OPEN: A man had heart bypass surgery. As he was recovering, his doctor prescribed an exercise program and it was emphasized that the patient had to do this program "religiously."
A few days later, the man returned to his doctor, and the doctor asked if he have been exercising. The patient replied, "Yes. Religiously."
"How is it going?" he asked.
The patient said, "Well, at 1st it was kind of tiring doing all those exercises once a week ..."
"Once a week!? I wanted you to do them every day!" the doctor exclaimed.
"But, you said to do them ’religiously.’ So, just like church, I did them every seven days."
APPLY: Now, there’s something not quite right about that.
This man’s recovery depended him taking his exercises seriously.
And it also depended upon him doing them more than once a week.
When the doctor said “Religiously” – he meant EVERY DAY - as if his life depended upon it.And it did.
Here in Luke 14, Jesus is telling us the same thing about being a Christian.
He says: We need to take our faith seriously.
We need to exercise it religiously.
We need to work at every day.
Because our very lives in Christ depend upon it.
Jesus said it again and again.
• "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Mark 8:34
• “… anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:38
And here in Luke 14, Jesus declared:
“… anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:27
AND “…any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Lu 14:33
Following Jesus is serious business.
Following Jesus requires us to exercise our faith regularly.
It requires us to work at our Christianity every day.
ILLUS: One minister was once asked if a certain man named John, belonged to the Church.
The preacher’s reply was, "No, although his name does appear on the roll."
The first man was a little confused and asked the difference between belonging to the church, and having his name on the roll.
"It’s like this," the minister explained,
• "John’s time does not belong to the Church.
• His energy and affections don’t belong to the Church.
• And not one penny of John’s money belongs to the Church."
To be perfectly honest, I don’t think there’s an ounce of John that really belongs to Jesus.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who WANT to go to heaven with Jesus - but hardly an ounce of them belongs to Him. And Jesus tells us these folks aren’t worthy of Him and are NOT His disciples because that’s their mindset.
Now, why should Jesus be so adamant about this?
Why should He care if we’re don’t give ourselves to Him as completely as we should?
Well, two reasons:
The 1st reason is because of how important our Christianity is to Him.
In Luke 14, Jesus tells us a couple of parables:
• A parable of a man who plans to build a tower
• And a parable of a king who is going to war
And Jesus tells us that these parables illustrate what it means to be His disciples.
And as I thought about that… it occurred to me what Jesus was talking about.
1. It’s His tower
2. It’s His war.
A person who’s thinking of following Jesus is like someone who considers building a tower that disciple’s not building the tower for himself - he’s building it FOR Jesus.
A person who’s thinking of following Jesus is like a king considers going to go to war that disciple’s not going to war for himself/ he’s going to war for Jesus.
It’s Jesus’ tower.
It’s His war
When you and I became Christians, we became servants of Jesus.
What we do, we should be doing for Him.
But not everybody looks at Jesus that way.
How we look at Jesus depends upon how we answer the following questions:
1. Does Jesus belong to me?
2. OR do I belong to Him?
Think about that… which is it? (wait for them to consider their answer)
• If Jesus belongs to me then He does my bidding. He’s at my beck and call. He serves me and fulfills my wishes and wants.
• But if I belong to Jesus, I do what He wants when He wants it.
That’s why Romans 10 declares:
“… if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Ro 10:9
Part of salvation is saying I BELONG TO JESUS – HE IS LORD!
ILLUS: In the days of Jesus, if one man called another his “LORD” it meant he was a slave and the other was His owner.
Did a slave own anything? Of course not.
He didn’t own his home, his furniture, his family, even the clothes on his back.
They all belonged to his master.
When someone wants to become a Christian, I’ll often pull out my wallet (pull it out) and explain that once I became a Christian everything in the wallet belonged to him (open wallet). Everything in my bank account and 401 K were all His. My home, my car, my clothing, they’re all His.
Then I’ll show them my pictures in the wallet. My family, friends, everyone I hold dear – belong to Jesus. He is the Lord, and I am His servant.
He owns me. He calls me to do His bidding.
He calls you and I to build His towers, and to wage His wars.
In Matthew 16, Peter made the good confession that Jesus was the Christ the son of the Living God. And Jesus said “upon this rock (Peter’s confession) I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18).
Jesus builds His church with individuals that confess Him as their Christ.
Who make Him their Lord.
His church is made up of people like you and me.
AND His church depends on people like you and me.
Now, here’s the question: if Christ’s church depended solely on you… could it survive?
If everybody in church did what you do in church, could Christ’s kingdom last very long?
ILLUS: Halford Luccock in “The Christian Century” made this observation:
…"if the habits of that company in the Upper Room had been like the habits of multitudes in our churches today… The meeting was called for the 1st day of the week, but so many things interfered that of the company of 120, only 40 could be present.
• Peter and his wife had bought a cottage on Lake Galilee and were away from the hot city over the weekend.
• Bartholomew had guests and of course could not come.
• Philip and his family had been up late the night before and overslept.
• Andrew had a business conference about a new fishing boat.
• James had to stay at home and cut the grass…"
Do you think the church would have survived if these men had decided not to count the cost?
Do you think it would have survived if they only built half the tower for Jesus or waged war part time against Satan?
But, these men did count the cost… and they were willing to pay the price.
Matthew suffered martyrdom by being slain with a sword in Ethiopia.
Mark died at Alexandria, after being cruelly dragged through the streets of that city.
Luke was hanged from an olive tree in Greece.
John was put in a caldron of boiling oil, but escaped death in a miraculous manner, and was afterward branded at Patmos.
Peter was crucified upside down at Rome.
James, the Greater, was beheaded at Jerusalem.
James, the Less, was thrown from a lofty pinnacle of the temple, and beaten to death.
Bartholomew was flayed alive.
Andrew was bound to a cross, whence he preached to his persecutors until he died.
Thomas was run through the body with a lance in the East Indies.
Jude was shot to death with arrows.
Matthias was first stoned and then beheaded.
Barnabas of the Gentiles was stoned to death at Salonica.
Paul, was at length beheaded at Rome by the Emperor Nero.
Writing about this possibility, Paul stated: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21
These men weren’t Sunday Christians.
These were men who were willing to build the tower for Jesus.
To wage war on His behalf.
And because they (and others down thru history) have been willing to count the cost, and pay the price, the message of Christ has survived to our day so that you and I could have God’s love and forgiveness.
So, are you willing to take up YOUR cross and follow Him?
Are you willing to give up everything to follow Him?
So the first reason Jesus told these parables was because of what our salvation means to HIM. The 2nd reason is because of what our Christianity means to us.
Notice what Jesus tells us in the parables:
1. Suppose a man decides to build a tower
If this man is smart, he’ll sit down and do the math.
Can he afford to build the tower?
Does he have enough money to finish it?
Otherwise, he’s going to get it ½ finished and it will be a monument to his foolishness
And 2 - suppose a king decides to go to war… but he’s outnumbered 2 to 1
Can he afford to go to war?
Or should he sue for peace?
He’s got to sit down and count the cost.
Why is Jesus telling these parables?
Well, He doesn’t want us to misunderstand that there is a cost to being His child.
But wait! I thought salvation was free.
It is free isn’t it? (get a response).
Of course it is!
There is no way you could ever pay the price necessary to get you into heaven… so Jesus paid the price for you. He paid the price and so your salvation is free.
So what’s this about a ‘cost’ involved?
ILLUS: Well, let’s say I suddenly inherited $50 million dollars.
Now I really like you folks, so I’ve decided that want to buy each one of you a brand new car. Would you like that!?
Of course you would.
You got a brand new car for FREE.
But once you have that brand new FREE vehicle, you’ve got to pay the taxes on it, buy insurance, pay for maintenance, buy the gas and oil and so on.
It was free… but there is a cost involved in keeping it running.
Is it still a good deal? Of course it is!
The car was free, but there is still a cost for owning it.
Your salvation is free but discipleship is going to cost you something. And Jesus said - it’s going to cost you your entire life. (the idea came from a quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
You’ve got to take up your cross daily and follow Him
You’ve got to be willing to give up everything you have to make Him your top priority
IT WON’T WORK ANY OTHER WAY
And what you have to decide is – is it still a good deal if I have to do that?
The crowds that followed Jesus apparently didn’t think so.
As long as Jesus healed them, and fed them, and preached good sermons, they’d follow Him. But once He was on the cross… once they realized there was a price to be paid, they walked away.
Is it worth the price?
Suppose a man finds a buried treasure worth untold millions in a field and he discovers that if he would sell everything he has he could buy that field… would it be worth the price?
Suppose a jeweler finds a pearl worth millions of dollars that a friend has offered him at a good price and he realizes that if he sells all he has he could buy that pearl… would it be worth the price?
You see – Jesus is offering us something that is beyond earthly value.
What Jesus is offering us is eternity
What Jesus is offering is the love of God
What Jesus is offering is forgiveness for any/every sin you’ve ever committed
But in order to get and keep that treasure (that pearl) you’ve got to give up everything
IS IT WORTH THE PRICE?
If it isn’t worth it to you, I’m sorry, it isn’t going to work for you.
That’s what Jesus is saying.
CLOSE: Thus, in the early church – when people wanted to become Christians - they were told they were dying to their past and then they were buried in water, as into a grave. At that point they were made to realize that their past life was gone. All they once held dear is now dead and they (and everything they possessed) NOW belonged to Jesus.
Baptism is the symbol of our decision to give everything to Jesus.
Even pagan and non-Christian cultures understand this. According to Watchman Nee
• In India, a family member can attend church all they wish. But once they are baptized they are cast out.
• In Jewish circles, a person may embrace the Christian faith in secret. But once they are baptized they are ostracized.
• In Islamic cultures the reaction is far more violent. Once a Islamic person converts he must be sent away immediately. Otherwise, he will die within two or three days after his baptism.
Baptism is the mark of our changed life.
It’s the mark of our decision to surrender our entire lives to Jesus.
There’s an old Gospel song that goes:
“They baptized Jesse Taylor in Cedar Creek last Sunday
Jesus gained a soul and Satan lost a good right arm
They all cried hallelujah when Jesse’s head went under
Cause this time he went under for the Lord.”
This commitment begins with your baptism, but it continues thru your entire life
So… is it worth the price to you?
Is the decision to give your entire life to Christ, worth what God will give you?
