HOW MUCH WILL IT COST

If there is anything that life has taught me is that “nothing come free”; there is always a cost attached to it. So, the question of the utmost importance today is “How much does it costs?” Although “sin” is no longer considered a serious issue (by most people’s standards), I think I need to tell you that sin “Costs”. R. Zaccharias has said that “sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. And so, we should be making an all out effort to get away from sin.

The goodness, mercy, and grace of God has come to our rescue. That’s the good news today: “We don’t have to be bound, controlled, or mastered by sin” because Jesus the Christ was Crucified on a Cross at a hill called Calvary. His bodily resurrection and ascension back to heaven assures us of Everlasting Life. And while it is true that everlasting life is free; discipleship is not!

Let me explain: Jesus did not die just so that we could miss Hell and and make it to Heaven; but, He died that agonizing and humiliating death so that those who would follow Him would become like Him - that’s called discipleship.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

This is the issue in the text today. The writer (Luke) begins the passage by informing his reader (Theophilus) that “large crowds were going along with Him”. See Luke 14:25

Luke 14:25 NASB95

Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them,

What we may want to ask from the very start is:

“why were all these people going along with Him?

The short answer is that they wanted something from Him. They wanted to receive their sight, they wanted to recover their hearing, they wanted to be fed, they wanted freedom from demon possession, they wanted their loved ones delivered, they wanted tears dried, they wanted their burdens lifted…You name it, they wanted it.

Can I press the issue even further? They wanted all these things and they wanted them for free. The truth is that large crowds are still going along with Jesus to get what they can get from Him for free. They have no desire or intention to ask or answer the question:

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

Miles Davis entitled the 2nd track of his 1959 album “Kind of Blue”: Freddie Freeloader. The Urban Dictionary defines “freeloader” as a person who takes things from others without paying for them or giving anything in return. Jesus is aware of who the “Freddie Freeloaders” are in every crowd and so the text says that he turned and said to them: “It ain’t free”!

And that’s my assignment here today; The Lord let me live to tell you that being His disciple is not free! In response to this revelation, somebody is undoubtedly asking that all important question at this point: “How much does it cost?” Jesus provides us with the answer in the text; you are interested today, aren’t you?

A RELOCATION OF PERSONAL DEVOTION

First, Jesus says that it is going to cost “A RELOCATION OF PERSONAL DEVOTION”. He tells the crowd that they are just wasting their time by following him if they are unwilling to forsake other relationships for the sake of a relationship with Him. See Luke 14:26

Luke 14:26 NASB95

“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.

Now, “hate” is an extremely strong word here and causes pause from many. The Faithlife Study Bible says:

Jesus is using hyperbole—a figure of speech that relies on exaggeration to make a point. He is not encouraging His followers to turn against their family members; rather, He is explaining that even devotion to family does not supersede the call to discipleship. Jesus and God’s kingdom must come first in the life of a believer.

Matthew 10:37 says it like this:

Matthew 10:37 NASB95

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

He does not mean don’t love family, but rather that we must relocate our personal devotion so that we do not love anyone “MORE” than we love Him.

Look closer at the text and notice that Jesus says: “yes, and your own life”. What that tells us is that sometimes we love ourselves more than we love others. This leads Jesus into telling them that it costs something else.

THE RECOGNITION OF A PERSONAL CROSS

As we read further in the text, Luke 14:27 says:

Luke 14:27 NASB95

“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

The subject of the cross does not mean the same thing to us that it meant to those who heard Jesus make this statement. There was no way for them to miss it: The subject of a cross was definitely an attention grabber. The rightly understood it to be the instrument of death. What they heard Jesus saying was that they must be willing to be subjected to humiliation and endure severe suffering, even to the point of death.

See Luke 9:23

Luke 9:23 NASB95

And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

The sad and unfortunate truth of the post-modern Church is that it presents a Cross-less Christianity. But, may I as the age old question one more time today?

Must Jesus bear the cross alone?

The answer is still No! Discipleship costs the recognition of a personal cross...”there is a cross for everyone, and there’s a cross for me.

SIT DOWN AND DO THE MATH

Jesus said that those who want to be His disciples need to sit down and do the math. They need to know 1) how much it costs, and 2) do they have enough to pay it. He uses two illustrations to make his point that you don’t want to start what you can’t finish. If you are going to build; you need to count the cost. If you are going to fight; you have to count the cost. If you are going to follow Jesus; you must count the cost!

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 4

we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;

9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

THE RENUNCIATION OF ALL POSSESSIONS

Well, Beloved, there is one more thing that this text wants to teach us and that is: if we want to follow Jesus is will cost “The Renunciation of all Possessions. Wait a minute, before you dismiss me. This text is not suggesting, as some have mistakenly taught, that we must give everything away and that we must be poor and destitute in order to be His disciples. What it does teach is that we must be willing, if need be, to renounce every affection, gift or possession that interferes with true discipleship.

Ain’t that just like the Lord? He alway gives us the opportunity to come clean with ourselves, to own our own mistakes and shortcomings. And that is exactly what He is looking for this afternoon: for somebody to sit down and identify how much it will cost and determine how much you are willing to pay. We must be ready, like Paul, to count all things loss for Christ.

See Phil 3:7,8

Philippians 3:7 NASB95

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Philippians 3:8 NASB95

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,

Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Lk 14:26). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

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