The Conquest of Canaan and the Kingdom of God (9) Take off Your Shoes (5) Right to Love Family

“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 9:57-62)
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 choose where to live.
 
Where we want to live depends on our interests and priorities. Where we choose to live is a reflection of our values. But in order to live as people of the kingdom of God, we need to learn to put aside our personal desires and seek the values of the kingdom of God first.
 
One day, a man came to Jesus and said, “I will follow you wherever you go.” (Lk 9:57)
 
This sounds like a remarkable commitment, but the man didn't really know what it meant to follow Jesus or what it would cost him. That’s why Jesus told him,
 
“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Lk 9:58)
 
By saying this, Jesus let him know that following Him could mean not having a safe or comfortable place to sleep at night. That’s the price all Christians need to think about before making the decision to follow Him. We cannot truly follow Jesus without being willing to give up our homes. We can't follow Him without choosing to be where He wants us to be. And we can't follow Him unless we put the values of the kingdom and His will first, ahead of our own interests, values, and comfort.
 
This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have a home if you want to follow Jesus. Again, God knows our needs. He knows that we need shelter. But still, it shouldn’t be our priority when it comes to following Christ. None of our rights should ever take precedence over following Jesus.
 
A good soldier doesn’t get entangled in civilian affairs. A good soldier is one who puts their commander's orders above everything else. A good soldier is one who is willing to limit their options in order to obey the orders of their commanders. A good soldier is one who gives up their personal desires in order to devote themselves wholeheartedly to the task at hand. That’s how Christians should live.
 
We're called to be good soldiers of Christ, to dedicate our whole lives to His calling and to prioritize obeying His will and pleasing Him above everything else.
 
It is not easy for us to be true disciples of Jesus Christ and His soldiers in this world; it inevitably requires commitment, renunciation, and sacrifice. We may live like foreigners, strangers, and travelers on earth.
 
That’s the reason we should lift up our eyes and fix them on Jesus Christ, the pioneer of our faith. We should always remember the heavenly reward and blessing that will be given to us as we follow Christ. The earthly things we may have to give up for Him can't even compare to the eternal blessings He will give us at the end.
 
If we're not ashamed of Jesus and His gospel, He will not be ashamed of us when He comes back. If we try to build His kingdom on earth by giving up our rights, He will prepare our rooms in the kingdom of God and take us into the kingdom with Him. That's what we must continue to seek and keep our eyes on in order to truly live as people of the kingdom of God.
 
Right to Love Family
All right. We've talked about some of the rights we have to give up to follow Christ, such as the right to money, the right to time, and the right to choose where we live. Now I want us to think about the fourth right - the right to love our families.
 
The idea of giving up loving our families may sound strange at first. One of the most precious gifts God gives us is the right to be part of a family.
 
It is within God’s will that a man and a woman come together and reflect His love and unity in marriage. This is a gift from God, first given in the garden of Eden. A child is a gift from God to their parents. God gives parents the right and privilege of raising their children. Marriage and family are the cornerstones God laid for a secure society.
 
To love and honor our parents is the first commandment listed among those concerning neighbors. So, it’s definitely God’s will for us to love our parents. There's no doubt about that. Even Jesus loved and honored His earthly mother to the end by asking one of His disciples to be her son after His death.
 
But still, despite its significance, Christians shouldn’t put their family before God and His work. We shouldn’t love our family more than we love God.
 
Jesus once said, “I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law - a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Mt 10:35-37)
 
He even said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, even their own life - such a person cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:26)
 
These words are not easy to understand, especially when we consider how much the Bible values family. But Jesus didn’t necessarily mean that we should be against our families or even hate them to follow Him. We should never abandon our responsibility to our families.
 
But while God never asks us to be irresponsible with our families, He does ask us to put our love for our family and our desire to be with them on the altar when it comes to loving Him and following Him.
 
For Christians, love for God and obedience to His call should come first before parents, marriage, and children. For us to be followers of Jesus Christ means that we are ready and willing to submit these gifts to His greater purpose.
 
Jesus doesn’t really want us to hate our families. The point He is making in these passages is not about hating anyone, but about loving Him. Christians are those who love Him first and foremost. We're to love Him so much that our love for our family seems like hatred in comparison. Only those who are willing to love Him in this way can truly follow Him.
 
In today’s passage, Jesus called two people. When He told the first man “follow me,” he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” (Lk 9:59)
 
This was a very legitimate request. For Jews, it was a very important duty to bury their deceased parents. It was therefore unthinkable for a Jewish man not to fulfil his obligation to perform his father's burial. So the man's request to bury His father first was proper and unobjectionable.
 
But Jesus told the man, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (Lk 9:60)
 
This verse has been controversial because of its radical content. One possible interpretation is that his father is not yet dead. The man's father must have been very old. He might have been ill, and therefore didn't have much time to live. So the man's request to bury his father first was a request to put his following of Jesus on hold until his father died.
 
Here's the temptation. We have relationships, and we have obligations and responsibilities that come from those relationships. We have obligations as people of the kingdom of God and we have obligations as children of our parents. So when these duties come into conflict, which ones should we prioritize and which ones should we consider secondary?
 
When these duties conflict with each other, we may be tempted to give up or put on hold the duties we have as Christians. But such a person cannot be a true disciple of Jesus. Christians are those who put their duties as God's people above all other duties, even if those duties are to their families.
 
Jesus did not object to the man caring for his old father; He did not object to the man burying his father after his death. What Jesus objected to was that such things would lead to a failure to follow Him.
 
Again, it is very important to love and honor our parents and to take good care of them. But there is something more important for Christians. That is to follow Jesus.
 
Jesus doesn’t want his followers to be inhumane. The Bible places great value on family relationships and caring for our families as the most important of all relationships.
 
But still, we must not use these things as an excuse for not fulfilling our duties to Christ. The greatest and most important commandment given to us is to love God. Loving our neighbor is subordinate to this first commandment, even if it is our family.
 
What would you do if your closest and dearest family member was preventing you from following Jesus Christ? We need to be determined to make following Jesus our first priority in the midst of it all. Only those who can make this choice can truly be disciples of Jesus and preach the gospel of the kingdom of God.
 
Moses gave a final blessing to the 12 tribes of Israel before he died. Among them, Moses said this about the tribe of Levi.
 
“He said of his father and mother, ‘I have no regard for them.’ He did not recognize his brothers or acknowledge his own children, but he watched over your word and guarded your covenant.” (Dt 33:9)
 
The characteristic of the Levites that Moses spoke of was that they were committed to following God's word and keeping His covenant, even to the point of denying their own families. 
 
Jesus said something similar. One day, when He was talking to the crowds, His mother and brothers came to meet Him. Someone told Jesus that His mother and brothers were standing outside. But Jesus didn’t go out to meet them. Rather, He said to the people there,
 
“Who is my mother, and who are my brothers? Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Mt 12:48-50)
 
Jesus didn’t allow His family's visit to interfere with the ministry God had given him. Rather, He used it as an opportunity to teach the people there the concept of a new spiritual family connected and formed by the Father in heaven.
 
Then, this is the mindset we should also have as people of the kingdom of God, to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ and to commit ourselves wholeheartedly to the mission He has given us. We must be able to give up our right to love our families in order to fulfill the mission God has given us.
 
In today’s passage, we read of another person who said to Jesus, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family” (Lk 9:61)
 
This also sounds like a reasonable request. Saying goodbye to his family was necessary and wouldn’t take too long.  The man wanted to follow Jesus. But he had another desire, and that was to say goodbye to his family.  The problem was that the man made spending time with his family a condition of following Jesus.
 
Jesus didn’t allow it, even though it was right to do so, which shows the urgency and importance of His call to follow Him. The Lord's request to follow Him is the supreme call that must take precedence over everything else.
 
The man wanted to follow Jesus, but he was still very attached to his family, which meant that he was not yet fully committed to following Jesus. That’s the reason Jesus told him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Lk 9:62)
 
What concerned Jesus was that the man going home and spending one last time with his family and saying goodbye to them might cause him to change his mind about following Jesus.
 
If we are to be a people worthy of God's kingdom, we must be determined never to look back. That means letting nothing stand in the way of following Jesus, even our family.
 
Those who put a hand to their plow shouldn’t look back. It might cause them to give up their work. Those who begin the work of God must be determined to continue it and see it through without looking back.
 
The apostle Paul said, “… I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Php 3:12-14)
 
By the time Paul wrote these words, he had already accomplished many things. But he chose not to be satisfied with what he had done; his eyes were still fixed on the mission the Lord had given him. He did not look back, but kept running toward the goal the Lord had given him. That is why he did not lose his faith to the end, and was able to fulfill the mission the Lord had given him.
 
To look back is to miss what is behind. To look back is to retreat. Those who constantly look back will never be able to move forward. They will end up failing. Jesus says that such people aren’t fit for the work of the kingdom of God.
 
Therefore, in order to live as true people of God, we must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ and the mission He entrusted to us to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God. We must not allow anything to distract us from this task.
 
Today, we talked about the kind of mindset we should have to be true disciples of Jesus Christ and people of the kingdom of God.
 
Everyone here should have a willingness to follow Jesus. But, the question is, how strong is that will? There are so many things in the world that keep us from following Jesus. They weaken our resolve to follow His way.
 
That's why we need to humbly take off our shoes and lay down our rights before Him if we really want to live as people of God's kingdom.
 
So, let us surrender our lives to Him again. Let’s confess that everything we have is from God and proclaim that He is the Lord of our lives so that we may be more faithful to Jesus’ call to follow Him and to the mission He has entrusted to us: to spread the good news of the kingdom of God.
 
May God's will be done and His kingdom be established through our lives. Let’s pray.
 
[Prayer]
Heavenly Father, thank You for revealing to us the mission of Your kingdom and the mindset we should have for that mission.
 
Lord, we want to love You first and foremost. We want to love You more than all the people we love in this world, even more than our own families.
 
Lord, we want to make Your will our top priority.  Let us put following You above our own will, above the many other important things and obligations we have, so that following Your will can be our highest priority.
 
Help us to keep our eyes fixed on You, so that we may live as true people of Your kingdom. Let us look forward to Your kingdom, not backward toward this world. Let us not seek the things of this world, but only Your face, Your kingdom, and Your righteousness.
 
We thank You for creating us, saving us, and entrusting us with the mission of Your kingdom. Please continue to work in our lives. May only Your name be lifted up and glorified through us.
 
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1) What are the priorities in your life right now?
 
2) Do you think you are fit for the work of the kingdom of God? What keeps you from committing to living according to God's will?