Sermon Notes 5-27-2018

The cost of Discipleship

“DON’T OUIT”

Luke 14:25-35

A Life of Discipleship

Salvation costs you nothing, but discipleship will cost you everything. Salvation occurs in a moment. Discipleship takes a lifetime. Salvation is something that God does for you. Discipleship is something you do with God. Sadly, many only preach a life of decision, not a life of discipleship. The result is then people hit hard times, life doesn’t seem to be working, and they become disillusioned with Jesus rather than devoted to Jesus. (Mark Driscoll) 

Discipleship Defined:A disciple is one who believes in Jesus, worships Jesus, serves Jesus, follows Jesus, and obeys Jesus. Yes, believes in Jesus, but doesn’t just believe in Jesus, lives a life in light of that belief.

Jesus is not a salesman. In Luke 14:25–35, Jesus describes the cost of discipleship with some of the strongest, most straight forward language that He uses at any point during His ministry. And He wants to be absolutely, brutally honest with us about what it means to truly be His disciple.

Do not quit. We live in a world filled with quitters. If it gets hard, quit. If it gets hard, it must not be God’s will. If it costs you something, then quitting is acceptable. People quit on God, they quit on their marriages, they quit on their children. 

Some of you continually look for the path of least resistance. Everything that matters is hard. Everything that matters is costly. Everything that matters will hurt. And Jesus says, “Do not quit.”

Point one DON’T QUIT!!!!!

(Read in Luke 14:25–27)

·      No one teaches about love as much, and as well, as Jesus. No one demonstrates love like Jesus. 

·      What is Jesus saying?He’s saying that a relationship with Him needs to be in an altogether different category far above and beyond every other relational commitment we have.

·      Jesus uses the word “hate.”

o   The gold standard commentary on Luke: “The call to hate simply means to love less. The image is strong, but it is not a call to be insensitive or to leave all feeling behind. Following Jesus is to be the disciple’s first love. This pursuit is to have priority over family members and one’s own life, which means that other concerns are to take second place to following Jesus.”

·      You will face relational pressure as a disciple of Jesus to quit being His fully devoted follower from those that you love.

o   Your parents 

o   Your spouse

o   Your kids

o   Your brother or sisters

·      Who is it that you would choose over Jesus?

·      Jesus’ hardest days were lonely. Family, friends turned their back on Him.

·      If need be, you have to pick up your cross and follow Me.

o   Its disrespectful to use the cross for our problems

o   To carry the cross was a dead man walking

It’s a consumer culture. You don’t like this church, you go to that church. You don’t like this preacher, you go to that preacher. You find someone to give you what you want, not what you need. How many churches have you been to? How many decisions have you made? How many paths of least resistance have you chosen? How many times have you already quit? How many ways have you already quit? 

You’re going to die. You are going to die. It may be soon, it may be a while, but you’re gonna end up in a box.  So don’t waste your life. Make your death count. Don’t quit! Don’t quit on Jesus. Don’t quit on your spouse. Don’t quit on your kids. Don’t quit on our church. Don’t quit on the opportunity God sets before us. Do not quit.

Point two: DON’T QUIT!!

Read (Luke 14:28–30)

·      Some of you have committed to far too much. Some of you have got to learn to say no. You’ve got to get over your fear of man. It’s better to do one or two things to completion than seven things to incompletion.

o   Jesus says, “Before you start something, do your homework. Make sure you've got a plan."

·      Do not raise your hand unless you’re ready to see it through to the end.

o   Some of you need to say yes less. And all of us need to do our homework. 

o   We need to evaluate our life. 

§  “What am I capable of?

§  What can I afford? 

§  What can I do? 

§  What are my priorities? 

§  If I raise my hand, I need to see it through to completion.” Do not quit. 

·      Getting married is easy. Fifty years is hard.

Jesus is making this clear up front. It’s about the rest of your life. Jesus doesn’t want a percentage of your time, a percentage of your money, a percentage of your devotion. He wants all of you, all the time. No one makes the kind of request that Jesus does, and no one has the right to. Jesus says if we don’t count the costs, we will be those people who get halfway into our ministry, halfway into our business, halfway into our marriage, halfway into our family, and quit. And it’s an embarrassment. And don’t blame everyone else. Don’t make excuses. Own it and do not quit. Do not quit, and don’t quit on Jesus and don’t quit as a Christian.

Point Three: DON’T QUIT!

Read (Luke 14:31–33)

·      What have you already quit on? 

o   Is your life a series of motivated moments and quitting? 

·      Disciples don’t quit. One of the root words for “disciple” is the same root for “discipline.” A disciple is disciplined.

o   Getting married is easy. Staying married is hard. 

o   Getting saved is easy. Being sanctified is hard. 

o   Makin’ babies is fun. Raising ‘em is work.

o   That’s life. That’s the way it is. And Jesus isn’t gonna lie to any of us and say, “Come to Me and it’ll be easy.

My life was horrible and painful, and then I met Jesus, and now everything’s perfect.

·      THAT’S A BIG FAT LIE!!!!

A true testimony is this: “My life was pretty hard and I met Jesus. It’s gotten a lot worse, but He’s worth it, and one day I’ll be with Him.”

·      Jesus doesn’t fix everything. Jesus just makes the death purposeful. He makes the suffering and the pain and the hardship and the sacrifice meaningful.

·      We have a real enemy, there’s a real war, there’s real conflict, there are real casualties, and there are real quitters. Don’t be one of them.

The Last Point: DON’T QUIT!

Read (Luke 14:34–35)

·      We’re supposed to be like salt.

o   We’re supposed to be preserving for his kingdom. 

o   We’re supposed to enhance life for others.

·      Some of us are just worthless.

·      So how’s it going? Does your life make a difference?

·       Does it count? 

·      Who are you serving? 

·      What are you giving? 

·      Where are you pouring yourself out?

·       What kind of legacy will you leave? 

·      It’s not just accept Jesus and go to heaven when you die. It’s being a disciple along the way. That’s really important. And so many Christians do so little for the one who gave so much.

·      How’s your Bible reading?

·       How’s your prayer life? 

·      How’s your repentance of sin? 

·      How’s your Spirit-filled zeal and devotion?

·       How’s your financial giving?

·       Where are you serving?

·       Who are you helping?

·       What are you accomplishing?

·       What are you completing?

·       Or have you already quit?

You need to be in community. The truth is you and I will not make it to the end alone. We’ll not see this life of opportunity and obligation to completion all by ourselves. I’ve seen it over and over and over and over and over and over and over. Where did they go? They’re not coming anymore. Oh, now they’re not even walking with Jesus. Oh, now their life is falling apart. Oh, now their marriage is falling apart. Don’t quit.