The Cost of Discipleship (Part 2)

Introduction

Luke 14:25–35 ESV

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 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 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.”

The Cost of Discipleship

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

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

The Cost of Discipleship

LCBC Church out of Lancaster, PA used popular movies this past summer “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/)

The Cost of Discipleship

Faith church in Saint Louis, Missouri built a roller coaster on their stage while the worship band played out “Love Roller Coaster” by the red Hot Chili Peppers while 3 foot sparklers went off. If you are interested in being with the inner circle of Lead Pastor, David Crank’s wife, Nichole, you can be included for the price of $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/)

The Cost of Discipleship

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.

The Cost of Discipleship

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/)

The Cost of Discipleship

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/)

The Cost of Discipleship

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 Cost of Discipleship

This new version of so-called Christianity focuses on the consumer 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 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.

The Cost of Discipleship

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.

Now, you'll remember last week I brought to you the first of three points in Jesus’s parable of the cost of discipleship. That being a disciple demands the relinquishment of your past priorities. You'll remember that Jesus says that you must put every person, everything, every desire, every plan, every priority in submission to him. Every priority in your life changes. The false gospel says that you come to Jesus and he will fulfill everything you ever wanted and all of your dreams will come true. That's the deceptive gospel. It's not about Jesus giving you what you want, Jesus says when you come to him it might cost you everything. The early Christians you're following Jesus as a death sentence which is why they started wearing the cross as a symbol of their faith.

The Cost of Discipleship

I read of a man who was Muslim, now living here in America. Recently he came to know Christ. His family is back in Iran. They will now disown him.....they will actually consider him to be dead. If you truly follow the Lord, you won’t have to look for people to ridicule you; they will find you-and they may be your family members.

Today we'll cover the remaining two points of Jesus’s message.

1. Being a disciple demands relinquishment of past priorities.

2. Being a disciple requires assessment of current commands.

3. Being a disciple Commands allegiance to future fulfillments.

In other words, you take on a completely different worldview, past, present, and future, when you choose to become a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Being a Disciple Requires Assessment of Current Commands.

Luke 14:28 ESV

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?

In Jesus’s culture there were two very important cultural ideas. First everybody knew what everybody else was doing. Second, honor was held in high regard. So, here's Jesus uses the illustration of a person building a tower. To build a tower would be a big undertaking. But to begin it and not be able to finish it would be embarrassing and the entire community would know it.

When you're going to build a tower, Jesus says you're going to sit down and calculate if you have enough to complete the project before you even start it. Otherwise, you're going to be left with a half finished building and bring to yourself and your family shame. Twice here Jesus uses the word Teleō, which means finished or completed. Jesus himself uses this word, Tetelestai, at his death on the cross to say it has been finished.

Being a Disciple Requires Assessment of Current Commands.

What Jesus was saying is that being his disciple is not about kicking the spiritual tires. It's not a journey you start halfway and then decide that are truly not for you, so you turn back around. Following Jesus is all or nothing. Likewise, we don't manipulate people to come to Jesus or follow Jesus. Jesus didn't sugarcoat the conditions. We're not bringing heaven to earth, but rather we are setting aside the promises of this world and dying to ourselves.

Being a Disciple Requires Assessment of Current Commands.

John Stott writes in Basic Christianity, “The Christian landscape is strewn with the wreckage of derelict, half-built towers, the ruins of those who began to build and were unable to finish. For thousands of people, still ignore Christ's warning and undertake to follow Him without first pausing to reflect on the cost of doing so. This is the great scandal of Christendom, so-called nominal Christianity. …They've allowed themselves to become somewhat involved, enough to be respectable, but not enough to be uncomfortable. Their religion is a great, soft cushion. It protects them from the hard unpleasantness of life while changing its place and shape to suit their convenience. No wonder the cynics speak of hypocrites in the church and dismiss religion as escapism.”

Being a Disciple Requires Assessment of Current Commands.

God provides what we need. Jesus is speaking here about the cost of total commitment. He is talking about finishing strong. In verse 29 Jesus spoke about the man who was not able to finish the job. He says everyone will look at this tower and see that it wasn’t finished, and they will ridicule him.

It’s not uncommon to see unfinished building in Bissau. I see the concrete block/shell someone had started years earlier. But the project had been stopped. There was no roof on the building and trees and shrubs had grown inside the building.

Jesus says when you start something finish well. You cannot coast in the Christian life. There is no such thing as spiritual retirement plan here on earth. I’ve watched people who were committed through the years walk away from the church or walk away from the Lord. Don’t be one of those people!

2 Corinthians 12:10 ESV

10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Philippians 3:8 ESV

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

Luke 9:62 ESV

62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Being a Disciple Requires Assessment of Current Commands.

I read about a lifeguard on a beach who saw a drowning man. He walked into the water, but he didn’t go out to rescue the man. People yelled at the lifeguard to do his job. The lifeguard stepped out a bit deeper and when it seemed that the man was going under for the last time, the lifeguard swam out and grabbed the man and pulled him back to shore. Once the man was back on shore, he was fine but instead of being a hero the crowd was angry; they couldn’t understand why the lifeguard didn’t respond quicker. The lifeguard explained “you can see that he is much bigger and stronger than I am. If I had gone out earlier, he would have drowned us both. If he was trying to save himself, I couldn’t help him. But when he got tired and he gave up, then I could save him.

Being a Disciple Requires Assessment of Current Commands.

The question is, who is in charge? Jesus knew. He knew to the point that as he spoke these words he was going to Jerusalem knowing he was going to be crucified. ““The cross is laid on every Christian. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death–we give over our lives to death. The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” (Bonhoeffer)

Being a Disciple Commands Allegiance to Future Fulfillments.

Luke 14:34–35 ESV

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.”

Being a Disciple Commands Allegiance to Future Fulfillments.

The word “Therefore” Connects these two verses to the rest of the parable. The use of the word salt is an illustration of preservation and they look into the future. Salt has an important function and in jesus's day salt was valuable. Salt was used as a means to preserve food before there was refrigeration.

Likewise, salt was also valuable. People would be paid and salt.

Ezekiel 43 associates the New Covenant with Salt. Ezekiel 43:24 “24 You shall present them before the Lord, and the priests shall sprinkle salt on them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord.”

In Jewish culture salt was a symbol of promises and loyalty. For Jesus to say if the salt loses its saltiness is almost and expression of hyperbole. Because salt does not change period salt does not lose saltiness. But the fact of the matter is if salt did not have its flavor and saltiness it would be utterly useless.

Being a Disciple Commands Allegiance to Future Fulfillments.

Lanny Bridges works as a chemist for Morton salt. He works in the salt mines every day. He says that pure salt actually never loses its saltiness. According to him you could take a pure salt crystal and 10,000 years later it would still be just as salty. Pure salt never loses its flavor. The salt used in the time of Jesus wasn’t mined; it came from the Dead sea. When the water evaporated it left salt. But the salt was so mixed with other minerals that even though it looked like salt...it didn’t taste like salt. When it was placed on food, there was no flavor. When it was used to keep meat fresh the meat went bad. So the only thing to do was to put it on the road and use it for gravel or to walk on it. (Verse 35). Basically it was useless.

Being a Disciple Commands Allegiance to Future Fulfillments.

Unfortunately many times we are the same way. We’re useless. We have no commitment. Too many Christians are like a dog i read about this week. One day a man walked into an old country store and he saw a sign just inside that read: Danger! Beware of Dog!” The man looked around carefully but all he saw was an old hound dog on the floor, sound asleep. He said t the owner, that dog doesn’t look dangerous to me.” The owner said, well, folks keep tripping over him, so that’s why I put up the sign.

Being a Disciple Commands Allegiance to Future Fulfillments.

I think what Jesus is saying here is in reference to value and loyalty. He told us in the sermon on the mount but we are the salt of the earth. We are the change agents that Jesus put on earth. Likewise, our loyalty it's to the King. We are loyal disciples of Jesus and our discipleship is valuable and costly

“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” (Dietrich Bonhoffer "The Cost of Discipleship")

Being a Disciple Commands Allegiance to Future Fulfillments.

How will you finish as a disciple? Reflect on your commitment to Jesus. This week, I challenge you to identify one area of your life where you can deepen your discipleship. Maybe it's dedicating more time to prayer, serving others, or sharing your faith. Let's take concrete steps to become more dedicated disciples.