The Test of Discipleship

Luke 9:57-62

As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 59 And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” 60 But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” 61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

This passage is similar to the costs of discipleship. That is most clearly illustrated in how Jesus speaks of those who are fit or not fit for the kingdom of God. To start out on a journey or in starting a work project and then to look back, illustrates that this person had not fully thought about counting the costs of discipleship before beginning the task. Jesus wants fully committed followers up front. He doesn’t want people who are going to start out believing and following Him to then fail halfway through and apostatize. They need to decide from the beginning if they have the commitment necessary to see this through to the end. Before following after Jesus, they need to decide if He is worth it. Do they have enough faith to stay devoted to Him so that they would give anything and everything to follow after and to continue to follow after Jesus? A good test of loyalty that will remain is what they are willing to give up and what they do give up for Jesus in order to follow Him.

This passage is a test about where one’s loyalty lies. It isn’t how one enters into salvation. If you confuse salvation with discipleship, you will be prone to lack assurance of your salvation. Forgiveness is always freely available to those who humbly ask God for forgiveness and believe in Him. But close fellowship with Jesus, truly learning from Him, being useful for service, and having a faith that endures to the end, will require a high level of commitment. This was basically like Jesus boot camp and Jesus was like the drill instructor. You know that in the very first week of boot camp in the military, they weed out the weak, those who they know won’t make it through to the end. That’s what Jesus was doing. Sometimes people can get in with minimal standards but those people often don’t make it to the end. So, Jesus wants fully committed disciples—not half-devoted followers who would soon give up. Discipleship and salvation are not the same but discipleship is part of salvation. Discipleship is about learning from Jesus and imitating Him and all true believers are disciples. But within those who are believers, there exists various levels of commitment and devotion.

We must remember that with both Peter and the rest of the disciples, they all fell away when Jesus was arrested. This doesn’t mean that they lost faith. But their commitment was not as strong as they thought it was. They had true sorrow and repentance for abandoning Jesus and so they did not apostatize. They humbled themselves in repentance whereas Judas did not. Judas was too prideful and ashamed to ask God for forgiveness. But you see, even Jesus’ most devoted disciples had failure. When their discipleship with Jesus was tested, they failed. But they didn’t let that failure define them. They got back up.

In marine and navy seal training, those who make it to the end and graduate are not those who pass all the tests. The course is designed so that at one point or another, you will come to your breaking point. But many people quit at that point. They give up. And so they don’t pass the course to become marines and navy seals. But those who refuse to give up, to press on until the end, who give all their strength, who get back up even though their weaknesses fail them, they’re the ones who make it. The test of discipleship is a test of resilience and commitment because those who do not have those qualities are not fit for service. It doesn’t mean they can’t serve. It just means that they’re not ready to serve. But they can be made ready if they strengthen their faith. This is of utmost importance because if faith isn’t strong before entering into service in following God’s call to be a missionary, pastor, or serving God in some other capacity, then the devil can get to their faith and break them and disqualify them from serving. They may even give up on God and leave the faith all together. That’s why churches should never send out missionaries until they are first solid in their faith.

Jesus illustrates that those who want to truly follow Him, learn from, Him, and serve Him, it will require sacrifice and dedication. But this isn’t about sacrifice or full-fledged commitment in order to be saved. It’s about service to God in His kingdom and learning from Jesus. Not everyone can handle the calling of a traveling evangelist, a missionary over-seas, or going to seminary and becoming a pastor. Or in some countries, simply existing as a Christian and facing intense persecution. For some people, it could wreck them if they’re not properly prepared for it. Jesus tests their discipleship to see if they have what it takes. He even tested them again when He sent out the seventy to preach the kingdom of God, to heal the sick, and cast out demons (Mk 6:7-13; Lk 10:1-20). Their faith in God was tested to a higher level. That’s why they were instructed to not take any money or supplies with them because God was going to provide for their needs. But it is also important to test the faith of new followers of Jesus so that their faith can become strong and established.

I think Jesus had a double purpose in Luke 9: (1) Testing the commitment of followers for service to God and (2) to weed out those followers who did not truly believe in Him or whose faith would not make it to the end. But primarily, it was the first. This is further defended by the fact that the very next chapter starts out speaking on service to God and in the original text, there were no chapter breaks so this is an unbroken continuation on the subject of discipleship being tested. This is further supported by the context of Luke 9:46-48 where the disciples were arguing who the greatest in the kingdom of heaven among them would be. The argument was not about salvation but about positional level of importance or service. Then in verses 57-62 along with the next chapter, the true test comes of who will humble themselves to be least of all and to sacrifice this world for serving the kingdom of God in this life.

It is important to note that the people Jesus asked to follow Him were willing to follow Him. They just asked for some time. So there is the implication that they already had faith in Him or believed up to a certain point. I think this is why Jesus doesn’t mention belief and why this is all about further commitment in discipleship. Therefore, it would be unwise to use this passage as a call to salvation and I would not use it as part of a gospel presentation.

We have to keep in mind that many people Jesus asked to follow Him had already showed some level of belief or interest in Jesus. They were also from a Jewish world, many already believing in Yahweh. So I don’t think this was about conversion but about ministry and dedication to Jesus being called in deeper service to God.

Continue to part 6: The Sermon on the Mount