Speaker 1: 0:00

Well, thank you all very much. I am obviously not Stephen Feith. I know the resemblance is uncanny, so they could have been talking about him during all that. I would also say that I think, at least this week, I think Stephen gave me this message because he thought that the Packers were going to be in the Super Bowl and so he needed the weekend off, and it didn't turn out to be quite like that for him today. It didn't turn out to be quite like that for him today, and then the other he's like correct, that's good.

Speaker 1: 0:33

The other reason I think he gave this to me this week specifically is because it's a really, really tough passage. It's really difficult, and we're kind of walking through these difficult sayings of Jesus. Stephen talked about a little bit last week Jesus coming to divide. What's that all about? That's kind of a difficult saying, and then this week we're going to be hearing a lot of difficult things about hating your family, giving up your possessions. It's really difficult, and so that's the other thing about why Stephen gave this to me this week. Oh, you're in seminary. Well, how about you take this one first, fam? Yeah, that's a hard one.

Speaker 1: 1:03

So what I want us to do, at least right now. Let me tell you what the passage is and if you want to pull it up on your phone, if you want 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'll start at verse 25. And then, once you've found your place, sometimes I think it's really easy for people like me and you know we talk about academia and the like I think it's really easy for us to want to study a passage where we want to like dissect it and analyze it and really try to get to the heart of it and try to decode it, essentially kind of like a math equation. But I don't really think that that's how scripture is intended to be heard, read, read or experienced in our day-to-day life. So what I'd rather us do here in this, these first moments, is just have a scenery moment where we kind of close our eyes or we zone out just a little bit and we hear the word of God read over us, or we hear it where we feel it, where we experience it, especially when it's a tough passage like this today. So I'm going to read it. Feel free to close your eyes if you're comfortable with that or zone out, but just listen.

Speaker 1: 2:11

It says this Now, large crowds were traveling with him and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters. Yes, and even life itself cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you intending to build a tower does not first sit down and estimate the cost to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all those who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying this fellow began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king was going out to wage war against another king and will not sit down first to consider whether he is able, with 10,000, to oppose the one that comes against him with 20,000? If he cannot, then while the other is still far away, he sends out a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

Speaker 1: 3:17

Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. They throw it away. Let anyone with ears to hear listen. As we come back and we think about responding to scripture like that, we realize just how tough this passage is. And how could anyone whether it's Pastor Stephen or myself or any other of your favorite speaker how could they sit up here and say, oh, you know what. I know everything about this passage and I know exactly what it means and I'm going to tell it to you right now. It's complex for a reason. Jesus was being complex for a reason, and I think right now we ask ourselves is Jesus serious? Is Jesus serious about hating our families? Isn't there enough hate going on in the world today, right now? Why is there a command to hate in there? And these words are truly difficult to parse through, and I think that one other thing that's really troubling me about this passage, as I even approach it today, is how passages like these have been used in my previous contexts.

Speaker 1: 4:33

In a lot of ways, verses like these have been used to manipulate congregations over the years. It goes a little something like this you better follow Jesus, because this verse says so, our church is close to Jesus. Ergo, you better follow this church or you don't love Jesus. It goes something like that. Or perhaps they even take it further and they say oh, your friends and family disagree with the church and where it's going, or where this leader is going. Well, jesus said you got to hate your family and family, disagree with the church and where it's going, or where this leader is going. Well, jesus said you got to hate your family and follow us. So you better do that or else you're not a true disciple of Jesus. It's almost like discipleship comes with conditions and I say that's tragic, I say that's controlling, and I think that there's good reason to believe that that's not what Jesus is up to here in these very complicated verses. Instead, here is where we are headed today.

Speaker 1: 5:30

Jesus is challenging the crowd and Jesus is challenging us to fully commit to him, not to the church, not to our favorite leader, not even to one another, but discipleship rooted in a full commitment to Jesus. And that is the cost of discipleship, a commitment to a life following Christ. And as we approach Lent, jesus is asking us to count this cost. Are we indeed committed to following Christ? Are we indeed committed to following Christ? So for the next few moments, I want us to walk around Jesus' words in these passages.

Speaker 1: 6:15

First, I want us to look at Jesus' context of these statements and see how he's warning this crowd specifically against viewing him as an earthly politician. I think that's going to be absolutely important for us to understand what's going on in this verse. Second, we're going to dissect just how serious Jesus is about discipleship and its costs. And then, lastly, we're going to see that Jesus doesn't stop with a difficult saying and conditions for discipleship, but Jesus is one who pours out grace over us as we faithfully follow him in our life. And that is the last thing we must walk away with understanding the concept of grace and the grace that Jesus pours out over us when it comes to discipleship. So let's kick this off for context Jesus is not an earthly politician, all right, and that's what Jesus is kind of communicating as he's talking to the crowd here. And I feel like right now I could say Jesus is not an earthly politician. We could conclude the message, we'd get up and we could leave. Because, honestly, what in the world is going on out there right now? How much pain and hatred do we feel and experience in our day-to-day life? And a lot of times it's because, firstly, politicians are up to something and I think we limit that together as a church.

Speaker 1: 7:30

But what I'm trying to get at here in Luke is that Luke is this very interesting gospel because, unlike Matthew or Mark or John, there's this motif inside Luke that's this journey to Jerusalem. Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem. He starts this travel inside Luke. That's this journey to Jerusalem. Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem. He starts this travel in Luke, chapter 9. It says he kind of sets his face towards Jerusalem. And then Jesus gets to Jerusalem in Luke, chapter 19, and he cries when he sees the city. It's almost like it's a. You know, tyler can correct me on this math, but it's about 40% of the book that we are on this journey to Jerusalem with Jesus. And when Jesus says in Luke, chapter nine that he's absolutely intent setting his face towards Jerusalem, we know that Jesus is intent on going to Jerusalem to fulfill God's will to redeem creation, absolutely committed to it at all costs. That's where we have to remember where this is coming from and where this passage is born out of.

Speaker 1: 8:31

Now let's look at some of the key information here. In the very first verse, what we started with, it says now large crowds were traveling with him. That's kind of a small detail right. Large crowds traveling with him. But very important to us Now, as Jesus goes along, starting in chapter nine, he's healing, he's astounding, he's teaching. These crowds start to follow him, they start banding together, just like this is the one, this is the one we want to follow.

Speaker 1: 9:00

And along the way Jesus starts using this language, where Jesus starts announcing God's kingdom and then kind of what it means to bring God's kingdom into this world, now you might imagine this large crowd would have their own interpretation of what welcoming God's kingdom into the world meant, especially for a marginalized, minority Jewish population living under Roman oppressive rule. When we're talking about God's kingdom, 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 some of the same ones in a few weeks when we get to Palm Sunday. They're going to lay down palms for Jesus and they're going to say Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. In to say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. In fact, blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. That's kind of the verbiage that's going to be used by the same crowd.

Speaker 1: 9:50

You're going to watch the crowd throughout this journey, but unfortunately, we watched the same crowd become disillusioned as soon as he enters the city because, instead of kicking out the Romans and announcing revolution, jesus is going to offend every Jewish leader by announcing that he is the son of God. And then, when Jesus gets arrested, what does Peter try to do? He tries to pull out a sword. Jesus tells him to put it away because it's not a revolution, it's not what Jesus is up to. And then, just a few hours later, this same crowd, the same crowd that you see here, is going to be the crowd that says Crucify him, crucify him.

Speaker 1: 10:33

Watch the journey of the crowd throughout the book of Luke. As much as we watch the journey of Jesus. And here is the crux To be in the crowd does not mean that you are a disciple. And here is the crux To be in the crowd does not mean that you are a disciple. All along Jesus' journey to Jerusalem, when a large crowd is around, we see him time and time again say some of the most offensive things that he can possibly say, because Jesus is sifting the crowd in this moment and it's a reminder that Jesus and Jesus is trying to remind them.

Speaker 1: 11:08

Jesus is not an earthly politician. He is a Lord who's redeeming souls. And when we look at this passage through the lens of that context, we see that Jesus isn't looking for a crowd at all. Jesus is looking for disciples or apprentices. If we really get to the heart of the word, jesus is looking for these faithful followers.

Speaker 1: 11:31

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, we invited you into our life. We invited you into our life. We accepted you into our heart. We've committed to a life, to following you. Why do I not have the life that I 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've been praying, seeing Jesus as a politician. God, I've committed to you. Why isn't my life what I envisioned it to be? And I think we have to sit back and count. Is this really what Jesus meant when he said follow me, that he would give us the life that we envisioned?

Speaker 1: 12:31

So, second, let's look at how serious Jesus is about discipleship. Remember the verses that we started out with here. Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. And at the end remember, whoever does not give up their possessions cannot be my disciple. And I think most of us are weary in here, including myself, of a change and the change that Jesus is asking us to make in a saying like this, because as he's sifting that crowd, he's also challenging us. But is that a challenge of hate?

Speaker 1: 13:12

I think Thomas Keating. He's a Trappist monk who really understands probably the best about what's happening here. So he was famous for his work around centering and contemplative prayer. So if you join one of the spiritual discipline small groups, you'll get a chance kind of like how we started out here having a centering moment and contemplating the text or experiencing God in a different way. He was kind of known for that for his life's work.

Speaker 1: 13:38

But he also had this other idea that Jesus could heal what he called emotional programs for happiness. It's kind of a fancy term, emotional programs for happiness, but here's what it means. There are these subliminal thoughts and ideas inside each of us that if we just have a little bit of this, then we'll be happy. And he breaks it down into three categories Esteem and affection, security and survival, and power and control. Most of us, at least, gravitate to one of those categories. For me myself, I gravitate towards security and survival. I'm convinced that if I just find security and I just have a few more possessions and life's just a little bit more stable, then I'll be happy. That's at least what I'm drawn to. And perhaps one of the others is drawing to you.

Speaker 1: 14:30

Esteem and affection, or power and control. It would seem like in our verses today, jesus is challenging all three of these programs for happiness. So by asking us to hate our families, jesus is challenging our program for esteem and affection. That affection you receive from the family is not the ultimate source of happiness. It's a reflection of it, for sure, but it's not the ultimate source of happiness. By asking us to give up our life and our possessions, he challenges our program for security and survival. I don't need a stable life to be a disciple. How many times do I have to tell myself that? And by asking us to take up a cross and taking it, take up and carry the cross, jesus is challenging our notions for power and control, because there is no power and there is no control when you are taking the cross of Jesus with you. And Jesus is going at these things that are deep within us on purpose, because he's not actually asking us to live in hate. He's actually trying to ask us to live in a deeper form of love, and here's what I mean by that.

Speaker 1: 15:40

Our attachments to anything other than Jesus create a spiritual static that interfere with Jesus's way of love. What is that? Remember the rule of faith. Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength. Love your neighbors, yourself. And if we go back to the Beatitudes, we hear a few more radical things about love, like love your enemy too.

Speaker 1: 16:01

When we talk about love your enemy and I think right now it's at least important to say that doesn't mean we cave into oppression. It doesn't mean we stay silent when we need to speak prophetically, and it doesn't mean we don't set boundaries with people who we need to set boundaries with. That is all part of a deep form of love and still important even, probably especially today, but what it does mean is that, as disciples of Christ, our lives are marked by a head-on collision with a radical God who loved us enough to live in human form, die a human death and rise again to give us life. And our collision with a loving God means that our lives are also marked by a radical love with a loving God means that our lives are also marked by a radical love. To choose love is to choose life, especially as remember Jesus' other sayings those who lose their lives for his sake will find it. It all comes back together.

Speaker 1: 16:57

And then lastly, in these hard sayings, let's remember that Jesus pours out grace over us Again. I told you from the very beginning this cannot happen without Jesus' grace in our life. Jesus loves us in our incompleteness. That was the whole reason Jesus set his face towards Jerusalem because he loved us in our incompleteness. And if we remember the disciples and other biblical characters, they're kind of our models for what discipleship looks like.

Speaker 1: 17:29

And it's kind of funny when you think about it, because if we go back to Peter, peter doesn't get it. Remember, in a few chapters Peter's going to pull out a sword to protect his king from being arrested and then, just a few hours later, he's going to deny Jesus in the hour of his death, deny even knowing who he was. In a way, peter misunderstood just about everything Jesus was trying to communicate. But what does Jesus do? Jesus decides to pour out grace over Peter, to reconcile Peter, to encourage Peter in a life of faith. And Jesus does the same with us each and every day. In fact, let's look at the last few verses of our passage.

Speaker 1: 18:16

Remember this a little bit, for which of you intending to build a tower does not first sit down and estimate the cost to see whether you have enough to complete it? Otherwise, when you lay a foundation and are not able to complete it, then everyone's going to ridicule him, saying Now, I don't know if you caught this, but in both situations Jesus assumes that the builder can't build and that the king can't wage war. I think that's because Jesus really understands that the task before us is actually difficult. It's almost impossible. The builder couldn't build, the king couldn't wage war. And it actually sets us up for another thing that's going to happen in the coming weeks with a rich young ruler, famous rich young ruler, who Jesus asked to give up everything. And the saying is so difficult from Jesus that the crowd of all people, the crowd, is going to reach out and respond and say who then can be saved, jesus, if what you're saying is so real, who then can be saved? And how does Jesus respond?

Speaker 1: 19:41

What is impossible with man is possible from God. What is impossible for man is possible from God. Living a life of discipleship is only possible through God's grace in our life. It is impossible on our own strength, and that is the crux of discipleship. It's an impossible ask on our own, but we find that Jesus gives the Spirit of God in our life to strengthen our faith and to pour out grace over us during our journey following him.

Speaker 1: 20:18

And so here in our conclusion today, I think there's a question that we might all need to ask ourselves what is an area of our life that we have held back from God? Do you see God as a politician, fulfilling your vision of a good life? Is there an obstacle preventing your commitment to a life of love and true discipleship? Or perhaps perhaps you're on the other side completely and you were so committed to trying to work your way through your faith journey that you forgot that God's grace was meant to meet you where you're at journey, that you forgot that God's grace was meant to meet you where you're at. This passage is a tough one, but ultimately the message is clear and we're going to end it right here. Jesus' challenge to the crowd and Jesus' challenge to us is a challenge of full commitment to him. That is the cost of discipleship.