Tony Evans - Choosing God First
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A lot of folks come to class on Sunday because they wanna get the information. They wanna hear what’s preached and enjoy what’s sung, and so they come to class. Many will even take notes during the message. But we’ll call it «Audit Church» because they don’t intend on doing anything with it. They don’t intend on applying it, living by it, or having it instruct them in their decision making, but they just love the teaching and sometimes the teacher, and they love the classroom. They like how the school looks. So they wanna come to class for the data. And some won’t even miss a class. But it won’t matter 'cause there’ll be no credit because there was no investment.
And so God has to contend with auditing Christians, Christians who don’t want credit but they want information. The series is called «First». This series has its emphasis: returning God to his rightful place. It is my contention, through this series, that when God is not put in the first-place position in your life, in my life, and in our choices, something is lost in our experience with him, the credit, if you will, the grade for our Christian walk. We’re not talking about salvation. Salvation is free. It comes by faith alone in the finished work of Christ. However, Jesus has made it clear that discipleship and our experience with him on earth cost. It requires some decisions that have to be made. Heaven has been covered by the blood. Earth requires a price.
To experience God in the nasty here-and-now and not have to wait for the sweet by-and-by, it’s going to require something from you and me. And we’re going to discover that in our passage today, in Luke, Chapter 9. It’s a story of three men who come in contact with Jesus Christ, who face a decision about whether he will be first. I want you to put yourself in the category of one or more of these three persons, and I want you to compare your decisions with their decisions to see how God is positioned in your life and to see whether you are positioned to experience more of him because you’ve made a decision not to audit the Christian life but to take the Christian life for credit.
In verse 57 of Luke, Chapter 9, we read, «As they were going along the road, someone said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go.'» As they were going along, someone said to him, «I will follow you wherever you go». Matthew, Chapter 8, tells the same story, and it says the man who said this to him was a scribe, a teacher of the law, and he said, «Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go». So here it doesn’t tell us who it was. Matthew 8 tells us who it was: a teacher of the law who said, «Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go».
Now, I don’t know about you, but this sounds like a spiritual man to me. It sounds like a committed Christian to me 'cause he says, «I will follow you wherever». «Wherever you go, I’m going with you. I’m with you. I’m a Jesus man. I’m going where you go». Jesus has an interesting response, and you will know by the responses what the man was saying. See, you can’t take folk word for it all the time 'cause the words may belie the motivation behind them. Jesus answers this man by saying, «The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man,» verse 58 says, «has nowhere to lay his head».
Now, remember, the scribe has said, «Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go». You have to know that, right now, Jesus is riding a crest of popularity. He’s very popular right now. It’s not time to go to the cross yet. He’s been doing some magnificent teaching, preaching some powerful sermons, and backing them up with the miraculous. Blind folk are seeing. Deaf people are hearing. Dumb people are talking. Lame people are walking. Jesus is on the proverbial roll right now. He’s on a roll, and the crowds are growing. Folk are coming to hear the Word and see the miracle. So they like what they see 'cause Jesus is popular right now. So the scribe comes, and he says to Jesus, «I’m hanging with you. I like your Word and I like your work. So I’m hanging with you».
Jesus responds to his statement and says, «Foxes have holes. Birds of the air have nests. But I’m not sure where I’m sleeping tonight. The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. I don’t know where I’m sleeping tonight». Now, why does Jesus answer such a positive statement, «I’ll follow you wherever you go», with a statement about where foxes are gonna sleep, where birds are gonna sleep, and that he has no place that has been set out for him to sleep? Because what Jesus wants to know is «Are you gonna hang with me when the going gets tough? Are you gonna hang with me when there are no miracles? Are you gonna hang with me when there is not all of this stuff that’s got you all excited»?
Okay, let’s change. «Are you gonna hang with me when I’m not blessing you? Are you gonna hang with me when it’s tough out here and it’s rough out here and I’m no longer popular»? Have you ever had anybody in your life who hangs with you when you on top, but when something goes left, they depart from you 'cause you can’t do anything for them anymore? What Jesus is asking the scribe is «Are you only hanging with me because of the goodies that you see I can produce? Because I’m gonna let you know now, fella, there will be times when it won’t always be like this. There are gonna be times when we won’t know where we gonna sleep tonight. There will be times when there is no raise. There will be times when you won’t get promoted. There will be times when you won’t feel good in your body. There will be times when you will not be popular. And I wanna know right now: Are you gonna hang with me then, or are you just hanging with me now 'cause you see I’m on a roll»?
That is the problem with so-called prosperity theology. Prosperity theology gets people to roll with God because of what they can get from him. And so that will always amass a big crowd. «Follow Jesus so he can fill your bank account. Follow Jesus so he can get you a new car, a new house, new clothes, new friends, new mates. Follow Jesus 'cause he’s got a goody bag for you». As long as you present Jesus only as a goody bag, you have misrepresented him. So he wants you to know there are times where foxes know to sleep, where birds know where they gonna sleep, and the Son of Man is gonna find himself a room. In other words, «Are you committed to me during the tough times or only the convenient times»?
So let me correct something on that theology. I’m not gonna get in too deep in that right now, but let me correct something so you understand the theology: You don’t give to God to get, okay? And I’m not talking about just money. I’m talking about time. I’m talking about talent. You don’t just give to God to get. If you give to God to get, what you just did was create a business relationship with God. This God is quid pro quo: «I’m doing for you so you can do for me». You do not give to God to get. That promotes greed, selfishness, and pride. You’ve turned God into Santa Claus or your convenient, spiritual slot machine. «I’mma put something in. God, I’mma pull the lever, and you roll stuff out». No, what you do is you give to give, and you get. I don’t know if you caught that difference. You don’t give to get. You give to give, and then you get.
In other words, the motivation is service and ministry and helping, which means that you have to be humble to be a servant because you’re concerned about somebody outside of yourself. When you give to get, the only person you’re concerned about is you: «'cause I’m doing this to get». But when you give to give, you’re concerned about another. When God sees you’re concerned about another, he knows your motives are pure. So he rolls back around to you. He says, «Foxes have holes. Birds have nests. But the Son of Man has nowhere to hang out. Now, I wanna know: Are you gonna be committed to me then, or were you just in this for the cosmic Santa Claus goody bag»?
Anybody who presents Jesus Christ to you and does not tell you there are times that are down times has lied to you. Jesus tells the scribe that «there are some tough times following me». They’re not all tough, and, yes, he does bless, but he wants you to know the rest of the story. «Foxes have holes. Birds have nests. The Son of Man», he calls him «Teacher» in Matthew 8 because he loved his teaching. He’s seen his miracles. He say, «Man, this is a ride here». «I wanna know: Are you hanging with me… when I have to tell you I don’t have a place for us to sleep tonight? Are you still with me then»?
So let me explain something: God will allow negative things in your life for you to see whether you were really serious about what you said. You said, «I’mma follow you during the good times and bad times, the up times and down times, the 'in times' and the 'out times.' I’mma follow you». God said, «We gonna see. Yeah, I’mma give you some good times, but in the bad times, where do I stand with you»? People wanna use God. God will test your seriousness. When you join the Army, you join to serve this kingdom called the United States of America. You become a serviceman or a servicewoman. You join the Army for free. It doesn’t cost you to join, but you don’t know upfront where you’re gonna wind up. You don’t know whether you’re gonna be on the front lines of a war. You don’t know when you come in. You gonna find that after you come in and serve for a while.
Now, the Army’s gonna tell you, «We gonna take care of you, but we not gonna give you all the information up front». I don’t know where God’s gonna take you. I don’t know what year will be a great banner year of blessings and what will be another year of trials. I don’t know. But what Jesus wants to know is «Is your commitment to me or merely what I will do for you»? What Jesus says is «Your experience with me is gonna cost you something. Yes, there are gonna be great times, but there are gonna be challenging times. So do you really want me»? He comes to the second man. Verse 59, «He said to another, 'Follow me.'» Oh, this is man number two. Man number one, he had to think about whether he was willing to follow Christ no matter what the circumstance. But man number two, «Follow me». But he said, «Lord permit me first», there’s our word, «first», «to go and bury my father».
Now, to any reasonable person, that is a reasonable request. I mean, Jesus has invited him, like he invites all of us, «Follow me». And the man says, «Okay, okay, I’mma follow you. Just let me go home and bury Daddy first». That’s reasonable. You would have to be insensitive for this man not to be able to put his father in the ground. Look at Jesus’s response. He says to him in verse 60, «Allow the dead to bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God». Jesus, that cold. That’s cold. That’s cold. All the man wants to do is bury his daddy, which would’ve been fine if his daddy was already dead. Stay with me here. That would’ve been a fine request if he had to go bury Daddy.
So let me fill in the blanks here. Flow with the context. Guy number one says, «I will follow you wherever you go». Jesus says, «I don’t have a place to sleep tonight. Foxes have holes. Birds have nests. I have nowhere to sleep. So are you ready for the inconvenience»? He immediately turns to guy number two and says, «Follow me». But guy number two has heard what he said to guy number one. Stick with me now. Guy number two has just heard Jesus has nowhere to sleep. Guy number two has not volunteered. Jesus turned to him and said, «Follow me». Guy number two thinks it’s a good idea to follow him, «but not if I don’t have a hotel room. If I don’t have a place to sleep, I will follow you, but let me go home and bury my father first».
Why does he need to bury his father? Because when his father dies, he gets the inheritance. In other words, he wanted to shore up his security before he made a decision to follow. That’s why Jesus tells him, «Let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead,» 'cause the daddy hadn’t died yet. «So when you follow me, whenever your daddy does die, there’ll be plenty of sinners who are locked into this physical world to make sure your daddy is buried. But you don’t spend your lifetime waiting to get security before you make a decision to follow me». A lot of us have said, in one way or another, «Jesus, I’ll follow you when my train comes in, when I get my raise, when my children are gone, when I get promoted. I’ll make time for you when this happens and when that happens».
And what we do is we create a delay in order to shore up our worldly security. We wanna make sure «before I give time to God, I’ve shored up my time security, my money security, my insurance security». Nothing wrong with planning. The Bible encourages planning, but he never wants you to put his kingdom on the back burner until Daddy dies. He says, «First», that’s our word: «first». He says, «First, I’mma follow you, but I got some other stuff first». He wanted his inheritance. Jesus says, «The kingdom can’t wait on the world. The kingdom can’t wait. Your responsibility to live under my rule», that’s what «kingdom» means, «it can’t wait».
That’s why the Bible says, «Remember your Creator in the days of your youth,» Ecclesiastes, Chapter 12, not when you get old. «I’mma serve of the Lord». Let the dead bury the dead. You’ve never seen dead people burying dead people. He’s talking about spiritually dead taking care of the physically dead «because I do not want to be delayed». Says, «The kingdom can’t wait. Let the sinners do the stuff, but you don’t just stay and delay, delay, delay. Don’t let the physical world keep you from spiritual priorities». It’s not worth it to lose Jesus Christ just to accumulate what the world has to offer. It’s not worth it.
Please don’t misunderstand me: It’s okay to be blessed. It’s okay if God prospers you. I don’t agree with prosperity theology, but I do believe God prospers us. That’s nothing wrong with that. But what he’s saying is «Don’t use that as an excuse to delay me being first». Don’t let the physical world cause you to delay the spiritual world because you’re gonna run into some things in life that money can’t fix, job can’t fix, friends can’t fix, circumstances can’t fix, and you gonna need God. So you better have been following him. But look at what the physical world does, what the spiritually dead do: They control our time, our priorities, our emotions. Yeah, this guy heard the last guy and he said, «Look, I need to be able to stay in the four seasons. I need a Hyatt. I need a Marriott. You have no place to lay your head, but I’mma make sure I got a place to lay mine. I’m gonna get Daddy’s inheritance. So I’m good to go».
Guy number three, the last one, «Another said to him, 'I will follow you, Lord.'» So I’m suggesting these are one right after the other because of how it flows. So the first one, Jesus says, «I’ll follow you». The second one, Jesus tells the man, «Follow me». The third one hears «Okay, I gotta get my priorities straight. So I’m gonna follow you. But first, I ain’t gonna do what the guy you just talked to said. His was indefinite. Okay, so what I’mma do is I’mma go home and say bye. I’mma go home to my people, and I’mma say bye». Says, «'Lord…'» and he had the right language: «Lord… Lord». He says, «Lord, first permit me to say goodbye to those at home».
Again, sounds like a reasonable request, right? «I mean, at least let me tell my people goodbye. Just permit me to go home and say, 'Hey, y’all. I’m following Jesus. Bye.' Just let me say bye, and I’mma come back, and we gonna roll on, Jesus». Well, while that sound good, 'cause, you know, we all talk that way: «I love the Lord. He heard my cry». You know, we all sound good, but Jesus’s answer tells us what he was saying 'cause Jesus can look beyond the words and see what’s behind the words. So Jesus says, «No one», that means him and me and you. «Nobody, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God».
So wait a minute. The man made a positive request: «I’mma go back home, say goodbye. Then I’mma follow you». And Jesus gives a negative reply. So Jesus knew: In the request was a caveat. He says, «No one putting his hand to the plow», so he’s got this farming illustration, and he grabbed the plow. Now, what was «grabbing the plow»? The commitment to follow. The man said, «I’m grabbing this plow, and I’mma follow you, Jesus. However, I need to tell my people bye». So he grabs the plow to say, «I’m gonna plow forward,» but looks back home. That «to look back home» meant to position himself for his family to overrule his faith, for his people to overrule his commitment.
This man is struggling with what many of us struggle with, and that is double-mindedness. He wants the plow. He wants the Jesus piece. But he wants home, too, and that emotional tug… He says, «First let me go home, say goodbye,» knowing that there would be the pull. Double-mindedness means that I’m going in two directions at the same time: «God, I want you, but I want the world. God, I want you, but I want this that’s not in agreement with you. God, I’m trying to figure out a way to get both». And then Jesus hits them with the zinger because Jesus says, «No one, after putting his hands to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God».
Let me put it in everyday language: «I can’t use you. I can’t use you 'cause if you got your hand on the plow and you looking back, that means you going crooked… 'cause you can’t go straight looking back. You crooked. You all over the place. You’re sometimes in, sometimes down, sometimes up. You’re all over the place». Says, «You’re not fit». Let me put it another way: «You’re not ready yet». You gonna miss some things when you decide to follow Jesus, and you will get homesick. You will get homesick like a newly married lady may get homesick from the family she grew up in and from the folks who raised her. No, that’s a new situation there.
You will get homesick, but even when you homesick, God says, «Follow me, 'cause I’m going somewhere, and if you will follow me, I’mma take you where I’m going, and I’m going somewhere. Yes, there will be rough times. There’ll be blessings and rough times. And, yes, you can’t let the physical world dictate your spiritual priority, and, yes, I wanna be first. I don’t want you to make me second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth. I wanna be first 'cause I am first». «In the beginning, God». «Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you». He wants to be first.