Sermon Tone Analysis

January 31, 2016

*Read Lu 14:25-35* – At the banquet at the end of the BB season, the star player was chosen to present a gift to the coach.

Clearly more comfortable on court than speaking, he said, “We got a present for you, Coach.

It’s not much – but it shows just what we think of you.”

In a similar way, our lives show what we really think of Jesus and for many who claim Christ the answer is, “Not much.”

There are a lot of fair-weather disciples.

But Jesus’ claims don’t allow for fair-weather disciples.

Half-hearted commitment is no commitment at all.

We’re either all in, or we aren’t in at all.

Here Jesus is at pains to say, “Count the cost before your commit.”

Jesus always invites; never begs.

And He demands full commitment.

He’s more than fire insurance.

He’s a way of life.

True disciples love Him more than anything because He’s worth it.

So, three times in this passage we find “cannot be my disciple.”

That eliminates any idea that we can have one foot in and one foot out.

This isn’t the Christian Hokey Pokey!

Jesus didn’t go half way to the cross for us.

He was all in, so He has every right to demand that if we are to be His, we must be all in, too.

Saving faith can be weak, but it can’t be reserved.

So, in this passage, Jesus shows us 3 things we must renounce or we “cannot be [His] disciple.”

We’re either all in, or we aren’t in at all.

That means:

*I.

Renounce Relationships*

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.”

Jesus is exaggerating to make a point.

It is not that we hate our families, but that our love for Him must be so much greater.

In the movie Hawaii the intense young missionary, Abner Hale, says to his lovely wife, Jerusha (Julie Andrews), “I love you more than God.”

Was it wrong to love his wife?

No. Was it a problem if she ranked above God?

Absolutely.

Christ must be first.

Christ must be first if we’re really His.

Scott McKnight tells of a young Xn woman who grew up in the church – did all the right things, made all the right decisions, said all the right things.

But her faith had no vitality until a mission trip to Central America.

What she saw exposed the shallowness of her own commitment.

She came back convicted of her materialism and selfishness.

She began planning a future as a missionary.

But commitment to Christ cost her her boyfriend: “I love him.

But he doesn’t get it.

He doesn’t want to give his life for others as Christ demands.”

So, would we renounce a relationship for Jesus sake?

True disciples would.

*II.

Renounce Rights*

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.”

So it’s not just relationships we must renounce in coming to Christ.

We must renounce our own lives.

Die to self so He can live thru us.

This is a now familiar theme in Luke’s gospel.

This means that all the rights and privileges that we normally reserve to ourselves we hand over to Him.

When someone carried that crossbeam on the way to his execution, he wasn’t coming back.

His old life was over.

So with true disciples.

“Taking up one’s cross” does not refer to life’s everyday hardships.

People often refer to loneliness or their demanding boss, or chronic allergies as their “cross to bear”.

And those are difficult things.

But that’s not what Jesus means.

When Jesus says we must “bear our own cross”, He means an unconditional surrender to Him as Lord and Master.

It’s a relinquishing of our independence.

You don’t take up your cross and then say, “You know, this isn’t working for me.

I thought this would be kind of purifying, but I think I prefer the old me.”

No. No.

This is total surrender.

Sound extreme?

It is.

Jesus doesn’t call for a makeover; He demands a takeover -- separating professors from possessors.

Possessors are in dead earnest; following Jesus wherever it leads.

It’s a whole new life.

Paul explains it in Gal 2:20: “20 I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

You know, we’re fixated on rights in our culture.

“Don’t tread on me” is our national motto.

That’s why we’re the most litigious society in the world.

But let me ask – how many of His personal rights did Jesus retain when He came to earth as a man?

How many?

How about His right to act as God?

He gave it up as Paul describes in Phil 2:6-7: “6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

How about His right to enjoy the treasures and pleasures of heaven?

He gave it up as Paul reminds us in II Cor 8:9: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”

How many of His personal rights did Jesus take to the cross?

How many?

His right to a fair shake?

He gave it up in the sham of a trial that convicted Him illegally– even tho even the Romans knew He was innocent.

His right to escape?

He gave it up while at the same time noting in Mt 26:53 that He could “appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?”

His right to avoid the excruciating pain (the hell) of separation from the Father?

He gave it up saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

His right to a dignified death, since He never did anything wrong?

He gave it up as Phil 2:8 shows: “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

How about His right to revenge?

He gave it up when He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lu 23:34).

Beloved – by the time Jesus died on that cross, He’d given up every right He had.

And now He is saying, “If you are going to be my follower, you must come die with me.”

That’s not the gospel we usually hear, is it?

We hear a lot about Jesus dying for us.