The Cost of Discipleship
“DON’T QUIT”
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.
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.
Most of us 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.”
4 points today!
Point one DON’T QUIT!!!!!
Luke 14:25–27 (ESV)
25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,
26 “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.
27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
Did He say “hate”, I thought Jesus was about love?
· 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.”
· 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.
· Who is it that you would choose over Jesus?
You will face pressure as a disciple of Jesus, to quit being His devoted follower from those that you love.
o Your parents
o Your spouse
o Your Kids
o Your brother or sisters
· Jesus’ hardest days were lonely. Family, friends turned their backs on Him.
· And you will have to pick up your cross and follow
o Following will be hard
o It will be necessary
o So Jesus wants you prepared!
We live in a consumer culture.
· You don’t like this church; you go to that church.
· You find someone to give you what you want, not what you need.
· How many paths of least resistance have you chosen?
· How many times have you already quit? How many ways have you already quit?
We are all 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!!
Luke 14:28–30 (ESV)
28 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?
29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,
30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
· Some of you have committed to far too much.
o Some of you have got to learn to say no.
o It’s better to do one or two things right than seven things half done.
o Jesus says, “Before you start something, do your homework. Make sure you 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.
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.
Jesus is making this clear upfront. 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.
o Don’t blame everyone else.
o Don’t make excuses.
o Own it and Do not quit.
· Do not quit, don’t quit on Jesus and don’t quit as a Christian
Point Three: DON’T QUIT! (there is a theme here)
Luke 14:31–33 (ESV)
31 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?
32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
· 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 Gettin' 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 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!
Luke 14:34–35 (ESV)
34 “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?
35 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.”
· We’re supposed to be like salt.
o We’re supposed to be preserving the kingdom.
o We’re supposed to enhance life for others
o We are supposed to clean our wounds
o And at times sting a little!
· And Some of us are just worthless.
o We have lost our taste
o Our sting
o Our zeal for Jesus
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 about being a disciple along the way.
· That’s what’s really important.
· So many Christians do so little for the one who gave so much.
· 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.
Conclusion: Momentum is either forward or backward.
God is blessing us beyond measure. We are growing and bringing lost folks in and creating disciples. Jesus showed up at an unlikely place, among an unlikely people, and did an unlikely thing, and that we get to be a part of it is simply amazing. I’m more motivated and excited than I’ve ever been.
The bar is set high because this is a kingdom operation, this is a kingdom mission. And Jesus says if you really want to raise your hand, make sure you’re good to the end.
And it will be Christian consumers that will kill churches today.
· There are some fantastic, amazing disciples of Jesus here.
· They give, pray, serve, care, and they are part of the miracle of God’s grace.
· We have folks here that are meeting Jesus for the first time!
· In today’s culture and with what’s going on in the world today, it’s very easy to become a consumer
· To stay on the sidelines and consume and never engage! Satan is making that easier than ever!
We all have to make a decision: producer or consumer, disciple or disappointment, contributor or consumer.
Are you in or are you out? And it’s not just getting emotional right now. It how we will answer that question at the end of our life with our fruit!
And Jesus says you’ve got to pick your team, you’ve got to serve your God, you’ve got to determine your life, you’ve got to select your fate, you’ve got to pick up your cross, you have to carry your weight, you have to die to self, you have to die to others you have to die to this world and follow Him!
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