily. This expression literally means that each day we have to make the decision of dying for Christ. We take our desires, our plans, and our goals and kill them. We then replace them with God’s desires, God’s plans and God’s goals. If we don’t make this conscious decision each day, then we lose our focus. Our goals begin to slip back in. Our plans begin to have priority. And without coming back and making this conscious effort each day to do what God wants us to do our focus is lost.

 

You might wonder why Jesus used the expression of putting your hand to the plough. There is a very specific reason and unless you’ve heard the reason or actually plowed a field, you miss it. To plow a field the old-fashioned way with a horse and plough involved focus. You had to pick a point at the other end of the field and keep your eyes focused on that point. That point has to become your goal – your only goal. And as your focus is on that point and nothing else, everything involved in plowing the field follows.

 

However, if you start to plow that row and start looking around, the focus is lost. The horse veers to the left or right. The row is curved or crooked. But an experienced farmer sets the plough in place. He focuses on the exact spot where he needs this plough to go. His mind draws a straight line from where he is to where he wants to be. He then starts the horse and guides the horse by keeping his eyes focused on the point ahead.

 

Christ is the point on the other side of life that we want to reach. Where we are is our place in life right now. We need to focus on the goal. We need to commit to reaching it. These efforts will create a straight line toward Jesus and the focus will keep us on the path.

 

When a farmer realizes that he has made a mistake, he stops. He repositions the plough. He resets his focus and starts again. If he doesn’t reset the plough he adds to the mistake. In some cases he may have to go back to where he lost the focus and start from there. But to succeed he has to keep the same point in focus. Jesus is that point that we must focus on. He is the constant in our life.

 

If you find that your walk with God is not as close as it once was; or the desire to follow God is not as strong as you want it to be; it involves coming back and making the commitment once more. And then you need to make the commitment to commit – each day.