Who are we in Christ? We have been looking at this pretty much since Easter.
We considered that “in Christ” we are a new creation. All the old has passed away and before God, all has become new!
Being in Christ, we represent Him to the world, we have become His ambassadors. We have the ministry of reconciliation to the world.
We are His “workmanship, we are His masterpiece. We see that our identity is found In Jesus.
Belonging to Jesus, we are overcomers, we are super conquerors. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God that we have in Jesus.
Last week, we looked at being salt and light in the world. We are Jesus’ agent in the world to arrest the moral decay of our culture and to shine the light of His truth to those that are in the dark.
Today we are considering that being “in Christ” our desire should be to be like Christ, to follow in His footsteps, to see the world as He sees the world, to conform to His likeness. We have a word for it, we call it being a disciple. We are called to be His disciples. Do we fully comprehend to what it means to be a disciple of Jesus?
Luke 9:57-62
Luke 14:25–33
Jesus was popular, and he had a lot of folks who wanted to follow Him.
Luke 9:57 (CSB) As they were traveling on the road someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
In Matthews account, this man was said to be a scribe. The scripture tells us that Jesus knew the hearts of men, and perhaps Jesus knew this scribe’s heart, perhaps he was seeking the fame that following a controversial Rabbi such as Jesus would bring. But Jesus said He had no place to lay His head. Another said:
Luke 9:59 (CSB) Then he said to another, “Follow me.” “Lord,” he said, “first let me go bury my father.”
His father probably wasn’t dead, but the man was waiting on his inheritance. Something was in the way of this man’s being obedient.
Luke 9:61 (CSB) Another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me go and say good-bye to those at my house.”
There is always something else to do first. Scripture does not tell us what these 3 men decided about following Jesus, but let’s look at those who dropped everything to follow Jesus:
Matthew 4:19–20 (CSB) “Follow me,” he told them, “and I will make you fish for people.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
These were Peter and Andrew and in the next verse Jesus calls James and John and they left their father and followed Jesus. These and a few others, turned the world upside down.
Look at Luke’s account of the calling of Matthew (called Levi by Luke).
Luke 5:27–29 (CSB) After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 So, leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow him. 29 Then Levi hosted a grand banquet for him at his house. Now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining at the table with them.
Jesus called Levi and he left all at the tax office and followed Jesus. The next verse is very telling about Levi. Levi (Matthew) the tax collector was inviting all his tax collectors friends and other “sinners” to meet Jesus. Right from the start, Levi was not hiding who he was following. Following Jesus means not holding back. There is no such thing as a part-time Christian, or part-time disciple of Jesus.
Jesus tell us about what it takes to follow Him, mostly in a negative sense, but Jesus is quite clear.
Luke 14:25a (CSB) Now great crowds were traveling with him.
Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. The cross awaited Jesus there. How many would follow Him all the way to the cross. There were those along the way who were offended by the words of Jesus and they turned away. These were disciples in name only. Many were spiritual thrill seekers. They loved the sermons and the loved seeing the miracles. They love multiplication of loaves and fishes. It all was great until it came time where it will cost them something. Jesus proceeds to tell what it takes to be His disciple.
1. We must love Jesus supremely.
2. We must carry our cross.
3. We must renounce all of our possessions.
Let’s look at loving Jesus supremely
Luke 14:25b–26 (CSB) So he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.
Jesus was using a Semitic idiom. To love one person more than another in the OT is saying to love one and to hate the other. We must love Jesus Christ supremely. We cannot, as a disciple of Jesus, love anone or anthing more. Jesus is not calling us to literally hate anyone. In a greater context we see that Jesus calls for us to love others. We are to love God first.
Matthew 22:37–39 (CSB) He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind., 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.
Funny thing about our love for Christ, the more we love him the more we’ll love our father and mother, brother, sister, wife and children.
Matthew records Jesus saying this a little more gentler way:
Matthew 10:37 (CSB) The one who loves a father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; the one who loves a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
To be a disciple of Jesus, (1) We must love Jesus supremely and next, to be a disciple (2) We must carry our cross.
Luke 14:27 (CSB) Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
To put this into context, we must remember that Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem and that very week He arrives, He will be hanging on a Roman cross. What does it mean to carry our cross in this context?
Often we talk about a particular burden and we will call it our cross to bear. We miss the meaning of this text by saying that.
The audience of that day knew what carrying one’s cross meant. The convicted criminal, in an act of total humiliation, would carry at least the upper cross beam of his cross through the streets to the crucifixion site. It was a very public admission of guilt and acknowledgment of the rightness of the Roman government.
To carry our cross daily, means to identify with Christ in shame and suffering and surrender will. It means death to self every day. Death to our plans, our ambitions and a demonstration of an open willingness to serve Him in any way He directs, even to the point of death. Carrying our cross shows that we love Him more than we love ourselves.
Carrying our cross is not something force upon us, but something we choose to do. We aught to be willing to pay all for Him because Jesus paid all for us.
3. We must renounce all of our possessions.'
Let’s look at our last verse of our focal passage:
Luke 14:33 (CSB) In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.
This is perhaps one of the more unpopular verses in the Bible. There are no halfway followers. This did not say we must take a vow of poverty, but it does say we cannot be so attached to our possessions that it hinders our following of Jesus. Jesus proceeds this with a couple of examples:
Luke 14:28–30 (CSB) “For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the onlookers will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
There is one thing the world hates more than a Christian; They have utter contempt for a half hearted, un-committed Christian many avoid cross bearing by living nominal lives. They only want to get their feet wet – they won’t jump in.
Luke 14:31–32 (CSB) “Or what king, going to war against another king, will not first sit down and decide if he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If not, while the other is still far off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
Look at the king – as he goes to war it’s all or nothing.
However, there have been alternate interpretations – the builder and the king going to war they are analogies NOT of us – but of God. He sit down and count the cost – with us.
Campbell Morgan a great theologian of the last century said: He is the One who must “count the cost” to see whether we are the kind of material He can use to build the church and battle the enemy. He cannot get the job done with half-hearted followers who will not pay the price. [1]
Can God expect a full commitment from us? Let’s be careful how we answer that. Remember Peter? He said he would go to the death with Jesus before he denied Jesus 3 times. We need to know what full and complete commitment really looks like.
I’ve officiated at a number of weddings. As I counseled with the bride and groom:
I did not say – In this marriage you only need to put a partial effort into it.
I did not say – Enter this marriage only if you feel like it.
I did not say – honor this marriage only when the mood strikes you.
I did not say – This marriage is good only as long as you have that "loving feeling."
I DID SAY - Marriage is a life-long commitment. You choose to love and put your full effort into whether you feel like it or not.
As we watch football, what would we think of the coach who said: “Play hard only if you feel like it." Coach doesn’t expect any less than 150% from the players. The Coach doesn’t care if a player just isn’t in the mood; the coach doesn’t care if the player is having a bad day.
Few are willing to true disciples. Jesus encountered the rich young ruler who did not what to leave his possessions.
Luke 18:22–23 (CSB) When Jesus heard this, he told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell all you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 23 After he heard this, he became extremely sad, because he was very rich.
But it is all a matter of where your riches lie.
Luke 18:29–30 (CSB) So he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left a house, wife or brothers or sisters, parents or children because of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more at this time, and eternal life in the age to come.”
Where are our riches? Who do we love supremely. Are we willing to die daily for Jesus? Or do we want to hold back a little for ourselves?
A man visiting Haiti related this story: A certain man wanted to sell his house for $2,000 and another man wanted badly to buy the house, but could not afford the price. After much haggling – the price was brought down to where the second man could afford it, but with one condition: The first man retained ownership of one nail on the front door. Several years later the first man wanted to buy the house back and second man refused to sell. So the first man hung a dead dog on that one nail that he retained ownership. Soon the house was uninhabitable and the second man was forced to sell the house.
If we hold back from Jesus just one little nail in our life – Satan will hang his rotting garbage on it and we will be not fit for service. It is all or nothing.
I look at myself – I don’t always feel like a Christian, but I have to make choices every day – I must chose to pick up my cross and follow him, daily; I must chose to love Jesus with all my being, daily.
[1] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 232.
