February 11, 2025 • 21 mins
What does it truly mean to follow Jesus? Brace yourself for an eye-opening exploration as we tackle the challenging teachings from Luke 14:25-35, where the call to discipleship is presented with stark realities. We confront the controversial notion of "hating" one's family and giving up possessions, diving into the heart of these teachings to uncover their true intent. Often misunderstood and misused, these passages call us to prioritize our commitment to Jesus above all else, especially as Lent approaches. This episode invites you to reflect on the depth of your personal relationship with Christ and challenges the notion of blind allegiance to religious institutions.
Join us on a journey through the Gospel of Luke as we delve into Jesus' mission, shattering expectations of political uprising, and redefining the essence of true discipleship. Through the experiences of biblical figures like Peter and the rich young ruler, we see the grace that Jesus extends even amid our failures. The metaphors of a builder and a king illustrate the need for total reliance on divine grace. We challenge you to introspect and identify areas where you've held back from God, embracing a life of love and commitment supported by his grace. This episode is a call to fully engage in the transformative journey of following Christ.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, thank you all very much.
I am obviously not StephenFeith.
I know the resemblance isuncanny, so they could have been
talking about him during allthat.
I would also say that I think,at least this week, I think
Stephen gave me this messagebecause he thought that the
Packers were going to be in theSuper Bowl and so he needed the
weekend off, and it didn't turnout to be quite like that for
(00:22):
him today.
It didn't turn out to be quitelike that for him today, and
then the other he's like correct, that's good.
The other reason I think he gavethis to me this week
specifically is because it's areally, really tough passage.
It's really difficult, andwe're kind of walking through
these difficult sayings of Jesus.
Stephen talked about a littlebit last week Jesus coming to
(00:42):
divide.
What's that all about?
That's kind of a difficultsaying, and then this week we're
going to be hearing a lot ofdifficult things about hating
your family, giving up yourpossessions.
It's really difficult, and sothat's the other thing about why
Stephen gave this to me thisweek.
Oh, you're in seminary.
Well, how about you take thisone first, fam?
Yeah, that's a hard one.
(01:03):
So what I want us to do, atleast right now.
Let me tell you what thepassage is and if you want to
pull it up on your phone, if youwant to pull it up, you know in
the Bible sitting next to you,you can Luke, chapter 14, and
we'll start at verse 25.
So Luke, chapter 14, we'llstart at verse 25.
And then, once you've foundyour place, sometimes I think
(01:27):
it's really easy for people likeme and you know we talk about
academia and the like I thinkit's really easy for us to want
to study a passage where we wantto like dissect it and analyze
it and really try to get to theheart of it and try to decode it
, essentially kind of like amath equation.
But I don't really think thatthat's how scripture is intended
to be heard, read, read orexperienced in our day-to-day
life.
So what I'd rather us do herein this, these first moments, is
(01:50):
just have a scenery momentwhere we kind of close our eyes
or we zone out just a little bitand we hear the word of God
read over us, or we hear itwhere we feel it, where we
experience it, especially whenit's a tough passage like this
today.
So I'm going to read it.
Feel free to close your eyes ifyou're comfortable with that or
zone out, but just listen.
(02:11):
It says this Now, large crowdswere traveling with him and does
not hate father and mother,wife and children, brothers and
(02:33):
sisters.
Yes, and even life itselfcannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry thecross and follow me cannot be my
disciple.
For which of you intending tobuild a tower does not first sit
down and estimate the cost tosee whether he has enough to
complete it?
Otherwise, when he has laid afoundation and is not able to
finish, all those who see itwill begin to ridicule him,
saying this fellow began tobuild and was not able to finish
.
Or what king was going out towage war against another king
(02:57):
and will not sit down first toconsider whether he is able,
with 10,000, to oppose the onethat comes against him with
20,000?
If he cannot, then while theother is still far away, he
sends out a delegation and asksfor the terms of peace.
So therefore, none of you canbecome my disciple if you do not
give up all your possessions.
(03:17):
Salt is good, but if salt haslost its taste, how can its
saltiness be restored?
It is fit neither for the soilnor for the manure pile.
They throw it away.
Let anyone with ears to hearlisten.
As we come back and we thinkabout responding to scripture
(03:38):
like that, we realize just howtough this passage is.
And how could anyone whetherit's Pastor Stephen or myself or
any other of your favoritespeaker how could they sit up
here and say, oh, you know what.
I know everything about thispassage and I know exactly what
it means and I'm going to tellit to you right now.
(03:58):
It's complex for a reason.
Jesus was being complex for areason, and I think right now we
ask ourselves is Jesus serious?
Is Jesus serious about hatingour families?
Isn't there enough hate goingon in the world today, right now
?
Why is there a command to hatein there?
And these words are trulydifficult to parse through, and
(04:22):
I think that one other thingthat's really troubling me about
this passage, as I evenapproach it today, is how
passages like these have beenused in my previous contexts.
In a lot of ways, verses likethese have been used to
manipulate congregations overthe years.
It goes a little something likethis you better follow Jesus,
(04:44):
because this verse says so, ourchurch is close to Jesus.
Ergo, you better follow thischurch or you don't love Jesus.
It goes something like that.
Or perhaps they even take itfurther and they say oh, your
friends and family disagree withthe church and where it's going
, or where this leader is going.
Well, jesus said you got tohate your family and family,
disagree with the church andwhere it's going, or where this
(05:05):
leader is going.
Well, jesus said you got tohate your family and follow us.
So you better do that or elseyou're not a true disciple of
Jesus.
It's almost like discipleshipcomes with conditions and I say
that's tragic, I say that'scontrolling, and I think that
there's good reason to believethat that's not what Jesus is up
to here in these verycomplicated verses.
(05:25):
Instead, here is where we areheaded today.
Jesus is challenging the crowdand Jesus is challenging us to
fully commit to him, not to thechurch, not to our favorite
leader, not even to one another,but discipleship rooted in a
(05:48):
full commitment to Jesus.
And that is the cost ofdiscipleship, a commitment to a
life following Christ.
And as we approach Lent, jesusis asking us to count this cost.
Are we indeed committed tofollowing Christ?
Are we indeed committed tofollowing Christ?
(06:10):
So for the next few moments, Iwant us to walk around Jesus'
words in these passages.
First, I want us to look atJesus' context of these
statements and see how he'swarning this crowd specifically
against viewing him as anearthly politician.
I think that's going to beabsolutely important for us to
understand what's going on inthis verse.
Second, we're going to dissectjust how serious Jesus is about
(06:33):
discipleship and its costs.
And then, lastly, we're goingto see that Jesus doesn't stop
with a difficult saying andconditions for discipleship, but
Jesus is one who pours outgrace over us as we faithfully
follow him in our life.
And that is the last thing wemust walk away with
understanding the concept ofgrace and the grace that Jesus
pours out over us when it comesto discipleship.
(06:53):
So let's kick this off forcontext Jesus is not an earthly
politician, all right, andthat's what Jesus is kind of
communicating as he's talking tothe crowd here.
And I feel like right now Icould say Jesus is not an
earthly politician.
We could conclude the message,we'd get up and we could leave.
Because, honestly, what in theworld is going on out there
right now?
How much pain and hatred do wefeel and experience in our
(07:18):
day-to-day life?
And a lot of times it's because, firstly, politicians are up to
something and I think we limitthat together as a church.
But what I'm trying to get athere in Luke is that Luke is
this very interesting gospelbecause, unlike Matthew or Mark
(07:39):
or John, there's this motifinside Luke that's this journey
to Jerusalem.
Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem.
He starts this travel insideLuke.
That's this journey toJerusalem.
Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem.
He starts this travel in Luke,chapter 9.
It says he kind of sets hisface towards Jerusalem.
And then Jesus gets toJerusalem in Luke, chapter 19,
and he cries when he sees thecity.
It's almost like it's a.
(08:00):
You know, tyler can correct meon this math, but it's about 40%
of the book that we are on thisjourney to Jerusalem with Jesus
.
And when Jesus says in Luke,chapter nine that he's
absolutely intent setting hisface towards Jerusalem, we know
that Jesus is intent on going toJerusalem to fulfill God's will
to redeem creation, absolutelycommitted to it at all costs.
(08:26):
That's where we have toremember where this is coming
from and where this passage isborn out of.
Now let's look at some of thekey information here.
In the very first verse, whatwe started with, it says now
large crowds were traveling withhim.
That's kind of a small detailright.
Large crowds traveling with him.
But very important to us Now,as Jesus goes along, starting in
(08:49):
chapter nine, he's healing,he's astounding, he's teaching.
These crowds start to followhim, they start banding together
, just like this is the one,this is the one we want to
follow.
And along the way Jesus startsusing this language, where Jesus
starts announcing God's kingdomand then kind of what it means
to bring God's kingdom into thisworld, now you might imagine
(09:12):
this large crowd would havetheir own interpretation of what
welcoming God's kingdom intothe world meant, especially for
a marginalized, minority Jewishpopulation living under Roman
oppressive rule.
When we're talking about God'skingdom, they're anticipating
revolution.
That's what they really want.
They want to be liberated.
And as we watch these crowds,these crowds are going to be
(09:36):
some of the same ones in a fewweeks when we get to Palm Sunday
.
They're going to lay down palmsfor Jesus and they're going to
say Blessed is he who comes inthe name of the Lord.
In to say, blessed is he whocomes in the name of the Lord.
In fact, blessed is the Kingwho comes in the name of the
Lord.
That's kind of the verbiagethat's going to be used by the
same crowd.
You're going to watch the crowdthroughout this journey, but
unfortunately, we watched thesame crowd become disillusioned
(10:00):
as soon as he enters the citybecause, instead of kicking out
the Romans and announcingrevolution, jesus is going to
offend every Jewish leader byannouncing that he is the son of
God.
And then, when Jesus getsarrested, what does Peter try to
do?
He tries to pull out a sword.
Jesus tells him to put it awaybecause it's not a revolution,
it's not what Jesus is up to.
(10:20):
And then, just a few hourslater, this same crowd, the same
crowd that you see here, isgoing to be the crowd that says
Crucify him, crucify him.
Watch the journey of the crowdthroughout the book of Luke.
As much as we watch the journeyof Jesus.
And here is the crux To be inthe crowd does not mean that you
(10:45):
are a disciple.
And here is the crux To be inthe crowd does not mean that you
are a disciple.
All along Jesus' journey toJerusalem, when a large crowd is
around, we see him time andtime again say some of the most
offensive things that he canpossibly say, because Jesus is
sifting the crowd in this momentand it's a reminder that Jesus
(11:07):
and Jesus is trying to remindthem.
Jesus is not an earthlypolitician.
He is a Lord who's redeemingsouls.
And when we look at thispassage through the lens of that
context, we see that Jesusisn't looking for a crowd at all
.
Jesus is looking for disciplesor apprentices.
If we really get to the heartof the word, jesus is looking
(11:27):
for these faithful followers.
But I wonder, if you're like me,how many times do we approach
Jesus as if he is a politician?
Jesus, we voted for you, weinvited you into our life.
We invited you into our life.
We accepted you into our heart.
We've committed to a life, tofollowing you.
(11:48):
Why do I not have the life thatI envisioned to have?
Jesus, I even paid fundraise.
I submitted to the campaign.
I tithed.
Where's my return on investment?
I think even this week I'vebeen praying, seeing Jesus as a
(12:11):
politician.
God, I've committed to you.
Why isn't my life what Ienvisioned it to be?
And I think we have to sit backand count.
Is this really what Jesus meantwhen he said follow me, that he
would give us the life that weenvisioned?
(12:31):
So, second, let's look at howserious Jesus is about
discipleship.
Remember the verses that westarted out with here.
Whoever comes to me and doesnot hate father and mother, wife
and children, brothers andsisters, yes, even life itself,
cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry thecross and follow me cannot be my
disciple.
And at the end remember,whoever does not give up their
(12:52):
possessions cannot be mydisciple.
And I think most of us areweary in here, including myself,
of a change and the change thatJesus is asking us to make in a
saying like this, because ashe's sifting that crowd, he's
also challenging us.
But is that a challenge of hate?
I think Thomas Keating.
(13:13):
He's a Trappist monk who reallyunderstands probably the best
about what's happening here.
So he was famous for his workaround centering and
contemplative prayer.
So if you join one of thespiritual discipline small
groups, you'll get a chance kindof like how we started out here
having a centering moment andcontemplating the text or
(13:34):
experiencing God in a differentway.
He was kind of known for thatfor his life's work.
But he also had this other ideathat Jesus could heal what he
called emotional programs forhappiness.
It's kind of a fancy term,emotional programs for happiness
, but here's what it means.
There are these subliminalthoughts and ideas inside each
of us that if we just have alittle bit of this, then we'll
(13:58):
be happy.
And he breaks it down intothree categories Esteem and
affection, security and survival, and power and control.
Most of us, at least, gravitateto one of those categories.
For me myself, I gravitatetowards security and survival.
I'm convinced that if I justfind security and I just have a
(14:21):
few more possessions and life'sjust a little bit more stable,
then I'll be happy.
That's at least what I'm drawnto.
And perhaps one of the othersis drawing to you.
Esteem and affection, or powerand control.
It would seem like in ourverses today, jesus is
challenging all three of theseprograms for happiness.
So by asking us to hate ourfamilies, jesus is challenging
(14:46):
our program for esteem andaffection.
That affection you receive fromthe family is not the ultimate
source of happiness.
It's a reflection of it, forsure, but it's not the ultimate
source of happiness.
By asking us to give up ourlife and our possessions, he
challenges our program forsecurity and survival.
I don't need a stable life tobe a disciple.
(15:08):
How many times do I have totell myself that?
And by asking us to take up across and taking it, take up and
carry the cross, jesus ischallenging our notions for
power and control, because thereis no power and there is no
control when you are taking thecross of Jesus with you.
And Jesus is going at thesethings that are deep within us
(15:30):
on purpose, because he's notactually asking us to live in
hate.
He's actually trying to ask usto live in a deeper form of love
, and here's what I mean by that.
Our attachments to anythingother than Jesus create a
spiritual static that interferewith Jesus's way of love.
What is that?
Remember the rule of faith.
Love the Lord, your God, withall your heart, your soul, your
(15:52):
mind, your strength.
Love your neighbors, yourself.
And if we go back to theBeatitudes, we hear a few more
radical things about love, likelove your enemy too.
When we talk about love yourenemy and I think right now it's
at least important to say thatdoesn't mean we cave into
oppression.
It doesn't mean we stay silentwhen we need to speak
prophetically, and it doesn'tmean we don't set boundaries
(16:14):
with people who we need to setboundaries with.
That is all part of a deep formof love and still important
even, probably especially today,but what it does mean is that,
as disciples of Christ, ourlives are marked by a head-on
collision with a radical God wholoved us enough to live in
human form, die a human deathand rise again to give us life.
(16:37):
And our collision with a lovingGod means that our lives are
also marked by a radical lovewith a loving God means that our
lives are also marked by aradical love.
To choose love is to chooselife, especially as remember
Jesus' other sayings those wholose their lives for his sake
will find it.
It all comes back together.
(16:57):
And then lastly, in these hardsayings, let's remember that
Jesus pours out grace over usAgain.
I told you from the verybeginning this cannot happen
without Jesus' grace in our life.
Jesus loves us in ourincompleteness.
That was the whole reason Jesusset his face towards Jerusalem
(17:17):
because he loved us in ourincompleteness.
And if we remember thedisciples and other biblical
characters, they're kind of ourmodels for what discipleship
looks like.
And it's kind of funny when youthink about it, because if we go
back to Peter, peter doesn'tget it.
Remember, in a few chaptersPeter's going to pull out a
(17:38):
sword to protect his king frombeing arrested and then, just a
few hours later, he's going todeny Jesus in the hour of his
death, deny even knowing who hewas.
In a way, peter misunderstoodjust about everything Jesus was
trying to communicate.
But what does Jesus do?
(18:00):
Jesus decides to pour out graceover Peter, to reconcile Peter,
to encourage Peter in a life offaith.
And Jesus does the same with useach and every day.
In fact, let's look at the lastfew verses of our passage.
Remember this a little bit, forwhich of you intending to build
a tower does not first sit downand estimate the cost to see
(18:21):
whether you have enough tocomplete it?
Otherwise, when you lay afoundation and are not able to
(18:46):
complete it, then everyone'sgoing to ridicule him, saying
Now, I don't know if you caughtthis, but in both situations
Jesus assumes that the buildercan't build and that the king
can't wage war.
I think that's because Jesusreally understands that the task
before us is actually difficult.
It's almost impossible.
The builder couldn't build, theking couldn't wage war.
And it actually sets us up foranother thing that's going to
(19:10):
happen in the coming weeks witha rich young ruler, famous rich
young ruler, who Jesus asked togive up everything.
And the saying is so difficultfrom Jesus that the crowd of all
people, the crowd, is going toreach out and respond and say
who then can be saved, jesus, ifwhat you're saying is so real,
(19:34):
who then can be saved?
And how does Jesus respond?
What is impossible with man ispossible from God.
What is impossible for man ispossible from God.
Living a life of discipleshipis only possible through God's
grace in our life.
(19:55):
It is impossible on our ownstrength, and that is the crux
of discipleship.
It's an impossible ask on ourown, but we find that Jesus
gives the Spirit of God in ourlife to strengthen our faith and
to pour out grace over usduring our journey following him
(20:15):
.
And so here in our conclusiontoday, I think there's a
question that we might all needto ask ourselves what is an area
of our life that we have heldback from God?
Do you see God as a politician,fulfilling your vision of a
(20:39):
good life?
Is there an obstacle preventingyour commitment to a life of
love and true discipleship?
Or perhaps perhaps you're onthe other side completely and
you were so committed to tryingto work your way through your
faith journey that you forgotthat God's grace was meant to
(21:01):
meet you where you're at journey, that you forgot that God's
grace was meant to meet youwhere you're at.
This passage is a tough one,but ultimately the message is
clear and we're going to end itright here.
Jesus' challenge to the crowdand Jesus' challenge to us is a
challenge of full commitment tohim.
That is the cost ofdiscipleship.
Well, thank you all very much.
I am obviously not StephenFeith.
I know the resemblance isuncanny, so they could have been
talking about him during allthat.
I would also say that I think,at least this week, I think
Stephen gave me this messagebecause he thought that the
Packers were going to be in theSuper Bowl and so he needed the
weekend off, and it didn't turnout to be quite like that for
(00:22):
him today.
It didn't turn out to be quitelike that for him today, and
then the other he's like correct, that's good.
The other reason I think he gavethis to me this week
specifically is because it's areally, really tough passage.
It's really difficult, andwe're kind of walking through
these difficult sayings of Jesus.
Stephen talked about a littlebit last week Jesus coming to
(00:42):
divide.
What's that all about?
That's kind of a difficultsaying, and then this week we're
going to be hearing a lot ofdifficult things about hating
your family, giving up yourpossessions.
It's really difficult, and sothat's the other thing about why
Stephen gave this to me thisweek.
Oh, you're in seminary.
Well, how about you take thisone first, fam?
Yeah, that's a hard one.
(01:03):
So what I want us to do, atleast right now.
Let me tell you what thepassage is and if you want to
pull it up on your phone, if youwant to pull it up, you know in
the Bible sitting next to you,you can Luke, chapter 14, and
we'll start at verse 25.
So Luke, chapter 14, we'llstart at verse 25.
And then, once you've foundyour place, sometimes I think
(01:27):
it's really easy for people likeme and you know we talk about
academia and the like I thinkit's really easy for us to want
to study a passage where we wantto like dissect it and analyze
it and really try to get to theheart of it and try to decode it
, essentially kind of like amath equation.
But I don't really think thatthat's how scripture is intended
to be heard, read, read orexperienced in our day-to-day
life.
So what I'd rather us do herein this, these first moments, is
(01:50):
just have a scenery momentwhere we kind of close our eyes
or we zone out just a little bitand we hear the word of God
read over us, or we hear itwhere we feel it, where we
experience it, especially whenit's a tough passage like this
today.
So I'm going to read it.
Feel free to close your eyes ifyou're comfortable with that or
zone out, but just listen.
(02:11):
It says this Now, large crowdswere traveling with him and does
not hate father and mother,wife and children, brothers and
(02:33):
sisters.
Yes, and even life itselfcannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry thecross and follow me cannot be my
disciple.
For which of you intending tobuild a tower does not first sit
down and estimate the cost tosee whether he has enough to
complete it?
Otherwise, when he has laid afoundation and is not able to
finish, all those who see itwill begin to ridicule him,
saying this fellow began tobuild and was not able to finish
.
Or what king was going out towage war against another king
(02:57):
and will not sit down first toconsider whether he is able,
with 10,000, to oppose the onethat comes against him with
20,000?
If he cannot, then while theother is still far away, he
sends out a delegation and asksfor the terms of peace.
So therefore, none of you canbecome my disciple if you do not
give up all your possessions.
(03:17):
Salt is good, but if salt haslost its taste, how can its
saltiness be restored?
It is fit neither for the soilnor for the manure pile.
They throw it away.
Let anyone with ears to hearlisten.
As we come back and we thinkabout responding to scripture
(03:38):
like that, we realize just howtough this passage is.
And how could anyone whetherit's Pastor Stephen or myself or
any other of your favoritespeaker how could they sit up
here and say, oh, you know what.
I know everything about thispassage and I know exactly what
it means and I'm going to tellit to you right now.
(03:58):
It's complex for a reason.
Jesus was being complex for areason, and I think right now we
ask ourselves is Jesus serious?
Is Jesus serious about hatingour families?
Isn't there enough hate goingon in the world today, right now
?
Why is there a command to hatein there?
And these words are trulydifficult to parse through, and
(04:22):
I think that one other thingthat's really troubling me about
this passage, as I evenapproach it today, is how
passages like these have beenused in my previous contexts.
In a lot of ways, verses likethese have been used to
manipulate congregations overthe years.
It goes a little something likethis you better follow Jesus,
(04:44):
because this verse says so, ourchurch is close to Jesus.
Ergo, you better follow thischurch or you don't love Jesus.
It goes something like that.
Or perhaps they even take itfurther and they say oh, your
friends and family disagree withthe church and where it's going
, or where this leader is going.
Well, jesus said you got tohate your family and family,
disagree with the church andwhere it's going, or where this
(05:05):
leader is going.
Well, jesus said you got tohate your family and follow us.
So you better do that or elseyou're not a true disciple of
Jesus.
It's almost like discipleshipcomes with conditions and I say
that's tragic, I say that'scontrolling, and I think that
there's good reason to believethat that's not what Jesus is up
to here in these verycomplicated verses.
(05:25):
Instead, here is where we areheaded today.
Jesus is challenging the crowdand Jesus is challenging us to
fully commit to him, not to thechurch, not to our favorite
leader, not even to one another,but discipleship rooted in a
(05:48):
full commitment to Jesus.
And that is the cost ofdiscipleship, a commitment to a
life following Christ.
And as we approach Lent, jesusis asking us to count this cost.
Are we indeed committed tofollowing Christ?
Are we indeed committed tofollowing Christ?
(06:10):
So for the next few moments, Iwant us to walk around Jesus'
words in these passages.
First, I want us to look atJesus' context of these
statements and see how he'swarning this crowd specifically
against viewing him as anearthly politician.
I think that's going to beabsolutely important for us to
understand what's going on inthis verse.
Second, we're going to dissectjust how serious Jesus is about
(06:33):
discipleship and its costs.
And then, lastly, we're goingto see that Jesus doesn't stop
with a difficult saying andconditions for discipleship, but
Jesus is one who pours outgrace over us as we faithfully
follow him in our life.
And that is the last thing wemust walk away with
understanding the concept ofgrace and the grace that Jesus
pours out over us when it comesto discipleship.
(06:53):
So let's kick this off forcontext Jesus is not an earthly
politician, all right, andthat's what Jesus is kind of
communicating as he's talking tothe crowd here.
And I feel like right now Icould say Jesus is not an
earthly politician.
We could conclude the message,we'd get up and we could leave.
Because, honestly, what in theworld is going on out there
right now?
How much pain and hatred do wefeel and experience in our
(07:18):
day-to-day life?
And a lot of times it's because, firstly, politicians are up to
something and I think we limitthat together as a church.
But what I'm trying to get athere in Luke is that Luke is
this very interesting gospelbecause, unlike Matthew or Mark
(07:39):
or John, there's this motifinside Luke that's this journey
to Jerusalem.
Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem.
He starts this travel insideLuke.
That's this journey toJerusalem.
Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem.
He starts this travel in Luke,chapter 9.
It says he kind of sets hisface towards Jerusalem.
And then Jesus gets toJerusalem in Luke, chapter 19,
and he cries when he sees thecity.
It's almost like it's a.
(08:00):
You know, tyler can correct meon this math, but it's about 40%
of the book that we are on thisjourney to Jerusalem with Jesus
.
And when Jesus says in Luke,chapter nine that he's
absolutely intent setting hisface towards Jerusalem, we know
that Jesus is intent on going toJerusalem to fulfill God's will
to redeem creation, absolutelycommitted to it at all costs.
(08:26):
That's where we have toremember where this is coming
from and where this passage isborn out of.
Now let's look at some of thekey information here.
In the very first verse, whatwe started with, it says now
large crowds were traveling withhim.
That's kind of a small detailright.
Large crowds traveling with him.
But very important to us Now,as Jesus goes along, starting in
(08:49):
chapter nine, he's healing,he's astounding, he's teaching.
These crowds start to followhim, they start banding together
, just like this is the one,this is the one we want to
follow.
And along the way Jesus startsusing this language, where Jesus
starts announcing God's kingdomand then kind of what it means
to bring God's kingdom into thisworld, now you might imagine
(09:12):
this large crowd would havetheir own interpretation of what
welcoming God's kingdom intothe world meant, especially for
a marginalized, minority Jewishpopulation living under Roman
oppressive rule.
When we're talking about God'skingdom, they're anticipating
revolution.
That's what they really want.
They want to be liberated.
And as we watch these crowds,these crowds are going to be
(09:36):
some of the same ones in a fewweeks when we get to Palm Sunday
.
They're going to lay down palmsfor Jesus and they're going to
say Blessed is he who comes inthe name of the Lord.
In to say, blessed is he whocomes in the name of the Lord.
In fact, blessed is the Kingwho comes in the name of the
Lord.
That's kind of the verbiagethat's going to be used by the
same crowd.
You're going to watch the crowdthroughout this journey, but
unfortunately, we watched thesame crowd become disillusioned
(10:00):
as soon as he enters the citybecause, instead of kicking out
the Romans and announcingrevolution, jesus is going to
offend every Jewish leader byannouncing that he is the son of
God.
And then, when Jesus getsarrested, what does Peter try to
do?
He tries to pull out a sword.
Jesus tells him to put it awaybecause it's not a revolution,
it's not what Jesus is up to.
(10:20):
And then, just a few hourslater, this same crowd, the same
crowd that you see here, isgoing to be the crowd that says
Crucify him, crucify him.
Watch the journey of the crowdthroughout the book of Luke.
As much as we watch the journeyof Jesus.
And here is the crux To be inthe crowd does not mean that you
(10:45):
are a disciple.
And here is the crux To be inthe crowd does not mean that you
are a disciple.
All along Jesus' journey toJerusalem, when a large crowd is
around, we see him time andtime again say some of the most
offensive things that he canpossibly say, because Jesus is
sifting the crowd in this momentand it's a reminder that Jesus
(11:07):
and Jesus is trying to remindthem.
Jesus is not an earthlypolitician.
He is a Lord who's redeemingsouls.
And when we look at thispassage through the lens of that
context, we see that Jesusisn't looking for a crowd at all
.
Jesus is looking for disciplesor apprentices.
If we really get to the heartof the word, jesus is looking
(11:27):
for these faithful followers.
But I wonder, if you're like me,how many times do we approach
Jesus as if he is a politician?
Jesus, we voted for you, weinvited you into our life.
We invited you into our life.
We accepted you into our heart.
We've committed to a life, tofollowing you.
(11:48):
Why do I not have the life thatI envisioned to have?
Jesus, I even paid fundraise.
I submitted to the campaign.
I tithed.
Where's my return on investment?
I think even this week I'vebeen praying, seeing Jesus as a
(12:11):
politician.
God, I've committed to you.
Why isn't my life what Ienvisioned it to be?
And I think we have to sit backand count.
Is this really what Jesus meantwhen he said follow me, that he
would give us the life that weenvisioned?
(12:31):
So, second, let's look at howserious Jesus is about
discipleship.
Remember the verses that westarted out with here.
Whoever comes to me and doesnot hate father and mother, wife
and children, brothers andsisters, yes, even life itself,
cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry thecross and follow me cannot be my
disciple.
And at the end remember,whoever does not give up their
(12:52):
possessions cannot be mydisciple.
And I think most of us areweary in here, including myself,
of a change and the change thatJesus is asking us to make in a
saying like this, because ashe's sifting that crowd, he's
also challenging us.
But is that a challenge of hate?
I think Thomas Keating.
(13:13):
He's a Trappist monk who reallyunderstands probably the best
about what's happening here.
So he was famous for his workaround centering and
contemplative prayer.
So if you join one of thespiritual discipline small
groups, you'll get a chance kindof like how we started out here
having a centering moment andcontemplating the text or
(13:34):
experiencing God in a differentway.
He was kind of known for thatfor his life's work.
But he also had this other ideathat Jesus could heal what he
called emotional programs forhappiness.
It's kind of a fancy term,emotional programs for happiness
, but here's what it means.
There are these subliminalthoughts and ideas inside each
of us that if we just have alittle bit of this, then we'll
(13:58):
be happy.
And he breaks it down intothree categories Esteem and
affection, security and survival, and power and control.
Most of us, at least, gravitateto one of those categories.
For me myself, I gravitatetowards security and survival.
I'm convinced that if I justfind security and I just have a
(14:21):
few more possessions and life'sjust a little bit more stable,
then I'll be happy.
That's at least what I'm drawnto.
And perhaps one of the othersis drawing to you.
Esteem and affection, or powerand control.
It would seem like in ourverses today, jesus is
challenging all three of theseprograms for happiness.
So by asking us to hate ourfamilies, jesus is challenging
(14:46):
our program for esteem andaffection.
That affection you receive fromthe family is not the ultimate
source of happiness.
It's a reflection of it, forsure, but it's not the ultimate
source of happiness.
By asking us to give up ourlife and our possessions, he
challenges our program forsecurity and survival.
I don't need a stable life tobe a disciple.
(15:08):
How many times do I have totell myself that?
And by asking us to take up across and taking it, take up and
carry the cross, jesus ischallenging our notions for
power and control, because thereis no power and there is no
control when you are taking thecross of Jesus with you.
And Jesus is going at thesethings that are deep within us
(15:30):
on purpose, because he's notactually asking us to live in
hate.
He's actually trying to ask usto live in a deeper form of love
, and here's what I mean by that.
Our attachments to anythingother than Jesus create a
spiritual static that interferewith Jesus's way of love.
What is that?
Remember the rule of faith.
Love the Lord, your God, withall your heart, your soul, your
(15:52):
mind, your strength.
Love your neighbors, yourself.
And if we go back to theBeatitudes, we hear a few more
radical things about love, likelove your enemy too.
When we talk about love yourenemy and I think right now it's
at least important to say thatdoesn't mean we cave into
oppression.
It doesn't mean we stay silentwhen we need to speak
prophetically, and it doesn'tmean we don't set boundaries
(16:14):
with people who we need to setboundaries with.
That is all part of a deep formof love and still important
even, probably especially today,but what it does mean is that,
as disciples of Christ, ourlives are marked by a head-on
collision with a radical God wholoved us enough to live in
human form, die a human deathand rise again to give us life.
(16:37):
And our collision with a lovingGod means that our lives are
also marked by a radical lovewith a loving God means that our
lives are also marked by aradical love.
To choose love is to chooselife, especially as remember
Jesus' other sayings those wholose their lives for his sake
will find it.
It all comes back together.
(16:57):
And then lastly, in these hardsayings, let's remember that
Jesus pours out grace over usAgain.
I told you from the verybeginning this cannot happen
without Jesus' grace in our life.
Jesus loves us in ourincompleteness.
That was the whole reason Jesusset his face towards Jerusalem
(17:17):
because he loved us in ourincompleteness.
And if we remember thedisciples and other biblical
characters, they're kind of ourmodels for what discipleship
looks like.
And it's kind of funny when youthink about it, because if we go
back to Peter, peter doesn'tget it.
Remember, in a few chaptersPeter's going to pull out a
(17:38):
sword to protect his king frombeing arrested and then, just a
few hours later, he's going todeny Jesus in the hour of his
death, deny even knowing who hewas.
In a way, peter misunderstoodjust about everything Jesus was
trying to communicate.
But what does Jesus do?
(18:00):
Jesus decides to pour out graceover Peter, to reconcile Peter,
to encourage Peter in a life offaith.
And Jesus does the same with useach and every day.
In fact, let's look at the lastfew verses of our passage.
Remember this a little bit, forwhich of you intending to build
a tower does not first sit downand estimate the cost to see
(18:21):
whether you have enough tocomplete it?
Otherwise, when you lay afoundation and are not able to
(18:46):
complete it, then everyone'sgoing to ridicule him, saying
Now, I don't know if you caughtthis, but in both situations
Jesus assumes that the buildercan't build and that the king
can't wage war.
I think that's because Jesusreally understands that the task
before us is actually difficult.
It's almost impossible.
The builder couldn't build, theking couldn't wage war.
And it actually sets us up foranother thing that's going to
(19:10):
happen in the coming weeks witha rich young ruler, famous rich
young ruler, who Jesus asked togive up everything.
And the saying is so difficultfrom Jesus that the crowd of all
people, the crowd, is going toreach out and respond and say
who then can be saved, jesus, ifwhat you're saying is so real,
(19:34):
who then can be saved?
And how does Jesus respond?
What is impossible with man ispossible from God.
What is impossible for man ispossible from God.
Living a life of discipleshipis only possible through God's
grace in our life.
(19:55):
It is impossible on our ownstrength, and that is the crux
of discipleship.
It's an impossible ask on ourown, but we find that Jesus
gives the Spirit of God in ourlife to strengthen our faith and
to pour out grace over usduring our journey following him
(20:15):
.
And so here in our conclusiontoday, I think there's a
question that we might all needto ask ourselves what is an area
of our life that we have heldback from God?
Do you see God as a politician,fulfilling your vision of a
(20:39):
good life?
Is there an obstacle preventingyour commitment to a life of
love and true discipleship?
Or perhaps perhaps you're onthe other side completely and
you were so committed to tryingto work your way through your
faith journey that you forgotthat God's grace was meant to
(21:01):
meet you where you're at journey, that you forgot that God's
grace was meant to meet youwhere you're at.
This passage is a tough one,but ultimately the message is
clear and we're going to end itright here.
Jesus' challenge to the crowdand Jesus' challenge to us is a
challenge of full commitment tohim.
That is the cost ofdiscipleship.
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