Title: Jesus Isn’t Looking for Groupies
Text: Luke 14:25-33
Thesis: When we decide to be a follower of Christ we must reconfigure our family values, our need to look out for #1 and our hold on stuff.
Introduction
CBS News reported that an estimated 87,000 people attended Glen Beck’s “Restoring Honor” Rally on August 28th. Aerial photos showed the crowd stretched from the Lincoln Memorial along the Reflecting Pool to the Washington Monument. Glen Beck is a talk-radio host and Fox News commentator. Rally organizers were thinking big when they applied for a permit for up to 300,000 to attend. Beck himself estimated there were at least 100,000 in attendance. The National Park Service declined to offer a “guestimate” of the attendance. They have stopped counting crowds since 1997 when they were accused of underestimating the size of the Million Man March in 1995. (Alex Sundby, Glen Beck Rally Attracts Estimated 87,000, cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20014993-503544.html)
Can you imagine being able to gather 87,000 people for the occasion of hearing you talk? Can you imagine what kind of buzz Glen Beck and Sarah Palin must have felt with 87,000 people hanging on their every word and cheering madly? And what if 300,000 people had actually shown up? I wonder at what number Glen Beck would have said, “Okay folks, there are just too many of you. Some of you need to go home.”
In our story today the bible says that large crowds were traveling with Jesus when he turned to the crowd and said in essence, “There are just too many of you. Some of you need to go home.”
And then he told them why they needed to go home. “Some of you,” he said, “love your families more than you love me.” Jesus recognized that for some, the tension of family was too great to be a devoted follower of Jesus Christ.
I. Christ must be the first love of the devoted follower of Christ.
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life, cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26
Jesus was a popular personality. He drew large crowds of people and he was accompanied by a sizeable entourage as well. Apparently it occurred to Jesus that some of these people might not be all that serious about being his followers.
There were apparently a significant number of people who were devoted followers of Jesus Christ in the crowd. There were also people who may seriously checking Jesus out and in the process of devoting their lives to being his followers. But there were also a significant number of people who were just curious. They were hangers-on. They didn’t want to miss out on the action if Jesus was going to do something spectacular like heal someone. Neither was Jesus living under the illusion that everyone in the crowd was even friendly toward him. So Jesus decided it was time to weed-out the groupies from those who were seriously interested in following him.
Navy SEALs are the Navy’s elite special operations force. They are trained to do a variety of missions that we think of as being unconventional warfare. Seal training is one of the most rigorous training programs for special operations in the world… some even say it is brutal. It takes 30 months of training. They are pushed to the limit both physically and mentally in order to “weed out” those who may not be able to successfully complete a demanding mission. Statistically, the drop-out rate for a typical Navy SEAL class is between 70 and 80 percent. Statistically around 25 or every 100 recruits who wish to be Navy SEALs succeed. I was particularly interested in the way they use the term “weed out” to describe separating the wannabes from the men who can be Navy SEALs.
It may be a bit crass to assume that Jesus was actually trying to weed out the wannabe followers from those who would be true followers. Interestingly, Jesus raised the issue of a person’s loyalty for family as a potential tension with a person’s loyalty for Christ. Implicit in his comment is the likelihood that some will drop out if they have to love Jesus more than they love their family.
Jesus said, “If anyone comes after me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26
There is an old joke about how on one occasion a popular professional baseball team manager was being interviewed by Dr. Robert Shuller on his Hour of Power television program. When asked about his three highest priorities he purportedly answered, “For me it is baseball, family and God… and in that order.”
If we are to take Jesus literally, that baseball team manager could not be a follower of Christ unless he hated baseball and hated his family.
In Matthew 10:37-38 Jesus said the same thing as in Luke 14:26 but he said it a bit differently. In Luke he used the word “hate” but in Matthew he used the words “love more.” There he said, “Anyone loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me…”
Hate does not mean hate… hate means to love less. What Jesus is saying is that his followers must understand that their loyalty to him is their highest loyalty and when we love God the most we will be able to love our fathers and mothers and sons and daughters and husbands and wives and our brothers and sisters as only a person devoted to God can love and that is as God loves.
The baseball manager or any of us for that matter simply must have our priorities in place.
“If Christ is not Lord of all, Christ is not Lord at all.”
To illustrate the importance of loving Christ most, he uses two examples of what it means count the cost, so to speak, in the matter of being a devoted follower of Christ.
A person who would make Christ Lord of all must count the cost.
II. Counting the cost is requisite for the devoted follower of Christ.
Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:27
We are all familiar with the cinematic depictions of Christ struggling to carry the cross upon which he was to be crucified through the streets of Jerusalem and up the hill to that place they called Golgotha. Carrying the cross is depicted as a gruesome and merciless undertaking that entailed horrendous suffering.
When Jesus says his followers must take up their crosses and follow him he means we must crucify or put to death our own desires and be ultimately and totally loyal to him.
This sounds very grim. It is that same extreme language of hate which once again reinforces our understanding of love and loyalty in terms of loving Christ most and being most loyal to Christ.
My Dad was a man of integrity. He was not a perfect man but he wanted to be a devoted follower of Christ and so along the way there were times when he had to make choices and in nearly every instance the choice was about what would honor God and be best for his family.
He was an auto mechanic by trade and good at it. On one occasion he was working for a dealership where the owner of the dealership wanted to harvest used parts from salvage yards, have my dad install them and then charge the customer for new parts. My dad refused. There was a heated discussion and a parting of the ways.
The easiest thing would have been to install the used parts and keep his job and continue to feed his family. The hard thing was to be a person of integrity even if it meant no paycheck.
When you decide to carry your cross and follow Christ you decide to be the most faithful and loving spouse you can possibly be. You decide to be a loving a devoted parent committed to instilling Godly values in the lives of your children. When you decide to take up your cross and follow Christ you commit to being a person of integrity who always honors God and is a blessing to others… even if it costs you something.
Carl Weisman has written a book titled: Serious Doubts: Why People Marry When They Know It Won’t Last. In a country-wide survey he found that 8 in 10 people who had married and divorced were either “somewhat” or “extremely certain” that the marriage would not last when they got married. He said the one thing they all had in common is that they did not listen to their inner voice… they all ignored their inner voice. (“With this doubt, I thee wed: Some know marriage will fail, USA Today, 12/01/09 and “Currents,” Leadership Journal, Winter 2010, p. 12)
When we count the cost of carrying our cross and following Christ we always listen to our inner voice and to the voice of God’s Spirit living within us and do the right thing even if it means breaking an engagement.
Jesus cited two examples of what it means to count the cost before you take the leap of faith in following Jesus. Counting the cost is the first consideration you make when you decide to be a follower of Christ.
The first example he cited was that of building a tower.
A. If you are going to be a follower of Christ make sure you plan on it being a life-long commitment.
Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to finish it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.” Luke 14:28-30
It is embarrassing to start a project and then not be able to complete it.
We lived in western Iowa for 8 years. Over the course of those 8 years we drove a stretch of interstate just east of Omaha, NE many times. We have lived in Denver for 10 years and we driven the interstate between Denver and Chicago or the Twin Cities numerous times. So for 18 years we have been pounding out the miles over that same stretch of highway and for 18 years we have driven by a house someone started to build 18 years ago and it is still unfinished. It is in a beautiful rural setting with a walkout basement but it has never advanced beyond pouring the basement and the framing. Someone began to build and was unable to finish…
In the story Jesus speaks of being unable to complete what we begin as being embarrassing and if we wish to avoid ridicule and embarrassment we need to make sure we can finish what we start.
“So,” Jesus says, “If you wish to be a follower of mine, make sure you intend to finish what you begin.”
The second example he cited was that of a king about to go to war.
Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the once coming against him with twenty thousand? In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:31-33
In other words, if you are going to start a war, plan on finishing the war. Go all out or don’t go!
No one dare doubt the valor or our military. With mighty few exceptions the men and women who serve our country and our interests around the world do so honorably. However when a country goes to war that country must be committed to finishing that war at any cost.
War is costly. 4,420 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq. 31,926 soldiers have been seriously wounded. In the last nine years we have spent $900 billion dollars on the war in Iraq. In an article Iraq War Facts, Results & Statistics at August 23, 2010, Deborah White published the facts about Spending, US troops, Iraqi Troops, Civilians and Others, Quality of Life Indicators and Poll Results. The facts though simply stated are staggering. War is costly. (Deborah White, Iraq War Facts, About.com)
I think the term being bandied about now in regard to the US war in Iraq is “mission creep.” Observers cite that one of the major blunders the United States made in Iraq was falling into “mission creep.” By that they mean we allowed the mission to expand beyond its original objective.
Jesus is saying, “If you are going to be a follower of mine get in to stay in even if “mission creep” makes it cost a lot more than you originally anticipated.”
Conclusion:
The Sagrada Familia or Sacred Family Church has been under construction in Barcelona, Spain since 1882 and it is not expected to be completed until 2026… another 16 years. Generations of architects, designers and builders have come and gone but the building continues. The original designer intended that Sagrada Familia should be the last great sanctuary of Christendom. It has a total of 18 spires ascending in order of height from the 12 apostles, the 4 evangelists, the Virgin Mary and the tallest spire represents Jesus Christ. When competed it will be the tallest church building in the world. In November of this year Pope Benedict XVI will consecrate and proclaim Sagrada Familia a Basilica.
I don’t know if the designers and builders thought it would take 144 years to build the Sagrada Familia but one thing is certain… they knew it would be built. It was and is a massive and costly undertaking but it will be built.
When we choose to follow Christ is may be a massive and costly undertaking but it is a life that will be built.
What Jesus wants is for those who follow him to commit themselves to it as a life-long pursuit… a way of life and a commitment to Christ that is confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it out to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
