How To Avoid Being A Disciple Of Jesus Series

The Internet is full of information on how people can do certain things:

How to repair a specific broken belt on a lawn mower

How to balance a budget

How to cook a dish

How to pay for college

There is also a ton of information on how to avoid certain things:

How to avoid debt

How to avoid phishing scams

How to avoid paying too much for insurance.

How to avoid being hit by lightning

Today, we are going to reflect on something that likely comes very naturally to us - that is: How to avoid being a disciple of Jesus.

Now you may hear that statement or read the title of the sermon and think - “that’s easy - whatever Jesus says - do the opposite, but why would we reflect on that premise at church?” I’m glad you asked.

Part of the reason why I want us to reflect on this “how to” statement is based in how Jesus addresses His audience in the passage we’re considering today. He argues from the negative.

Of course, His goal for us and our goal for us is that we would be sold out followers of Jesus - that we would truly be His disciples. Jesus argues that discipleship costs a lot more than people expect. Following Jesus is not an add-on to an already full life - it’s a transformative change - it’s a new life

Open your Bibles to Luke 14. We’ll be looking at verses 25-35.

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve found Jesus interacting largely with religious leaders. Sure, there have been some crowds and some side conversations, but most of His harshest words are reserved for the religious elite while He makes his way toward Jerusalem.

Today however, Jesus points His difficult sayings to the crowds, to the common people, to you and me. As I read this text, if you’re following along in your Bible, consider underlining the times that Jesus states “cannot be my disciple.”

Let’s consider the text:

Luke 14:25–35 ESV

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

“Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Did you catch how many times Jesus states you “cannot be my disciple”? Three. Those three statements and their underlying arguments will mark the first three parts of our outline.

So, Jesus begins by noting that we cannot be His disciples if we…

Put people before Jesus (25-26)

Now Jesus uses some very strong language here that should cause us some pause. He says…

Luke 14:26 ““If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

Is he really calling his followers to hate their family members or their own lives?

Back in Luke 6:35, we heard Jesus teach that we should love our enemies.

So is Jesus completely upside down telling us to love our enemies and hate our families?

No.

Jesus’ argument to the extreme seems to be one of love. In other words, our love and devotion for Jesus should be so great that it looks like we hate our families and even our own lives. When it comes to a point of conflict, we should choose Jesus over every other relationship. Jonathan Edwards has noted (quoted by McKinley):

Luke 12–24 for You Not Designed to Be Easy

“Hate … should not be understood in terms of emotion or malice, but rather in its Hebraic sense, signifying the thing rejected in a choice between two important claims.”