The life of Jesus – 18
September 30, 2014
Laying down his head!
Luke 9:57-62 And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
What an amazing statement. I will follow you wherever you go! This man was touched by what he saw Jesus do. The previous passage talked about Jesus healing a boy that the disciples could not heal. Jesus does and this man is touched to the point that he wants to follow Jesus at any cost. Most pastors try to get their members to commit like this. Sunday after Sunday they try to motivate the people to follow God. Weekly they are up against the reality of the world drawing and pulling on their people to follow its ways.
You think such a statement would impress Jesus. He wasn’t. You see Jesus saw something that we might have missed. This man wanted to follow Him but he had no place in his understanding for Jesus. Jesus challenged him with these words: Foxes have holes and birds have nests but the son of man has no place to lay his head. In other words Jesus was saying that he didn’t have a place to come to rest in this mans understanding. Do we have the mind of Christ? Does Jesus have a place to rest his head, his mind in us? If we don’t have a place for his mind we will be offended and stop following him no matter how committed we feel right now. This man was committed but he wasn’t a safe place for Jesus.
Another man in this passage is challenged to follow Jesus but he is not committed unless he first finishes his own business. There is no difference between him and the guy who wanted to follow Jesus. He was preoccupied with things to do before he would commit. No place in his mind for the mind of Christ. What is occupying our minds today? What do we feel we need to do that is more important than following Him today? Jesus wants us to be a safe place for Him to come and lay his head down.
The battlefield is in the mind. Paul writes about it in the book of Corinthians. It is the place that the enemy wants to occupy and have his own way. The first thing he does when he tempted Adam and Eve was to place doubt in their minds about what God said. He is a master at confusion and doubt. The mind is his game and if we don’t renew our minds then he will keep on winning.
Matt 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Have your mind transformed to the place where it is the place where God is at rest. We can have the mind of Christ.
1 Cor 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Satan tries to set up a stronghold by having us imagine things that are not true. His plan is to exalt himself and his ideas against the plan and purposes of God. Once we bring our stinking thinking to God he can bring it under his power and it releases us to obey Him.
2 Cor 10:4-6 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
Once we put our hand to the plough we cannot look back. We are not called to look at where we have been but where we are going. The enemy wants us to see where we have missed it, while God is calling us to see what he can make of us. Our vision is pointed forward and not backwards. Looking back disqualifies you from your destiny. Lots wife looked back and died. When Lot was commanded to leave Sodom, his wife could not let go of the past to embrace the future. We never get to know her name. She is just a monument to the past. God is not a God of the past.
