Excuses on the Road Less Traveled June 28th Message

Sunday Shortcut Read Luke 9:57-62 Today we looked at three categories of excuses to avoid as you follow Jesus. The first category is comfort and safety, the second is timing and the third is outside commitments. We make these kinds of excuses all the time but why do we make these excuses? Before we ask this question about ourselves let us look at the motivation for the excuses for these three men. In our text today these three individuals were introduced to Jesus as God and denied him. Two of them called Jesus Lord but yet they did not follow him. I'm reminded of Matthew 7:21–23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven… I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Although these people are introduced to Jesus as God and they called him Lord they did not do his will and follow him. The reason I believe these three individuals made excuses to not follow Jesus is because they did not believe in him, they did not put their faith and trust in him. The motivation behind their excuses was their lack of faith in Jesus Christ. I truly believe that these three individuals were not disciples at this time and so without a repentant and transformed heart they had no motivation to follow Jesus. They may have called Jesus Lord but their faith wasn't genuine. They may have thought that they were followers but their excuses show otherwise. They did not do the will of the Father showing their lack of genuine faith. Jesus invites us to do otherwise. He invites us to follow him by believing in the Gospel. If you follow Jesus Christ and you believe in what he did for you then you will be saved and you are then to live your life as a new creation with a transformed and renewed heart and mind. Jesus did so much for us and he made it so easy for us to put our faith in him. If you've never put your faith in Jesus Christ, he’s calling you today saying “Follow me.” Will you decide to follow him? Will you put down your excuses and say “Jesus, yes I will follow you. This is what Jesus is inviting you to do. The motivation for why we make excuses is similar to these men: we are not following him first. If you are a believer you are to follow him. You should resolve to say regardless of if it is safe or comfortable, I will follow Jesus. Regardless of when, I will follow Jesus right when you call me. I will follow you regardless of anything else in this world I’m committed to. Make up your mind and decide today and every day going forward to follow Him. Don’t make excuses, you have no good reason to, instead commit to following Jesus. May the Lord bless you as you follow him. Have a great week.