"having What It Takes:" The Parable Of The Tower

Parables to Live By

“Having What It Takes:” The Parable of the Tower

Luke 14:25-33

Watch on YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQpPqJo3Lio

 While Jesus was traveling in the area of the Jordan River, he was approached by a rich young ruler who asked, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" And Jesus responded, “Keep the commandments.”

Being taken back at Jesus statement, the young ruler asked which commandments, and Jesus replied, “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother, and, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Feeling pretty good about himself the young ruler said, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” And Jesus said, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” And it says that the rich young ruler left sorrowful (Matthew 19:16-22 NKJV).

Now, this story is not meant to be a sell all you have and give it to the church sort of teaching. Rather, what Jesus is telling this young man along with us is, “Go Hard, or Go Home.”

This was a tough thing that Jesus told this young man. Jesus was not what you might call seeker sensitive. Jesus gave the entrance requirements right up front. For all those who were seeking after God, Jesus forced them right at the beginning to consider what it took to be a disciple.

To those wishing to follow, Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23 NKJV)

Such was the case in the stories we will be looking at this morning, and while I’d like to give them different names, it’s all about doing what it takes to be a disciple of Jesus. Jesus didn’t beat around the bush but said that being His disciple would cost. Look at how He begins.

“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. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:26-27 NKJV)

Jesus wasn’t saying to hate everyone, even the members of our families; rather it was to love God even more than everyone else. And to pick up one’s cross didn’t mean that a Christian will be a little inconvenienced in this life, but it meant to die, and in most cases that meant to die to self. So, to pick up one’s cross was meant to show those wishing to follow Jesus that they must be willing to die to all other desires outside the desire to follow Him.

Jesus never allowed his followers to enjoy a superficial relationship, but rather His words cut to the very heart and core of what it meant to be a disciple.

Bible commentator, Alexander Maclaren said of Jesus, “Christ sought for no recruits under false pretenses, but rather discouraged than stimulated light-hearted adhesion.” (Alexander Maclaren)

This same sort of tough talk came at another time when Jesus said to the people, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:53-54 NKJV)

This was truly shocking to those who heard it without understanding. You see to drink blood or eat meat with blood still oozing from it was against the Law, and it was abhorrent to their way of thinking as it is to our way of thinking today.

But what Jesus meant by this was to shock His listeners and cause the curious and the hanger-on’s to seriously question their motives in following Him. It says that after this statement many stopped following.

What Jesus was declaring was His indispensability. He presented Himself as that indispensable necessity for life, not some luxury or added blessing. In a sense, what Jesus was saying was that the only way to have eternal life was through consuming all that He is and all that He represents.

Jesus loved people and His desire was that all come to eternal life, but He didn’t sugar coat what that would look like. Jesus was neither tame nor predictable when it came to the words He spoke. But everything Jesus said was a call to wholehearted devotion to God.

Theologian James Montgomery Boice said, “Following Jesus must be the most important thing in our lives, even more than our lives. Nothing must be done that subtracts from that commitment.”