Cost of Discipleship

The cost, ultimately, to follow him, is laying down a decision that must be made of who will be Lord, in your life. 
- Counting the cost with Fr. Jack Estes

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Luke 14:25-33
25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 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? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

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KEY TOPICS
Life in Jesus; Give up Possessions; Christian Benefits, god, Surrender to the Lord; Count the Cost, Disciple of Christ, Possessiveness verses Trust; Procedure in Faith; Conflict with the World, Passages of Obedience, Cost of Discipleship, Morning Liturgy, Witnesses for God, shocks, Contrast in Scriptures; Oriented toward Benefits; Scriptures of Salvation

Lord, we pray this morning that our hearts could be open to your Word. Lord, you speak to us in so many ways through directly through your, your scriptures, to your presence in the worship. In this Holy Sacrament, in our time together, we pray God that your words or words of life would come into each one of our hearts this morning, and to us as the community of ascension, Anglican, and your words would bring life and create life within us. Your holy name we pray. Amen.
 
Please be seated. Good morning, good morning, once again to everybody. Good to see you. Good morning to all those who are joining us live stream on Facebook, we're delighted to have you with us as well as our extended church family here on this first Sunday in September, August is flown by. And now we're coming into the new season.
 
I was kind of taken as I was looking through the scriptures this week and reading through really all of the scriptures together. And what I was seeing there was a really clear contrast that was being made. We see a clear contrast between those who will follow God's ways. And those who will not those who are followers of Jesus, His disciples, and those who choose to follow the ways of the world, those who will not follow Jesus who reject Him. In this choice, there are certain costs that are evident. Certain costs involved here.
 
There are costs involved in following God. We Don't think about that often. Mostly, we think about the benefits of following God. There are costs involved and following God, there are costs to being a disciple of Jesus, as well as the great benefits that we receive through following him. Likewise, there are  costs to rejecting God, there are costs for not following Him, consequences to refusing his offer of salvation. In fact, there is an ultimate price to pay for rejecting and not following God.
 
So in the scriptures, we see this contrast between those who follow God, and those who will not those who will follow Jesus, and those who reject Him. And there's a very clear sense of the costs that are involved in it come to light. For each each group. There's cost to following, there's cost to not following. Now, I don't know about you, but I mostly oriented toward the great benefits of following Jesus, amen. And that's mostly what I'm preaching up here on Sunday morning is give your heart to Jesus, follow him, and and the blessings of God will begin to flow in your life, you will be blessed with the presence of God in your life, you will be blessed with the Holy Spirit in your life, you will be blessed with eternal life. And so I am mostly oriented in that way. I'm a follower of Jesus, and I get the benefits. I don't know if that's a cultural thing for us or not. As Americans, you know, we're like, Okay, what's the benefit for this activity I'm going to do. But it's also the promise is part of the promise of the gospel. But as we follow Jesus, we have, he promises these great benefits, the benefits of His grace in our life. And so I'm mostly oriented that way. So when I read the scriptures this morning, it's a little startling, actually, to hear the words that Jesus is saying and the contrast that God is putting in these passages.
 
So I'm oriented that way toward the benefits of following Jesus. And I think also were his original disciples were oriented that way, and the crowds that were following him, they were coming to seek, what benefits that they could have, by being around this amazing person that appeared and the power of God. But in the Gospel, Jesus makes clear that there is a cost that we must count the cost. And I think in in kind of a way, he's kind of shocking. I don't know anybody shocked by the some of the things in the Gospel today. You know, we'll get there in a minute. But I think he's trying to shock them into realizing that there is a cost. And that cost, ultimately, to follow him, is laying down a decision that must be made of who will be Lord, in your life. So he makes it clear he shocks them and maybe shocks us perhaps. And I was thinking, you know, we we just know the love of Jesus. And he's so kind. And I'm often up here talking about his loving kindness. And so when he comes up with something like this, it can be shocking. But it's the truth, that Jesus is not all warm and fuzzy, is what I'm trying to say. Amen. Jesus is not all warm and fuzzy, He is the righteous King of Glory, who comes to rule and reign in power. And he speaks truth into our lives, which is sometimes rather uncomfortable, or really shocks us into to a deeper level of understanding who he is and who we are, as as people.
 
Jesus goes on in this Gospel passage with two parables that it that say to us that we must realize that to follow Him, we must first count the cost. This passage in the Gospel is commonly known as the cost of discipleship. The cost of discipleship is made famous by Dietrich Bonhoeffer a follower of Jesus, a Christian in Nazi Germany who stood against the evil of Hitler's regime, and ultimately was executed. For his faith, the cost of discipleship in the book by the same title.
 
The Gospel passage begins then saying, Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus, no doubt they were there, for the potential benefits. Large crowds gathered around him. They wanted to see a miracle. They wanted to see something incredible. Perhaps they wanted something personal from for themselves. They wanted a miracle of healing or a miracle of restoration. They were there for the benefits. Maybe they wanted free fish and free bread that they heard that he had a doled out by the 1000s. And especially at that time, the people of Israel, they wanted the benefit of having the Romans kicked out, because they were under subjection to the Roman Empire. And they were looking to Jesus as this Messiah King, this worldly King, who was going to give them the great benefit of kicking out the Romans.
 
But Jesus gives them a wake up call. If you want to be my disciple, he says, If you want to follow me, you must first count the cost. Like the man building the Tower, if those of you built homes, or churches or whatever in your life, you know, first you sit down and you make a plan. And you think what is required to see this through to the end, or the king going out toward what is required for me to prevail in this conflict, and not be overwhelmed by the forces of the enemy. The cost of discipleship, Jesus says if you want to be my disciple, count the cost. Whoever does not hate father, mother, wife, sisters, brothers, family, and even your own life. You cannot be my disciple. That's pretty radical, isn't it? I mean, it's like, wow, Jesus, what happened to you this morning? Did you not have your coffee before you got out here and started preaching?
 
Whoever does not hate father, mother even life itself. You cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the crosscannot be my disciple. On those days, that was clearly evident what that meant, because they'd all seen those prisoners who were being executed carrying their crosses out to be crucified, sacrificing or losing, giving their life. Whoever , the famil does not hate family and life; who doesn't carry the crosswhoe; whoever does not give up all possessions. No one can become my disciple, unless they give up all their possessions. I think in our culture in our time, this world that is really radical, isn't that to think, wow, how can we do that? I mean, the whole world is oriented toward having possessions of some kind, and possessing what we've got, and keeping it and so that it gives us comfort and security. So this comes across, rather harsh, I think. But Jesus is trying to dig down deeper, to see to get them to the place of really acknowledging the Lordship of Christ in their life. Not just the potential benefits, but the person of Jesus, the person of Christ as Lord, who we follow with devotion.
 
This word hate is kind of kind of strong. I mean, is Jesus saying, unless you intensely dislike your family, and you even hate your life, you can't follow me. But the word really what he's saying there, and it says, it says it differently. in Matthew is, you must not love these more than me. If it comes to a choice, if it comes to a conflict between these things, and following me, you must follow me this must be your whole heart, your whole being, as we prayin our liturgy every Sunday, worship the Lord with all your heart, while your mind with all your soul with all your strength and all that is within us. The pulpit commentary says this, The Lord's teaching in this  this passage, in the parables and the sayings, presses home to his followers that no home love, no earthly affection, must ever come into competition with the love of God. If we are to be his followers, his disciples, that is the priority, the love of God. If a collision occurs between must those things must be gently Laid aside. Everything must be sacrificed to the cause. Jesus calls all to follow him in a word, to surrender. Amen. Have you surrendered to Jesus, surrender your life, surrender your plans, surrender your family, lay them in his hands, we can do that, can't we? Because ultimately, he is trustworthy. And Jesus calls his disciples to surrender all. And trust in him.
 
The Lord is calling us to a deeper level of trust here, to carry the cross and to give up all possessions, to carry the cross means  to take up the ways of Christ and go after him. When we carry the cross we make we sacrifice we make sacrifices in our life, for the benefits of others. Isn't that what Jesus did? He sacrificed his life for our benefit. When we carry the cross, we may expect an experienced persecution. carrying the cross means we will experience persecution and judgment in this world, from those who are on the other contrast, those who have rejected Jesus who are not following his God's ways. And then they are convicted by you and I are those who have surrendered to the Lord, and are being witnesses and trying to bring the kingdom out.
 
I remember when I used to work years ago when I was going to college, at a resort hotel. And God put me there and I was witnessing to everybody, all my fellow staff, as you know about Jesus, you know, you surrendered your life to him yet, and you have you have eternal life is awaiting you. And there was one young lady there who is very, you know, kind of resistant to what I was saying and but I was trying to, you know, be faithful to, you know, witness to her and to others. And so one night her friends came by to pick her up and I was working as a valet out front and they came driving up and she got in and the head of windows rolled down and, and I heard say,he's a Christian. Oh my gosh, they thought that was the most opportune moment. Hey Christian, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Praise Jesus mocking.
 
So carrying the cross means we will experience times when we get mocked. When we get persecuted, our brothers and sisters around the world are being killed,tortured and killed. I mean, that was just a little to me. And so naturally my response was, Lord, bless them, keep them, by Your Spirit upon. That's, that's an aspect of carrying our cross. Surrender. You cannot be my disciple. Unless you give up all your possessions. We give up all our possessions. When we acknowledge what when we acknowledge it, everything belongs to God,that we are not Lord over those possessions. God is Lord over those possessions. We are stewards of those possessions. We give up all possessions when we bring our ties in offerings, and bring them into the temple. So that that God's name may be glorified, and that the kingdom of God when we maybe participate with God, in the work of bringing the kingdom, we give up all our possessions, when we realize our very lives and souls are not our possessions. They are God's possession.
 
I had a real dramatic experience of this last Monday. Thank you for your prayers. By the way for last Monday, I went in for my procedure. On Monday morning, I checked into the hospital at 4:45 in the morning. And they wheeled me right in about quarter past six or 6:30. So we didn't go looking for this procedure. I was talking with some of the ladies last Sunday before and I said you know I think I I know I've reached a certain wonderful mature age in life when I can start having procedures. Yes, I have arrived to see some procedures. So they take me in for my procedure and the guy wheels me in, he's the anesthesiologist who says I'm going to give you a little something, you're gonna go Twilight. So you're gonna be like little Twilight experience. And you know, previously they make you listen to the recording, it says, Now some people will just sleep, the whole thing. Some people might be just kind of, you know, not really super aware, or some people might be wide awake. So you get me in there, they get me on the operating table, they hook all the things onto me. And I'm wide awake, I was wide awake for the whole thing. So that the surgeon comes in, I had an angioplasty, by the way, if you didn't know is where they went in, they put a couple stents and blockages and my arteries in my heart. So what they do as you're waiting there, and then they put a little thing in your wrist, they put a look out there in there. And they run a line, some kind of a strict you know, cable, I don't know, fiber optic thing, all the way up into your heart. So I'm laying there, and the surgeons, the guy and the team is going okay, now pushing it a little bit more. We're gonna go this way. And I'm like, wow, this is trippy. And I want to tell you, I realized at that moment, I am not in possession of my life. I am not in the driver's seat. God is in possession of my life. My life belongs to him. And thanks be to God and thank you for your prayers, that God decided he wants me around a little longer in this world. But it was a very dramatic instance of realizing that God is the one who owns my life, not me. I don't possess this life. I don't possess this body. It's given to me.
 
What I can possess and what we do possess is our true identity in Christ. And in that true identity, we will possess a physical body, a spiritual body, a resurrected body that will not have to have procedures any longer. Amen. surrender all to Christ. Trust in the Lord, give up our possessions. I think I wrote here, really what Jesus is calling us to do is to give up our possessiveness, our possessiveness, it says, This is my stuff. This is my life. This is my agenda, my glory. This surrender the cost of discipleship, then as a surrender of all these things, and a following of Jesus, this is the essence of our faith, my friends, it is out of this surrender out of this yielding, then that we begin to follow in obedience. And as we follow in obedience, then come the great benefits of following Jesus. We see this contrast clearly taking place. And the other passages today in the Old Testament. It spells out clearly the difference between these choices, follow God's ways, and receive the blessings, reject God's ways. And there are consequences. See, I have set before you says in Deuteronomy, see I've set before you life and prosperity, or death, and adversity. Which one will you choose? The contrast of choices? Gee, let me think which one, I think I'm gonna go with life and prosperity. obey the commandment of the Lord, loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, observing his decrees, and the results are life and blessings.
 
Now, it does require some intension, intentionality doesn't it?  to love the Lord. And surrender the love of other things that would get in the way.Some intentionality to walk in his ways. And not get pulled aside to walking in the ways of the world. Because all around us the message is being being data's love these other things, walk in the ways of the world. What's the matter with you, you Christians, you're you're you're not, you're not getting getting to you observe his decrees, and the results are life and blessing. But turn away serve other gods. And the Word of God says clearly, you will perish. There is an ultimate cost for those who reject God's offer of salvation, heaven and earth as witnesses I have given I've set before you this day, life and death, choose life. The song itself says happier they who are happier those who delight in the law of the Lord. They're like trees, planted by streams of water, I think is a really powerful image for us who live here in Bakersfield and then late summer with a heat scorching down. You know, the trees that are planted down there by the river. They're, they're not withering, they're nurtured and water of life is flowing into them. They're not touched by the heat.
 
So my friends in Scripture today, there's a clear contrast between those who follow God's ways. Those who are followers of Jesus, His disciples, and those who will not those who instead choose to follow the ways of the world, there are costs, Jesus makes clear, there is a cost there are costs of following him. Ultimately, that cost is a surrender, of allegiance of commitment, everything that is not from God. And there are also benefits, marvelous benefits that come as indeed there are costs to rejecting God. And the world often offers us false benefits. Try to lure us away. In the cost of discipleship Jesus calls all who will follow him that's you. Amen. And me and all of you out They're in Facebook land, and extending on out into the world. He calls us all to follow him in a radical surrender of faith in trusting the Lord, to let go of our possessions, our possessiveness, and trust in Him.
 
To be a disciple of Jesus. To be a follower of Jesus, then is to count the cost and count it a cost, worthy to pay, counted a cost, a willingness to give, count the costs of surrender in faith, and then to receive the benefits, His love, His presence, His provision, his grace in our lives, eternal life. I'd say that's worth the price. Amen. My friends here at Ascension, we are followers of Jesus, disciples, learners. Having counted the cost, we surrender our lives, we surrender our possessions, our possessiveness to you this morning, Lord, let us continue to follow Christ as our Lord and Savior, Christ our King. Let us yield to God's way so that he see he may lead and guide us, let us yield to God's ways and participate in the kingdom of God. And in doing so, we receive in in paying the price, we receive all His benefits. Amen, the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.