Luke 14:25-35 ‘The Cost of Discipleship’

How would you respond to someone who says, ‘Christianity is simply a crutch for the weak?’  I think it’s a ‘yes’ and ‘no’.

‘Yes, I agree with you Christianity is a crutch for the weak.  It is forgiveness for the guilty; it is wholeness for the broken; it is hope for the despairing; it is purpose for the aimless; it is life for the dead; and, it is acceptance for the alienated.  But then the Bible says that the whole world is guilty, broken, hopeless, lacking purpose, spiritually dead, and needing to be restored to God.  The difference between people is not that some are weak and others are not.  It is rather that some accept their spiritual need, while others are too proud or ignorant to acknowledge it.’ 

On the other hand we might reply: ‘No, Christianity is not a crutch for the weak.  It is a life of challenge.  Which is easier, to be one of the crowd or to put up your hand and say “I belong to Christ”?  Is it easy to tell a world that they stand condemned before God and that their only hope is Jesus?  Wouldn’t it be simpler to live for status and possessions, rather than seeking to please God in the everyday of life?  Isn’t it hard to be labelled a “fundamentalist” when you explain that Jesus says that he is the only way to God?  Christianity is not simply a crutch for the weak because many look at the cost of following Christ and walk away because they believe that he asks too much of them.’

This morning’s passage begins by telling us that large crowds were travelling with Jesus, but he knew that many had a merely superficial interest in him.  Perhaps they hoped that he would be a political messiah who would restore their nation’s fortunes.  They wanted him on their terms to fulfil their agenda.  So he challenges them to think about the cost of being one of his people.  Maybe you have been swept along by the Christian youth culture, or you come to church because you like the sense of community, it could be that you are here because it seems the respectable thing to do.  But have we really thought about the cost involved in following Jesus?

We must love Jesus more than we love everyone else (26)

Jesus’ first challenge sounds shocking.  “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.”  What are we to make of these words?

He is using a Hebraic way of speaking that compares two things by contrasting them.  In other words he is saying, ‘your love for me is to be such that by comparison it makes your love for your family merely look like hatred.’  In Matthew the same principle is put like this: ‘anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me’ (Matthew 10:37).

How can we know we love Jesus in this way?  By our obedience to him!  Jesus taught, ‘if you love me you will obey what I command’ (John 14:15).  We are to seek to please him above pleasing anybody else.  A young adult tells his parents that he wants to serve Christ overseas. ‘You can’t do that we would miss you too much.’ ‘Mum, dad I will miss you too, but I believe I should serve Christ in this way.’  The kids really want to go on an overseas holiday, but when you look at your accounts you realise the only way you could afford to go is by reducing your giving to missions—is the kids getting their way more important than a commitment towards gospel work?  Supposing spouse wants you to do something Jesus not approve, who will you please?  The phone goes, ‘tell them I’m out.’  Would Jesus want you to lie?

A couple in England became Christians in mid-life.  Their grown up children were embarrassed by this.  The children gave their parents an ultimatum: ‘mum, dad, it is either us or Christianity, which will it be?’  They chose Christ and as a result they did not see, or were not spoken to, by their children. 

In London Caroline and I met a Christian from Egypt.  He couldn’t return to his family because his life was under threat from them.  He hadn’t spoken or heard from them for years.

We must let Jesus shape our ambitions (27)

And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.  If you saw someone in first-century Palestine, being escorted by Roman soldiers, and the beam of a cross over their shoulders you would have no doubts about what was taking place.  That person is going to their death.  Crucifixion was a humbling way to die.  It must have been shocking for the crowd to hear Jesus challenge them to follow him in this way.  German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his book ‘The Cost of Discipleship’, “When Christ calls a person he bids him or her, die”.

Sometimes we see someone with an illness or a difficult relationship and exclaim, ‘well, that is the cross they have to bear.’  This is not how Jesus uses the term.  Our cross is not something that we have to put up with because of the circumstances of life.  Our cross is what we take up because we follow Jesus.  It is the self-denial that Jesus commands from each of his people.  To follow him we must deny our own self-centredness.

This includes having Jesus shape our ambitions.  Ambition is not necessarily wrong—it is simply the desire to succeed.  But our desire should be to succeed in pleasing Christ.  Are we ambitious to grow in holiness?  Are we ambitious to become more confident in sharing our faith?  Are we ambitious to becoming better at praying?  Are we ambitious to be more humble?  Are we ambitious to be more familiar with God’s Word?  Are we ambitious to have Jesus show his compassion through us?  Are we ambitious to become more like Christ in character?

We must count the cost (28-33)

Then Jesus tells the crowd two parables.  In the first a farmer thinks about building a tower for storage purposes.  In the second a king thinks about whether he is capable of winning a war.  If they did not calculate what was required the farmer would end up losing face as people say ‘he began to build but could not finish’, and the king would be responsible for the death of his soldiers. 

There are three words that are common to both these parables, ‘first sit down.’  Sit down and do the maths.  Count the cost!  In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.  One commentator writes, ‘He wants [people] to count the cost and reckon all lost for His sake so that they can enter the exhilaration of full-blooded discipleship.’  There can be no such thing as a half-hearted allegiance to Jesus. 

Are we willing to follow Jesus when the crowd is mocking those who are Christians?  Are we willing to have him tell us what is morally right and wrong?  If you want to blend in with the crowd then Jesus isn’t for you.  If you don’t want to move outside your comfort zone then stay away from Christ.  If you would rather not have a cause to die for then don’t listen to the gospel.  Sadly, the Christian landscape is littered with half-constructed buildings, and the corpses of defeated armies—of people who set out with the right intention but packed it in when they found that the going is difficult!

The test of whether we are taking these words seriously will be seen in the day to day of our life.  The Christian writer Oswald Chambers wrote that ‘drudgery is the touchstone of Christian character’.  He explained, ‘It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God; but we have not.  We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things, to be holy in the mean streets, among mean people, and this is not learned in five minutes.’  This passage is not simply about heading off to be a missionary amongst some unreached tribe.  This is about how we live with our family, how we approach our work, how we relate to our neighbours, how we treat people in this church, and what we do when we are on our own.

We must be different from the world around us (34-35)

Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?  It is fit neither for the soil nor the manure pile, it is thrown out.  We’ll never get any hassle if we chose to blend in with the crowd.  But Jesus has called us to be distinct.  The apostle Paul talks about shining as stars in a crooked and depraved generation (Philippians 2:15).  Jesus has given us a new set of values to live by.

The Christian who refuses to partake in conversation when it turns to gossip; the Christian teenager who doesn’t drink because they are under-age; the Christian student who refuses to get drunk; the young man who seeks to be pure in a sex-mad society; the Christian worker who won’t neglect family and church commitments simply to climb the career ladder; the Christian friend who risks a friendship to warn a wandering Christian of their spiritual danger; the Christian pupil who is going to be laughed at when they admit they follow Jesus; the Christian neighbour who risks rejection when the introduce Jesus into the conversation—all being different in obedience to Christ.  Faith makes us different, and if we are no different than the world we live in then our faith is less than useless.

Conclusion:  The cost of saying ‘no’!

Jesus commands the sort of allegiance that people would have thought should be reserved for God alone.  This is God the Son who calls them to follow him!

Superficial Christianity is not Christianity.  When Jesus invites us to follow him he bids us to come and die.  It has been said, ‘Jesus will not be Lord at all if he is not Lord of all’ and ‘we cannot have him as Saviour if we won’t have him as Lord’.  I wonder if many of that crowd turned around and went home after Christ spoke these words.  Do we think the cost of following of Jesus is too high?

But then think of the cost of not following Jesus!  In Christ alone is forgiveness of sin—do we want to hold on to our guilt?  In Christ alone is the way to the Father—do we want to remain apart from the one who invites us to know him as ‘Abba’.  In Christ alone is fullness of life—don’t we want a purpose worth dying for?  In Christ alone is the promise of the new heaven and new earth—do we want to spend eternity separated from his goodness and love, in hell?

Finally, suppose we realise that accepting the free grace, mercy, love and life of God is worth more than our life, but we fear we will not be able to live up to his demands.  Take heart!  The Scriptures are clear that we are not left alone to follow him.  God will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear (1 Cor. 10:13); he is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy (Jude 24); he who began a good work in your will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:6); when we fail him, Christ’s blood goes on purifying us from all sin (1 John 1:7); the Holy Spirit has been given to us transforming us into the likeness of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18); Jesus will be with his people to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20).  The one who calls us promises that he will enable us!  In full-blooded relationship with him we will find our peace and joy!