The Cost Of Discipleship - Part 2 Series

The Cost of Discipleship – Part 2

September 29, 2024

Dr. Bradford Reaves

Crossway Christian Fellowship

Luke 14:25-35

www.mycrossway.org

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and cannot finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. 34 “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Luke 14:25-33)

We're continuing to discuss the extreme character of discipleship this week. Jesus's words are absolutely and unmistakably definitive. In this passage, Jesus establishes the high calling of being his disciple. Unfortunately, today, many churches seem to lower the bar to make church some sort of consumeristic experience that focuses on the wants and desires of man instead of the Lord. It's backward.

The church is not about consumerism. While that may work great for selling hamburgers, cars, or coffeehouses, it is not compatible with the Gospel of Jesus. Consumerism focuses on the wants and desires of the flock, while biblical discipleship focuses on denial. This seems to go against modern church thinking and church growth strategies. The move is to gain followers of the church, not followers of Christ.

LCBC Church, out of Lancaster, PA, used popular movies this past summer's “at the movies” sermon series, where they show clips from popular movies and then execute the script sprinkled with some scripture. One campus spent thousands of dollars to build a 16-foot chocolate waterfall modeled after Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to celebrate the series. (https://www.facebook.com/lcbcchurch/posts/878198274339096/)

Faith church in Saint Louis, Missouri, built a roller coaster on their stage while the worship band played “Love Roller Coaster” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers while 3-foot sparklers went off. If you want to be with the inner circle of Lead Pastor David Crank’s wife, Nichole, you can be included for $16,999.00 a year. If that’s too salty for you, there is a Zoom option for $29.00 a month.

(https://protestia.com/2024/09/02/megachurch-pastors-wife-charging-16999-to-be-part-of-her-inner-circle-private-text-access/)

Church by the Glades in Coral Springs, FL, embodies entertainment during pastor David Hughes’s sermons by using acrobats, Baby Shark mashups, and an Addams Family-themed service.

North Point Community Church in Atlanta GA pastor Andy Stanley who is known for watering down everything he possibly can recently stated in a podcast that he has 12 to 14 people check his sermons weekly to ensure that it doesn't land poorly with the crowd. Especially Democrats, minorities, and women. (https://protestia.com/2024/08/22/andy-stanley-says-12-14-people-check-his-sermon-outline-to-ensure-it-doesnt-land-poorly-with-democrats-and-women/)

Recently, the Church of England stated its avoiding using the term church for their new church plants in order to appease the current woke movement, using terms like “new things” or “faith expressions” or “worship communities”. (https://protestia.com/2024/08/19/woke-rebrand-church-of-england-is-avoiding-the-term-church-for-new-church-plants-study-finds/)

You remember primarily this year when a woman pastor at Crossroads Church in Cincinnati irreverently kicks a Bible from the church stage for a field goal.

The point is this new version of Christianity makes sure consumers of entertainment instead of the Word of God. It makes you a disciple of popularity and celebrity pastors instead of a disciple of Jesus Christ. They’re deceiving enormous crowds, thinking that this is what following Christ is all about. It's custom-tailored to your preferences. There is no substance to your faith. What's worse is that people think they're hearing the gospel, and they think they're being rescued from an eternal judgment when, in fact, they are being tragically misled.

Jesus's call is not to self-fulfillment. It's not man-centered, self-loving, psychologically defined, or personally enriching. The gospel is a call to sinners to put to death a life of sin for the eternal life found in Jesus Christ. It is self-denial and countercultural. Jesus isn't asking you to add him to your life; he's calling for a complete takeover. This is the costly gospel that Jesus preached.