The Cost of Discipleship

Study of Luke 14:25-35

Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, “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. 

Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 

So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

— Luke 14:25-35

It must be every preacher's delight to see their followers become large enough to start a megachurch. And many preachers whose ambition is to draw disciples after themselves and not for Christ would try to be cool by watering down fiery truths and softening hard facts of Scripture, soft enough to just tickle the ears.

But Jesus is no men-pleaser. He is the Word of God incarnate.

“Is not My word like fire?” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock?

— Jeremiah 23:29

Jesus is no happier to be followed by many uncommitted disciples than a few committed ones. In a multitude of followers, it's likely that many of them don't really understand what they are getting themselves into. So Jesus wanted to make it crystal clear what it would cost them to follow Him, not to discourage, but to prepare anyone who wants to be His committed disciple. Jesus describes those who cannot be His disciple.

“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. 

The word hate here does not mean malice and hostility towards our family. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor as our self and our closest neighbor is our family. He even commanded us to love our enemies. Jesus is using hyperbolic statement to emphasize His demand of supreme love for Him that it would seem we hate all other people in comparison. He cannot have any rival but as Peter said, "sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts"— 1 Peter 3:15a. Matthew puts it this way

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

— Matthew 10:37

The Mosaic Law demands death penalty to family members who would try to entice them to worship false gods.

“If your brother, your mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him. But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.

— Deuteronomy 13:6-11

The people closest to us sometimes are the greatest obstacles to our faith. Eve made Adam disobey God, Sarah made Abraham polygamous, Lot's daughters made him commit incest, Job's wife told him to curse God, and many other examples. If we love anyone more than God, sooner or later we will choose to obey and please them at the expense of offending and disobeying God. 

If it seems too harsh to hate (love less) our own family, Jesus said we should hate (love less) our own life too. God gave us everything including our own life and family. If a materialistic person can love the gifts he received more than the people who gave them, it shouldn't be the case for Christ's disciples. God is the ultimate source of all the things we enjoy in life and even our very life, even our ability to love we owe to Him, so it should be absurd to love any of God's gifts than God Himself. Whatever or whoever we love more than God is our false god.

Jesus describes how it looks like to hate our own life. "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple." Contrary to popular opinion, the cross here does not mean any problems or sickness or anything that causes us pain and suffering without any connection to faithfully doing God's will. Carrying a cross means you are on your death march, you have embraced death. Carrying our cross means dying to self. In Paul's words

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

— Galatians 2:20

It's hard for us to picture in our minds what it looks like to bear our own cross because we are in a time when much of christianity are nominal-- christians by name only but not by life. Bearing our cross is sharing in Christ's suffering as Paul says "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;"

— Philippians 3:10

It is the path of persecution, humiliation, rejection, and even death for Christ's sake. 

"Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."

— 2 Timothy 3:12

For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

— Philippians 1:29

Such is the cost to be a disciple of Christ. And before we think it's not worth it, let us remember what it cost Jesus to save us. He is the One who suffered the most to atone for our sins so He can give us salvation and eternal life for free. Salvation is free but following Christ is costly. It is costly because we need to give up the sins that we love, our selfish ambitions, our comforts, our pride, and we will be swimming against the raging stream of the anti God system of this world, rejected by the sin-loving people of this world, and vehemently opposed and tempted by the ruler of this world.

If we don't calculate the cost like someone building a tower, we wouldn't be able to finish and it will be a monument of shame to people who see it. They would mock at the foolishness of the person who was too excited to build and failed to notice he doesn't have enough resources to complete it. A king with a smaller army would not go to war without a winning strategy against a larger army but will strike a deal for peace instead. Otherwise he will lose his kingdom and even his life in the battle and his name will be printed in history shamefully.

Jesus does not want any half-hearted disciples Who  "does not give up all his own possessions." Those who do not forsake all for Christ now will one day forsake Christ for something or someone else and bring shame to His name. 

“Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

— Luke 14:34-35

We might think that it is impossible for salt to lose its saltiness but in Jesus' time there are impure salt that is mixed with gypsum which loses its saltiness over time. Salt is used as preservative, fertilizer, and seasoning. Likewise Jesus said Christians are the salt of the world. We are God's instruments to halt the further decay of morality in the world, to season the world with our good works, and to fertilize the soil of people's hearts for the seed of the gospel to be planted and grow. But if we lose our saltiness, if we lose our christianity, if we prove to be false disciples and become no longer able to do our purpose, we have become as useless as flavorless salt and ought to be thrown away.

Jesus' says it is very important we pay attention to what He just said above. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

And so may this warning be embedded in our hearts and minds

Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,

— Hebrews 3:12-14

And may we be encouraged to persevere through difficulty because our Lord has overcome the world and through faith in Him we can too.

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

— John 16:33

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world⁠—our faith.

— 1 John 5:4

Peter is one of Jesus' disciples who have forsaken all for Him and has endured persecution and death. We ought to listen how he overcame it all by looking back to what Christ has done for our salvation, sharing in His affliction in the present time as a means of knowing Christ more, and looking forward to the future fulfillment of the promises of our faithful God.

Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

— 1 Peter 4:1-2

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.

— 1 Peter 4:12-16

Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.

— 1 Peter 4:19