“The High Cost of Discipleship”
Luke 14:25-35
Last week we left the disciples standing on the shore. They had just brought in such a large catch of fish that the nets were nearly breaking and when they placed all the fish in the boats they began to sink. Jesus said to them, come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men. We then read that these early disciples made a life-changing decision. The Bible puts it this way… “at once they left their nets and followed Him.” Luke says they left everything. Think for a moment about what they would have left behind to accept this challenge.
• They left their jobs. They were fishermen. It was more than a hobby. It wasn’t something they did to relax. It was work. This is how they made a living.
• They left their families. Mark speaks of Simon’s mother in law so we know he was married. Paul confirms that Simon was married. So this was not only a commitment for the disciples but also for their families.
• They left their security. They left a lifestyle that was all they knew to follow someone where it might lead them. We like security don’t we? We like to feel some level of control in life but one of the things that happens when we decide to be a follower of Christ is that we have to give up control.
These men left their jobs, their families and their sense of security…why? Because they had an experience with Jesus that changed their lives. Anything we do in life that is worth doing will cost us something.
I looked through our church membership file this week and I thought about each of you and the work you do, the job you hold or have held and I thought about your background. I found a band member, barber, a banker, bus driver, a butcher, car salesman, construction people...carpenters, plumber, a cook, a counselor in rehab, a dentist, IT Guy, locksmith, motorcycle repairman, nurses/medical staff, parking manager, physical therapist, piano teacher, sales people, spa consultant, teachers, ticket-taker, truck drivers and even a pastor. And I thought about each of those professions and they all have at least one thing in common...they all require training. A lot of training. A lot of hard work. A lot of sacrifice. There is a price to be paid.
This morning we are looking at two parables, very simple but with a profound truth we need to get hold of: There is a price to pay to be a fully devoted follower of Christ. One of these parables comes from the agricultural world in that day and it deals with construction.. The other deals with government and politics and war. Jesus told us these stories for two specific reasons: (1) He told us these stories to teach us to count what it would cost to be a fully devoted follower of Christ. (2) He told us these stories to teach us to count what it would cost if we choose a different path.
The setting for these stories was during the time of Jesus when there were large crowds following Him around from Galilee to Jerusalem. They loved following him as long as the miracles were being performed and the crowds were being fed. They were ready to make Him king. Some of his closest friends, Peter, James and John all wanted positions in His kingdom...they even argued over who would be able to sit at His right hand. But Jesus knew that things were about to get tough. Things were going to get hard. His ministry would come under attack. He knew this road was taking Him to the cross. He knew that for someone to follow Him that life could be difficult.
When we come to Christ, unfortunately not everyone comes with the same commitment. But that doesn’t change what Jesus demands of us. Juest because we come with less doesn’t mean that he doesn’t want more. In this passage he shows us what he wants from us as disciples by giving us 5 words….. Each one is like a snapshot, an image of a true disciple.
Snapshot #1. Family. Jesus speaks a startling message here. He says in verse 26...... In the parables Jesus would often use figures of speech to give His words a greater impact. It is called hyperbole. He said if your right hand offends you, cut it off. He talked about it being harder for a rich man to enter Heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. We do the same thing. We exaggerate in order to make a point. In this passage Jesus is telling us we must love Him… we must love him more than anything else-including our family. I must love Jesus more than my children, I must love Jesus more than my wife and they must do the same. Your love for Jesus should be so powerful that in comparison, it seems as if you hate everyone else. I also mentioned last week that our love for Jesus can l alienate you from others, even your family.
I read this week of a man who was Muslim, now living here in America. Recently he came to know Christ. His family is back in Iran. They will now disown him..... they will actually consider him to be dead. If you truly follow the Lord, you won’t have to look for people to ridicule you; they will find you-and they may be your family members. Matthew 10:22 “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. "Anyone who 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.” Tough verse. The idea here is that we love Jesus above all.
Snapshot #2. A cross. Look at this. A real disciple is someone who carries his cross. Now the disciples understood what this meant much better than we do. We complain about certain physical ailments we have and we say well I guess it is just my cross to bear. Today the cross has become benign-a piece of harmless jewelry. But in the time of Jesus it was a horrible form of execution. In that day when you saw someone carrying a cross it meant one thing-they were as good as dead. Paul understood what it meant to carry a cross. He told us in his letter to the church in Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 3:24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Galatians 5:24 (NIV) Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. There was nothing the world had to offer that was of interest to Paul. He was saying it is as though I am dead to these things…..because he had found true freedom through the cross. The idea here is we are to live like a dead person.
Snapshot #3 A tower. Jesus gives us a picture here of a man who plans on building a tower. Before he starts he must count the cost to see if he has enough materials to finish the job. Now when you get started in the Christian life, if you were to stop and ask do I have what it takes to finish…..the answer is probably no. That’s because we are looking at our own resources not His. Jesus is speaking here about the cost of total commitment. He is talking about finishing strong. In verse 29 Jesus spoke about the man who was not able to finish the job. He says everyone will look at this tower and see that it wasn’t finished and they will ridicule him. House on my street growing up...bricked about halfway. They stopped. For at least ten years it stayed that way. Always looked odd. I saw it every day when I walked home from school. One pastor tells the story that back years ago he drove through a small town and saw a concrete block/shell someone had started years earlier. A church. But the project had been stopped. There was no roof on the building and trees and shrubs had grown inside the building. One of the pine trees growing inside the uncompleted church was at least 15 feet tall. I don’t know the full story about what happened in that church but to everyone who passed by-for years-that building preached a sermon. Someone started this church that didn’t count the cost and they weren’t able to finish it. Jesus says when you start something finish it. Finish well. The older I get the more I realize we cannot coast in the Christian life. There is no such thing as spiritual retirement. And we need to ask ourselves: how will we finish? That’s The Big idea here: Finish well.
Snapshot #4. A war. In this picture Jesus describes two kings. One of them is clearly outnumbered so in his wisdom he approaches the stronger king and makes peace before the battle ever begins. In that day when he surrendered he could have been made into a slave to the opposite king...so it required great humility on his part to bow down and ask for peace. Here is the message. You cannot be a disciple unless you are willing to give up control. And that’s hard to
do. None of us wants to give up. The idea here is that we have to learn to surrender.
Snapshot #5. Salt. Salt was very valuable in the day of Jesus. Roman soldiers were actually paid, at least in part with salt rations. We hear people often say when someone has not done a good job or they have dome inferior work, “he’s not worth his salt!” Since there was no way to refrigerate meat they would apply salt to the meat to keep it from going bad. It preserved the meat. That’s why Jesus said in the sermon on the mount “you are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses it’s saltiness, how can it be made salty again?.
Lanny Bridges works as a chemist for Morton salt. He works in the salt mines every day. He says that pure salt actually never loses it’s saltiness. According to him you could take a pure salt crystal and 10,000 years later it would still be just as salty. Pure salt never loses it’s flavor. The salt used in the time of Jesus wasn’t mined; it came from the Dead sea. When the water evaporated it left salt. But the salt was so mixed with other minerals that even though it looked like salt...it didn’t taste like salt. When it was placed on food, there was no flavor. When it was used to keep meat fresh the meat went bad. So the only
thing to do was to put it on the road and use it for gravel or to walk on it. (Verse 35). Basically it was useless. The Big idea: stay pure.
I read this week of a lifeguard on a beach who saw a drowning man. He walked into the water but he didn’t go out to rescue the man. People gathered on the beach and yelled at the lifeguard to do his job and rescue the man. The lifeguard stepped out a bit deeper but still did not respond. Just when it seemed that the man was going under for the last time, the lifeguard swam out and grabbed the man and pulled him back to shore. After some CPR the man was fine but instead of being a hero the crowd was angry; they couldn’t understand why the lifeguard didn’t respond quicker. The lifeguard explained “you can see that he is much bigger and stronger than I am. If I had gone out sooner, the way he was thrashing and kicking so violently he would have probably drowned us both. As long as he was trying to save himself, I couldn’t help him. But when he got tired and he gave up, then I knew I could save him.
Jesus can do a whole lot more with us once we realize He has to be in charge. Who is in charge of your life?
