Luke's Gospel

So we will we will be continuing our series in Luke. And in a moment, Tom is going to come up here and preach and unpack the word for us So if you can grab a Bible on your table and open to page 1 0 4 8, we will be reading luke, chapter 14 verses 25 to 35 today. Let me pray before we read. Fuddl lot, deliver us we pray, calm our hearts and open our minds as we look to you now to help us hear your precious word. Men.

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus. And turning to them, he said, If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even their own life, such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry thee across and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose 1 of you wants to build a tower, won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying this person began to build and wasn't able to finish.

I suppose a king is about to go to war against another king, won't he first sit down and consider whether he is able with 10000 men to oppose the 1 coming against him with 20000. If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. Salt's good. But if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure heap it is thrown out. Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear. Thanks, Ben. And as Ben said, at the beginning of the service, it is is remembrance day to day. And, you remember if you were in the morning service that we, referred to this this video that was, taken taken from, BBC breakfast where there's this, chap, who who fought in the second World War, and, was called on to breakfast.

It's 1 of the last surviving veterans, I think, to talk about his his war experiences and, what he'd like people to remember and to learn and what message he has for the younger generation, really, and, he he used his opportunity. Wonderfully. This video is brilliant for all kinds of reasons and hopefully, we're gonna we're gonna just watch it now watch it now together. What a fantastic, what a fantastic, way he used his opportunity there. Do turn back to Luke 14 and, let's bow ahead and ask for god's help together.

Father, we want to thank you for Harry, and, we thank you for his life. We thank you for the sacrifices that he made and, no doubt the amazing stories that he has to tell. But we thank you that he knows you, and he has seen a greater soldier in the lord Jesus, and he has seen, a greater 1 who has sacrificed for him. And, we thank you that he still loves the lord Jesus and is looking forward to seeing the lord Jesus and, wants to be in that new heaven and new earth. And, we, we pray that wherever we have opportunities, this week in the weeks to come, that we would be unashamed to talk boldly about the lord Jesus.

And we pray that you would help us now as we turn to your word. These these are hard words. Some of them these are startling words but they are for our good and they bring freedom and life and so help us to understand more of what it really does mean to follow the lord Jesus. And, we ask it in his name, amen. I don't know what what you think, but, if I was to ask you what what is the what is the greatest lie on the internet.

What would you say? What is the greatest lie on the internet? And and may be 1 that we're all guilty of and part of. I think I think it's, it's gotta be it's gotta be this 1, hasn't it? Let me just turn this on.

I have read all the terms and conditions. Please indicate that you have read and agreed to the terms and conditions and the privacy policy can anybody say, in this room with hand on heart that they always and to the bottom read the terms and conditions, have, has anyone ever read all of the terms and conditions on the internet? Okay? Now look to be fair on us, you know, and just so we don't feel unnecessarily guilty, it's not really our fault, is it? I mean, the system is forcing us into this lie.

Isn't it? You know, there's nothing we could really do. There's 1 Guardian journalist decided that in 1 week he would try and read all the terms and conditions he was signing up for online, every single 1 of them that he was offered. So that includes, iPhone updates, new contracts, Anything which had terms and conditions that he had to agree to, he was going to read every single last 1 of them. And over the 7 days, he ended up reading a hundred and 46000 words, which worked out to be 8 hours.

So it took him actually 8 hours in a week to read all of the terms and conditions which were just dry impenetrable, law language. And the title of his article was simply I read all the small print on the internet, and it made me want to die. That was the heading of his guardian article. It's not possible. But having said that, he did say that when you read all the terms and conditions, you might be pleasantly surprised because it turns out there is some good stuff that is hidden away in the small print.

So apparently BT say in their terms and conditions that if you are injured or die as a result of BT's negligence, they will accept responsibility for it. Which is a nice touch, isn't it? You know? It's quite nice to know that. However, they also say in the BT terms and conditions, that they will not guarantee either the quality of the service or that the service will be available at all times.

Which is slightly less reassuring and more what we would expect to find, isn't it, in the small print? And unfortunately, that is the thing about it, isn't it? And the reason that it is small is because these companies have a legal obligation to tell you something, but they'd rather you didn't know about it. They wanna sell you a vision in in big, bold, bright colors on their web site, something that you will buy into quickly and bury the hidden cost. Somewhere in those hundred and 46000 words, and hope you don't discover that this great deal isn't so good after all.

And isn't it wonderful that for Christians who have Bibles open in front of them that the lord Jesus doesn't treat discipleship in that way? Isn't it wonderful that god doesn't do small print? That he is upfront about the joys and the costs of following Christ, and that they are put together in the same size print without apology for us all to say. It's very clear, isn't it in this in this particular passage in verse 25 when it starts, Jesus is surrounded by the crowds again as he was for for so much of his life. And, of course, if he was only interested in big crowds, what would he do?

He would go big and bold with the things that people want to hear, and he would bury away the cost. He would put it in a small print He would not be so loud and proud about the difficult side of discipleship. But because the lord Jesus is not interested in spectators, Because what he wants is disciples, people who are going to live and die with him, He's not prepared to hide that away. Both the joys and the costs are here in plain language. And so really, part of the reason I think Luke has put this section in is to say to us, before you leave the crowd, and follow Jesus Christ.

Ask yourself, have you read the terms and conditions of discipleship? Do you know do you know what is involved? And the first point this evening is this. Follow Jesus, but count the cost. Verse 25, large crowds were traveling with Jesus.

And turning to them, he said, if anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even their own life. Such a person cannot be my disciple. I was reading a story about 1 man who was a Christian and, he, had a colleague that was very opposed to the Christian faith. And, this colleague would often come in and ask him very difficult questions, questions that he'd either thought of or found online in order to try to stumped this Christian and to get him to draw up draw up short, really. And he tells the story that 1 day this colleague came in after finding this verse and just sat down next to him and said, can I can I ask you a question about your faith?

Jesus said, if anyone comes to me, and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters. Yes, even their own life. Such a person cannot be my disciple. How could you follow that? And from 1 angle, it does sound strange, doesn't it?

We know from the Bible that we are meant to honor our fathers and mothers. Paul tells us that husbands should love their wives, just as Christ loved the church. Jesus was very welcoming of children. He loved to be with children and he certainly loved his own mother. And is he really calling for us to to actually loathe our own existence?

You know, how how are we supposed to fit this in with other parts of the Bible? Well, it is worth knowing at this particular time that to hate something was a reasonably common way of saying that you loved it less. Than something else. That was a way they used the expression. It meant loveless than something else.

And there's a good example of it actually in Genesis chapter 29. If you have a look on the screen, this is the story of Jacob and Rachel and Leah And it says, so Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served Leben for another 7 years. When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. So in other words, we're told that his love for Rachel was greater, which was like saying that he hated Leah. And actually, the NIV makes that interpretive call.

So instead of putting it as it does in the ESV, it says when the lord saw that Leah was loved less, He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. So this was in the kind of Jewish mind. This phrase could be used to mean loving less than something else. Or in Matthew 10, it's actually put this way when, when he's recording, he's recording this part. Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

Anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not is not worthy of me. So it's fair to say that Jesus isn't calling us here to despise our relatives that elsewhere he has called us to honor, and he's not calling us to actually loathe our very existence because we are made in the image of god. The question he's asking here is if you wanna follow me, you need to think about who your first love is. Who is your first and most precious love? So that's what he's getting at, but at the same time, what we mustn't do with sentences like this is take sharp knives and make them blunt.

Because what Jesus is calling for here is is is radical. If anyone wants to come after me, they must love me with the kind of love that outshines all other loves. A love that is so great that it will make other loves genuine ones look like hatred. If we were writing this contract for discipleship, That is the kind of thing that we might try and bury away in the terms and conditions. But for Jesus, it's right at the top.

If we're gonna follow him, it's him before all others or not at all. And that is linked to what he says in verse 27. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple 3 times in this section. We're talking about those who cannot be disciples. This is less about who can and more about who cannot.

Whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. And unfortunately, that that phrase can lose its force a bit once you've read it a few times. Cruise crucifixion is a shocking image for discipleship. When you consider the shame and the loneliness of the cross and how this pised it was to be executed on a cross. It you can hardly believe that Jesus is comparing following him to crucifixion.

And yet he says that that's what it's like. Paul put it, this way in Galatians. I have been crucified with Christ. And I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the son of god who loved me, and gave himself for me.

And that is really helpful because that explains this image of crucifixion, doesn't it? In order for me to live by faith in the son of god, I cannot just bolt him onto my life and hope that he's happy to fit in with my selfishness and my will. That is not gonna work because my will for my life, and his will for my life do not match. I am opposed to him by nature. I do not want the same things as him.

Our wills are not the same. I'm interested in myself and my own reputation and my own life and getting what I want and doing it the way I want it. That's what I'm interested in. And if Jesus is happy to fit in with that, great. But that is not what he's calling for.

This is not about fitting new wine into old wineskins. If Christ is going to live in me, And if I am going to live by faith in him, something needs to give. And that thing is me. I need to die. My proud, sinful heart needs to be crucified.

Because only then, am I gonna be free to live by faith in the son of god? So carrying a cross is not like a weird death cult thing. It's about freedom. Freedom from my own sin, freedom from my own selfishness, so that I and you can know the joy of following Christ. We are put to death by faith, the old sinful self is crucified with Christ, and then we are free to live according to his will, which is so, so good.

And perhaps the reason that verse 26 and verse 27 are go together is because this act of carrying the cross and dying to ourselves is often the most difficult when it comes to close relationships. JC Ryal, an old the old Bishop of Liverpool said this. Experience shows both in the church at home and in the Mission Field abroad that the greatest foes to a man's soul are sometimes those of his own house. It sometimes happens that the greatest hindrance in the way of an awakened conscience is the opposition of relatives and friends. And some of you will know this very well from experience.

That wanting to follow Jesus and using phrases like my church family, which might seem quite ordinary to Christians, can be seen as an act of war against unbelieving relatives. It's it's not. And the irony is that when we love Jesus like this, We are free to love everything else in its proper place, and we actually become better lovers of our relatives. Because we won't make unrealistic demands of them. We won't treat them as idols and exhaust them and demand things of them that they can't give.

Will be free to love them in their proper place. And I guess it will be true in heaven that there will be many Christians who say to relatives Look, thank you. By god's grace, thank you for loving Jesus like you did because although I perceived it as hatred, I now see that that was the best way that you could love me and praise God. That was the thing that got me thinking about where I stand with Christ. So actually, when we love Jesus this way, it frees us to love everything else properly, but it can be interpreted as hatred, and that is painful.

And so for the Christian, in this situation, despite the happiness of the new life that they have in Christ. There can be a cross to bear in their own home. Or imagine at work, you've got a boss, they like you. They get on well with you. You enjoy their company.

But then 1 day they knock on your door and come into your room, and they ask you to do something that you cannot do. As a follower of Jesus. At the same time, you have a joy in knowing Christ. But there is a cross to bear in those close relationships. Or you imagine the person with a boyfriend or a girlfriend who doesn't who doesn't know or love the lord Jesus Christ.

You imagine a Christian in that situation. They pray for that person They hope they're gonna turn around, but then the time must come. Look, I wanna honor you. I wanna do the best by you, but I can't be in this relationship. I wanna love Jesus.

I wanna follow Jesus, and that's what I've gotta do. For that Christian, there is a great delight in being forgiven by Christ, but also a very real bearable cross. In their close relationships. And that is the point I think Jesus is making. Following him may not make life easier.

There is this profound joy of knowing God through Christ, but the truth is it may just be the beginning of many troubles. And to hide that away in the terms and conditions, and to pretend that that is not true or there is no real cost to following Christ will help nobody in the end. Not saying it's easy. And in this area of relationships, you know, whether whether we are from a Christian home or not, Whether we are single or married, male or female attracted to the same sex or the opposite sex, We will all have some sort of battle in this area. We will all have some kind of rival that is competing for first place in our hearts.

But love for king Jesus must conquer them all. He is the kindest shepherd who ever lived This is the kindest shepherd who ever lived speaking here, speaking words of guidance and love to our souls. This is the shepherd who came to this earth, and he bore the ultimate cost for us on a cross. This is not salvation by giving things up. This is salvation by faith in the Christ who gave everything up for us.

And bore the cost for us on the cross, the cost of our sin. But no small print here. If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife, and children, brothers, and sisters, yes, even their own life, Such a person cannot be my disciple, and whoever does not carry their cross and follow me, cannot be my disciple. And the question is, are you up for that? Because this is the only Jesus that there is.

There isn't another Jesus coming along, who will be happy to be bolted on to our lives and just to fit in with what we want. And if that's the kind of Jesus that we are thinking of in our minds, then whatever that thing is, it's it's not Jesus. This is what the lord Jesus says. And we need to know that there is a real cost, sometimes a painful cost. In following him.

That's the first point. Follow Jesus but count the cost and the second point is linked to it. Follow, Jesus, but don't be hasty. Have a look at verse 28 with me. Suppose 1 of you wants to build a tower.

Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost? To see if you have enough money to complete it. For if you lay the foundations and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees you sees it will ridicule you. Saying this person began to build and wasn't able to finish. Now I don't know how you are with DIY, but in in my house, there's quite a few half finished jobs, which which started, I think very well.

But then halfway through the job, I discovered that either I I actually was more lazy than I I realized and couldn't be bothered to finish it, or I didn't have the right part. And couldn't be bothered to drive down to B and Q and get it. However, it was, there was some problem, which justly meant I could put the job to 1 side. Okay? And so now if you look closely in my house, there are a lot of half done jobs.

There's wires hanging out of walls. There's holes that haven't been filled. All kinds of things. I'm reminded of it reasonably frequently in in my house. And, you know, there is some truth to the criticism.

It probably would have been better for me not to start. It would have been better to me to actually sit down, read the instructions, work out if I had the parts. Was I actually able to finish the job before I take a double handed electric drill to the wall. Am am I going to be able to complete this or not? And that is the point Jesus is making.

Don't be hasty when it comes to discipleship. Don't be hasty. Before you follow him, you must count the cost. You see the thinking words in verse 28, sit down and estimate the cost. See if you have enough.

Verse 31, sit down and consider whether he is able to go to war. Both illustrations involve sitting down. It's quite interesting, isn't it? Before you act hastily, you should take some time out, sit down quietly, and think about it. Before you leave the crowd to follow Christ, consider it well.

There is crucifixion on that road. Do we know what's involved Have we planned ahead? If we start, can we finish? But the second illustration is not quite the same. Verse 31, or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king.

Won't he first sit down and consider whether he is able with 10000 men to oppose the 1 coming against him with 20000? If he is not able, he will send the delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. So you see, this is a different situation because unlike the building project, this is not a take it or leave it thing. There is a king coming against another king with 20000 troops. He's gotta do something.

He's got no choice in the matter this time. Either he tries to take them on, and battle this king, or he asks for peace. And he needs to think about what he's gonna do there because if he acts hastily, with bravado thinking he can win with his 10000 men, then he might be in trouble. And so the point here is slightly different. Here we're reminded, and we've seen this in previous talks in this section, that 1 day, The king of glory, Jesus Christ is coming back.

And when that king returns with his armies, He will come to declare war against the unrepentant and against his enemies. He will do that. And that means that we need to count the cost both of following Jesus and of not following Jesus. Do we really want to go to war with him? Or would it be better to ask for peace?

Because if we wanna ask for peace, then there's gonna be a cost involved too. That's what he says in verse 33. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. And the question is in what same way? What is the same way that is connecting disciples with this king?

Well, think about it. If this king asks for peace, what does he have to do? He has to stop pretending that he's got what it takes. He has to give up on the idea that he is strong enough to take this king on. He has to leave his own kingdom behind surrender his wealth, say everything I have belongs to a new king who is coming again, I bow the knee to him.

And in that way, it's the same for those who want to follow Christ. You and I must leave our pride at the door. We must realize that our fake kingdom is over. We must surrender all that we have and say, my wealth, my possessions, everything that I am belongs to you, king, Jesus, I surrendered to you. I leave ownership behind.

You are the king. I bow the knee. So taken together Jesus is saying, don't be hasty. Before you come, count the cost both of following and of not following me. And then thirdly, and lastly, follow Jesus, but never lose your saltiness.

Followed Jesus, but never lose your saltiness. And verse 34 is really a a kind of summary of the whole lot, I think, verse 34, salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is neither fit for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.

In other words, Jesus is saying, a disciple who doesn't love me in this way A disciple who will not die and be born again, a disciple who will not renounce everything that he has and our for peace, is like salt without saltiness. And what is that? It's not a thing, is it? If salt loses its saltiness, the only thing which makes it distinctive has been lost. And therefore, it is of no use.

It is not it is now not fit for anything. It must be thrown out, Jesus says. In Matthew 5, Jesus says you, disciples, You are the salt of the earth, but let's not forget what makes us salt. It is this life in Luke 14. That is what makes us salt.

And so we need to ask ourselves Christians is this passage still a good description of who we are or truth be told Are we starting to lose the very things which make us who we are? Are we starting to lose the very salt which makes us salty? The very distinctives, which make us distinctive. And then if you're not a Christian here this evening, The good news still stands. Jesus Christ died and rose to save your soul.

And he invites you to come and be blessed. He says to you make every effort to come through the narrow door. He says in the previous parable, go out into the highways and byways and invite them to come in and all who come can come. There is a seat at the table The king is coming, but he's not here yet. You can ask for peace.

Send a delegation with your words. Lord have peace on me, have mercy on me. There is time for peace. But at the same time, weigh the cost. Are you ready for this sort of Christianity?

JC Ryle again as a closing application for all of us. Let us never be afraid of beginning to serve Christ. But let us begin seriously, thoughtfully, and with a due consideration of the step we take. And having once begun, let us pray for grace, that we may persevere and never fall away. Let's bow our heads and pray together.

Do take a moment just to read over the passage perhaps or consider some of the things that we've been hearing from god's word and take the opportunity to to pray to the lord. Let us never be afraid of beginning to serve Christ, but let us begin seriously, thoughtfully, and with a due consideration of the step we take. And having once begun, let us pray for grace that we may persevere and never fall away. Heavenly father, we do pray for that grace. Please would you help us to persevere?

Please would you help us not to fall away from Jesus. Please would you help us not to lose our saltiness and the very things which make us who we are. We pray that you would love you. We would love you in this this radical way that you would be our first and greatest love. We pray that you would help us to daily crucify ourselves again at the foot of the cross.

That lord we would continue to come to you, repenting of our selfishness and our pride, and the thousands of ways that we put ourselves above other people. Please lord crucify that in us we pray. Please kill every last residue. Of that selfishness within us that we may be free to follow our lord Jesus Christ. And we pray that you would help us to keep renouncing all that we have to realize that everything that we have in this life belongs to you and is a gift from you and that we are to surrender it to your will and your purposes and to keep bowing the need to Christ.

We thank you lord that Jesus is the 1 who bore the ultimate cost for us. We thank you that on that cross outside Jerusalem that our sin was put on to his shoulders. We thank you that he knew us before the very foundation of the world, and you chose us in Christ. Knowing all that we would ever do, and yet you still came to pay that price for us. And we thank you lord.

And we thank you that not only are we sinless, but through faith, we have a righteousness that is not our own, that we are in Christ clothed in him. And lord, we simply pray that you would help us to live out who we are, that we would bear the cost, carry the cross, and that we would follow you on this crucifixion road, which leads to life. Help us with praying in Jesus' name. Amen.