Who is Not Fit for the Kingdom? 10-2-25

These messages are to wake the people of God out of their sleep; it is high time to be about our Father’s business, and not our own. I am concerned about the way some Christians are living and taking their walk with Christ lightly as if they can do whatever they please and it is okay with the Lord.

When this is brought to their attention, they try to justify their actions, For instance, “God knows my heart” You better believe He does and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Cop outs are not acceptable.

These messages are being written out of love and concern.  I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth (3 John 4).

The Cost of Discipleship- Half hearted service

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, 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 nowhere to lay His head.” 

Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”  But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God. “And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You but let me first go and bid them   are well who are at my house.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:57-62)

Lot’s wife looked back and turned to a pillar of salt (OT). Thanks be to God for grace – to look back is a set back, and it indicates that the thing of the world is more important than the kingdom of God. Thank the Lord that this has nothing to do with salvation; it is about rewards.

The emphasis is the same as someone taking the wide way, the carnal, or fleshy way that suffers loss of rewards (Matthew 7:13-14); the servant who didn’t do his Master’s will (Matthew 25:24-30 ) the five foolish virgins who were not ready when the Bridegroom (Jesus) came (Matthew 25:1-13); the man improperly dressed at the wedding feast (Matthew 22:1-14); those who said they prophesied, and so in Jesus’ name (Matthew 7:22-24).

They were doing what they desired to do like those who say, “Only what you do for Christ will last” it is wrong to make a statement like that: “Only what Christ tells you to do will last” (1 Corinthians 3:11-15). None of them prepared to meet their Master; their focus was elsewhere. Pay close attention to the word not FIT (unsuitable)-  not fitting or right for a use or purpose. 

Topical Lexicon- A farmer focused elsewhere cannot plow a straight furrow; likewise, half-hearted followers prove unqualified for kingdom service. 

Furrow a trench in the earth made by a plow- A plowman looking back cuts a crooked furrow. That which is crooked cannot be made straight (Ecclesiastes 1:15). This is what born again believers should do. Take a lesson from Paul the apostle:  Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14).

This is what will happen to those who did what they were called to do:  Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints (Revelation 19:7-8).

His handmaiden, Betty A. Burnett ~ burnettministries.org