Luke 14:25-35
“Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, ‘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 bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
So therefore, any one of you who does not give up all his own possessions, cannot be my disciple.
Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile.’”
When I hear this passage, it reminds me of how Jesus is so very different than we are. We think – “Wow! Look at the big crowd!” Isn’t this the ultimate mark of success today; to draw a crowd?
But what does Jesus do? Jesus turns to them and tells them “give up everything and if you can’t, don’t even try to be my disciple.”
Jesus simply isn’t interested in casual, nominal, half-hearted followers. He wants people who will give up everything for him and the kingdom of God.
Crowds are great (don’t get me wrong) but it has to be a crowd that understands and accepts what Jesus requires. Lets look at what Jesus requires in this passage.
He mentions . . .
Three things we must give up to follow him
1. Our family – v. 26 – “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters . . . he cannot be my disciple.”
He pretty much covers it all – parents, spouses, children and siblings.
The word “hate” certainly stands out. What does this mean? Well, in Matthew 10:37 he says it this way – “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” To hate our family means that we love Jesus more than our family.
So Jesus is saying in comparison to our commitment to and love for him, it will appear that we hate our family.
What Jesus is saying is that:
- If they reject you for your commitment to Jesus, you will still choose Jesus. Your love for him is greater, so from their point of view it looks like you hate them.
- If Jesus calls you to serve and you have to leave family behind – you will do what Jesus says. In Mark 10:29 Jesus talks about those who must leave behind family for his sake.
Jesus calls us to give up our family for the sake of the kingdom. Jesus comes first.
2. Our own life – the rest of v. 26 says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate . . . even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”
Again, the idea is that in comparison to our love for and commitment to Jesus, it will look like we hate our own life in this world.
- If you have to give up your own worldly dreams and aspirations to be faithful to Jesus – you will.
- If you are ridiculed because of him – you will give up your reputation.
- Or more extremely, if you are threatened with death because of him – you will give up your life.
Jesus calls us to give up our very lives for the sake of the kingdom. Jesus comes first.
3. Our possessions – this comes from near the end of the section, in v. 33 – “Any one of you who does not give up all his own possessions, cannot be my disciple.”
To give up means to forsake or to renounce; to let go of. “Possessions” or “all that we have” – means all that we own, anything that is ours – property, houses, cars . . . whatever we own.
- If God asks you to be generous and give of what you have (like he does with everyone) – you will.
- If God asks you to leave it all behind (like the apostles) to follow Jesus – you will
- If God literally asks for it all (like with the rich young ruler who was told to give it all to the poor) – you will.
Jesus calls us to give up all our possessions, for the sake of the kingdom. Jesus comes first.
So as we can see from these examples:
We have to give up everything to follow Jesus
v. 27 sums all this up – “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”
Crosses are instruments of death. It was the electric chair of the ancient world. You take up an instrument of death, for one reason, to kill something. In this case, to kill your worldly life.
Family, possessions, your own life, all have to be on the altar. All are crucified for the sake of the kingdom. Whatever God asks for, we will give.
This is a total and complete giving up of everything for the sake of the kingdom. If you think this is extreme . . . well, it is! Which might well lead us to ask . . .
Why do we have to give it all up?
Jesus repeats three times – v. 26, 27, 33: if you don’t give all this up, you “cannot be my disciple.” He doesn’t mean, you know, you can’t be in my club. A kind of hoop you have to jump through. He is saying, you are not able to be my disciple.
The answer is that the demands of the kingdom are so strenuous, so absolute, unless you pursue it above all else, unless you “seek first the kingdom of God,” unless you give up everything, you will fail; you will wash out. In the words of vs. 34-35: “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
The kingdom requires everything of us, and so we must be willing to give everything. Otherwise we will not be able to follow Jesus.
Next, we look at the two parables that are sandwiched in the middle of all this teaching, which sum up . . .
Jesus’ challenge
The point of both of these illustrations is the same. Don’t start something you can’t finish, whether it be a tower or a war. Before you start, make sure you have what it takes to come through on the commitment.
- Make sure you can finish the tower, otherwise you will be embarrassed when you can’t.
- Make sure you can overcome your opponent, otherwise send for terms of peace so you don’t lose.
What’s going on here is that Jesus notices that it has become popular to follow him, and so he says to the crowds – “Have you counted the cost?” “Are you sure you want to be my disciple? Because it will take everything you have.”
But we are so different today, in fact, we have things all upside down.
We have everything backwards
We have domesticated Jesus so well, that we can’t even hear his radical call anymore. We have tamed Jesus and turned him into his opposite. Instead of us giving up everything for the kingdom, we have Jesus giving us everything we want including, our desires for our lives, family and all the possessions we would like to have.
- We have the “get me to heaven” gospel, where Jesus gives me salvation and my life doesn’t have to change. Jesus gives me everything, and I don’t have to give him anything.
- We have the “self-help” gospel, where Jesus gives me self-fulfillment. Jesus helps me in my quest for self-actualization, and happiness.
- And then we have the “prosperity” gospel, where Jesus makes me prosperous and able to be self-indulgent like the rest of our culture and society around us.
What a spiritually bereft generation we are a part of! We are so trivial, so self-centered, so spoiled. We ask, “What can Jesus do for me?” “How can Jesus make me happy?” You know, what’s in it for me?
We want to be Christians, but without the cost. We want to call ourselves faithful, but without the cross.
But life is not about us, and Jesus is not about meeting our selfish desires and promoting our self-serving dreams.
What does Jesus say to us?
. . . we, the crowds of us who gather around him today? Well, Jesus doesn’t change. He says the same thing today that he said to that crowd of old:
“If you cling to family, life, and possessions above me, you are not able to be my disciples.”
“It is only when you give up everything for me, that will you be able to be my disciple. Only then, will you be able to finish what you have started in your life with God.”
May we hear and respond to Jesus’ challenge to us today. William Higgins
Christian teaching 