All or Nothing

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0:00God is so good he I I do I do think I'm thinking about that song we just sang and I want that's the prayer of my heart I hope it's the prayer of yours that that I would bless the Lord at all times no matter what he is he's always worthy of our praise no matter what's happening for us I do love the Lord one one type of person that I don't have much affection for a salesman Nikki and I are alike in that way we are very compatible and that we don't really care for salesmen so apologies to any salespeople in the room I know that there probably are nothing personal it's just that we just feel like if they're really good at it we just are kind of always trying to get our bearings about what's happening to us this thing when what they're selling seems really good really reasonable especially when it seems like it's a really good price, you know that there's something they're not telling you in that moment. It's like watching a magician accept the tricks on you. And so you're always like, you know, what's the misdirection that's happening right now? But there's a weakness that I have to remember when you're talking to a salesman, and that is that they want the sale more than you want the product. And if you remember that, if you remember the fact that they knocked on your door, you didn't call them. They knocked on your door and said, I'd like to sell you something. If you remember that, then you can negotiate a better deal because you can just say, I don't know. Let me think about it. And then they start saying, well, you know,

1:35how about if we offer you 30% off right now? Well, today Jesus is talking about what it takes to follow him, what it really means to be his disciple. And Jesus is no salesman. He is the opposite in every way. He is completely honest. There's no bait and switch. He takes the stuff that might be in the fine print, and he moves it all the way up to the headlines and just says, pay attention to this. This is what the cost. This is the real cost. I'm shooting straight with you.

2:12Also, he's not like a salesman because there is no negotiating with Jesus. You cannot talk him into a bargain. You can't haggle with him. His honesty is refreshing, but it's challenging. And just get ready for the challenging but refreshing honesty of Jesus in this passage. Because we go to him now in Luke 14 to hear from him about discipleship, about following him. So let's go boldly with humility, wanting to listen to Jesus and hear what he has to say to us today.

2:49This is the word of the Lord. Let's hear it and respond to it for what it is, infallible and full of the power of the Spirit. Starting in verse 25. Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 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 whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple for which of you desiring to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost whether he has enough to complete it otherwise when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish all who see it begin to mock him saying this man began to build and was not able to finish or what king going out to encounter another king in war will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

4:12So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. it is thrown away he who has ears to hear let him hear pray with me Lord Jesus capture our attention right now every bit of our attention help us to listen carefully to you to your word by your spirit help us to examine our hearts call us into more fervent discipleship more active following of you increase our love for you Jesus help us to see that you are worth chasing after and leaving everything behind work in our hearts today Jesus we pray this in your name amen all or nothing all or nothing following Jesus means putting him ahead of anyone and anything so Jesus is at it again he said a lot of this stuff before but now it's taking it's like he's taking all of his most controversial sayings and like balling them up all together. You might think that Jesus needs like a PR consultant or something. Aren't you trying to build a movement, Jesus? Aren't you trying to gain followers? Why would you say these things? He's not in a popularity contest.

6:00He's not a content creator trying to drive up his numbers. Jesus never said, please like and subscribe. He's the Lord. The fact that Jesus says this right when the great crowds are accompanying him is no accident. The concept of a disciple was really common at this time. People knew what a disciple was. We don't really use that word very much. People at this time used it all the time. If somebody followed around a rabbi or a teacher or a scholar or something, they would be called a disciple. They would sit at their feet. They would learn. It was something like an apprenticeship is now. But even an apprentice goes home at the end of the day, or goes and does his or her own thing sometimes, being a disciple of Jesus requires more. Jesus doesn't want anyone to be confused. He's saying, look, you think you know what a disciple is, but just listen to me. I'm going to tell you what I require of my disciples. He wants no misunderstanding. Three times in this passage, he says, whoever does not do this cannot be my disciple. Let's look at each one of those and examine what he has to say. The first one is this, loving him above all else.

7:26Maybe the most controversial and easily misunderstood part of this whole passage, he says this in verse 26, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Has Jesus lost his ever-loving mind? How could he say this? Does he really want us to hate our family and hate ourselves? Is he endorsing self-loathing, low self-esteem? team let's unpack this now listen you should read the bible literally i endorse a literal reading of the bible but you have to read it in context the most important element of context is the rest of scripture scripture interprets scripture that's one of the principle in principles of interpretation of the bible scripture interprets scripture we know that jesus taught his disciples to love others. Remember the parable of the Good Samaritan just a few months ago? He also told his disciples that they are loved. Look at this verse, these two verses from John. Jesus said, just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. So today's passage can't mean that he wants us to literally hate our family and ourselves, okay? So what does it mean? Well, here's another important piece of context. Jesus spoke the truth, but he did so using rhetorical techniques, things to make his point really sharp. He used parables, right? He used illustrations. He used figures of speech, and one figure of speech is hyperbole, exaggeration in order to make a

9:25point that's what's happening right here he's exaggerating he's saying to be his disciple you have a new love in your life a love for him and not just a little bit of affection but a great big love an enormous love that a consuming passion for him that is so great it dwarfs everything else around it it's like mount everest sitting next to a hill around here you wouldn't even call that a hill. It looks like flatland when you're looking at Mount Everest. So great that it dwarfs our love for other people, even our family, even ourselves. Now listen, who or what you love always shows up in your actions. Always. Sometimes two things you love are compatible.

10:18When it's family movie night and Cadence and Brie pick a movie that I would have picked, i don't have to choose between loving them and loving myself they're going the same direction that's great when that happens but i think the reason why jesus phrases it like this is that sometimes two things that you love are going in opposite directions you can always tell which one you love more by which one you pick sometimes someone who's avoiding dairy or gluten or sugar for health reasons, they oftentimes still love those things. They'll say to you, no, I love ice cream. I just love not having stomach cramps more than that. So they choose no to the ice cream.

11:14When a new and greater love comes in your life, it changes your priorities. And sometimes that can seem to other people like hatred or disloyalty. That's the point that Jesus is making. Am I your biggest love? When there is a conflict between loving someone else and loving yourself and loving me, which one do you pick?

11:44Like a lot of married couples, Nikki and I learned, we had to decide together where to spend the holidays. I couldn't just talk to my parents on my own and make my own decision and say, sure, you know what, yes, we're going to be there for Christmas just because I want to make them happy. that it's, that's not going to work. Nikki and I decide together. Sometimes a family member that wants us to come visit, we can't come visit. We say no. To them that seems like, what, do you not love us anymore? No. But a new and greater love has come into my life, and we make decisions together now. And sometimes those decisions go that direction, and sometimes they don't. But my loyalties to her now above my family. That's what leaving and cleaving means. Loving God more than family leads to decisions that can seem like disloyalty, seem like even hatred sometimes when family tugs the opposite direction of God's way. Your family may refuse to talk about the past.

12:56We don't do that in this family, but God calls you to seek growth and to seek healing. so which way are you going to go your family may hold grudges maybe against a certain person we just don't we don't call that person we don't talk to that person we don't even talk about that person but God calls you to forgive which way is it going to go your family may say we support each other unconditionally no matter what choices we make but God calls you to integrity to speak the truth in love and especially when some choices are harmful which one are you going to choose but remember it's not just loving God more than your family it's also loving God more than yourself the natural way of living is to do every single thing with our own self-interest in mind for the enlargement and the enrichment of our own estate we'll go help somebody but there's a limit there the limit is when we feel like it's kind of wearing us down costing us something we cut it off jesus says my disciples are different they love me and they seek the kingdom so much that people look at them and they're like why are you doing that your life is wouldn't your life be better if you just stopped doing that well yeah it on the external side it probably would but I love my Lord so I'm doing this at great cost great cost to myself it's not just discomfort it's cost we're living in a time when even being uncomfortable is like nope not going to do that this is way beyond that if someone watched your life didn't interview you at all but just watched

15:01your life who would they say that you love the most I mean I'm convicted by that question I'm not standing up here saying i'm not convicted, but you probably should be i'm convicted by it, too But that's we're supposed to listen to jesus here If we're not going to listen to him, then what are we doing here?

15:26Okay, the second thing Following him at any cost Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me Cannot be my disciple There's three aspects of what jesus says here. That's really important first What he's describing is ongoing The verbs bear and come after, they're in the present tense. So you could translate this, whoever is not bearing his own cross and coming after me. It's an ongoing thing. The second thing is it's personal. The cross is our own.

16:06Jesus didn't say my cross, he said his own cross. There are some commonalities of discipleship among all Christians, but there are distinctions too. Unique things that following to Christ will demand of each one of us in a particular and personal way.

16:27And finally, it's sacrificial. The thing that the disciple is bearing is a cross, an instrument of execution. We oftentimes forget this. We joke, we talk about, oh, I've got my cross to bear. And we're referencing like the fact that Nikki likes to keep the house hotter than I do.

16:52That is not what Jesus is talking about. It's not, a cross is where people died. Before they were put on it, they were forced to carry it. They walked with it on their back. Jesus is saying that following him means self-sacrifice and not just I'm giving up sweets for Lent, but dying to ourselves.

17:24Now you might say to yourself, well, come on, pastor, I thought Jesus said, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden then I will give you rest. Is Jesus going back on his word? Is he doing a bait and switch? Not at all. Let me explain. The Christian life is both dying and living at the same time. Simultaneously dying and living. It's because we are two people at the same time. Our old self, who we were apart from Christ, is dying. Our new self made in the image of Christ is growing, coming alive every day. Those two things happen at the same time. So of course there's dying and living in the Christian life all the time. That's why Paul tells us this in Colossians, put to death therefore what is earthly in you. Put off the old self with its practices, put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

18:34This is the core of the Christian life. That's why Jesus says, if you're not bearing your cross and self-sacrifice and death to your old self, you can't be my disciple. There's no following Christ without there being an element of dying. Your old self dying. So he wants us to carefully consider this cost before we commit. Now this is just common sense, right? Think about it before you dive into it. He gives two examples just to show how common sense it is. The first is about a guy building a tower. Take stock. Do you have all the money? Do you have all the resources to finish that project? I had a fleeting thought about installing a pickleball court in our backyard behind our garage until I counted the cost. Nope. That ain't going to happen. It's way more expensive than I thought to put in some concrete. The second example is fighting a war. Before going off to battle, take stock of your troops, your resources, your weapons, your ammunition. Do you have enough to succeed in battle? Jesus is giving us a reality check. The cost needs to be counted.

19:57If you've never done this and you've been following Christ for a while, you haven't really considered this, now's the time for it. It doesn't mean that you're not a disciple, but stop now and consider it. And frankly, that's something that we all do from time to time. Anyone who follows Christ encounters sacrifice. We're counting. Is he still worth it? Am I going to keep going? He's not trying to hide anything, is he? So let's not be afraid to actually consider what he's saying he's saying if you follow me your old self is going to die the glorious new self comes alive only through the death of the old will you take on the self-sacrifice that it requires to see that glorious new self come alive in me jesus says when i was growing up we would recite the pledge of allegiance in school maybe most of you did it's a serious thing to pledge allegiance to something if you think about it but it didn't seem like much because we would finish and we'd sit down we'd open up our books we'd do our math we'd eat our lunch we'd go out to recess nothing was ever asked of us because we pledged allegiance to that flag we were never called to put it into action Following Jesus is less like pledging allegiance to the flag and more like taking vows of marriage.

21:36For richer or for poorer, in sickness or in health. Now the third one, valuing him enough to lose everything. Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

22:02The totality of this statement is just astounding. he's addressing everyone any one of you he's not saying oh you you people from a particular background you've got to give everything up any one of you second they must renounce all all that he has it entails everything he's calling for an upfront commitment jesus i'm yours no matter what it costs me every would-be disciple must assume this must assume that following Jesus could cost you everything. You've got to assume that. If you don't assume that, you're not being realistic about what discipleship really is. It could cost you everything. Every earthly treasure, every relationship, every personal goal or ambition, every plan you've made for your life. There's no negotiating with Jesus. You're either all in or you're not in. Sometimes we want so much for someone to become a Christian that we minimize the cost. We minimize the sacrifice, the difficulty. I've been guilty of that. It doesn't do them any favors. Quite the opposite because later they're surprised when the commitment to Jesus means giving something up. Parents, be careful. I know you want your kids to follow Jesus and I want them to follow Jesus too, but they have to be told. They have to know that it requires self-sacrifice and being willing to let go of anyone and anything else to follow Jesus.

23:58Don't hide the truth from them, and don't hide the truth from yourselves. Give people a far more compelling call. Tell them this, it will cost you something. It will cost you something, and it may cost you everything, but I'm here to tell you that it's worth it. He is worth it. He's worth it. Lord, give us the grace to believe that when things get harder.

24:43Friends, Jesus' words here are honest, they're clear, and they are extremely challenging. I want to close with a couple of comments as we consider this. First thing is this, Jesus is giving us a goal to fervently pursue, okay? We are all works in progress, all of us. Think of Peter. He definitely loved himself more than Jesus, several times, right? When he denied Jesus that he even knew him, he was loving himself more than Jesus. But he was called back.

25:29he repented he said Lord change me help me thank you Lord that stories like Peter's are in his holy word to encourage us because we're all works in progress just because we fall short doesn't mean we shouldn't try what if I said look I'm never going to be a perfect husband so why try you would all rightfully give me a serious talking to right what a ridiculous thing to say I'm never going to be a perfect husband never going to be a perfect father never going to be a perfect pastor so why try no that's not the life that God calls us to there's a difference between going after Jesus wholeheartedly but falling short and not aiming at all for what Jesus is calling for. There's a difference. The first is realistic and normal. The second is not discipleship at all. When we take Jesus' words seriously and go after this, we're like salt.

26:40That's what Jesus says here. Salt, it was used for so much back then, for food but also for agriculture. When we seek to be the kind of disciples Jesus describes here, even when we fall short. We're distinctive. We're pure. We're useful. But when salt gets contaminated, it wasn't good for anything. There's no distinctiveness, no usefulness. And that's what happens when we just ignore what Jesus says here. But this is the last thing I want to close with. The call of discipleship is great, but what he has done is greater. I'm going to say that again.

27:26the call of discipleship is great but what he has done is even greater he calls us to love him greatly but think about it friends he loves us more you count out you can't out love God he pursues us he forgives us while we were still his enemies how much more will he keep loving us and helping us now that we're his friends we're different now he calls us to self-sacrifice but he has made the highest sacrifice the greatest sacrifice when he died in our place he took on himself the very wrath of God for our sin something that you and I will never face if we are holding on to him and hiding ourselves in him by faith we will never face what he faced separation from God and though you might lose everything let's be honest the things that you were going for they never would have satisfied you anyway right and what you get in return look at what you gain union with christ peace with god satisfaction for the deep longings of your soul what you get is better it's better it's more it's more extravagant it's more abundant far more than you ask or imagine that's what you get when you bear this cost of discipleship you get more back than you laid down. It's no wonder that Paul says what we read earlier, for his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. He paid the highest price, church, and he gives you the highest reward.

29:23He's worth it. Let's go after him. Pray with me. Jesus, we, I am convicted by your words, and I'm sure that my friends here today are too. It's good to be under the conviction of your spirit, and I pray that you would give us the strength to respond in the way that you want us to respond, which is, Lord, help us.

29:51Help us see the cost and acknowledge it and bear it. Lord, there may be people in this room that are going through something. I'm sure they are. They're going through something that feels like a cross. They know what that cross is that they're bearing right now. And Lord, let this word assure them that as they're bearing that cross as your disciple, they can rest assured that, yes, they are. They are your disciple. It's happening right now. The death of their old self, the coming to life of the new, it's happening for them.

30:24you are fulfilling your promise to them to remake us in your image Lord for those who maybe the greatest cross is still ahead of them I pray that you would give us grace and strength clear headedness that when that comes we would take it on willingly as an act of discipleship that we would not change our minds but that we would say even now he is worth it even with this new affliction even with this new suffering even with this new cost that we would say jesus you're worth it bear good fruit in us god thank you that you give us back far more than we lay down and jesus we pray this in your name amen