I Will Follow You, But....

Luke 9:57-62: Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

What a sobering message Jesus gave to someone who claimed that he would follow Jesus wherever He went. Jesus is essentially saying that a follower of His will be marked by three things:

1. You will be rejected wherever you go.

“Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

2. Your primary focus in life will be to go and preach the kingdom of God.

“Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”

3. If you think twice about your commitment to Jesus, you are not fit to follow Him.
“No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Jesus seems to be moving from the end result to the root cause in these verses. The end result is that they will be rejected. The root cause for this rejection is wholeheartedly following Jesus. In the middle, we see that a wholehearted follower of Jesus will be primarily focused with preaching the kingdom of God.

In summary, if you have a complete commitment to follow Christ (v.62) the result will be that you will go and preach the kingdom of God (v.60) and as a result you will be rejected by the world and you will have nowhere to lay your head (v.58).

God is a Trinity

I recently started a study called The One True God by Paul Washer and the first chapter of the study is God is One and deals with the topic of God is a Trinity. Going through this study, I found some Scriptures that further support the fact that Jesus is God, which is a particular area of conflict when dealing with cults such as Mormonism or Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The first verse I wanted to share with you is Matthew 28:19:

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost…”

 Notice here that the word “name” is singular yet it refers to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It does not use the word “names” because the three persons of the Godhead are all One. That is awesome!

 Also, 2 Cor 13:14 states:

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.”

 The literary structure here denotes absolute equality. Notice that the Son is here mentioned even before the Father. If the Father were above the Son as the JWs or Mormons claim, this would be blasphemous. However, this shows that they are co-equal with the Father.

Other Scriptures which denote the same sort of literary structure showing equality between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are:

1 Corinthians 12:4-6:

Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.

Ephesians 4:4-6

There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

1 Peter 1:2

Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

Also, compare the following verses from Isaiah with Titus 2:13. Notice in particular the use of the terms “God” and “Savior” in the Old Testament and how in the New Testament the same terms are used in regards to Jesus Christ. Hat tip to my friend Jason for the Isaiah verses.

Isaiah 43:3

For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

Isaiah 43:11

I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior.

Isaiah 45:15

Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.

Isaiah 45:21

Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.

Titus 2:13

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Trust Jesus!

Recently, my scooter broke down and I have since started riding my bike to work again. This is actually good in that it gets me some extra exercise every day and saves me a little money on gas. An added benefit that I didn't realize until I started riding was that it also gives me extra opportunities to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ to people.

On a typical day, I hear many more people around me taking the name of Jesus Christ in vain at work, at stores, and on TV, so I determined that I would not let those people be bolder in proclaiming the name of Jesus than me. So when I ride my bike past people, I try to say something like "Trust Jesus!" Some people smile, others give me a bewildered look, and one time so far, a man looked at me and said "I do" and gave me a thumbs up!

We live in a country where most people call themselves Christian. If that were the case, at least half of the people I said "trust Jesus" to would smile, give me a thumbs up, or say "I do." However, I have had 1 person so far give me a positive response. I encourage you to be bold in proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ! It is the most powerful name in the universe! One day, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. If nothing else, it gets people to think about Jesus Christ, who He is to them, and perhaps how they may have misused His name at some time during that day.