To follow Jesus

Scripture

Hebrews 10:26–39 NKJV

26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 32 But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: 33 partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; 34 for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. 35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: 37 “For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. 38 Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” 39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

Prayer

Almighty God, you are the morning star. Arise and shine upon us. In this night where all around so often seems dark, give us hope. That sorrow may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

You are our joy. You are our light. You are our hope. We wait for you as the night watchman waits for morning. Blessed be your name forever and ever.

Fill us with light, Father. Pour out your spirit upon us so that we might never be led astray. Guard our hearts so that we might stay close to you. Let us never be overcome by the darkness of pride, or disdain, or hatred – but cause us to love you and lean upon you, and leave our dark places with you – the light of the world.

Morning star, Sun of righteousness, give us a lamp to our steps. Open our eyes to see Jesus in every page of scripture, so that we might not lose heart as we make our way through this valley that you have placed before us.

You are our good shepherd. Your goodness shines in all that we see. You have led us; protected us; and even when the way is dark and the valley is threatening, we know that you walk with us. We thank you for your goodness.

Thank you for the bread on the table, for the tongues that taste it. Thank you for love and friendship. For the taste of wine and for the oil of gladness. Lift our eyes above the curse so that we might discern your beauty and goodness.

And Father, for those who are suffering, we pray for endurance and healing. You are the good physician. You do not take pleasure in pain and suffering, so we pray for those who are hurting. Bless Hugo and his procedures. Continue to give strength to Bud. Thank you for sparing Carmon and Gary this past week and for you care and love for each one of us. Deliver us from wildfires and the relentless heat. We pray that you would be merciful and provide rain in due season.

This morning, Eternal Father, we gather around the world to meet with you. We are your people and you are our shepherd, our God, our king. Speak to us through the preaching of the gospel. Guide the tongues of your servants and pour out the spirit of illumination. The world is full of hatred and fear, guilt and shame, ugliness, war, destruction, famine, cruelty – shine the light in the dark places through your gospel. Cause men to cast down their weapons, turn their swords into plowshares, and bow themselves before the Name which is above every Name, as you have promised. Reconcile the world to yourself. We pray that you would be merciful to our community. Cast out wickedness in high places and bless the proclamation of your word this morning. Increase this congregation, provide for us, forgive us.

Father, we thank you for law enforcement. We thank you for those who make the hard decisions. We thank you for judges and attorneys and lawmakers, and pray that you would give wisdom, and insight and understanding – for it only comes from you. You send your rain on the just and the unjust, and we pray that justice and righteousness would rain down from our Lord Jesus Christ, the prince of peace, and that you would give to us peace.

We pray also that you would bring justice for the oppressed and the afflicted. That you would comfort and give relief to the poor and those who are in distress. Give vindication for those falsely accused. Give justice for those who have been crushed by evil. And give patience to all – that even though we continue to live in a cursed world, we are not yet home. We have not yet seen the fullness of your kingdom come.

And yet we see Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. There is much that is ugly in this world and there is much evil. But our Lord rose from the dead, conquering sin and death and misery and is even now reigning over all things. Cause us to rest in his beauty and goodness, and thank you that death does not have the last word.

Bless the reading and preaching of your word today. Guide my lips and give us ears to hear.

And let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

So come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Text

Luke 14:25–35 NKJV

25 Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. 34 “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? 35 It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Sermon

To follow Jesus is to forsake all.

One cannot do that unless one is convinced that

Hebrews 11:6 NKJV

6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

In the context, the invitation to the feast is sent out. The call is free and to everyone, and it is exactly what it says - come, without money. Without price. You will find in the house of your God everything that your soul desires.

You will not be cast away. You will be provided cleansing waters, and you will be washed, perfumed, anointed with oil. The garment will be provided.

And you will be adopted as a child of the Most High God. A partaker of divine nature.

If this is what you seek and what you long for, come. It is free. Your sins are washed away and you don’t need to add anything to that.

Come, for the feast is spread, offered to all.

And last week, we saw the objections - why the leaders of the Jews didn’t come. I just bought some land… I just bought some oxen…I just got married....

And so they missed it.

And now, Luke switches the occasion, but keeps the flow of the narrative. Remember that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. He has left Galilee back in Chapter 9 and is heading to Jerusalem for the last time.

He knows what awaits him there, and he is going there willingly and deliberately.

His goal is to make it for Passover, for he is the lamb of God, prepared before the foundation of the world.

But the timing - at passover, huge crowds of people are also heading towards Jerusalem for the feast. They did it every year. But this year there is a buzz of excitement in the air. They see Jesus going to Jerusalem and the remember the prophecies - the kingdom will be restored to Israel! Enemies will be conquered!

Jesus is going, so something spectacular is going to happen!

And so they gather around him and travel with him. They don’t want to miss out.

The men at the feast said, “Blessed is the one who eats bread in the kingdom of God!”

And that is where these multitudes thought that they were going.

At the dinner, Jesus warns the Jews of all the excuses that get in the way.

What are you seeking?

And now he continues the same theme.

Luke 14:26 NKJV

26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

Things were going to get very ugly very fast. The world, the flesh and the devil assail us without ceasing.

When you confess Christ and follow him wherever he leads, he leads to a cross first, before a resurrection.

With this multitude, they will be shouting hosanna on Sunday and “crucify him” on Friday.

Why would it change so quickly? They didn’t count the cost.

Jesus was REALLY going to a cross. He wasn’t building a mega church with a massive following and several multi-million dollar homes and campuses. He wasn’t angling for an invitation to the next prayer breakfast at the white house. He wasn’t campaigning for a book deal and a conference invite. He was going to the cross to die an ugly death.

This is why he warns the crowd

Luke 14:27 NKJV

27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

Judas was the first one to figure it out, and he ran to make the Sanhedrin an offer. He really isn’t going to take on the Romans. He really isn’t going to sit on a throne. He really isn’t going to redeem the culture. He is going to a cross - on purpose!

Using the feast again - there is a great feast and the invitation is sincere and free. And on the way there, you will lose everything that you hold dear. Be ready for that, for the devil assails you constantly - like a roaring lion seeking to devour.

Delilah said to Samson

Judges 14:16 NKJV

16 Then Samson’s wife wept on him, and said, “You only hate me! You do not love me! You have posed a riddle to the sons of my people, but you have not explained it to me.” And he said to her, “Look, I have not explained it to my father or my mother; so should I explain it to you?”

And so many in this multitude would hear the same thing from mothers and fathers, wives and children.

This is dangerous. Come home. Settle down, marry a nice Jewish girl. Be a doctor. You don’t need all this stuff. It’s too hard.

If they persisted in following Jesus, they would be cast out of the synagogue and lose their family, their guild, their home, their community.

And you can just hear their mothers and fathers - like Delilah. “Why did you do this? Why do you hate us? Why do you turn your back on the family?”

And Jesus said, there will frequently come times when following me means that you cannot bend the knee to your family, and you will bear the same reproach.

In that day, simply confessing Christ would tear homes apart. Matthew 10:21

Matthew 10:21 NKJV

21 “Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.

And it is the same in many countries around the world today. The culture and the laws in the west might be different, but the alienation and hatred are the same, for the world, the flesh and the devil continue to attack.

Remember that he is speaking of those who caused the enmity because they followed Christ. He isn’t saying anything about broken families or relationships because of sins or unresolved issues. There is plenty in the bible about those scenarios.

Taking up your cross

When we are talking about being crucified with Christ, it looks like this:

Galatians 5:22–25 NKJV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

If we have left all to follow Jesus, following him means to follow him. By the indwelling of the Spirit, we will grow in likeness to Jesus. This involves putting to death the works of the flesh and putting on the resurrected life of the Spirit.

There can be no law against the fruits of the spirit - but if we walk in them, as Jesus walked in them, we will still get sick. We will still have family members that hate us. We will still lose jobs and struggle with anxiety and depression. We will still have the same marriage problems as before.

And so we need to ask the question - What do you want?

For the men around the table of the Pharisee and for the crowds now, Jesus is forcing the question - what do you want?

Are you following me to impress your parents? Are you following me so that you can get your kids under control? Are you following me so that you will be healed and never get sick?

Are you following me because you are expecting something exciting to happen in Jerusalem? A kingdom? A culture? a lifestyle? family life? wealth? Position in the community?

What do you want?

Now, let me ask you this - what if following Jesus meant that one day you would be rejected by everyone, cast out of the synagogue, beaten in front of your friends and family. Stripped naked and nailed to a cross…would you still follow?

When you are staggering down that street carrying that cross, what are you expecting?

Still looking to impress your friends? Still looking to play happy families? Still looking for nice housing and respectable company and health?

Or are you going out to die?

What then becomes of your reputation? Your possessions? Your family ties? Your health? Is the man nailed to a cross concerned that he might get cancer?

Following Jesus means taking up the cross. Most of us won’t get called on to die for Christ, but we are called to live just like that. We belong to Jesus and everything we have belongs to him and is offered for his service.

And if that means we are outcast, then we are outcast.

If that means we are ridiculed, then blessed are we.

If that means we lose the love of our family, we grieve the loss and press forward.

This is what he means - he isn’t talking about earning salvation through “treasuring Christ enough”. He is speaking about what will inevitable occur in the life of everyone who professes Christ. What will you do when following Jesus looks like you are about to lose everything?

Take up that cross, because on the other side, the feast is grand.

Hebrews 11:35 NKJV

35 Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.

Count the cost

Then he gives two object lessons: A building project and a war.

So you buy some land to build a great building. You lay the foundation, but you don’t count your money to see how much everything is going to cost. So you get halfway done, and you run out of funds.

Smart plan? Not really.

A wise man counts his money first to see if he is going to have enough.

Then the military - you find out that a king is coming to wipe the earth with you. He has twice as many soldiers as you have.

Do you go to battle anyway? That was a great way to end up on the end of a spear, slaving in the mines, or hanging on a cross.

Count the cost. See if you have enough resources.

And here is the point

The point is this -

you can’t afford to follow Jesus

You don’t have enough resources to finish the tower.

You don’t have enough strength to face the army that is coming towards you.

You follow Jesus, and the world, the flesh and the devil will indeed break you.

So what can you do?

“Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.

Jesus was going to the cross and willingly subjecting himself to the lowest place. Why? Because he was martyr to his cause? NO - to win for himself a bride and take her to glory where he is!

All of these who died in the faith are mentioned again in chapter 12

Hebrews 12:1–2 NKJV

1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Run the race. It will break you because that is the nature of the race. You don’t have the resources to finish; in your strength, you don’t have the ability to take on the world and the flesh and the devil. So continue to look to Jesus. The beginner and the finisher - he started it, he will finish it. But following him means to also look to the joy that is set before us, despise the shame - for it is the only way to sit with him in glory.

You can’t afford to follow Christ, because it puts a huge target on your back and the devil seeks to destroy and he’s too big for you.

And you can’t afford to NOT follow Jesus

Our God is a consuming fire.

Hebrews 10:26–27 NKJV

26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

If we try to finish on our own strength, when we seek Christ because we wanted to impress the family, build a reputation, get the best feasts at the seats, and get mom to brag on you - you will fail.

When the sun rises and beats down - you can either turn to Jesus, like the saints of old, and trust him - looking for the joy of the resurrection

Or we can turn away - like so many in the book of Hebrews that the writer is speaking to.

The cost was too high, and when the storms came and the rain beat upon the house, the house collapsed.

But this doesn’t come unexpectedly. It doesn’t come without warning.

It is not at all like “I tried really hard but it wasn’t enough so God punished me”

Jesus tells us what it is like:

Send a delegation to sue for peace, because you can’t win it.

“Lord have mercy on me a sinner.” If you count the cost well, you will find that you are short.

You say to yourself, “Lord, I can’t do this. I can’t go through another trial like this. I can’t. I can’t.”

And he says, “I know you can’t. Here are my terms of peace.”

Look to Jesus, and I will give you my spirit and you will live.

“Can these bones live?”

Ezekiel 37:5–6 NKJV

5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 6 I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”

This is the only way to follow Jesus. It is what it means to be a disciple. The way is hard - but the end is eternal life, freely given - but you will learn, like Paul, that everything else will be counted as dung - but only God can teach you that. And it comes through tribulations.

What is the alternative?

Unsalty salt.

Salt

Don’t get caught up in the details of the parable. Jesus is using absurdity to teach. What is unsalty salt?

Well, it isn’t really salt, is it, because salt is salty?

Salt that isn’t salty isn’t salt.

A disciple is one who follows. That is actually the definition of a disciple. One who follows in order to learn from the teacher.

A disciple that disciples ends up looking like the teacher. That is the point.

A disciple that doesn’t disciple isn’t a disciple at all - just like unsalty salt, which isn’t a thing - so a disciple that doesn’t follow isn’t a disciple at all.

Eternal life comes only one way. Those in heaven are described as those who followed the lamb wherever he led.

And sometimes he leads to an actual cross. Sometimes he leads to poverty, to illness, to loneliness, to the hatred of the world.

He cuts through cultures, through injustices, through sins in high places.

Sometimes, he calls you to nail 95 theses on the door

Sometimes he calls you to die alone and forgotten.

Sometimes he calls you to preach and then the king throws you into prison.

Sometimes he calls you to preach and be banished.

But following Christ always means to go against the world - the prevailing cultures, thought processes, opinions, oppressions and power structures of human institutions. And there is always a cost. A cost in family, in wealth, in reputation - and then what will you do?

John 15:18 NKJV

18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.

And that hatred is hard - but through it is the only way to eternal life. The beauty of the feast and the beauty of the savior are so far beyond anything on this earth, that we could lose everything that we hold dear, and it wouldn’t even come close to what will be revealed in us.

Revelation 3:5–6 NKJV

5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’