The Cost Of Serving Christ Series

Series: Things That Accompany Salvation

Hebrews 6:9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.

Message 4: The Cost of Serving Christ

Luke 14:25-35

REVIEW:

Message #1: An Argument in Eternity. Mt. 7:21-23 Many who say “Lord, Lord ...”

Message #2: The Cost of Freedom in Christ. John 8:31-37 True believers continue in the Word!

Message #3: Let’s go to supper! Luke 14:15-24. We must accept Jesus’ invitation.

Message #4: The Cost of Serving Christ Luke 14:25-35 Following Jesus has serious demands!

INTRODUCTION:

• Luke 14 opens with Jesus accepting an invitation to eat bread in the home of a leading Pharisee.

• A man is there at the banquet with dropsy, a condition in which the arms and legs are swollen.

• Whatever the cause, the Greek word implies that it is due to water.

• There is another problem: it is the Sabbath.

• After healing the man, Jesus begins to teach about banquets while sitting at a banquet.

• He chides the Pharisees for seeking the greatest seats at the banquet.

• They would crowd in early to get the best spots and hold them.

• He then rebukes them for preferring to invite the high and noble of society instead of the poor.

• Somehow, Jesus had not read Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”

• In our last message in this series (vss. 15-24) Jesus told the story of society people being invited to a banquet.

• Real-Estate Ralph, Farmer Frank, and Henpecked Henry each turned down the offer.

• Jesus then tells that the poor Gentiles outside the city were invited.

• The lesson is that these poor would take the place of the proud religious leaders in Heaven!

• The next thing that Luke tells us is that great crowds began to follow Jesus.

• They were eager for any alternative to the rigidness of the Pharisees.

• But were they sincere? Let us look.

I. The Prerequisite for Serving: A Supreme Love for Christ! (25-26)

A. A Pruning (25)

25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,

1. Jesus is Not Interested in Crowds

• For some, a packed house is what is desired.

• Jesus has no interest in shallow faith.

• Jesus prefers a small body of deep water to a wide body of shallow water.

ILLUS: The lake in Iowa where the pastor’s kid dumped us in.

2. Jesus is Interested in Commitment!

• Jesus knows that the plant will be healthier if the diseased parts are pruned away.

ILLUS: Crepe Myrtles

• Jesus looks ahead to one goal – the evangelization of the world.

• It will be an overwhelming task.

• It is a task that requires the strong.

• So Jesus begins a pruning process.

B. A Privilege (26A)

26 If any man come to me,

• You have the choice to follow Christ.

• You have the choice not to follow Christ.

• You do not have the choice to call yourself a follower of Christ and then make up your own rules!

Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

ILLUS: You don’t have to go to the Citadel. But if you go, you will find out quickly that you will fit their system or you are out.

C. A Priority (26B)

26B and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also,

1. Christ Above Family

a. A Caution to Be Observed (Ex. 20:12; Eph. 6:1-3)

• There is nothing in Jesus statement that undoes the 5th commandment!

Exodus 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

• This command is repeated in Scripture after the life of Christ on earth.

Ephesians 6:1-3 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) 3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

b. A Command to Be Obeyed (Mk. 10:28)

• So what does this mean?

• It is a matter of comparison.

• In comparison to our love for Christ, our love for family should come a distant 2nd!

• Christ is to be put before family: even if one’s family opposes his decision to follow Christ.