But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” 

—Luke 9:62

As we are looking forward in life, it is so important to put our hand to the plow and serve the Lord.

You might say, “I’m going to wait until I get a little bit older before I really start serving Jesus. Maybe when I’m around 95, I’ll really get serious. I want to have a little fun first. I still want to do some things that interest me personally. I believe in Jesus and want to follow Him, but I will get serious later.”

No, you need to do it now.

Jesus said, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62 NKJV).

To appreciate the point Jesus was making, we have to understand the land in Israel. Putting your hand to the plow meant moving at the decisive moment. It meant moving when it rains.

Between May and October there is hardly any rain in Israel. The ground is dry and hard, and everyone would wait for the first rain. First-century farmers didn’t have the advanced irrigation systems that we have now.

So when the rain came, it was a decisive moment. Whether it was 3:00 PM or 3:00 AM, once it started raining, farmers had to go out with their plows and seed while the ground was still moist. And with their eyes on the furrow, they went forward.

In the same way, we must be aware of the danger and tragedy of the unseized moment. God will bring opportunities into our lives to go out and make a difference, and we have to seize them. If we wait or if we’re not paying attention, we might miss them. And we might become so set in our ways that we’ll have no interest whatsoever in the things of God.

Put your hand to the plow now—and don’t look back.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” 

—Luke 9:61

Scripture: Luke 9:61

Some restaurants present you with a dessert menu, while others tempt you with a dessert tray they bring to your table. On one such occasion I said to the people I was having dinner with, “Let’s get dessert, because I’m going on a diet tomorrow.”

Everyone at the table started laughing at the same time. When I asked why, they told me, “You say that every time you order dessert.” I didn’t realize it, but that was my go-to excuse for getting dessert.

In Luke’s Gospel we read about someone who said to Jesus, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house” (Luke 9:61 NKJV). At first glance, this doesn’t seem like an unreasonable request. After all, what is wrong with saying goodbye to family and friends?

Jesus knew this person’s heart wasn’t right. Being God, He could see into a person. He knew his loyalty was divided. Jesus was saying, “It’s time for you to make a commitment.”

We find the root of the problem in this statement: “Lord, I will follow You, but . . .” This person really didn’t want to follow the Lord.

If Jesus really is the Lord of our lives, then we will follow Him. There is no if, and, or but about it.

What this person was saying is, “I don’t want trouble at home. I don’t want trouble with the family. I need to go and say goodbye for a while. I just don’t want friction.”

Here’s something to consider: you will either have friction in your relationship with God and harmony with people or have harmony with God and friction with people.

If you’re a completely committed follower of Jesus Christ, then you will have friction with some members of your family and certain friends, specifically those who do not want to follow Jesus Christ.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father. 

—Luke 9:59

Scripture:

Luke 9:59 

Listen

If you didn’t understand the culture of the day, it would seem rather heartless of the Lord to say what He said: “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:60 NKJV).

Jesus had just called someone to follow Him, but the man replied, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father” (verse 59 NKJV). It would seem to us that this man’s father just died, and he was getting ready to bury him.

But that wasn’t the case. This was a Near Eastern figure of speech referring to a son’s responsibility to help his father in the family business until the father died and the inheritance was distributed.

So, when Jesus said, “Follow Me,” it appears the man already was a believer, and this was a call to service. It seems as though the Lord was calling him to a deeper level of commitment.

But this person was making excuses. He was saying, “I have to wait until Dad is gone and the inheritance is divided. I can’t make a commitment like that right now.” He was playing for time, believing that when his father eventually did grow old and die, Jesus would be long gone and he wouldn’t have to worry about it.

Has God called you to serve Him in some capacity? Maybe He has spoken to your heart and said, “I want you to serve Me with the gifts that I have given you.”

But you’re saying, “I would love to, but I am so busy here. I have this business. I have this passion. I’m a little too busy to serve You right now. I have bills to pay, fun to experience, and family to be involved with. I just don’t have time.”

Don’t be like this person and make up excuses. Respond to His call.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. 

—1 Corinthians 10:23

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 10:23 

There’s a common question Christians ask that may indicate a spiritual problem in their lives: “Can you be a Christian and still . . . ?” (Fill in the blank.) In other words, “Can I get away with this and still technically be saved?”

Instead, what we ought to ask is, “Because I am a Christian, how can I best serve the Lord? What can I do to grow spiritually?”

If you’ve ever wondered about what’s okay for a Christian to do, consider these questions.

Does it build me up spiritually? Does this thing that you want to do promote growth in your Christian character? Some things in life can tear you down because they tear you away from the people of God or dull your hunger for the Word of God.

Does it bring me under its power? Some Christians say they have the freedom to do a certain thing because they can handle it. They can control it. But does it bring them under its power? Can they go through a day without it? If not, then it isn’t freedom.

Do I have an uneasy conscience about it? There might be something that you feel uneasy about doing. It just doesn’t feel right. Romans 14:23 says, “For whatever is not from faith is sin” (NKJV). We’re all different. One believer may do a certain thing, but that very thing could harm you spiritually.

Could it cause someone to stumble? You may have the liberty to do something, such as go to this movie or watch that TV show. But if it bothers another believer, be sensitive to that. As Christians, we don’t live unto ourselves. We have an effect on others.

All too often people who are interested in following Jesus don’t want to let go of things that will slow them down. We need to count the cost.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, ‘Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.’ 

—Luke 9:57

Scripture:

Luke 9:57 

Some people start their new life in Christ with great promise but then suddenly fall away. Others start off with no apparent promise whatsoever, but they seem to gain strength as time goes by.

The Bible tells us, “The end of a thing is better than its beginning; the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit” (Ecclesiastes 7:8 NKJV).

Nonbelievers can get excited in the emotion of a moment. Maybe they admire a Christian’s commitment, joy, and dedication, so they say, “I like this. I’m going to become a Christian.”

But are they prepared to really be a Christian? Do they understand what it means?

The Bible tells us about a man who approached Jesus and said, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go” (Luke 9:57 NKJV). Matthew’s Gospel tells us that he was a scribe (see 8:19).

That detail may not mean a lot to us today, but it is significant. The scribes were authorities in Jewish law. They were the scholarly class of Jewish society. And typically they were teachers themselves, not followers of other teachers.

So, it was notable for a man of this social position to go to Jesus and say what he said. This is what we might call a celebrity convert. If you looked at Jesus’ ragtag little group at this point, you would have expected Him to say, “Buddy, come on board! I would like you to stand at the front of the line.”

Instead, Jesus said something that almost seemed to repel the man: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Luke 9:58 NKJV). In a sense, Jesus was checking his motives.

We want the glory, but are we prepared to make the sacrifice? Are we ready to take up our cross and follow Jesus Christ? Are we prepared to obey God?

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But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, ‘These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.’ 

—Acts 17:6

Scripture:

Acts 17:6 

Some Christians have been raised in Christian homes, while others of us have lived on both sides of the fence. We know what it’s like to live without Christ and how empty and pointless it is.

Then we made a commitment to follow Jesus Christ, and incredible changes took place in our lives. We discovered there is a God who loves us and has a unique, custom-made plan for our lives.

We also discovered that becoming a Christian is more than just saying a prayer and having the assurance of Heaven. We realized that being a Christian means following Jesus not just as our Savior but also as our Lord.

The problem is there are people in the church today who name the name of Christ but haven’t discovered what it means to follow Him. They haven’t discovered that being a Christian is more than just saying a prayer and then going on their merry way.

And sadly, many are settling for a brand of Christianity that isn’t biblical, one that embraces Jesus as Savior but neglects Him as Lord. It is big on self-esteem, but it is small on self-denial. It celebrates success but repudiates suffering. This brand of Christianity is not changing our world.

The church of the first century, the church we read about in the book of Acts, transformed their culture. People described Christians as “these who have turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6 NKJV). If our faith is not turning us upside down, then it certainly isn’t going to turn our world upside down.

We need to get back to the Christian life as it’s presented in the New Testament, which was a muscular Christianity and not a watered-down, anemic version of it. We need a first-century belief system, the kind the apostles lived and that Jesus taught, the kind that can turn our world around.

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