The Cost of Discipleship

The long and short of the situation is that Preacher A heavily borrowed sermon points and applications from Preacher B with permission. And both preachers used a story from Preacher C that some of you may recognize if I named him. The questions about integrity is not that preacher A borrowed (with permission) from preacher B, but that he never told his congregation that he was doing so. To eliminate any possibility that you would find today’s outline if you did a Google search, let me clearly admit that I have edited a couple of other outlines on this text, but the “meat on the bones” is all original. In other words, the meal we’re about to eat was cooked by me, although I started with a recipe from another cook.

Transition: Today’s text covers 2 big questions: 1) Who is capable of being a disciple? and 2) What is the cost of being a disciple?

First, we see that Jesus forces none, is disappointed by some, but all are…

Who is Capable of Being a Disciple? (vv.15-24)

An Invitation Sent (vv.16-17)

1. The Simple invitation – come!

2. The State of the invitation – everything is ready

· The timing of the invitation should not surprise anybody—they had already been invited.

3. The Stress of the invitation - now

An Invitation Snubbed (vv.18-20)

1. Excuses are common – they all alike

Website CareerBuilder.com offers the 5 best excuses for being late for work: 1) Traffic – 51% 2) Oversleeping – 31% 3) Bad weather – 28% 4) Too tired to get up – 23% 5) Forgetting something that had to go back for – 13% An earlier survey provided these Bizarre Excuses that you may want to avoid: 1) A zebra was running down the highway and held up traffic. (This one turned out to be true!) 2) My cat got stuck in the toilet 3) I fell asleep in the car when I got to work. 4) I accidentally put superglue in my eye instead of contact lens solution and had to go to the emergency room. 5) A hole in the roof caused rain to fall on the alarm clock and it didn’t go off. 6) And my old standby, I got a hairbrush stuck in my hair.

2. Do you consider these excuses or reasons?

v. 18—The Excuse of Possessions—This man had purchased a piece of property. The most important thing in life is not, “How much am I worth?”; it is, “Am I saved?”)

v. 19—The Excuse of Profession—This man had bought 10 oxen, and he can’t come to the party because he has to go supervise his staff. I may be wrong, but I sense a little bit of “puffy peacock” strutting in the mention of 5 pairs. It’s as if he is saying, “I’m too important to take time for your feast, I’ve got 10 animals and 5 servants who are depending on me.”

v. 20— The Excuse of People—This man was a newlywed. We can understand that he wanted to spend time with his new bride, however, he placed his personal relationships ahead of everything else in life.

An Invitation Spread (vv.21-23)

1. The Direction of Grace – [the unlovely] poor, disabled, blind, & lame

2. The Desire of Grace – my house may be filled

3. The Drive of Grace – compel people to come in.

Here in Kansas we see weather alerts, watches and warnings all the time. This can make us callous to the intensity that is often communicated. We hear “conditions are favorable” for strong weather and may cancel a picnic. We hear “a cell has formed and is headed East and we may check the weather app. But if we hear the sirens and are told “a funnel is on the ground and headed your direction” we might feel compelled to take shelter. At the risk of becoming the boy who cried wolf, Jesus is calling us to increase the intensity of our evangelism, but the impending doom is more than just an alert or watch!

An Invitation Suspended (v.24)

1. Not enough to be invited, you must taste! What will you do with His invitation? If you come to Jesus, you will be part of an eternal feast in Heaven. If you do not, you will be part of an eternal funeral in Hell.

2. One day Jesus was talking with a group of people who had a lot of religious knowledge. They could quote the Bible. They could debate how different Rabbis interpreted certain verses. They were VERY religious, but they didn’t have saving faith! And there religion was worthless in the end.

John 8:24 ESV:2016

24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”

Transition: Jesus moves from a Banquet to a Barter as he poses the 2nd question..

What is the Cost of Being a Disciple? (vv.25-33)

A Bait and Switch? (v.25)

1. Some have seen the breadth of grace in v.23 and then read the cost described in v.27 and accuse Jesus of manipulation.

2. The turn in v.25 indicates not so much that Jesus is changing his message, as that the message he has been teaching his inner circle of disciples is now being explained to the larger public. Jesus doesn’t make a switch, because the expectation of discipleship is revealed before the commitment is ever made.

3 Excuses become 3 Obstacles (v.26-33)

1. The excuses of possessions, profession and peoplein 18-20 become the 3 obstacles (in reverse order) that a disciple must reckon and revoke.

2. V.26 is a response to the man who thought his marriage exempted him from coming to the banquet. Our relationship with Christ (as an expression of the 1st commandment) must come before any other relationship.

3. V.27 is a response to the man who used his profession to establish significance among the community. Concern for reputation and standing among your peers gets in the way of becoming like Christ.

4. V. 33 is a response to the man who valued his property more than the kingdom. When we exchange the things of this earth for the things of God’s kingdom we are living out the Jim Elliot quote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Is the Cost Too High?

1. Hearing Jesus’ story about an abandoned building project, or a military defeat due to understaffing may lead a person to conclude that the cross of v.27 and the loss of relationship is too costly.

A woman touring Europe cabled her husband the following message: “Have found wonderful bracelet. Price seventy-five thousand dollars. May I buy it?” Her husband immediately responded with the message: “No, price too high.” However, the telegraph operator missed one small detail in his transmission — the signal for a comma after the word “No.” The wife in Europe received the reply: “No price too high.” Elated by the good news, she bought the bracelet. When she returned to the United States and showed the new bracelet to her shocked husband, he filed a lawsuit against the telegraph company — and won! From that point on, telegraph rules required operators to spell out punctuation rather than use symbols. No price was too high to avoid the same mistake.

2. As Jesus wept in the Garden before His crucifixion, did He consider the cost of saving your soul too high?

3. If He willingly paid the price of Calvary for you, is it not reasonable for Him to ask us to be willing to pay the price of discipleship?

Romans 12:1 NLT:2013

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

4. And then, after we decide that the price of discipleship is worth it, He encourages and empowers us to renounce all, bear our own cross, and follow Him with undistracted devotion.

Philippians 2:13 NLT:2013

13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Transition: Luke concludes this challenge to discipleship with a reminder that we have one purpose.

You Have One Job (vv.34-35)

Perhaps you’ve seen some of these examples of people who messed up the one thing they needed to get right.

Your 1 Job: become like Christ

Ephesians 4:15 ESV:2016

15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

Conclusion:

Our Final Song as we move into the Lord’s Supper is intentionally a somber one. We’ve talked about the Great Banquet that He Invites all to attend. We’ve talked about the Cost of Being a Disciple and the One Job that He gives to us.

As we prepare to share the bread and juice, Let us reflect on the Cost He paid to redeem and adopt us into God’s family.

Song of Response #... “Were You There?”

Benediction: