What Does it Take to Follow Jesus?

Introduction

We never give enough appreciation and recognition to those that serve the Lord here at Mt Zion so faithfully. I know I am guilty many times for taking people’s gifts for granted. I know as a choir member, the indirect Worship Leader that when I ask Michael and Barbara to lead us in a certain song, a certain arrangement, a certain praise song or some contemporary piece, I automatically assume that Barbara has the ability to play it. And guess what, she can.

What we do not consider is the time, blood, sweat and I imagine at sometimes tears of hours and hours, days, and days of practice, recitals in her childhood and youth, conservatory training, higher levels of education-Troy University, hours practicing certain arrangements, learning to read music placing the different dimensions and inflections and modulating elements to the piece being played. The fact is Barbara has invested a lifetime to be proficient at her skill set.

I have heard several of you state you would love to be able to play the piano. I have had those same aspirations. When you learn the piano you can play solo or you can play accompaniment. You would have the volume independent of amplification for a small living group group to a full auditorium. But dearly beloved, it sounds good in theory but putting boots on the ground is another story. I can speak for me at least at this point in my life that I’m not willing to pay the price to play and I would only want to play if I were proficient. Barbara, I am correct. We live in a day when we want a quick fix, we take a pill and you play like she plays. Lol. It just doesn’t work in that fashion.

This morning we all should stop and thank God for the amazing price, the blood, sweat and tears, the planning, the sacrifice, the gift Jesus offered us, His children in bring us to salvation. Oh, to God be the glory! Amen!

Salvation cost us nothing, but to offer our freedom from sin and new life in Him it cost Him everything to offer that blessing to us.

Today, we learn today that to progress from the point of becoming a believer to a true disciple of Christ comes with a price, but a price worth paying.

Let me ask you a question. Everything of sacrifice I shared about Barbara is true. She does not play at that level of proficiency without a life time of sacrifice. Am I correct Barbara? But in the same breath, I ask the congregation:

How many countless times have you closed your eyes and by the touch of the Holy Spirit and Barbara’s amazing gift under the influence of the Holy Spirit, have you closed your eyes and she carried you to the very throne room of the Lord Himself? And I simply ask you, was the price Barbara paid to accomplish that worth it, and all the more all over again?

I’m just curious. Who here this morning would like to be recognized by the Lord when you enter heaven, “well done, good and faithful servant?” Dearly beloved, firstly it should be the least we do as to what our Dear Savior has done for us, but also, the blessings now and eternal far out measure the sacrifice we will pay in our serving the Lord. Amen.

Turn in your Bibles this morning to Luke 14:25-28.

Luke 14:25-28

Luke 14:25–28 NKJV

25 Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, 26 “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. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—

Prayer

Message

In Luke 14, the crowds are continuing to follow Jesus and we have visited scenes in the Bible when Jesus stopped and interjected teaching to those followers to help them understand the true price involved in being a follower of Jesus. What does it really mean to be my disciple?

In Luke 14:1-6, we read about Jesus going into a house of a Pharisee to eat lunch on the Sabbath. It’s a great thing to invite your preacher to lunch after church by the way. It’s Biblical. Lol.

Jesus asked the question, “is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” As you know He did in fact heal a man with dropsy on that day and Jesus responded:

Luke 14:5 “5 Then He answered them, saying, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?””

Firstly, there was no law broken of the Bible or the OT law. Moreover, Jesus was stating in no uncertain terms that they had lost perspective of the spirit of the law.

Furthermore, Jesus used an opportunity when He was in the home, that other guest took the best seats in the home. Jesus used that opportunity to share a parable that addressed humility, not to take the best seat, but allow the one who invited you to ask you to take a better seat. The message-humility. Jesus challenged them and He challenges us to walk humbly and allow Jesus to be the focus of our lives. Amen.

And this morning, we see yet again, Jesus has a crowd following Him and He knew that it was easy for them to follow as long as He is divvying out miracles and feeding and offering blessings, but Jesus is teaching in no uncertain terms, “you just think you want to follow Me, let me tell you what that entails.”

I can almost see Jesus turning around with the presence of a Paris Island Marine Drill Sergeant and He is in the culling process of the crowd that is coming upon Him.

Judges 7:1–3 “1 Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the well of Harod, so that the camp of the Midianites was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley. 2 And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ 3 Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.’ ” And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.”

Those three hundred that lapped the water stayed in a prone ready position. They were constantly looking up. Oh dear brother and sister, before we ever address the three comments Jesus made in being His disciple, let’s understand that we will have to constantly look up for His direction.

It is one thing to be a Navy Seal, or a Marine, or an Army Ranger, and its another thing to go through the process to earn that title.

Firstly, to be a follower of Christ it takes:

Devotion

Luke 14:26 NKJV

26 “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.

Lets gain an understanding here who Jesus is speaking to here when He states:

“If anyone comes to Me”

Jesus is speaking to followers who have already accepted Him as being who they are going to follow. They may not at this point have a full understanding He is the Messiah, but they know He is of God.

Jesus is speaking to disciples.

Think about this for a moment. People that accepted Christ for the first time were people Jesus sought:

Jesus sought Peter and Andrew, James & John, Jesus sought Matthew, Jesus sought the Samaritan woman, Jesus sought the woman who was hemorrhaging, Zacchaeus and so on.

Peter & Andrew, James & John

Matthew 4:18–22 “18 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him. 21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.”

Jesus purposed to reach these men.

The Woman of Samaria

John 4:3–7 “3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria. 5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.””

Jesus purposed to reach the woman of Samaria, Jesus purposed to call Zacchaeus out of the sycamore tree. Jesus purposed to call the woman that was hemorrhaging twelve years that tugged on his garment to call her out of the crowd.

Dearly beloved, the Lord has purposed to reach everyone in this room that knows Jesus as Lord and Savior. He sought you to save you.

And I ask you the question, an important question. What have you purposed to accomplish for the Lord? Everyone in this room would have to agree that we purpose to accomplish something?

Some have purposed to be debt free this year. Others have purposed to improve your health, others have purposed to travel more. Yet others, have purposed to remodel your home, spend more time with family, or retire or to finish getting your children educated and the list is endless.

What have you purposed as it relates to your walk with Jesus?

Have you purposed to read your Bible in a year? Have you purposed to have a daily devotion every morning? Have you purposed to memorize scripture? Have you purposed to discover your gifts to be used of the Lord? Have you purposed to witness more for Christ? Have you purposed to tithe and give cheerfully to the things of God?

Hate

3404. μισέω misĕō, to love less

Jesus stated, “if anyone comes to Me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”

Jesus used the word hate by using what we refer to as hyperbole. Jesus used a Semitic method of exaggeration to prioritize our love for Him over the closest relationships on this earth.

Stop and mull this text for a moment. Allow the Holy Spirit to massage these thoughts in your mind. Make this text personal if you will.

When you fathom the depth of the love for family I believe there are two senses in which we absorb the text.

Aggregate

Firstly, I consider the aggregate time and investment of sweat, tears, celebrations, laughter, disappointments, accomplishments and the more within a family, in my case over my 62 years that deepens that love with each passing day. You have heard the saying, “there has been a lot of water go under the bridge” over these many years. Love for family is made up of time, energy, give and take, highs and lows, peaks and valleys, wins and losses and the list goes on.

I look back on pictures that rekindle memories of when my children were younger and Jane and I were younger and all the great times we’ve had over the journey we have traveled.

Individual Scenes of Sentiment

Yet, there is another sense of the depth of that love. It is manifest in those individual scenes that are intimate and tug on our heart strings.

Today, more than ever I appreciate the frozen moments in time realizing how fast time passes of those scenes of life that are such a measure of intimacy in the life of family. Call me having a sensitive or sentimentalist side, but I do, I truly do. My little grandson, Little Luke wants me to throw my arm over his shoulder when we ride down the big hill by our house in our cart. He wants the sense of my security holding Him as we go down that big hill. I love Tuesday nights at home after Jane has prepared us a great meal or we have gone out to eat early so that we can get home, get in our pajamas and watch the FBI series on Tuesday nights. We get comfortable on the couches and its an cozy time as we enjoy that time together. Why do I peel back and allow you into my inter sanctum?

We can enjoy that depth of love and devotedness to our Lord and Savior if we will have those intimate times with our Lord. Do you look forward to getting a great cup of fresh coffee and turning on a good light in your favorite chair and reading God’s Word and enjoying that personal time in study and in prayer? Do you have Date days on Sundays with the Lord and you plan the date out during the week? You are determined to be engaged in the conversation in Life Groups because you read your lesson and you want to be a good conversationalist with the Lord being spoken through your teacher? You planned your attire for church because you want the occasion special? You planned your gift to offer Jesus as you go on Date Day. You set aside your love gift as Scripture states:

1 Corinthians 16:1–2“1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: 2 On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.”

How many here wants to love Jesus deeper today than you did yesterday? How many here by show of hands wants to fall deeper and deeper in love with Jesus?

Devote yourself to Him as you have to your loved ones. Have the disciplines you have had in the day in and day out, but set aside those intimate times that are special in your relationship to Jesus.

For you see to love Jesus more, we must make Him first in our lives. Do you realize that if we learn to love Jesus more and learn the way Jesus loves that we will love our family and friends and church even more than we do now? Why is that?

When we love Him with heart, soul, and spirit, we learn to love our neighbors as ourselves. You will be a better husband, wife, father, mother, friend, coworker, and Christian.

Luke 18:29–30 “29 So He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.””

Death

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

Jesus sees the great crowd coming after Him and He is saying to them if you are truly going to follow Me you need to experience death as I experienced death. You need to die to some aspects of your former life to follow Me.

Do not raise your hands, but how many of you become anxious over some event or something you have to face that is coming? Has there been great events that came about in your life that just put knots in your stomach as you anticipated the time of arrival to deal with the matter?

Have you ever stopped to consider the suffering Jesus had already experienced before He ever was even arrested. The anguish He had already experienced in Gethsemane's Garden before the Chief Priests guards, the interrogation by Caiaphas, the abuse, the Roman soldiers, Pilate, Herod, back to Pilate, the trade of Barabbas, and the cross and the grueling death?

Luke 22:39–44 “39 Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. 40 When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” 43 Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

In layman’s terms, Jesus is saying to us today as he said to those followers that if you want to follow me, you must die to something in your former life. You must die to certain sin natures as I carried the sins of the world to the cross.

John 12:25 “25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

Luke 16:13 “13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.””

I want to ask again, how many here today wants to love Jesus deeper with each passing day? How many want Him to say, “well done, good and faithful servant?”

Jesus says in order to do that, you must die to something that is dominating your time, your energy, your focus and your life as a whole.

I have shared in prior messages that your checkbook and calendar are the greatest dissections to your being and determining where your focus lies.

Let me present you with another one. When you made out your New Year’s resolutions or you set a 1 year, five year, or 10 year plan for your life what makes the list? Where do your priorities lie?

Three times in the gospels, Jesus defines the concept of “taking up your cross.”

Mt 16:24 | Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

Mk 8:34 | When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

Lk 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.

Deny

533. ἀπαρνέομαι aparnĕŏmai, ap-ar-neh disown, abstain:—deny.

The word deny means that we disown something or we abstain from something that either takes our time, our resources, our energy that robs of that time and resource we can offer to Jesus.

I ask you the question, what is that thing, that barrier, that time spent, that value system that has become an idol for you in this life and robbed of time, energy, and focus on Jesus?

This morning ask yourself the question: What must I die to to grow deeper in my love and servanthood of Jesus?

Deliberate

Luke 14:28 “28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—”

He deepens the third point with another illustration.

Luke 14:29–33 NKJV

29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to 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 to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

"Deliberate" is an adjective that means done consciously and intentionally. It describes an action that is carefully thought out and performed with full awareness and purpose, rather than being impulsive or accidental.

For example, in the phrase "deliberate decision," it implies that the decision was made after careful consideration and planning. As a verb, "deliberate" means to engage in long and careful consideration or discussion.

At this point in our time together we have discovered that 1) to follow Jesus comes with devotion. 2) Secondly, we must experience a death to some aspect of our former life that is keeping us back from our devotedness to the Lord.

And lastly, 3) we must be keenly aware in making a deliberate decision that is well thought out as to how we are going to serve the Lord in a greater fashion today than we did yesterday.

Jesus is speaking in construction or what we might call today modern day contracting language.

Ill. Terry Brooks giving quote

Many of our church family has used Terry Brooks to build an addition on your home or remodel. When you describe to Terry what it is that you desire, He firstly leaves you and he goes to his office and begins to determine the amount of materials needed and assesses the cost of the materials. Next, he assesses how many man hours it will take to complete the job or he gets a quote from a sub contractor that specializes in plumbing, electrical, etc. to see what their charge will be. And lastly, he needs to make a living so he sets his profit needed to accomplish the job.

Jesus is saying to us today that just as you would enter into a contemplative thought to complete such a project and would not want to come upon any surprises, what thought are you going to give to follow Me in a more effective manner?

And the question I ask you this morning is no different than Jesus was asking of that crowd over 2,000 years ago. What are the hard questions you need to ask yourself that is holding you back from being devoted to me? What deliberate plans do you need to prioritize to cause our relationship to flourish and for you to become stronger by your relationship meshed with Me?

Proverbs 24:27 “27 Prepare your outside work, Make it fit for yourself in the field; And afterward build your house.”

1 Peter 2:5 “5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

Oh dearly beloved, as we look at verse 28, yes, there is some deliberate thought that must take place to enjoy the change that needs to take place to follow Christ.

Acts 4:11 “11 This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’”

It begins with a devotedness to make Christ the Chief Cornerstone of your life that everything else builds around. Secondly, in order to do that we must die or deny some other aspects of our lives that is holding us back from our devotion to Christ. Lastly, what deliberate, purposeful planned actions do you need to make to bring success in your followship of Christ?

The Chief Cornerstone is tantamount. The new saying is to be deliberate, but to be intentional. What must you be intentional about? As a disciple of Christ,

Daily Prayer and Devotion:

Set aside dedicated time each day for prayer and reading the Bible. This helps build a closer relationship with God and gain a deeper understanding of His Word.

Bible Study and Memorization:

Engage in regular Bible study, either personally or in a group. Memorizing scripture can help keep God's Word in your heart and guide your actions.

Attend Worship Services:

Maybe you just attend Sunday Morning but you know you need to be fed more, you need the body of Christ to hold you accountable. You need prayer partners.

Serve Others:

Maybe you need to reach out to me or others in this church that are very aware of missions all over the River Region that could use volunteers to serve.

Join a Discipleship Group:

Become part of a small group or discipleship class where you can learn, share experiences, and be accountable to others in your spiritual journey.

Practice Spiritual Disciplines:

Incorporate practices like fasting, meditation, and silence into your routine to focus more on God and less on worldly distractions.

Seek Mentorship:

Find a mature Christian mentor who can provide guidance, support, and accountability as you grow in your faith.

Evangelism:

Share the Gospel with others. Be deliberate about looking for opportunities to witness and share your faith with those around you.

Reflect and Repent:

Lastly, is there a sin that just continues to haunt you that you need forgiveness from the Lord about and it has a chronic way of showing its face time and again? Call on Jesus and He will save you.

Decision

Maybe this morning your beginning point is to decide to be a follower of Jesus.

Let’s pray.