Leave it to Follow Jesus!

“I asked my husband to clean the house” said the frustrated wife posting a video on social media. Then, she walked the camera around the house to show her valid request since there were toys, dishes, clothes, blankets, pillows, mail, leftovers, etc. scattered everywhere. Her husband had heard her, but he was not cleaning any of the obvious things she was pointing out. Instead, she brought the camera to one of the bedrooms, where her husband had pulled all the pillows, covers, mattress and box spring off so that he could get at the well-hidden dust bunnies.

Following someone else’s directions means leaving something behind. The wife in the video was frustrated because her husband did not leave behind his ridiculously detailed idea of a clean house to follow his wife’s much more practical plan to clean the house. In our Old Testament reading from 1 Kings 19, the prophet Elisha showed a much better understanding of what the prophet Elijah was asking of him. We read in 1 Kings 19,

19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”

Elisha knew following Elijah meant leaving his past life behind to become a prophet fully dedicated to the Lord’s work.

We learn that following Jesus means leaving something behind in our Gospel reading from Luke 9. Leaving something behind was not just for someone like Elisha who had the rare calling to serve as an Old Testament prophet. In Luke 9, regular people just like you learned from Jesus that there was a cost to following him. First, we hear,

57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

The man who wanted to follow Jesus wanted something good. He wanted to travel with Jesus to hear him teach and preach with authority from the Scriptures, and see his miracles, all good things, but it would mean not always having a comfortable, reliable place to stay. Then, we hear,

59 He [Jesus] said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Jesus asked this man to follow him, but his father had died. Jesus’ response was not a blanket statement that Christians should not go to funerals or care for their families. Instead, it was a question of the man’s loyalty to family obligations or loyalty to sharing the message of eternal life in the kingdom of God. Finally, we hear,

61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” 62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

This final man claimed he would follow Jesus, but he had other priorities to take care of before following Jesus. Following Jesus always means leaving something behind.

Following Jesus makes you face the reality of leaving things behind. Each of you has a unique list of things to leave behind to follow Jesus. For some of you it is comfort like not wanting to give up a standard of living to help those in need in your community or even your family or not wanting to get up on Sunday for Bible study and worship. For some of you it is loyalty like traveling long distances or staying up late to watch your favorite sports team, band or motivational speaker, but not being loyal to picking up your Bible to listen to the words of Jesus. For some of you it is a compromise that plans on following Jesus the next day, but first there is this birthday party you have to go to so no church, no watching the livestream, no watching the recording of the service, no picking up your Bible for a short devotion and no sharing Jesus with anyone at the birthday party. Or maybe you will follow Jesus but after giving in just one last time to one of the sins listed in our New Testament reading from Galatians 5,

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

You and I do not want to leave our long list of things behind to follow Jesus. But Jesus calls us to leave them behind. He calls you to leave it behind to follow him not to get into heaven, but so that you do not lose what you have been given.

Jesus left it behind following the path to save you. In our Gospel reading from Luke 9, we read,

51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem.

Jesus knew what was waiting for him in Jerusalem. He knew what he was leaving behind as we hear in 2 Corinthians 8,

9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

And as we hear in Philippians 2,

6 Who [Jesus], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

And from the cross, Jesus quoted Psalm 22,

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?

Jesus gave up heaven, his equality with God, his rights as King, his comfort, his good relationship with God and even his life to save you. Jesus followed the path to Jerusalem to be rejected, betrayed, falsely accused, beaten, sentenced and put to death on the cross to save you. He also went there to make the sky dark while he was on the cross, shake the ground with and earthquake and rip the Temple curtain in half. And he went there to rise from the dead, appear to hundreds of witnesses and to be taken back up into heaven so that you would be able to follow him to eternal life in heaven. Jesus left it behind for you. Jesus followed the path to Jerusalem for you.

It is not easy to leave it behind to follow Jesus. In our Old Testament reading from 1 Kings 19, Elijah knew it would not be easy for Elisha to follow him as the next prophet as we read,

20… Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”

Elijah knew Elisha would be leaving it all behind to do the Lord’s work. And Elisha understood he was leaving it all behind as we read,

21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.

Elisha knew he was done with his work in the field and burned his equipment and livestock. His actions showed his trust that God would provide for him, and he would not have to return to his former way of life. He would now serve God with total commitment.

Jesus calls you to leave it behind for him. In our New Testament reading from Galatians 5, we hear it will be a struggle to leave it behind to follow Jesus,

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.

The Holy Spirit living in you wants to follow Jesus, but your sinful flesh wants to hold onto the world. Your life as a follower of Jesus is a struggle to leave behind what Jesus has saved you from. Following Jesus will not always mean a comfortable place to lay your head, it will mean awkward moments and rejection because you 60 … “proclaim the kingdom of God” and it will mean giving Jesus your full attention. Many bad things have been mentioned that you must leave behind to follow Jesus, which is true. There are also good things that you do not completely abandon, but you put them in their proper place as second to Jesus. These are things like family and friends and having a job to put a roof over your head and food on your table. Leaving it behind and following Jesus also means God will work good things through you as we hear in Galatians 5,

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.

When my wife asks me to clean up the obvious things in the house, I do not go for the not obvious, hidden dust bunnies under the bed like the husband from the video on social media. No, I go for the dust bunnies hidden under the couch. Everything in your life, even the good stuff, even the small things can pull you away from Christ. With Christ first, your eyes are pointed toward heaven, with Christ first you avoid sinful things, with Christ first you ask for forgiveness for clinging to the world, and with Christ first you keep the good things in your life. Again, Jesus calls you to leave it behind to follow him not to get into heaven, but so that you do not lose what you have already been given by him. Leave it to follow Jesus. Amen.