The Cost of Discipleship

I used to think that the more keys someone had, the more power and influence they had. I thought this because in the corporate world, the people that had more keys were in the management part of the business. The time came when I became one of those with more keys, power, and influence but I found that the power and influence also came with more work hours, more responsibility and just down right more hard work.

Have you ever wanted something that someone else had, but then discovered that it came at a higher price than you thought? It used to be a joke with me and friends that the more keys you

In our story between Elijah and Elisha, Elisha requests a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. Elijah responds “You have asked a difficult thing.” To others, it would appear that Elijah had a lot of glory and prestige as the famous prophet, but what is unseen is the difficulty that was experienced in all that “glory and prestige.” It would not be easy to look out at all those prophets of baal and challenge them by himself. No one knows the difficulties another faces in their lives no matter how glorious their life may appear.

As Christians, we all have a call on our life and it is never easy. It is what we refer to as the cost of discipleship. It is important that we each find our own call and fulfill it and not try to live into the call of another. I am sad to say that I have met too many failed pastors who have learned this the hard way. Instead of finding their own call and path, they have followed family traditions to be pastors instead of following God’s direction. It is difficult enough to follow our own call without trying to live the call of another.

In the case of Elijah and Elisha, Elijah did not know if it was right for Elisha or not. He just knew that Elisha had no idea what he was asking; the hardships that came with that kind of request. However, Elijah left it up to God to give Elisha the answer to his request. Elisha was evidently up to the task as God gave Elisha what he requested.

Today, we will get a glimpse of the heavy burden Jesus carried as he fulfilled His call. We will also see Him teaching others about the cost of discipleship. Stand with me as we read from this passage of Luke today.

Luke 9:51–62 NASB95

When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” And they went on to another village. As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Pray

As I was studying this passage of scripture this week, I found three costs of discipleship. They are...

I. Humility, Love and Sacrifice

On the surface, they do not sound so bad, but when you live them, you find just how difficult it can be to live a life of humility, love and sacrifice.

Today’s story is a key turning point in Jesus ministry. Up to this point, He has been traveling around Galilee teaching and healing. His main goal at this point has been to teach and prepare His disciples for the time when He is no longer with them. They have not understood that they will have Jesus only for a short time. In fact, they must have been a trial to Jesus at times as they were so slow in understanding. Their thoughts and actions were influenced by years of Jewish disobedience and wrong actions and beliefs. Their disbelief continues to be a problem. Their lack of faith caused fear in the storm on the Sea of Galilee and just shortly before today’s event, nine of them had tried to cast out a demon and had been unable to do so. To which Jesus responds,

Luke 9:41 NASB95

And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”

Once again we can feel Jesus frustration with them. Warren Wiersbe states, “ You might expect that lament to come from an overworked kindergarten teacher or an impatient army drill instructor, but it was made by the sinless Son of God! We are prone to forget how long suffering our Lord had to be while He was ministering on earth, especially with His own disciples” (The Wiersbe Bible Commentary, 168).

After Jesus delivers the boy from the demon, He tells them,

Luke 9:44 NIV

“Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.”

Jesus is running out of time. He still has so much to teach them and they are not helping. I think we all can relate to a time when we were trying to accomplish something and were running out of time. We get tense and become intense with those around us as we try to achieve our goal. We see Jesus feeling this in .

Luke 9:51 NASB95

When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem;

Notice that Jesus attention is focused on His ascension, not His arrest. This demonstrates once again Jesus focus on us and not Himself. He was not concerned for the moment with what He will suffer, but instead what will happen to those He leaves behind when the time comes for Him to return to the Father. However, He cannot stall the inevitably. It has to happen within a certain time frame in order to fulfill scripture. So he “determinedly” sets out for Jerusalem.

Isaiah 50:7 NASB95

For the Lord God helps Me, Therefore, I am not disgraced; Therefore, I have set My face like flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed.

It is at this point we find the first of our three hardships of discipleship. To be a disciple is to experience and live with...

A. Humility ()

Jesus is making His way to Jerusalem. The shortest distance is through Samaria. However, there is a longstanding feud between the Jews and the Samaritans. It began with the kingdom division of Israel. Upon Solomon’s death, his son Rehoboam became king. However, Rehoboam was not a wise king like his father. He listened to bad advisors and out of greed continued and increased taxes making hardship on the people (sound familiar?). So ten tribes split from the kingdom forming the northern kingdom under the kingship of Jeroboam. Jeroboam, in an effort to maintain his kingdom, provided new worship locations so the northerners did not need to go to Jerusalem to worship. One of the more major sites was on Mount Gerizim in Samaria. Years later, the Assyrians hauled the best of this group off and brought in foreigners to replace them in the land. Over time, the remaining Jews intermarried with these foreigners and set up their own religious system with a temple on Mount Gerizim (Remember Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal where the blessings and curses were cried out?). The Jews never acknowledged this temple and the Samaritans no longer recognized the one in Jerusalem. So there was bad blood between the Jews and the Samaritans. Now for Jews traveling between Galilee and Jerusalem, Samaria offered a shortcut. It was the most direct route. The Samaritans tolerated it for the most part, but at times of travel for religious reasons, they got their dander up and would most inhospitable. This is one of those times. Jesus is heading to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles.

Most likely due to the large number of people traveling with Jesus (Jesus rarely traveled with only 12, there were usually large crowds that followed Him), He sends messengers ahead to make arrangements. I am sure the Samaritans were not thrilled with the number of Jews that were with Jesus also! So they have no desire to put Jesus and His entourage up for the night.

Upon hearing what the messengers report, James and John (Sons of Thunder) get really irate. Now remember, they have just recently been with Jesus up on a mountain top when He was visited by Elijah and Moses. This is probably still on their mind as this was such an unbelievable event. Elijah and Moses would be heroes to them. Men long gone from earth and they had seen them personally. It is no surprise that what comes to mind was Elijah’s response to men who oppose God’s work in . He literally called fire down upon two companies of 50 soldiers and their Captains. So what does John do? He suggests the same thing for the Samaritans. However, Jesus does not respond as he expects. Instead, Jesus rebukes him and they go around taking a longer route to get to their destination.

Humility is a characteristic of Jesus followers! Their are times we wish to call down hell fire on people that seem to be in our way of achieving what we feel God is calling us to do, however instead at times, we are instructed to step aside and go a different route, sometimes even creating more work for us.

John Tillotson was the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury from 1691 to 1694 and he is known for saying,

“Let us never do anything for religion which is contrary to religion”

[WEBSTER and WILKINSON].

That is not the only humiliation we face. We face being rebuked at times. We may be saved and sanctified, but we still are human with human tendencies. We are called to be teachable. We never reach the age where we know it all or understand it all. There are times we God rebukes us and sometimes it is before others. I must admit that I am not always the most humble person. Have you ever had someone warn you not to pray for perseverance? Well I am warning you not to pray for humility without expecting God to answer. It is a humbling experience. I know as I have done so. As a public speaker, there are lots of opportunities for this to be tested, just saying!

The road of discipleship is a humbling experience. We will be faced with enemies of Christ, looking to throw our failures in our face. We will be faced with times when we want to defend ourselves, but God calls us to be silent. We are called upon to offer humble apologies when we are wrong in a culture that hates to acknowledge when they do wrong. Humility, is a cost of discipleship.

However, we are willing to do so because another cost is that of...

B. Love ()

Now, you may think love is not a cost or hardship, but it is when it is not received. It is a hardship when because of love we make choices that we feel are not in our best interest for the sake of others when everyone around us is doing what they desire for themselves. Look at verses 55-56.

Now, you may think love is not a cost or hardship, but it is when it is not received. It is a hardship when because of love we make choices that we feel are not in our best interest when everyone around us is doing what they desire. Look at verse 55.

Luke 9:55–56 NASB95

But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” And they went on to another village.

Luke 9

Luke 9:55–56 NASB95

Luke 9:55 NASB95

But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of;

In most versions of the Bible, this verse only contains that Jesus rebuked them and that they continued on to another village. However, in the NASB and NKJV we find the added context of Jesus words. The reason it is not contained in all versions is that it is only found in some older manuscripts. It is uncertain if they were actually spoken here, or if they were added later for further understanding of the text. Most commentaries do acknowledge this text as they find it fits in the context of this passage as well as the overall message of the Bible. The phrase, “for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them” reflects the statements found in

Matthew 5:17 NASB95

“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.

and

Luke 19:10 NASB95

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

According to the Erdman commentary,

“There may be place for righteous indignation, but there is no place among the followers of Christ for anger, for intolerance, or for revenge. This is not a time of judgment, but of grace. It is not for us to attempt to administer vengeance, but to preach the gospel of love.” [Erdman, Luke, p. 118.]

Jesus is the author of love, however, anything less is from His enemy, Satan.

It feels good to receive love, but it is difficult to live a life of love, especially when it is not received or reciprocated.

Humility and love are not the end of the costs we pay. The third characteristic of the costs of discipleship is...

C. Sacrifice ()

Upon first reading of this passage, these verses do not seem to tie in with the above story of the Samaritan opposition, however, for Luke it does fit. It demonstrates the hardships Jesus endured and those that His followers are called to also. In order to demonstrate, Luke provides three cases of people encountered along the trip who shared an interest in following, and Jesus response to them of what it would cost. Jesus always sees are hearts and knows what we treasure most. He is fast to identify them for us just as he did the rich young ruler. If we are going to follow Jesus we need to know the cost and be willing to make the sacrifices.

C. Sacrifice ()

nAs Jesus is traveling along on his way to Jerusalem, he encounters others wanting to follow, but not necessarily willing to pay the price of discipleship. Luke lists three examples in the following verses demonstrating the difficulties of discipleship.

There are many sacrifices we are called upon to make when we follow Jesus. As Jesus is traveling along on his way to Jerusalem, he encounters others wanting to follow, but not necessarily willing to pay the price of discipleship. Luke lists three examples in the following verses demonstrating the difficulties of discipleship.

1. No home ()

Luke 9:57–58 NASB95

As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

Luke 9:57-58

In this case, the person shows a desire to follow Jesus. In Matthew’s account, he describes the man as a scribe. Jesus never pulls punches. He was always truthful about the difficulties of being a follower. Remember the parable of the sower? I think this person may represent the rocky ground. They are fast to jump on board, but they do not count the cost of doing so. When things get difficult they jump ship. They are looking for the benefits of faith, but not willing to pay the costs in order to receive the reward.

In this case, the man was fast to want to jump on board. Jesus cautions him that to do so means he will be a transient with no home.

Jesus sacrificed a lot for our benefit. He could have had a wife, home, children, and what a business He could have run with His skills! :-) However, Jesus spent His time here on earth moving from place to place teaching and healing the people. He was focused on the true prize, returning to the Father. He sacrificed by coming and living among us and then died a horrible death on the cross for our sake.

When we choose to follow Jesus, we acknowledge that our true home is in heaven also. We hold the things of earth lightly in our hand, willing to give them up if called to do so for the sake of the gospel and for love of God and people around us. It may be a home, a job, a husband or wife. Whatever your dreams are to achieve here on earth, we have to be willing to give them up to serve God if He calls us to do so. However, that is not the only sacrifice. The second is...

2. Earthly Priorities ()

Luke 9:59–60 NASB95

And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.”

In the first case, the man offered to follow Jesus. In this case, Jesus calls for the man to “follow me,” but it is not quite what you expect based on our wording and the cultural understanding.

First, when Jesus said “follow me,” he was not asking the man to leave his belongings and follow Him to Jerusalem. The word used and translated here as “follow me” essentially is be one of my followers. He is asking the man to accept who He is and to share the news of what God is doing. In other words, preach the kingdom of God.

Second, to understand the man’s response, we need to look at it from the cultural view point. This man’s father is either still alive or is already buried. This is evident in the fact that the man is standing here talking to Jesus. Look with me at the burial process.

If a man was dying, his sons was expected to be by his side taking care of his needs. Once he died, he was to be buried the same day due to climate issues. This was considered the first burial. After the body was placed in the burial chamber, the family was required to be home for 7 days in mourning. The family then continued life as usual waiting until the body had decomposed and all the flesh had fallen from the bones. Once that occured, the oldest son was to place the clean bones in a small chest called an ossuary and take them to Jerusalem or to a family burial cave. This was considered the second and final burial.

The Jewish tradition was that there could not be atonement for someone while the flesh was on his bones. They felt the flesh was sinful and so had to be removed. This was not scriptural, it was strictly Jewish tradition.

This man either had an older father that he was anticipating would die soon or he was waiting for the bones to become clean in order to complete the second burial.

In response, Jesus says, “Allow the dead to bury their dead.” In other words, “Let the spiritually dead bury those literally dead.” Jesus is not showing disrespect to this man’s father. This man is basically giving Jesus an excuse why he cannot comply and Jesus is calling him on it. Jesus also does not recognize the legitimacy of a second burial as it is not true to scripture. There is no atonement by way of clean bones, only through the death of Jesus which He is currently on His way to fulfill. It is more important for this man to share the truth of God than to do any of the tasks he uses as an excuse to Jesus.

Commentary notes: scribe giving Jesus an excuse he feels Jesus will validate; man is more interested in his inheritance from his earthly father.

Many people today use lots of excuses for not obeying God. They cannot come to church because their business needs them to be working on Sundays. They cannot move because their family needs them. They cannot serve in the church because they are too busy. Jesus requires disciples that will follow the call and set all excuses aside to be obedient to God.

The final case is a case of...

3. Single Focus ()

Luke 9:61–62 NASB95

Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

In this final story, the man again offers to follow Jesus, only he wants time to say “good-bye” to his family. To understand this story, you have to understand what this means. When we read it, we get the impression he wants to go back to the house, give mom and dad a hug and say “good-bye, I am going with Jesus.” However, this was not the case. He was saying, wait a few days. Allow me to put my things in order. I need to put various people in charge of things and give them instructions. It will take a few days, and then I can come with you.

Jesus cannot wait on this man. Jesus has a time limit with which to accomplish His task. If the man wants to come, he needs to come now. Jesus responds with the illustration of a ploughman.

When I was a kid, my dad instructed me how to plow the field. I was to pick a point straight in front of me and head towards it the entire row down as I plowed. I was to thing swing the tractor around and come as close as I could to the previous row without disrupting it and repeat the process. The key was to keep the rows as close together and as straight as possible to be able to get as many rows in as I could for that field. If I did not pay attention to where I was going, I would end up with crooked rows and fewer rows.

This is was Jesus is saying. Be single in your focus. Look to what you are to be doing and not looking back or around to other things as they will prevent you from doing what you ought to do. The language here instantly draws your mind to Lot’s wife who for the love of the sinful world they had lived in, turned to look back and turned into salt.

This story reminds me of the seed sown on the thorny ground that was quickly choked out. If our focus is on achieving the things of this world, we will miss out. We will quickly lose focus on God. Have you ever tried to watch two things at once. It doesn’t work. Our eyes only focus on one thing at a time. We cannot be focused on this world and accomplish what God is calling us to. We have to be focused on God and the things of God. It is not easy to do in a world where everyone else is doing something else.

D. Conclusion:

Looking back over this passage, I have three concluding recommendations:

1. Pick your battles well and do so with an eye on what serves God’s kingdom best.

Jesus was not one to back down from confrontation. During His years in Galilee he had been forth right in dealing with others who were trying to destroy him, however, destroying Samaria had no kingdom purpose. When Jesus entered into conflict, it was with the purpose of clarifying truth and promoting the kingdom of God over the kingdom of men.

2. When we do face conflict, as we all will, we should always face it with humility and love.

Conflict is not fun. As I said before, if it serves no proper purpose, it should be avoided. But sometimes conflict allows us to demonstrate kingdom life by demonstrating humility and love, kingdom characters, to those we are in conflict with.

3. Do not be deterred by the sacrifices required, but instead embrace them with the single focus of Christ; that being a life with God yet to come.

No one says it better than Paul.

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Stand with me. What are you focused on these days? Have you allowed other things to distract you from what should be your focus? Are you afraid of the costs and they are hindering from fully surrendering to God? Do not be like Lot’s wife and turn back. For a moments glance, she gave up eternity. I am afraid there are too many Lot’s wives in our world. Luke does not tell us what the final answer these three men gave Jesus, but I fear, they too, turned back. Remember that what we see now is temporary, but what we gain is eternal.

Philippians 3:7–14 NIV

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

philippians 3:7-14

Pray

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 NASB95

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

Pray

What a Day That Will Be hymn

Conclusion:

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