FINDING PURPOSE SERIES
Part 6 – Discipleship God’s Way
Rev. Bruce A. Shields DD
First Baptist Church East Tawas Michigan
Watch this sermon online @ www.tawasbaptist.org
Introduction - “Good morning and welcome to the First Baptist Church of Tawas City. Today we will be looking at part 6 of our Finding Purpose series which deals with Discipleship God’s way.”
SCRIPTURE READING
† Luke 14:25 – 35 The Cost of being a disciple
“25Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26“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. 27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28“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 complete it? 29For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’
31“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 one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32If 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. 33In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
34“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
PRAYER
I would like to begin with a little story for illustration.
When I was about 16, my friends and I wanted to live in the wilderness for a weekend like real mountain men.
We packed our tents and knives and essential things that every mountain man needs, like cans of baked beans and spam.
We packed matches, flashlights and such.
We picked a camping spot about 100 feet into my mother’s backyard woods.
We pitched our tent and built a fire.
We thought we were Grizzly Adams.
Although we had this impression of ourselves, we were anything BUT Mountain Men.
Our perception made us believe we were in the wild living like Grizzly Adams, but the reality was we were 4 sixteen year olds in a tent in the backyard.
But that wasn’t how we saw ourselves.
Needless to say, after some time in the woods we discovered some of the things we had forgot in our haste to be mountain men.
Important things such as a can opener, an axe and the most coveted of all, toilet paper.
In a similar way, many people today do not understand what it means to be a genuine Christian. There are often many who follow Jesus or claim to be a Christian but they do so on their terms and not His. They do not truly understand the biblical definition of discipleship.
In just as my friends and I discovered after actually getting out there in the woods, we lacked a lot of the essential tools it takes to be what we set out to be.
Because of this self perception, there are many who consider themselves to be followers of Jesus who are not, even though in many ways they may look the part.
In some ways we looked like mountain men.
In some ways you can look like a Christian.
You can go to church, profess your faith, read your Bible, pray, even give in the offering, but are you living and thinking like Christians?
Jesus confronts this problem in the scripture we read today.
He makes it clear, what it means to be a Christian.
Let’s look at how Jesus defines discipleship, but first I would like to explain the word disciple which is repeated several times in these few verses.
A disciple is a true follower of Jesus Christ.
In other words, like we talked about last week, a disciple is what we call a Christian.
If you are a Christian, you are a disciple.
If you are not a disciple as Jesus defines it then you are not a Christian.
Disciple and Christian mean the same thing.
In the same way I mean the same thing when I say “spouse” or “wife”.
The term “disciple” occurs 266 times in the New Testament.
The term “Christian” occurs 4 times.
It is important that we understand what the word means.
For instance, Jesus words in verse 27, “27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple”
Could be paraphrased “27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be a Christian”
That phrasing somehow gets our attention more and clarifies the seriousness of the subject Jesus is teaching about.
Luke 14:25 – 27
“25Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26“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. 27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
The first thing we should notice is that Jesus is speaking to those who were following Him. Not crowds that didn’t like Him, but those who were traveling with Jesus.
They considered themselves to be followers of Jesus but in reality they were only casual followers and not committed followers.
They were willing, even anxious to follow Jesus providing the cost was not too high, or the demands too great.
They were like many people today who do “Christian things” like go to church, pray, sing Christian Songs, etc. but are not really committed to Jesus.
They were along for the ride, but unwilling to give up everything in their lives that conflicted with following Jesus in a committed way.
They were like many today who look to Jesus to solve money problems, relationship problems, etc. but who grow unwilling to obey Jesus completely when following Jesus doesn’t solve these problems.
Or following Jesus requires real sacrifice in their lives.
These large crowds were casual followers and not committed.
We need to ask ourselves today, “Which am I?”
Jesus addresses this common misunderstanding of discipleship in verses 26 & 27.
He explains very clear what it means to be His disciple, or a Christian.
In our hearts Jesus must come before our loved ones, self-interest, possessions, careers, hobbies, goals in life, and even our very lives.
In verse 26 Jesus says that this commitment level applies to “anyone who comes to me…”
He’s not speaking to a special group of Christians, such as apostles, evangelists, missionaries, pastors, etc.
This principle applies to everyone who would be one of His followers.
Jesus also says “anyone who comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life cannot be my disciple.” Or in other words a Christian.
The word “hate” used here is figurative in the Jewish culture.
Like if I said, “I slept like a log.”
Hate means to love something less than something else.
In this case, to love something less than we love Jesus.
We must love Him more than anything else, more than our closest family member, even ourselves.
Jesus is not speaking of our emotional feelings toward Him or our family but rather He is speaking of our level of commitment.
He is saying that our commitment to obey and follow Him must be greater than any other commitment in our lives.
Jesus must be first in our priorities and loyalties.
We must ask ourselves, “Is Jesus my first priority? Am I loyal to Him above everything and everyone else?”
For instance, if following Jesus obediently results in problems or interferes with your closest relationships, will you still follow Him?
In other countries following Jesus can mean being kicked out of your family, like in India.
Sometimes even death, as in China and Korea.
In our own country, many relationships have encountered problems because one spouse was a committed Christian and the other was not.
In these cases, Jesus wants us to know up front what it means to be a disciple.
He must come even before our own lives.
In verse 26, this refers to our physical lives which we must be willing to surrender for Jesus’ sake.
But it also refers to our self lives, which means our personal desires, goals, interests, and even needs.
We must be committed to Jesus above our bank accounts, our public image, our jobs, etc.
This is not a hypothetical situation we are talking about.
If following Jesus means forfeiting these things, then we must be willing to do that.
And sometimes following Jesus may require us to make such sacrifices.
Jesus uses a metaphor in verse 27 to reemphasize this point.
Everyone present was familiar with what Jesus was referring to when He talked about “carrying his cross.”
The cross was a cruel form of punishment used by the Romans.
The criminal was forced to “carry his cross” to the place of execution.
Everyone knew that this person was saying “goodbye” to everything.
There would be no turning or coming back.
Jesus used this illustration to show us that following Him requires that same kind of saying “goodbye” to our own will and desire because of our commitment to Him.
Some of you may say, “Wait a minute. This requirement of total commitment to be a follower of Jesus contradicts the scriptural truth that salvation is a free gift of God!”
Here is an illustration from “The Cost of Discipleship” By. Steven J. Cole.
Suppose I had the desire to climb Mount Everest.
But it costs $70,000 to do it.
I don’t have that kind of money.
But a wealthy business man offered to pay for my entire expedition.
He would buy all the gear and clothing and pay for my transportation, the guides, the training; it’s all totally free for me.
But if I accept his free offer, I have just committed myself to months of difficult training and effort. It could even cost me my life, because many good climbers die trying to climb Mount Everest.
It is free, and yet very costly.
This is salvation and discipleship.
Salvation is a free gift, but being a Christian, a disciple of Jesus is costly.
Like the old saying I heard a few years ago.
Salvation is free,
Following Jesus costs little,
Serving Jesus costs everything.
Jesus doesn’t want people to make a commitment to Him without understanding and seriously thinking about what is involved in this decision.
Jesus doesn’t want half-hearted, blind commitment that only expects blessings.
Unlike many people today, including many preachers who are only interested in large crowds, Jesus wasn’t interested in numbers.
Large crowds don’t impress God.
But what Jesus wanted was totally committed people.
He doesn’t want crowds, He wants commitment.
There are many in the church today who have not listened to Jesus and considered the cost.
Total commitment is lacking in the churches today because of this.
For example;
Recent polls show the following about those who call themselves Christians.
Christians are just as likely as non-Christians to be divorced, gamble, watch MTV or subscribe to Cable such as HBO, Cinemax, etc.
Professed Christians are also just as likely to watch PG-13, R and even X rated movies as non-Christians.
Another example of lack of commitment to Christ happened in Washington DC last year on Palm Sunday when the city had scheduled a marathon on Palm Sunday which greatly interfered with normal traffic.
Traffic was going to be 15-30 minutes slower than normal.
Because of the 15-30 minute delay, the churches in the area reported a 50-70% attendance drop for the Palm Sunday services.
Their commitment to Christ was defeated by a 15-30 minute traffic delay.
In verse 33 Jesus is telling us to give up everything!
The Greek translation of “Give up” here can also be translated into “say goodbye” or “renounce”.
We must forsake anything when it interferes with following Him faithfully and completely.
Jesus concludes by saying “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
He said this to remind us of our responsibility to listen and respond to this difficult message.
The teaching is not difficult to understand but it is difficult to accept.
I want everyone here to understand what being a Christian is as Jesus defines it.
The question we need to ask ourselves is not;
Am I able to follow Jesus completely?
But rather;
Am I willing to follow Jesus completely?
We are all human and sometimes fail in our commitment but the thing Jesus is confronting here is not our ability but our willingness to follow him with our whole hearts.
For those of you who are not Christians you need to understand what following Jesus really means before you make that commitment.
For those of you who are already Christians let this lesson be a reminder of what being a Christian and disciple truly entails.
To be a disciple of Jesus you must be committed to Him above everything else.
Close in Prayer
Luke 9:62
“62Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
