Luke 14:25-35 - My Disciple

Introduction

Jesus sees us in our suffering—all of which can be related to sin. We suffer because of our sins, because of the sins of others, and by just existing in this sin-cursed world.

But Jesus invites us to come to Him for salvation—to be healed in eternity from our sin-suffering; to be saved from the wrath of God that will come upon us if we don’t accept His invitation; to join Him—the Master—in His house to share in His dinner.

But if we accept Jesus’s offer of salvation, then we will follow Him as His disciples.

Jesus is the Master, the Rabbi, the Teacher, and we are His students, His learners, His pupils.

He leads. We follow.

So, what we find in Luke 14:25-35 is a test—a discipleship test.

Jesus uses the word “if” in this passage and the phrase “My disciple.”

If we pass the test, we are Jesus’s disciples.

If we do not pass the test, well then… we are not His disciples.

And if we are not His disciples, we will not be saved.

Let’s read Luke 14:25-35...

[READING - Luke 14:25-35]

Luke 14:25–35 NASB95

25 Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 26 “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. 27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 “Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 “Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. 34 “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? 35 “It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

[PRAYER]

[TS] Let’s notice the MARKS of a disciple of Jesus that Jesus gives us here...

Major Ideas

MARK #1: The Disciple’s Priority (Luke 14:26)

Luke 14:26 NASB95

26 “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.

[Illus] When Jesus called Peter and Andrew to follow Him, “Immediately they left their nets and followed Him,” (Matt. 4:20).

When He called James and John, the sons of Zebedee, as disciples, “Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him,” (Matt. 4:22).

When He called Matthew while Matthew was still working in his tax collecting booth, Matthew “got up and followed Him,” (Matt. 9:9).

But not everyone responded like this. In Matthew 8, someone who is considering the call to follow Jesus says, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father,” (Matt. 8:21).

Jesus said in response, “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead,” (Matt. 8:22).

For the disciple of Jesus, the priority must be Jesus.

[Exp] For the disciple of Jesus, love for Jesus must be greater than love for anyone else. Devotion to Jesus must be greater than it is to anyone else.

Our love and devotion to Jesus must so far out distance our love for anything or anyone else that nothing and no one is a close second.

Our love for Him must be so great that, by comparison, our love for anyone else would seem like hate.

Now, there are two idols that Jesus mentions in v. 26 that might compete for our love and devotion—the idol of family and the idol of life.

We love our families, but if I refuse to tell my family about Jesus then I worship my family as an idol. I actually love them more than I do Jesus.

For example, we might know they’re not saved, but we don’t say anything to them about salvation because we don’t want to offend them.

Or we might know they’re living in the practice of sin, but we don’t give them any correction from the Word of God because if we do they might not speak to us.

In both cases we aren’t prioritizing Jesus. We are worshipping the idol of family.

But consider our lives. Our live are gifts from God, but we worship life as an idol when we think of it as “my life” rather than “the life God has given to me.”

‘My life’ is spent on me. I’m the center. I’m the focus. My dreams, my wants, my desires must be pursued and fulfilled.

But ‘the life God has given me’ is spent on God. It’s spent on Jesus. He’s the focus. His wants and desires must be pursued and fulfilled.

Are you living ‘your life’ or ‘the life God has given to you’?

[TS] …

MARK #2: The Disciple’s Dying (Luke 14:27)

Luke 14:27 NASB95

27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

[Illus] The Apostle Paul had many co-laborers in the spreading the good news of God’s gracious salvation in Jesus Christ. Like Paul, many of these co-laborers took up their crosses daily as they preached Christ crucified.

But in 2 Timothy 4:10 we read the sad account of Demas.

Demas had once been a co-laborer alongside Paul. He had been one who took up his cross and worked to see more and more people hear the Gospel so that more and more people might believe the Gospel.

But 2 Timothy 4:10, the Apostle Paul writes, “Demas, having loved this present word, has deserted me and gone...”

It seems that at some point, Demas stopped taking up his cross and went back to doing what he wanted.

[Exp] The disciple of Jesus dies to himself (i.e., to his flesh; to his wants, wills, and desires). As Paul said in Galatians 2:20...

Galatians 2:20 NASB95

20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

The disciple of Jesus keeps dying to the flesh until he dies or until Jesus comes. And by God grace through Christ Jesus, while he lives, he lives according to the will of Jesus.

In the ancient world, the cross was a tool of execution and death. Thus, the cross that we are to take up daily means execution and death.

Your flesh will cry out to follow its own evil will. It will cry out to follow the way of the world. It will cry out starving for sin. But Galatians 5:24 says...

Galatians 5:24 NASB95

24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Although we still feel what our flesh desires, if we are in Christ, we are dead to those desires; they have no power over us. We can resist every evil urge and choose holiness instead.

The question is, will we do it?

Will we take up our crosses daily and follow Him?

[TS] …

MARK #3: The Disciple’s Endurance (Luke 14:28-32)

Luke 14:28–32 NASB95

28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 “Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 “Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

[Illus] I once saw video of a teenage guy coming into the finish line at a long distance run. Obviously he had put everything he had into the once because as he approached the finish, his legs began to cramp up to the point that he was barely able to walk let alone run. Eventually though, he hit the ground with only a few feet to go.

People were cheering for him, yelling for him to get up; shouting things like, “You can do it!” but it didn’t look he could do it. One runner passed him and then another… then the down runner got creative. Being only feet from the finish line, he just rolled over and over on his side like you would roll down hill when you were younger.

It wasn’t easy, but that runner gave all he had, and he finished the race.

Here Jesus is asking us to judge whether or not we have what it takes to finish our race.

[Exp] Jesus speaks of two examples in vv. 28-32—one of calculation and another of consideration—but both are aimed at the same end—calculating and considering if we have what it takes to endure as a disciple of Jesus to the end.

In the first example, Jesus spoke of a man building a tower. He doesn’t just wake up one day and say, “I think I’ll build a tower.” No, first he calculates if he will have enough to buy all the supplies and hire all the labor necessary to build the tower to completion.

If he doesn’t do that and only gets his tower halfway built, he’ll be the village idiot.

But when it comes to following Jesus as His disciple,what is the material that will enable us to build to the end?

In the next example, Jesus spoke of a king with 10,000 men going to war with another king who had 20,000. He doesn’t just say to the king with 20,000, “Let do this!” because he and his men will likely lose when they have to fight two on one. No, he considers if he has a strategy that will even the odds or if his soldiers have equipment such as armor, chariots, or catapults which might up the difference.

If he doesn’t have anything that might level the playing field, he will send a delegation and ask for peace.

But when it comes to following Jesus as His disciple, what is the strength that will enable us to fight to the end?

[App] The spiritual material or strength that we need to endure to the end is love for Jesus—but we won’t have love enough to endure to the end unless we understand just how much Jesus love us.

The Bible says that we love because God first loved us. That He loved us so much that “He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life,” (John 3:16).

Jesus said that greater love has no man than this, that he lay his life down for his friends (John 15:13). And then He laid down His life for us.

If we understand and wonder at the wrath that hung over us and the salvation that Christ has won for us, we will have enough love for Jesus to endure to the end because we will never get over His love for us!

How great is your love for Jesus?

Do you marvel at His great love for you?

[TS] …

MARK #4: The Disciple’s Possessions (Luke 14:33)

Luke 14:33 NASB95

33 “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

[Illus] The rich young ruler came to Jesus looking for eternal life. He said he had loved his neighbor as himself. Jesus said he still lacked one thing—to sell his possessions and follow Jesus.

He walked away sad because he had a god before God—and that God was his stuff.

He would not inherit eternal life.

[Exp] Jesus says that His disciples will give up “all (their) own possessions.” We might think that this means that we aren’t allowed to own or have anything. But it means that we will give up any of our things that keep us from following Him and it means that whatever we do have—whatever we do own—actually comes from Him, belongs to Him, and must be used to serve Him. What we are talking about is—stewardship.

A steward is “a person employed to manage another’s property.” Everyone is actually a steward who has been given all they have by God and will be held accountable by Him for how they use it.

This applies to not only the material things we have but also to the relationships we have.

We have houses, cars, jobs, and money that have been entrusted to us by Jesus and are meant to be used in service to Him as His disciple.

We also have relationships with spouses, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, friends, neighbors, coworkers, acquaintances, brothers and sisters in Christ, and even enemies that have been entrusted to us by Jesus and are meant to be used in service to Him as His disciple.

Are you willing to give up anything that would keep you from following Jesus?

Are you willing to use everything that you have to bring glory and honor to Jesus?

[TS] …

MARK #5: The Disciple’s Usefulness (Luke 14:34-35)

Luke 14:34–35 NASB95

34 “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? 35 “It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

[Exp] If the disciple of Jesus is going to remain effective, he or she will have to remain salty.

In modern slang, to be ‘salty’ means to be angry or irritated, but here Jesus means something different.

In the ancient world, salt had many uses. It still has many uses in our world today, but it’s completely useless if its no longer salty.

When salt no longer tastes like salt, it’s not only useless to salt food or preserve meat, it’s not even useful for the soil or the manure pile—it’s simply thrown out.

Now, pure salt cannot lose it’s saltiness, but salt from the Dead Sea had impurities that would make it go flat.

The way the disciple of Jesus loses the saltiness that makes him or her useful is by impurities.

We try to prioritize Jesus and others, but soon we are prioritizing others more than Jesus and we’ve lost our saltiness.

We try to hold to the will of Jesus and our will, but soon we are only following what we want to do and we’ve lost our saltiness.

We try to endure to the end and take little breaks for sin along the way, but soon we aren’t enduring at all and we’ve lost our saltiness.

We try to use what we have to serve Jesus and serve our flesh, but soon we’re using more and more of what we have to serve our flesh and we’ve lost our saltiness.

We become useless when we do not pursue the MARKS of discipleship already we’ve already discussed in this passage.

If we would remain salty and useful as a disciple of Jesus, then we must...

…continue to prioritize Jesus alone...

…continue to die to ourselves, this world, and sin without exemption...

...continue to endure in following of Jesus with no time off...

…and continue to be a faithful steward of all that He has given us so that He is served rather than our flesh.

[TS] …

Conclusion

Now, having talked about this discipleship test, we might be left wondering, “Who can pass this test?” But the real question is, “Who is striving to pass this test? Who is striving to follow Jesus as His disciple?”

All of our falling short has been covered by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. And if we believe on Him for salvation, He has set free and empowered us to daily strive after Him.

Have you believed?

Are you striving?

If not, you cannot be His disciple.