The Cost to Follow Christ pt. 1 - Luke 9:23-27

You know, I think we all know the feeling of wanting to buy something that we can't afford.

It's a common experience, right?

Most of us can think of something, maybe even this week, where we said, you know, I kind of want that, but I just don't know if I could afford it.

Now, now there's usually two ways or two things we mean by that.

One is we we truly can't afford it.

Car maybe Roars Roy's or something.

I'm like, yeah, that looks nice, but I know I can't afford it.

And then there are other times where where we we probably can afford it.

We just don't feel it's a wise purchase.

We don't we don't feel like it's a wise buy.

It's really not worth giving up so much to buy it.

I know I might have it, but I don't know if I'm ready to spend it.

Well, that last way of thinking is why many people refuse to follow Jesus.

Because they consider the price, and though they have it, they don't want to spend it.

This is what we're going to be looking at in our passage this morning, the cost of following Christ.

Last week we witnessed this great confession of Peter where he was confessing Jesus as the Christ.

As Jesus is going about healing and performing miracles, people had many things to say about him, and there were many opinions of who he was, but many of them were wrong.

Peter and the disciples had it right.

They made the right confession.

He is the anointed one, he is the savior of the Old Testament.

He was the one who came from God.

And we started to see some of the cost of following Jesus last week as he was telling them what would happen to him, how he was going to be rejected and killed by the chief priests and the scribes.

So the disciples were already starting to understand that call that following him was going to be costly.

If Jesus was going to be rejected, and if he was going to be put to death, what does that mean for us?

What does it mean for the followers of the one who will suffer?

It must mean that we will also suffer if we follow him.

Well, in our passage this morning, Jesus is going to flesh that out a little more.

Gives them a little more detail on what it looks like to follow him or what it means to follow him, the true cost of being one of his disciples.

He wanted to prepare them for the price of following him.

So I titled this sermon simply The Cost of Following Christ, Part One, because we're going to be looking at this passage in two parts.

And the reason we're going to be looking at the reason this passage is so important to not only the disciples in Jesus' day, but it's also very important to us because everyone who follows Jesus must count the cost of following him.

This message that Jesus is giving is not only for the disciples and the people in the crowd that day, it is a message for anyone who answers the call to follow Christ.

Everyone who comes to Christ must consider what Jesus is calling them to.

And I want to point out three things from the passage about this cost.

Number one, it's costly for all, meaning it's costly for everyone.

Number two, the cost is your life.

And number three, the cost has a great return.

It's costly for all.

The cost is your life, and the cost has a great return.

So look at that first one.

It's costly for all.

Look again how verse 29 starts.

It just says, and he said to all.

And he said to all.

Let me just point that out.

How he he he turns and he's speaking to everyone.

After Jesus has this conversation with Peter and the disciples about who he was, he he seems to turn and speaks to all.

And most commentaries agree that there were more than the disciples standing around him that day when he's giving this message.

So what he's saying here isn't just for Peter.

It's not exclusively for him, nor is it only for the other 11 disciples.

What he's about to call them to is not something unique to his closest followers.

Instead, it's a call for everyone.

It's a call for all disciples.

All who are listening will know what the cost is to follow him.

All who are reading it today will know what the cost is to follow him.

We will get to that cost in a moment, but for now, I want to just focus on the recipients of the call, which is the all.

Not Peter, not the twelve, but all.

Now, there is a broad and narrow scope to this calling.

And the broad scope, this call is for everyone.

It's for all people throughout all places and all times.

It's what many theologians will call the gospel call or the general call or the free call of the gospel.

It is distinct from what we call the effectual call.

Effectual call is what we, that call that we claim in election.

It is that that inner call.

It is when God calls his people through the inner workings of the Holy Spirit, giving them new life and birthing in them a regeneration, a new life in Christ.

The effectual calling is a work of the Spirit, and it is a work that only the Spirit has the power to do.

However, the gospel call is indiscriminate.

The gospel call goes out to all of mankind.

All mankind are commanded to this call, to repent and to believe the gospel.

While the effectual call may be a work of the Spirit alone, the gospel call is that work that we partner with the Holy Spirit in.

We partner by calling people, by using our voices, by calling people to turn to Jesus Christ, to turn from their sins and to trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, right?

We don't limit our evangelism to the elect because we don't know who they are.

While the effectual call may be a work of the Spirit alone, the gospel call is a work that we contribute to with Christ.

We call people to repent in the spreading of the gospel.

This is what Christ was doing in our passage.

He wasn't just singling out the elect in the crowd.

He was turning to all.

He was giving this message to everyone.

And this is the way he often addresses people in his ministry, to everyone.

We see this in Matthew 11, 28, where he says, Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

In John 7.37, he says, If anyone, not just a few, if anyone thirsts, let him come and drink.

Again, this is a call for everyone.

This call goes out to all.

No one will be without an excuse.

No one will be able to say, you know, Christ didn't call me to follow him.

Yes, we you have been called to follow Christ.

And if you reject that call, you and you alone will be responsible for rejecting the call.

It is a call that goes out to all.

Now let's look at this call in the narrow scope.

Because while Jesus begins addressing all, the demands that he will put forth are for those who follow him, for those who come after him, or those who are willing to follow him.

There will be a cost.

Everyone who follows Christ must count the cost of following him.

They must know what it truly means to follow him.

This is what Jesus wanted everyone to know.

If you are going to follow me, I want you to know what you're getting into.

How different is that from the way we call people to Jesus today in our day?

Because rarely do you hear a call as explicit as the one Jesus is giving in this passage.

A lot of times the gospel call in our day makes it seem like people are doing Jesus a favor if they come to him.

But the call in Jesus' day was a weighty call.

In other words, Christ was saying, make sure you want to do this, because if you're going to follow me, you have to understand it's going to be difficult at times.

And it's the same for everyone.

This is another thing people don't understand.

I see that there's a lot of Christians who seem to think that it is their right to follow Jesus the way they want to, any way they seem fit, as if everyone has an option on how they want to follow him.

As if they can look at some Christians and say, well, you can be one of those Christians that go to church and serve the Lord, but I'm not one of those Christians.

I'm a Christian who doesn't go to church and who lives my own life.

Maybe I'll get there one day, but that's not how I want to follow Jesus.

After all, you know, Jesus knows my heart, and he knows I got a lot of things going on in my life right now.

He knows about the things that I'm dealing with and he's going to understand.

So you see, a lot of people who who say they're Christians walk by good intentions instead of walking by faith.

We think that if our intentions are right, then we can follow Jesus however we see fit or how any way we we please.

We can choose to serve him full-time or we can choose to serve him part-time.

Many people want Christianity that is made to order.

Have you ever been out to eat with someone who makes ordering complicated?

I'll take, you know, a cheeseburger with no cheese and no onions.

Actually substitute them for grilled onions.

And can you make the bun gluten-free?

And I guess that's that's your right at a restaurant because you know, restaurants accommodate those things and those changes and those substitutions, but that's how a lot of people want their Christianity with substitutions by picking and choosing how they want to follow Christ.

I'll choose a little bit of Jesus here.

I'll choose maybe a Bible study, uh, but easy on the sufferings, or I'll pass on the Sunday mornings and I'll go to small groups and I'll take some inspirational Bible verses on the side.

But is that the call?

Do we follow Christ on our own terms or do we follow Christ on His?

See, we'd rather choose our own terms.

We'd rather go with our own version of following Him and what we've put together and what we've assembled for how to follow Him.

Because His way seems a little costly.

Now let's look at that cost.

Let's look a little closer at the cost of following Him.

Number two, the cost is your life.

Look at, as we continue reading verse 23.

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up His cross daily and follow me, for whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

You know, we're prone to view, in today's age, we're we're prone to view the cross as a sentimental symbol, right?

Because for us, the cross is the place where our sins were paid for.

But in Jesus' day, the cross was thought of as something quite different.

For them, the cross meant execution.

When they thought of the cross, it was a symbol of Roman oppression.

It was an instrument to inflict pain and punishment to the lowest of criminals.

It was also used for punishing those who rebelled against the Roman government.

In 71 BC, Spartacus and 6,000 of his followers were crucified on the cross for their rebellion.

And here Jesus is calling them to follow him, which must have seen as maybe a rebellion against Rome.

There's a different leader other than Caesar calling us to follow him.

What is going to happen to us if we do so?

Because we've heard about what has happened before when you rebel against Rome.

We heard what happens to people who oppose Rome and choose to follow someone else, but in here Jesus is calling us to follow him.

They would have known exactly what that meant.

The cross was a symbol of suffering of suffering, and it was a symbol of death.

So when Christ calls them to follow him and to demand that they pick up their cross daily, this must have been a little shocking for them.

This wasn't what they were expecting from the Messiah.

Remember, the Jews believed that the Messiah would come and conquer, that he would come and free them from their oppression and from their oppressors.

That he would come and give them their land and their kings back.

Jesus was calling them to something else.

See, Jesus wants them to change their thinking.

Instead of placing your hopes and your dreams in this land, I want you to place them somewhere else.

Instead of cherishing and holding on to your own life, I want you to give your life to me.

The call to carry your cross and lose your life is simply a call to give your life to Jesus.

Later on in Luke 14, 27, Jesus will say, Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

I don't know how you can get more clear than that.

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

This is the call not only for the 12 disciples, and not only for the Jews in his day, but it is the call for everyone.

Anyone who follows Christ will be called to lay down their lives in exchange for his.

Again, it's not an option.

We can't choose to follow Christ without the cross.

This is the whole idea of being born again.

It's what we mean by the new birth.

It's a new life.

The old man is dead.

The old man is buried with Christ, and the new man now lives in his or her place.

For the new man to live, then the old man must die.

And some say, well, can't there be another way?

Can I keep my life and still follow Jesus my way?

Can I do what I want with my own life and still be one of his disciples?

Well, according to Luke 14, 27, the answer is no.

Whoever does not bear his own cross cannot be my disciples.

Following Jesus will cost you your life.

Not your physical life, though for the 12 disciples and many martyrs it did.

But most of us are probably not going to be executed for Christ's name.

But we do need to put to death the old man, or what Paul calls what is earthly in us.

So what does that look like?

What does it look like to die to yourself?

I think there are many passages we can go to, and I think one of them is Colossians 3 5 through 10, where we read, put to death therefore what is earthly in you.

Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

On account of these, the wrath of God is coming.

And these you too once walked when you were living in them.

But now you must put them all away.

Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator.

As you see, this is everything.

If you look at this passage, this is everything we knew before we came to Christ, before we came to faith.

This was our normal pattern of living before we became believers.

This is the way of the world.

Think about everything that we see in our movies and our shows and what we hear on the radio.

It's flooded with this kind of stuff, isn't it?

Anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talks, sexual immorality, impurity.

This is the normal pattern of the world.

And we were once in the world.

And it was once our normal pattern as well.

But when we came to Jesus, we had to die to those things.

And anyone who wishes to follow Christ must also die to those things.

And notice the call is not just once, it is a daily dying.

Jesus says, let him deny himself, pick up his cross daily, and follow me.

Again, how different is that from the message of our day?

Self-denial is not a virtue in our culture.

No one wants to deny themselves.

We're calling people to approve themselves.

The message of our day is not to self-denial, it is to self-acceptance, it is to self-indulgence.

But that's not the call of Christ.

The call is to deny yourself, not once, but every day.

This is what it means to be a disciple of Christ.

It's a continual following of Him, a continual denial of oneself and a daily denying to yourself.

Yet if you were to ask most people, why are you a Christian?

I think you will hear things like, Because I said a prayer one time.

Or because I got baptized when I was a child.

Most people will point to a one-time event to show you that they are in Christ.

Now I'm not denying that there's a point in time where we are converted from death to life and that there is a moment of rebirth and of new life given.

But the true evidence of being in Christ is not the remembrance or is not remembering an emotional experience at a church service or at a youth camp.

The evidence is found in one's daily walk.

Are they following Christ or are they not?

Are they following Christ all the way through?

Are they doing what followers of Christ do?

Follow him?

Are they denying themselves?

Are they picking up their cross daily?

Not perfectly, not flawlessly.

Will there be setbacks and falls?

Sure.

But what direction are they headed in?

Are they headed in Christ's direction or are they headed another way?

Who do they live for?

Do they live for themselves or do they live for Christ?

If they live for Christ, then are they denying themselves every day?

Listen to what JC Riles says commenting on these verses.

A little formal church going and a decent attendance at a place of worship can never be the Christianity of which Christ speaks of in this passage.

Where is our self-denial?

Where is our daily carrying of the cross?

Where is our fellowshipping of Christ?

A crucified Savior will never be consent to having a self-pleasing, self-indulging, worldly-minded people.

No self-denial, no real grace, no cross, no crown.

They that are in Christ, says the Apostle Paul, have crucified the flesh with its affections and lust.

You know, you have to go to old dead man to read things like that.

People in our day don't talk like that anymore, right?

But this is the cost of following Christ.

It's the death of our worldly passions and our lusts and our desires and our habits and our indulgences.

But why?

Why is this the case?

Is it just an exercise in morality?

Is it just a call to obedience for the sake of obedience?

Well, to be sure, you are we are called to obey God and everything.

However, the call to die to ourselves is not just an exercise in morality.

The call to die is not just a change in behavior because I've said this plenty of times.

People don't really go to Jesus or need Jesus for that.

Because a lot of people can change some stuff.

They can go to help groups and recovery groups and things like that to make themselves a better person.

This is not just a change of behavior, it's a change in the way we think and a change in the way we see things.

See, the the people's hopes in that day were in a Messiah who would come and restore to them some earthly things.

So in turn, their mind was set on earthly things.

That meant that their earthly mindset was there, and their earthly mindset saw things differently.

That the Messiah was going to come and save their land, that the Messiah was going to come and give them back their king.

But again, Jesus wanted to change that mindset.

He came to save their soul.

That he didn't come to restore their kingdom, he came to usher in a new kingdom, that he didn't come to give them a better life, he came to give them everlasting life.

And until they stop thinking about earthly things, that they will never see the greater things, and in turn they will never seek the greater things.

This is why many people refuse to take up their cross today, because they don't see the greater things.

They believe that their precious hopes and their dreams and ambitions are greater than when Christ has to offer.

So in turn, they continue to seek those things in favor of Christ.

And this is what Christ is asking us to die to, to our worldly thinking, to thinking that the vanities and the pleasures of this world are worth chasing when they are nothing more than cheap substitutes for the greater things that God has to offer us.

And that leads to our next point the cost has a great return.

Look again at the verse.

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it.

But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Now you don't have to be an investor to experience a return on investment.

I think we do that all the time when we buy things.

We we pay for something.

And we hope we're getting something in return, right?

That's what's what we do when we buy stuff.

And I think we've all had a case of buyer's remorse over a purchase a time or two.

Whether it was a costly meal that didn't taste so good, or that shirt that looked really good in the mirror at the store, but when you take it home, you ask, What was I thinking?

And what do we do when we make a bad purchase like that?

What do we say?

We usually say something like, Well, that was a waste of money.

But when we give our lives to follow Jesus, there is nothing wasted.

There's nothing lost.

In fact, there is much more that is gained.

Look again at what Jesus is saying.

Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

This is not a net loss.

This is not a losing of your life only.

This is also a saving of your life.

The call to follow Christ is not just a call from something, but it is also a call to something, and it is a call to something other than yourself.

This world is always calling us to ourselves.

If you want to be happy, you have to find happiness within yourself.

Look to yourself to find true meaning.

Yet that is not the call of Christianity.

Christianity is not a call to find yourself in you, it is a call to find yourself in Jesus.

So any demands that Christianity makes are not demands to change yourself for the sake of a better you.

They are calls or demands to lose yourself for the sake of Jesus Christ.

This is what makes Christianity so unique.

It is not a religion that wants to add to your life, it's one that wants to take your life from you and give you a new life.

It doesn't ask you to just add Jesus to your life.

It asks you to make Jesus your entire life.

It's not me plus Jesus, it's Jesus minus me.

Galatians 2.20.

I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

See, Christ asks no one to bear the cross in vain.

He doesn't ask us to die without the promise of a resurrection.

He doesn't call us to lose something without also giving us something greater.

As we lose our lives at the cross, we are given new lives at his empty tomb.

This is the beauty in all of this.

This is why the gospel is the good news.

Can you imagine the confusion that people must have had when they heard Jesus saying that they must take up their cross to save their life?

We must take up our cross, a symbol of death, to save our lives?

What do you mean?

How can we save our lives by losing it for your sake?

And this is the fear that people have about coming to Jesus.

People are afraid of what they might lose if they give their life to Jesus.

People are afraid of giving up too much.

Their pleasure, their ambitions, their autonomy.

But they don't realize what those things come with.

Those things aren't free.

All of those things come with a price.

Following Christ is costly, yes, but following sin will cost you even more.

You may think that the demands of Christ are too much.

But wait until you see the bill that sin will send you after you live the life that you wanted to keep.

This is why Jesus says those who want to save their life will lose it.

Because those who want to hold on to their life with a tight fist will find it even more costly than giving their life to Jesus.

Being yoked, which means being joined to the world, will be much more difficult than being yoked to Christ.

This is what Christ again says clearly in Matthew 11, 28.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

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, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

The burden of Christ is light.

It's light because it's momentary.

The sufferings in this world, the neglect, the rejection, all of those things that are costly in this life, those things are momentary.

As Paul says, it can't compare to the weight of glory, it can't compare to what God has in store for us.

But the burden of this world, that's forever.

It will take this life and it will ask for the next.

It will be a burden for you in this life, and it will be a heavy burden for you in the next.

Sin is a great deceiver.

Sin will promise you the world, but it will only deliver you pain and bondage and misery.

The world will give you a bad return on your investment.

Invest your life in the world, and you will lose your soul.

When people hear, come and give your life to Jesus, all they hear is everything they're giving up.

And all they see is what they're losing, and they're seeing it as bad, and they're seeing it as too much.

When Jesus wants them to see it as easy, his burden is easy.

He wants them to see it as good.

You're not losing things that will just bring you pleasure.

You're losing things that are actually going to bring you sorrow.

Because loving this world will lead you to many sorrows, but loving the Lord will lead you to righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Burying the cross is not bad news.

It is good news.

Laying down your life is good news because when you find your life in Christ, you would have found true life.

You would have found everlasting life.

You would have found what many people throughout this world are looking for.

One more thing about this cross.

It's not only a symbol of death, but it is also on this side of the covenant, this side of the cross, it is a symbol of the gospel.

When we think of the cross, we think of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is not just a call to follow Christ in his personhood, but it is a call to follow Christ in his work.

This is what Jesus was calling the disciples to, and this is what he was preparing his disciples for.

They are being called to take up their cross and follow him, not just to die, but also to follow him into his work and follow him into his mission.

After he's gone, they're going to continue this work and they're going to continue to bear the cross and they're going to continue denying themselves every day.

Bearing the cross, when Christ calls us to bear the cross, it is not just a call, a solo call.

It is a call to bear the cross together.

It is a call to bear the cross as a mission together for Christ.

It is a call to the people of Christ.

And it is a call to the kingdom of Christ.

It is not a call to stay where we're at in isolation.

It is a call to become a soldier in the army of the Lord.

It is a call to become a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

And in doing so, you're going to find, again, what most people in this world don't find, and what most people in this world seek every day.

You ask someone, you can ask someone, ask your lost friend at work, what are you looking for?

They're going to say things like meaning and purpose and joy and peace.

He who gives his life to Christ, or he or she who gives his life, their life to Christ, will find those things in Christ.

But he or she who keeps his life will lose everything that they're trying so hard to keep.

2 Timothy 2, 11 tells us this saying is trustworthy, for if we have died with him, we will also live with him.

If we endure with him, we will also reign with him.

If we deny him, he will deny us.

If we are faithless, he remains faithful.

So as we close, let us ask ourselves, how are we following Jesus?

Are we even following Jesus?

And if you are, ask yourself, do you take up your cross daily?

Are you finding your life in him?

Or are you finding it in yourself?

Are you finding your life by losing it for his sake?

Are you following him on your own terms?

Are you following him on his?

Are you holding on to your life, refusing to let some things go?

Do you cherish things of this world more than you cherish the things of Jesus?

If so, these are some hard words that Jesus says when he says, You cannot be my disciple if you don't choose to bear your cross.

It's hard, but it's true.

It's what the Bible says.

And people can claim that they're disciples, all they want, they can tell other people that they're Christians and they're disciples, but unless they pick up the cross, as Jesus says, they're not one of his.

But let me leave you with some good news.

Whatever Jesus demands, he also supplies.

Jesus will not call you to bear the cross without being willing to help you bear it.

The truth is, this cross is too heavy for anyone.

It's too heavy for us to bear.

It's too much for you to try and bear it on your own.

And here's the good news: Jesus has not left you on your own.

Don't look to yourself for the strength to carry the cross.

Because that would be hopeless.

No man or woman can bear it.

Look to Jesus.

Look to the one who knows a thing or two about carrying a cross.

Count the costs.

Count what it costs to follow Jesus.

It will cost you your life.

But when the bill looks too high for you to pay, remember Jesus.

Remember his strength.

Remember that he has an endless wealth of grace and he will supply you with what you need to bear it.

Let us pray.