The Cost of Discipleship
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Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “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. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 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? 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.’ 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? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
“Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 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.”
And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’ ”
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “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. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:25-
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “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. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 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?
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “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. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “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. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 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?
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? 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.’
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? 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.’ 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? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Context:
Now great crowds accompanied him and he turned an said to them
Now- In light of what he had done and taught. Miracles, parables
Great crowds- Multiple groups of many people were around him.
Accompanied him- There was a difference between those who generally accompanied Jesus and those who were following Jesus. They were more of fans who admired what He taught and what He did than disciples and followers.
And he turned- These were people who were behind Him and following Him. He stops to address this great crowd. Jesus was not after excited fans, but faithful followers.
Question 1:
“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 clarifies that not all those who come to Him have actually decided to be a disciple.
If anyone- This condition is not for special Christians or a select few. But he says upfront that “anyone” who comes to Jesus, this is a characteristic of thier life and a part of thier decision.
Comes to me- Jesus calls us to himself, but not however we want. We come on His terms and His alone, by His call.
And does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters- Jesus calls us to re-evaluate our closest relationships. That coming to Jesus redefines your relationship with every other person, and repositions your love for every other person.
Why does Jesus use the word “hate”?
Reference and
No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’
But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’
No longer let your family, or any relationship or person reign over you.
No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
In both of these, hate means what we think it means, to despise..but in both of these verses we first a hate that comes because of a king they didn’t want to serve, and also a hate for a master that they couldn’t serve. When Jesus talks about hating our family, he means not wanting them to rule over us, and making sure that family or any relationship is prior to our love and allegiance to him.
Jesus was saying your love for me must be so superior to your love for your family, that the distance between your love for me and your love for them is like the distance between love and hate!
He says me that much more that any human relationship, even the best of relationships your love for them, can’t even compare. That its just a difference of degree but a completely different type! The Lord doesn’t ask to be at the top of the scale..he says make a whole other category.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deuteronomy 13:3
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.
And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
Mark 12:30
And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Luke 10:27
Jesus was demanding total allegiance!
Hate here does mean hate, in the full sense of the word..God is saying “Make me the primary love of your life.”....so that you will hate even those best things in your life which you are tempted to make your master.
Hate here does mean hate, in the full sense of the word..God is saying “Make me the primary love of your life.”....so that you will hate even those best things in your life which you are tempted to make your master.
God is saying, right now your family is your God..and you can’t serve me and your family. We despise our family not because they are bad..but becuase they are relationships in our life which we all must fight against the temptation of making a master. As the citizens who hated him because they did not want this man to rule over us..We hate and resist our family because we don’t want them to rule over us.
Jesus doesn’t want us to destroy our family ()...but we must dethrone them from our hearts.
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? 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.’ 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? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
“Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 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.”
4:
Luke 14:28-3
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? 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.’ 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? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
And we don’t despise our family because of what they are but because of where they are in our hearts.
Your love for God must be so superior to every other love, that the distance between love for God and love for your family is like the distance between love and hate.
Your love for God must be so superior to every other love, that the distance between love for God and love for your family is like the distance between love and hate.
Abraham and Isaac- Did Abraham hate Isaac, no. Why did God ask Abraham to kill Isaac? Not because he wanted him to destroy him (because God had a purpose and a plan for Isaac). God asked him to kill Isaac because it was what was best for him..he had to dethrone Isaac from Abrahams heart.
We use the word “Love” so causaly. We’ll say I love God, I love this team, I love this food, I love my family, I love my church..and these are good things, but that is not what Jesus asked. He said for me must be so great, that I am not another love..I am the love of your life! Not one among many, But one and supreme love over everything!
He said its a different category all together!
Yes, and even his own life- This is similar point. . Our goal is not to live a long life, but a faithful life. Your life is not your own. ,
To follow Jesus means your life is no longer about you. You must learn to despise the notion that this life is yours, because you are temped to believe that this life given to you, that the life given you in Christ, means it is yours now..you make yourself your master. My life, my desires, my dreams, my hopes, my plans. Hate it, because you make it into a master. You not only have to dethrone your family, but dethrone yourself. You are not God. You own nothing, you are only stewards of what God has given.
We must learn to despise even our deepest and greatest desires if they are not Him!
You can die holding on to your own life, and lose sight and grip of the life to come.
Cannot be my disciple- You cannot serve two masters. He says unless you put to death the idol of family and human relationships, and even the idol of your own dreams, hopes, ambitions, comforts..you can not be my disciple.
Jesus never used the word Christian! When he spoke he spoke of followers and disciples. The word Christian was first used in where it says the disciples in Antioch were called Christians. So understand, there is no difference between a disciple and Christian. You can not be one and not the other. So when Jesus says can not be my disciple, he means are not Christians. You may say it, you may make a confession, but a disciple of Jesus has Jesus as thier first and primary love, and despises anything which tries to take the throne of your heart..no matter how good it may be in itself.
Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
Bear his own cross- Notice the contrast hate his own life, but hear his own cross! If you try and bear and carry your life, but hate your cross...you are not a disciple, nor follower of Jesus.
Your life is not your own, but your cross is. Lay down your life, take up your death.
“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
― Deitrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
Jesus is looking for disciples! Not admirers or fans, but followers.
My youth are going to be mad at me, but parents I talked to the youth last Sunday, and we talked about screen time on phones..and we determined they spend roughly 7 hours a day on thier phones. Which came to about 50 hours a week. I then asked them about how much time they spent in thier bible outside of church events..and I got a lot of zeros. 5 minutes on average..and none said more than 15 minutes. Now if I was you, I really start reevaluating your relationship with that phone and theirs. It isn’t even hard for me to say that for our kids, thier God is thier phone. And we better sacrifice it on the altar before it destroys them.
We make our kids brush thier teeth every day so thier teeth don’t decay and rot, we make them shower and wash every day so that they don’t get too dirty, we make them go to school so they can learn and be equipped for their future, we make sure they eat everyday so they can live, we make them take medicine when thier sick so they aren’t in pain.
But worse than tooth decay is spiritual decay, worse than the dirt on thier hands and face is the sin they are covered in, the thing which will most equip and help our students for thier future isn’t school books, but this book (bible), your kids may be well fed with chick-fil-a, and physical food, but still die for lack of spiritual food...the medicine they most need is what Jesus can provide. WHy aren’t we making sure our children are reading our bibles every day? Why aren’t we reading our bibles every day? How can we confess to not reading our bibles and then confess or believe that we are followers of Jesus. If you don’t love Jesus enough to turn the tv off, but the remote down, but the school book down, turn off the cell phone..and pray, open your word, and talk to Him and seek Him, can we say that he is our master? Can we say we are disciples? Can we say we are Christians?
Jesus has many who love the kingdom of God, but few who bear a cross. He has many who desire His comfort, but few who desire His suffering. All want to rejoice with him, but few are willing to suffer for Him. He writes; there are many who admire his miracles, but there are few who follow in the humiliation of the cross.
Thomas a Kempis
We have fallen into an idea of a Christianity that is less than what Jesus called us to. Where Jesus is one love among many other loves. Where He is equal to our love for everything else. If thats the case, He’s not your master. He’s not your God.
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? 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.’ 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? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:28
For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to to complete it?
Sit down and count the cost- If I wanted to build a house, the first thing I have to ask myself if how much does it cost? And do I have enough, and am I willing to pay what it cost to do it? Is it too expensive? For it does you no good to start, and find out you don’t want to give what it requires to finish it.
Because it will cost to finish it. Can you afford to follow Jesus?
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.”
Not able to finish- The danger isn’t messing up its not finishing. It’s not slow progress its no progress.
All who see it begin to mock him- they mock him not because it wasn’t a noble work, but because only a fool would put all his energy and effort into something he is unwilling to finish. People don’t mock Christians for trying and failing, but because we have stopped trying. We have stopped serving God and stop seeking Him.
It is going to cost you to finish! Jesus asks for everything. For complete allegiance.
Or what king going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and liberate whether he able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
In the first example a man is free to decide whether or not he wants to build a tower. In the second, the king is being invaded! He has to make a stand. So can you afford not to give Jesus everything?
Following Jesus is costly, and we an not reduce it to something less than it it. But let me tell you something, not following Jesus is even more costly. There is a war we are in, Satan is real, hell is real..can you afford not to follow Him?
Are you willing to bear the results of following Jesus? Are you willing to bear the results of now following Him?
Following Jesus is costly, but not following Him is even more costly.
So there fore, any of you who does not renounce all that he has, cannot be my disciple.
Following Jesus is costly, but not following Him is even more costly.
Following Jesus is costly, but not following Him is even more costly.
Luke 14:
“Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 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.”
We know God has called us to be the salt of the world, and salt is know for its preserving qualities, to prevent spoiling and rotting..but Jesus gives a startling truth and close to his challenge.
Jesus asks for complete allegiance, to make him first and foremost, and he saying that for those who don’t, who are just fans or admirers and lose what it means to be a disciple..it does us no good, it does the world no good, and does the kingdom no good. As a matter of fact the only good a half hearted Christian does is destroy the witness of Jesus.
That we are useless in the kingdom of God
Half-hearted obedience does you no good, the world no good, and God’s kingdom no good!
Half-hearted obedience does you no good, the world no good, and God’s kingdom no good!