Pentecost 13 (Proper 18C) 2022-- The Price of Salt

Text: “33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. 34 Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?” (Luke 14:33-34)

Let’s Count the Cost

Today, I have things set up slightly differently from most Sundays. The sermon notes sheet in your bulletins has a general outline of the sermon. But I don’t want to give you the whole thing, I want you to still listen, so the sentences on the sheet have blanks in them in various places. You get to listen and write in the words that go in each blank.

Today, you may have already noticed that the first couple of lines are just blanks. It’s not just a blank here and there within a sentence. It’s just a blank where the sentence should be. That’s because rather than trying to tell you what should be in those blanks, I want you to think through it for a moment.

We’re going to count the cost of discipleship this morning. What is it that holds you back from being a disciple?

What holds you back from building your life as a disciple (that identity shaping your values, choices, how you spend your time)?

For a disciple of Christ, God’s Word is not something that you learned, once upon a time, but you know well enough now. It’s the source of life and strength. What is it that is more important than beginning and ending your day with His Word and prayer? What is it that is more important than gladly hearing and learning God’s Word in Bible study? Why is it enough that your children get Jesus at school? Why aren’t you talking about it with them when they get up and when they go to bed; why aren’t you talking about it when you’re at home and when you’re out running errands; why don’t you

For a disciple of Christ, giving offerings is not something that is done thoughtlessly, with whatever you might have left over after you’ve entertained yourself and made sure you’re comfortable. Whatever proportion you choose to give, a disciple gives that offering to God first. What in your life is more important than that giving? What keeps you from making that commitment?

What holds you back from building your life as a disciple of Jesus Christ? What is more important than that identity? What keeps that identity from shaping your values, your priorities, and your choices? That’s what goes in the first blank.

What holds you back from battling against the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh?

You rightly hold that same-sex attraction is sinful; that if they embrace that desire for their lives rather than fighting against it, then they have rejected God’s grace and forgiveness. They don’t necessarily have to be successful all the time, but they need to be battling against it. But is that how you handle the sin in your life?

There is an interesting phenomenon in our day. Some of those who are the most vocal in support of “conservative” political policies seem to be the least likely to live by them. For example, a man who is fervently against same-sex marriage— and, at the same time, has dumped his wife when the marriage didn’t suit him any longer. Is that really the way a disciple of Jesus Christ handles God’s gift of marriage?

Or let’s take a different example. Traditionally, disciples of Jesus Christ have taken part in practices like fasting. It grew, in part, out of the realization that the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh are trying to destroy you. It was a way of learning to deny yourself so that you could not be ruled by your appetites and desires.

In our day, fasting— if we do it at all— is completely self-serving. The last time you gave up something for Lent, what did you choose and why? Was it so that you could carve out more time in your life for God’s Word and prayer? Was it so that you could battle more effectively against temptation. No, it was probably something like fast food or dessert that you gave up and you gave it up just because you knew you needed to loose a few pounds. Our fasting, if you do it at all, has become completely self-serving.

What holds you back from even battling against the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh, let alone considering if you can stand against them? That’s what goes in the second blank.

Remember, this is not a slap on the wrist— “Shame on you for not coming to Bible study,” or “Why aren’t you giving more?”

You and I treat our faith like it’s a hobby. Like it’s something that we do “on the side.”

You are disciples without any discipline. You are salt that has lost any saltiness.

“Those who are full of the earthly slop of pigs cannot truly love Christ, the heavenly bread of life (Luke 15:16). Those who are captive to the love of this world cannot freely raise their hearts to God. Where the vessel of the heart is full with the love of this age, there is no room left for God.” (Gerhard, Johann. “Prayer for the Disdain of Earthly Things,” Meditations on Divine Mercy.)

You are of no use as a disciple of Jesus Christ. You have failed to build your life as a disciple of Jesus Christ, you have failed to even fight against your spiritual enemies, let alone consider whether you could stand against them. You are disciples of Jesus Christ who look exactly like the world around you when it comes down to it. You are saltless salt. You deserve only to be thrown away.

The Perfect Disciple

All of this, of course, points us back to Jesus, the True, Perfect Disciple.

When He came to earth there was no question in His mind what His mission would cost Him. He was explicit with His apostles, for example, throughout His whole ministry, that He would be betrayed and that He would be crucified. What He didn’t even bother to try to explain to them at the time is the full depth of what He would have to pay. Not only was He physically beaten, not only was He mocked, not only was He nailed to a cross and killed, He bore the Father’s wrath for sin.

He knew that, on the cross, He would bear the full cost for your sin. And He paid it in full.

There was no question that He was more than up to the task of riding out and taking on your spiritual enemies in spiritual battle. He took on the devil, the world, your own sinful flesh, and all the host of hell and defeated them.

There was no question that He was completely capable of building and completing, not a tower, but a temple of living stones, a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5)— the very household of God (Eph. 2:19), “20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20).

Even before creation, He counted the cost and was willing to pay it. He knew exactly what it would cost Him and He paid it fully, declaring, “It is finished.”

He was made worthless and thrown out so that you might be gathered to God. He renounced all He had in exchange for redeeming you— buying you back from sin and death. He is the true, perfect disciple of His Father.

Salty salt

So He says to you, today: Count the cost.

Count the cost of your discipleship, the price that He paid for you.

In payment for the disobedience of your youth; in payment for the foolishness of your young adulthood; in payment for the deep regret of your middle age, offer the price and satisfaction of the perfect innocence of the One who, even as a boy of twelve, showed a holy obedience to His Heavenly Father (Luke 2:42); who, through His young adulthood, followed the Father’s will with great willingness; who, in the flower of adulthood, was obedient to His Father, even to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). Offer His obedience as the price and satisfaction for your disobedience.

Count the cost of your discipleship by realizing just how precious the gifts God gives you here in worship really are. The book on your shelf— that Bible— is not just good advice. It is the Word of God. It is the very power of God for salvation.

God’s Word is the source, the life, and the strength of a disciple of Jesus Christ.

It was that Word, combined with water according to Jesus command, that delivered you from the power of the devil and the world and drowned your sinful flesh, raising you to a new, holy life.

It is that Word which continues to shape you— including your values, your priorities, your choices— into the image of Christ. It was breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).

The Lord’s Supper that you are offered from this altar is not something to be received casually and thoughtlessly.

“What in heaven or on earth is more precious and excellent than [the gift He gives you in Holy Communion? Where is there a more certain testimony and pledge of [His] grace than in the precious blood of [His] Son, poured out for [your] sins on the altar of the cross? This, the price of [your] redemption, [He] give[s] to [you] as the firmest testimony of [His] grace toward [you]. ”

“From now on, [you] cannot doubt [that the price for your sin was paid in full] because it is affirmed by [your] partaking of the price that was offered for [your] sins, the very blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:19; Revelation 1:5; 5:9).” (Adapted from Gerhard, Johann. “Remembering the Sins of Youth,” “Thanksgiving for the Sacrament of the Altar,” and “Prayer for a Blessed Death and the Resurrection to Eternal Life.” Meditations on Divine Mercy. Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis.)

It is through the word and sacraments that you are able to drown your “Old Adam”— your inborn sinful nature with all of its desires— through daily repentance and faith in the confidence that a new man was raised to life in the waters of baptism.

The gifts you receive here at God’s hand sanctify you, all that you are, and all that you have. The wealth God has given you is now a gift of His grace. He has made you His partner in the happy matter of giving gifts to others. Through that wealth, He has sowed in you the seed of His grace so that it may grow to become a harvest of kindness to others (Gerhard, Johann. “Thanksgiving for All the Goods of Soul, Body, and Property,” Meditations on Divine Mercy.)

Take up the battle against temptation, against your sinful appetites and desires. It has already been won in Jesus Christ.

Don’t be afraid to stand firm against the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh. They have already been defeated at the cross.

“33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. 34 Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?”

Count the cost. By that I mean count the cost that has been paid to redeem you from this dying world and the things of this life which can not endure. Renounce all that stands between you and living out your calling as one who has been redeemed— purchased with the blood of Christ. Renounce not only your sin but also any identity in your life that would supersede your identity as a redeemed child of God, as a baptized disciple of Jesus Christ.