Have you decided?

(My article from CCF Insight Fall 2011)

Since around two years ago, CCF Friday nights present a “question of the week” to encourage deep discussion among brothers and sisters after the Friday program. This question also served to make people think and reflect. I remember one of the questions was geared towards the definition of being a Christian. It started as “What is a Christian?” but it was changed to “Are you a Christian?” which became a lot more personal and bothering. But it was an excellent question to reflect upon what truths constitute a disciple of Christ, and whether our lives are actually consistent with these truths.

I want to look at the passage on Luke 9:57-62 to present some common misunderstanding of what a disciple of Christ is.

1) Not understanding the cost of following Christ

“As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’

Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’” – Luke 9:57

The first person came and exclaimed that he will follow Jesus wherever He goes. This is definitely a very bold statement that we desire every brother and sister to say. But when we read Jesus’ reply, He talks about the difficulty of following Him, that even wild animals have a place of refuge but that the Son of Man (Jesus Himself) has no place to lay his head. I think Jesus is referring that to follow Him is not like a nice walk in the park, but there will be valleys and deserts; meaning suffering, trials, and uncertainty will certainly be part of this path.

Being a Christian is not about consistently attending church and fellowship, being nice to everyone, and avoiding doing any visible bad things; but it is about giving up our lives to Christ [1], to believe that He is Lord of our lives [2], to follow Him in all circumstances [3], no matter how good or how bad they are.

This decision is not something that others can impose on you, but you have to make it your own by understanding the implications of following Christ [4]. For those who have attended church your whole life, how did you come with the decision of following Christ? Can you verbalize why are you following Christ? Do you understand the cost of following Jesus?

2) Placing culture and traditions above following Christ

“He said to another man, ‘Follow me.’

 But the man replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’

 Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’”
 – Luke 9:59-60

This time, Jesus calls a man to follow Him, but the man wants to bury his father first. This sounds like a very legit reason so far. It seems that Jesus is slightly harsh by saying that the man should go and proclaim the kingdom of God instead of fulfilling a parent-honouring deed. After all, we are called to honour our parents [5].

To bring some cultural context, honouring parents is a big deal for the Jews and properly burying his father is considered a very important last act in honouring him. Therefore, this man seems to have a valid reason to wait before following the call from Christ.

So what was the issue? Some commentators say that if the man’s father was really close to death or if he just died, the man should be accompanying his father at this very moment instead of being there with Jesus. So it can be speculated that the man’s father has been dead for a while. The Jews observe a tradition of mourning for 30 days after the person’s death, so this man might be referring that he needs to attend to this matter. The other speculation is that the man’s father is alive, not close to death at all, and with many years to live. So it is likely that he is making some sort of an excuse to postpone following Christ.

The point is that obeying the call of God is more important than cultural traditions and values [6].

The way I live my faith is sometimes influenced by the Chinese culture, which highly values school success and job stability. There are times when the pursuit of these things takes precedence over obeying the call of God. For example, there are decisions about whether I should spend more time in getting good marks versus committing to serve in the fellowship. I have heard reasons supporting not serving in the fellowship because people want to glorify God through school. I do agree that the pursuit of doing well in school can bring God glory and create opportunities to witness Christ. My challenge to this reasoning is whether the person is pursuing academic excellence because he is obeying God’s call or because he is driven by what the culture values. There is a danger of using this type of argument that sounds nice, but it is not rooted in obedience to Christ. The same applies for people who focus only on serving in the fellowship, because this pursuit of serving can become idolatry if it is not rooted in obeying Christ.  

The pursuit to obey the call of Christ should be what a disciple of Christ values the most.

3)  Imposing their own terms about Christianity

“Still another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.’

 Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’” – Luke 9:61-62

This person offers to follow Jesus, but he wants to go back and say farewell to his family. This sounds very reasonable, but it also sounds that he is imposing his own terms and conditions before obeying Christ. Perhaps there are things of his old ways he is not willing to give up, which makes sense when Jesus replies and talks about how people who look back are not fit for service in the kingdom of God.

To follow Christ is to surrender every single aspect of our lives to Him. We know Jesus is our Saviour, but He is also the Lord of our lives. We cannot surrender Fridays (fellowship) and Sundays (church) to Christ, but live in our own terms during other days.

Every disciple of Christ is called to proclaim the gospel and serve just as Jesus did [7]. In occasions we might have to go beyond our comfort zone, like being bold to share the gospel to a friend. And it is easy to make an excuse that we don’t need to say a word about the gospel because actions alone are enough. But Jesus did not just show actions but he also preached the kingdom message boldly. Another example is regarding stepping up for a leadership position which can be intimidating for many. It is easy to say that “I am not good enough” or “I don’t have enough time”. In some cases these are valid reasons, but in most cases it is easy for us to make these excuses because we are imposing our own conditions in how we spend time or in how much we want to be challenged. If God calls us to serve, we have to trust and rest assured that He will provide what we need.

Christianity is not about us, but about Christ who graciously call us to follow Him. He is the Master [8], and we are His followers.

Conclusion

A Christian disciple is someone who follows Christ. To follow Christ is to leave everything behind and surrender our lives to Him. It’s true that there are things that are very tough to give up. But Christ calls us graciously, saving mere sinners like us [9]. To follow Christ is to place Him as our most precious treasure [10], and we find our sense of worth in Him because Jesus Christ died for us in the cross.  He lived the perfect and righteous life that we cannot live, and suffered the punishment of our sins [11]; so that anyone who believes and receives Jesus Christ will be saved [12] and regenerated into a new person [13], who is enabled to do good works by following Jesus. All this is given by sheer grace alone [14]. All this is for the praise of God’s glory.

God who calls, will provide and empower us, we just need to yield and obey. It is either following Christ or not following Christ, there is no middle ground.

"I have decided, to follow Jesus,
I have decided, to follow Jesus,
I have decided, to follow Jesus,
No turning back, no turning back." [15]

Reference

[1] Luke 14:33
[2] Colossians 2:6-7
[3] Luke 14:27
[4] Luke 14:25-34
[5] Deuteronomy 5:16
[6] Matthew 15:1-9
[7] Matthew 28:18-20
[8] John 15:20
[9] Romans 5:8
[10] Philippians 3:8
[11] 2 Corinthians 5:21
[12] John 1:12
[13] Titus 3:5
[14] Ephesians 2:8-9
[15] “I have decided to follow Jesus” song by William J. Reynolds