The Cost Of Following Jesus Series

“The Cost of Following Jesus”

Luke 9:23-27

A sermon for 1/30/22

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

Pastor John Bright

Luke 9 “23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God.”

Pause right there. Those words I just read; they were “Breathed by God”! God wants you to hear His Word right now! So, what is your response? Do you want to formed by that Word or do you want to be informed about the words? You have to choose.

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There is lots of talk about inflation today. What is it? “In economics, inflation refers to a general progressive increase in prices of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduction in the purchasing power of money.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation

So, you may have noticed, that the goods and services you use – at the grocery store or the pharmacy – all seem to cost more. There are lots of reasons but they all boil down to each step in the process of making something and getting it to the folks who buy it has become more expensive. If each step is 10% more expensive, will the cost for you go up or down? Right – it has to go up.

In today’s reading from Luke 9, Jesus is talking about the cost of following Him. If you were there with Jesus that day, would you hear the cost is going up or going down? Do they realize how dangerous it is going to become? Tradition holds that only one of the original disciples experienced a natural death in old age around 100AD. That was John, but he was tortured and placed in a Roman prison on the Isle of Patmos. What about the others?

Simon Peter: Crucified upside down

James the Greater: Beheaded

Simon the Zealot: Crucifixion

Jude: Crucifixion

Matthew: Stabbed

Thomas: Speared

Bartholomew: Skinned alive and beheaded

Phillip: Crucified

Andrew: Crucified

James the Less: Stoned and clubbed

The cost for these men – everything!

How hard is it for us, sitting in church 2000 years later, to calculate the cost of following Jesus today?

I guess Jesus would understand. We have a lot more to lose than those guys. We have worked long and hard to lead comfortable lives. We have made sure that we have enough to keep this church going like the folks who came before us. Jesus would give us a pass if we don’t follow Him and risk losing any or all of it – right?

The Weight of Assumptions

“23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

To “take up his cross” is a reference to crucifixion. It was well known in the 1st century AD. “Historians trace it back to the Assyrians and Babylonians and it was used systematically by the Persians in the 6th century BC. Alexander the Great brought it from there to the eastern Mediterranean countries in the 4th century BC, and the Phoenicians introduced it to Rome in the 3rd century BC. The Romans perfected crucifixion for 500 years until it was abolished by Constantine I in the 4th century AD.”

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14750495/

The one who being crucified had been found guilty of a serious crime. It was a very, very public shaming of the person to carry the cross beam on which he or she would be executed. They would be rejected by all… only to die in great agony. This is the image that Jesus invokes when He speaks to them – an image of public rejection. This is an assumption that lies behind Jesus’ teaching that we often miss in our day.

That list of how the disciples died is a list of very public punishments. It was carried out in public because those men were spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a very public way. They were walking it – not just talking it – and they were accused of turning the world upside down. (Acts 17:6) We have lost two great assumptions. We have replaced our public witness for a private relationship with our personal Savior. We have replaced the way of Christ that is in conflict with the world for a way of comfort that seems to flow peacefully with the world. In v. 23, Jesus assumes those who follow Him would be out in the public and that would lead to conflict with the culture. So, what do we do with v. 23 today? Can we use our “Not Needed in Our Day” scissors and do away with that one?