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The Commitment Demanded in the Kingdom of God

Let me pray as we open up God's Word together.
Father, we thank you that you never change.
We thank you that your Word to us never changes, that we have the assurance and the full knowledge
that your Word to us is the same today as it will be tomorrow as it was yesterday, Lord.
Thank you for that confidence that we can have in your Word and help us now to open
your Word, to listen to it, knowing that it is from you.
These are not human words, these are your words to us today.
Father, help us to receive them, help us to listen to them, help us to have ears that
are truly open to hearing your voice today.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
The other day I had to install some new software on my computer as we do from time to time.
Now when I got to that part that required me to tick the box that says I have read and
agreed to the terms and conditions of the software I bought because I had not read them
and yet I wanted to tick them because I didn't want to read them.
Most of us, I suspect, are a little bit like that.
We never read the terms and conditions on installing software on our computers.
We simply tick the box so we can get on using our new software.
I think the same, to some degree at least, can be said for any legal documents.
How many of you actually read all the fine print on your insurance policy or even your
mortgage or maybe your new phone plan or electricity contract?
Generally, except for John Hollier, you probably don't read the whole contract, do you?
Well in our passage today, we don't read the fine print that is.
In our passage today, Jesus is telling us to do just that.
Before signing up to be a follower of Jesus, he says to us to read the fine print.
Read the terms and conditions before signing up to being my disciple.
That's what he's been saying.
That's what he's saying in our passage this morning.
Now much of Jesus' teaching in recent chapters, and there are a number of visitors here and
this is the final in our series in Luke for the next few months at least anyway, up until
this point in our series, in the recent chapters, that is namely chapter 12 to 14, we have focused
on the urgency, the urgency to trust in Jesus.
And to put it rather crudely, the sales pitch has been to sign up today because tomorrow
will be too late.
This deal will not last forever.
And so in the parable of the rich fool, God says you fool, this very night your life will
be demanded from you.
Death comes when we least expect it.
In the parable of the returning master and the thief in the night, Jesus says there in
chapter 12, you also must be ready because the Son of Man will come in an hour when you
do not expect him.
And then we read the need to repent in chapter 13, for we do not know when our life will
be taken from us.
And of course you will recall the narrow door, that door that is closing, the opportunity
to repent and to trust in Jesus will not be open forever.
So enter while you can.
And then last week to round off this ongoing sense of urgency in Jesus' ministry, we saw
how often we make excuses and refuse to accept the invitation to the banquet of Christ.
A time will come though when it will be simply too late.
The RSVP date will have expired.
The door will be shut out and we will miss out on the great banquet forever.
Now I hope that you have not missed this great sense of urgency in Jesus' teaching
so far.
But this urgency today is replaced by Jesus in today's passage urging us to now sit down
and read the fine print.
It's against this backdrop of urgency that Jesus puts the brakes on a little bit.
The urgency of the hour must now take second place on the agenda.
What now needs to happen is an assessment of the cost, an evaluation of what is required
to truly follow Christ Jesus as Lord.
So from trusting me today to wait up, let's think about this a little bit more.
It's no small decision, is it?
It's not simply about hanging around with the crowd.
It's not about these fantastic miracles that Jesus has been performing.
It's not about soaking up the euphoria of the moment which is the impression that you
get even in today's passage.
Following me will cost.
Following me, Jesus says, will in fact cost you a lot.
Now we see in the open verse of our passage in verse 25 that Jesus has large crowds that
are now following him, travelling with him no doubt from town to town, gathering momentum
as he approaches Jerusalem.
The urgency of his preaching appears to have had an immediate effect, though I suspect
that is an overly optimistic take on things.
It's just as likely that the crowds that were following Jesus were simply there to see another
person healed.
Perhaps they wanted their hungry stomachs filled, recalling the feeding of the 5,000.
There may have been some in the crowd, most in the crowd perhaps, like Jesus' own 12
disciples that believed Jesus was at some point going to overthrow the Romans when he
arrived in Jerusalem and establish his own messianic kingdom.
That might have been the feel of this crowd as they moved with Jesus towards the capital.
Perhaps they just wanted to see another confrontation with the Pharisees.
There is always the danger, though, isn't there?
There's always the danger that Jesus was simply the latest show in town, the latest attraction.
And it would appear that Jesus knows this.
You see, Jesus is not like human leaders who lap up the adulation, who crave public support,
who endlessly look to opinion polls to see how popular they are with the public.
Jesus is vastly different from ordinary human leaders.
He looks to the heart.
You see, he doesn't just want feet that follow, but he wants hearts that heed.
And so he turns to the great crowd to begin explaining the fine print to make sure they
know what they are getting themselves into if they are going to be his followers.
And so it would appear here that Jesus deliberately is wanting to thin the ranks, to sift genuine
believers from those who are just in it for the show, just in it because it's the moment,
it's the latest circus in town.
And what he wants is quality over quantity.
Jesus is not interested in great crowds.
He's interested in great commitment.
He's not interested in the great crowds.
He's interested in great commitment.
Even still, notice the invitation to follow him is still open, verse 26.
If anyone, if anyone comes to me, he says, and repeats that again in verse 27, if anyone
comes to me, the invitation is still open, the door has not yet closed.
But one wonders what the crowd must have been thinking as Jesus says these words.
But we are coming to you, they must have said.
We are coming to you.
We're here now, aren't we?
We've been following you from town to town, haven't we?
You can imagine the slight confusion perhaps that would have been on the minds of this
crowd as they wondered what Jesus was on about.
Maybe some thought he was speaking to those on the sidelines watching the commotion, watching
the crowd that was travelling with Jesus.
And today perhaps there are those even here today that consider themselves to be already
following Jesus.
And perhaps they think, perhaps you think that this sermon doesn't apply to you, it
applies to others.
But just because you were part of the crowd, that does not make you a believer, it doesn't
make you a follower of Jesus simply by being part of the crowd.
And more so, don't think that there are two classes of believers here.
I read a commentary this week by one whom I normally trust and respect, otherwise an
excellent author, an excellent commentator, who was suggesting that salvation and discipleship
were somewhat distinct from one another.
And he writes that salvation is open to all who come by faith while discipleship is for
believers willing to pay the price.
But as I understand the New Testament, it knows nothing of a believer who is not a disciple.
The two are synonymous, aren't they?
There are not two sorts of believers, the inner core who really serve Jesus, called
disciples and others who simply believe but leave the serious stuff to those who wish
to put a little bit more effort in.
The New Testament knows nothing of that sort of person or that concept.
All who are saved are disciples.
We may not always act like disciples, but if you're a Christian, then you're a disciple
or a follower of Jesus to a lesser or to a greater extent.
That is, there are immature and there are mature disciples, no doubt, but they are still
disciples.
Both are following Jesus as their Lord in varying degrees.
Indeed, Jesus' great commission says to make disciples.
There's no secondary mission to make believers and so on, but just to make disciples.
It's the one mission that we have.
So don't think that this passage then is not for you, that it only speaks to those who
are prepared to take their faith seriously.
Here is the challenge to all of us to understand the high demand of being members of God's
kingdom.
This is the norm, in other words, for all believers.
Jesus firstly addresses our fundamental allegiance when he speaks about this high demand.
Jesus expects his followers to redirect or shift their loyalties.
His choice of words jar our modern ears, don't they?
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.
Now I know there are quite a few teenagers here that are probably thinking, cool, that's
easy.
I can hate my brothers and sisters and my parents from time to time.
I could be a wonderful disciple of Jesus, they're probably thinking, but for most of
us, most of us, these are very hard words to listen to, aren't they?
This is signalling to the great crowd that are following him that he requires their undivided
loyalty.
Hate in verse 26 is not to be understood as we use the term, it's a comparative phrase.
That is, it means to love less.
On a scale of one to 10, your loyalty to your family must be one and your loyalty to Jesus
must be 10.
That's what Jesus is getting at here.
They are to no longer demand allegiance as a disciple.
The family is no longer to demand allegiance to a disciple of Jesus.
Jesus must now demand your full allegiance.
And thus there is a conflict, where there is a conflict of duty, Jesus must win each
time.
Where there is a clash of loyalties, Jesus must be the one to follow.
And by focusing on the family means that Jesus is not so subtly saying that he now
is your new family.
Elsewhere he writes, doesn't he, or he says, who is my mother and brothers?
And he adds, those who do my will are my brother and my mother.
Jesus calls to discipleship, or Jesus' call to discipleship requires a loosening of these
family ties in order to be bound to Jesus.
In all this then, there is a new identity, isn't there?
Gordon already started the service with that question.
Who are we?
Jesus is calling us to a new identity.
Our identity is no longer found in bloodline, but it is found as a disciple in Christ Jesus.
Our status is not found in our human family, the one that we are part of, but in being
members of God's family through Christ.
Now of course, we should not read these verses here that we should disassociate from our
family or to mistreat them even or to despise our blood relatives in any absolute way.
That's not what Jesus is on about here.
His great commandment to love is still paramount in the disciples' life.
We're not talking about not loving our family, we're talking about loving Jesus infinitely
more than our own families.
It's not just our family, is it?
We must deny in some way in favour of Jesus, but it's ourself.
Jesus says that a potential disciple must hate his own life, to have no regard for his
own life, Jesus says, so much so he must be prepared to die to himself, to crucify himself
for the sake of Christ.
Verse 27, anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
What does a cross carrying disciple look like?
What does it mean to die to oneself?
The term we use often in church circles, but how is this played out in our life?
We are to be one who is on the road to death.
We are to be like the one who is condemned to death.
Such a person is therefore no longer interested in pursuing worldly gains.
He or she is no longer able to stockpile possessions.
They are on their way to their crucifixion.
They are no longer able to find complete happiness and find contentment in this world.
They're on the way to die.
They have nothing left to live for.
As one author writes, whoever wants to follow Jesus must surrender all self-seeking and
abandon all striving after his own interests.
That's a good definition of this cross-bearing disciple, isn't it?
Whoever wants to follow Jesus must surrender all self-seeking and abandon all striving
after his own interests.
That's what Jesus means by dying to oneself.
To walk the way of the cross in self-abandonment.
The picture of Jesus, that Jesus is painting of discipleship is then a radical reorientation
of our key loyalties, a radical new allegiance that's happening here.
The disciples' identity is no longer to be based on family nor on self, but on a new
relationship with God as seen in obedience to and love for Christ Jesus.
Now the Greek tense, as some of you will know, suggests that this carrying of one cross is
an ongoing activity.
This is highlighted back in chapter 9, verse 23, where he says similar words but adds the
word daily.
This is a daily exercise.
As such, the dying of self is a continuous activity for the follower of Jesus.
It's not a once-off activity, a once-off decision.
Discipleship is not a momentary resolution of sorts.
It's one that necessarily means a lifelong journey of serving Christ.
The point Jesus makes in this passage so far is that we ought to sit down and consider
the cost of following Jesus before we begin this journey.
It's about giving up everything to be his disciple.
I'll put it another way, it's about giving all you have, your heart, your mind and your
soul to follow Jesus.
The bottom line in following Jesus is this, are we prepared to give up everything?
To give up everything.
That's what Jesus says here in this verse, doesn't he?
Are we prepared to give up everything to be his disciple?
Are we prepared to shift allegiances and begin to identify fully with Christ in all aspects
of our life?
Are we prepared to reorientate our loyalties to follow him and follow him fully?
Are we prepared to lose our own life for the sake of his?
All our so-called desires and wants must be subordinate to him.
Or our time is no longer ours alone, our possessions are no longer ours.
Our money and our wealth, our relationships, all are to be considered dead to us but alive
for Christ.
The cost will be great, won't it?
It's not something that we enter into lightly.
A change in allegiance is no small thing.
This is one of the reasons why, if I'm allowed to share this, that I don't really like the
altar call thing we often do.
Now I know they have their place but a quick decision can often miss the lesson that Jesus
is teaching here in evaluating and understanding the great cost of following Jesus.
Again I know they have their place but I'm just wary, I'm just cautious about the altar
call where you expect people to make a quick decision for Jesus.
We need to sit down, we need to think about it, we need to count the cost and so Jesus
gives three illustrations, mini-parables if you like, to press home this need to now assess
this great cost.
Following Jesus wholeheartedly is hard work.
Having a regular or having a singular devotion to Christ is difficult.
So don't jump in too soon.
Think about the cost, think about the changes that will be required and despite the urgency
of the call to salvation that will be seen in Luke so far there is a sense of unhurriedness
here at the moment.
Notice the tower builder in these two mini-parables, the first two at least.
Notice the tower builder must first sit down and count the cost and likewise the king must
first sit down and consider the likelihood of success.
There is a slow and deliberate evaluation of the task at hand and Jesus is saying very
clearly do the math, do the sums, don't just blindly follow me unless you know what you're
getting yourself into, read the fine print he says and so each illustration has this
one point but then each illustration is a slightly nuanced point as well.
So in counting the cost we need to ask three or I think I've got four now, four short questions
and the first one is this, will you be able to finish what you start?
Will you be able to finish what you start?
In the parallel of the tower builder in verses 28 to 30 Jesus shows how humiliating it would
be to lay a foundation for a new tower but fail to complete it when you run out of money.
People will laugh and say he built something that he wasn't able to finish.
Over the past few years as many of you I suspect know Annie and I have debated the pros and
cons of building or buying.
One of the reasons we chose buying over building was exactly the predicament of our tower builder.
My concern was the unexpected costs of building a house from scratch, the unknowns, the blowouts
that run into sometimes the tens of thousands of dollars and I said I did not want to be
that person who is forced to sell a concrete slab in six months time because we ran out
of money so we decided instead to buy.
Following Jesus is a lifetime adventure, not a weekend holiday.
Are you in there for the long haul?
Have you considered all that is required to finish what you have started?
So you don't simply have a slab of concrete there six months later.
Second will you have a good chance of success?
The king who goes out to war against another king must decide, can I win?
Can I win?
If he can't it's better not to wage such a war and instead seek peace.
And to have a chance of success we must give all we can.
Just like committing to war is not a half-hearted exercise so committing to following Jesus
will require 100%.
When evaluating the cost of following Jesus perhaps we need to consider whether or not
we are going to put all the effort in that is required to be a Christian.
There's no point, if I understand Jesus correctly, if you say yes, yes and then go off and do
your own thing as if nothing's changed.
You must be prepared to follow Jesus with the intent of succeeding.
We've got the Olympic Games on at the moment.
There's no athlete there that would go to the Olympic Games with the intent of failing.
I know not all of them know they're going to win the gold medal but most of them there
are positive.
Most of them there are going there with the intent of doing their best to at least win
a medal if not the gold medal.
That's why they go there.
We must be prepared to follow Jesus with the intent of succeeding, with the intent of putting
in as much effort as we possibly can into the Christian life.
Thirdly, Jesus speaks about salt, losing its saltiness.
In other words, the underlying question is will you remain useful?
Will you remain distinct to the end?
Jesus summarises the two parable with, in a sense, this third mini-parable about salt.
And so just like the tower builder who fails to complete his tower and the king who fails
to win the war, so too is salt that loses its saltiness.
It's useless.
It's useless.
There's no tower, only a foundation.
There's no gain of land or possessions after a battle that's been lost.
The whole endeavour has been a waste of time.
Salt that has lost its saltiness is to be thrown out.
Salt that loses its flavour or its preservation properties is like a Christian, a follower
of Jesus who is no longer distinct from the world and they are no longer able to influence
those around him for the sake of Christ.
It's as if he is no longer a believer.
Salt that loses its saltiness is useless, isn't it?
There is a sense that in these parables that Jesus is driving home the need for total commitment
to the project, whether it's building a tower, whether it's fighting a war, whether it's
remaining salty.
If you plan to build a tower, give it all the money it needs.
It would even be better to borrow money instead of having a useless slab sitting on the ground,
sitting idle.
If you're going out to war, then make sure you have enough military personnel to see
it through.
And if you're the salt, make sure you stay salty, that is, remain effective to the end.
Each of these illustrations, therefore, Jesus speaks about the end in some way, a tower
built, a war to be won, salt that stays salty.
Each then urges the potential follower to look to the final outcome, to look to the
end result.
And so we ask, will I make it to the end?
Will I make it all the way?
And so Jesus is calling here for a total lifetime commitment, a commitment that will not run
out of puff like the tower builder running out of money, a commitment that will not mean
surrender in some way, a commitment that will not lose its effectiveness over time.
And so the question we need to ask is, are you in the Christian life for the long haul?
That's the bottom line here.
We can't die to ourself and then somehow undie later.
We can't change our minds and then come back again and again.
We can't do that.
That's not what the road of discipleship is about.
Here's the fine print in following Jesus.
You need to be prepared to sign up not for 12 months or on a 24-month contract, but for
a lifetime, for a lifetime.
Jesus concludes this lesson urging the people to truly perceive what he says.
He who has ears, let him hear.
Are you listening to Jesus today?
Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem.
He's on his way to the cross and he beckons you and I to follow him there, to lay our
lives down at the foot of the cross and say with the old hymn, take my life and let it
be consecrated, Lord, to thee.
That is, as disciples, as followers of Jesus, to give our lives wholly to him, to him who
died so that we may live.
If Jesus is able to give his life for us, surely the cost to give our life for him is
not too great after all.
Let me pray.
Father, the cost is great and yet it's not that great.
The cost is great when we know all the things that we need to give up.
The cost is great when we know that it's not a short-term decision but it's a lifetime
decision and yet when we really come down to it, we know that the cost is not great
compared to what you gave for us.
Father, I pray that we can have that perspective this morning, that we can live our lives as
Christians because you died to give us that life to live.
Help us to live our lives in light of the cross, in light of your death that took the
punishment for our sin.
Father, I pray that for those here today that are not believers, that are not Christians,
that they can sit down and contemplate and count the cost of following you.
Father, we pray that we will think about what it means, that we will give due consideration
to what is required of a disciple.
For those of us who do believe, help us to realise that there's obligations as Christians.
There's requirements that we have put up our hand and we've said, yes, we will follow you.
We will follow you with all our life.
Help us to be challenged by this text to ask, how much of my life have I really given over
to Christ?
How much more of my life do I need to give over to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ
today?
In Jesus' name we pray it.
Amen.