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Luke 14:25-35

²⁵ Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, ²⁶ “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. ²⁷ Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

²⁸ “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a 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 out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³² And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 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? ³⁵ It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

When you read the Gospel of Luke, make sure you know which side of 9:51 you are on. That verse is the turning point. There Jesus “sets His face” to go to Jerusalem. From that point on, Jesus is determined to get to the cross. Jesus is going to Jerusalem to die, but that news hadn’t spread very far yet. In fact, the only ones who are in the know – the disciples who were told several times by Jesus that He was going to die – even they didn’t get it.

Throngs of people are still surrounding Jesus looking for a favor. They saw Him as a celebrity who could hand out whatever you wanted. Need to be cured? Sure. Throwing a party for thousands? Jesus can cater it for a very low price. Going to a funeral? Bring Jesus, He’ll be the life of the party.

But here Jesus throws a wet blanket on everything. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” How many times have you seen this show up on your Bible verse of the day calendars, or when was the last time you heard this verse read between songs on Christin radio? Right, probably never.

Isn’t Jesus supposed to be pro-family? He called the people hypocrites for not taking care of their parents (Mk. 7:6-13)? And, for goodness sake, how can Jesus overthrow the 4^th Commandment, “Honor thy father and thy mother”?

But Jesus isn’t done being a kill-joy. “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Jesus isn’t talking about little, golden necklaces. Jesus is talking about rough timbers of wood. Crosses kill. They are instruments of death. To take up your cross is to take up your death. If you aren’t ready to take up your death and follow Jesus, you cannot be His disciple. Sorry.

Still want to be a disciple of Jesus?

Count the cost. Do you have the resources? Can you afford it, or will you get the project only half completed before you run bankrupt?

Jesus tells you what it costs to follow Him. It’s more than just your money, your name, your reputation. More than your home, your lake cabin. It’s everything. To be a disciple of Jesus means you give up absolutely everything. Anything that gets in the way of Jesus, you have to hate: parents, children, spouses, work, friends, and whatever else you can think of. You can’t juggle those things and carry your cross.

When push comes to shove, if your parents, children, spouse, or friends wander from the faith, do you follow after them by defending their sin or making excuses for them? Or do you follow Jesus? How about when your will and desire are opposed to God’s will which do you choose?

Or what about when persecution comes? Will you stand for what God says is right, or will you cave in to the pressure? When you are forced to make a choice between your career, your livelihood and the truth, which will it be? When your family is marched before you and you have to decide between your family and your faith, what will you do?

You might have good intentions. Right now, you might think that you would be bold. But how can you be so sure? Your resolve today doesn’t mean anything. When that moment comes and the pressure is on, will you cave in? If any of us counted the cost of following Jesus, we wouldn’t follow, wouldn’t believe. No one would.

Our Old Testament reading might sound like God is making salvation a choice, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live” (Dt. 30:19). If you’re dead in sin, you aren’t in a position to choose life. And if you are alive, your only choice is death because Jesus says to follow after Him you must take up your cross.

Besides, you already know what you chose. Every day life and death, blessing and curse are placed before you, and you always chose death. You sin. You not only choose death and curse, you embrace it and hold it dear.

Count the cost of following Jesus and it is the last thing you will do.

The cost of following Jesus is rung up, you can’t pay. But that is why Jesus pays it all for you. Jesus counted the cost of being your Savior, and He deemed it worth every last drop of His holy and precious blood. Jesus gave up His glory, His throne, His dominion. He became your sin (2 Cor. 5:21). He died your death. Yes, He even hated His life. He did it all for you.

When God marches against you, when the Lord of hosts is coming at you with His armies, repent. You don’t have the forces to attack Him, and you cannot retreat. Surrender. While He is still a long way off, ask for terms of peace. He will make a covenant with you. He will give you His very body. He will give you His precious blood. He will forgive you, restore you, and seat you at His eternal banquet. Amen.[1]

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] Much of this sermon is adapted from a wonderful sermon by Rev. William Cwirla.