Opening illustration: Surprised to see an empty seat at the Super Bowl stadium, a diehard fan remarked about it to a woman sitting nearby. “It was my husband’s,” the woman explained, “But he died.” “I’m very sorry,” said the man. “You know, I’m really surprised that a relative or friend didn’t jump at the chance to accompany you to the game in the seat reserved for him.” “Beats me,” she said. “They were all stuck on going to the funeral.”
The call of the world is very attractive to some. But let’s be honest — aren’t we more like that woman than we would admit? We prefer to seek our own comfort, our own enjoyment. We resent anything, or anyone who would call us away from our own pleasure.
In Luke 14: 25-35, Jesus calls out to those who would be his disciples. He calls them, commands them, compels to make a choice — who will be first in their lives? Who will be the priority? It all demanded that once the choice was made, there would be no turning back. As we hear what Jesus had to say to the people of that time, we will also hear that same call going out to us.
Will you hear him? How will you respond to Him will make all the difference in your life and in the life of others around you.
Let us turn to Luke 14 in our Bibles and be part of the crowd that Jesus is addressing before He proceeds to Jerusalem.
Introduction: We live in a society that loves bargains. Everybody loves a bargain. It is a great feeling when you pay very little but you get a lot. Bargain hunters are everywhere. They go to garage sales. They search the classified, they wait for the sales in big stores, they use e-bay. And the basic mantra of the bargain hunter is, “What is the least amount I have to pay in order to get as many benefits as possible. How do I sacrifice a little and still get all the goodies?” Everybody loves a bargain.
Now sometimes the bargain we are looking for isn’t always a material thing. Sometimes we search for bargains in or spiritual life. What I mean is this. There are times in our spiritual lives when we want all the blessings of heaven, but with the least amount of sacrifice possible. There are times when we live our Christian lives in such a way that we seem to be saying, “What is the least amount that I have to do and still receive all the good stuff of heaven?”
Now this kind of attitude is nothing new to our generation. This kind of attitude has been around for thousands of years, including the time when Jesus walked on this earth. Luke tells us in chapter 9: 51, “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” (Luke 9: 51) Apparently most people had no clue that Jesus was going to Jerusalem to give up his life on a cross. So when the Bible tells us that Jesus was going to Jerusalem it is saying that Jesus was choosing to go to the place where eventually he would give his life for those he loved.
Why should we NOT TURN back?
1. Allegiance to Christ (vs. 25-27, 33)
Yet we can imagine that Jesus’ words to the crowd astonished and offended them. His words were a blatant, frontal attack upon that which they treasured: “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 — he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14: 26). Jesus refuses to spare the feelings of anyone who would claim to be a follower of him. The call of discipleship is, fundamentally, a call to allegiance. Jesus refuses to be an afterthought, a diversion, or a hobby in the lives of those who claim to be his disciples. In the midst of that crowd, a crowd which lived in a society that valued family ties and commitments above all else, Jesus proclaims that a price, a heavy price, is to be paid by those who would follow him.
But — did Jesus really want the crowd to hate their fathers and mothers, their wives and children, their brothers and sisters? Weren’t there times where Jesus commanded his hearers to love one another —to love one’s neighbor as oneself? How did those concepts jibe with the shocking words they’ve just heard? We must realize, however, that Jesus was not calling his disciples to despise their loved ones. The word hate used in this instance is used rhetorically, comparatively. He spoke of the priority of the disciple’s commitment to him, a commitment that was too far outstrip all other commitments. As the light given off candle or a match seems like darkness compared to the light of the lamps on a lighthouse, so the love of the disciple for his Lord should be so great, that love of family would seem, by comparison, to be hatred.
Jesus is not talking about feelings of animosity, but of priority. The disciple cannot afford to cave in to the whims of parents, of spouses, of children, of siblings, but must pursue the life that God requires of them. Jesus challenged the crowd to find their identity not in family ties, but in relationship with and submission to him. Remember, however, that Jesus was addressing in his day a culture in which the family was the absolute arbiter of all social interaction. The family was the center of the economy, the means for access to land and ownership, the mediator of church membership, even the matchmaker of marriage partner. Family influenced everything. It is in that light that we are to hear Jesus’ words, and feel the sting that accompanied them: “if anyone comes to me and does not hate…he cannot be my disciple.” The price for such a commitment would be costly — it would even call for the despising of one’s own life! For one in the crowd to make that ultimate commitment, they would actually risk alienation from their family, their community — the social community, even the religious community. Most likely, others would not receive the commitment of discipleship with gladness. Many disciples would have to pay for such a decision with their own lives. Discipleship is not periodic volunteer work on one’s own terms and at one’s convenience.
Remember where Jesus was headed — to Jerusalem. To suffering. To death. He invited — he invites — those who would follow him to identify with him in the fellowship of dishonor and suffering. A true disciple of Christ gives up his claims to that which others would say they deserve — claims to comfort, claims to companionship, and claims to life itself. All disciples will not be called upon to die for their faith in Christ, but all disciples must be prepared to die. Discipleship is not cheap — it is infinitely costly. As Martin Luther said, “A religion (faith) that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing.” Are we willing to pay the price?
2. Costly Affair (vs. 28-30)
As happens so many times, the question functions on several levels. At the simplest and most basic level, it is a request for information. Jesus asked the crowd, and so us, “Before you do anything significant, which of you does not sit down and count the cost?” The way the question was asked, I am sure that the crowd would have answered that none of them would fail to count the cost. That was, in fact, the point of the question. None of them would have failed to count the cost. I suspect the same is true of us today. None of us would fail to count the cost. Oh, we may be careless on frivolous or insignificant things, but on anything of significance or importance, we count the cost. We do the math. We make the calculations. That is the way we are. And that, again, is the initial point of the question. Jesus is pointing out to us the way we are, and he is seeking our acknowledgment of that reality to build a foundation to make his main point.
So, at its simplest level and in its very form, the question is a request for information. Of course, it assumes a particular answer and does not even wait for a reply. So, immediately and even simultaneously, the question also functions at a second level as an affirmation not only of reality but also of a certain practicality in doing things and therefore of the wisdom underlying that. Of course people count the cost before they build. They would be ridiculed if they did not and their building project had to stop half way and stand incomplete. Of course kings deliberate before they go to war. If they did not, they would not live to go to war again or to do anything else. Not only is this the way things are, but also it is good that things are this way, and it is even the case that those who act in this way are wise. They are, after all, fulfilling the ancient Proverbs which we have read together from the very word of God.
So, the question is both a request for information and also an affirmation of the goodness and wisdom of the reality toward which it points. “Do you count the cost?” Yes, of course we do. Good, that is what you are supposed to do. That is what God wants you to do. Now, given that—and here comes the kicker, where Jesus takes it up to the third level—given that you are wise enough to count the cost before you build a tower, do you think maybe it might make sense to follow the same procedure before you follow me? Do you think maybe that following me might be at least as important as building another tower in the back yard? Do you not realize that I am doing battle with forces far greater than those amassed by any earthly king? Would you at least do me the courtesy of coming into this relationship with your eyes wide open? Beyond information and affirmation, he is asking for consideration. What good is a crowd that carries Jesus to and through Palm Sunday if they thin out and desert him by Good Friday?
3. Risking Peace (vs. 31-32)
The second word picture that Jesus uses is that of a warring king. And this king has an army. And this king wants peace. Just like we all want peace. Now says, Jesus, suppose another king comes along and he’s got an army twice the size. It would be foolish for the king with the smaller army to try and establish peace by trying to conquer this guy. It would be much wiser for the king with the small army to look for a way to negotiate peace? Or in plain English, if the king with the small army wants peace, the wise thing to do would be to surrender.
Now basically what Jesus is saying to the crowd is this. Listen! You represent the king with the little army. And God represents the king with the big army. And God is on the move to transform us, with his Holy Spirit. He wants to change us into people who love like Jesus loves. Now the foolish thing for us to do would be to fight against God. The foolish thing would be to resist the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It would be foolish for us to say, “No God, I will not confess, I will never say I’m sorry”, or “No God I will never forgive him,” or “No God, I will not think of you first with my income.”
This kind of resistance to the Spirit of God is foolishness, because anyone who finds himself resisting God and fighting against him will find himself on the losing end of things. And as a result you will end up feeling, restless, empty, frustrated, anxious, tired, and joyless. To fight God is just plain foolish. The wise thing to do is just to surrender and negotiate peace before it becomes a war. The wise thing to do is to come before God and say, “God here I am. I fully surrender to you. Take my unforgiving attitude, take my selfishness, take my pride, my lust, and take it all Lord. And as you do this Lord, I ask that you fill me with your peace.” You see, without a fully surrendered heart we will never not know this peace. So the second word picture is of a king who negotiates peace.
4. Fading Flavor (vs. 34-35)
You are to understand that he that has not grace in his heart; who merely makes a profession of religion, and who sustains the same relation to true piety that this insipid and useless mass does to good salt, is useless in the church, and will be rejected. “Real” piety, true religion, is of vast value in the world. It keeps it pure, and saves it from corruption, as salt does meat; but a mere “profession” of religion is fit for nothing. It does no good. It is a mere encumbrance, and all such professors are fit only to be cast out and rejected. All such “must” be rejected by the Son of God, and cast into a world of wretchedness and despair.
Jesus knew that the crowd would run the risk of mishearing and misapplying what he was saying. The distinctive qualities of discipleship could not be self-manufactured. While we must display them, they cannot be created by us. As he has before in his ministry, Jesus uses the object lesson of salt. Salt was one of the most valued commodities of that time. It was used for seasoning and preserving. However, if the salt loses its distinctive character of saltiness, what good is it? When food was bland, one would reach for the saltshaker to impart flavor. But if the salt itself is without flavor, what good is it? Living during a time when there was no refrigeration, it was imperative that the meat necessary for one’s diet be preserved. But, it the salt could not preserve its own saltiness, what good is it?
As salt bereft of its saltiness is useless, those who seek to be disciples, yet fail to make Christ and his cause the priority of their lives are not worthy to be called “disciples.” One who refuses to pursue the call to discipleship in the manner that God requires is as useful as un-salty salt! Such a one is subject to God’s righteous judgment: “It is neither fit for the soil, nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out” (Luke 14: 34).
Heed the Savior’s warning. The only way to be his disciple is to do it in his way. This could be your final warning.
Application: A lighthouse keeper along a dangerous coast was given enough oil for one month and told to keep the light burning every night. One day, a woman asked for oil so that her children could stay warm. Then a farmer came, needing oil for a lamp so he could study. Still another farmer needed some oil for a tractor, so his fields could be plowed and planted and his family fed.
The keeper saw each as a worthy request and measured out just enough oil to satisfy all. Near the end of the month, the tank in the lighthouse ran dry. That night the beacon was dark and three ships crashed on the rocks. More than 100 lives were lost. When a government official investigated, the man explained what he had done and why. “You were given one task alone,” insisted the official. “It was to keep the light burning. Everything else was secondary.”
The call of discipleship is the call to make Jesus first. Everything else is secondary. To respond rightly to this call is not easy — friends and family may not understand — they may even do things to hurt and hinder us. However, we can respond to such a call knowing that the One who calls us is our Supreme Example and Divine Enabler. He perfectly obeyed the will of his father, allowing no one and nothing to deter him. He promises to give to all who respond to his call the Holy Spirit, Who leads and guides into all truth.
As Jesus called the crowd to a lifestyle of discipleship, he now calls us. He says to us, as he says to the crowd, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 14: 35)
You see Christianity isn’t for bargain hunters. It is not for people who want the most for the least. It’s a place for people who are willing to surrender all.
What are we going to choose?Do you hear him? How will you respond?
