Sermon Tone Analysis

Luke 14:25-33

Prayer

Following the success of the 1997 Mars Pathfinder Lander, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) planned a series of scientific missions to the planet Mars.

Intending to launch at least one new mission every two years, their motto was “Faster.

Better.

Cheaper.”

Things did not go quite the way that NASA planned, however.

In December of 1999 the Mars Polar Lander failed to slow on its descent and slammed into the surface of the Red Planet, smashing into thousands of pieces.Later it was determined that a design flaw in the 165 million dollar spacecraft had caused the braking system to shut off too soon.

According to the engineers, this was a flaw that could have been detected and prevented if only they had run the right simulation on their computers.

Why, then, did they fail to run the right simulation?

Because NASA was trying to cut costs and decided not to purchase the necessary software.

They may have done it cheaper, but they did not do it better.

The Mars Lander crashed because the administration failed to count the cost for completing the mission.This is a mistake Jesus wants to be sure that all of his disciples are careful to avoid.

Therefore, he tells us in advance how much it will cost us to follow him to the very end.

Even before we come to faith in Christ, he calls us to count the true cost of Christian discipleship, which demands us to love him more than anything else in the world and to carry the cross of our own sacrificial love.

The Cost of Being a Disciple

Christian Community is one of the costs of following Christ.

And Christian community has been missing from many believers lives because they have not understood what Jesus is asking of them , nor what it would cost to do so, when He says...

Wow, that seems harsh, right?

Do these words catch anyone off guard or surprised?

But we know that Jesus cannot be encouraging hatred.

Which is denounced in the Christian life over and over again in Paul’s writings.

So, what is the point Jesus is making here.

I posit to say that the point that Jesus is making here is exactly why Christian community is so difficult.

What we have here in our passage this morning is Jesus laying out three conditions for discipleship that layout the true cost of being a disciple.

We find the first condition in verse 26, the second in verse 27, and the third condition is found in verse 33.

Let’s jump right in.

Condition #1 - “Hate” Your Family

As we read through the Scriptures we can find that on more than one occasion, Jesus makes use of a figure of speech called hyperbole.

Hyperbole is the use of intentional exaggeration to communicate a crucial point.

I other words, He is exaggerating to get your attention!

So, in our passage this morning Jesus is not advocating a posture of hatred, but is saying that if one is going to follow him and be his disciple, you have to love Him more than you love your family.

Better say “Ouch” if you can’t say “Amen!”

Another thing that we need to understand is that Jesus’ ministry had amassed a huge crowd of followers (feeds the 5000, etc.), many if not most of whom were just along for an exciting ride.

They clearly did not understand what the ministry of Jesus was about, nor what it meant to dedicate yourself to following after him.

Condition #2 - Bear Your Own Cross and Consider the Cost

We begin to get a better sense of what Jesus is saying when he clarifies his statement in verse 27 where he says,

Now we sometimes turn this into a figure of speech and think that a Christian’s cross has to do with the burdens of daily life.

But Jesus is not talking about a general participation in suffering, or in bearing the problems and anxieties of daily experience.

Instead he is making a clear reference to martyrdom.

Unless people were prepared to become martyrs they couldn’t be his disciples.

And then Jesus amplifies this teaching with some comparable examples.

Verses 28-32:

What Jesus is saying is that in order to be his disciple you must participate in his death and humiliation.

He warned on other occasions that we would be hated in this world, and that those who were serious about Christ would face daily trials.

He had no time for superficial professions of faith.

How important it is for us to understand the warning of Jesus, for often we are so eager to make Christianity as painless as possible.

We become peddlers of cheap grace, obscuring and hiding the message of Jesus which was a call to sacrifice, to steadfast devotion, even to the point of martyrdom.

Jesus was not in a hurry to add numbers to his evangelistic campaign by oversimplifying the demands of discipleship.

His message here is very simple (R.C.

Sproul put it this way):

‘If you want to follow me, before you make loud professions of faith and declare your conversion to the world, you had better first count the cost.

You must be prepared, if necessary, to be alienated from your household.’

And then Jesus tells the story of the embarrassment that is suffered by the man who impulsively sets out to build a tower without first sitting down and estimating the cost.

If you have started to build the kingdom of God you must count the cost to see whether you are able to finish what you started.

The good news to the Christian is that God promises that he is not like the builder who hastily begins a project only to abandon it midway.

We are told that...

And then we are also told that...

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)

10 “...we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

So if God has begun to work in you, you can be sure that he will bring that project to completion.

Jesus reinforces his point by another comparison, this time of the king who is about to go to war with another king.

Most leaders in this situation would examine the information from military intelligence and take counsel whether his army is strong enough for the encounter.

If not, then he may send a delegation and make for peace.

Judicious leaders and wise military generals are careful to count the cost.

And we are asked to count the cost.

Condition or qualification #2 for being a disciple of Jesus is Bearing Your Own Cross and Counting the Cost.

This brings us to Condition #3.

Condition #3 - Abandon All that You Have!

We see this condition in verse 33.

Jesus says that No-one can be a disciple of His who does not give up… the word “renounce” means “abandon” all his possessions.

Now obviously Jesus is not speaking literally here, although some have understood it that way.

Jesus rather is talking about abandoning one’s dependence on the things of this world and resolutely placing one’s future in the hands of Christ.

Some of you may have been wondering what all this has to do with Christian community.

As we have been working our way to a biblical understanding of what a church is, most recently we’ve learned that a true church gathers and scatters to fulfill the greatest commandments… those being the vertical and horizontal relationships of God and us, and us and our neighbors (loving our “neighbors” as ourselves).

We’ve also learned that without our obedience to the first, the second is impossible.

And these being God’s two greatest commandments to us, there are no other commandments greater.

And mind you, this is not my design… no, Jesus is the One who has clarified this for us.

In those commandments we have reworded them for better/clearer understanding:

A true church of Jesus Christ is a loving community of believers, committed to FELLOWSHIP with God and one another inside and outside the formal gathering of the church.

Now, if our obedience to those two commandments, to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself (and obedience is not just believing them to be true, but actually doing them) is one of the things that makes us a true God-honoring and God-following church and we are not doing them, what does that make us?

Let me ask you this.

Do you really want to be THAT local church that is willing to keep other of God’s commands but willfully disobey God’s two greatest commands?

I didn’t think so! So, this is why I had to preach this passage in Luke.

We have got to take honest stock of our priorities, our dedication, our obedience to the things that are most important to God.

Not just the things we decide are important.

So… the cost of belonging to Christ, and being a part of His body (the church)?

Condition #1 - “Hate” Your Family

Meaning, if you are going to follow him and be his disciple, you have to love Him more than you love your family.

That doesn’t mean you neglect your family, but it does mean that they are second… and sometimes your committment to Christ will come in conflict with what your family is doing.

Your responsibility as a follower of Christ is putting Him first, and following His commands, and sometimes that will mean the church (remember that’s not a building but a people) comes before your family.

Does that cause ire in you?

Take it up with the One who died for you… don’t take it up with me!

Number two...

Condition #2 - Bear Your Own Cross and Consider the Cost

If you want to follow Jesus... before you make loud professions of faith and declare your conversion to the world, you had better first count the cost.

You must be prepared, if necessary, to be alienated from your household.’

And third,

Condition #3 - Abandon All that You Have!

What Jesus is talking about is abandoning your dependence on the things of this world and resolutely placing your future in His hands.