3 Excuses That Keep You From Following Jesus (Luke 9)

Luke 9:57–62 exposes three would-be disciples who surface three common excuses that block wholehearted following: comfort, convenience, and compromise. In the first encounter a learned scribe offers quick assent to follow, and Jesus responds with the stark image that the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head—targeting an idol of comfort and showing that intellectual assent without counted cost proves hollow. The passage presses the requirement to count the cost of discipleship: following Christ may strip away reputation, ease, and securities because true surrender demands total allegiance rather than a place in a life already arranged.

The second encounter surfaces the delay of convenience. A man promises to follow but requests time to bury his father; the language indicates postponement rather than immediate bereavement. Cultural detail about Jewish burial practices highlights how easy it is to let responsibilities and sensible priorities become recurring excuses that keep the mission at bay. Procrastinated obedience shrinks harvests; waiting for perfect circumstances becomes a spiritual trap that misplaces Jesus beneath manageable but appetite-sapping obligations.

The third encounter unmasks compromise and a divided heart. A man’s request to say goodbye sounds reasonable but betrays attachment to the old life; Jesus’ plow image warns that looking back while plowing yields crooked furrows and wasted soil. The Elijah–Elisha contrast makes the cost plain: some drop the plow and never return, others cling and remain ineffective. Scripture calls for forward focus—forgetting what lies behind and pressing toward the prize—because divided affection diminishes fruit and fidelity.

Across these scenes the teaching insists that discipleship requires decisive surrender, immediate obedience, and a single-eyed devotion. Hard sayings and lost crowds throughout the Gospels illustrate that the call narrows from emotional enthusiasm to durable submission. Yet the gospel pairs costly demand with sustaining promise: build on Christ and receive the unlimited resources and the Spirit’s power, love, and self-discipline to obey. The decisive question remains not how others answered but how each heart will respond—whether to pick up the cross, burn the boats, and follow without looking back.

---

Key Takeaways

• 1. Comfort becomes a costly idol Comfort masks itself as prudence but functions as an alternative lord. When ease and reputation rank above surrender, discipleship becomes a résumé item rather than a cruciform life. Counting the cost exposes what is truly owned: when comfort rules, generosity, risk, and obedience atrophy. [12:40]
• 2. Delay disguises disobedience Postponement often dresses up as responsibility or seasonality while it steadily erodes urgency. Every postponed “after” compounds into another after, so promises to follow “later” typically become a lifetime of deferral. Immediate obedience opens the door to the fruit God intends; delayed obedience postpones that harvest. [22:20]
• 3. A divided heart ruins fruit Looking back while plowing skews the field and wastes soil; divided affections sabotage spiritual effectiveness. Partial commitment produces crooked furrows: the more one clings to past comforts, the less ground remains for future growth. Single-hearted devotion frees energy and resources to pursue the upward call of Christ. [32:49]
• 4. God supplies strength and grace The costliness of discipleship does not nullify God’s provision; Christ supplies the materials to build on him. From unlimited resources comes inner strengthening—love, power, and self-discipline—so obedience depends more on divine enablement than human grit. The offer isn’t self-sufficiency but supernatural supply for faithful following. [49:27]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [00:33] - Wind, driving, and an illustration
• [02:07] - Opening prayer
• [02:46] - Text announced: Luke 9:57–62
• [05:02] - Reading: three brief encounters
• [06:07] - Crowds, hard sayings, and cost
• [09:01] - Parable: great feast and excuses
• [12:40] - Idea 1: the excuse of comfort
• [18:39] - Counting the cost (Luke 14)
• [22:20] - Idea 2: the excuse of convenience
• [25:10] - Jewish burial practice explained
• [32:49] - Idea 3: the excuse of compromise
• [34:54] - Elijah and Elisha contrast
• [41:36] - Plow metaphor and forward focus
• [47:58] - Response, invitation, and prayer

Bible reading: Luke 9:57-62 (ESV)
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Observation questions

1. What three different responses did Jesus give to the three would-be followers?
2. What reasons or excuses did each person give for not following Jesus immediately?
3. What did Jesus mean when he told the second person to "leave the dead to bury their own dead"?
4. What is the significance of the plowing metaphor Jesus uses with the third person? [41:36]

Interpretation questions

1. Why do you think Jesus responded so directly and seemingly harshly to these seemingly reasonable requests?
2. The first man was a scribe, a respected religious scholar. [13:15] How can having knowledge about God sometimes become a barrier to actually following Him?
3. The second man's father was not actually dead; he was asking for a delay. [22:58] How does postponing obedience often lead to a lifetime of never actually obeying?
4. Jesus contrasts the third man's request with the story of Elisha, who was allowed to say goodbye. [34:54] What was the fundamental difference in the heart attitude between the two situations?

Application questions

1. Comfort can become a costly idol that functions as an alternative lord. [12:40] What comforts or securities in your own life (reputation, financial stability, ease) are the hardest to surrender to God's call?
2. Postponement often dresses up as responsibility while it steadily erodes urgency. [22:20] What is one area of obedience you have been putting off with a "first, let me..." excuse? What would it look like to take a step of immediate obedience this week?
3. Looking back while plowing skews the field and wastes soil; divided affections sabotage spiritual effectiveness. [32:49] What from your "old life" do you find yourself looking back at or longing for, and how is that causing your spiritual walk to drift or become crooked?
4. The costliness of discipleship does not nullify God’s provision; Christ supplies the materials to build on him. [49:27] When you feel short on the love, power, or self-discipline needed to follow Jesus, how can you practically access the "unlimited resources" God promises?
5. Jesus is either lord of all or not lord at all. [26:58] In what specific area of your life are you currently struggling to relinquish control and acknowledge His complete lordship?
6. Picking up your cross and dying to yourself is not convenient. [31:05] Where is God calling you to be inconvenienced for the sake of the gospel this week, whether in time, resources, or personal comfort?