Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy

Introduction

As the saying goes, “Nothing worth having comes easy.”

When I heard this saying when I was younger I always thought different things. I would think about the car that I wanted, and how I wouldn’t appreciate it if I didn’t work for the money I needed to buy it.

I would think about what it would be like to be at the top of Mt. Rushmore, but how much more it would mean if I climbed up there myself, rather than taking a helicopter.

I even thought about friendships with people, how a meaningful friendship could only be one where we sharpen each other, as iron sharpens iron.

But, now that I am a little bit older, when I hear this saying, “Nothing worth having comes easy,” I think about my wife.

We’ve only been married for 3 months, and we have gone through quite a few stressful events already. The processing of getting married, Larissa moving from her home to mine, us packing up all that we owned and driving here to Paint Lick, starting new jobs…those are some pretty significant events that have happened all in the first 3 months of our marriage.

Through those 3 months we have had little tifs, sure, but nothing ground shattering. Small discrepancies have risen, addressed, and squandered.

The most frighting thing about marriage hasn’t even been us trying to deal with each other, it’s been other people. I remember telling my friends that I was going to propose and while some said, “That’s great”, others quickly said, “oh boy, there goes your freedom.”

While that was a bit discouraging, nothing has compared to when other people, whether friends, family, or counselors who have written books, have told us that the first year of marriage is the hardest.

While I’m not entirely convinced that is the truth, one truth that has come out of all of the comments from people, and from popular sayings is that “nothing worth having comes easy.”

The truth that has shown through it all is that having a happy, healthy, loving, and worth having marriage will take hard work. It won’t be easy to have and maintain, but when we said, “I do” and said our vows before our friends and families, we agreed to work through it all as best as we can.

So, now when I hear, “nothing worth having comes easy,” I think about Larissa, our future, but more importantly, our relationship with Christ.

I recognize that our relationship with Christ is not easy, but did the disciples know? That’s the point of today’s Scripture.

What does Jesus mean?

Let’s read through it again...

Luke 14:25–33 NRSV

25 Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, 26 “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see 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 will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

There are some pretty hefty demands by Christ in these verses.

He is telling those who wish to be his followers that they must do the following...

Hate your father

Hate your mother

Hate your wife

Hate your children

Hate your brothers and sisters

Hate life itself

Carry the cross and follow Christ

Give up all of your possessions

Now, on the surface level these demands are very challenging, but when we dive deeper we can see why those in the crowd may have had hesitations.

Identity was a huge part of Jesus’ culture. Family and household status constituted the primary determinant of identity and status. Jesus was saying, “it doesn’t matter what family you come from or what your position is in that family, you are now my follower, that’s the only thing that matters.” This is why He says to hate father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sister, and life itself. He is saying there is something greater than all of that.

He goes on to say “carry the cross and follow...” This was being said at a time where crucifixion by cross was done by the Roman Empire as a form of execution. It was so horrific, so demeaning, so demoralizing, that the Romans wouldn’t even execute other Romans this way, even if they were the most wicked it still wouldn’t be done.

He wraps this up by saying “give up all of your possessions.” Much like today, possessions during Jesus’ time signified wealth, power, control, status. While the crowd may have had a mix of socio-economic statuses, it is safe to say that a large majority of the crowd had very little. But that very little is what they held on to in order to maintain some level of status.

Jesus challenged the crowd here. He connects these commands to a story about an unfinished tower and a battlefield. In order to avoid the absolute humiliation of not being able to finish a construction project, one at that time would do all that they could in order to make sure they had sufficient money to pay for the construction. With that, if a king who’s army is half the size of his enemy’s would be intelligent in not engaging in battle and trying to bring about terms of peace.

What Jesus is saying with these instructions, and these stories, is that nothing worth having (i.e following Jesus) comes easy. There is sacrifice, pain, struggle, hardship. One cannot just say “I am a follower of Christ” and not live that same statement. Jesus is effectively saying that the crowds drawn to him would do well to weigh the COST of discipleship before making the commitment to do so.

What does Jesus mean for us?

You may hear all of this and think to yourself, “Pastor, what does any of this have to do with me? Does Jesus mean the same thing for us now as He did the crowds back then?” Yes, yes He does.

Remove yourself from your family, as to remove any status you may have

Commit yourself entirely to me

Let’s look at a few things...

We know that the Scripture says that one needs to HATE their mother, father, wife, child, siblings, and life… that’s some pretty strong language. To us, when we read this and see hate we think, “why would God want us to openly detest these people, these things?” What Jesus was intending was not that we detest these people and remove them from our lives, but that we do not put them before Him. He is requiring of us a singular commitment and allegiance to Him and Him alone.

Jesus also says that those who follow Him must take up the cross and follow Him. At the time Jesus said these words there was a very real possibility that those who followed Jesus, especially after His death, would be crucified, beaten, murdered, and put to shame. While most of us do not have to worry about that today, there are many across the globe that gather together for worship knowing that they may be killed for their devotion to Christ. For us, who have not that fear, we need to realize that same shame and suffering that Jesus felt, the disciples felt, and those earlier Christ followers felt is very real to us today. There can be shame, there can be pain, there can be suffering, there can be death…all for the sake of following Christ.

Lastly, when Jesus says that the crowd needed to give up all of their possessions, he was meaning their wealth, it ties back to giving up their family. He was saying that they needed to divest themselves of their wealth in order to truly follow Him. He recognized wealth as being an obstacle, and it needed to be conquered. That is still true for today. It does not mean that you cannot have a lot of things, that you cannot have wealth, but when it becomes an obstacle between you and Christ, it needs to be removed. When you have everything, and do nothing to help those around you, you are allowing your wealth to interfere with not only your relationship with Christ, but with the good work that He has called you to.

Conclusion

Being a follower of Jesus takes hard work. It is not something that we can agree to do and then not act upon. We are not allowed to promise a devotion of our lives to Christ and then not follow through. It makes us look foolish, act foolish, and does not leave us in good favor.

Much like marriage, nothing worth having comes easy. It is worth having a relationship with Jesus. It is worth having eternal life and a sanctified and holy life, but it will not and does not come easy.

It takes sacrifice, time, energy, dedication, love, courage, patience, and a multitude of other things.If you entered into a committed relationship with Jesus Christ and thought that it would be “easy going,” you were seriously misled.

All of this to say that the hard work, struggles, pain, and sacrifice will be worth it. It will be worth it when you take your last breath and enter into the presence of Christ our King.

Nothing worth having comes easy, no, not even Jesus.

Let us pray