‘How much will it cost?’ is an often asked question. We often ask that question when purchasing something. Sometimes we haggle over the price or we come to the conclusion that the item in question is too expensive and so we decide against purchasing it. Maybe you were encouraged as a child to weigh up the cost of something before you bought it. Your parents maybe said ‘if you buy this you won’t be able to buy that.’ Sometimes we tell people to ‘weigh up the cost of an action or their words.’ By that we mean that there will be a price to be paid for whatever has been said or done. Let me ask you: Have you ever sat down and counted the cost of following Christ? It is probably not something that many people have ever done. Yet in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus asks three different men to ‘count the cost’ of following him before, note that, before they begin the journey. For many it is not until many years later in their walk with Christ that they even tentatively think about the cost of Christian discipleship. Yet here we encounter Jesus challenging these men before they take one step down the road of discipleship. Right at the beginning of this post I want to say to you all that I think sometimes we make it too easy for people to follow Christ. We set the bar far too low and the result is cheap grace and hypocritical discipleship. I read the other day in a book a piece of advice an old minister gave to a young minister. He said this: “son, always endeavour to keep your church as small as you can.” That might appear to be a strange piece of advice but what he meant was this – preach the truth of God’s salvation and the demands of following Jesus so clearly, that only those who have counted the cost and are ready to give up all for Christ will join your church fellowship. As we go through this passage I hope and pray each of us will be challenged afresh about our discipleship to Christ.
1st Man – verses 57-58 – No Earthly Security.
Luke tells us that this first man offers to follow Jesus and then makes an extraordinary promise. ‘Wherever you go I will follow.’ This man no doubt was sincere but his promise he could not keep. In Revelation 14.4 that resolution, to follow Christ anywhere, is the sign of the disciples of the Lamb of God. This man made a big promise before he even knew where Christ was going. He was willing to sign up and follow without any knowledge of the cost to him personally. Admirable but the reality was it was only lip service. It was just an emotional, spur of the moment comment. In verse 58 Jesus points out to the man, starkly, the cost of following him. He says to this man – to follow me in this world will mean poverty, homelessness and hardship. The birds and the foxes have places to rest each night – if you follow me that will not be so. You will have no place you can call your home. You will not return each night to the same warm, comfortable bed. The things which you now take for granted will be luxuries when you follow me.
Jesus told this man you will have nothing which this world counts as a means of security when you follow me. Now I want you to read closely here, because I do not want to be misunderstood here. Jesus was not saying that in following him you are not to have a home or a bed etc. What he was saying to this man is this: these things, earthly means of security, are not to be the priority in your life if you become my disciple. Friends I can spend my life planning for my retirement and never see it. The one occasion in the scriptures where Jesus teaches about a man planning for retirement he tells us the man died that night in his sleep. Here is what Jesus is saying to this man and to some of us.
Suppose I was to lead you in a direction which meant a significant drop in your income would you still follow me? Suppose the direction I lead you leads you to have to give up the creature comforts we all take for granted, would you still follow me? Suppose the direction I lead you means you never again will own a home, a car, a tv etc will you follow me?
Friends Jesus challenges the gods of this mans life and of your life. He challenges the gods of materialism that stifle, strangle and kill discipleship. So have you counted the cost of following Jesus.
2nd Man – verses 59-60 No Earthly Ties
The second man in the passage is called by Jesus. Look at his response. ‘Let me go and bury my father.’ Friends that seems a perfectly reasonable request, does it not? Yet look at the response of Christ – it seems harsh, does it not? Yet we know that Christ is not harsh but loving towards people. So why this response? It may have been that this man’s father was not yet dead and may in fact have years to live. So this was just an excuse to avoid following Jesus. It may have been that his father was already dead and this man wanted to follow the religious rituals of the day – this meant an immediate burial and then one year later burying the bones in a casket in a tomb. Or it could well have been that if this man was the oldest son and he buried the father custom was he got double the inheritance. If he was not there at the burial then the next son got double the inheritance. For whatever reason he wanted to bury his father Jesus knew his heart and his heart was that Jesus was not and would not be first in his life. To the first man Jesus said I must come before anything else. To this man he says ‘I must come before anyone else.’
Friends listen to me now because this is important. If you claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ then he is first in your life. Your relationship with him is before, above and beyond your relationship with anyone else. He comes before your mother and father. He comes before your husband or your wife. He comes before your children. Let me say this to you as graciously as I can ‘there are some of you reading this and you claim to follow Christ, you talk it well, but the truth is that Jesus and your relationship with him is way down your priority list.’ How can I say that? How can I know that? Friends there are some of you and spending time with Christ, spending time with his people gets overtaken by everything and everyone else. There are some of you reading this post and you haven’t spent five minutes this week in prayer but you have gossiped for two hours on the phone with someone. There are some of you reading this post and you haven’t read your Bible since last Sunday morning but you have spent hours reading pointless emails and newspapers. There are some of you who would move heaven and earth to meet with your friends but you can hardly drag your feet out of bed to be at your church for worship. Friends this is a wake up call to us all. Jesus says ‘your relationship with me must have priority above every other relationship.’ Let me say it to you plainly – some of you are in danger of Christ saying to you on the day of judgement ‘I never knew you.’
3rd Man – verses 61-62 No Earthly Distractions.
When Julius Caesar invaded Britain the first thing he did with his legions was to march them to the edge of the cliffs of Dover. He made them look over the cliffs and down below they saw all the ships that had carried them to Britain ablaze. There was no way back for them and the only way was forward in battle to conquer Britain. This third man comes to Jesus and like the first he offers to follow Jesus. He does so with a clause – ‘let me firsts say goodbye to my family.’ Again it seems reasonable to make such a request. Again Jesus’ reply seems harsh but once again he wants us to count the cost of following him.
Jesus in verse 62 talks about ‘putting your hand to the plough and not looking back.’ What is he speaking of here? We can imagine a man ploughing a field whilst looking over his shoulder and not ahead. The furrow would not be straight. The problem with that is that it then becomes impossible to plough the next furrow straight and the result is you have to start all over again – but ploughing up ploughed land is a difficult task. What Jesus was saying to this man is once you begin to follow me do not get distracted from the road ahead. Don’t let the things of this world, don’t let the people around you distract you from my service. You see there may well come a time when I lead you or call you to go somewhere for me and your parents, your family will fail to understand and may even oppose it – will you still follow me? You see some have looked back when after they followed me and it ended in disaster – Lot’s wife, Judas Iscariot, Demas – don’t you be another one. You see some people who follow Christ have their hearts in the past. They are constantly looking behind them to the ‘good old days.’ They are constantly looking back to the way things were and desiring for them to be that way again. Now there is nothing wrong with the past, there are many good things we must learn, treasure and uphold from the past but we cannot look to the past and follow Christ. Our march is forward not backward.
Friends on another occasion Christ put these three questions like this – which of you starts to build a tower without first counting the cost. Today he might put it like this – which of you would start to build a house without first obtaining the costings? The obvious answer is no one but a fool. Friends the Christian church is littered with literally millions of half-built houses. It is littered with houses crumbling and decaying because the people who started to build them did not count the cost of following Jesus. Then one day they came to this fork in the road and they had a choice to make – do I follow comfort or convention or custom or Christ? Your standing and the choice lies before you – do I follow Christ even if it costs me my job, my career, my relationship with this person? Some of you reading this started out so well but of late you have started to look over your shoulders and the furrow has started to go off line and RIGHT NOQ GOD IS CALLING YOU. Some of you are standing right on the very brink of commitment to Christ but satan is whispering in your heart all the creature comforts you will have to leave behind and they are so comfortable. They are so precious that you are tempted to reject following Jesus just to keep them. Let me say this to you – they will be of no eternal use or value when you die. They will be no comfort when death comes. They will be no comfort when illness strikes and the storms of life assail you.
Friends I believe God is calling us all to once again count the cost of following Jesus. I believe for me personally he is calling me to raise the bar to the rightful place and to call you as a people to true discipleship – that means costly discipleship. I believe that God calls us through his word to be authentic, to be serious and to be committed to following Christ – no matter what the cost. Friends if you are serious about Jesus then get into line and stand up. If you are serious about Jesus then be AT YOUR CHURCH Sunday after Sunday to worship and to meet with Christ and his people. If you are serious about following Jesus then join one of the bible study groups when they begin. If you are serious about following Jesus then don’t let earthly security, earthly ties or earthly distractions keep you from following him
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