“CALLED TO COUNT THE COST”
LUKE 14:25-35

I. Introduction
“Look at these crowds following Jesus! Do you think someone should tell them what it will mean to follow Jesus? Do you think someone should tell them what it will cost to fol-low Jesus?” All right, He will. Here’s a paraphrase of Jesus’ evangelistic message in Luke 14: “Hate everyone you now love. Give up everything you now possess. Deny yourself everything you now hold dear, including your own life. I expect nothing less. So you will need to count the cost of following Me. Do you hear what I’m saying to you?”

That’s an evangelistic message? What will most people say? “Wait a minute! Who is going to respond to that? You’ll turn far more people away than you will ever win with a message like that. You’ll never appeal to the multitudes. The vast majority of people who hear that will flee. You can’t build crowds with a message like that.”

That’s right. You can’t. But here is the salient point. Jesus isn’t interested in building crowds. Here in Luke 14 He already has the crowds! So instead of a message that will make the crowds even larger, He is going to give them a message that will actually thin them out. Why will He do that? He will do it because He’s laying the foundation for the church – not the generic church – but His church. And oh, what a difference there is!

Today we’ll see a Jesus who won’t dispense sunshine and happy talk at the masses. He won’t tell them what they want to hear or spin His message to accommodate their “felt needs,” whatever that means. He won’t do those things because He isn’t trying to entice the uninterested, the indifferent, or the apathetic to “believe in Him” with flowery pro-mises of health, wealth, prosperity, and an end to the troubles of this life.

That is what much of today’s gospel preaching tries to do, but the fact is that the NT knows nothing of such a so-called gospel. Contrary to popular opinion, neither Jesus nor the apostles after Him ever preached such a thing. That’s because God doesn’t offer hea-ven on earth. He offers heaven in heaven.

Neither does God offer sinners a smooth and broad road that leads to an easy and wide gate. Instead, He offers them a rough and narrow road that leads to a difficult and con-stricted gate. He says that salvation is free and many will want it, but eternal life will come at a cost and few will be willing to pay the price.

So, Jesus tells us to count the cost, and then, after understanding what the cost is, if you still want Him, He will come to you, you will receive Him, and your journey into eternity will begin. And it won’t begin when you die. It will begin the moment you repent, trust Him, put your faith in Him, and receive Him, because, “…as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12).”
The gospel, as Scripture defines it, demands self-denial and self-sacrifice – not self-love and self-fulfillment. That’s because the gospel, as Scripture defines it, is centered on God, not on man. The simple truth of the matter is this: When the gospel is presented in such a way as to please those who hear it and make them feel good about themselves – when it’s marketed in such a way as to appeal to the masses of the uninterested, the indif-ferent and the apathetic – then it necessarily becomes a different gospel.

In the first century the new churches in the Galatian region of Asia Minor were beginning to hear a different gospel. (works vs. grace) Worse still, they were beginning to listen to it. The Apostle Paul, who had founded those churches, had something to say about that.
*Galatians 1:6-10
6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;
7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
8 But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gos-pel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.
10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant (slave) of Christ.

“Accursed” in vv. 8-9 is “anathĕma.” It means, “…given up to destruction.” In Gala-tians 3:13 Paul uses the same word to speak of divine condemnation. Elsewhere it refers to one being cut off from Christ and the salvation He offers. So here in Galatians 1:10 Paul tells us that he will not – he cannot – preach a false gospel that may be attractive to the masses, because he isn’t trying to please them. He is trying to please God. False gos-pels don’t save; false gospels condemn. They condemn those who knowingly preach them, and they condemn those who unknowingly believe them. Both are anathema.

The gospel Jesus preached called for recognition of Him as far more than Savior. Any-one who suspects there may really be a hell wants a Savior. So they’re often told, “Just ‘believe’ in Jesus and you can have a Savior.” But since Satan and his demons believe in Jesus, there must be something beyond simple intellectual assent to the facts of the his-toric Jesus of Nazareth. And there is more – much more.

In Luke 14:25-35 Jesus throws down the gauntlet, as it were. He challenges his hearers to recognize Him not merely as Savior, but as Lord: holy, sovereign, divine, ruler, mas-ter, and king. He calls for the total submission of the sinner’s will and desires to Him and to His Word. He calls for absolute faith and complete trust in Him and Him alone. If someone is going to follow Jesus – become His disciple – there must be a conscious and deliberate commitment, a commitment that could even cost the disciple’s very life.
If anyone thinks that’s a little too strong, they just don’t know what the church looked like in the first century. There was no such thing as “easy-believism” in the church then. There was only a deep and abiding faith in Christ. There was no promise of health, wealth, and prosperity. There was only persecution. So coming to Jesus was not easy. There would be a price to pay. Therefore, He did not “sugar-coat” the gospel. He said that becoming His disciple and following Him could cost everything, even life itself.

And make no mistake. People in the first century knew full well what it meant to be a Christian. So there were no “hangers-on,” no curiosity-seekers, none who came for rele-vant and upbeat messages, none who came for entertainment, or free coffee and dough-nuts on Sunday mornings, or spaghetti suppers on Saturday nights. That wasn’t the church Jesus founded, and it wasn’t the church the apostles built.

But somewhere along the way, soon after the church was born at Pentecost, the presenta-tion of the gospel began to change. Many of the changes were radical, and have come down through the centuries to us today. Some of the changes were more subtle, but any change results in “another gospel,” and we just read what Paul said about another gos-pel. It, its purveyors, and those who buy into it are all anathema! Therefore, it is criti-cally important for us to know and understand what the gospel calls for, and what a true Christian looks like.
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II. Review
In Luke 14:1-24 Jesus had been in the home of a Pharisee. He had condemned the host and his guests for their hypocrisy, their pride, and their apathy for God and those they had been called to shepherd. Exactly how much time and distance separates today’s text from that incident is unclear, but it is clear that Jesus is no longer in that Pharisee’s home. He is now somewhere north of Jerusalem and on His journey to the cross.

However, while the time and the place are different, Luke connects the two passages, not chronologically, but theologically. Do you remember the excuses given by the three men who claimed interest in Jesus but refused to commit themselves to Him? One had just bought a field. One had just acquired a team of oxen. And one couldn’t make Jesus his priority because he was newly married. All of those things – the land, the animals, and the wife – were more important to those three men than God’s invitation.
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III. Text
So we come to the text where Jesus warns us to count the cost if we want to follow Him.
*Luke 14:25-35 (Please stand with me in honor of reading God’s Word.)
25 Now great multitudes were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them,
26 “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.
27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
28 “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?
29 “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,
30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
31 “Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and take counsel whether he is strong enough with ten thou-sand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
32 “Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks terms of peace.
33 “So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
34 “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned?
35 “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.”

One thing that needs to be said right here at the outset is that this passage tells us nothing about what constitutes saving faith. Jesus says nothing about the holiness of God or the sinfulness of men. He says nothing about heaven or hell. He says nothing about His own work on the cross or His resurrection. He says nothing about judgment or forgiveness. He says nothing about repentance, grace, or faith. In short, the Lord Jesus says nothing that would tell anyone how to be saved. That isn’t His purpose here at all.

And in that, I think there is a helpful lesson for all of us. When we speak with someone about salvation in Christ, it is not necessary to tell them everything we know about each and every aspect of saving faith. That’s neither realistic nor practical. Rather, our task is to be submitted to and guided by the Holy Spirit, and to let Him drive the conversation.

I don’t know of any place in the NT where all facets of the gospel are laid out in one con-tinuous flow. Today’s text focuses on the results of saving faith and how it can be seen working in the life of the Christian. Jesus is speaking of the marks of a true disciple.
*Luke 14:25-26
25 Now great multitudes were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them,
26 “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.”

This is the heart of an evangelistic message? Well, it is a part of Jesus’ evangelistic mes-sage.
And it’s a part of how biblical evangelism was preached until liberalism gained a foot-hold in the church over the last hundred or so years. But since marketing and selling the gospel has largely replaced preaching and teaching the gospel, the most sobering truths have often been sanitized, minimized, or simply eliminated from the modern message.

What is the outcome when the gospel that Jesus and His apostles preached and taught is changed? It becomes another gospel, and we know what Paul has said about that. “But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed (Galatians. 1:8).”

In their zeal to win converts to Christ too many Christian theologians, preachers, leaders, and lay people have tried to soften the message. But by doing so they have deceived vast numbers of people into thinking they are Christians, when in reality, they are not.

A. W. Tozer was one of the great Christian thinkers and teachers of the twentieth century. He said, “It is my opinion that tens of thousands of people, if not millions, have been brought into some kind of religious experience by ‘accepting Christ,’ and they have not been saved.”

D. James Kennedy said, “The vast majority of people who are members of churches in America today are not Christians. I say that without the slightest contradiction. I base it on empirical evidence of twenty-four years of examining thousands of people.”

Neither Tozer nor Kennedy were wild-eyed or loose-talking radicals. If anything, they were among the most calm, reserved, and rational theologians of their day. So how could what they said be accurate? It’s accurate because most people have never been told the whole truth! They’ve never been told that Jesus must be the Lord of their lives or He will never be their Savior. They haven’t been told what Jesus expects of them.

In Luke 12:1-13:9 Jesus has taught many other parts of the gospel. He has taught (among other things) that we are to stay away from false religions. We are to fear God and the judgment to come. We are to confess Christ, abandon materialism, seek the kingdom, and look for the Second Coming. He reminded His hearers that all people are living on borrowed time. That being the case, all people need to reorder their priorities and devote themselves to Him.

So it shouldn’t be surprising that Jesus says what He does in v. 26. The trouble is that it shocks us when we first read it. Is He saying that we cannot have Him unless we turn on our loved ones? Is that what He means? No, of course, it isn’t. That would mean He is contradicting many of the other things He has taught.

Doesn’t Scripture tell us honor our parents (Exodus 20:12), to love our wives (Ephesians 5:25), to love our husbands (Titus 2:4), to love our children (Ephesians 6:4), and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Luke 10:27)? So what does Jesus mean? There are three things we need to understand before we can rightly interpret Luke 14:26.
The first thing we need to do is define the word “hate.” The Greek is “misĕō.” It means to detest and to hate. That’s exactly what the word means. That may not make you feel any better. So we need to go on.

The second thing we need to understand about Luke 14:26 is the context in which it is used. Remember, one of the first rules of biblical interpretation is always context. We invariably get into all sorts of trouble when we take a verse out of its context. Even John 3:16 can be misunderstood if it’s taken out of the context in which Jesus said it.

The third thing we need to understand about Luke 14:26 is that Jesus is using an idiom. Idioms convey something other than what they literally say. Middle Eastern peoples used idioms as part of their normal speech – and so do we. When an actor is told to, “Go out there and break a leg,” it’s an idiom. When someone dies and it’s said, “He kicked the bucket,” it’s an idiom. Last week “it rained cats and dogs.”

In Luke 14:26 Jesus uses “hate” in an idiomatic comparison. He is asking, and I para-phrase, “Will you be My disciple? Will you follow after Me? Yes? Then here is what I require and expect of you. I require that you to love me so much that the love you have for your parents, your spouse, and your children will, by comparison, seem like hate. Will you commit yourself to love Me that much? Yes? Then you are My disciple!”

Listen, this is neither a new teaching nor is it something Jesus hasn’t said before. In Matthew He teaches the very same thing, but He doesn’t use the same word.
*Matthew 10:34-38
34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35 “For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
36 and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.
37 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.
38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”

In Luke Jesus is saying, “Love Me more than those.” In Matthew Jesus is saying, “Love those less than Me.” Either way, Jesus is teaching the very same truth. It may be helpful to think of the two passages as the two sides of the same coin. (an idiom?)

Before we move on, let me give you another example of the use of the word “hate.” Christians often struggle with Paul’s use of the word in Romans 9:13. Referring to God’s sovereign choice of Jacob over his brother Esau, Paul quoted Malachi and said, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I hated.”
*Malachi 1:1-3a
1 The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel (Jacob) through Malachi.
2 “I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob;
3a but I have hated Esau…”

Again, this is simply a comparison. God had no animosity toward Esau. He loved him too, but God chose to give Jacob and his descendants (Israel) divine and eternal prefer-ence over Esau and his descendants. God loved Esau, but He loved Jacob more. God’s love for Esau could be compared to God’s love for the world in John 3:16. Yes, God loves the whole world, but His love His own is infinitely greater. He loves His own with a perfect love. The Apostle John speaks of that love.
John 13:1
1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

That doesn’t mean Jesus loved His own until He died. It means He loves His own to total, complete, and absolute perfection. Therefore, His love for the rest of the world could, by comparison, look like hate. I hope that helps you to embrace Luke 14:26.
*Luke 14:27
27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”

Here, in v. 27, Jesus expresses the negative side of something He has taught before – if you don’t carry your cross you can’t be His disciple. Back in Luke 9:23 He expressed the positive side – “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” That is to say – if you do carry your cross you can be His disciple. It’s the same truth, but expressed and taught from a different perspective.

Since discipleship requires self-denial and willingness to carry our own cross, it should be immediately evident that a casual relationship with Jesus does not constitute saving faith. Darrell Bock (Professor of NT Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary) says, “Sometimes discipleship is portrayed as a distinct phase from saving faith, but Jesus rejects such a distinction…Though faith and discipleship are separable conceptually, the ideas are inseparably linked since one trusts Jesus by an act of faith and then walks with Him in trust. Jesus calls us into a relationship, not just a decision.”

So, in Luke 14:26 Jesus calls us to put Him ahead of our family relationships and even our own lives. In v. 27 He tells us to put Him ahead of our wills, and our personal desires and interests. What’s left? Skip vv. 28-32 and go to v. 33.
*Luke 14:33
33 “So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all
his own possessions.”

After we have put Christ ahead of our wills, our desires, our interests, our families, and our lives, we may still have a few things left we “own” or “control.” But Jesus tells us to put Him ahead of all that too. And we say, “But Lord, what will I have left then?”

After you give Him everything, all you will have left is everything. Only you won’t own anything. You’ll know that it’s all His and you’ve been given the privilege of being His steward and caring for what belongs to Him. Then your will becomes His will. Your desires and interests become His desires and interests. Your “stuff” becomes His stuff. Your family and your life are already His, aren’t they? That’s discipleship and that’s what Jesus expects of those who would follow Him and call themselves Christians.

Now that you know what it costs – do you still want to follow Jesus? And do you see why the popular gospel that says, “Just make a decision for Jesus and accept Him into your heart,” is not the gospel at all? How many people have done that having never been told there’s a cost? That’s why Tozer said, “…millions have been brought into some kind of religious experience by ‘accepting Christ,’ and they have not been saved.” No one told them what Jesus said about the cost.
*Luke 14:28-32
28 “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?
29 “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,
30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
31 “Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and take counsel whether he is strong enough with ten thou-sand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
32 “Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks terms of peace.”

By now it should be obvious that becoming a follower of Christ is no “bed of roses.” But it was never intended to be. If we try to build without planning ahead, we will fail. If we try to face an enemy without knowing what we’re getting ourselves into and plan-ning ahead, we will lose. Isn’t that just common sense?

Listen to the words of the late Anglican scholar John R. W. Stott. “The Christian land-scape is strewn with the wreckage of derelict, half-built towers – the ruins of those who began to build and were unable to finish. For thousands of people still ignore Christ’s warning and undertake to follow Him without first pausing to reflect on the cost of doing so. The result is…large numbers of people who have covered themselves with a decent, but thin, veneer of Christianity. They have allowed themselves to become somewhat involved; enough to be respectable but not enough to be uncomfortable. Their religion is a great, soft cushion. It protects them from the hard unpleasantness of life, while chang-ing its place and shape to suit their convenience.”
How has this happened? It has happened because so many have heard the call of an incomplete and therefore, a false gospel.
• “Just believe in Jesus.” But the demons believe. Are they saved?
• “Just accept Jesus.” This is completely backwards. We need Jesus to accept us. And He will if we repent, confess Him as Lord, and trust in Him alone.
• “Just ask Jesus into your heart.” But how does He get there? He gets there when we repent, confess Him as Lord, and trust in Him alone.
• “Just make a decision for Jesus.” That’s called “decisional regeneration,” and it puts the sinner in control of his or her salvation. But God makes the decision, not the sinner. We need to repent, confess Jesus as Lord, and trust in Him alone.
• “Just make Jesus your Lord and Savior.” What arrogance! You can’t make Jesus Lord and Savior. Jesus IS Lord and Savior!

People readily accept all of that because they think there’s no cost. They do so because they’re led to believe they can have a Savior who demands nothing of them. But only a few receive Christ once they realize that He must be their Lord as well as their Savior.

Jesus has one more thing to say. At first it doesn’t seem to make sense, it doesn’t seem to fit. But the word “therefore” connects these last two verses with the rest of the text.
*Luke 14:34-35
34 “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned?
35 “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.”

Salt is a preservative because it doesn’t degrade. That’s why it’s a preservative. But salt from the Dead Sea was often mixed with gypsum. As such it did not possess the ability to preserve as did pure salt. Salt mixed with gypsum may have looked good to the un-trained eye, but it was worthless. And although it looked good, it was ultimately destined for the manure pile. Jesus’ point here is that discipleship preserves. True discipleship results in a lifelong commitment. The true disciple is like good salt in that the true dis-ciple remains and is preserved eternally. True disciples may falter, trip, stumble, or even fall along the way, but they will lose neither their “saltiness” nor their salvation.

Jesus concludes with, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Do you hear Him this morning? Do you yield every area of your life to Him? Do you trust Him to care for you and those you love? Or do you keep trying to take those things back like I find myself doing far too often? These are hard questions, aren’t they? But they are questions that every true disciple of Jesus must continually ask himself.
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IV. Conclusion
The lesson is as clear as it can be. Those of us who would follow Jesus Christ are called to give everything we have for Him. Have you counted the cost?
When you do, if the price seems to be too high, if the sacrifice seems to be too great, it will be helpful to remember the price He paid and His sacrifice for us.
Philippians 3:5-8
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becom-ing obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

~ Pray ~