Counting the Cost

Luke 14:25-33

A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, "If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else-your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters-yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.

"But don't begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, 'There is the person who started that building and couldn't afford to finish it!

"Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? And if he can't, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own."

Today, we see Jesus on the move, he is walking with his students and a large crowd is following him. Surrounded by the mixed multitude of true believers, counterfeit believers, nonbelievers, those who were genuinely confused and searching in their suffering for an answer, those hardened by life beyond redemption who were there for the show-the next miracle, those truly in need of a miracle... a mixed bag so to speak swarming around Jesus, Rabboni, Healer. Humanity pressing in on Jesus as it had from that first moment when I AM had breathed the first breath of His spirit into the first man, Adam. For it was at that moment that He who began a good work in each of us knew us before we were even knitted by Him in our mother's womb. Jesus in this swarm of rabble, Jews and Gentiles, believers and non, Jesus interrupts where He is going and stops to take a moment to teach those following Him. Knowing that He can save some, but others through their own free will were out of His grasp; Jesus pauses, He turns, and speaks truth to those with ears to hear and listen and understand. Shocking words from The WORD who was there from before the beginning.

Jesus, who knew the heart of each person in that large crowd, was not impressed by the number of people there. He knew that some were genuine in seeking Him and believing Him to be the true Messiah. Likewise, the crowd was also filled with those seeking excitement or looking for Him to make an error to the law or worse. Speaking to them plainly, Jesus seeks to weed the wheat from the chaff and to cause each to pause and ponder if they were truly ready to follow Him. Salvation offered through Jesus is free to each of us, but it comes at the great cost of giving up one's life to Him for His purpose and glory. He knows this and He wants each of us then and now to understand before we commit to Him. Giving Him our whole heart and nothing less... there are no halves in what we bring to Him.

"To be my disciple, you must by comparison, hate everyone else..." In Greek, "hate" is the word "misei" and means detest, love less, esteem less. Jesus is calling us to love Him more than everyone and everything else in our lives: our father and mother, our spouse and children and siblings. We are admonished to even hate, by comparison, our own lives. Is Jesus telling us to hate everyone and ourselves in these statements. Of course not! He tells us in Mark 12:30-31 to love the Lord with everything within us and to love our neighbors as ourselves. So how is this not a conflict. Jesus is a Messiah of few words, but each word He speaks is of importance. So we must look at the small phrase inserted that says "by comparison." So important in this condition to be his disciple. By comparison meaning "in proportion" we must love Jesus more... We must love Jesus more than we love our father and mother and siblings, spouse and children and even our own life. He must be the love of our life and all else is secondary.

"And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple." The Cross, an instrument of violence and torture in Jesus' time, must have been as shocking an image to the crowd surrounding Him as it is to us today. The Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace did not come to end all suffering and pain for God's chosen. Rather, He came to show us how to carry our own suffering and pain in obedience and trust in God, the Father. Jesus carried His cross to His death and resurrection in atonement for our sins at His Father's request and He did so obediently and humbly and with forgiveness towards his persecutors. We are called to no less in carrying our burdens, trials, storms, suffering. If we are to be His disciple, we are called to trust and obey in Him and His will with a grateful heart for his steadfast love and tender mercies and not with a grumbling spirit like a Hebrew in the desert. We follow Him and trust that in all we endure God will work it for our good and for His glory as He promised in Romans 8:28.

"But" Jesus warns us, "do not begin until you count the cost." Being a disciple of Jesus means we are His follower, His student, surrendering everything to Him and being obedient to Him. We imitate Him in all that we do and He only does and says what the Father has taught Him and told Him to do or say. It is our obedience to Jesus that shows others we are His true disciple. But the cost to be His disciple is steep. It is nothing less than total self renunciation and a real taking up of our cross. No longer is our motivation self: self determination, self love, self identity. We are all in and we are all His. Jesus realizes as He did when He paused to teach the large crowd following Him that our time is short. His end was near in those days and He needed the multitude following Him to understand that their cross would be as heavy as His cross if they were to follow Him. The same is true for us today. Our days are short and we must ask ourselves if we are truly prepared to actually take up our own crosses to be His disciple, even if it were to lead to white or red martyrdom. Our prayer always on our lips must be "LORD, give me the strength and courage to end the race well with holiness and endurance no matter the cost to this temporary physical life of mine. Amen."

"So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own." Everything... Your spouse, your children, your health, your home, your church family, your favorite Mexican restaurant, the porcelain statue of Jesus holding a lamb your Grandmother gave you for your tenth birthday, your illusions of life, your self determination. your life of ease and comfort and trivialness, your pursuit of all things of this world, your clicks on social media. Your own life... Everything.

To follow Jesus, to be His disciple will cost you everything: sacrifice, suffering, opposition, persecution. (Wendy Bender, Inspire Ministries, Red Letters of Jesus course).

And what He gives you in return is life everlasting... A life filled with His protection and provision. A life filled with His steadfast love and tender mercies. A life that is a sweet aroma to Him. Eternity with Him in the New Jerusalem...

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian and martyr from Nazi Germany, states: The Cost of Discipleship. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.

Praying that you consider the cost of being a disciple of Jesus and you respond to Him with "My Lord and my God. I give you my all."

May He be with you each moment and may you respond with gratitude and peace. Amen