Count the Cost, Luke 14:26-33
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We live in a world where people are making up their own definitions for just about everything. There are many who are making up their own definitions for gender by claiming that men can be women and women can be men. There are others who are defining sexuality by their own desires… science, politics,
In Luke 14 Jesus defines who cannot be a disciple, he tells us what it cost to be His disciple, and He tells us what He expects of His disciples.
Following Jesus is not an impulsive decision, in fact Jesus makes it clear you cannot be his disciple without carefully considering the cost.
Luke 14:26–33 (ESV)
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.
The word disciple refers to a student or an apprentice.
Disciples in Jesus’ day would follow their rabbi (a word that means teacher) wherever he went, learning from the rabbi’s teaching and being trained to do as the rabbi did.
A disciple is a follower, not in the figurative sense, but in the literal sense.
Becoming a disciple of Jesus is the result of obeying His call to follow Him.
Jesus said in Matthew 4:19, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus’ call to believe in Him and follow Him carries with it the command to become like Him. Jesus was a fisher of men, and those who follow Him were to learn to do the same.
It’s impossible to be a disciple or a follower of someone and not end up like that person. Jesus fully expects His followers to become like Him. This is why He said, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” (Luke 6:40)
The point of being a disciple of Jesus is to learn from Him and imitate Him. He intends for us to carry on His ministry and become like Him in the process.
Here in Luke 14:26-33. We find requirements or qualities that must be possessed by a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Four Requirements For Being A Disciple:
Love the Lord more than anyone else
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. Luke 14:26
Being a disciple means that your love for God and your commitment to Christ takes pre-eminence over all other relationships.
This is not a one time expression of the commitment and place Jesus requires of those who are His disciples.
In Luke 9:57-62 there are a series of moments in which Jesus tests those who say they want to follow Him.
57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
You see here that Jesus doesn’t leave any room for doubt. Either you love Him more than you love anyone else or you are not His disciple. The call to follow Jesus Christ is costly. You will either live in harmony with people and at odds with God, or you will have peace with God and friction with others. You cannot have it both ways, you must decide which direction your life will go.
The requirements that Jesus lays down here in our passage are consistent with the call that God placed on Abraham’s love in Genesis 22. Genesis 22 is a passage that tells the account of God calling Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac. God tested Abraham’s heart and Jesus does the same to those he came across in Luke 9, just like he is doing in Luke 14:26.
You cannot be a disciple of Jesus Christ and love others more than you love the Lord.
Make a life-long commitment to Christ that includes dying before you would renounce Christ.
27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:27
The greatest obstacle to knowing all that God has for you is the preoccupation of self. It is the preoccupation with self that stands in the way of truly following Christ. It is the denying of denial that prevents you from walking closely and growing in your walk with God.
In Luke 9:24 Jesus says, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”
This means that you forsake, repudiate, disown, forfeit, and totally disregard your plans, dreams, and desires for the sake of Jesus.
There is no other way to understand Jesus’ words in Luke 14:27 than literally. He really does mean that you are to die to yourself, meaning you surrender and deny yourself the direction you have been going with your life to live the rest of your life imitating Him and obeying His Word.
In Jesus’ day taking up a cross only meant one thing… it meant death. To take up your cross was to begin walking toward your death. This means that when you give your life to Christ and begin following Jesus you have given yourself to Him and are willing to bear the consequences of following Him… even death.
You may be tempted to discuss whether or not you really have to take this whole salvation thing so serious. You might even have someone ask you if you really believe we have to be willing to die if that’s what it means to be faithful to Jesus? Let me go ahead and insert the Word of God into that conversation, The answer the question of do you really think? Is that God really said this. It’s not something unique to this sermon, it’s the common level of commitment in the Bible. And, just because you don’t face a culture or opposition doesn’t mean you are called to the same degree of commitment and faith.
A.W. Tozer said, “In every Christian’s heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne till he puts himself on the cross; if he refuses the cross, he remains on the throne. Perhaps this is at the bottom of the backsliding and worldliness among gospel believes today. We want to be saved, but we insist that Christ do all the dying. No cross for us, no dethronement, no dying. We remain king within the little kingdom of Man’s soul and wear our tinsel crown with all the pride of a Caesar; but we doom ourselves to shadows and weakness and spiritual sterility.”
If this describes you, then are a not a disciple, and I fear that you may not be a believer.
If this describes you then you need to repent of the sin of sitting on the throne before you begin to make any commitments to God today. Repentance precedes commitment. You cannot truly commit to the way of the Lord until you have repented of your way.
Forsake all that you have
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:33
What does really mean? Forsake means “to surrender your claim, to say goodbye.”
Until you recognize that everything you have belongs to Jesus Christ, you cannot be His disciple.
Consider the encounter Jesus had with the rich young ruler in Mark 10:17. The New Living Translation capture this moment wonderfully-
“He asked Jesus, What must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus answered, You know the commandments: Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not testify falsely. Do not cheat. Honor your father and mother. Teacher, the man replied, I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was a child. Jesus felt genuine love for this man as He looked at him. You lack only one thing, He told him. Go and sell all you have and give money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. At this, the man’s face fell, and he went sadly away because he had many possessions.”
Jesus was not implying that his disciples must make a vow of poverty. But, he is saying that if what you own and where you live is so important that you would rather live there, own that car, or have that bank account then follow Him… you are not His disciple. Why you may ask? Because Jesus left it all to come and die a gruesome death on the cross… the least you can do is hold on to the things of this world loosely enough to let them go if it is what the Lord asks of you.
Jesus asked the rich young ruler to give him what was on the throne of his heart. Don’t miss this, it’s not about the money. It’s about what you are holding tightly too.
Count the cost
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. Luke 14:28-32
This truth cannot be ignored! According to Jesus, the commitment to live for Him should come with heavy consideration. Just like you consider how much it’s going to cost before you build a house you need to consider all that Jesus is calling you to give up to follow Him.
Jesus says count the cost, and every preacher who has preached the Gospel faithfully has said the same thing. If you have never heard that being a disciple is costly than it may explain why you struggle to live your life for the Lord.
Today is Reformation Sunday all over the world. On October 31, 1517 a lowly German priest walked up to the church door in Wittenberg and posted a document that altered the course of history. It has now been five centuries since Martin Luther stood up and confronted Roman Catholicism. It was on October 31st that he nailed his theses on the church door.
The kindling had been laid over decades, and Luther’s little, almost accidental spark soon set all of Europe ablaze.
Luther was not a well-known priest, nor a high-ranking priest. But, he was serving as a monk in the Roman Catholic Church and he was burdened over the mis-teachings and practices he was seeing the church. He studied and studied the Word, and then spoke up about what was true.
In time, this lowly monk proved he had what it took to hold his ground against the Church and the world — and under God, he became the tip of the spear for massive reform.
In 1517 the Catholic Church was the predominant church, but as Luther and others like Calvin and Swingli also pointed out, the catholic church misunderstood the gospel, was wrongly teaching the gospel, and as a result was misleading and taking advantage of its parishioners.
Luther was brought before one of the magistrates of the catholic church for a trial. It was in this trial where he was given the opportunity to recant or renounce everything he had written and believed that stood in opposition to the teachings of the catholic church. (Video)
Martin Luther had counted the cost of his actions. He knew that by standing up for what was true that it could cost him his life. And, Jesus intends for those who come to him to believe in Him and be saved to do the same. Those who follow Jesus forsake all they have and in doing so count the cost and determine that Jesus is worth it.
The first disciples were not following Jesus because it was lucrative or made them popular. They gave up everything to know and follow Jesus. Luke 9:57-58 illustrates this point as well… “57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
Following Christ is costly, and everyone who comes to Jesus is called to consider the full weight of what he or she is doing. Billy Graham is known for leading millions of people to faith in Christ, and as a result I think many misjudge the depth and weight of what Billy taught concerning the Gospel. We see Billy through the countless throngs of people standing in front of Him receiving Jesus each time he was on television. But, when we listen to his sermons… really listen. Not to see how many people will say yes, but listen to what Billy calls them to say yes too we hear these words… He said
“Salvation is free, but discipleship costs everything we have.” - Billy Graham
I was reminded recently that sometimes preachers can take for granted the weight of the truths we are proclaiming. So, I want to give you permission to take a moment and consider this truth: Salvation is free, but discipleship costs everything we have.
When you said yes to following Jesus, did you say yes to giving up everything you have. Did you commit to holding on to the things of this world loosely and the things of God tightly?
Following Christ means you count the cost and willingly give up:
The pursuit of sin that everyone else in the world says is ok.
This can involve everything from vaping, pot, alcohol, other drugs, sexual sins, financial cheating, unethical behaviors, etc.
The thing is, the world says its ok, but it doesn’t fit with Jesus, therefore it isn’t ok and shouldn’t be in your life.
The labels, status, and citizenship that everyone else in the world is living by.
God’s Word sets the standards and norms according to God. Everything that goes against the Word, is abnormal and deviant and has no place in he life of the believer.
God says that our identity is now in Him… and that truth is a priority that shapes how you view yourself and the world around you. Before Christ you didn’t have the worldview of a Christian. And, as a Christian you view the world as it is, as a place you are just passing through. Your identity is a son or daughter of Christ, a disciple, a citizen of His kingdom.
The definitions of success, wealth, and contentment that everyone else in the world is chasing.
Success in the kingdom is tied to holiness and righteousness, not just finances and ladder climbing. Now, this doesn’t mean that each one of us isn’t called to do our best, because we are. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be a good steward of what God has given you, because you should. It simply means that success is determined by God. It’s his standards, his priorities, his approach to life that should shape and determine how we live our lives.
The plans and dreams that you have for yourself, your spouse, your children, and even your grandchildren.
Following Christ means that we look to Him for our plans and the dreams for our life. What is it that He has planned for you? What dreams and future has He planted in your mind and heart that advance His kingdom and glorify Him?
The benefits of being a disciple:
God reveals more to His disciples as they grow in their understanding of His Word and the desire to obey. The disciple is the one who lives the Christian life in all its fullness, receiving all that God has for Him. (You cannot receive all that God has for you unless you are His disciple) For a disciple, each new day is a fresh opportunity to walk with God. To a disciple, life has definite purpose and direction, and life is abundant.
It costs to follow Jesus Christ, but it costs more not to.
If you are settling for anything short of discipleship you are missing out.
If you want to follow God than you have to choose between:
Living for yourself or denying yourself Ignoring the cross or taking it up Seeking to save your life- which ultimately leads to losing it, or losing your life for the sake of Christ and ultimately finding it. Gaining the world or forsaking the world Losing your soul or keeping it.
Following Christ begins with believing in Him, confessing your sin, repenting of your sin, and living for Him. Following Christ requires that you love the Lord more than you
Each of us can consider what it is that we need to