"Discipleship" 5-25-25
Overview
The Cost—and the Grace—of Discipleship
As the Pilgrim crowd swelled around Jesus on the way to Jerusalem, He turned and spoke words that thinned the crowd rather than swelled it: "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple" Luke 14:26. Jesus was never interested in assembling a crowd; He was interested in making disciples. Anyone can gather a crowd—witness the multitudes who wanted to make Him king after the loaves and fishes—but when He preached discipleship, "many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him" John 6:66, and the rich young man "went away grieving" Matthew 19:22.
Three hard words mark the disciple's life. First, first love: "to hate" father and mother means to love no one and nothing more than Christ. As Matthew records, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me" Matthew 10:37. Every other love—spouse, children, friends—belongs under His. Second, endurance: "Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple" Luke 14:27. The cross is any suffering borne for the name of Christ—awkward moments at work, strained relationships, standing for God's truth. Peter says, "If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name" 1 Peter 4:16. Third, everything: "Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple" Luke 14:33. This is a heart willing to release every possession, recognizing that Jesus is Lord of all and we are merely stewards.
Jesus tells us to count the cost—the unfinished tower, the outmatched king Luke 14:28-32—precisely so that we will discover we cannot pay it. We fall short of putting Him first. We drop the cross. We clench our fists around what we will not surrender. He brings us to the intersection of His call and our honest "I can't"—and there we meet Him again. The One who calls us to count the cost is the One who paid the cost of our redemption: the spotless Lamb who bore our sin, whose blood was shed, whose tomb is empty.
This is why the Great Commission joins disciple-making to baptism: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" Matthew 28:19-20. Baptized child of God, you are already His disciple—grasped, washed, claimed. When we fail to love Him first, His gospel makes us fall in love with Jesus all over again. When we drop the cross of suffering, He picks it up and walks beside us. When we resist His Lordship, His gracious word of forgiveness pries open our clenched fists and shows us the beauty of life under His grace. The life of discipleship is lived, from start to finish, under the empowerment of the One who called us His own. By the grace of God, we are all in for Him—because He was all in for us.
Transcript
Do open your Bibles, please, with me to the 14th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. 4s
If you're using a Pew edition of Holy Scripture, you're going to find that on page 67 in 9s
the New Testament. 15s
Luke, the 14th chapter for our study today. 16s
You will notice that once again, the Christ's candle is a flame. 20s
As we've been talking about that Christ's candle was lit, of course, on Easter Sunday, 26s
and it remains lit for the 40 days after Easter Sunday until the ascension of our Lord. 33s
And the lit Christ's candle is a reminder that during those 40 days, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared many times. 43s
Showing himself as the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. 53s
In fact, the Scripture gives 10 examples of the appearance of Christ. 59s
Scripture tells us that Jesus appeared to some 500 eyewitnesses of his resurrection. 64s
It's coming Thursday, the Christ's candle will go away. 74s
It'll reappear, of course, on baptisms and funerals. 79s
But the Christ's candle will go away because this coming Thursday is the remembrance of the ascension of our Lord into heaven. 84s
Before the ascension, the Lord Jesus Christ gave what's called the Great Commission. 96s
The Great Commission echoes in the gospels. 104s
It's in all four of the gospels. 108s
And in the Mathien account, Matthew relates what Jesus said when he wrote, 110s
that Jesus said, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them. 118s
And the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 125s
and teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. 128s
And, low, I am with you always to the close of the age. 134s
The Great Commission that our Lord gives us to go and to make disciples. 142s
So, we come to our text for today. 152s
Jesus is teaching on discipleship. 156s
And Jesus is teaching in this text, hard words, challenging words. 162s
What do they mean? 173s
Look at the place, at verse 25 of chapter 14. 176s
Now, large crowds were traveling with him. 180s
This was the Pilgrim Throne that was headed the 13th chapter of Luke tells us to Jerusalem 185s
to celebrate the Passover. 191s
And Jesus sees this as a perfect opportunity to teach on discipleship. 194s
Going on, in verse 25, and he turned and said to them, whoever comes to me, 203s
and does not hate Father and Mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, 210s
yes and even life itself cannot be my disciple. 218s
What's the operative word there? 225s
Hate, hate, hate your mother and father, hate your spouse, hate your children, 229s
hate, hate even life itself. 241s
And that if there isn't that hatred, then you cannot be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. 248s
He goes on. 262s
Verse 27, whoever does not carry the cross and follow me, cannot be my disciple. 264s
The cross was his instrument of suffering. 272s
And so if suffering is not born, then you cannot be a disciple of Jesus. 278s
Look down at verse 33. 293s
So therefore none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. 295s
What's the operative word there? 303s
All. 306s
We are to give up everything in order to follow Jesus. 311s
Hate, cross, giving up everything. 322s
And if that isn't done, then what is Jesus respond at the end of each of those verses? 328s
You cannot be my disciple. 334s
You cannot be my disciple. 339s
The Lord Jesus Christ was never interested in assembling a crowd. 350s
If so, he certainly wouldn't have taught like this. 362s
He was never interested in assembling a crowd. 365s
Now certainly there were crowds associated with him. 368s
The crowds that had gathered, sure, our text is case and point of the crowd that had gathered as they were going to celebrate the Passover. 372s
And there is Jesus. 382s
We see crowds around Jesus. 383s
But Jesus was never ever interested in assembling a crowd. 387s
What he was interested in was making the disciple. 393s
That's what he was interested in. 401s
Jesus was never ever concerned about numbers. 405s
Never concerned about it. 411s
What Jesus was concerned about was making the disciple. 413s
That's what he cared about. 422s
No matter how many people were around him. 426s
That was what he was caring about. 428s
In fact, he was fascinating. 430s
That is, you study in the gospels. 432s
Have you noticed that when Jesus starts to teach about discipleship, the crowd thins? 434s
Have you noticed that when Jesus starts to teach about discipleship? 446s
People say, I don't want this. 451s
You see the opposite at times, for example. 455s
When Jesus takes the five loaves and two fish of the boy, 458s
miraculously multiplies it, feeds the thousands. 463s
People love that. 466s
They loved that. 466s
Their bellies were full. 469s
There was leftovers. 470s
They thought this was so fantastic that they moved to immediately make Jesus king. 472s
They loved it. 480s
They loved a full belly. 482s
But when Jesus started to teach about discipleship, 485s
the approval ratings plummeted. 492s
John 6th chapter, Jesus was taught about discipleship. 500s
And it says, because of this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 506s
So Jesus asked the 12, do you also wish to go away? 517s
Scripture tells us in the 19th chapter of Matthew. 526s
It says, when the young man heard this word, what was the word he was teaching on discipleship? 530s
When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving. 534s
Jesus was never interested in assembling a crowd. 541s
Anyone can assemble a crowd. 550s
What Jesus was interested in was making the discipleship. 557s
And when he taught about discipleship, the crowds, the end. 566s
When Jesus teaches about discipleship in our text for today, what does it mean? 580s
What does it mean? 587s
Look again, please. 588s
It verse 25. 590s
Large crowds were traveling with them and he turned and said to them, 593s
whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, 597s
and even life itself cannot be my disciple. 603s
That word hate there. 607s
It means you don't love anything more. 611s
In Matthew, when Jesus was teaching on this subject, 622s
Matthew records that Jesus says, whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, 628s
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 635s
You see, the meaning of hate there? 640s
It's not loving anything more. 644s
Jesus says, you want to be my disciple? 647s
I'm your first love. 650s
I'm your first love. 652s
That means all of the other loves in your life. 655s
A spouse or children or friends. 659s
All of the other loves in life. 664s
It's all Jesus says under the first and foremost love. 667s
Jesus says, that's me. 673s
Jesus says, I'm to be your first love. 676s
What does Jesus mean when he teaches on discipleship? 682s
Look at verse 27, whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 686s
What's the cross? 696s
The cross is any suffering that you endure for being a Christian. 700s
That's the cross. 707s
Any suffering you endure for being a Christian? 709s
Peter puts it this way. 712s
In first Peter 4, he says, you have any of you suffers as a Christian. 713s
Do not consider it a disgrace. 718s
But glorify God because you bear this name. 721s
Jesus says, I'm calling for a life of endurance. 726s
A life of endurance. 731s
That means when you're disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will suffer. 732s
You will suffer. 737s
Suffer comes with it. 739s
Jesus says. 741s
Jesus calls then for endurance. 742s
Suffering comes. 745s
It means that they're going to be awkward situations in the workplace. 746s
It means that you're going to have to stand up for God and God and His truth. 749s
It means it's going to impact relationships. 756s
It means it can impact the family. 760s
It means it can impact the various communities that you are a part of. 763s
Jesus says, to follow me, there will be suffering. 768s
And it's a call to endurance. 775s
To live out the life of discipleship, a call to endurance amid suffering for Christ. 780s
Jesus says, this is what it means to be a disciple. 793s
It means I'm your first love. 797s
Everything else is underneath it. 800s
She says, this is what it means to be a disciple. 802s
It means that you're going to have to endure suffering because you bear the name of Christ. 807s
Look, please, at verse 33. 817s
He says, so therefore, none of you can become my disciples if you do not give up all your possessions. 820s
Now let's Scripture and Turper Scripture here because the book of Acts we see, 827s
that the Lord didn't call His followers and necessarily give up their homes. 832s
What Jesus is talking about here is attitude. 840s
Jesus is saying, to be a follower of me, to be my disciple means that you have a willingness to give up everything. 844s
Jesus is saying, I'm Lord of everything. 855s
Lord of everything. 858s
Jesus is saying, I own everything. 859s
You're just a steward of it. 863s
Jesus is saying, here's the attitude that you are to have a willingness to literally give up everything. 866s
If God wants you to give up your home, then you're to give up your home. 873s
Is that a prescription here? 879s
No, because that's not what we see in the book of Acts. 882s
It's an attitude of the heart that it all belongs to God that He is in charge, 884s
that indeed we are stewards of everything that He puts in our trust. 891s
Jesus is this one means. 900s
This one means. 902s
First love, 907s
endurance, everything. 910s
That's what it means. 919s
Jesus was not interested in assembling a crowd. 924s
Jesus was interested in making the disciple. 936s
It's a count the cost message here from our Lord, count the cost. 949s
He goes on to say picking up in verse 28, 956s
which of you intending to build a tower does not first sit down and estimate the cost. 959s
To see whether he has enough to complete it. 966s
Otherwise, when he's laid a foundation, 969s
it's not able to finish. 972s
All who see it will begin to ridicule him saying, this fellow began to build and was not able to finish. 973s
Or what king going out to wage war against another king will not sit down first, 982s
and consider whether he's able with 10,000 to oppose the one who comes against him with 20,000. 986s
If he cannot, then while the other is still a far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 994s
This is a, you want to follow me, Jesus says, this is count the cost. 1006s
Because Jesus says, I'm not interested. 1015s
I'm not interested in assembling a crowd. 1019s
I'm interested in making the disciple. 1027s
It's not easy being a disciple of Jesus, isn't it? 1040s
It's not easy putting him as our first love all the time. 1048s
It's not easy. 1055s
It's not easy carrying the cross, the suffering that comes with being a Christian. 1058s
It's not easy. 1066s
It's not easy saying, Lord, I want you to be Lord of everything. 1069s
It's not easy having a willingness to say, Lord, whatever you want, whatever you want, 1076s
it's not easy. 1086s
Jesus says count the cost and we do and we realize it's a cost we can't pay. 1094s
And we fall short continually. 1116s
It's a cost that we can't pay. 1123s
And the Lord Jesus Christ brings us in His words to the end of ourselves. 1131s
He brings us to the intersection of His call and our honest assessment of we can't. 1139s
He brings us to that intersection to bring us to the end of ourselves where we realize. 1150s
We count the cost and we can't pay it. 1163s
We can't pay it. 1175s
The Lord Jesus Christ bore our sin on the cross, all of it. 1182s
The Lord Jesus Christ shed His blood for us, the spotless Lamb of God that took our place. 1190s
And the wrath of God fell upon the spotless sinless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, the second member of the Holy Trinity. 1199s
And forgiveness was one for us. 1211s
The tomb is empty. 1217s
The tomb is empty and the sacrifice for sin has been accepted. 1222s
The one who calls us to count the cost is the one who paid the cost of our redemption. 1228s
And God comes to us with grace. 1254s
He comes to us in the waters of baptism and He makes us His disciple. 1262s
What did Jesus say in the Great Commission? 1272s
Go there for and make disciples of all nations. 1275s
How are disciples made? 1280s
What's the next word? 1281s
Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 1285s
That's how the disciple is made. 1291s
You baptized child. 1296s
Are a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ? 1298s
God has grasped you as His own has washed you in the promises and you belong to Him. 1302s
And when day after day we realize that we fall short of putting Him as our first love, what are we here? 1314s
But His word of absolute coming to us. 1330s
We hear the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and God takes that glorious gospel and He uses it so that we will fall in love with Jesus all over again. 1334s
And He keeps doing it every single day. 1350s
When we realize that we so often drop the cross of suffering that comes along with being a Christian. 1354s
What is it that we discover? 1364s
But the Lord Jesus Christ comes alongside and picks it up and sustains us and walks with it. 1366s
When we realize day after day, that we don't want His Lordship and we realize that we say Lord be Lord here but not here. 1375s
And when we realize that a new, what is it that we hear? 1389s
But we hear His gracious word of forgiveness as He prized our clenched fists around what we want to hold on to being Lord of it. 1394s
And He releases the clenched fist and we discover the beauty of the life under His Lordship and in His grace. 1407s
And the beauty of the life when we understand that He's the owner of it all. 1417s
What is it that we discover? 1424s
Beloved day after day after day from the Lord Jesus Christ. 1426s
But we discover that our life of discipleship is lived totally under the empowerment of the one who called 1433s
us in the waters of baptism, His disciple. 1447s
What it is that we discover at the intersection of His call and our cant is God's graciousness. 1453s
What we discover at the end of ourselves is once again the Lord Jesus Christ. 1467s
The beauty of Christ. 1477s
We've studied these weeks that a disciple of the disciple is made and molded. 1484s
We discovered these weeks that disciples we stumble. 1495s
We've discovered these weeks that the Lord calls us to imitate, imitate others in the faith when we see their God produced witness and to imitate by God's power. 1501s
The godliness of God Himself. 1520s
We've discovered the call and empowerment of God with regard to witnessing and we've discovered these weeks that when we count the cost and we find ourselves wanting. 1524s
God's grace surrounds us and it powers us. 1547s
For by the grace of God we're all in for Him the one who paid it all for us. 1558s
Thank you. 1590s