The Cost of Discipleship for paper
Most people picture Jesus as a calm, nonthreatening, warm fellow. The kind of person you like the first time you meet. He doesn’t get ruffled or easily agitated. However, that Jesus isn’t the Jesus who shows up in Luke 14. “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.” Luke 14: 26
A call to hate the very people we were created to love is jarring. It gets our attention, just as it was meant to get the attention of the crowds gathered around Jesus. Our life in Christ is a life in tension. Some would say that Jesus’ call to discipleship in Luke 14 is beyond radical, that it’s fanatical. Not able to stand the tension of the text, we might be tempted to explain away the tension. Often we want to take these difficult passages and make them seem more reasonable. Perhaps through the use of the original Greek and or a few well-placed literary devices, we try to calm the reading down so readers won’t be too distressed with Jesus’ statement. But that is not what we are going to do today.
Rather than dodge the tension, I want to challenge you to allow the tension to do what it’s supposed to do: bring our daily lives in alignment with our faith life. Sometimes when we have a pain in our hip, our lower leg, or our shoulder, we go to a chiropractor. He, with some pushing, twisting, and pulling, brings our spine back into alignment, and the pain goes away. The pushing and pulling is the tension of our text. What we believe and what we live can get out of alignment. Living in the tension of this text brings us the alignment we need. We discover that living Christ’s call to discipleship means giving up everything for him.
Luke 14 began with the statement that large crowds were gathered around Jesus. Paul’s words describe this crowd. They’re interested but not committed. It’s to this crowd that Jesus issues this shocking ultimatum: “Hate your father and mother, give up everything you have,” In other words, the life we are called to live in Christ necessitates our active and uncompromising participation. It’s time to wake up and join the mission. The Discipleship we are called to is not a spectator sport. It demands participation. It is both costly and active.
Yes the cost of discipleship can be shocking to our ears. Jesus really did say, “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.” There’s no easy way to hear these words. The call to discipleship is a call to hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters. While it’s clear that Jesus is not speaking literally, we shouldn’t take the statement lightly. To be clear, the choice is not literally to hate your friends and family. It is, however, a call to put faith first, obedience first, Jesus first in your life. Following Jesus or discipleship is to be first in our lives, not any part of our family and not something that is done as we have time.
That’s what it looks like when we, as disciples, faithfully follow Jesus. It looks like living out our faith, sharing the Gospel, and defending the truth, even when the rest of our family or friends are wringing their hands, asking us to tone it down. It looks like standing up and speaking out the Gospel truth, even when we fear the consequences.
Now discipleship is not the same thing as acting like a jerk, being rude, judgmental, or condescending. Our most effective weapon in the kingdom of God is love. We can’t shout or argue people into heaven, but we also can’t remain passive and silent and expect them to wake up to the truth. The message of reconciliation must be spoken if it is to be heard! The call of discipleship is costly, and today is the day to wake up and start living that call to discipleship by boldly speaking the truth about our Savior to those who do not know Jesus.
First we talked about “hating” even our family. Second, God makes it clear that the cost of discipleship is not just surrender of our family, but Jesus calls us to surrender everything. Jesus said in our text “If anyone . . . does not hate . . . even his own life, he cannot be my disciple”.
As with our relationships, Jesus is not calling us literally to give away everything we have and to hate living. He is calling us to view all of God’s good gifts from the steward’s perspective. If I’m the owner, the well-being of my property and my relationships is dependent on my work and my diligence. This means my focus is on my stuff. I’m not focused on the things of God. By surrendering ownership to Jesus, I manage and care for his good gifts. This shift from me owning all my stuff and owning my own self to just being a steward of what God has given me, including my own life, does two things. First, it aligns my priorities with God’s priorities: people before stuff, eternal before temporal. Second, it releases me from the anxiety and stress I experience because of my stuff.
Today, Jesus calls us with unflinching clarity to take up a life of unwavering devotion to him and his kingdom mission, to surrender all as we follow him. The Discipleship we are called to is not a spectator sport. It demands participation. It is both costly and active. And that dear friends, is the true cost of discipleship.
Blessings