“Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God’ ”

(Luke 9:62 NIV).

In Switzerland, in a church graveyard near the base of a great mountain, there is a special tombstone. It is the tombstone of a man who died on a mountain climb. These words are upon it: “He Died Climbing.” Let that be our spiritual epitaph. Let me ask, “Are you climbing for Christ or are you a spiritual deadbeat?” We are not going to reach people for Christ with an attitude of apathy or when we are distracted with the lures of this world.

The first of these sayings was addressed to one who offered to be a disciple unconditionally, and of his own accord. “Lord,” said this man, “I will follow you wherever you go.” That offer sounded well. It was a step in advance of many. Thousands of people heard our Lord’s sermons who never thought of saying what this man said. Yet he who made this offer was evidently speaking without thought. He had never considered what belonged to discipleship. He had never counted the cost. And hence he needed the grave reply which his offer called forth: “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.”

You must weigh what he was taking in hand. He must not suppose that Christ’s service was all pleasure and smooth sailing. Was he prepared for this? Was he ready to “endure hardness?” “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3 NASB), or “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3 NIV). If not, he had better withdraw his application to be a disciple.

Let us learn from our Lord’s words on this occasion that He would have all who profess and call themselves Christians reminded that they must carry the cross. They must lay their account to be despised, and afflicted, and tried, like their Master. He would have no one enlisted on false pretenses. He would have it distinctly understood that there are battles to be fought and a race to be run, a work to be done and many hard things to be endured, if we propose to follow Him.

Salvation He is ready to bestow, without money and without price. Grace by the way, and glory in the end, shall be given to every sinner who comes to Him. But He would not have us ignorant that we shall have deadly enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil, and that many will hate us, slander us, and persecute us, if we become His disciples. He does not wish to discourage us, but He does wish us to know the truth.

Our Lord’s next saying is addressed to one whom Jesus invited to follow Him. The answer he received was a very remarkable one. “Lord,” said the man, “allow me first to go and bury my father.” The thing he requested was in itself harmless. But the time at which the request was made was unseasonable. Affairs of far greater importance than even a father’s funeral demanded the man’s immediate attention. There would always be plenty of people ready and fit to take charge of a funeral. But there was at that moment a pressing need of laborers to do Christ’s work in the world. And hence the man’s request drew from our Lord the solemn reply: “Let the dead bury their dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”

Let us learn from this saying to beware of allowing family and social duties to interfere with our duty to Christ. Funerals, and marriages, and visits of courtesy, and the like, unquestionably are not in themselves sinful. But when they are allowed to absorb a believer’s time and keep them back from any plain religious duty, they become a snare to our soul. That the children of the world, and the unconverted, should allow these kinds of things to occupy all their time and thoughts is not astonishing. They know nothing higher, and better, and more important. “Let the dead bury their dead.”

But the heirs of glory, and children of the King of kings, should be men and women of a different stamp. They should declare plainly, by their conduct, that the world to come is the great reality which fills their thoughts. They should not be ashamed to let men see that they have no time either to rejoice or to sorrow like others who have no hope. “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13 NASB). Their Master’s work waits for them, and their Master’s work must have the chief place in their hearts. They are God’s priests in the world, and like the priests of old, their mourning must be kept carefully within bounds. “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people’” (Leviticus 21:1 NASB).

The third of our Lord’s sayings in this passage was addressed to one who volunteered to follow Him, but marred the grace of his offer by interposing a request. “Another also said, ‘I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home’ ” (Luke 9:61 NASB). The answer he received shows plainly that the man’s heart was not yet thoroughly engaged in Christ’s service, and that he was therefore unfit to be a disciple. “But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God’ ” (Luke 9:62 NASB).

We learn from this saying that it is impossible to serve Christ with a divided heart. If we are looking back to anything in this world, we are not fit to be disciples. Those who look back, like Lot’s wife, want to go back. Jesus will not share His throne with anyone, no, not with our dearest relatives. He must have all our heart, or none. No doubt we are to honor father and mother, and love all around us. But when love to Christ and love to relatives come in collision, Christ must have the preference.

We must be ready, like Abraham, if need be, to come out from kindred and father’s house for Christ’s sake. We must be prepared, in case of necessity, like Moses, to turn our backs even on those who have brought us up, if God calls us and the path is plain. Such decided conduct may entail sore trials on our affections. It may crush our hearts to go contrary to the opinions of those we love. But such conduct may sometimes be positively necessary to our salvation, and without it, when it becomes necessary, we are unfit for the kingdom of God.

The good soldier will not allow his heart to be entangled too much with his home. If he daily gives way to unmanly repinings about those he has left behind him, he will never be fit for a campaign. His present duties, the watching, the marching, the fighting, must have the principal place in his thoughts. So must it be with all who would serve Christ. They must beware of softness spoiling their characters as Christians. They must endure hardness, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3 NASB).

Let us leave the whole passage with many searchings of heart. The times have undoubtedly changed since our Lord spoke these words. Not many are called to make such real sacrifices for Christ’s sake as when Christ was upon earth. But the heart of man never changes. The difficulties of salvation are still very great. The atmosphere of the world is still very unfavorable to spiritual religion. There is still a need for thorough, unflinching, whole-hearted decisions if we would reach heaven.

Let us aim at nothing less than this decision. Let us be willing to do anything, and suffer anything, and give up everything for Christ’s sake. It may cost us something for a few years, but great will be the reward in eternity. “And He said to them, ‘Take nothing for your journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two tunics apiece. And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them’” (Luke 9:3, 5 NASB).

The question remains before each of us: Will we die climbing, or will we spend our days looking back at what we left behind? The plow is in our hands. The field stretches before us. Christ calls us forward. Let us not be found unfit for the kingdom of God.