The Cost of Discipleship

Good morning, my name is Sean. I'm one of the pastors of Trinity Kendrick Church.

It's my privilege to preach God's Word to you this morning.

We are in Luke chapter 14.

Luke 14 · chapter mention

If you do not have a Bible, please raise your hand.

And Sungmin's going around right now with a few Bibles that you can use.

You could grab one and read it this morning while we're going through.

So we've been going through the Gospel of Luke and we are in chapter 14, verses 25 to 35.

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.

Heavenly Father, we are a people that are governed by your Word.

Because we worship not a mute idol that cannot speak, but a God who speaks.

A God to whom we are accountable.

God who is Lord over our lives and over the universe.

We come to you humbly, desiring to submit ourselves to your laws, to the guidance you provide in your Word.

So please now teach us this morning what it means to be a follower of Christ.

What it means to be a true disciple.

And shape us more and more to be the kind of disciples you want us to be.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Luke 14, 25 to 35.

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters,

yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

Otherwise, when he has laid a 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.

Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000?

And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?

It is of no use, either for the soil or for the manure pile.

It is thrown away.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

This is God's infallible authoritative word.

We've all made decisions in our lives that have proved costly at one point or another.

Going to college, for example, is costly.

It's not only a commitment of your next four years.

It's, for many people, a commitment to repay debt for the next 10 or 20 years.

Making that decision means that you're not going to be able to do a lot of other things.

It's a consequential decision.

It's a costly decision.

Similarly, getting a pet is costly.

Not only the cost of the pet itself, but the cost of vet visits, food, pet sitters, grooming, and time spent in walking and cleaning and entertaining the pet.

It's a choice with consequences.

Getting married is costly.

Having children is costly.

It transforms all of your relationships and radically reorients your life.

Of course, there are many benefits to all these decisions.

But there are also significant costs.

The costs vary, but all of our decisions to varying degrees, small or large, have costs attached to them.

And it's wise to think about those costs before we make those decisions.

And our passage for today is a turning point in the Gospel of Luke.

Because from chapter 11 until now, Jesus has spent most of the time really engaging in debate with the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees.

And having kind of controversial conversations with them.

But from now on until he dies on the cross for the sins of his people, the focus is really on Christian discipleship.

What does it mean to be a disciple?

To be a follower of Jesus?

Jesus.

And here in Luke 14, 25 to 35, Jesus teaches the crowds that are following him that they must renounce all other allegiances in order to follow him.

That's the main point of our passage.

We must renounce all other allegiances in order to follow Jesus.

And it's a full commitment, not a halfway commitment.

And in this passage, it talks about the impossibility of a halfway discipleship.

And then a foolishness of halfway discipleship.

And the uselessness of halfway discipleship.

So first, let's talk about the impossibility of halfway discipleship in verses 25 to 27.

Verse 25 begins this way.

Now great crowds accompanied him, and Jesus turned and said to them.

Luke frequently notes the presence of large crowds following Jesus.

But instead of regaling the masses, entertaining them with a crowd-pleasing speech,

often Jesus preaches his most hard-hitting messages when he has crowds following him.

And that's because Jesus is not looking for adoring fans.

Jesus is not looking for fans, but for committed disciples.

He's not looking to boost his numbers or his approval ratings.

And Jesus explains in the parable of the weeds in Matthew chapter 13,

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

that whenever God plants the seed of the gospel, things grow.

But within the wheat that grows, among the wheat that grow, there's also weeds.

The weeds and the wheat always grow together.

And so Jesus, because he understands this reality well,

he's not impressed or swayed by the crowds, the size of the crowds that follow him.

Instead of seeking to appease the crowds,

so then Jesus appeals to them with this high call to discipleship.

And actually he is actively trying to dissuade people

who have not counted the cost of following Jesus from following him.

He wants everyone that follows him to count the cost before following him.

So Jesus says to the crowds in verses 26 to 27,

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother,

and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, yes,

and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

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

This is the most blunt statement on Christian discipleship in the Gospel of Luke.

And it's intentionally phrased in a way that's shocking and diametrical.

When we hear the word hate, and as English speakers,

we immediately think of it in terms of our emotion, right?

Having a malicious intent towards someone or really despising someone.

But Jesus is not teaching us here to despise our family members.

Rather, the love and hate dichotomy is a Hebrew idiom

that is frequently used to indicate the choice of one over another.

When you're making an important consequential decision,

and you're choosing one thing over another,

that's often described in ancient Hebrew in terms of love and hate.

So in English, we might say something like,

I love God more than I love my family.

But an ancient Jew would say,

I love God and hate my family.

It's to show the way they have made a clear choice to prefer one

and to prioritize one over the other.

It's not unlike a jealous sibling.

Many of you guys have siblings.

A jealous sibling that protests to his or her parent,

you don't love me.

Of course, what they really mean is,

you don't love me as much as you love my brother or my sister.

But they put it that way to communicate the fact

that they have made a clear preference,

a choice of one over the other.

You don't love me.

And so that's what's going on here.

And you see this throughout the Bible.

Genesis 29.30 says that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah.

But then it describes that priority this way in the following verses.

It says,

Jacob went into Rachel also,

and he loved Rachel more than Leah,

and served Laban for another seven years.

When the Lord saw that Leah was hated,

he opened her womb,

but Rachel was bare.

So the reality is,

he loved Leah less than he loved Rachel,

but that is described in terms of hate,

that Leah was hated.

It says,

And Leah conceived and bore a son,

and she called his name Reuben,

for she said,

Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction,

for now my husband will love me.

So that's what this is referring to.

That's the same expression that is used later in Malachi 1.2-3,

quoted in Romans 9.13,

As it is written,

Jacob I loved,

but Esau I hated.

Here God's not saying that he does not love Esau in an emotional sense.

Rather, it's the language of covenantal election,

that God chose to fulfill his promises to his people through Jacob,

and not through Esau.

That God chose Jacob over Esau.

That's what that's expressing.

It's a language of choice.

And that's why,

if you look at the parallel of this Luke passage in Matthew 10.37,

the Hebrew idiom is explained in a more understandable way,

this way,

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.

So then Jesus is not telling us literally to hate our family members.

In fact,

one of the Ten Commandments is to honor your father and mother.

And 1 Timothy 5.8 teaches us that if anyone does not provide for his relatives,

and especially for members of his household,

he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

So you should love your families and take care of them.

That's not what Jesus is talking about.

But let's not water down what Jesus is saying, however.

Because he is demanding that we make a clear choice.

Because if you love your family more than you love Jesus,

then you cannot be a disciple of Jesus.

Notice the language that is used.

It doesn't say that if you love your family more than you love me,

that's not ideal.

It says that it's impossible.

He doesn't say that if you love your family more than me,

then you'll be a bad disciple.

No, he says if you love your family more than me,

you cannot be my disciple.

You must make a clear choice to prefer Jesus and following him

over all other commitments and relationships.

And this was particularly important in this context,

in the ancient world,

because Christians would encounter all kinds of persecution.

And most Jews who would convert in this context

to follow Jesus Christ

would then be subsequently disowned

and rejected by their own family members.

And so this was a cost that they had to count and to bear.

And in our church, actually,

there are several people in our church

that have experienced similar persecution

or pressure from their own family members

for following Jesus.

But for most of us, we haven't experienced that.

But even for us,

this is an important requirement to heed.

Do you love God more than you love your father and mother?

Because Jesus says,

if anyone comes to me

and does not hate his own father and mother,

he cannot be my disciple.

Karen Fingerman,

who teaches human development and family sciences

at the University of Texas, Austin,

published a paper last year

entitled Millennials and Their Parents.

We have a lot of millennials in our church.

I think I barely made the cut.

You guys don't believe me.

So she's documenting the changes

that have taken place in society

that have made young adults more dependent on

and closer to their parents than ever before.

Some of the changes that she notes

is that first,

there was a rise of helicopter parenting

and tiger moms

who are involved in every facet of their kids' lives

and really trying to dictate

the course of their lives

to the nth degree.

So that's the first phenomenon.

The second phenomenon

was the simultaneous rise

of the perceived importance of education

and the cost of education,

which means more and more people

end up going to college

and getting higher education

and also end up being more in debt

for a long time.

And the third phenomenon

is the lack of high-paying job opportunities

when millennials first began

to enter the workforce.

And so all of these things

have conspired together

to make young adults

stay with their parents

or remain dependent on their parents

for much longer

than previous generations have.

And through that,

they also develop

very close relationships at times

where sometimes adversarial

kind of love-hate relationship

but still very much desiring

to please their parents.

But if you desire

to please your parents,

if your desire

to become something,

to make them proud,

is more important to you

than pleasing the Lord Jesus Christ,

you cannot be a disciple

of Jesus Christ.

Similarly, Jesus says,

if anyone comes to me

and does not hate his own wife,

he cannot be my disciple.

Of course, the vice versa

is also true.

If your life revolves

around your boyfriend

or girlfriend

and you cannot give them up

even though

they are unbelievers

drawing you

farther and farther away

from the Lord,

if your desire

to please your husband

or to please your wife

outweighs your desire

to please the Lord,

then you cannot be

a disciple of Jesus Christ.

If your spouse

is the center of your life

and your purposes

and priorities

flow from them

and not from God,

not only is it detrimental

to them

because then you're

drawing them away

from the Lord,

you cannot be

a disciple of Christ.

If anyone comes to me

and does not hate

his own children,

he cannot be

my disciple,

Joseph Epstein,

not to be confused

with Jeffrey Epstein

that's been in the news,

is an acclaimed author

who writes in

a weekly standard,

in the weekly standard,

and he wrote this article

entitled Kindergarchy,

and he writes in it

that for the past

30 years at least,

we have been lavishing

vast expense

and anxiety

on our children

in ways that are

unprecedented

in American

and in perhaps

any other national life.

Such has been

the weight of all

this concern

about children

that it has exercised

the subtle

but pervasive

tyranny

of its own.

This is what I call

Kindergarchy,

dreary,

boring,

sadly misguided

Kindergarchy.

Kindergarchy,

a rule by children,

that parents,

our societies,

are ruled by children.

If going to

our children's

Little League

baseball game

on a Sunday morning

is more important

than bringing them

to a worship service,

what message

are we sending

to our children?

That their

extracurricular activities

are more important

than God?

That their future success,

worldly success

is more important

than their faith

and godliness?

That God

can be kept

on the periphery

because

they have more

important things

to do?

God told Abraham

in Genesis 22

Genesis 22:2

verse 2,

Take your son,

your only son Isaac,

whom you love,

and go to the land

of Moriah

and offer him there

as a burnt offering

on the mountain

of which I shall

tell you.

God fully intended

to continue

Abraham's line

through Isaac

and he had

explicitly promised

him that.

Yet God says this

in order to test

Abraham

because

his allegiance

to the Lord God

must proceed,

must be prioritized

over his love

and allegiance

to even his

only son.

God

will

be

to the Lord.

We parents

in the church

should love

our children

like the apple

of our eyes,

but we should

never love them

more than we

love the Lord.

When we do,

we teach them

that they are

the center

of this universe,

not God.

And their attitudes

and their actions

and their future

will be shaped

by that

dangerous delusion.

Moreover,

if anyone

comes to me,

Jesus says,

and does not hate

his own brothers

and sisters,

he cannot be

my disciple.

Maybe this is not

as much of a

prominent issue,

but there are times

sometimes siblings

really,

they have this

kind of shared

identity.

They call,

you know,

they're like the Smiths

or we're the Smiths.

I use these names

because there's no

Smiths, I think.

Right?

We're the Smiths

or we're the Joneses.

We are like this.

My family is like this.

We roll like this.

We stick together.

And that can become

idolatrous.

Their family identity,

their identity

with their siblings

becomes stronger

than their Christian

identity,

their lordship to Christ,

their allegiance

to Christ.

Their allegiance

to their brothers

and sisters

trump their allegiance

to Jesus.

And if they do,

they cannot be

a disciple of Jesus.

And lastly,

Jesus says in verse 26,

If anyone comes to me

and does not hate

even his own life,

he cannot be

my disciple.

If we love ourselves

more than we love Christ,

if we seek our glory

more than we seek

Christ's glory,

if we live for ourselves

rather than living for God,

then we cannot be

his disciple.

Jesus continues that thought

in verse 27,

Whoever does not bear

his own cross

and come after me

cannot be my disciple.

A true disciple of Christ

bears his own cross.

Just as Jesus

bore his cross

and died to save

his people

from sin and death,

we as followers of Christ

must bear our own crosses.

And the cross

is a picture

of total submission.

We must surrender

completely

to God's authority.

Paul puts it this way

in 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.

to bear one's cross

is to die to oneself

and to live

to Christ.

We cannot remain

the Lord of our own lives

and make Christ

our Lord

at the same time.

If Christ will be Lord,

then we must

be his servants.

We must be willing

to make sacrifices

for Christ.

We must be willing

to suffer for Christ.

We must be willing

to say,

no matter

what it costs me,

I will follow Christ.

And it is in that

submission and obedience

that we are to go

after Jesus.

Note the sense

of movement

in this description

of discipleship.

Verse 26 speaks

of coming to Jesus

and then verse 27

speaks of coming

after Jesus,

following in his

footsteps,

right?

The coming to

emphasizes the initial

entry,

coming after

emphasizes the ongoing

pursuit of God.

It means to follow

the pattern of Christ.

Sometimes people think

that they have come

to Jesus

and that that's the end

of their Christian story.

They believed,

they've been baptized,

but then they become

complacent

and stagnant.

But that's not

how Christian

discipleship works.

We come to him

in order to go

after him.

There's a journey,

a movement,

growth

that's supposed

to happen

year after year.

Hannah and I

keep several plants

in our house

and after having

had several plants

die under my

expert care,

I now can guess

fairly accurately

when plants

are about to die.

Because a plant

usually stops

growing

before it dies.

I know that doesn't

sound revolutionary

at all.

It was to me.

It still looks alive

for a little while.

It looks alive

for a while,

but if it's not

growing at all,

that's a warning sign

to me.

Okay,

that thing is going

to die.

Because a plant

that's not growing

is dying.

In contrast,

I can know that

a plant is alive

because it's growing.

It grows

imperceptibly.

I don't see,

I've never,

you know,

I've never caught it

in the app.

I never see the plant

growing.

You know,

but then I see it

one day,

I'm like,

okay,

there's a leaf,

new leaf that's

just unfurled.

Oh,

here's a new shoot

that I had never

noticed before.

It grows imperceptibly,

but undeniably,

every plant that is alive

grows.

grows.

The Christian life

is much the same way.

Those who come to

Jesus in earnest

continue to go

after Him.

And they become

more like Him

because they are

pursuing Him

and following in

His footsteps.

Their words and

actions reflect

Jesus more

and more.

They might not

see themselves

growing.

They might not

catch their growth

in the act.

But as they look

back,

months ago,

years ago,

they notice

that they have

grown.

So unless we

love Jesus

more than we

love our family,

we cannot be

His disciple.

Unless we love

Jesus more than

we love even

ourselves,

we cannot be

His disciple.

There's one more

concrete requirement

that Jesus lays

down for us

in this passage,

and it comes

toward the end

in verse 33

as kind of a

summary statement.

It says,

So therefore,

any one of you

who does not

renounce all

that he has

cannot be

my disciple.

Notice the

parallel structure.

This too is a

requirement for

Christian discipleship.

Unless we

renounce all

that we have,

we cannot be

Christ's disciple.

Not just our

family,

not just ourselves,

but also our

possessions.

everything that

we have,

everything that

belongs to us.

If we're

preoccupied with

accumulating wealth,

if we love

saving and or

spending money

more than we

love Christ

and serving Him,

if we are more

about maximizing

our earning

potential than

following Jesus

Christ,

then we are

not Christ's

disciples.

We cannot be.

remember from

earlier in Luke

14,

18 to 20,

that the primary

excuses that

people gave for

not following Jesus

and entering into

the kingdom of God,

the banquet of God,

were one's

possessions,

one's vocation,

and one's

family.

It is no wonder

then that here

Jesus puts this

requirement so

starkly.

Halfway

discipleship is

not merely

sub-ideal,

it's

impossible.

we must

renounce all

other allegiances,

including our

family,

ourselves,

and our own

possessions,

to follow

Christ.

And having

spoken of the

impossibility of

halfway discipleship,

he now comments

on the foolishness

of halfway

discipleship in

verses 28 to

33,

using two

illustrations.

Our first

illustration is in

verses 28 to

30,

please read with

me.

It says,

for which of

you,

desiring to

build a

tower,

does not

first sit

down and

count the

cost,

whether he

has enough

to complete

it.

Otherwise,

when he has

laid a

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.

The word

tower here

likely,

most likely

refers to a

watchtower that

people in the

ancient world

built over

their vineyards

or over their

houses.

It's a

protective

measure so

you can

stand guard

at the

watchtower and

see from

afar when

people are

coming.

It was not

a small

financial

undertaking.

It speaks

of foundations.

It has a

foundation.

It's a

massive

structure.

Maybe it's

similar nowadays

in modern

days like

a home

addition that

you pay

for.

It's a

major cost.

The average

cost of

adding a

room nowadays,

they say

that it

costs $44,000.

So it's

not a

small sum

of money

that this

person is

speaking of.

And it's

not money

that you

just happen

to have

lying around

inside a

piggy bank

somewhere.

And sometimes

I walk into

a grocery

store without

checking how

much money

I have in

my wallet

because I'm

just buying a

few small

things and I

assume that I

have enough

money in my

wallet.

But imagine

if you were

trying to add

room to your

house.

house.

That's not

something that

you just

kind of

casually stumble

into and

think,

okay, I

think I'll

add a

house, you

know, add

a room to

my house

today.

No, you

have to

check your

bank account.

You have to

check to

make sure that

you have

enough money

to complete

the project

that you're

about to

start.

Sitting down

and counting

the cost,

whether I have

enough to

complete it.

A half-built

bathroom that

has a toilet

and a faucet

but no water

pipes is

useless.

So he

says,

when he

has laid

a 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.

It's

foolish to

undertake

something so

consequential,

so big,

so costly

without first

estimating the

expenses.

There's a

skyscraper in

Pyongyang,

North Korea.

It's called

Ryugyeong Hotel.

It's the

tallest

skyscraper in

North Korea,

1,080 feet,

105 floors,

but it

remains to

this day

unfinished.

Construction

for it

began in

1987,

but problems

with building

materials as

well as a

prolonged

economic crisis

have prevented

its completion

to this day.

So according

to the

Guinness World

Records,

Ryugyeong Hotel

holds the

dubious

distinction of

being the

tallest

unoccupied

building in

the world.

It's

embarrassing.

The

skyscraper that

was supposed

to be a

monument to

North Korean

technological

advancement at

the 13th World

Festival of

Youth and

Students in

1989,

instead now

stands to

this day in

2019 as

the monument

to their

poor planning.

men.

This is the

foolishness of

halfway

discipleship.

If you

wear the

name of

Christ and

call yourself

a Christian,

but you

live in

contrast to

his teachings,

it's

embarrassing

to Christ.

Christ.

If you

say that

Christ is

your Lord,

but you're

not willing

to do what

he commands,

then it's

pointless.

If you

don't

persevere in

your faith

and obedience

to the end

of your

life,

and you

fall away

from Christ,

it's futile.

It's like

having an

unfinished

tower.

The second

illustration,

verses 31

to 32,

makes the

similar point.

It says,

Or what

king,

going out to

encounter another

king in war,

will not sit

down first and

deliberate whether

he is able with

10,000 to meet

him who comes

against him with

20,000?

And if not,

while the other

is yet a great

way off,

he sends a

delegation that

asks for

terms of

peace.

Just think

about how

foolish that

is.

This king

and his

kingdom is

under attack

and he

only has

half the

number of

soldiers as

the invading

king.

But imagine

that in spite

of that clear

numerical

disadvantage,

this king

without counsel

lunges headlong

into battle

without strategizing

with his generals

about how to

overcome this

deficit.

He's going

to get

destroyed.

war is

not a

video game

that you

can start

over

anytime you

want.

Foolishly

going to

war without

adequate

preparation

will have

devastating

consequences

and so

any king

with any

common sense

will carefully

assess the

dire situation

and determine

whether he

has enough

to go to

war.

And if

not,

he will

send for

a delegation

to ask for

terms of

peace.

Likewise,

following Christ

is not

a stroll

in the

park.

It's not

a video

game.

It's not

a casual

undertaking.

It requires,

it determines

one's eternal

fate.

It raises

the stakes,

asks questions

of life

and death

and it may

come with

suffering

and persecution.

It may

come,

it will

come at

great personal

cost to

yourself

and to

your own

life and

for these

reasons it

requires

serious

consideration.

Have you

considered

becoming a

follower of

Christ?

Do you

know what

Christ

demands of

you?

Do you

know what

the Christian

life entails?

If you're

not yet a

follower of

Christ,

I urge you

this morning

to answer

these questions

for yourself,

to consider,

to deliberate

seriously.

the Christian

life is

not for

the faint

hearted,

it's not

for casual

observers

and lukewarm

fans.

In order

to be a

disciple of

Christ,

we must

renounce

all other

allegiances

because

Christ the

King will

have no

life.

You can

only pledge

allegiance to

one King.

Think about

it this way,

at a U.S.

naturalization

ceremony,

which I

got to

attend at

Red Sox

for my

naturalization

ceremony,

it was

really cool,

but that's

irrelevant,

sorry.

One of the

things that

you have to

say in

your vow

of allegiance

is this,

it begins

like this,

I hereby

declare on

oath that

I absolutely

and entirely

renounce and

abjure all

allegiance and

fidelity to any

foreign prince

potented

state or

sovereignty of

whom or

which I

have heretofore

been a

subject or

citizen.

I don't

think people

actually think

about it when

they recite

that oath.

That's a

serious

commitment.

It's

exclusive.

You're

renouncing all

your other

previous

allegiances.

Why?

Because you

cannot be a

U.S.

citizen while

pledging

allegiance to a

foreign country.

in order to

enjoy the

privileges of

citizenship in

this country,

you must

renounce your

obligations to

other nations.

In order to

enjoy the

protection provided

by this

country,

you need to

pledge to not

support another

country,

which is

undermining your

very own

protection,

which comes from

this country.

That's the

nature of

relationships,

nature of

citizenship,

and these

allegiances.

becoming

likewise a

citizen of

the kingdom

of God

requires the

renunciation of

our citizenship in

the kingdom of

this world.

You cannot serve

two masters.

others.

So it's foolish to

try to do

otherwise.

That's the

foolishness of

halfway

discipleship.

And the

last point

Jesus makes

is of the

uselessness of

halfway

discipleship in

verses 34

to 35.

He says,

salt is good,

but if salt has

lost its taste,

how shall its

saltiness be

restored?

It is of no

use,

either for the

soil or for

the manure pile.

It is thrown

away.

He who has ears

to hear,

let him hear.

Salt is good,

it says.

What does it

mean for salt

to be good?

Luke uses the

word good earlier

in his gospel to

tell us that we

are to be like

good trees planted

on good soil in

order to bear good

fruit.

So good is a

word that he

specifically uses to

refer to

the right

Christian

discipleship.

A true

Christian that

bears fruit,

that is responsive

to the word of

God, that grows

on good soil.

So saltiness is

the mark of the

Christian because

salt is good.

This is quite

appropriate metaphor

for the Christian

because of its

preserving properties,

you know,

disinfecting

properties,

especially in a

day when they

didn't have

refrigeration,

it was a sign,

really a symbol

of permanence.

A salt,

that's what

preserves food.

And it's

extremely important

and essential to

life for many of

these reasons,

but the primary

function that Luke

seems to have in

view is spelled

out in verse 35.

It is of no use

either for the soil

or for the manure

pile.

What's in view here

is salt's function

as a fertilizer.

A little bit of

salt can activate

nutrients in the soil

for the plants

but control the

growth of weed.

It can also be

used to enrich

manure to make

it more effective

as a fertilizer.

However, he says,

if salt has lost

its taste,

how shall its

saltiness be

restored?

And the Greek

word translated

here as lose

its taste

literally means

to become foolish.

He's saying salt

when it becomes

foolish, what

good is it

anymore?

What use does

it have anymore?

It's a metaphor

for Christian

discipleship.

The answer is,

of course, it

cannot be restored.

We have some

chemists in the

room, they might

object that salt

cannot lose its

saltiness by

definition because

when it does,

it would cease to

be salt.

And that's true

if I did my

Google research

correctly.

But that defeats

the point of the

metaphor.

In this part of

the ancient world,

salt was likely

derived from the

Dead Sea by

evaporation.

And so the residue

would have contained

salt, real salt,

but it will also be

mixed with other

minerals that are

not salty.

And that can be

mistaken for salt.

So often people

saw this as salt

losing its saltiness.

And this was a

common problem in

the ancient world.

And salt that is

mixed with these

other minerals that

are not salt would

be useless for

preserving and

purifying, flavoring,

and even as in

view here,

fertilizing.

Similarly, a

Christian that

loses his

Christ-likeness,

a halfway disciple,

the so-called

Christian that

becomes foolish,

loses his

usefulness.

He's useless for

preserving what is

good and right in

this world.

He's useless for

halting the moral

decay of society.

He's useless for

purifying the sinful

world and bringing

the light of Christ,

his healing, to this

world.

He's useless for

flavoring this world

with the goodness of

God.

But beside all of

those things, a

halfway disciple is

useless for the

primary purpose that

Luke has in view of

fertilizing.

A true salty

Christian fertilizes

the soil so that

people's hearts are

fertile so that they

respond to the seed of

the gospel and produce

good fruit that

pleases God.

A true disciple is a

good tree that sits on

good soil and bears

good fruit, but to lose

our saltiness is to lose

our Christian identity, to

have no good.

That's the uselessness of

halfway discipleship.

And here's the reason

why Christian

discipleship is so all or

nothing.

We can think about it in

relational terms.

The level of intimacy that

you enjoy in a

relationship is directly

proportionate to the level

of priority you accord to

that relationship.

Can you imagine a man

proposing to a woman

this way?

Would you like to marry

me and become the

second most important

woman in my life?

I will love you very

much.

I'll love my mom a

little more, but I

will love you very much.

Or can you imagine a

man saying, hey, I'm

going to love you.

You're going to be the

second best woman.

I love my sister more.

But I'll also love you.

You'll always be second

in my heart.

Who would say yes to

such a lousy proposal?

The depth of commitment

and intimacy involved in

marriage demands primacy

and priority.

It's not enough to love

your spouse second best.

She must be first.

Among all your human

relationships.

In the same way, God

has loved us with a

consuming, jealous love.

love.

We have sinned and rebelled

against him.

We have been unfaithful

to him.

And as a result of that,

we have been unlovable,

unworthy.

And yet God the Father

sent his only son,

Jesus, to die for our

sins on the cross,

to woo us.

Jesus' life, death, and

resurrection is the

divine proposal.

follow me.

Follow me.

Be the bride of Christ.

That's how the church is

described in God's word.

And because of what Christ

has done, because he bore his

cross for us, he cannot demand

that we bear our cross to follow

him.

Because that's the kind of

relationship that he has

offered to us.

That's the kind of commitment

and cost he was willing to

pay for us.

And so now he says,

the only way you can have

this kind of relationship

with me is you must make me

first in your heart,

in your life.

That's the privilege.

But the privilege comes with

the cost.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.