April 6, 2008 A.M.
25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
34 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
35 It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
In very dramatic words that do not come across in our English translation, verse 25 tells us that Jesus turned around to face and address a great multitude of people who were travelling along with Him and His disciples. What we don't get from the English is that Jesus seems to have spun around very quickly as though He was aggravated at this group of people. The language describes a scene where Jesus just suddenly stops, whirls around, and confronts the crowd.
In the reading of our text we see no obvious reason for Jesus to begin speaking to the crowd. What has happened starting with verse one is that Jesus went into the home of one of the chief Pharisees to eat a Sabbath Day meal. While He was there, there was a very sick man who either snuck in or had been placed there on purpose, and Jesus took that opportunity to heal him. Jesus then preached to the Pharisees and He wasn't really all that nice about it. He actually ended up telling them that people like that old sick man He healed were going to end up in the kingdom, while the Jews as a whole were not.
It looks like Jesus left without even eating, but whether or not that's the case, news of what He had just done made it outside and into the streets. He had just told the Pharisees (the preachers, the leaders - the respected people of the community) that they weren't going to enter the kingdom. People saw Him standing up to them and that is what attracted them to Jesus. He was a charismatic man, there was something different about Him, and He was telling the leaders what was what. The people loved it, but to them it was like a show: a soap opera.
When Jesus left, these people who admired Him followed along, but most of them weren't following for any other reason than He had impressed them. I can kind of imagine the people being excited and wondering out loud what bold thing Jesus would do or say next. Although the Bible doesn't say, it doesn't take much imagination to understand that they were talking excitedly about what He had done as they followed Jesus. "He really told those Pharisees how it is." No doubt He heard all this talk and it got under His skin. He stopped, He whirled around, and He began to speak to them about what they needed to do before they decided to go any further with Him.
Jesus is speaking to a crowd of people who were following Him and His disciples. He's speaking to them about what it takes to be a disciple of Christ. The time is during the early church age. The occasion is that Jesus had just confronted a group of Pharisees and the crowd had been attracted to Him not because of His message, but because they liked the things He had done. Their lesson and ours is that there are many things we need to consider before we ever attempt to become disciples. What did God want us to know about being a disciple?
God wants you to know that:
26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
A. According to Webster's Dictionary, a disciple is follower, student, or learner who follows a teacher and helps to spread his teachings.
a. Most of us (and you readers) have seen people saved in churches. We can't say anything but that their salvation experience seems genuine.
b. We've all seen some of those same people abandon the work and their church, while others stay with it very faithfully.
c. It forces the conclusion that some of them either weren't really saved or that they were saved and didn't become a real disciple.
d. It may be that there are two groups of Christians: saved and saved disciples.
B. It's certainly true that you're not going to become a disciple without making Jesus the greatest love of your life. If any [man - or "anyone"] comes to me, and hates not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
C. If you don't love all these people and even your own life to a lesser degree than you love the Lord Jesus, you can't be a disciple.
God wants you to know that...
27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
A. The twofold qualification stated here is that the disciple must bear his cross and come after Jesus.
B. Today with all the gold and silver crosses on our jewelry, necklaces, and rings, we might forget that the cross is an emblem of suffering, death, and execution.
a. To carry the cross is to come to church even when people see your car in the parking lot and think you're a fool to be here when you could be fishing.
b. To carry the cross is to proclaim God's truth about things like abortion, and homosexual behavior in spite of the fact that the world says you're an unenlightened hillbilly.
c. To carry the cross is to preach Jesus even where Jesus is not wanted or unpopular.
d. To carry the cross is to preach against the drugs and the petitions to make alcohol readily available in our cities that have enough sense to forbid it.
God wants you to know that...
33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
A. To forsake means first to say goodbye to something and then to renounce something. While this verse may have a special application to 1st century disciples and those who are called to preach the Gospel, it applies to all disciples. The duties of a missionary, minister, preacher, or pastor do not differ in content from any other saved person, only in scope.
B. In truth, we all must at least be willing to give up everything if God requires it from us.
God wants you know that...
28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
A. Which one of you will set out to build a storage room without counting the cost to see if you can do it?
B. What king would go to war with 10k men against another king with 20k men without thinking it through? If General Custer would have known his situation he would have made some plan and there wouldn't be such thing as the Little Bighorn. He would have probably sent a few ambassadors to talk to his enemy. As it was, he ended up surrounded and killed in battle.
C. What does all this have to do with discipleship? Just like you would set down and figure out the cost of your building materials and the price you'd have to pay, and just like the king would figure out whether he could win with 10k against 20k, you need count the cost of being a disciple.
a. Is your family more important?
b. Is what the world thinks more important? c. Count the cost and see what's standing between you and Jesus.
Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how you make it salty again? It's not good for anything. You can't plant it and you can't use it for fertilizer. The only thing you can do with it is cast it out.
If you've got a spiritual ear with which to hear, then hear.
A would be disciple is salt that loses its flavor. He may last a long time, but there will come a time when it becomes apparent that he doesn't love Jesus more than anything else. He's not going to pick up a cross every day and follow Jesus. He's not willing to forsake everything for Jesus. He's going to fail because he's not qualified.
How can you make salt salty again? You don't. It's not good for anything except the trash can.
I see the potential for a lot of people to enter into heaven as saved people but with their life as a disciple failed and in the trash.
It's easy to follow along behind Jesus, but it's not so easy to be a disciple. No one would fail if they would count the cost. How's your commitment with reference to these extreme requirements? The time to consider these things is now.
Have you come to Jesus to be His disciple?
Is He greatest love?
Will you pick up the cross every day and follow Him?
Will you give up everything for Him? Would you give over your entire life to Him?
Count the cost.