Luke 14:33 So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me.
Salvation is free but it’s not cheap, did you catch that? Salvation is free but it’s not cheap. Christ said, and I quote So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me.What a statement, any one of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
We don’t preach on that enough do we, we preach on salvation that’s given so free, but we don’t preach on the cost of serving Christ.
We have probably read these eight verses a dozen times, maybe more but somehow this concept of giving up every thing we own seems to apply to others. “well that’s fine for them but Jesus wouldn’t expect that of me, would he?”
You say “But hold it Denn, what if I don’t want to be a disciple, what if I just want to be a plain, ordinary, everyday, average Christian?” Well it shouldn’t take long in reading the New Testament to discover that Christ doesn’t want plain ordinary, everyday, average Christians.
We have come to the place where we want to divide Christians into a couple of different categories. “You see pastor there are your nominal Christians, they’re your C & E Christians, you know what I mean, you see them on Christmas and Easter. Then there are your Christian Christians, that’s what most of us are you know just your average, everyday, semi-committed Christian, then there are the disciples, you know what I mean, those super saints. They pray more, they give more they are more disciplined.”
The only problem with this theory is that disciple simply means one who follows a teacher or leader. A communist is a disciple of Marx, a Buddhist is a disciple of Buddha, a Moslem is a disciple of Mohammed. And so by definition if you profess to follow Christ then you are a, you ready for it, you are a disciple of Jesus Christ. Now with that out of the way let’s go back to Luke 14:33 So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me.
So Christ is saying, anyone of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be his disciple. You ok?
You say “Yeah but pastor you don’t really think that is what he meant do you?” I don’t know, how many different meanings could there be to that statement, So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me. Sure sounds like that’s what he meant to me. “But everything pastor?” well that’s what the book says, and we know that we don’t debate the book, right?
Let’s start at verse 25, these are the last days of Christ, and as he makes his way to Jerusalem and his final sacrifice the crowds push in and gather around to hear the teachings of this young influential rabbi.
And as Christ turns and sees the multitude pressing around him I wonder what thoughts crossed his mind, here are his followers, those who seek to learn from him and they expect great wisdom to come forth from his lips. What will they hear, “blessed be the peacemakers” “love your neighbours”, “do unto others” “love God”. What great insight would come forth from the mouth of Jesus?
But no the words of Christ were unlike any others they had ever heard from the master, in Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.
That must have floored them; I would suspect that for what seemed like eternity that those pressing in tight around Jesus just stood in stunned silence. Who could believe that the one who had spoken so eloquently about love could change his tune so completely? What an about face, he’s gone from love your enemies, to hate your mother. Love those you barely know, and hate those you know best? What could possibly, have provoked this radical shift in perspective?
I mean let’s face it; he’s not discussing something that’s relatively insignificant, if you’re going to love Whoppers with cheese you are going to hate Big Macs. No problem. But he’s not talking about trivial things, he’s not even talking about in-laws, he’s talking about flesh and blood, he’s talking about, “I carried you for nine months, my feet swelled to the size of bedroom slippers, and I was in heavy labour for a week and a half.” that’s what Christ was talking about.
But he probably isn’t saying here that we need to consciously hate all that is dear to us read it again this time in the New Living Translation Luke 14:26 “ If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.
This statement then is not one of affection as much as it is one of loyalty, to whom do we owe our primary allegiance, to our family or to Christ? To our friends or to Christ, to ourselves or to Christ?
The premise is laid down in Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” And for that matter the true disciple cannot serve God and his job, or God and his family, or God and himself. If God is not in first place then God is in the wrong place.
Now don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean that we neglect our family or our friends. And it doesn’t mean that we develop a negative self image, but it does mean that God has to take first place in our life, you ok?
You say “but Preacher my family is a priority, and my job is a priority and my friendships are a priority.” Christ tells us in Matthew 6:33 and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.
As you draw closer to God, and become more Christ like then you become a better father, or mother, a better husband or wife, a better employee or employer, and a better friend.
In a marriage situation if both partners are aiming for a common goal as they get closer to the goal they draw closer together. Christ will reward faithfulness but in the same breath it is up to you to be faithful.
And so as a disciple we will need to be faithful with all that God has given us, and what is it that God has given us? That’s simply, all that we have and all that we are. That’s the secret to understand tithing; we will never give cheerfully as long as we think we are giving God 10% of what is ours. Instead we need to realize that he is allowing us to keep 90% of what is his.
Our family, our friends, our job our health, our money, our talents, everything we have has been given to us by God and all he asks of us is that we put him ahead of the things which he has given us.
What would happen if you found out that Christ was coming to dinner some night next week? Well you know what would happen. You would have the very best meal possible. You wouldn’t take him out to the Golden Arches you’d would you? Man we’d break out the fine china and good silver, linen napkins instead of the usual paper towels. Perhaps a sirloin tip roast with Yorkshire pudding, candied carrots, broccoli with cheese sauce, and for dessert flaming cherry jubilee. You all right? You did have breakfast didn’t you? I mean if we knew that Jesus was coming to supper we would really outdo ourselves, and I for one would never question the need to do that. What I do question is this; if we would be so conscious of what we would serve Christ at one meal why are we so content with serving him leftovers the rest of the time.
From our money, to our time to our talents we fudge on giving Christ the very best and instead are content to offer him what little we have left over at the end of the week, and that of course is dependent on whether or not we need it. And that doesn’t sound like the words of Christ in Luke 14:33 So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me.
But you say “Denn it’s not easy to tithe, and it’s not easy to give God precious time out of a day that’s already too short.” I know that, and you know that and God knows that. But you wanna know something else as well? He never once said that it was going to be easy. You see Christianity was never intended to be a cake walk.
Too many of us have fallen prey to a false theology that which proclaims that Christianity smoothes all the humps out of life and will make us healthy, wealthy and wise. “Praise God I’ve been saved and sanctified and since Jesus came into my life he has made things so much easier, I’ve gotten a better job, I’m never sick, my children are always polite and pleasant and my marriage is like heaven here on earth.” The problem with that is when things start going wrong, and trust me sooner or later things will go wrong, and then we figure that we must have sinned for God to be punishing us.
Well on that beautiful spring day, as the crowds pushed and shoved to be near Christ he turned around and said, “I beg you pardon, I never promised you a rose garden.” well maybe that isn’t exactly what he said but it was pretty close because in Luke 14:27 And you cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me.
Now that don’t sound like a day in the park, but it does sound like commitment, or dare I say “discipleship.” If we are going to be the type of Christian that Christ wants us to be it will have to effect our entire life. Christianity isn’t just a ticket to heaven it is supposed to be a lifestyle. It isn’t just supposed to affect our behaviour on Sunday morning it is supposed to have a direct, dramatic impact on our entire life, Monday through Sunday, day in and day out, 24 hours a day; it is supposed to be a life changing experience.
But why do I sometimes get the feeling that the only difference it makes in some peoples lives is that it gives them someplace to go between ten thirty and eleven thirty on Sunday mornings, when we don’t have something better to do.
Let’s be serious, do you really think that Christ came to this earth, lived for thirty three years, suffered the indignities he went though and died on a cross so you could come to church Sunday morning, throw a five dollar bill in the box and then squeak into heaven when you die. That level of commitment wasn’t what he expected two thousand years ago when he called men and women to follow him and it’s not what he expects today.
To be truthful it really bugs me when I know that someone professes to follow Christ, professes to love God, but have a commitment level of absolutely zero. It’s kind of like the fellow who wrote the note to his girl friend that said, “for you I’d cross deserts, swim oceans, I’d climb mountains and ford raging rivers, for you I’d fight starving animals. PS. If it’s raining on Saturday I won’t be over.”
The question that each one of us needs to ask is this, “What does God expect of me?” in actual fact it doesn’t’ matter whether you ever live up to what I expect of you, and it really isn’t all that important whether or not you live up to the expectations of this church or this
Denomination but it will matter for eternity how you measure up in God’s eyes. Your entire life needs to be lived asking the question “what does God want of me?”
The number one resource material for answering that question is the book, his word, and here is a deep thought if you don’t read it you will never know what’s in it. His word provides the direction that we need as his disciple, but only if we read it.
100 years ago Charles Sheldon wrote the classic “in his steps” and in the book a number of people make a commitment to ask the question “what would Jesus do?” as they are presented with various issues in their lives. What do you think, do you think that that concept would change your life very much, “What would Jesus do?”
Hope you enjoyed the message. PowerPoint may be available email me at denn@bccnet.ca
If you could build a church for a dollar. . .
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