Those Who Cannot Be a
Disciple
Luke 14:25-35
©Copyright
September 19, 2010 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche Series: Walking with Jesus
Most
jobs have requirements you need to meet in order to be considered for a job.
There are often things which will immediately disqualify you from a job. For example, those who have been
convicted of a felony need not apply to be President of the United States. If
you have had a number of moving violations in your car you don’t need to bother
applying to be a bus driver. Sometimes even your age will disqualify you from a
job (even though it is not supposed to disqualify you).
In our
text this morning (Luke 14:25-35) Jesus repeats a phrase three times in this
passage. It is the phrase “cannot be my disciple”. Jesus is warning us of
things that will disqualify us from being His disciple.
Note
the context of the passage. There were large crowds following Jesus. Most leaders
today are concerned with how to keep
the crowd. Jesus seemed to intentionally be trying to thin the crowds. Jesus understood
that people are naturally attracted to a crowd.
Jesus
understood that it is easy to talk like a Christian and to even believe that
you are a Christ follower simply because you hang out with followers of Christ.
Jesus wanted us to understand that discipleship is not about membership, it is
about a way of life. It is not about following the crowd, it is about following
Him. When we put our trust in Christ we enter into a relationship. Faith does
not end at the point of decision . . . it begins. Jesus wants to help us in
that relationship.
So who
are those who cannot be His disciples?
Those Who Are Too Family Oriented
The first thing Jesus says is,
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his
wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be
my disciple.
This is
not a new theme. Rick explained this passage several weeks ago when Jesus was
speaking to just the disciples. Now He expands the audience and applies this to
any who would follow after Him.
Anytime
we come up against a passage like this we must interpret it carefully. We must
never interpret one passage in such a way that it contradicts another. The Ten Commandments tell us to honor our
Father and Mother. Consequently, these words do not mean that we should neglect
or dishonor our family. However, in our heart, in our priorities, in our
calendar . . . He must come first. When we read the story of Jacob and his
wives Rachel and Leah we are told that Jacob loved Rachel and hated Leah. We
know from the context of the story that Jacob didn’t despise Leah . . . he
simply loved Rachel more than Leah.
What
God is asking of us is similar to a marriage covenant. A man and a woman stand
on a platform and declare that they will be “yours and yours alone for the rest
of my life”. It used to be that couples used the words: “forsaking all others”.
They are not declaring that they will no
longer have any friends or never talk to another person of the opposite sex.
They are saying that their spouse will have the central or priority position in
their heart over all these others. Couples say this because they believe life
will be better together than it ever could be apart.
It is a
huge commitment. To keep that commitment you have to change the way you make
decisions. You can no longer live as if you were the only one that mattered. However, for those who truly make this
commitment life is better than it could have ever been outside of that
commitment. There is companionship, sometimes there are children, there are
shared experiences, and there is a oneness between the two people that can be
downright frightening to others.
This is
what God wants from us. He wants that kind of commitment from us in our
relationship with Him. He wants us to make His glory our primary priority in
life. He wants us to do so because He has demonstrated that He alone is God.
This
obviously goes against the cultural mindset of our day. Today priorities seem
to revolve around “Me, My Job, and My Family” in the minds of most people. We
justify our obsession with our job saying, “It is what puts food on the table”.
We run to endless school, athletic and extra-curricular events justifying it by
saying we are just being a good parent.” We live by a simple motto: “I want
what I want” and that seems to settle the issue in our mind. Hear the words of
Jesus. He says that people who function by these priorities cannot be His
disciples.
Kent
Hughes writes,
In the secularized,
anti-family culture of today, our family is at the center of our Christian
ethic. And that is proper. But some of us love our wives, husbands, and
children more than we love God. We miss the mark when we put their development
athletically, intellectually, culturally, artistically, socially before their
spiritual well-being. We fall short when we spend more time in the car in one
day shuttling them to games and lessons than we do in a month in prayer for
their souls. By comparison, our lives reveal that we hate God and love our
children disproportionately—and that we are not Jesus’ disciples.[1]
The
Lord is not telling us to abandon or mistreat our family. He is not telling us
to get so involved in the work of the church that we are never home. He is
calling us to order our priorities in a godly way. When we do this we actually will
be able to love our family more appropriately, fully, and effectively. This is
because we are no longer trying to prove ourselves to be a “super parent” but
are instead pointing our family to the One who alone is worthy of praise. Only Christ
can redeem our children. Only He can accompany them through the storms of life.
Only He can lead them to eternal glory before the Father of Heaven. They need
us to lead them to Him.
These
are admittedly hard words but understand how important this is,
Those Who Want Easy Discipleship
The
first exclusion is hard but the second may be harder
27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow
me cannot be my disciple.
Jesus
is not talking about carrying a cross in your pocket or wearing a cross on a
chain around your neck. The cross is a symbol of death. Jesus is saying we need
to be people who are willing to sacrifice even our very lives for the Lord. Contrary
to what we sometimes hear on TV, Jesus never said following Him would be easy.
In fact, He said just the opposite. Notice here that Jesus does not encourage
the crowd with flowery words and promises of ease and happiness . . . He points
them to the cross and the cost of following Him.
Christians
are often guilty of preaching a shallow gospel. We call people to “accept God’s
gift” and we act as if this is the end of it. It would be like someone coming
into a car dealership. You as the salesman tell the person that you “want to
put them in this brand new car and all they need to do is sign on the dotted
line.” The person who has never purchased a new car before eagerly signs their
name and then is shocked when you say, “OK, the final cost with tax, license,
under-coating, insurance, inflated tires, knobs on the radio, is . . . . four
times more than you can afford to pay!” The person feels you swindled them
because you never said anything about their being a cost.
This is
the way we often present the gospel, and it is irresponsible. Jesus calls each
of us to “count the cost”. He gives two illustrations to drive His point home,
28 “Suppose one of you
wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see
if he has enough money to complete it? 29 For if he lays the
foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule
him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to
finish.’
If you
want to put an addition on your home even I know that you don’t knock a hole in
the wall and then go to Menard’s to buy some lumber. You need to consider many
things: what kind of addition you want and whether you have the property to
facilitate that addition. You need to consider the issues of plumbing, heating
and electrical. You need to talk to the utilities and find out what is currently
buried in the ground. You need to consider structural viability. Then you need
to add everything up and decide whether or not you can pay for such an
addition. You must count the cost.
The
second illustration is a little different.
31 “Or suppose a king is
about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and
consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming
against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send
a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of
peace.
In this
case the man doesn’t have a great deal of time to make a decision. An army is
advancing against him. The King must take time to consider whether his army has
a chance of victory. If there is no good chance of victory the King would be wise
to negotiate terms for peace.
Jesus
is saying don’t enlist in his army unless you are willing to abide by His
command. Don’t declare you want to be His follower unless you know what is at
stake. He is telling us not to respond emotionally (even though our emotion is
involved); He wants us to respond to Him rationally. This comes as a surprise
to many today who think that you need to have lobotomy before you become a
Christian. Jesus says the opposite…think about it, count the cost, know what
you are getting in to.
In many
countries, declaring allegiance to Jesus could get you killed. In some Muslim or tight knit Asian
communities declaring allegiance to Christ is seen as an act of treason. You
may be executed. Our cost may not be as great but,
The
point is that we need to understand that following Christ will not be easy and it
will not be “business as usual”. He calls us to be willing to follow Him even
ahead of our own comfort and even our own lives. If we don’t realize this, we
cannot be His follower.
Those Who Can’t Let Go
The
last disqualified for discipleship is in verse 33
In the same way, any
of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
Do you
remember the story of the Rich Young Ruler? He wanted to know what was needed
to obtain eternal life. Jesus told Him he needed to obey the law perfectly
(that is the only way to be saved by our own strength . . . we must never sin).
This man felt he had lived an obedient life. Jesus told Him that he also needed
to sell everything he had and give it to the poor.
Jesus
was not saying that a person must be destitute to be a follower. He was saying
that we cannot be enslaved to the material and still be honoring God. As a
believer we are to be people who are willing to give anything and everything to
the Lord for His service. There is to be NOTHING held back.
It is
natural for us to say, “Lord, I will give you all I have . . . as long as you
don’t ask for; or don’t ask me to do . . . “
You may have said in your heart and mind: “I will follow you fully as
long as you
The
attitude of a true disciple is this: “All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I
freely give”. If Jesus is to be Lord AT all . . . He must be Lord OF all. We do
not tell Him what is most important, He tells us. He does not exist to glorify
us, we exist to glorify Him.
Conclusions
Let’s
confess honestly that we struggle with each of these things. We aren’t sure
that we really love the Lord more than we love our family. We don’t know if we
are willing to follow Christ . . . even to death. We are positive we haven’t
given Him everything. Does this mean that we are not His disciples?
The
answer to the question I believe is: not necessarily. As we look at the lives
of the disciples we see that they grew in their commitment to Christ. I think
the principle is this: if we are not
seeking to follow Christ fully, if we are not trying to consciously give Him all
things, if we are not willing to make significant sacrifices because of our
love and trust of Him . . . we are not and cannot be His disciple. We still
struggle. At times we still fall short. But we should be moving in the right
direction.
Let’s
go back to the marriage analogy. Do we live our commitment faithfully all the
time? No. Are we as devoted as we need to be? No. There are still many
self-absorbed times, there are still temptations that come our way . . . but,
if we are pursuing the goal of being fully devoted and committed to our spouse
we will see significant progress. Every
day brings new tests and challenges. True commitment is both a decision and a
learned behavior.
It is
the same in the Christian faith. We should be growing in our discipleship. We
are constantly learning the cost and every day we agree to pay that cost. Every
day we consciously surrender again all that we have and all that we are. Jesus
said,
34 “Salt is good, but if
it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?35 It is fit
neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “He who has
ears to hear, let him hear.”
Salt
was used for a number of things: it preserved, it enhanced, and it facilitated
growth. The Christian is to be all these things. However, if a follower of
Christ isn’t following . . . they become useless. What can we do to remain
“salty”? I’d suggest several things.
When
you apply for a job, you could lie on the application and perhaps get the job.
However, you will not last long. The truth will be seen in the way that you do
your job. In a sense Jesus is saying the same thing about our discipleship.
©Copyright
Sept 19, 2010 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche Series: Walking with Jesus
www.unionchurch.com