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Slow Change

Mark Dunagan
05/27/18 - Sunday Evening

Slow Change

“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 and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Luke 9:57-58).

Wherever You Go

In this conversation a very enthusiastic individual approaches Jesus and says, “I will follow You wherever You go”. Jesus responds by reminding him of the real cost of wherever. “If you follow Me you may end up sleeping on the bare ground at night. Are you prepared for that particular wherever? Thus in other passages Jesus reminds us that the actual personal cost of following Him is going to be very high. Only people who love Him more than the most intimate family relationships and even more than their own personal comfort and life, will be able to pay the cost (Luke 14:26). When He says uses the phrase, “cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26-27), He is saying that a person who does not love Him above even his own life and a person who is not willing to pick up his cross each and every day, is simply not going to stick with it. That person will not be able to finish (Luke 14:30).

Permit Me First

“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’” (Luke 9:59-60).

This passage has always puzzled people in every generation because the desire to take care of your father’s funeral arrangements seems like something that Jesus would say, “Oh yes, that is important, that is part of being a good person and a loving son. Certainly take care of that, make sure that your mother is properly cared for, tie up all the loose ends and then come and follow Me”. In like manner, we have some other verses that sound similar to these two verses:

“A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused’. Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused’. Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come’” (Luke 14:16-20).

Please Consider Me Excused

In the story is appears that each excuse-maker genuinely felt that his “reason” actually did excuse him. I find it more than just a coincidence that the excuses given are to this day considered to be valid excuses for putting God and the things of God on hold. When these men said, “Please consider me excused” and the men in Luke 9 said, “Permit me first”, what they were saying is that these things do take precedence over the things of God. Such things are more pressing, right? At the moment, this is more necessary, urgent and important, right? In fact, the last man, the one who had just married a wife in Luke 14:20 does not even asked to be excused, rather he simply says, For that reason I cannot come. Also observe that this invitation to the feast was not a surprise, they had already been invited (14:16).

Application

It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that things that seem urgent or that the world says are urgent, my schooling, my homework, my sports, my career, my job, my children, my marriage, my relationships, my hobbies or my relatives take precedence over serving or obeying God in a given moment. And equally thinking that God is willing in all those situations to take second place. The trouble with that sort of thinking or prioritizing is that God is always in second place (or worse) when that mindset is accepted.

“Another also said, ‘I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye 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” (Luke 9:60-61).

Some have said that this man should have already said all his goodbyes before he had come to Jesus. I see this man pursuing a path of slow change. Where my intentions are good (I want to follow Jesus) but it seems there is always something that gets in the way or takes precedence over really following Him fully. 

The Rich Young Ruler: Luke 18:18-27

Observe that this man believed in God and believed that Jesus had the answers (Luke 18:18). He equally claims that he is truly interested in being right with God and making it to heaven (18:18). Added to this he is a very moral man (18:20). Yet none of that was enough. What recently caught my attention in Jesus’ interaction with this man is that once it was clear that this rich man was not going to sell all and follow Him, Jesus did not say:

• “Well, it takes time. Sell a little bit each week”.
• “Eventually work up to selling all”.
• “If you can’t do that, then just do the best you can”.
• “You are probably at 80% of serving God, so don’t worry about the remaining 20%”.
• “You have plenty of time to finalize your decision”.
• “You are doing better than most”.
• “Life is a lot of one step forward, and two steps backward, so just keeping plugging away”.
• “Just keeping on baby-stepping”.

Can Anyone Live That Way?

At this point in the lesson someone might be thinking, “Well it just looks like what Jesus is requiring is impossible. No one has ever been able to put Him first, there are just too many competing demands from all sorts of directions”. Yet, this isn’t true, in fact, right after Jesus finishes speaking to the rich young ruler, Peter says:

• “Behold, we have left our own homes and followed You” (Luke 18:28). And Jesus does not correct or rebuke him, but agrees that Peter and others had done that (Luke 18:29). Even earlier in the Gospel of Luke we find the moment that this decision was made, “When they have brought their boats to the land, they left everything and followed Him” (Luke 5:11).
• We find the same thing stated in reference to Matthew the former tax-collector, “And he got up and followed Him” (Matthew 9:9).

The Danger of Slow Change

Like the apostles above I find that when people became Christians in the First Century that the change that took place in their lives was dramatic:

• “Such were some of you” (1 Corinthians 6:11)
• “For they themselves report about us what kind of reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9).
• “Who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me” (Philemon 11).

I don’t think that people are impressed by slow and gradual change, for there is no urgency behind it, no earnestness (2 Corinthians 7:11), no sense of getting rid of a behavior or attitude that will cost me eternal life. Or, failing to manifest a behavior that is necessary for spiritual maturity and remaining faithful (2 Peter 1:8 “and are increasing”). If there is something in my life that isn’t pleasing to God, Jesus did not say “work on it”. Rather, He said to cut it off and throw it from you (Matthew 5:30). When He invited people to follow Him, He did not say, “Follow me tomorrow”, rather the clear thrust of His invite was to follow Him “now”, “at this very moment” and without delay. Let us follow Him like that.

Mark Dunagan | mdunagan@frontier.com
Beaverton Church of Christ | 503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net