Luke 14:25-33 – “The Cost of Discipleship”

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The mark of a great leader is the demands he makes upon his followers. The Italian freedom fighter Garibaldi offered his men only hunger and death to free Italy. Winston Churchill told the English people that he had nothing to offer them but “blood, sweat, toil, and tears” in their fight against the enemies of England. Jesus demanded that his followers carry a cross. A sign of death.

Andrew died on a cross Simon was crucified Bartholomew was flayed alive James (son of Zebedee) was beheaded The other James (son of Alphaeus) was beaten to death Thomas was run through with a lance Matthias was stoned and then beheaded Matthew was slain by the sword Peter was crucified upside down Thaddeus was shot to death with arrows Philip was hanged

The demands that Jesus makes upon those who would follow him are extreme. Christianity is not a Sunday morning religion. It is a hungering after God to the point of death if need be. It shakes our foundations, topples our priorities, pits us against friend and family, and makes us strangers in this world. We sing, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” But, we must come to see that on many occasions he is not our friend but our adversary.

One day, as Jesus was being followed by a large crowd, he turned on the them, sensing that the demands of discipleship were not getting through, he told two parables. In these parables we learn the three great requirements of Christianity. To follow Jesus:

1. We must establish our priorities. 2. We must count the cost. 3. We must pay the price.

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Scattershot Christianity

There is a story about a mountaineer who was noted for his marksmanship. When asked about his prowess, he said that it was rather simple: “I just fire a round into a large tree and then draw a bulls-eye around it.” Most of us want our discipleship to come so easily and so cheaply. We really don’t appreciate Bonhoeffer telling us, “When Christ calls a man, he calls him to come and die.” But Jesus is telling us that “the right stuff” can mean the sacrifice of everything for his sake.

If Only…, Wallace H. Kirby, CSS Publishing Company

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Counting the Cost in Marriage

In order to live life fully and happily, we must be people who are able to count the cost in almost every area of living.

Marriage is one of those institutions which demands a high personal cost. The church’s wedding ritual begins with these sobering words, words that are so often taken too lightly. It says, marriage is “not to be entered into unadvisedly, but reverently, discreetly, and in the fear of God.” Each person makes a covenant to love, comfort, honor and take care of the other in sickness and in health. That can be a difficult commitment to keep if a spouse becomes critically ill or severely disabled. The husband and wife agree to stay with each other “for better, for worse, for richer for poorer … till death do us part.” A man and woman must count the cost of what they are getting into in marriage.

So it is also with having children. Did you see a recent letter to Ann Landers in the paper? It struck a chord with this expectant father heading toward his 40th birthday. The writer was talking about the mixed blessings of raising children in your 40s and 50s. It is true, I think, that an older father is more patient, and in a way, more appreciative of children.

However, as this letter-writer rightly suggests, raising children at a later age is also more difficult in many ways. Men or women in their 40s and 50s generally have a lower energy level, so taking the kids to Little League, attending PTA meetings and so forth tires parents much more.

Indeed, there are tremendous physical, emotional, and financial costs to raising children. Before having them, a couple should count the cost. There are just too many lonely and neglected and deprived children out there with parents who have not done so.

Donald William Dotterer, Living the Easter Faith, CSS Publishing Company.

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A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing.

Martin Luther

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How Will the Church Be Lighted?

Several centuries ago in a mountain village in Europe, a wealthy nobleman wondered what legacy he should leave to his townspeople. He made a good decision. He decided to build them a church. No one was permitted to see the plans or the inside of the church until it was finished. At its grand opening, the people gathered and marveled at the beauty of the new church. Everything had been thought of and included. It was a masterpiece.

But then someone said, “Wait a minute! Where are the lamps? It is really quite dark in here. How will the church be lighted?” The nobleman pointed to some brackets in the walls, and then he gave each family a lamp, which they were to bring with them each time they came to worship.

“Each time you are here'” the nobleman said, “the place where you are seated will be lighted. Each time you are not here, that place will be dark. This is to remind you that whenever you fail to come to church, some part of God’s house will be dark”

That’s a poignant story, isn’t it? And it makes a very significant point about the importance of our commitment and loyalty to the church. The poet Edward Everett Hale put it like this:

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, But still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something I can do.

What if every member of your church supported the church just as you do? What kind of church would you have? What if every single member served the church, attended the church, loved the church, shared the church, and gave to the church exactly as you do? What kind of church would you be?

James W. Moore, Some things Are Too Good Not To Be True, Dimensions: Nashville, 1994. pp. 117-118.

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Breaking Away to Follow Christ

A while back Will Willimon, Dean of the Chapel down at Duke University, got a call from an upset parent, a VERY upset parent. “I hold you personally responsible for this,” he said.

“Me?” Will asked.

The father was hot, upset because his graduate school bound daughter had just informed him that she was going to chuck it all (“throw it all away” was the way the father described it) and go do mission work with the Presbyterians in Haiti. “Isn’t that absurd!” shouted the father. “A BS degree in mechanical engineering from Duke and she’s going to dig ditches in Haiti.”

“Well, I doubt that she’s received much training in the Engineering Department here for that kind of work, but she’s probably a fast learner and will probably get the hang of ditch-digging in a few months,” Will said.

“Look,” said the father, “this is no laughing matter. You are completely irresponsible to have encouraged her to do this. I hold you personally responsible,” he said.

As the conversation went on, Dr. Willimon pointed out that the well-meaning but obviously unprepared parents were the ones who had started this ball rolling. THEY were the ones who had her baptized, read Bible stories to her, took her to Sunday School, let her go with the Presbyterian Youth Fellowship to ski in Vail. Will said, “You’re the one who introduced her to Jesus, not me.”

“But all we ever wanted her to be was a Presbyterian,” said the father, meekly. Hmm.

David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, Adapted from William Willimon, Pulpit Resources, September 10, 1995, p. 45.

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The Right Stuff

“The right stuff” describes the qualities of character, competence, and temperament possessed by the early astronauts. They had “the right stuff” for the job and all of us admired them for this. In terms of American history, they are kin to those sturdy folk who first settled this nation, as well as those who later broke out of the confines of the eastern seaboard and courageously headed into the western wilderness. Some years ago there was a book about these latter heroes titled Men to Match My Mountains, telling the story of those who had the tough, “right stuff” to stretch this country from coast to coast.

Jesus is certainly talking about having “the right stuff” in this passage. He is telling us what it would take then, and what it takes now, to be his follower. There is no soft sentimentalism in these words of his. He says that the disciple must be prepared to part with family, to endure suffering, to face enormity of the task, and to give up everything for the sake of the Kingdom. Here, compressed in these brief verses, is the delineation of the “right stuff” required of anyone who accepts Jesus’ offer to follow him.

Wallace H. Kirby, If Only…, CSS Publishing Company

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Are You God’s Wife?

A little boy about 10 years old was standing before a shoe store on the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold. A lady approached the boy and said, “My little fellow, why are you looking so earnestly in that window?” “I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes,” was the boys reply. The lady took him by the hand and went into the store and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her. She took the little guy to the back part of the store and removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with a towel. By this time the clerk returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy’s feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes. She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, “No doubt, my little fellow, you feel more comfortable now?” As she turned to go, the astonished lad caught her by the hand, and looking up in her face, said, “Are you God’s wife?”

Traditional

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Unexpected Cost

When I was in college I was one of several young men who decided to go to work on the section gang of the railroad during the summer vacation. At that time, there was very little automation on the railroad, and most of the work was done by manual labor. Many people warned us about the job. It was a hot job … very, very hot. It was difficult. Everything out there was heavy. It was a dirty job, and to some extent, it was dangerous. But the pay was most attractive. None of us could make as much money doing anything else in the summer. So we went to work on the railroad, and only one of the five of us lasted the first week. It was too tough or we were too weak. We thought we were ready for this tough job, but we were not. We had not accurately counted the cost.

Thomas C. Short, Good News for the Multitudes, CSS Publishing

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The demand for absolute liberty brings men to the depths of slavery.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship, 1983. ____________________________________

Courage to Commit: Stand Up and Be Counted

Some years ago Premier Khrushchev was speaking before the Supreme Soviet and was severely critical of the late Premier Stalin. While he was speaking someone from the audience sent up a note: “What were you doing when Stalin committed all these atrocities?” Khrushchev shouted, “Who sent up that note?” Not a person stirred.

“I’ll give him one minute to stand up!” The seconds ticked off. Still no one moved.

“All right, I’ll tell you what I was doing. I was doing exactly what the writer of this note was doing–exactly nothing! I was afraid to be counted!”

James Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, Tyndale, p. 128. ____________________________________

Working Hard

David Livingston, one of the most virile Christian leaders of all time, had as his motto “Fear God, and work hard.” He learned it in his austere home in Scotland and practiced it all his life. Livingston belongs to that select company of souls who not only know that not only good intentions are not enough but know also that their most strenuous efforts will not complete the really big jobs. Even so, they tackle them with all the energy they have and for all the days God gives them to live.

Harold A. Bosley, The Minister’s Manuel 1993, HarperSanFrancisco, p. 169. ____________________________________

There are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the heart, the mind and the purse.” Of these three, it may well be that we moderns find the conversion of the purse the most difficult.

Martin Luther

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The Word Hate

“If anyone comes after me and does not hate …” “Hate” is not primarily a feeling word in the Aramaic language, the language Jesus spoke. It is primarily a priority word. It means to abandon or to leave aside; the way a sailor needs to abandon a sinking ship or the way a general needs to leave aside distracting things to win his battle.

John G. Lynch, Troubled Journey, CSS Publishing Company

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Knowing Our Business

Some of us had the joy of listening to one of our generation’s truly great preachers, Fred Craddock when he was chaplain at Chautauqua for a week. One morning he told a story from the early years of his ministry in Custer City, Oklahoma, a town of about 450 souls. There were four churches there, a Methodist church, a Baptist church, a Nazarene church, and a Christian church (where Fred served). Each had its share of the population on Wednesday night, Sunday morning, and Sunday evening. Each had a small collection of young people, and the attendance rose and fell according to the weather and whether it was time to harvest the wheat.

But the most consistent attendance in town was at the little caf̩ where all the pickup trucks were parked, and all the men were inside discussing the weather, and the cattle, and the wheat bugs, and the hail, and the wind, and is there going to be a crop. All their wives and sons and daughters were in one of those four churches. The churches had good attendance and poor attendance, but the caf̩ had consistently good attendance, better attendance than some of the churches. They were always there Рnot bad men, but good men, family men, hard-working men.

Fred says the patron saint of the group that met at the café was named Frank. Frank was seventy-seven when they first met. He was a good, strong man, a pioneer, a rancher and farmer, and a prospering cattle man too. He had been born in a sod house; he had his credentials, and all the men there at the café considered him their patron saint. “Ha! Old Frank will never go to church….

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