The Conquest of Canaan and the Kingdom of God (8) Take off Your Shoes (4) Right to Where to Live

“Then he and his disciples went to another village. As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Lk 9:56-62)
We've been talking about the importance of giving up our rights as people of the kingdom of God. Last Sunday, we talked about giving up the right to time.
 
The most important principle we need to keep in mind as Christians is that everything we have comes from God and thus He is the true Lord of it all. This includes not only our material possessions but also our time. Since it is God who gives us 24 hours each day, we should use our time according to His will.
 
What Satan tells us is that we are the owners of our time and that we can use our time as we please. Satan doesn’t tire of putting the assumption into our minds that our time is our own, because that's the best way to keep us away from God and to enslave us.
 
We get angry when we feel our rights have been violated. If we think we have the right to use the 24 hours we have each day as we please, then we’ll be upset when we are told to use them to do things we don't want to do.
 
We usually choose to spend our time doing things that benefit us or entertain us. It is difficult for someone who does not find reading the Bible useful or enjoyable to spend time reading it. When such a person is told to spend time every day reading and meditating on the Bible, they tend to resist. That’s the feeling Satan uses to keep us away from the Bible. Satan keeps telling us that we have the right to do what we want with our time, so that we may not spend it doing things that we don’t feel like doing.
 
But this assumption is completely wrong from the start because no one can create time. Time is a gift created by God and given to us, which means that we are obligated to use it for God’s glory. Time is what God has entrusted to us to use for His kingdom and His glory. So, we should always consider how our use of time contributes to the kingdom of God each day. We should keep in mind that we are stewards rather than owners of time.
 
The apostle Paul urges us to make the best use of our time. It means that we should use every moment given to us according to God's will.
 
God gives us 24 hours each day. That’s Chronos time. It is fixed. No one can have more than 24 hours a day.
 
But not all 24 hours are equal. Some people might waste their day doing meaningless things, while others might spend their time diligently and make their day meaningful. That’s what Kairos means. God calls each Christian to use the chronos time given to them each day in a kairos way - the way of knowing Him, making Him known, and glorifying Him.
 
God gives us time to know Him, to love Him, to have fellowship with Him, to make Him known, to glorify Him, and to establish His kingdom on earth. If we use the time we're given each day to do these things, it means we're making the best use of our time in a kairos way. That’s how God wants us to spend our time. The kingdom of God is built and expanded through those who are committed to this.
 
3. The Right to Choose Where to Live
Now, let’s continue to talk about the rights we must give up to live as people of the kingdom of God.
 
The third right I want us to think about today is the right to decide where to live.
 
Where we live has a lot to do with our lives. The world is big, and there are so many places to live. If someone asked you to choose just one place to live for the rest of your life, where would you choose?
 
The answer to that question will reflect where you place your values: someone who values their children's education will think of a place with a good school district. Someone who values the weather will think of a place with good weather. Someone who values frugality will think of a place with no taxes and a low cost of living; someone who values family will choose a place close to family; someone who values cultural life will think of a city where they can easily enjoy different cultures; someone who values safety will choose a place with good public safety; and the list goes on and on.
 
The point is, where we choose to live is a reflection of our values. Then, what choice will the person who values the kingdom of God make?
 
That's the point of today's sermon. If we really want to live as true people of the kingdom of God, we must be able to let go of the right to choose where we live.
 
For example, when I'm choosing where to live, the most important thing to me is my family. I want to live close to my family so that I may be able to visit them often. But right now I'm in the States, and I don't know if I'll ever live in Korea again. It would be great if the place God called me to live was close to my family, but most of the time it is not.
 
Likewise, we are often asked to put aside our personal desires and values when making decisions for the kingdom of God. The question is whether we are willing to set aside our own standards and values for the sake of the kingdom of God.
 
In today's passage, we read about three people who want to follow Christ, or who are called by Jesus to follow Him.
 
First, a man came to Jesus and said, “I will follow you wherever you go.” (Lk 9:57)
 
This is a remarkable commitment. He was ready to follow Jesus wherever He went. But the Lord saw the motives behind his declaration.
 
Perhaps this man was fascinated by the power of Jesus and envied the disciples for following such a powerful man. Indeed, Jesus had a great reputation in His day, and many people wanted to follow Him. But what they really wanted was the reputation that they would gain by following Him, not Jesus Himself. He was one of those people.
 
He thought only of the blessings that following Jesus would bring him, not the difficulties or sacrifices that it would require. He didn’t consider the cost he would have to pay to follow Him. He didn't know that following Jesus meant denying himself and becoming poor and homeless like Him.
 
So, in order to show him what it really costs to follow Him, Jesus said,
 
“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Lk 9:58)
 
What Jesus is saying here is that following Him has nothing to do with the power, wealth, or honor that the man expected. Following Jesus means that we are not even guaranteed the minimum living space that animals like foxes and birds are given.
 
That's the price of following Jesus we need to think about. We can only truly become disciples of Jesus and follow Him by giving up our rights to eat what we want to eat, wear what we want to wear, and live where we want to live.
 
We may be ostracized for following Jesus. It requires giving up the security of this world. Following Him requires a commitment to giving up our rights in order to be where His heart is and His eyes are.
 
That's what we should think about if we really want to be His disciples and follow Him.
 
We must remember that we will enter the kingdom of heaven through many sufferings, and that we must deny ourselves and take up our crosses to follow Christ.
 
Jesus told the man that if he followed Him, he would be cold, uncomfortable, humiliated, and insulted. If he could not handle that, Jesus said, he should reconsider following Him.
 
Good Soldier of Christ
The apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:3-4, “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.” (2Tm 2:3-4)
 
Here, Paul describes the Christian life by comparing it to that of a good soldier.
 
Paul said that soldiers don’t get entangled in civilian affairs. The Greek word that’s translated as “civilian affairs” is βίος (bios). It refers to life in general and to something that sustains life, such as work, occupation, and business.
 
A soldier’s top priority is to do what their commander tells them to do; everything else is secondary. When a soldier answers the call of duty, their choices are limited. A soldier is not free to choose where they want to live. They cannot move to another place at will. A soldier must obey the orders of their commanders, regardless of their will. A good soldier is one who gives up their personal desires in order to devote themselves wholeheartedly to the task at hand.
 
Paul tells us that this is how Christians should live. Christians don't decide for themselves where they live; they move and stop at the command of Jesus, their true commander. They lay down the affairs of the world to obey Jesus' commands. And they do so only to please Jesus, the commander.
 
If we try to please ourselves by seeking pleasure in the world, we will fail to please Jesus. If we get caught up in our personal affairs, we will not be fully faithful to the work of the kingdom of God. If we really want to be good soldiers of Christ and follow Him, we will have to give up many things.
 
We might ask, then, who can follow the Lord? If we only consider what we have to give up, we will find it too difficult to follow Him. But Jesus doesn't just ask us to make unconditional sacrifices.
 
We must keep in mind that when the Lord asks us to give up something, it is always to give us blessings far greater than what we lay down for Him.
 
We must remember that the blessings that will be given to us in the kingdom of God are incomparably greater than the sacrifices we make here on earth to build that kingdom. Only those who remember this will be able to follow the Lord willingly and joyfully.
 
This was the life that our predecessors of faith lived. Hebrews 11:13-16 says,
 
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (Heb 11:13-16)
 
They did not live a life of abundance here on this earth. God promised them blessings, but they didn't get to enjoy them while living in the world. Rather, they only welcomed them from a distance because the blessings belong to the kingdom of God, not this world.
 
So they lived like foreigners and strangers. They didn’t settle down in the world. They did not find their identity in the world. They did not put their hope in the world. They didn't try to have much in the world, because they remembered that they had a home to return to.
 
They were not ashamed of the way they lived, nor of the God in whom they believed; and God was not ashamed of them either. And He prepared a city for them, His kingdom.
 
The kingdom is not only for them, but for all believers who trust in God and follow Jesus Christ. When Jesus spoke to His disciples for the last time before His crucifixion, He said,
 
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (Jn 14:1-3)
 
This is the kingdom of God that we should be looking forward to and preparing for. The Lord remembers our sacrifices to build His kingdom on earth. As we labor to build His kingdom here, our Lord is handcrafting our home in His kingdom, and it will be far better than the most expensive and luxurious houses we see in this world.
 
That’s where our true citizenship belongs. As the apostle Paul said, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (Php 3:20-21)
 
On the day of our Lord's return, He will transform us into His glorious image. On that day, He will give us eternal life, and He will bring us into the house that He has built with His own hands in the kingdom of God.
 
That is our home to which we will return; that is where our citizenship belongs. Christians are those who look forward to that day, and who are building the kingdom of God by preaching the gospel of the kingdom, whatever the cost here on earth.
 
During this time, I want us to fix our eyes on the kingdom of God. I want us to put our hope in the kingdom that will last forever, not in things that will be here for a little while and then fade away, so that we may continue to live as people of the kingdom of God, following Jesus Christ wherever He goes.
 
Let’s pray.
 
[Prayer]
Dear Lord, we lay down our rights before You. We want to be where You want us to be, not where we're satisfied.
 
We want to follow You as Your sincere disciples. We want to live as good soldiers of Your kingdom. Open and renew our minds and help us to set them on things above, so that we may see eternal values in Your kingdom and be more dedicated to building it here on earth.
 
Help us to seek and find satisfaction in You, rather than in this world. Be with us always, strengthening and accompanying us so that we may seek Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and Your will above everything else.
 
May Your will be done and Your kingdom come through us.
 
We thank You, Lord, and we love You.
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1) If you could choose where you would live next, where would you want to live? What would contribute to this decision?
 
2) What qualities do you think Christians should have as disciples of Jesus and as soldiers of the kingdom of God?
 
3) What is something you can commit to doing for the kingdom of God this week?