Sermon Tone Analysis

Denial is more than a river in Egypt.

Denial of self-interests and desires, and a total commitment to do the will of God, even to the point of death.

Cost of discipleship

The cost of discipleship involves a denial of self-interests and desires

The cost involves self-denial

And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Self-denial means not living for oneself

For none of us lives for himself and none dies for himself.

And he died for all, in order that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.

and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, and that life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

in order to live the remaining time in the flesh no longer for human desires, but for the will of God.

The cost of discipleship is to be carefully considered

28 For which of you, wanting to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?

29 Otherwise after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish!’ 31 Or what king, going out to engage another king in battle, does not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand.

32 But if not, while the other is still far away, he sends an ambassador and asks for terms of peace.

The cost of discipleship means total commitment to the will of God

Total surrender is required

In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all his own possessions cannot be my disciple.

7 But whatever things were gain to me, these things I have considered loss because of Christ.

8 More than that, I even consider all things to be loss because of the surpassing greatness of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for the sake of whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and consider them dung, in order that I may gain Christ

The security of the world is to be resisted

19 And a scribe approached and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go!” 20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

Jesus Christ must have first priority

16 And behold, someone came up to him and said, “Teacher, what good thing must I do so that I will have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why are you asking me about what is good?

There is one who is good.

But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments!”

18 He said to him, “Which ones?”

And Jesus said, “Do not commit murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and your mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

20 The young man said to him, “All these I have observed.

What do I still lack?”

21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give the proceeds to the poor—and you will have treasure in heaven—and come, follow me.”

59 And he said to another, “Follow me!”

But he said, “Lord, first allow me to go and bury my father.”

60 But he said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead!

But you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

and he himself is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may become first in everything,

Jesus Christ must come before family ties

The one who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and the one who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

61 And another person also said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first allow me to say farewell to those in my house.”

62 But Jesus said, “No one who puts his hand on the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God!”

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and furthermore, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

The cost of discipleship is constant

And he said to them all, “If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross every day and follow me.

The cost of discipleship includes persecution

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

If they kept my word, they will keep yours also.

strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying, “Through many persecutions it is necessary for us to enter into the kingdom of God.”

And indeed, all those who want to live in a godly manner in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

The cost of discipleship includes willingess to suffer and die for Jesus Christ’s sake

38 And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

39 The one who finds his life will lose it, and the one who loses his life because of me will find it.

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of me will find it.

The one who loves his life loses it, and the one who hates his life in this world preserves it for eternal life.