The Cost of Following Christ, Part 1b

I trust that over the next several weeks you will be blessed as we continue our study in the parables, specifically the parable in Luke chapter 14 verses 26 and following concerning the parable of counting the cost. The Bible says these words in Luke chapter 14, verse number 25, Now great multitudes were going along with him, and he turned and said to them.

Now we'll stop right there for a second. Christ had already set his heart in Jerusalem. He knew that he was going to die. He had one last opportunity to talk to people about what it means to follow him and serve him. What do you think he's going to say? What would you say? This is what Jesus said. 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. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

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

Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle? Will not first sit down and take counsel whether he is strong enough with 10,000 men, to encounter the one coming against him with 20,000.

thousand. Or else while the other is still far away, he sent a delegation and asked terms of peace. So therefore, no one of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. Therefore, salt is good, but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown out. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Those were Jesus' words, to help them understand the cost of following him. He wanted them to understand that.

He wanted them to get a hold of that. That's important for us to get a hold of. Our outline is the same as it's been through all the parables. It will take us more than two weeks to get through this, but we're in no hurry. We're not going anywhere unless Jesus comes and then we're going to go home to be with him. If you go over with me to the book of Mark, 8th chapter, you see once again, as Christ would give his first prediction about his passion.

Very familiar patch of the scripture, many of you know it well. Jesus went along and with the disciples in the villages of Sessaria Philippi. And of course, in that region in that day, there were many statues and many monuments to the gods, to the Caesars, to the kings. And you can picture the disciples walking with Jesus in between all these monuments and all these statutes of all these great Caesars and Christ. That's the very simple question. Who do you men say that I am? What's the popular opinion of who I am?

And, of course, they would say, well, you know, some think you're Elijah, some think you're Jeremiah, some think you're one of the prophets. They says, but who do you say that I am? You see, the popular opinion is irrelevant. The personal opinion is extremely irrelevant. Who do men say that I am? Well, they think you're everything, but who you say you are. Well, who do you say that I am? Of course, you know the story. Peter says, well, you know, you're Christ. You're the Messiah. You're the son of the living God.

And Matthew's account would tell us how Christ would say, oh, blessed are you, Simon, and Varylif, her flesh and blood, I've not revealed unto you by my father who is in heaven. Peter's thinking pretty good about himself, what about now? He got one right. And whenever you get one right with Jesus, you kind of get excited about that. and Peter was getting a little bit excited. And then it says in verse number 30, and he warned them not to tell anybody. What? Don't tell anybody. I mean, I got it right.

I got to tell somebody. I got something right, Peter's saying. I can't tell him you the Messiah. I can't tell me the Son of the Living God. I can't tell him what flesh and blood didn't reveal to me, but your father in heaven revealed to me. I can't tell him that. Christ said, shh, don't say that. Why? Listen to what Jesus said. He began to teach them. Son, a man must suffer many things. and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and the scribes and be killed after three days rise again. And he was stating the matter plainly.

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Here was Peter, just because he gets one right, he thinks he's on top of the hill now.

He says, oh, Lord, this ain't right. You can't go around saying that. You can't tell people you're going to die. Nobody's going to want to follow a dead Messiah. And what did Christ say? Get behind me Satan. He rebuked Peter. for you are not studying your mind on God's interest but man's. That's a very important statement. You don't have in mind the things of God. What do you have in mind, Peter? You have your own welfare in mind, Peter. You have your own life in mind, Peter. You have a man-centered religion, Peter.

Because it's about you. My religion is about me. And you're missing it. You don't have my interest in mine. You've got your interest in mine. You have, in this, what we call, the great conversation, which led to the great confession, which led to the great clarification, which led to the great confusion, which led to the great confrontation, which will now lead to the great consecration, and ultimately lead to the great crucifixion, which will ultimately lead to the great celebration. I'm going to preach on that one day.

I thought that up today in my office. But here it goes. And he summoned the multitude with his disciples. Now, he's just not going to talk to the disciples. He summons the multitude, right? This is not just the 12. This is a multitude of people. If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wishes his saviour's life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, and the gospel shall save it. For what is the prophet of man to gain the whole, world and forfeit his own soul.

For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me in my words in this adulterous and civil generation, the son of man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his father with his holy angels. Jesus summons the multitude together because he's going to tell them what he plainly told his men. They needed to tell everybody else that he was going to suffer and die. And if anybody wants to follow me, they have to follow me that way, no other way. That's Christianity.

That's the gospel. The cross was at the essence of the gospel of Christ. He says it no less than five times in the gospels. If any man wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. If he said it once, it'd be enough, right? If he said it once, it'd be authoritative enough. But he had to say it five different times in five different ways to make sure we understood that if you want to follow Christ, this is the way you follow it. And so what do you have? Despite the importance of the teaching of Christ, despite the importance of the example of Christ, despite the importance of the works of compassion that Christ did, none of those were essential to his mission.

He had a mission. He had a focus. He had a purpose. And what dominated his mind was not the living of his life, but the giving of his life. That is what dominated the life of Christ. And if you read the gospel of John, he refers to the hour seven different times in the gospel of John. In fact, the Bible tells us that half of the book of John is committed to the last days of Christ's life and his death. A third, a fourth to a third of the other synoptic gospels are given to the last days and death of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

The cross is what Jesus was. was about. So when he hung on the cross, he said, why hast thou forsaken me? My God, my God, why? And then he could cry, it is finished. What was finished? The mission, the purpose that he told his mother Mary about way back when he was 12 years of age. I've got to be about my father's mission. I've got to be about my father's purpose. I've got to do what God's call me to do. Now I can say, it is finished into thy hands. I can be in my spirit. The work is done. It's over.

I did what I was predetermined. to do the eternity past. It was John Stott, who said these words, if the cross is not central to our religion, ours is not the religion of Jesus. For when he was about to die, he broke bread with his men. He said, this is a memorial. This is what I want you to remember.

Don't forget it. And I want you to break bread, and I want you to do it as often as you possible. we can because this is how I want to be remembered. This is what it's about. And why do I want to be remembered this way? Because this is the essence of the gospel. This is what the gospel is all about. And the gospel you preach has to be clearly demonstrated through the cross life. And so what do you do? When you read the book of Acts, what do you see? Peter, Paul, the apostles emphasizing what? The cross of Jesus Christ and following him with all that you have.

The cross was central to everything Jesus said and did. That was his life. I say all that because Jesus said what? Follow me. Follow me. You know, we need to stop asking people, are you a Christian? That's just not the right word to use anymore. Why? Because it's so misunderstood. You need to ask you, are you a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ? That's how you need to state it. Are you a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ? Because when God called the man, he said, follow me. He went to Peter, James, John, Andrew, follow me, follow me, follow me.

13 times uses the phrase in the Gospels, follow me. And he uses the phrase, come. And so you see people who, when they come, are following Christ, right? So what do you have in the Gospels? You have Christ calling people to do what? To follow him. Why? Because that's what Christians do. They follow Jesus Christ. They follow in its footsteps. John 10, my sheep, hear my voice. I know them, and they what? they follow me. They follow me. Where do they follow you, Lord? Anywhere the Lord takes them. Anywhere?

Anywhere? Because that's what it means to be a Christian, right? To follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And so they would come and they would follow Him. And at the very end of Christ ministry on the earth, after he had already died and rose from the dead and before he ascended, and they were having breakfast there on the beach in the Sea of Galilee with Peter and the disciples. And Christ said to Peter, Peter, you love me. He said, oh yeah, I love you. He said, feed my sheep. You know, the whole. scenario they went through.

At the very end, he says, Peter, follow me. And Peter said, well, what about John? Does he not have to follow you? And Jesus said, don't worry about John, Peter. You follow me. He goes, I want to tell you something in John 21, verses 18 to 19. Peter, I'm going to tell you what kind of death you're going to die. You're going to be crucified, Peter. You're going to be crucified. Peter. You follow me, Peter. See, that's the essence of the gospel, following Jesus Christ. And so you have this crowd in their curiosity.

And they're asking all kinds of questions. And they're hoping that Jesus is going to do for them as a nation when he's done for them personally. And they think that just following Jesus is just to get behind him and walk with him. He'll take him to Jerusalem and he'll overthrow to Roman government and he'll become the king and we'll plot him and glorify him. And he's the greatest. But Jesus sees their hearts. He knows it's not committed to him. So he says, listen, I'm glad that you're here but you need to understand something before you go one step further I want you to count the cost I want you to count the cost of following me I'm going to lay it right on the table for you right here boom if any man come back to me hate not father mother brother sister son or daughter even his own life he cannot be one of my followers he can't If he didn't take up his cross and follow me, he can't.

He cannot be one of my disciples. And then he gives the two parables about counting the cost. And then he says, and if you don't give up your own possessions, you cannot be one of my disciples. It isn't that, you know what, you can be half-hearted disciple. No, you just can't be one of my followers. Just can't do it. I'm sorry. This is the way it is. And so he would preach about his mission and purpose and life. and Christ would want to give them a reality check. So we move to point number two, Christ in his comments.

I want to look at those comments with you this morning, this evening. Sorry, just briefly. But before I do, I want to help you understand something. There are many people who teach that this passage of scripture in Luke chapter 14 has nothing to do with salvation, but has everything to do with a deeper commitment to Jesus Christ. Folks, that's just not true. That's just not true. People will say, I've read the books on them, I've listened to tapes on preachers who preach them, that you can be a Christian.

And sometime down the road, you can recommit your life to Christ and become a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Folks, that's just not what the Bible teaches. When Christ said, go into all the world and make disciples, He was saying, I want you to go on to all the world and preach the gospel. I want you to go into all the world and make disciples, make followers of me. Baptizing them. Who do you baptize? When a person becomes a Christian, do you wait until you later on it becomes a disciple, then you baptize them?

No, that's not what the New Testament teaches. When someone got saved, they were baptized. Why? Because they were identifying with the life of Jesus Christ, and they wanted everybody to know that this is my commitment to follow Christ. And they were baptized. If Christ had gone into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, he means that when you go into all the world and preach the gospel, you are telling people what it means to be a follower of me.

That's what he was saying. In fact, in Acts chapter 6, it says these words, now at this time why the disciples were increasing in number. Who was increasing in number? The disciples. Does that mean that there were believers over here, and yet there are more people over here just more committed to Christ? No. The disciples were the people who had given their lives to Christ and were followers of Christ. It says down in verse number two, and the 12 summoned the congregation of the disciples.

They summoned together the church. The people that at this time was around 5,000 people. They were the congregation of the disciples. You can go on and read about it in chapter 11, verse number 26. It says this. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

Listen, they weren't even called Christians to Acts chapter 11. What were they called? They were all called disciples. They were all called followers of Jesus. Listen, in the book of Acts, the word disciple is used interchangeably with the word Christian, follower, believer. They're all the same. And yet today we have tried to come up with a new theology. You can give your life to Christ. You can become a Christian and live any way you want. And sometime down the road, you can make a deeper commitment to God, and you can make them Lord of your life.

No, that's not what the Bible says. Jesus never said that. He said, you want to come after me? This is what you've got to do. This is the way it is. It's all or it's nothing at all. That's the way Jesus said it. Now, you see, we don't have to preach that today because if we do, then that means that people really have to. to have to change. People don't want to do that. You see, when I preach the gospel, I don't have to worry about whether or not somebody comes to Christ because that's not my job.

My job is to preach the message. God's job is to bring people to himself. Because I had to ask myself the question, why does Christ use such offensive language? I mean, can you imagine some evangelists today standing up in some big amphitheater or some big stadium and saying, okay, if you want to follow Christ, you've got to hate your mother, got to hate your father, got to hate your brother, got to hate your sister, you've got to hate your own life. You got to sell all your possessions. You got to deny yourself.

You got to take up your cross. Daddy, follow him. Who's with me? Right? Nobody could come. Who wants to do that? So why would Jesus do that? Why would Jesus use such offensive language? They'd turn people away. Simply this. Because he was eager. Listen, he was eager to chase the uncommitted away from him. He was eager to chase the uncommitted away and draw true followers to himself. Why is that? Because he didn't want half-hearted people deceived into thinking they were in the kingdom. That's why.

He didn't want anybody deceived. He wasn't going to dilute the message so people would think, oh, this is okay. No, it's not okay. He gave him a full dose of the message. He would chase the uncommitted away, and only the committed would stay. Only those who were truly called by God would stay. Only the true Christian would stay. That's so good. You see, in the Bible, if you were a disciple of the Lord, the Christians were called disciples, but not all disciples were Christians. Because Judas was the disciple, right?

He was the follower of the Lord. He preached the word. He cast out demons. He even healed the sick. Think about that. He was the disciple. And everybody else, the other 11, thought that Judas was one of them. So when Jesus said, there's one of you that's a devil. There's one of you who's going to betray me. Is it I? Is it I? No one said, oh, it's Judas. He's the one. Oh, we knew it all the time. No, they didn't know. Didn't have the foggicide. He was a disciple. outwardly, but not inwardly. He had not been changed.

See that? And here, the same message as everybody else heard. Christ would preach it because he wanted them to know for certain this is the way it is. Listen, three things you've got to get. When Jesus said, if any man come after me, you must be willing to serve me and serve me alone. You must be willing to stand for me and stand for me alone. And you must be willing to suffer for me and suffer for me alone. That is the gospel in a nutshell. You've got to serve me above everybody else. You've got to stand for me, even though nobody else stands with you.

And you must suffer for me, if called to. Now, those three are a whole sermon. But we need to just sort of introduce them for you before we close this evening. in just a couple of minutes that we have. Because some of you're going to go out here saying, why Jesus want me to hate my parents? I love my parents. I love my kids. I love my wife. I love my husband. And Jesus says, I got to hate him?

That doesn't make sense to me. I'm confused. That's what Jesus says. You've got to be willing to serve me. I'm your priority. I've got to be the priority. See, a lot of people come to Christ, but Christ is not a priority. They come to Christ superficially. Christ doesn't say, literally, look, you come up to me, you've got to hate everybody else. That's not what he's saying. You see, you come up to me, you've got to love me so much, so much. The love you have for your wife, your kids, to the world.

It looks like you hate them because that's how much you love me. You are so committed to me. You are so willing to serve me. You are so committed to doing. You're so loyal to me that nothing supersedes that loyalty. Nothing so important that we're so important that we're so willing to serve me. we need to be able to get that as Christians today because you know what? Isn't it not true that there are times when other things take precedence over Christ in our lives? You see, understand this. It doesn't mean that when you become a Christian, you never fail to do what God says you need to do.

Peter failed, right? He didn't stand for Christ. He failed Christ. Ah, but when the opportunity arose, he depended of a sin, got right with God, right? That's what Paul told Timothy 1-8. Timothy, don't be ashamed of the gospel. Maybe Timothy was starting to be a little shamed. Maybe he was standing as strong as he should. Paul has to remind you, Timothy, don't be ashamed of the gospel, nor of me, nor of me, a soldier of Christ, nor of our God. Timothy, don't be ashamed. Stand strong, Timothy. You see, just because you have a moment, a failure, doesn't invalidate your credential as a Christian.

Because we all fail, right? But the pattern of our lives says, I'm willing to serve. I'm willing to stand. Need me? If need me, I'm willing to suffer. Because I'm going to take up my life. my cross and follow Christ. It was Dietrich Bonhofer who said these words about following Christ and the cross of Christ. I think it's so, so important if I can find it. Ah, here it is. He says, as we embark upon discipleship, we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death. We give over our lives to death.

Thus, it begins. The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise God fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him.

Or it may be the death like Luther's who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. Jesus' summons to the rich young man was calling him to die, because only the man who is dead to his own will can follow Christ. In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die with all our affections and lusts. Every day the Christian encounters new temptations, and every day he must suffer anew for Jesus Christ's sake. The wounds and the scars he receives in the fray are living tokens of this participation in the cross of His Lord.

the cross is the essence of the message of Christianity. Without the cross, there is no Christianity. And Christ came to die the cross. He expects those who follow him to be willing to die as he died. That's what it means to be a Christian. Now, I'm sure you have many questions. Over the next two weeks, I hope to answer those as we continue our study in this parable. But understand this. The essence of the gospel was preached by the one who came to seek and to say that which is lost. Let's pray.