The Cost of Discipleship
Luke 14:25-35
CHCC: February26, 2012
INTRODUCTION:
It’s said that Abraham Lincoln regularly attended services at a Presbyterian Church in Washington DC. One Sunday, while the Civil War was raging, an aide asked the President what he thought of the sermon. Lincoln answered, “It was a thoughtful and eloquent sermon.” The young man said, “Then you thought it was great?”
Lincoln said, “No, I thought the preacher failed.” The aide was surprised. “Why did he fail?” he asked. President Lincoln answered, “The preacher failed because he did not ask of us something great.” (The Preaching of Jesus by Moore & Weece p.52)
Today we’re going to look at a sermon Jesus preached that probably shocked his audience … because it DID demand something great. This sermon came at the apex of Jesus’ career. Crowds were streaming to him. He was incredibly popular. He was what we’d call a celebrity.
Most people would be thrilled by that kind of attention, but Jesus didn’t seem to have any interest in catering to his audience. You see, Jesus cared more about depth of commitment than he did about the size of the crowd.
1. Complete Commitment
Luke 14:25-26: Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.
“Disciple” is just another word for Christian. The word “disciple” occurs 269 times in the New Testament while the word Christian occurs only 3 times.
Acts 11:26 connects the two terms when it says, “The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.” The two terms were interchangeable in the Bible in the same way my “wife” is my “spouse” and my “sibling” is my “brother.” If you are a Christian, you are a Disciple.
The people following Jesus considered themselves His Disciples … or at least they were interested in becoming His Disciples. But instead of trying to talk them into it, Jesus seems to be trying to weed them out. Why would Jesus tell them “In order to be my Disciple, you must hate your own family and even your own life.”?
It’s hard to soften this statement because the Greek word translated “hate” is “miseo” and that is a strong word. It is usually used as the opposite of love or honor. Jesus was saying --- in a very blunt way --- that his disciples had to be willing to put Him above anyone and anything.
In Jewish culture there was no greater loyalty than the loyalty you owe your family or clan. To turn away from that loyalty would be seen as a hateful act. In the USA, we don’t usually have that sense of obligation to our extended family … but in most of the world family obligation still trumps just about everything.
I saw the strength of family obligation in India several years ago. A missionary I’d been working with died and left the care of the mission in the hands of his son. Well, his son had married an Indian woman from that area. Within two years most of the workers in the mission had been fired and replaced with her relatives. It was obvious that the work of the mission was not as important as her loyalty to her own clan.
That’s not the way things work for Disciples of Jesus. If we ever have to choose between obedience to Jesus and obligation to family, Jesus must come first.
If that isn’t enough of a challenge to you, look at what Jesus said next: And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:27
2. Carry the Cross
As soon as Jesus said this, I picture the people standing there with their mouths hanging open in shock. The word cross doesn’t affect us they way it would have hit them. We may think of a cross as a decoration … in jewelry or on a church steeple. But in Jesus’ time, the cross was nothing but a gruesome instrument of execution. Imagine Jesus saying, “You can’t be a Christian unless you live on death row. Or “If you want to be my disciple, the strap yourself into an electric chair.”
People were following Jesus because they hoped he was about to lead a successful rebellion against Rome and set up a free and independent Jewish Kingdom. They saw Jesus as a powerful --- miracle-working --- rebel leader.
Jesus was not the first rebel leader who had drawn a big following. Before Jesus, there had been other “wannabe” Messiahs who led rebellions and tried to set up an independent Jewish state. Most of them failed. A few were successful … but only temporarily. All of these rebellions relied on military power, and all of these movements died when their leader died.
Jesus was an entirely different kind of Messiah --- Jesus would not rely on military power --- and His Kingdom would not be temporary.
Think of it like this. Suppose you are in a battle and you let the enemy prevail. In fact, you purposefully draw out all the enemy’s ammunition. The enemy throws everything he has at you. Then, when the enemy is entirely spent and has nothing left, you rise up out of the ashes stronger than ever. You have just won a permanent victory.
That’s what Jesus did. He allowed evil to throw everything it had at him … even to the point of torture and death. Then, when Satan was completely spent with nothing left in His arsenal, Jesus rose out of the ashes, stronger than ever. He had won over sin and death, and that victory was won for all eternity.
Disciples of Jesus must live that same way. We take up our cross, knowing that nothing Satan throws at us can conquer us. Because of our faith in Christ, we share in His victory over sin and death.
Jesus ended this shocking sermon in his signature preaching style --- by telling two short parables. These parables explain why anyone who wants to follow Jesus needs to first Count the Cost.
3. Count the Cost
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ Luke 14:28-30
That parable reminds me of a Commercial I saw years back. A man is sitting in a Tattoo Parlor expressing his love for Donna by getting her name Tattooed on his arm. Half way through, he asks how much it will cost. It’s $50.00.
He pulls out his cash and says, “Oh, I only have $41.00.” The next scene shows the couple on the sidewalk with Donna storming off and the guy yelling after her, “I’ll get it finished!”
The camera zooms in on the tattoo which says, “I love Don.”
Whether it’s a tower or a tattoo, starting and not finishing is worse than not starting at all. This is the Biblical Principal that Financial Peace University is founded on. We need to count the cost in our personal budgets. The problem comes when we just spend and spend, and then the credit card bill comes and we freak out. We shouldn’t be surprised by what we’ve spent! We need to count the cost before we spend, not after.
The Kingdom of Heaven is free, but it’s not cheap. Let’s take a minute to count the cost.
*There Is a Financial Cost to being a Disciple of Jesus – Books cost money. Conferences cost money. Missions need money. You share the financial needs of your congregation. One of the qualities that I’ve always noticed in church leaders who were “getting it done” is that they were willing to pay a financial price.
* There Is an Emotional Cost to being a Disciple of Jesus – Being actively involved in the church is one of the most emotionally draining things you will ever do. You will discover that you can go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows with one e-mail or phone call. And if you take on a Leadership position, you can expect to be criticized. Critics who don’t know you (nor do they want to know you) will malign, misrepresent, and attack you. There are great benefits to working for Jesus, but before you take on the task, be sure that you are willing to spend your emotion on behalf of Jesus’ Church.
* There Is a Physical Cost to being a Disciple of Jesus – Laziness and Discipleship do NOT go hand in hand. It takes blood, sweat, and tears to follow in the steps of Jesus. Sometimes you just have to get up and go even when your energy already got up and went! There is a proper time for rest, but there are also seasons that demand lots of time, energy, and plain old work.
*There Is a Spiritual Cost to being a Disciple of Jesus – Talk to anyone who has decided to follow Jesus … and they will tell you that as soon as they made that decision, they were hit with all kinds of temptations and trials. Every Disciple will experience spiritual warfare. You have to be willing to fight the good fight if you hope to follow Jesus. (Perry Noble)
The good news is that Jesus never asks anything of us that He is not willing to accomplish through us … our job is to depend completely on Him. Jesus gave a second parable that illustrates this point.
“Suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. Luke 14:31-32
This King has a big problem. His army is out-numbered two-to-one. If he doesn’t count the cost, his army will be annihilated. And look what the solution is. The King isn’t going to dive into battle on his own and hope for the best. Instead, he will try to make peace.
Too many times we try to fight spiritual battles on our own power. We overestimate our own strength. We think we can win victory on our own power. Pride and arrogance keep us from seeking peace through the power of Jesus. Jesus’ death on the cross made the way for us to make terms of peace with Almighty God and to put ourselves under His protection. While there is time, we need to count the cost and surrender ourselves to God.
CONCLUSION:
Jesus summed up his sermon on Discipleship by saying, In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. Luke 14:33
Such amazing benefits come to us as followers of Jesus that we may fail to count the cost. Jesus demands great things of us. What will it cost you to be a disciple of Jesus? It will cost you everything you have and everything you are. And it will be more than worth the price!
