The Walk (2)

Surrender

Luke 14:33 ESV

So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Pray

Have you ever been in a situation where you were given a choice? One that you couldn’t have both, but you had to have one or another?

Likewise, when Jesus steps onto the scene He asks us to make that same choice.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A HALFWAY FOLLOWER

Jesus starts this section of Scripture with a pretty bold statement:

Luke 14:26 ESV

“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.

Jesus is telling us we have to HATE?

Understand that Jesus is not telling you to hate those that you are close to. He is simply laying the expectations of those who are going to follow Him. There can’t be anything that is holding you back from your relationship with Him.

Luke 14:27 ESV

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

This is a hard teaching in Jesus time, and especially in this time that we live in. The cross as we know it is a symbol of our faith and trust in Christ. But what if I told you the cross is more brutal than what we understand it as? The cross is a symbol of being crucified. It was a literal death sentence.

BEARING YOUR CROSS MEANS DYING TO SELF

Dying to self means that your wants and your opinions are no longer what you follow, but you are now changed to the will of God.

Luke 22:42 ESV

saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

Jesus prayed this in the Garden of Gethsemane before He was going to be taken to the cross.

Though He doesn’t necessarily require us to die, He does expect us to die to self and live for Him.

Luke 14:28 ESV

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?

Luke 14:29–30 ESV

Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

HAVE YOU COUNTED THE COST?

We would all love to sit here and say that we would love to follow Jesus and we do the whole churchy thing, but when it comes to the devotion that Jesus requires, have you counted the cost? Are you willing to make those decisions?

Luke 14:31 ESV

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?

Luke 14:32 ESV

And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

SURRENDER REQUIRES COUNTING THE COST

Luke 14:33 ESV

So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Surrender requires us to count the cost. Surrender requires us to die to self. Surrender requires us to put first the things of God over ourselves. Surrender requires no one over Christ.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO SURRENDER?