Luke 14:25–35
Read the passage.
The Cost of Discipleship
C — CHRIST
O — OWNS
S — SALVATION
T — THROUGH THE CROSS
Following Christ is impossible. Look at what Christ demands:
Luk 14:26 “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.
Luk 14:27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple
Christ above all; your parents, your wife, your children, siblings, and finally, your own life.
Should this be strange? God has always required total commitment and devotion to Him from day one. Remember Abraham? He had to do exactly the same; leave his father’s household (relatives and culture), and nation, to go where God wanted him to go.
It stands to reason therefore, that you would only follow someone who is worthy to be followed. You’re not going to follow simply anyone. If someone is demanding life devotion and commitment to themselves, then that Someone has to be worthy to be followed. Just look at your profession. Your estimation of your lecturers and in time to come, the medical professionals and professors who teach you, need to have track records of performance and achievement to have your admiration enough to listen to them and to follow their teachings.
So who is this Jesus Christ? His identity becomes super important. In this same chapter, He heals someone with dropsy. “Dropsy: An old term for the swelling of soft tissues due to the accumulation of excess water. In years gone by, a person might have been said to have dropsy. Today one would be more descriptive and specify the cause. Thus, the person might have edema due to congestive heart failure. Edema is often more prominent in the lower legs and feet toward the end of the day as a result of pooling of fluid from the upright position usually maintained during the day. Upon awakening from sleeping, people can have swelling around the eyes referred to as periorbital edema.” (Extracted from https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=13311 8/9/8).
This Jesus Christ healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, was then crucified, buried, and on the 3rd day, rose again by the power of God’s Spirit, and is right now, as we sit here, seated at the right hand of God.
Jesus Christ proved He is God by rising from the dead. In His death, death died. And now, He owns life! Because He IS LIFE.
Because His call demands total commitment, devotion and obedience, His salvation is total, complete and comprehensive.
How does one become a disciple? Does a disciple become a disciple by their own human intelligent decision or will? Does the ultimate decision to decide for Christ lay with the fallen sinner who is held captive by satan according to Satan’s will? That would make the disciple greater than the Master.
Jesus then goes on to show how the odds are stacked against the one who thinks heir she can follow Christ in their own human and fallen strength.
The builder who didn’t count the cost, and the king who didn’t strategize soundly.
No, Christ Owns Salvation. Who owns you?
And then Jesus gives the final sucker punch.
Luk 14:33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple
Jesus never ever makes it easy to follow Him. Which is why it is impossible to come after Jesus, to be His disciple, without renouncing all that you are and have. And how does one become a disciple of THE One who gave Himself as the Divine sacrificial lamb who was slain before history begun? How do you follow Him who Went to a humiliating death on the cross to become our sin-bearer? The same way the Master did, through the cross.
Every disciple of Christ must go through death on the cross. Death to your sinful desires, death to our selfish ambitions, death to our right to live and do as we please. “Renounce ALL”; note that word “ALL.”
When we are brought to the cross, we are confronted with our sin. The only thing you can bring to God now is your sin, and your admittance of guilt in living a life independent of God. You and I were also responsible for nailing Christ upon the cross. Check your pockets. Can you find the nails there? No you won’t. The nails, the hammers, the spitting of the Roman soldiers, and the taunts and jeers of the Jewish rulers on Jesus at Calvary are also right here, in our filthy and sinful hearts.
Come to the cross of Christ this evening, and call upon Jesus Christ alone to save you and let Him empower you by His risen self through His Spirit, to become a disciple who is able, only by His grace through faith, to pay the cost of Discipleship.
(Sermon preached at the UCSI Medical Fellowship at Kuala Terengganu on 8th September 2018).
