Luke 14:25-35

²⁵ Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

²⁸“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? ²⁹For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, ³⁰saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’

³¹“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³²If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. ³³In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

³⁴“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? ³⁵It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Most of us know the power of enduring hymns of the faith. They have inspired us toward following Christ more passionately and have lifted our spirits. But as the gospel is being progressively watered down, it was inevitable that the hymns would follow suit. So here we have a few of our beloved hymns and the hymns that are sung today in a lukewarm church.

We laugh at these wishy-washy hymns and we are prone to think that we boldly claim the original lyrics and not these mutilated imposters, but I have often said that hymns and worship songs make us into liars. When we sing, “I Surrender All”, what do we mean? Do we mean that we have actually surrendered all to Jesus? Do we mean that we are in the process of surrendering all, or are we just mouthing the empty words that bear no resemblance to our daily lives?

Jesus has been severely white-washed and his words have been turned into pithy, generic sound bites: Love your neighbor as yourself; do unto others as you would have them do to you. Don’t get me wrong—these are powerful teachings and our nation would be a great place if we followed them, but any wise sage or moral philosopher could have said these words. If you remove the cross, the empty grave and the hard sayings of Jesus, all you are left with is good moral guidelines. Kind of like Ted Turner stating that the Ten Commandments are only the “ten suggestions”. The world surveys the wondrous options available to them and assembles a religious platter from the buffet of endless choice. Most people take out their editorial scissors and trim the gospels into manageable portions, but if we are to embrace all of Jesus’ words in their biblical-historical context, there is no way we can end up with a generic Jesus. Three times in this short passage, Jesus laid out three ultimatums. If you do not hate your own life, you cannot be his disciple. If you do not carry your cross you cannot be his disciple. If you do not give up everything you cannot be his disciple.

Before we get into the explanation of this text, we first need to decide how we plan to apply these verses. The first possible way is the most plain—If you can’t meet the requirement—hating your life, carrying your cross, giving up everything—then the result will be that you cannot be Jesus’ disciple. Taken at face value, this is a strong warning indeed. To be a true disciple of Christ is the same thing as being a Christian. Therefore, if we cannot meet the requirements then we are not Christians. Admittedly, this is a scary way to apply Jesus’ words because it would seem to leave many of us out of the kingdom. The second possible way to apply it is to downplay the result. When Jesus said, “you cannot be my disciple,” he did not mean that we can’t be a Christian. What he actually meant was that you can’t be a mature Christian. In other words, if you fail to meet these requirements, you are still in the family of God, but you can not be a committed believer. The third way to apply it is to downplay the requirements. For example, when Jesus said we need to carry our cross, he did not mean that we are on a death march as he was when he carried his cross, rather he meant that we will have to bear some burden in life like a health problem or troubled marriage.

Before we go further, I want you to make a tentative decision about how you will apply these warnings. Are you more inclined to take the warnings at face value, do you think we should soften the result about not being Jesus’ disciple, or should we soften the requirements? I will tell you my decision at the end of the message and will ask you again about your decision. First, let’s examine the four barriers to being a disciple.

Barrier #1—Your Personal Relationships “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters…you cannot be my disciple.”

Too often family relationships are torn apart, so it is possible that some of you sitting here actually do have a type of hatred for a family member. If that in any way describes, please do not think that is what Jesus meant. Following the Ten Commandments, Jesus commands us to honor our father and mother. He also lays out the difficult command to actually show love for our enemies. Taken in context with all of Jesus’ teachings, he cannot possibly mean that we are to hate anyone, especially among our closest family relationships.

Jesus’ warning is to not let close relationships hinder your commitment to follow Christ. There are innumerable ways that this can happen. Some people make poor choices related to the selection of their husband or wife. Countless Christians have married unsaved people or immature Christians in the hope that they would somehow convert them or bring them to maturity through their perfect marriage. What percentage of these idealistic people actually see this happen? My guess would be that most marriages begun this way do not work out as expected. The commitment of many believers is held back because of their spouses. Divorce or abandonment is clearly not the answer, but this can serve as a warning to all single and young people here: choose your future husband or wife with extreme care and caution. Just because you feel goosebumps when you are around a certain guy or girl does not mean God intends for you to marry them. Our hormones and desires cannot be trusted.

5 Paths to the Love of Your Life: Defining Your Dating Style

Teens and young adults need to make wise choices, but parents need to guide their children. Why is it that we make sure our children get the right education, the best of experiences, but when it comes to choosing a life-long mate, we toss the issue aside like a hot potato? There are numerous books on dating on the market. I ordered but have not read this book called 5 Paths to the Love of Your Life. The advantage of this book is that is presents five slightly contrasting patterns for dating and marriage. Parents—help your children. Young people—listen to your parents and seek a Godly mate.

I have chosen to focus on choosing a mate as a way of avoiding troubled relationships, but Jesus had much more in mind that just this. Ask yourself a couple of questions—“In what ways are any of my relationships holding me back from following Christ? What do I need to do about it?” You can still honor your parents without being stuck in their approval of you and advice they give you. We need to figure out that delicate balance between honoring and loving all people but without allowing any relationship to hinder your commitment to Christ.

Barrier #2—Your Life “If anyone comes to me and does not hate…his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

The same general wisdom applies here. Jesus is not asking us to hate ourselves, but challenging us to consider if we love our life more than we love our God. Two weeks ago I attended a pastor’s conference in Minneapolis. One of the speakers was David Sitton, the founder of To Every Tribe Ministries. Their sole emphasis is to go to people groups who do not yet have the gospel. He had many stories of Christian martyrs. He told about a missionary who walked through the jungles of what is now Papua, New Guinea. This missionary fearlessly witnessed to many cannibalistic tribes. Eventually this cost him his life as he was literally consumed by those he sought to reach. The speaker told about meeting a descendant of this tribe who remembered the missionary. He told him that the tribe was still eating the leather soles of his shoes three weeks later and how some from other tribes paddled downstream to get a taste of the mysterious white missionary.

Does Jesus require us to be eaten by cannibals to be his disciple? Of course not, but we are to align the value of our life to the value of the call to discipleship. A few weeks ago I asked you to name something that you are not willing to do for God. According to a Biblical definition, whatever it is that you will not do for God is an idol to you. You are worshipping at the feet of that idol, not at the feet of Christ. You are offering sacrifices in your life to that idol instead of sacrificing for the gospel of Jesus. Granted, no one wants to be a martyr and most Christians won’t ever become martyrs, but some form of suffering.

Part of this hinges on what Jesus meant by carrying our cross. What do you think it means? Some think their cross is dealing with a health burden. Some think their cross is not having enough money. Others think their cross is dealing with unruly children? The simplest way to identify a cross is to ask what a cross meant for Jesus. The cross was not a pretty gold chain he hung around his neck, but rather his method of execution.

I have here a beautiful necklace made from two syringes. When death row criminals are executed they strap the person to a gurney, inject him with a drug to put them to sleep followed by a second injection which stops the heart from beating. It doesn’t make for a very attractive necklace, does it? Of course it is not wrong to wear a pretty gold cross around your neck, but let us never forget that this was the mode of Jesus’ execution. Jesus was sentenced to death by the Roman government, severely beaten and forced to carry his own implement of execution through the jeering crowds. Now let’s ask the question again—“what does it mean to carry our cross?” It must be somewhere between a painful execution and a financial crisis. Perhaps if we put various

options on a continuum we could put things in perspective. Where on this line do you think we should put an X? I don’t claim to have the perfect answer to this question, but I am convinced that carrying our cross might entail more than a minor irritation in our lives.

A hog and a hen sharing the same barnyard heard about a church’s program to feed the hungry. The hog and the hen discussed how they could help. The hen said, “I’ve got it! We’ll provide bacon and eggs for the church to feed the hungry.” The hog thought about the suggestion and said, “There’s only thing wrong with your bacon and eggs idea. For you, it only requires a contribution, but from me, it will mean total commitment!”.[ii] So does God want a contribution or a total commitment?

It’s not very likely, but imagine what would happen if Walgreen’s ran out of money and left a partially constructed building on main street? They would be the laughing stock of the town and we would be left with a mess on our hands. An even worse scenario develops when we present the gospel as some kind of exercise in self-improvement. I would like to play a five minute role play of a failed attempt to share an easy-believism, watered-down gospel. (Play audio)

Kirk: Todd, I’m doin’ fine, how are you? Hold on just a second…(yelling outside) Hey, make sure you clean the pool filters this time, will ya pal!

Todd: Hey listen, I am so anxious to talk to you because there is something so important that I want to tell you about.

Kirk: (yelling outside) Hey, you’re gonna trim those rose bushes today, aren’t ya?

Kirk: Todd, I’m sorry, I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to the gardener.

Todd: No, no I don’t, but I didn’t call Kirk to talk about gardening. I want to talk to you about…man something happened to me this weekend that has made a huge difference in my life and I just have to tell you about it.

Kirk: Oh, come on, everybody needs a nanny. Hey, let me tell you something, if you can find a good one that gets along with the housekeeper, that’s better than winning the lottery!

Todd: I’m glad you brought it up because that is exactly what I want to talk to you about Kirk. I have found something better than the lottery!

Kirk: Really, let me guess—a movie deal with a huge guarantee, a high percentage of the profits? That’d be nice.

Todd: No, no, I wanna tell you about my faith—would you just let me tell you about my new faith?

Kirk: You have a new faith? Oh, that’s nice. What was the last thing you were into? You were telling me something about Baha—somethin’?

Todd: That was Bahai, but that was really different. I, I’ve become a born again Christian, Kirk.

Todd: No, no it’s not gonna pass. I said this prayer, a really short prayer and I asked Jesus into my heart.

Tom: Because we’re such good friends, I wanted to tell you about Jesus so you can have the same kind of happiness that I have.

Kirk: I see where this is headed. Todd, listen. Todd, were friends, I’m gonna be honest with ya, I have plenty of happiness—I don’t need your Jesus.

Todd: No, you don’t, you don’t have happiness like this, I mean I am really, really happy.

Kirk: Todd, so am, I. I’m fine, I’m tellin’ ya, God is blessin’ my socks off. Did I tell ya that my agent just negotiated a syndication deal for me? It’s gonna make me more money than you could ever dream of.

Todd: No really, you’re not nearly as happy as you could be. There’s more to life than fame and money.

Kirk: I know that Todd, come on, I got a beautiful wife—she’s the love of my life.

Todd: Well that’s not my point. Kirk, you have got a God-shaped hole in your heart.

Kirk: Actually Todd, I don’t. Anyway, even if I did have a “hole in my heart”, I’m tellin’ ya, it would be filled by all of my beautiful kids.

Kirk: Really? Alright, let me guess. Goin’ to Europe, gettin’ a seat at the best restaurants, goin’ to the best parties. Come on Todd, look, I don’t have to work another day in my life. I’m fine, I’m great. I can’t imagine life being any better than it is right now.

Todd: Yeah, you know what though, that’s exactly what I used to think until I met Jesus.

Kirk: Todd, listen—I’m glad that that works for you. But I’m doin’ just fine, thank you very much.

Kirk: I agree with you, I’m sure he does, in fact he can just keep his plan comin’—I love it! Life is good buddy.

Kirk: You know, you’re just full of nice things to say today. Look, I doubt I’m gonna lose this house. And even if I do, I have enough money put away to buy three more. Listen, I’m willin’ to risk it. It’s no big deal.

Kirk: Todd, I am fulfilled. I’ve got more fulfillment than I know what to do with. I’m overflowing.

Todd: Well…you should try Jesus anyway, cuz really all you have to do, you just have to say this little prayer.

This is obviously a caricature, but unfortunately is not all that far from the truth. Romans 1:18 says, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” In Luke 13: 3 Jesus said, “Unless you repent you too will all perish.” Does this sound like people who need a little more peace and joy in their lives or ones who will perish for all eternity without Christ? We create weak disciples by first creating weak converts. If we present the gospel in easy terms, then the potential convert will think he or she is signing up for something wonderful and without pain. Then when the pain and trouble do inevitably come, the pseudo-convert says, “Hey, this is not what I signed up for—I’m outta here!”

I took an evangelism class in seminary and part of the assignment was to personally share the whole gospel with at least 10 people. I went to a local community college to find my ten people. I had never done this kind of on the spot evangelism, but it was a great experience. The first guy I shared with seemed a bit interested so I asked him if he was ready to make a commitment to Christ. He told me that he was not ready. I responded by saying “Good, because the first thing I was going to do was to try and talk you out of it.” What I meant was that I wanted to make sure he knew what he was doing when he committed to Christ. I did not want a quick convert notch on my Bible by weakening the gospel.

But you might be thinking, “If the gospel is a free gift, shouldn’t we make it sound like a free gift and not make it sound so difficult?” Suppose I had a desire to climb Mount Everest. I don’t have such a desire and I think that those who do are lacking in common sense. But suppose that I did desire to climb Everest. But it costs about $70,000 to do it and I don’t have that kind of money. Suppose a wealthy businessman heard of my desire and offered to pay for the entire expedition. He would buy all the expensive clothing and gear; he would pay for my transportation, the guides, and the training. It’s totally free for me. But if I accept his free offer, I have just committed myself to months of difficult training and arduous effort. It could even cost me my very life, because many good climbers die trying to climb Mount Everest. It is free and yet very costly.[iv] Discipleship is just like this. The entrance is free and in fact cannot be bought under any circumstances, but the commitment to follow Christ is a cross-bearing experience.

Barrier #4—Your Possessions “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” Let me put this verse in immediate context. In the “love” chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul wrote, If I give all I posses to the poor …and have not love, I gain nothing.” Giving away money and possessions—even all of them—does not guarantee a committed disciple. What God requires is for our money and possessions to be pried from between our white-knuckled- hands. Until we see God as the rightful owner and ourselves as managers and stewards, we cannot “give up everything” as Jesus requires. There are four copies of Randy Alcorn’s book, The Treasure Principle, on the back table. You can have a copy if you promise to read it soon and pass it on to someone else. When we get to chapter 16 I will talk much more about stewardship and possessions.

What kind of church do you want us to be? One option is the “Lite-Church,” which looks like this.

Hopefully no one here wants this kind of church and if you do, you will have to look elsewhere. The type of church that we have will be a direct reflection of the type of disciples that we are. Healthy disciples make a healthy church—weak disciples make a weak church. Nothing will make up for weak disciples—not a great building—not powerful preaching—not a talented leadership team. Buildings, preaching and good leadership are necessary tools for discipleship, but are not ends in themselves.

Let’s go back to our first chart and I will tell you how I apply this warning passage. I am not willing to soften the requirements Jesus set forth, neither am I willing to deny the result of missing out on discipleship. I take this passage at face value and see general applications.

1. You are not yet a disciple, but thought you were. After taking an honest look at Jesus’ words, a few of you may come to this conclusion. If this is true for you, don’t waste time in reaching a decision of commitment. You are eternally lost without Christ. Becoming a committed disciple of Christ will not be easy. It might be a life of hardship. Suffering will not be miraculously removed from your life. Count the cost of being a disciple. Jesus is not promising health and wealth, but he does promise complete forgiveness of sins and eternal life with him.

2. You are a Christian but wonder what went wrong. This morning you may have realized that your Christianity is little more than a show. You really don’t want to carry a cross. You haven’t turned your possessions, your life and your relationships over to Christ. If this describes you, then what do you plan to do about it? If you spend the rest of your life living like this, can you really call yourself a Christian. Would Jesus recognize you as one of his disciples. Your road to discipleship can start this morning. If you truly want to move forward in your faith, tell it to God and tell it to me, an elder or another mature Christian—we can help you. Do whatever it takes to pick up your cross and follow Christ. There is no greater journey.

3. You are a committed disciple, but the Holy Spirit is tugging at your heart to take the nest step of faith. This past week I met with a man from another church who feels called to enter full-time vocational ministry in the next few years. There is probably more than one future missionary in this room. If you are eight, eighteen or approaching 80, God is not done with you yet. A life surrendered to God is the most powerful force on earth. Do you feel the gentle pull of the Holy Spirit? What is the next step for your life?

[i] Adapted from Living Waters Publications, www.livingwaters.com

[ii] Five Marks of a Disciple. Sermon Central.com

[iii] Transcripted from Modern Evangelism vs. Rich Hollywood Tycoon, http://www.livingwaters.com/listen.shtml