"No More Excuses"
Luke 9:59-62; Matthew 4:18-20
Not A Fan Series- 3/24/13

Introduction: Last week we looked at a “fan” in Luke chapter 9 who thought he wanted to be a follower. When Jesus spoke to him about what it would mean to follow, and how it would mean he would be homeless, the man was not able to give himself fully to Jesus. He did not want to make the commitment it would take to be a follower, even though he had initially told Jesus that he would go “wherever” Jesus went.

            This week we see how another person comes along and seemingly wants to follow Jesus, but when challenged with what it would require, he offers an excuse. Excuses are something we all do, some better than others. There is actually a website called The Mother of All Excuses. On this website are many excuses of why people missed work. Let me read a few of them to you….

·        I won’t be in today because I came down with Spring Fever.

·        I will be late to work because the pharmacy is mixing together a special ointment.

·        I can’t get to work today because the city is paving my street and I can’t get out.

·        Can’t make it in. I have a chance of filling in for someone on jury duty.

The excuse the man gave to Jesus of not being able to follow Him right away is that he had to go and bury his father. It seems this man has agreed to follow Jesus, but in essence he is telling Jesus he will do it later.

I.                   I Will Follow Tomorrow- (Luke 9:59-62; Matthew 4:18-20)

a.      Now is not a good time- At first glance, this man seems willing. It appears that he wants to accept the invitation to follow. He starts off by calling Jesus "Lord." It is the same title that a slave would give his master. But then his tone seems to change as he says to Jesus, the word "first." Here comes the stipulation. He wants to take time to go and bury his father. It sees to be a reasonable request. Isn't family important? Shouldn't he take care of his family obligations first?
             Yet, what he is really saying is that he wants to follow Jesus, but now is not a good time. He is giving Jesus an excuse to put Him off for a while. Jesus doesn't seem to be interested in this man's excuse, as Jesus tells him to let the dead bury the dead. Does this sound a little harsh to you? Is Jesus being inflexible? Looking at the tradition closer, we see that what the man is really saying is that he will follow Jesus after his parents die. When they are dead and buried, then he will make time to follow Jesus. 
               There could be reasons he is saying this to Jesus. Maybe this is because they would not approve of their son following Jesus. Maybe he was expected to carry on the family business. Maybe he was waiting to get his share of the inheritance. Whatever the reason is, the essence of his excuse is that he is not quite ready to follow Jesus. He is telling Jesus that he will follow Him tomorrow; he will follow another day.
               Let's compare this to those whom Jesus first called to follow Him. Let's read again from Matthew chapter 4: "As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him."

            The words that are important for us to notice here are “at once,” and “immediately.” That is the kind of commitment that Jesus is looking for. That is the kind of follower Jesus desires. Simon, Andrew, James, and John did not tell Jesus they would follow tomorrow. They could have, for they were right in the middle of doing their job; they were with their father. Yet, they followed Jesus right away!

            How often do you have something on your “to do” list, but you don’t get it done, so you put it off for tomorrow? I have an in box on my desk, and in the “in box” are several folders. There are a couple of folders where I have things/ I might get to/ at sometime. They are my “to do tomorrow” folders.

b.      Check engine light- For the fans who are always telling Jesus

“tomorrow,” you can see that tomorrow only comes when there is some kind of great struggle or tragedy that happens in their life. They have put Jesus off for so long, that it takes something significant happening in their life to think about giving their life over to Jesus!

            At first, Jesus maybe just speaks the words “follow me.” Then as time goes by He speaks it a little louder. Then in time, for you to hear it at all, Jesus needs to shout it. EX. It’s like driving a car. There is routine maintenance that you have to do. Change the filters, get the oil changed, change the wipers, etc… However, some people let time go by, not taking the time to do this maintenance. Then one day the “check engine” light comes on, causing the person to HAVE to do something.

            Think about this, what if you put a piece of tape over your “check engine” light. Then you wouldn’t see it, and you wouldn’t have to do anything about it. Right? WRONG. Just ignoring it, or covering it up isn’t going to make the problem go away. At some point ignoring it could even cause the death of your car.

            The “check engine” light is a warning to let you know that you have to fix the car. In essence we have a “check engine” light in our life. This light is that still small voice that says to us that things aren’t right. Maybe you are not experiencing peace in your life. Maybe you feel lost and have no real direction. Maybe you feel like your life is out of control. Maybe you have experienced great heartache. These are all signs that are there to get your attention so that you will turn your life fully over to Jesus!

            Ex. I remember when I first accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord. Well, the truth is I just accepted Him as my Savior, I didn’t allow Him to be my Lord. I was in high school, and was going to our youth group each week. But I hadn’t given myself fully over to Him. If I had, I wouldn’t have done what I did next. I began to hang around some kids who were making bad decisions. I began to make some bad decisions as well. Not all the time, but some; enough to cause me to stop going to church. I then got a job cleaning an office, and that happened to be on Wednesdays and Sundays; the two days I had gone to church. Every week my friend would call and invite me to church, and every week I had the same excuse: I had to work! One day I found out I got fired from the job because they said I stole an ashtray from one of the desks (which I hadn’t). The NEXT DAY my friend called and invited me to church, and this time I didn’t have an excuse. I went, and the Holy Spirit convicted me of my sin, I re-dedicated my life to God, and began to poor myself into being His disciple. How different my life is now because I made that choice to follow!!

II.                Later Becomes Never- (Hebrews 3:15)

a.      Hitting the snooze button- The most dangerous part of following Jesus

tomorrow, isn’t what you will lose between now and then. The worst thing that can happen is that tomorrow might never come. The truth is, the longer you put Him off, the more likely it is that following Him will never happen!

            Saying “tomorrow” to Jesus is like hitting the snooze button on your alarm. Do you do this, hit the snooze button? Why do you do it? To get a few more minutes of sleep. Often times, people who hit the snooze button/ get into a pattern where each day it happens a little bit more. Meaning, the first day the alarm goes off, you hit the snooze button, 5 minutes goes by, the alarm goes off again. And you get up. The next day you might hit the snooze button two times. The day after that, three times. The more you hit the snooze button, the harder it is to hear because you begin to teach yourself to sleep right through it.

            Jesus tells you to “follow me” but you in essence hit the snooze button, telling Him “five more minutes.” The more you put Him off the less likely He is to get your attention the next time.

            We are creatures of habit. So, when we begin to form our behavior and decision making patterns, that behavior stays with us in our life. What we do today we will probably do tomorrow. The only way this will change is for us to have some very intentional behavior modification, with the help of friends and/or loved ones to change our patterns. We have to teach ourselves to not hit the snooze button. And then practice this over, and over, and over again, until we have developed new patterns of behavior.

b.      Do not harden your heart- The writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews

3:15, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” The best time for us to make a commitment to follow, is today; right now! We have this tendency to harden ourselves/   against that which we don’t want to deal with. Whether it is a sin, or learning how to be generous, or talking to others about Jesus, or making Christ the number one priority in our life, the time to do it is now.

            Every once in a while I decide to re-read over some of my journaling. This last week I did just this, and this is the first page I turned to:

            “Good morning Lord. Today I think about relationships and pattern of living. The relationship I am most pleased with is my relationship with Jesus Christ. Without Jesus, my life would be quite different. I know that before I let Jesus guide my life, I followed friends who were not connected with Jesus! This led me to experience many problems in my life.

            I also think about the daily rhythm of my life. I realize that when my daily rhythm is not rooted in You, Lord, then I can get too comfortable with my life and not serve You or follow You faithfully. It can lead to boredom or monotony. Help me to see this day as an opportunity to live for You. Help me to rest in You. I pray that You would pour Your Spirit into me so that I might live for You. So I give You this day, as I know that You are the One who gives it to me.”

            When I journal, I seek to hear the voice of God. I seek to allow God to chip away at any hardness in my heart that might keep me from following Him. I try and allow God’s Spirit to give me perspective on what I am doing well in following Jesus, and where I need to follow better.

Conclusion: If we are not careful, we become like the man who didn’t want to follow Jesus today. If we are not careful, we will make excuses that keep us from being a follower of Jesus. If we are not careful, we will not allow following Jesus to be our priority. When you think about where your priorities should be, let Your heart and mind be drawn to Jesus.

            I want to challenge you today to not allow one more day to go by, but make a commitment to follow Jesus fully today. I challenge you to look at your life, and see what you need to give to Jesus. Let it be today. Don’t hit the snooze button, but like the first disciples, choose to do it immediately; choose to do it now.

            Jesus says to us: Follow Me. Jesus says this not as a suggestion, but as a command. We would do well to listen to the voice of Jesus, knowing that Jesus understands what is important in this life, what is important for our lives. Don’t allow yourself to stand on the sideline and be a fan. Get yourself into the game. Let’s follow Jesus with great zeal, this day, and every day. Amen.