The Cost of Discipleship

(Read Luke 14:25-35) My wife and I were sitting in the waiting room for our appointment with the Physical Therapist. One of the office workers came out to talk with a young lady about the forms. He explained what she would have to pay out-of-pocket today. He went on to explain that she would have to pay one hundred percent of the cost until the cost exceeded the amount written on her health insurance contract. The young lady stated that she did not understand why she had to pay anything. She thought that the insurance would pay for everything. The office worker told her that the contract stated the amount that she would need to pay. She replied, “I did not read the contract.” Now, this really got my attention. The young lady expected something from the insurance company, but she had not read the contract to see what she was agreeing to when she signed the contract for the insurance. The office worker never used the word “deductible,” and he did not explain the meaning of the word. Remember, the young lady said that she had not read the contract. Listening to the conversation I thought of the many Christians who are unaware of what they have agreed to when they join the church. I thought how often does the church fall short of teaching its members the cost of discipleship? Often people in the church are mislead when it comes to the cost for being a disciple of Jesus. How many church-goers think that there is no cost to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? I was reminded that Jesus taught His disciples that following Him is a costly endeavor. Let us examine our text to see what Jesus said being His disciple will cost us. First, Jesus tells the crowds that they must make their relationship to Jesus more important than their relationship to anyone else. Jesus says, ““If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple’” (v. 26, NASB). Luke uses a Greek word for “hate” that means to love less. Thus, Jesus is calling them not to hate, or have ill feelings for their family members, but their love for Jesus must be greater than their love for those who up to this point in their life they have loved the most. Here is an example. When I was attending seminary I was taking a class for youth ministry. We discussed the relationships that teens have with other people in their lives. On one occasion we were discussing teenage sex. The instructor asked us what we would tell a young lady when she asked us what she should tell her boyfriend (who wanted to have sex) who asked her if she loved him more than anyone else. None of us could answer the question. He said that probably the best answer was to tell the young lady to tell her boyfriend: “I love you, but I love Jesus more than anyone else.” So, then, there are times and circumstances in which we must put our relationship with Jesus above all other relationships. There are some things that our families and friends want us to do that will often conflict with what Jesus commands us to do. A second thing that Jesus requires of us to be His disciple is that we must take personal responsibility for our actions. Jesus says that we must carry our own cross. Although we should be willing to pray for others and help others when needed, the primary bearer of the responsibilities of a disciple belongs to each person. I have learned that sometimes Jesus moves those who are willing to help us out of the way. He makes it impossible for them to help us. We must learn to bear our own burdens, and it is our own personal responsibility to carry them. Sometimes we feel alone. We wonder why no one else is there for us. This is especially true in ministry. We wonder where the helpers are. Who will stand with me? Well, God wants us to know that we need Him alone to do what needs to be done. When we carry our own cross we learn to trust God. For example, the prophet Elijah stood alone in opposition to the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:20-40). Later, the queen, Jezebel threatened his life. Elijah felt alone (1 Kings 19:10, 14), but the Lord said to Elijah, ‘“Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him’” (19:18, NASB). A disciple is one who follows Jesus. Jesus knows that there are many things in life that we will be tempted to do. This is the reason that He told the parable of the man who was giving a big dinner (Luke 14:-24). The invited guest had excuses for not attending the dinner. Jesus said that not one of the invited guests will taste of His dinner (v. 24). We must all ask ourselves the question: What will I allow to keep me from following Jesus? What keeps me from obeying the teachings of Jesus? Am I willing to give up those I love because I love Jesus more? In verses 28-32 Jesus tells the parables of the builder and the king who goes to war. The builder must count the cost in order to complete the building. This parable shows us that a disciple of Jesus is one who perseveres until the end. The king that goes to war discovers that he cannot win. So, he sends a delegation to seek peace. All of us will have to face the King of Kings one day. We are not strong enough to defeat King Jesus. It is best for us to make peace with Jesus by surrendering our lives to Him. Thus, a disciple is one who gives up all of their possessions, take up their cross and follow Him. The test of our discipleship is seen in Jesus’ parable about salt. Disciples have value because they are salty. If we should lose our saltiness we will become useless in the kingdom of God. Jesus said: ‘“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again. It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men” (Matt. 5:13, NASB). Are we salty? Are we genuine? How do we retain our saltiness, our value? We count the cost and become disciples of Jesus Christ. At the beginning of this article we learned about the young lady who had come to the clinic to receive therapy treatments. Unable to pay the deductible the young lady had to go home without getting any treatment. Jesus tells the crowds that there is cost that we must pay to be His disciple. Have you counted the cost to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? Are you willing to pay the price?