The Cost of Discipleship

Call to Worship

“I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord”

Please rise as we read the word of the Lord.

Psalm 84 NIV

For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. 1 How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! 2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. 3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young— a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God. 4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. 5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. 6 As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. 7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. 8 Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty; listen to me, God of Jacob. 9 Look on our shield, O God; look with favor on your anointed one. 10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. 11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. 12 Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.

The Word of the Lord.

New year new what?

Blessed be God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And blessed be His kingdom, now and forever more.

Let us pray.

Today is the second Sunday of Christmas. Some of you thought

Here we are at another year...

Time is moving fast...

Reflections on the last couple years...

I’ve been watching all of your Facebook posts.

We are story telling creatures aren’t we?

Some of you told a story of this last year that was really great. Some of you told a story of this last year that was full of sorrow.

But we’re setting off on a new year.

How should we frame our lives for this year?

What is it that over-arches and governs how we make our decisions?

We all have something...

Goals are all well and good but maybe we shouldn’t make them until we are rock solid on what our framework is...

You wanna lose weight? Why?

You want to read more? Why?

You want to read your Bible more? Why?

You want to experience and travel more? Why?

How have you been framing your life?

What principles or beliefs dictate your action?

What is your telos?

The word telos is a word that we get from philosophy that communicates what something or someone’s end goal is.

What is the chief purpose of that that thing.

The danger of being men and women that are prone to stray away from God is that we often think that our telos is God, when in reality it is something else.

For many, maybe even in this room, our telos is something like,

“I am going to be a better person.”

“I am going to make the most money possible”

“I am going to be the healthiest version of myself”

And as we make goals for a new year or resolutions we make them in light of these telos’s that we have.

Today as we peer into the scriptures and find Jesus walking along a road to Jerusalem, we will see him encounter three different men.

All of these men thought that their telos was the pursuit of God, when in reality there were other things standing in the way.

And Jesus reveals those.

Today we have three points.

Three points to help us frame our year, and the rest of our lives.

This passage is often titled “The cost of discipleship”

Jesus communicated three things effectively through these interactions to help those who were following him “count the cost.”

Those three things are:

You will die

You will live

Burn the ships… or something.

Luke 9:57–62 NASB95

57 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 59 And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” 60 But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” 61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Let’s walk with Jesus on the road this morning.

Let’s enter into this story and have Jesus look us in the eyes and say the same things through His word that He said to three men on a road to Jerusalem

Where did he come from?

He’s been about the business of tearing down some people’s ideas about what the kingdom of heaven looks like.

He just recently turned the disciples understanding of the kingdom of heaven on it’s head twice.

First, by catching them arguing about who was the best, and showing them a little child and letting them know that he who is the least is actually the greatest.

And secondly after Jesus was rejected by some Samaritans, James and John asked if Jesus would like them to kill everyone in the village by calling down fire from heaven.

I think we get some of these stories just so we know how patient Jesus will be with us.

Jesus is literally on his way to Jerusalem to die for the very people that are currently rejecting Him, and his disciples are like

“Would you like us to kill everyone in this village for you?”

Which brings us to our first point:

1. You will die.

We’re walking with Jesus on the road. Where is He going?

Luke 9:51 NIV

51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.

He’s going to die.

He’s on his way to the cross.

He’s headed right to a place where he will be betrayed, deserted, beaten, whipped, and killed.

Jesus life up until this point had not been a highly luxurious experience to say the least.

Refugee from the wrath of a infant killing king,

small town upbringing,

poor family,

simple trade that required sweat and toil,

and a ministry that relies on the generosity of others.

So let’s consider this first man who approaches Jesus. In a parallel account in Matthew we see that the man is a scribe.

Now a scribe would have been one who enjoyed wealth, and honor.

Additionally, a scribe would have enjoyed being at the top of the social/religious ladder.

Not accustomed to hardship or abuse.

Following Jesus would not achieve wealth, status, or comfort in this age for anyone who wanted to follow Christ.

In fact, for a scribe to follow Jesus, this would undoubtedly incur abuse from his former colleagues for following this man who challenged so much of what the scribes taught.

This is the case for some of us in this room.

If we actually declared and then showed our allegiance to Christ in our workplace then we would be looking for a new workplace by Tuesday.

If that’s not the case for your profession quite yet, just wait.

As we see in the book of Acts and in church history, to be a disciple of Christ meant to be jailed, abused, whipped, exiled, shipwrecked, homeless, beheaded, and crucified.

And Jesus tries to warn this man about this.

“Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”

Jesus is saying, I see you like being a scribe,

Do you like being homeless too?

Do you like being poor?

Oh and btw… Do you like giving up your own life?

Because that’s where I’m headed.

There is no following Jesus without following him to His death and then joining Him there.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor/theologian who lived was martyred in a Nazi death camp less than 100 years ago.

This man understood this call of Jesus better than most.

Jesus’ call:

“The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death—we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time—death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

OHHHHHH man.

Frame your year with that.

“This year, I will join in Christ’s death no matter what loss that might bring me.”

When DB found out he was to be executed in the death camp he was imprisoned in, he wrote this:

"This is the end, and, for me, the beginning of life.” - DB

Here’s the thing, the loss we experience when we follow Christ is real.

We can really lose our jobs.

We can really lose relationships.

We can really lose our things.

We can really lose our lives.

But Jim Elliot said it best:

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

That man died bringing the Gospel to the remote reaches of Ecuador.

What did the scribe have to lose?

A lot.

Money.

Prestige.

Power.

The praise of men.

But what did he have to gain?

Life.

Eternal Life.

2. You will live.

What is to be gained here?

Let’s consider the second man that Jesus encounters.

Luke 9:59–60 NIV

59 He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Does Jesus have a problem with funerals?

Well, in a sense he does because he sort of messes up every one that we see Him attend.

He has a habit of undeading those who everyone is gathered to mourn over.

No, of course Jesus is fine with funerals and the burying of the dead.

Rather what is at stake here is an issue of authority, parenting, and obedience.

Jesus approaches this man and gives a command.

The word follow is an imperative.

It’s not: Follow?

It’s FOLLOW.

And the authority that Jesus commands with here is the authority of the Father of all men.

The man who Jesus commands to follow has some sort of sense of duty to his earthly father, which is not wrong, but it is a secondary duty compared to the primacy of obeying his heavenly Father’s commands.

This man is the original boy scout.

He had every good intention except obeying God.

We can clog our lives straight up with secondary goods.

What is our first priority?

“Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Yes ok but first.

No.

No, but first.

The beauty of following Jesus is that the act of making disciples involves loving people really well like God loves us.

So along the way we do bury the dead, minister to our families, go to work, raise kids, throw parties, go on vacation.

But all of this MUST be framed within the bounds of obedience to our heavenly Father.

If we are putting other good tasks in the driver seat of our lives than we are not accepting the call of Christ, we are denying it.

When we place secondary goods in front of obedience to God we are basically just finding a very nice, sophisticated way of saying the childlike “No.”

My son is not yet sophisticated enough to give me an excuse for disobedience.

He might say “I’m doing sumping”

But he’s not saying, “you know I’d love to finish my bites of dinner but I was actually looking into volunteering on a mercy ship this summer and I need to finish my application.”

Most of the time he just says “No.”

Let’s be careful not to dress up our “no’s” to God, and take an honest look at what He is commanding us to do and then do it.

We get further clarification on Jesus’ seemingly harsh words when Jesus sends out 72 people to go ahead of him, healing the sick and proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is near.

He starts off this sending by saying:

“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”

The work is too important and the success rate is too high to not obey God on the basis of other social goods that we could busy ourselves with.

Especially concerning the dead!

The kingdom of God needs preached to the living!

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is a gospel that proclaims resurrection to the dead, justice to the oppressed, healing to the sick, a new, true humanity, to a broken and sick humanity.

This is life.

We can live.

If we live in His kingdom.

Which means under His rule.

Which brings us to our last point.

3. Burn the ships… Or something.

The third person Jesus encounters has a simple request:

Luke 9:61–62 NIV

61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” 62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Jesus’ response here would have instantly pricked the ears of his listeners.

Not just because they were familiar with agrarian culture, but because for the Jewish men and women who knew the scriptures, Jesus nod to the plow would have made them think of another prophet who called someone to follow him.

1 Kings 19:19–21 NIV

19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.” “Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?” 21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.

Elisha literally burned the ships.

Jesus invokes the memory of Elisha here.

Elisha was working in the fields diligently even though he likely didn’t have to. If he was running 12 yoke of oxen than he may have been wealthy enough to have servants who could have done the work for him.

Elisha knew exactly what stood between him an discipleship, and he dealt with it.

These three men who Jesus talks to like the idea of discipleship, but each had something standing in the way that they were not ready to get rid of.

Do you merely like the idea of discipleship?

As you enter this year, have you counted the cost?

Have you placed Jesus on the scale of your life to see what He is worth in comparison with everything else?

Tell story of Steve and the marbles.

We all have something to burn up like Elisha did.

And Jesus will put His finger on it.

But He is not a cruel God who wants to take and not give.

Jesus meets us on our journey and invites us to shed the things that are not compatible with His kingdom, but gives life to the things that are.

Jonathan Edwards was an American theologian in the 1700s and as a young man wrote for himself 70 resolutions:

1. Resolved:  I will DO whatever I think will be most to God’s glory; and my own good, profit and pleasure, for as long as I live. I will do all these things without any consideration of the time they take.

2. Resolved: I will continually endeavor to find new ways to practice and promote the things from Resolution 1.

Resolution 3 basically says I will repent when I find that I have broken any of these resolutions.

If you had asked Jonathan Edwards what his telos was, he would have answered with the first question and answer of the Westminster Confession of faith

Q: What is the chief end of man?

A: To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

With this governing principle in his mind, Jonathan became one of the most influential Americans to ever live.

As we embark on another year together as a church,

Let’s confidently say together,

Our chief end, our number one purpose, is to glorify God, and enjoy Him forever.

Closing Prayer

Closing Song

BENEDICTION

You can’t do this on your own. We live in an age that is marked by sin in devastating ways. The only way you can follow Christ is if the Holy Spirit enables you to.

Belief that this can happen requires hope.

Hope that God can fulfill His promises,

and hope that the suffering that you bear for His name will not be for nothing,

but that as we share in the sufferings of Christ, so we will share in His glory.

So for that reason I ask you to reach out your hands to receive this blessing from Romans 15

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Glorify King Christ this year.