The True Cost of Discipleship

 In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote Christ says, "Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours." There are some things in life that come with a great cost. Some come with personal cost, such as serving others and giving your time, some come with a great monetary cost, such as fancy cars, houses, and trips, and yet some come with an ultimate cost, such as a soldier giving his life so that others can be free. But nothing in this world can compare to the cost of following Jesus Christ. In today’s passage in Luke 14, we see Christ, surrounded by a great crowd, as he was walking toward Jerusalem for Passover. Ask any Pastor and they will most likely tell you that they would love to have a great crowd following them around. Most churches today base their success off of numbers, and a crowd following you means, more money, more workers, and more notoriety. Jesus is about to tell this crowd that has gathered, that to follow Him comes with an extreme cost. You see Jesus wasn’t fooled by the mass that was following him. He knew that some were just hanging around with the hope that he might heal someone, that they might get to witness a miracle, or that they could benefit from him. He wanted them to understand that to follow Him came with a cost. He wanted to tell them, that the cost is more than just money, more than just possessions, more than even your very life. He is about to tell them that to follow Him will cost them absolutely everything. But Jesus does not do this to scare the people, or to make them feel inadequate, no, instead the reason behind saying what He says is to let them know that despite this great cost, that the only way to live life as God has commanded and taste His glory and forgiveness is by accepting these great costs, because it is absolutely worth it. With this bold claim that following Him is worth giving up everything in life, we would expect to also hear how and why. And Jesus does not disappoint and starts off by telling those who listened the first step in understanding the cost. Just as when we need to weigh whether or not making a specific choice is worth it or not, it all begins with the foundations. For some of the choices we spoke about earlier, it may be learning which place need your service the most, which places you most want to go, or deciding which branch of the military to join. For the listeners hearing Jesus speak then at the time, we also see them being pointed to what we would call The Foundation, that Jesus Christ must be before all others and other things in your life. I. Jesus Must be First in Our Lives (14:25-26) Looking at verse 26, we find Christ establishing exactly the degree of love we need to have in regard to Him. He tells the crowd you must hate your mother and father, your brother and sister, wife and children, even their own life that they cannot be His disciple. Now what He is saying here is not in order to be my follower you need to forsake all of these people, ignore them, and hate them, but instead is saying to the crowd, you must love me to such a degree that when people look at or talk to you, that your love for me is so great that they feel you must hate everything else. You have no desire for other things or people, because all you desire is Me. What He is saying is that nothing can come between you and God. Christ must be first in your life. This is the most important foundation of starting this section of Scripture. If Christ is not first in your life, then it will be impossible for those around you to see the extent of love that He is stating, if Christ is not first in your life, then all other things that He is about to say in this passage will not stand, cannot stand on the foundation of the world. We can only do this because we have Christ as the example. It was in His ministry on earth that He continually pointed people the Father. All His miracles, His ministry, His preaching was to bring glory to the Father. He gave us the example of this level of love. I have a friend who is currently undergoing an experimental treatment for kidney cancer. He was a missionary in Nicaragua, but the treatment he had to undergo forced him and his family back to the states. In order to come back to the states, he had to leave his family back home in Nicaragua for a time, then eventually he and his family had to leave their home. They had to leave the ministry that they had spent the last 6 plus years building. He had to leave his job working as a teacher at a local Christian school in Nicaragua. He lost some of his hair, his energy, and at time it seems like his overall health. But if you were to ask him if it is/was worth it, he would tell you he wouldn’t change a single choice. This treatment was his only hope, and no matter the cost, he knew it was worth it. He is still fighting the fight today. And this is exactly what Christ is asking us to do. Because…… II. We Must be Willing to Die to the World (14:27) Christ tells the crowd that whoever does not take up his cross and come after Him cannot be His disciple. To understand the extent of what this means we need to look at the time that Christ spoke these words. During the time of Christ, the cross was something representative of death. Crucifixion was a punishment reserved for what the Roman government felt were the most threatening of people. It was looked upon with such disdain and dishonor, that Roman citizens were very rarely executed in this way. The crowd would have known that when Christ uttered these words, that it meant He was saying, “You need to be willing every day, to follow me in the most dire of situations, you need to be willing to have the world see you as the least of people.” But beyond that, He was saying, you must be willing to follow Me even up to the point of death. Because that is where the cross led. You didn’t carry the cross to place it on your wall and decorate your house, or to place it in the middle of your garden as a decoration, you carried your cross, on your march to execution. To have this mind set, would mean you were totally committed to Christ. Though we see the cross today as a symbol of hope, of salvation it was not the case at that time. In today’s thoughts we can look at this in light of commitment. Christ wanted 100 percent commitment if you were to follow Him, no riding the fence. Look no further than the military to gain an example. The military spends years training its men and women to be committed to the country it is protecting, to be committed to the branch they serve in, and to be committed to their fellow soldiers around them. Their slogan of “No man left behind,” is entrenched in each person. They are saying that if you are going to be a part of our organization, you must be willing to commit yourself to it in such a way that you are willing to give up your life for others, that you are willing to go the distance with us, no matter where we go, or in what situation we are in, you will not waver, you will hold strong, and continue to move forward. Many of us look at these instances in awe and wonder, and think how heroic it seems, how brave and valiant these people are. What we have to remember though is that what Christ is asking of us here is something that we do not have the ability to do without Him. It was His example of being committed to the will of His Father, that led Him to His death. That led to the defeat of sin and death, and the gift of eternal salvation through Christ. Christ gave us the example to follow. Soldiers over the years have died so that you and I can be free in this country, but Christ died so that we might be free for eternity. Apart from Him we have no ability to be that committed. Christ knowing that at this point, the crowd is most likely wondering about these commitments He has stated, goes into more detail, and breaks it down in a way that is easier to grasp. To do these things he has asked……. III. We Must Understand the Cost (14:28-33) We can see in verses 28-33 that Christ examines the cost that we must pay. He uses the first three verses to ask the followers if they can afford to follow Him. He in this moment made sure that those that were around Him knew that He was not simply there to hand out free welfare. Though the gift of salvation is free to all that accept it, to follow Christ involves a transfer of ownership, a willingness to give up control of your life to Christ Himself. He uses the example of a person that is building a tower. He asks the crowd, who would build a tower without first calculating the cost it will take for the entire project? No one would want to start, build the foundation and then find out they cannot afford to finish it, because they would be ridiculed. They would be looked upon as a fool. He is asking, “Can you afford the cost, that comes with being my follower?” In the same way today, we can look at it this way. As a former youth minister, I remember taking youth to conferences and events. It never failed, they would get all fired up, excited, and make commitments of faith, they would seem so on fire, but after returning from the conference or event, and diving deeper into talks with me, it was clear they didn’t understand what they were excited about. They saw the reward, and said, “Yes I want that!” and jumped into the ocean not knowing how to swim, or how far it was they had to go. In doing so it would always lead to others seeing them as either “fake Christians” or begin to doubt their commitment in everything else. Christ is saying here, before you just jump on the bandwagon, you need to know how far you have to go, the level of commitment I am asking of you, you need to ask yourself, are you willing to pay the cost and do you have enough to pay it. Verse 31 Christ is asking the people what king would attempt to go out and fight an army that was greater in number than his own, unless he knew that he could win? If he couldn’t he would instead attempt to ask for peace. He is saying here, make sure before you follow me that you are willing to feel outnumbered, and can take the heat. The world is going to come against you if you follow Christ. He is asking, are you willing to understand the danger that this will come with? You will no longer be able to give in to sin, you will no longer be able to give in to the world’s most enticing lusts. Because when you follow Christ, you are all in. Even the boldest sinner cannot stand in front of a mighty God and his anger. We don’t have to seek out peace, God offers it to us freely, and it is to our advantage to accept it. World War II ended between the US and the Japanese after the US dropped the only two atomic weapons that have ever been used in war on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Japanese looking at the amount of life lost, the destruction that they were enduring, realized that seeking peace was the only way for anyone in their country to have any chance of ever seeing victory in life. The cost in fighting was too high. It is the same for us. We can fight God all we want, we can live a life of destruction and sin, and at times, it may seem like we are winning, but in the end the only way for us to ever truly win, is to surrender to Christ, and let Him lead us to heaven. Finally, in verse 33 He tells them they cannot be His disciple if they are not willing to give up all their possessions. This seems out of place a bit for us in today’s world. Why refer to cost and risk, and then suddenly talk about belongings? What Christ is saying here is the following: You need to be willing to let go of everything in this world, because if you don’t there will always be something attempting to pull you back towards it rather than your focus being on me. He is saying, you have counted the cost, and you know the risk, now you need to make sure there are no distractions. Think back to the first part of the passage where He sets the level of commitment needed. We need to place Him first above all else. Christ is talking about giving up more than just possessions, he is talking about giving up our indulgences, our treasures, our very rights. We need to be willing to give up all we have both possessions and non-material items. Just as He states to cut off your hand if you are tempted to steal, or gouge out your eye if you are tempted in your sight, what He is saying here is not a literal sell everything, but instead make sure that no matter the cost you take away anything that can distract you or cause you to stumble in your walk with Me. What this means for you and me is that if you find that there is a certain aspect of your day to day life that every day is taking your attention off of Christ, you need to get rid of it. If it’s a relationship, end it, if it’s an object get rid of it, if it’s a commitment, step back from it. No matter what doing all of those things cost you, you must be willing to do so. You must understand the cost, the risk, and commitment necessary to follow Christ. So, Christ has just laid out all of these aspects of what it takes to follow Him. The degree to which a person’s very life must be different than the world in order to follow Him. And maybe you are saying this is impossible. And if it was possible, what could possibly make it worth this much? An answer to the first question is, we can only do all of these things because of Christ Himself. It sounds like circular reasoning, it sounds like it doesn’t make sense, but it does. Christ is saying, if you want to follow me, then you need to let me lead you. You need to understand that I am your Savior, you need to believe and trust in me, and I have shown you how to do that. And if you trust Me, if you believe in who I am, then I will change your life, I will change your heart, you won’t care about the cost, you will know that the only risk is to your earthly body, not your eternal soul, and that your possessions on earth are but dirt and scraps compared to the riches that await you in heaven. You have the ability to follow Jesus, because He first chose you, because He first died for you. In regard to the second question of is it worth it? The answer is an emphatic yes because…... IV. Without Christ we are useless (14:34-35) Christ closes out this section by stating that we are salt, and if we lose our saltiness, we are not even worth putting on the manure pile. Did you know that pure salt cannot lose its saltiness? Salt that I mined in salt mines and is pure Sodium Chloride cannot lose its saltiness. Salt during the time of Christ came from the Dead Sea. As the water evaporated it left behind salt, but that salt was mixed with other elements, and thus had the ability to lose its saltiness, and when it did it was just thrown into the roads with the gravel. It has no taste, gave no flavor, and had no use. Christ is saying here, remain pure! When you remain pure, when you remain in me, then you cannot lose your saltiness, you will be able to flavor the world around you, you will have purpose! No matter what the cost is to follow Christ, it is worth it. Christ gives us breath, He gives us life, joy, happiness, He shines like a beacon of light through our lives, to light the way for others to come to Him. As we stated earlier, it is only because of Him that we have the ability to follow Him in the way that He asks us to. So, what have we seen? We have seen Christ tell the crowds, that in order to follow Him they need to make sure that they are willing to pay the cost, that they are willing to give the commitment necessary to complete the journey, and that they must be willing to place Him first in front of anything and anyone on this earth. We have seen that the only way to do this is to trust Him and believe in who He is. As the proverb says, “The beginning of wisdom, is the fear of the Lord.” No truer statement could be made about this passage. To understand and be able to pay the cost, to understand and be able to survive the risk, and to understand and be willing to know the degree of which you need to let go of the world, you must be willing to believe and trust in Jesus Christ. It is through belief and trust that He, the Son of God, lived a perfect life, and then died for our sins on the cross. That he rose again from the grave and ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father and will one day judge the living and the dead. Believing in that, trusting in that, leads to the beginning of wisdom, leads to the understanding needed to succeed, and leads to having a purpose for your life. Conclusion: I read a story of 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 gathered on the beach and yelled at the lifeguard to do his job and rescue the man. The lifeguard stepped out a bit deeper but still did not respond. Just 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. After some CPR the man 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 sooner, the way he was thrashing and kicking so violently he would have probably drowned us both. As long as he was trying to save himself, I couldn’t help him. But when he got tired and he gave up, then I knew I could save him. Christ is your lifeguard! He has all the ability to save you. Unlike the drowning man in the story, you are not stronger than He is, but nevertheless, God does not force you to follow Him. No! He offers to you an eternity spent with Him in glory. He offers to give you a purpose, to give you life everlasting. All He wants is for you to surrender. To give up, to stop struggling against the waves of this world. Stop looking to the lies the world is telling you. Stop wasting your time going after the things of this world that will die and fall away. The world isn’t worth it! Jesus’ hand is outstretched to you, just as it was to Peter to pull him out of the water. He is waiting for you to say you give up, and to let Him rescue you. If you are here today and you have accepted Christ, then the question I have for you is, “Are you letting Him lead you?” Are you dying to the world each day you wake up, or are you doing all you can to chase after it? Are you spending your time putting yourself first, or are you looking for ways to sacrifice so that others can benefit? If you are a follower of Christ, you have an obligation to give everything you have to Him! You have an obligation to live your life for Him! If you want to truly follow Him, you need to right now say to yourself, that in spite of the cost that you know it will cost, you are going to follow Him, let Him lead you, and trust Him no matter what situation you find yourself in. Maybe you are here today, and you don’t know this Jesus I have been speaking about. Maybe you think you can take on the waves of this world. Maybe you are saying to yourself, I don’t need help, I am fine the way things are. Maybe. But I promise you, you are paying a cost! Whether it is physical, emotional, or spiritual you are paying someone or something on this earth a cost, and in the end, it will take everything from you, and leave you for dead. You will search this life to feel fulfilled and will end it feeling empty! Instead I plead you, let go of this world! Let go of temporary and embrace the eternal! Rather than letting a job, money, or a significant other lead you, let the Savior of the universe lead you! Surrender to Christ! From the bottom of your heart, give up your fears, your worries, your pain, and your baggage, fall down on your face, and yell I surrender!