Depending upon your bible, you may have a heading at the beginning of this section that says "The Cost of Discipleship." There is a book by German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, by that same name – The Cost of Discipleship. In that book, Bonhoeffer speaks of a concept he calls cheap grace.
Grace, of course, is the source of our salvation – we are saved by grace through faith - and God’s grace is infinite and more than sufficient to cover all of our sins. The problem comes into play when the infinite supply of God’s grace causes us to forget that grace is not cheap, but is very expensive.
In his book, Bonhoeffer says that with cheap grace, “the world finds a cheap covering for their sins; no contrition is required, still less any desire to be delivered from sin.” Bonhoeffer goes on to say that cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without the preaching of obedience. He says that it is forgiveness without discipleship.
This raises a very important question that hopefully we can answer from this passage: What does following Jesus really cost? In the text, Jesus gives us two examples – that of building a building and going to war. He uses both examples to point out the folly of taking on an endeavor without first considering the cost of that endeavor.
The question we must ask ourselves regularly is this: Have we properly considered the cost of following Jesus – or are we also victims of this thing that Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls “cheap grace”?
This passage in Luke give us two important costs of discipleship that we should consider very seriously. Both are associated with statements that Jesus made that could only be characterized as shocking or controversial… Jesus often made such shocking statements, but the reason he did was to make sure we didn’t miss his point. He wanted us to take notice.
The first cost we must consider is The Cost of Placing Priority on our Relationship to God. Verse 26 says that we must hate our family in order to be a disciple of Jesus. This verse seems extremely harsh. I don’t hate my parents or my wife or my children or my sisters… yet this verse says I cannot be a disciple of Jesus Christ unless I hate them. In fact, this is not the only time Jesus said something like this. In Matthew 10:35 he said, “For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." This seems wrong, does it not?
To understand it, though, requires us to understand a little bit about Jewish idioms and figures of speech in that time. History and linguistic scholars tell us that the Hebrew culture would often use the word “hate” in terms of comparison rather than absolute. In other words, “Hate” is a Jewish figure of speech meaning to love considerably less – so much less that it seems like hate by comparison. This is how we understand such passages as Romans 9:13, which says “As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’”
How we interpret this difficult passage in Luke, therefore, is to understand this: Jesus must be the very top priority in our lives. In other words, if you don’t love Jesus far and above all other relationships in our lives, we cannot be his disciples. Jesus actually says this much more clearly in Matthew 10:37 -
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”
To most of us here in the Bible Belt, the concept of choosing Jesus over our families seems like something that happens in other parts of the world, not something that happens here… or is it? Truthfully, It can happen to any of us in ways we never expected...
The real problem for most of us is not that we are forced to choose between Jesus and our families, the real problem is that we think such a choice is not necessary. Therefore, we must consciously choose to make Jesus the priority in our lives. Because we don’t think a choice is necessary, we unconsciously choose our families and friends over Jesus every day. Maybe it is when we have a spouse that is not a believer, and so we cater their desires rather than hold to our convictions. Maybe it is when we choose to take our kids to their sports activities on Sunday rather than coming to church. Maybe it is when we choose to watch TV with our spouse rather than spend time with God in bible study or devotion.
Any relationship decision we make that compromises our relationship with Jesus is in scope with this verse. Jesus says that our top relationship priority must be him.
Are there any relationships in your life that taks precedence over your relationship with Jesus Christ? I would suspect the answer is yes. However, your response to that question may be: I believe what you say is true, but honestly God really isn’t first on my relationship list. Not because I don’t want him to be, but because I just don’t know how to love Jesus that much. The reason may very well be that you just don’t know Jesus as well as you think you know him.
When we really understand who Jesus is and what he did for us… there really is no response other than to love him above all others... 1 John 3:1 says "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. When we truly "see" that love, we can't help but love God more. As Paul's says in Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
How do I get there? How do I see God's love? You have to first desire it. Paul said he wanted to KNOW God and the power of his resurrection. That was his desire. Moses asked for one simple thing- God, Show Me Your Glory… If you begin with a sincere desire and begin to pray that God would show himself to you… you will grow in your love for him.
The second cost of discipleship we must consider from this passage is The Cost of Our Obedience to God’s Calling on our Lives. In verse 27, Jesus said his disciples must take up their cross in order to follow him. Like verse 26, this statement would be extremely shocking to Jesus’ listeners. The cross was a picture of horror, death, and shame. Only the worst of the worst criminals were crucified and it was against the law for a Roman citizen to be crucified. To suggest that someone take up their cross was to imply that they accept the worst possible conditions – even death. It would be considered a matter of punishment.
But for Christ, the cross was not a matter of punishment, but rather a matter of being obedient to the calling on his life. Jesus’ calling in life was to die on the cross. It was the reason he came. Mark 10:45 says “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” So for Christ, taking up his cross was a matter of obedience. Consider what Paul says about Christ’s obedience in Philippians 2:8, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Each of us has a calling on our life as well. Just as Christ had a calling on his life, so too do we. When Jesus says that his disciples must take up their cross and follow him, he was implying that in order to be his disciples, we must also be obedient to God’s calling on our life.
The problem with obedience, though is that obedience requires sacrifice. Following Christ is a matter of sacrifice. God sacrificed his son, Jesus, to grant us salvation. He wants us to sacrifice our will to be obedient to his calling on our life.
Ultimately, we have to see the conclusion that Jesus draws in verse 33: “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”
So the two questions each of us must ask ourselves today are these:
Question 1: What is God’s calling on my life?
Question 2: Am I going to be obedient to that calling no matter what the sacrifice?
Perhaps your response to those questions may be: I know what my calling is, but honestly, it is just too heavy a burden and sacrifice for me to bear. That may be true, but there is a solution to your problem.
There is a saying that you have probably heard of: “Well that is just my cross to bear." We think of bearing our cross as a heavy burden; and if you consider what the cross represents, we have a good reason to think that way. Here’s the amazing twist, however about taking up our cross and following Jesus…
Yes, we all have a cross that we are to carry.
Yes, carrying that cross requires obedience.
Yes, being obedient requires great sacrifice.
But as for the burden, Jesus never asked us to carry the burden alone.
Consider Matthew 11:28-30 - "28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
The picture here is a first century plough with two oxen. The two oxen are yoked together to accomplish the burden of plowing the field. They share the load. Jesus, however, says his yoke is easy and his burden is light. That means he is the other ox doing all the heavy lifting. In other words, Jesus offers that he will carry the heavy part of the burden for us.
Following Jesus is not easy… and grace is not cheap…
Jesus wants us to fully understand the cost of following him…
It means putting him first above all other relationships…
It means being obedient to him regardless of the sacrifice…
But it is never meant to be burdensome…
In fact, following Jesus is meant to bring us joy.
In John 15:11, Jesus says “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
We have to be willing to give up everything to him…and surrender to his will… but when we do, we find that he actually carries the weight of the burden for us.
