"Count Me In!"
How many of you know the amount of our present national debt? As of last night our country was $6,103,548,889,112 in debt. Just to give you and idea of how large a sum of money that is and how fast we are sinking, this country’s deficit increases by an average of $1,111million every day! And it’s not just at the national level, we are all familiar I’m sure with our state’s present budget crisis. And on the personal level, I have these statistics for you; in 1990 Americans carried a credit card balance of an average of $3,000. Today that average has grown to $8,500. Not including house, car or other miscellaneous loans. This just goes to show us that we live in a society that likes to “buy now” and worry
about paying later......much later. We tend to be a nation that is consumed with a desire to have anything we want without seriously counting the cost. But when all of our creditors begin demanding payment, we many times find ourselves financially unprepared to pay.
You see, regardless of how trivial a gifted salesperson may make the price sound, everything comes at a cost and if we are wise, we will consider that cost before we commit ourselves to making a purchase. Never the less, the purpose of our sermon is not to look at the cost of our material possessions, no this morning, we are going to examine the cost of something far more important; discipleship.
The reason I chose this ‘unpopular’ topic is because the world, and yes even our churches, are full of people who have made decisions about following Jesus without fully realizing or counting the cost. In the same way that many of us are impulse buyers, quite a few people enter into “discipleship” on a spur of the moment decision or merely decide to become a Christian for the wrong reason. And as a result their efforts are in vain and they end up leaving the faith and sometimes even become bitter towards God. And this is nothing new, near the end of His ministry on earth, Jesus found Himself surrounded with many people who needed to re-evaluate their reason and decision to follow Him. Turn with me to our scripture for
today; Luke 14:25-27
“25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27 And anyone w
does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
Notice in Vs 25 that the bible says that large crowds were traveling with Jesus--they were not just there to hear a sermon or two, they had determined to be His “disciples” maybe even become part of the ‘inner circle.’ But despite their appearances, they weren’t truly disciples, they were more like religious and philosophical “groupies.” Many of them were following Jesus just to see the miracles that He performed, many more followed Him for the selfish reason of earning an esteemed place of honor in the new kingdom they thought He was about to set up. In fact, they probably expected Jesus to try to “recruit them” with a speech like; “..if anyone will come after me he will have wealth, honor, and the best of
everything.....”
I’m sure they were shocked when Jesus assured them of quite the opposite. He knew their hearts and He knew that many of these people would prove to be a hindrance rather than a help to His ministry. So He decided to separate the disciples from the glory seekers and spectators. As we just read, Jesus didn’t paint them a rosy picture of discipleship, He simply outlined to them the basic qualifications for the job.
And believe it or not brothers and sisters, those qualifications for discipleship are still required today. Let’s take a closer look at them shall we. Again, verse 26 says; “If anyone comes to Me and does not “hate” his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-- yes, even his own life-- he cannot be my disciple.”
There are two main and all encompassing requirements and this is the first one. Please understand that Jesus here is obviously not telling us to “hate”(as we understand hate) our family or ourselves. And we know this simply because to hate anyone is to break the Royal Law that He came to fulfill. No, Jesus is using a common Oriental hyperbole meaning; “to love less than..” He is telling the crowd of potential disciples that if they love anyone or anything more than they love Him--even their own life-- then they cannot be His disciples. Note that Jesus didn’t say ‘should’ not or ‘would’ not but He said plainly that they “could not” be his disciples. From the very beginning of Christianity on, countless people who would have followed Jesus and formed a saving relationship with Him have been discouraged and even forbidden by the very ones closest to them. The love relationship we have with Christ has to be stronger and more binding than any other relationship we have or else other relationships could easily over-power it.
This first requirement of discipleship reaffirms what Jesus called the first and greatest commandment in Matthew 22:37 where He says; “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind.” So again, supreme Love for Christ is the first requirement.
Now as you may know, the Secret Service of the United States is composed of people who’s job it is to protect the President at all costs-- they are trained to jump in front of a bullet intended for the man they are protecting. If Jesus were the President and they died to protect Him, would that qualify them for discipleship? Tough question but the answer is no, and the reason is that the Secret Service doesn’t take a bullet for the President because they “love” him, they take the bullet because it’s their job. In much the same way, some Christians serve the Lord out of a since of ‘duty’ or ‘obligation’ not fulfilling this first requirement of discipleship.
Jesus not only tells us that we are not to love any person more than Him, He also tells us not to love any THING more than Him. In Mark 10 Jesus was approached by a young man who was wondering what He needed to in do in order to be saved....and as you remember, the bible tells us that this particular young man was rather wealthy. And Jesus, seeing that he held his wealth much too dear to his heart, told him to go and sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor and then....come and follow me-- or “come and be my disciple.” The scriptures tell us that the young man ‘went away sad.’ But in reality, he did the right thing --he considered the cost... and at that point in his life he didn’t consider it t
be ‘cost effective.’ And I say he did the right thing because even if he had sold all of his possessions grudgingly and followed Jesus but yet still longed for the treasure he once possessed, his heart would have eventually become bitter and resentful leaving him spiritually worse off than before.
What is the second qualification of discipleship? Well Jesus tells the crowd in verse 27; “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Many people don’t realize it, but this verse has a dual meaning; in the Roman world, crucifixion was the most popular form of capital punishment. And part of that punishment was administered after the flogging yet before they reached the site of crucifixion. You see, as was the case with Jesus, the prisoner was forced to carry his cross at least part of the way to the crucifixion site. And along the way, lined up and down the streets was a multitude of onlookers laughing, mocking, cursing, spitting and even throwing rocks at the condemned.. The cross was an unmistakable symbol of shame and reproach that called attention to the unfortunate soul who was called to bear it, making him an easily identifiable target of their aggression. You see, not only does bearing our cross mean that
we are willing to die for our Savior, it means that we are not ashamed or afraid of the consequences of following Him down those dusty streets of humiliation and persecution with our crosses on our backs shouting at the top of our lungs; “I’m with Him!”
Remember when Peter told the Lord; “I’ll follow you even if it means to my death”? well it wasn’t long after he said it that Peter disowned Jesus three times-- figuratively speaking; he dropped his cross and tried his best to ‘blend in with the crowd’ --afraid of being associated with the Lord. Up until that point Peter hadn’t fully considered the cost of discipleship--he was spiritually unprepared to pay the price. In fact, it wasn’t until his true conversion that this rugged big mouth fisherman finally picked up his cross and followed His Lord--unashamed and unafraid of the consequences. The Apostle Peter served the Lord for many years after that until he too literally bore his cross to the place where he would be
crucified.
Praise God for His mercy when we don’t boldly and even proudly carry that cross. Self preservation at all costs seems to be one of the hardest natural instincts to overcome, but again, it must be laid on the altar of sacrifice if we are to be true disciples of Jesus Christ. We all know that eleven of the first twelve disciples did in fact pay the ultimate price for their affiliation with the Lord. But they were only the first of many more to come who would count the cost of following Jesus and deem it well worth the price.
You may remember a group of people called the Waldenses who were relentlessly persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church. The more I study these people and others who have died for their faith, the more my faith is strengthened. I have just a couple of paragraphs from Fox’s Book of Martyrs chapter 5 that I’d like to read to you. Speaking of the Waldenses it says;
“It was offered, that if they should embrace the Roman Catholic persuasion, themselves and families should not be injured, but their houses and properties should be restored, and none would be permitted to molest them; but, on the contrary, if they refused this mercy, (as it was termed) the utmost extremities would be used, and the most cruel deaths the certain consequence of their noncompliance.”
History reveals that some of the Waldenses were indeed frightened into the fellowship of the Roman Catholic Church, but on the other hand, many more were not. They rejected this ‘merciful offer.” And because they would not give up their faith in Jesus and His teachings and embrace the idolatry and false teachings of Rome, this is what happened;
“..thirty of them were ordered to be put immediately to the rack, as a terror to the rest.
Those who were put to the rack were treated with such severity that several died under the tortures; one Charlin, in particular, was so cruelly used that his belly burst, his bowels came out, and he expired in the greatest agonies. These barbarities, however, did not answer the purposes for which they were intended; for those who remained alive after the rack, and those who had not felt the rack, remained equally constant in their faith, and boldly declared that no tortures of body, or terrors of mind, should ever induce them to renounce their God, or worship images.
And then; “ Several were, by the cardinal’s order, stripped stark naked, and whipped to death with iron rods; and some were hacked to pieces with large knives; others were thrown down from the top of a large tower, and many were covered over with pitch, and burnt alive.”
All of these victims were members of what was called the Reformed religion, but they were labeled as heretics by the Catholic Church for these reasons;
· 1. That they did not bow to images.
· 2. That they made no offerings or prayers for the dead.
· 3. That they did not go to Mass.
· 4. That they did not confess, and receive absolution.
· 5. That they did not believe in purgatory, or pay money to get the souls of their friends out of it.
These faithful people gladly bore as their cross the label of heretic and because they did not try to hide their convictions but proudly followed in the footsteps of Jesus, they too were objects of the wrath of a persecuting false system of religion.
One of the Reformed, a man named Catelin Girard was tied to the stake to be burnt alive. Just before the fire was set, he was given one last chance to recant his religion and spare his life. At that point, he asked one of the executioners to give him a large stone which he held up and said these words; “When it is in the power of a man to eat and digest this solid stone, the religion for which I am about to suffer shall have an end, and not before." It is recorded that he then threw the stone on the ground, and submitted cheerfully to the flames.”
He and the rest of the early Protestants who were martyred by the Catholic Church knew well the cost of following Jesus.....and even as they met their fate, they considered it a bargain.
Some of you may be sitting there thinking that so far this message doesn’t make becoming a follower of Christ sound very appealing, after all people have been and are being tortured and killed for this very reason. In light of the consequences, it would seem that very few would even consider signing up for the job. But on the contrary, this type of persecution was one of the main catalysts that caused Reformed Christianity to explode in number! As person after person willingly died rather than to recant their faith, an unmistakable message was sent to all of those witnessing these horrific scenes. These people valued their faith more than their lives-- is there any better or more effective witness than to die for your faith? We are told that even some of the executioners who administered these most cruel punishments were so moved by the faith of these martyrs, that they themselves were converted and submitted to the same fate.
Brothers and sisters, you and I may have been stared at and talked about because of our faith, some of us may have even lost our jobs or even a close relationship ..but believe me when I tell you; we don’t know what it is to be persecuted. In fact, in this country anyway, we’ve had it made for a long time! But the bible is clear that we will soon face that hideous beast of persecution once again.
With that said and hopefully somewhat realized, I ask you; are you still in? When the real persecution arrives with real laws and real punishments, will you ditch your cross and try to ‘blend in with the crowd’ or will you continue
to shamelessly follow the Lord with your own cross on your back repeating with pride; “I’m with Him.!”
Jesus tells us that if we decide to follow Him, we WILL be persecuted. Baptism into His name does not guarantee us a life of ease and endless serenity as many people mistakenly believe--no, deciding to follow the Lord many times brings an element of chaos to our lives. But, to the true follower of Jesus, these trials and persecutions are nothing compared to the inner and eternal peace that He places deep down inside of every one of His disciples.
The sad reality is that the time is coming when many will realize that they are not willing to pay the cost of following Jesus. And the reason that they will be unwilling will be because they don’t truly know Him. That’s why Satan loves to cultivate “casual Christians” --people who try to stay just close enough to the Lord to where they think they are saved, but yet far away enough not to be too closely associated and therefore inconvenienced or singled out. I pray that you will not be in that category but rather side with the Apostle Paul who says in Philippians 3:7-9; “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What’s more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him..”
If we could even begin to comprehend the depth of the love of God for us; if we could catch but a glimpse of the pain and suffering that Jesus endured on our behalf because of that love, we would be infinitely more inclined to love Him back. Paul says in Romans 5:8; “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
As we prayerfully consider the cost of discipleship, let us also consider; the penalty for sin, the cost of redemption, Who paid it and why. May we, along with all the martyred saints of yesterday and today, consider the cost of discipleship
quite a bargain.
