LUKE 14:25-35 BE A DISCIPLE OF JESUS2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 14:25-35 Be A Disciple Of Jesus

00:00
You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2013.

00:13
♪♪

00:35
And then the people who are invited don't come. And so he sends out his servants to gather everyone to come. Even compelling them. Go out even beyond the city walls. Go out on the highways and the hedges. And bring in the people. Compel them. Bring them in. That my house might be full. The master was saying. And we saw that Jesus was talking about eternity. And how God desires eternity.

01:00
For people to enter into eternity. He desires for his house to be filled. Well, that was last week. Now, we see now the contrast as we go forward this week. We see a full house in the sense that there's a great multitude. But now Jesus begins to thin the crowd a little bit as he explains what is required to be a disciple.

01:25
The title of the message this morning is, Be a Disciple of Jesus. Now a disciple is, the word literally means a learner or one who is a pupil or a follower. But it is used in the New Testament as a

01:41
a little bit more than that, where it's someone who adheres to the instruction that is given to him and makes it his rule of conduct or rule of life. In other words, a disciple, when we talk about being a disciple of Jesus, is one who takes Jesus's instruction and then lives by it. That what Jesus says is the direction, the instruction, the plan for life.

02:11
And so if you are a disciple of Jesus, your life will change according to what Jesus says. That there's going to be some changes because you are going to adhere to, to follow, to stay in line with the instruction of Jesus. Now, as we talk about being a disciple of Jesus, Jesus wants you to know that

02:39
What it is you're signing up for when you say, yes, I want to follow Jesus. I want to be his disciple. I would ask you to kind of think back a little bit to that time when you said, yeah, I want to follow Jesus. I want to walk with him. What was it that you signed up for at that moment? What in your mind were you thinking that you were signing up for, that you were agreeing to, that you were being part of?

03:10
I think it's important to evaluate this because, well, sometimes people are signing up for, well, here's what I want. I want to be able to live my life and do what I want to do and maybe even practice some sin, maybe be involved in things that I want to be involved in that God's not so excited about. I want to do what I want to do and still make it to heaven.

03:32
That's what I, sign me up for that, right? I can do whatever I want and just not go to hell. That, that's, well, some people want to sign up for that. And some people think that's what they're signing up for when they say, yeah, I want to be a follower of Jesus Christ. I want to receive Jesus as my savior. But I can still sin. I can still do what I want to do and escape the consequence of hell.

03:57
But as Jesus here is calling us to be disciples and setting the standard for discipleship, he says, well, you need to count the cost and understand what it is really that I'm asking of you. You need to have a clear picture of what I require. And so he's

04:18
telling us to count the cost as he describes to us what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. And so to help us count the cost, I have four things I'll highlight for you this morning from our passage. The first point found in verses 25 and 26, if we're going to be a disciple of Jesus, then we must put Jesus before family.

04:42
This is the first thing that Jesus begins to deal with regarding discipleship. We must put Jesus before family. Look with me at verse 25. It says, Now great multitudes went with him, and he turned and said to them. Now before we get into what Jesus said, notice here it's great multitudes. It's not just, you know, a little bit of a crowd gathered, but it's great multitudes. It's not even just a multitude gathered together.

05:11
But great multitudes. There's a massive amount of people following Jesus at this point. Going with him. Remember we've been looking at him at this dinner party. And so he's left that dinner party now. There's this great multitudes that are with him.

05:30
I think this is important to grasp hold of because a lot of times we kind of get the mentality that, you know, it's all about the big crowd or the numbers. That's really, really important. And we might advise Jesus at this point, look, Jesus, I mean, you've got the big crowds now. These are great multitudes. So be very careful in what you say. Make sure you don't offend them. Try really hard not to scare them off. Don't really challenge them so much. Don't discourage them.

05:58
Because you want to keep this big crowd. I mean, you've arrived. You've achieved the goal. But Jesus' goal was not the great multitudes. And so he begins to address the multitudes now with,

06:12
With some really challenging things. And we'll see these challenging things as we go through this passage. So the first thing he begins now in verse 26 to say, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And so Jesus addresses this crowd, right? First words out of his mouth. All right, great multitudes, listen up.

06:41
If anyone comes to me and does not hate all of these different relationships, his family essentially, then he cannot be my disciple. There is a requirement to be a disciple of Jesus. This is a standard that must be met. And with this standard, I would ask you to evaluate and consider throughout our time together. Can you be his disciple?

07:15
Can you be his disciple? Because if you come to him and do not hate your father and mother and wife and children, brothers and sisters, and your own life also, you cannot be his disciple. Now we stumble over this a little bit. Kind of wrestle with this maybe in your own mind already. Hate? Well, what do you mean hate? I mean,

07:39
I thought that's not what we're not supposed to hate. Isn't that like the dark side? Like that's where Vader went. Like you're supposed to stay away from that. Hate is not what we're supposed to be doing as Christians. But here Jesus says, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his family. Isn't it interesting the timing of the Lord where my family is here today. And I have to say, I hate you family. And if I don't say that, I can't be a disciple of Jesus. Right?

08:11
I mean, that's pretty hardcore, right? So maybe you're thinking, well, tell us the Greek, Jerry. Maybe the Greek has some relief. Maybe it's not what we think it is. Well, here's the definition. The word hate, it means to hate. To pursue with hatred or detest hatred.

08:31
And so, well, that's not much help. But as we see the word hate used throughout the New Testament, we get a little bit better understanding of what Jesus is talking about. He's not saying hate in the sense that you need to wish that they were dead. You need to hurt them and offend them and punish them and beat them. And, you know, that's not what Jesus is talking about at all. In fact, that would...

08:52
well, that would contradict much of the rest of Scripture. But this is not contradictory to honor your father and mother or love one another. This is not in contrast to those things. This is in addition to those things. And so what is he talking about? Well, let's turn to Luke chapter 16 for just a moment. I picked that one just because it's a couple of chapters ahead, real easy to look at. And you can see what this word hate is about.

09:19
in used with comparison with other things. So Luke chapter 16 verse 13, Jesus is talking kind of a similar issue. We'll get to that in Luke chapter 16. But he says, no servant can serve two masters. There in verse 13. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

09:49
So here in Luke chapter 16 verse 13 you see Jesus used the same word hate and you can see the point that he is making and so he's using the word to make the point that you have to make a choice. And so sometimes the word hate is referred to as to love less and that's a little bit accurate but really it's the idea of you have to make a choice. You have to choose your priorities. Who's gonna be first?

10:19
Jesus says you cannot serve two masters. You're going to hate one or you're going to love one. You can't love both of them. You have to choose one of them is going to take the highest priority. And one of them is going to be lower. And for that one that's lower, that's where he says the word hate. You're either going to hate that one or you're going to love that one. You're either going to be loyal to one or you're going to despise one.

10:48
That one. It's a choice that must be made. And so hate we see this used throughout the scriptures this way. As a reference of choosing one thing over another thing. And so as Jesus says if anyone comes to me and does not hate his family. Again he's not saying you know you should wish them dead or wish them ill. He's saying you need to choose me first. Right?

11:17
And if you don't put me above your family, if I'm not more important to you than your family, then you cannot be my disciple. So that helps us understand what Jesus is saying a little bit more. It doesn't really lessen the difficulty of it though. We're back in Luke chapter 14 now. There at the end of the verse, verse 26, Jesus says, you cannot be his disciple unless

11:50
If you do not choose him over your family. This requirement to hate is a requirement to choose your priorities.

12:03
We also can see this from Matthew chapter 10 verse 37. There it's the parallel to the passage that we're studying here. But Matthew words it a little bit differently. In Matthew 10 37 he says, it's Jesus speaking, he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

12:29
So there he kind of, you know, says the same thing just from the other side. If you love your family more than Jesus, you cannot be his disciple. You are not worthy of Jesus. If you love your parents more than Jesus, you cannot be a disciple of Jesus. If you love your children more than Jesus, you cannot be a disciple of Jesus. You must love Jesus first. Again, it's that requirement to choose the priority first.

13:00
Who's going to be the most important person in your life? Jesus says, if it's not me, then you cannot be my disciple. I really like what David Guzik has to say about this. He says, the greatest danger of idolatry comes not from what is bad, but from what is good, like love and family relationships.

13:25
As Jesus sets the standard and makes this requirement, we can think, man, Jesus, this is so harsh. This is so hard. Why would you make such a difficult statement, such a high standard? And Guzik's pointing out, well, the reason why is because we can very easily begin to be involved in idolatry. And the greatest danger of idolatry, and I think it's probably the greatest danger because it's subtle, is

13:54
is regarding things that are good so yeah there's the type of idolatry where it's like god i don't care what you say i want what i want i know it's sinful i know it's wrong but i'm going to pursue this this is going to be my life and it's a rebellious idolatry but then there's also the idolatry that comes from this is a good thing family is a good thing but it could also be lots of other things there's lots of good things that you can be involved with

14:25
but when those things become too high of a priority in your life then it begins to be idolatry when you put those things you value those things those things are more important you're more passionate about those things than you are for the lord it becomes idolatry even if it's a good thing and so there has to be balance in all of this well jesus says you must put him first now

14:56
This is the requirement to be a disciple. There's a lot that we could get into here. I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time in this, but I do want to just hit a few points really quickly on this point, just to hit these things, and then we'll move on to the rest of the passage.

15:11
So the first thing I think it's important that we understand is the best thing that you can do for your family is to put Jesus first. Some people are going to struggle with this idea, this requirement. You have to put Jesus first because they're going to think, well, if I'm not investing all of this into my family, then they're going to be lost. And who's going to reach them if I'm, you know, busy with Jesus? Who's going to reach them? What's going to happen to them? And we get caught up in that.

15:41
But the best thing for your family, the best thing that you can do for them is to put Jesus first. You will never be the best spouse that you can be until you put Jesus first. You'll never be the best parent that you can be until Jesus is first, until he is Lord, until you're his disciple. That's the best thing for them is for you to have a real, strong, connected, vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ. And compromise and rebellion is,

16:14
it doesn't really help your family. So if you compromise in your commitment to the Lord to be with your family or to serve your family or minister to your family, whatever it might be, you're compromising what God has said in order to be with your family. That doesn't actually help them. That might be what they prefer. That might be what they want. That might be what you want or what you prefer, but it's not what's best.

16:41
The best thing that you can do for your family is to put Jesus first. And so I'll say this, hate them with all the love of Jesus Christ. Put Jesus first. Make sure he's the top priority. Now the next thing I would say, another important point for us to consider on this is that we must be careful not to confuse church with Jesus.

17:04
Don't confuse church with Jesus. When I say put Jesus first, I'm not saying you need to be at every church function, every church activity, even if your family doesn't like it and it upsets them and they're feeling neglected. That doesn't matter because you're putting Jesus first and you've got to be at the church stuff. No, no. Don't confuse that. Okay? Those are two separate things.

17:23
Putting Jesus first is talking about your relationship with Jesus Christ. You need to have time with him. You need to worship him. You need to know his voice and hear from him. You need to spend time in prayer, spend time in the word. Those have to be huge priorities in your life.

17:38
In addition to that, following his commands, doing what he calls you to do explicitly through the word of God or personally to you, you need to be responding to Jesus and walking with him. And that has to be more important than anything else in your life. Responding to his call, using the gifts that he gives you, that has to be your top priority. Now that will involve church, but church is not Jesus.

18:07
Put Jesus first. There's some things at church that you need to say no to. There's some things at church you need to say yes to. There's some things with your family that you need to say no to. And there's some things with your family that you need to say yes to. So don't confuse the church with Jesus. Put Jesus first. He'll give you the instruction on how to balance that out. And that's the third thing I would say about this is that there needs to be balance to this.

18:36
We can go to extremes very easily. You can go to the one side where you're just completely consumed with family. It's all about family. I'm all about family. I spend all my time investing in the family. I'm going to work for my family. I'm saving for their college. Everything is all about family. That's what I live for. And then you can go on the other side to the other extreme where family is not that important. I'm neglecting my family because I have this career to follow. I have this ministry to do. I have all these things to accomplish and...

19:09
It's all more important than those people at home. Those are the extremes. We need to come back to the balance, putting Jesus first and keeping those things in the right proportions that we care for and love and minister to and serve and protect our family, but that we also don't get caught up in idolatry with our family, that we keep Jesus first. So we have to keep the balance.

19:41
And then the last point quickly that I'll make about this is that we need to keep in mind that our goal in this is not to offend our family. Now, I don't mean that to say like we got to do everything we can to make sure they're not offended. No, what I'm trying to say is that we need to make sure that we're not going out of our way to offend our family. Now, when you put Jesus first, they might be offended.

20:07
It's probably very likely. You put Jesus first. Especially if you haven't been putting Jesus first. You put Jesus first. Family is going to be stirred up. Again David Guzik says. Hate is a strong word. But that's exactly what it may seem like. To family members and friends. When we put Jesus before them. They'll start saying. Why do you hate me? Well because Jesus told me to. We got to put Jesus first. And it might be offensive to them. But.

20:40
that's different than me saying, you know, mom, I hate you, and I'm going to go to church, because that's what Jesus said. That's offensive. In fact, I just apologize for saying that right now. Okay, you know, so God put something on your heart. You know, this year for Christmas, you're going to go to this area. You're going to minister in something you haven't done before, and your family freaks out. You're supposed to be with us for Christmas. That's the tradition. That's what we do. This is how we are. This is

21:11
You know, we often refer back to, well, in my culture, you know, like, that's just, we don't do that. But the point is, Jesus has to take priority. And you can lovingly say, I understand and I'm sorry, but this is what God has called me to do. As opposed to, hey, I'm going to serve Jesus and I don't care about you, you know, just deal with it. So you don't have to deal with it that way, but you do need to put Jesus first.

21:40
Be a Christian first before you are whatever cultural background you're from. You know, before you're that ethnicity, now you have a new identity in Christ. You're a Christian. So it doesn't matter if that's what you've always done. That's what you do in your culture. No, you need to do what Jesus has called you to do and has commanded you to do. So we need to put Jesus before family. We have to choose a priority.

22:08
And this, you know, it sounds kind of weird in our culture sometimes to talk about things like this. But I don't know. I mean, I would ask you to consider. We kind of have what I would refer to as a cozy culture. But you know, this is a universal truth that Jesus is declaring. And in a lot of places, people actually have to choose between family or Jesus.

22:32
Where there has to be the choice. Where the family says, if you follow Jesus, you're dead to us. We will never speak to you again. You will not get your inheritance. We're not going to provide for you. You're going to be kicked out. You have nowhere to go because you got to choose between us and Jesus. And Jesus says, you got to put me first.

22:55
Don't love your family. Now that person has the choice, right? It's like, well, if I love my family more, I'll be with my family. I'll be taken care of. Things will be better. There won't be any big, you know, ruffles or troubles because I'll be with my family. But they got to choose. Am I going to love Jesus or am I going to love my family? We think we can do both. And we're blessed in a culture that we get to have that. But there's a danger with that as well. In that sometimes we

23:24
We get so consumed on the other side with the family that we bring Jesus down. And he's not the priority. And Jesus says, if that's the case, you cannot be my disciple. I mean, just think about the missionaries. You know, you think about Daniel Sedota there in Korea, right? If he loved his family more than Jesus, he would be here. But he had to choose. In the same way, we all have to choose. We have to make our priority.

23:52
Is Jesus going to be first? Can you be his disciple with this requirement? Well that's not the only requirement. He goes on now in verse 27 through 30. To make the next requirement. And that is you must put Jesus before yourself. Verse 27. He says and whoever does not bear his cross and come after me. Cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his cross. Now this is not something that we've never seen before. Right?

24:25
This is something Jesus actually said several times throughout his ministry. In Luke chapter 9 verse 23, Jesus said, And so we saw this back in Luke chapter 9 a few months back.

24:47
We have to take up the cross or bear the cross and follow Jesus. Now in the church, in Christianity, there's kind of the saying, you know, like, oh yeah, that's my cross to bear. And we use that to refer to difficulties or hardships, you know, things in our life that we're not real excited about. You know, I've got this bum leg, you know, and so it's my cross to bear. I've got this, you know, person in my life and they're my cross to bear. And we kind of refer to it like that. But

25:14
That is not at all what Jesus is talking about here when he says to bear your cross or to take up your cross and follow him. Remember the context in which Jesus is speaking this. People were being crucified on a cross. When a person was bearing their cross, it was because they were on their way to the execution. Remember Jesus, he was, you know, in those trials, he was beaten, he was whipped. Then they put the cross upon his back.

25:45
And forced him to carry it to where he was going to be crucified. He couldn't carry it the whole way. They had to bring in someone else because he was already so weakened. But that's the point. The person carrying the cross is on their way to their execution. They've been sentenced to death and they're carrying it to be executed. When Jesus talks about bearing the cross or taking up your cross, he's talking about dying to yourself.

26:18
Not in a physical way in that we harm ourselves, but in a way that we die to, well, our own desires and goals and plans. Die to our own laziness. We die to ourselves. I like the way that Chuck Smith explains it. He says, "...in the life of Jesus, the cross represented a full and complete surrendering of His will to that of the Father."

26:48
It is the same thing in our lives. It is the submitting and the surrendering of ourselves to the will of the Father. You remember in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was praying and he said, if there's any other way, I don't want to go this way. If there's any other way, but then he says, not my will, but your will be done. That complete surrendering of Jesus to the will of the Father is what enabled him to bear the cross.

27:20
He surrendered himself completely. When he calls us to take up the cross and follow him, that's what he's calling us to. He's not saying, you know, put up with those thorns in your flesh or those difficulties, those hardships that you face. He's saying, no, completely surrender yourself so that you can say to God, not my will, but your will be done. Is that what you do? Is that the way that you approach life with a full surrender and submission attitude?

27:54
This is not an easy requirement. So Jesus now gives us an illustration to help us consider really what he's asking. Verse 28. For which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it,

28:15
Lest after he has laid the 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. Jesus says, let me give you an example. Which of you would begin a building project without figuring out first if you could complete the project with the funds that you have?

28:46
He says, who would do that? Who would not sit down first and count the cost? What Jesus is asking us to do by giving these requirements is to count the cost. So he says, think about it like building a structure. Hey, if you're going to enter into a building project, you would have some kind of budget. You would have maybe a spreadsheet. You'd have maybe some, you know, a

29:17
formulas or some strategy and you'd be thinking about ahead of time, alright, can I afford to finish this? I would think about this teaching of Jesus quite a bit over the past several years or many years now, I guess, because you know where the A&PM is here right next to the 91 up there? A long time ago, it used to be a shell station and if you've been around a while, you remember that. And it was a shell station but then that went out of business and

29:51
And the property was purchased. The old shell station was demolished. And then a new construction, a new gas station was begun. But it wasn't the A&PM. I think it was going to be another shell station. But as they began the construction, they got the building up somewhat. There was some things put together. And then it just sat there for, I don't know, I think it was like three, four, five years. Right?

30:19
And it just always reminded me of the unfinished building. This idea of counting. You got to figure out ahead of time. Can I afford to complete this project? Jesus is saying this. In the same way that you would sit down and you would do the math. You would figure out, can I afford to do this? Now take that and apply it to discipleship. Here's the requirement. What I'm asking of you is a full and absolute surrender of yourself to my will. That you would take up your cross and follow me.

30:58
Now before you just volunteer, you know, hey, you got 10 seconds to respond. You know, are you going to do it? Let's go. Let's go. No, no. Before you do that, he says, sit down and count the cost. Stop. Don't rush into this. This is not something you just, you know, sign up for because it's popular or exciting or because you're terrified of hell. No, no, no. Sit down. Think about it. Count the cost. Calculate it. Can you? Will you? Surrender to the will of God.

31:32
Will you really deny yourself? Take up your cross and follow me. I would ask you to kind of evaluate it this way. Have you ever been surprised when something is hard in your Christian life? I think that we need to consider that if we're surprised about how difficult the Christian life is, how difficult it is to walk with the Lord, how difficult it is to stand up for righteousness, if we're surprised at how difficult life

32:06
the Christian life is, I would suggest to you that we didn't fully count the cost. We're surprised that it's hard when Jesus promised it would be hard. If you think it's all just going to be just wonderful blessings and no problems, that is a promise, but that promise is for eternity. The promise for this life is there will be tribulation. You will have much tribulation. That's the promise. It should not be a surprise. We need to count the cost.

32:43
And when you count the cost, think about it's going to cost you your life. Perhaps physically, definitely it will cost you your desires, your will, your plans. You have to surrender all that to the Lord. And if he chooses to give you those things that you desire, well, that's a great blessing. But that's his choice. Have you counted the cost? Jesus says, if you can't do that, you cannot be my disciple.

33:13
Every disciple knows what it's like to have to do things that they don't want to do. Because that's what Jesus requires. He gives us commands. Do the things that you know you need to do even when it kills you to do it. That's dying to yourself. So the Bible says forgive. And you think, oh, I can't forgive that guy. Man, that'll kill me to forgive that guy. I can't let go of that. Oh, that's going to be so painful and hurtful.

33:51
But he says, forgive as I've forgiven you. So die to yourself and forgive. You think, oh man, I can't witness to that person. I mean, they're so smart. That's going to be so hard. I'm so scared. What if they reject me? All these things that we go through, right? But then Jesus said, go and make disciples. Go and make disciples. Die to yourself. Do what Jesus is calling you to do. I can't stand up for righteousness at work. I mean, I know it's wrong. It's going, but I can't stand up. No, I'll get fired. Hey, die to yourself.

34:33
Now again, I'm not saying go out of your way and offend everybody on purpose. No, I'm saying put Jesus first and obey him and die to yourself. And if that means rejection, if that means whatever that means, not my will, but your will be done. Maybe that means that you need to quit something or maybe it means you need to start something.

35:02
Die to yourself. Do the things that you know you need to do even when it kills you to do it. That's what's required. And again, I would ask, with that requirement, can you be his disciple? Well, the third point now as we continue on in verse 31 through 33, we see here that we are to put Jesus before stuff. If you're going to be a disciple of Jesus, you need to put him before things.

35:30
before possessions. And Jesus now gives another illustration to connect it to this next requirement. So we start out with the illustration in verse 31. It says, or what king going to make war against another king does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000. So can you see the picture that Jesus is painting here? Here you are as king. You've got 10,000 soldiers. You've got 10,000

36:00
But there's another king coming against you with 20,000. It's twice as large. What do you do? I didn't get a chance to check out the documentary, but there was one that was released this week. Maybe you saw it. It was the Ghost Army that was talking about in World War II, there was a special unit that was, it was the tactical deception unit. 1,100 men were in this unit and they had this particular mission.

36:33
And the mission was to impersonate other military units. And so they had inflatable tanks and they would go and set up and pretend like they were this, you know, battle ready unit. That they were on there to, well, to bring in the battle. And so they would go and they would set up and they would deflate everything. They would go somewhere else, they would set up and they would

37:01
For, I think it was about a year, they were, or through the end of the war, they were just impersonating and giving the impression that there was more soldiers, more tanks. They were even doing, you know, fake transmissions between each other and, you know, just all these things, putting on the whole show so that...

37:24
Well, Germany's army, the Nazis, you know, they're freaked out. They're thinking, well, we can't go that way. There's this whole big battalion there. We can't go that way. And so they use this to trick them to keep them from going into vulnerable areas. Pretty clever. I'm glad they're on our side. I like that. So they're on Germany's side, right? They're thinking, well, we only have 10,000. They have 20,000. We can't go that way. So they tried a different route.

37:57
Jesus is saying, here you are. You've got 10,000. The enemy has 20,000. What does the king do? Well, he says the king sits down first and considers. Notice that. With the tower, you sit down first and count the cost. With the king, you sit down first and consider. Jesus wants you to sit down first. Sit down. Stop. Think. Consider. In this case, he says this king thinks about, what am I going to do? Can I defeat this army of 20,000?

38:32
Now as I was praying through and studying this passage this week, I began to understand it in a different way than I anticipated. I thought I was going to be talking to you about war and we got to go into battle and be ready to fight. But I really don't think that that's what this is talking about any longer. This is really about surrender, not war. Because look what he says in verse 32. Or else while the other is still a great way off,

39:01
He sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So he counts his men, 10,000. They've got 20,000. He figures out, well, we don't have any kind of advantage. Our only option is to surrender. So he sends the delegation. Well, how can we be at peace? How can we deliver ourselves from certain destruction because we will not be victorious in this battle? Jesus says, sit down and consider. Can you win this?

39:44
David Guzik says it this way. Jesus says, sit down and see if you can afford to refuse my demands. That's what Jesus is saying. Can you afford to refuse? So here's the idea. Here you and I are, sinful people, condemned to certain destruction in hell. You can't fight God on that. We try. Oh, we try really hard.

40:13
And we could try with lots of good works and lots of great religious rituals. And we could try with all kinds of things to escape what is our certain destruction. But what we really need to do is to surrender. Because the terms of peace have been offered. It's by faith in Jesus Christ. And by faith in Jesus Christ, we can be delivered. You can't battle against God and be victorious. No, our only option is to ask for terms of peace. Lord,

40:45
What must I do to be saved? Our only option is to surrender. Can you afford to refuse God's demands for peace? God's conditions for peace. All right, here, you and I, we can have peace. If you will believe in Jesus Christ, if you will love him, if you will serve him, if you will follow him, we can have peace. He goes on in verse 33. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has...

41:25
cannot be my disciple. He says, so likewise. So in the same way, these terms of peace, this picture that he's painting here, here's the terms of peace that are offered. Put Jesus before family, put Jesus before yourself, and put Jesus before your stuff. He says, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has, cannot be my disciple. Here's the requirement. You want to be a disciple? Here's what must be done. Forsake all that you have.

42:00
So that means get rid of everything that you have. Give it to me because I don't have the... No, I'm just kidding. No, what is he talking... Does he mean we all have to get rid of our stuff and take a vow of poverty? No, the word forsake, when he says forsake all that you have, it means to place in proper order. It refers to the idea of putting your belongings in their proper place.

42:25
So that they do not own you, but you own them. That they have their proper role, proper place in your life. And for some, that's a problem. That's an issue. Maybe for more of us than we like to realize. Remember the rich young ruler that came to Jesus and said, hey, I want to make it to heaven. And I've been really good. I've been following all these commands. What do I need to do? Jesus said, you lack one thing. Sell everything you have, give it to the poor. You'll have treasure in heaven and come and follow me.

43:04
And it says that that guy went away sad because he had great possessions. He had a lot of stuff and it was awesome stuff. He couldn't let it go. Sometimes our stuff can take the wrong place in our lives. Jesus says you got to forsake it. You got to put it back in its rightful place. Put me first. I must be most important. Well, Lord, I know what you're saying to me. I know what you want. I know, but I'm almost there. I almost have enough for this thing. I can almost get it.

43:43
Just a little bit longer, Lord. Just wait a little bit longer. And then I'm going to serve you for real. As soon as I get into this house. Then it's going to be... Jesus is saying, look, put me first. And put all that stuff in its proper order. Can you be his disciple? Can you let go of those things that you have? Well, finally, point number four in verse 34 and 35 says,

44:13
is that we must put Jesus first forever. Verse 34 says, salt is good, but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Do you have ears to hear? Listen to what Jesus is saying. There's a lot of discussion about this verse. What does it mean, salt losing its saltiness? And

44:43
There comes this whole debate of, well, is Jesus saying you can lose your salvation? Or what's this mean? Listen, I think the best way to understand this verse is to keep it in the context. Keep it connected to what Jesus is talking about. Notice that there's not a transition here. Look with me really quick at verse 1 here in chapter 14. He says, now it happened as he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees. And then it continues on. So you can see there in verse 1, it's really clear that

45:14
Something else was happening in chapter 13. As we went into chapter 14, new subject, new situation. Jesus enters into the house of the Pharisees. Then in verse 25, it says, Now great multitudes went with him, and he turned and said to them. So there in verse 25, we realize, okay, Jesus is away now from the dinner party. It's clear. He's gone now. Great multitudes are with him. There's some travel going on. It's a new scene, new scenario.

45:44
And that's what we've been looking at now. And then in chapter 15 verse 1, it says, Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him to hear him. And so there in verse 1 we see now we're dealing with another scenario, another scene. You see Luke's pretty clear here about the transition from scene to scene, from different places to different places. But here in verse 34 he doesn't say, and then Jesus went on to say another random thought.

46:14
Or, you know, some disconnected thing. No, it's, he includes it. This is part of the conversation. And so in this context, here's what I suggest. Jesus is saying that we need to put him first and keep on putting him first. That to put Jesus before your family for a little bit is not obeying the call to be a disciple. That's the salt losing its flavor.

46:48
But that the call to discipleship is putting Jesus before your family forever. Putting Jesus before yourself forever. And if you're only doing it for a short season, that's not being a disciple. Jesus is asking you to stay salty, to stay committed. Thomas Nelson puts it this way. Jesus warned that an ineffective commitment leads to being cast aside. This needs to be permanent. And that's why Jesus is saying this.

47:24
These difficult things, these high requirements and saying, sit down first. Before you rush into this and sign up, this sounds great. Sit down, count the cost, consider. Can you really do this? Are you really willing to put Jesus first for the rest of your life?

47:47
What about when this happens with my family? What about when that happens with myself? What about when these things happen and those doors open up? Are you willing? You've got to think long term. You've got to think about what is expected in my life. What's going to happen? What are the possibilities? And am I willing at all costs, no matter what, to put Jesus first? Am I willing to be a disciple? There's that classic wonderful song we sing, I have decided to follow Jesus.

48:22
And it goes on to say, no turning back. No turning back. This is what Jesus is calling us to. Don't turn back. Don't turn back from your decision to follow him. To walk with him. Put Jesus first forever. Have you gone back to things that God had once delivered you from? Don't turn back. Don't go back to those things. Paul said, Philippians, to the degree that we've attained, let's continue to walk.

49:05
Don't go back. Have you gone back from things that God has grown you in and taught you? He's brought you up here and then you've kind of taken a couple steps back in your relationship with him, in your faith, in your obedience, whatever it might be. No turning back. He must be first before family, before yourself, before your stuff. And that's going to be a continual challenge and we need to keep growing and be persistent in that or it's not

49:38
What Jesus calls us to be as disciples. We must put Jesus first forever. Can you be his disciple? One who adheres to his instruction. Where what he says changes your life. Your life is lived according to his standards. That's what it means to be a disciple. And Jesus says if you want to be a disciple...

50:07
Here's the requirement. Put me before your family. Put me before yourself. Put me before your stuff. And keep it that way for the rest of your life. The invitation is to everybody. Go to the highways. Go to the hedges. But if you want to be a disciple, here's what it takes. Now sit down. Think about it. Count the cost. Will you be a disciple of Jesus? I'd like to finish up with an illustration that David Guzik shared. He says...

50:43
It is as if we have an apartment and give the ownership of that apartment to Jesus. We don't have to remodel the apartment before we give it to Jesus. But once we do, he comes in and starts tearing down walls and fixing up things. Being a disciple means that you help Jesus in that work instead of resisting it or changing things back to the old way. Think about that. You give Jesus your home.

51:18
You don't have to fix it up and clean up your life and, alright, Lord, I've cleaned up my life. I've fixed everything. I've got rid of those habits. Now, here I am. I present myself to you. That's, no, no, no. You make a mess of yourself. I make a mess of myself. That's what we do with ourselves. That's what we're really gifted at. We make a mess of our lives. And we bring that mess to the Lord and we say, okay, Lord, I know I'm a mess, but I

51:46
He told me to give it to you. So I'm surrendering to you. I give you my life. Now, you're a mess. And God says, okay, great. But I'm not going to leave you that way. I'm going to start to work. I'm going to start to change. I'm going to start to grow you. And our job is to participate in the remodel. To participate, not resist it. Oh, how many times have I resisted the work that God wants to do in my life?

52:13
And not like, you know, ignorantly. It's like, I know God wants to do this, but oh man, I so do not want to do that. No, our job is to participate, to not resist. Yeah, let me help you move that wall. Let me help you tear down those barriers. Let me help you put a window there. Let me, let me help you in this. Don't resist it, but participate in it. And certainly don't change it back to the old way. God does the work. He does it. Oh wow, this is beautiful.

52:43
It's like, I don't like it. I'm switching it back. It was better when I was in the world. It was better. No, that's terrible. It wasn't better. Can you be a disciple of Jesus? Can you surrender your life to him? Let him remodel it and join him in the work as you put him first before family, before yourself, before your stuff for the rest of your life. That's the call. Now sit down, count the cost, consider.

53:20
Will you be a disciple of Jesus? Let's pray. Lord, I pray for each of us here that you would bring such great clarity to our hearts and minds about these areas of priorities of putting you first. Lord, your requirement, your standard to be a disciple, it's hefty, but it's not more than what you did. You just call us to follow you. And Lord, you don't even call us to be perfect in it. You promise us

53:55
to continue to be gracious and merciful, but you do ask us to make a real commitment to you. And so God, I pray that you would help us to see clearly your call in our lives. Help us to see clearly if we're out of line in any of these things. Help us to see clearly, Lord, if there's some serious remodeling that you want to do in our lives. Show us, Lord. And I pray, Lord, that you would help us to decide to follow you without turning back.

54:31
that we would be with you in the work, surrendered to you, submitted to you, obedient as you speak to our hearts, as you reveal yourself to us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.