Are You Willing to Pay the Cost? Sermon Luke 14:25-33

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

Well it is that time of year again. The football season has kicked off with both the college and NFL teams vying for their respective championships. There are only a lucky few who can call themselves college football players and even fewer who can call themselves professional football players and only a few of those make it the Super Bowl or to the Hall of Fame. Unfortunately for most of us guys out there they don’t let just any Joe Schmo join a team and play. It takes years of dedication and practice and a person has to decide from that first moment in high school when they try out for the team if they are willing to pay the cost to play the game. Each level becomes harder and harder. There are two-a-day practices in the hot and humid summer days. There is hours of film watching and game preparation. There are hours of grueling strength training in the off season. All of this just so you can suit up on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday and play for 60 minutes. A player has to understand the cost to play football and be willing to pay.

We don’t talk much about cost in the church anymore unless we are in a financial committee meeting. We don’t hear about the cost that one has to pay to be a disciple of Christ. We do hear about grace. I preach a lot about grace and the characteristics of grace as described in the Bible. One aspect of God’s grace is that it is free or rather it is free to us because Christ has already made the payment for us. This is true. Christ paid the ultimate price, the price we could not pay ourselves, on the cross of Calvary. God’s grace was shown, demonstrated through the actions of his son on earth. The infiniteness of God’s love is unimaginable and yet we are able to receive it through Jesus. We all know this. So why, in our Scripture lesson today, is Jesus talking about paying a cost to be a disciple? Jesus is saying that unless you take up your cross and unless you give up your possessions you cannot be his disciple. This is not what the church is preaching and teaching us. If grace is free then why do we have to pay or sacrifice in order to be a disciple? There have been theologians who have taken this idea of free grace to the extreme saying sin all you want, sin boldly and you will receive God’s grace even more boldly. We know that this is a false premise.

When we talk about free grace we mean that there is nothing that we can do as humans in order to merit receiving it. We cannot do anything to earn it and yet God so loves us that it is offered freely to us. This does not mean that we can take it and run without any kind of change. Paul told the Church in Corinth that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. So there has to be a change made. God’s grace is so maginificant that is demands a response. During WWII there was a Lutheran pastor in Germany by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. During the Nazi regime, Bonhoeffer participated in the German resistance, now many other pastors did not they remained pacifists neither supporting nor opposing the Third Reich. Bonhoeffer believe that discipleship to Christ meant paying a price. It meant standing up against something that you knew was against the teachings of Christ even when it meant risking your life. Bonhoeffer called idea that the grace of God did not require action as “cheap grace”. He believed that just as Christ paid the ultimate price for our salvation through grace so we must be willing to repaid with our own lives as disciples of Christ. Bonhoeffer was arrested and before the war was over he was hanged by the Nazis. His legacy leaves some questions for us. If we truly want to be disciple of Christ are we willing to pay the cost?

First we have count the cost. What is the potential cost of being a disciple of Christ? We have to do this before we take the plunge because once we start there is no going back. Jesus talks about this in our lesson today. He is speaking to a large crowd and tells them that you have to make some pretty big sacrifices to be my disciple. Just like the builder who wants to build a tower has to make plans and ensure that he has enough to finish the job and like the king who makes sure he has enough men to battle the enemy before going to war we have to understand the possible costs before we can be a disciple of Christ.

What are the costs of discipleship? For one it could cost you relationships. Jesus told his disciples and those gathered that “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” This is a shocking statement coming from Jesus. Jesus is all about uniting, restoring, and building relationships not destroying them, right? Why does he say we have to hate our mother and father? First, the word that Jesus uses that translates into hate in English does not carry with it the malice that we think of when we say hate or hatred. The word in Aramaic means abandon or set aside. Like a crew would abandon a sinking ship. So what Jesus is saying is that you have to cut ties with those who will weigh you back down into the lifestyle that you left to join with Jesus even if those people include your mother or father. Our friends and family are very influential in our lives. If you don’t believe me ask someone who has even tried to quit smoking while their friends or family members continue to smoke in front of them. Relationships can become toxic or parasitic, with friends using and abusing us. These are the relationships we have to be ready let go of is we are going to follow Christ fully. We cannot hold on to our past lives because in Christ we are a new creation with new priorities and new goals.

Our discipleship could cost us our jobs or our financial security. What if you have earned your wealth by cheating other people or by not paying your fair share of taxes? Can you retain that money as a new disciple of Christ? Perhaps it is not you personally, but a co-worker or boss that is acting unethically. Would you have the courage to speak against what you know in your heart is wrong, even if that meant losing your job? There are many people who have made that choice. There are others who have felt the call to discipleship so strongly that they have left good paying jobs and financial security to mission work or to become pastors. Would you be willing to make that choice if you heard God’s call on your life?

Jesus also said that “none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” Does this mean we should take all our stuff and put it up for sale? I don’t think so. What I think Jesus is saying is that just like with bad relationships we need to put away all those material things that distract us. Jesus spoke about the fact that we cannot serve God and wealth and so it is not about taking a vow of poverty, but instead making sure that what we do have does not distract us from discipleship. We must be willing to give up everything to help another. Would our love of possessions prevent us from doing this?

Finally, discipleship could cost you your very life. We are fortunate enough to live in country that, for now, gives us the freedom to worship in whatever way we choose. There are others in places all around the world the do not have the same privilege and yet they still remain faithful in both worship and discipleship. So living in Prospect, Tennessee in the good ol’ USA and being a Christian is not really that hard, you’re not going to run the risk of losing your head. What about the fear of public ridicule? Isn’t that what prevents a lot of us from talking about God to other people? We are afraid of speaking to our neighbors or even our family and friends about our faith, because we run the risk of looking like a nutcase. Paul called himself a fool for the sake of Christ, meaning that the world might think our message is foolishness, but Paul would rather be a fool for Jesus than a wise man without Christ.

The question that is left for us this morning is this: are you willing to pay the cost of discipleship? You and you alone must to make that decision. Is it worth it? Grace of this magnitude demands a response. We have been set free from a lifetime of sin and given a home in the heavenly courts that kind of act demands a reaction. We don’t have to do it all in one day. Discipleship is a lifetime progression. We might have some setbacks along the way, but remember that we should always be looking forward.

Let us take an example from the disciples of Jesus. They were a part of something so great, so powerful that they gladly gave up their lives for Christ. Not only this but in the beginning they left their jobs, their families, their possessions in order to follow Jesus, to follow an unknown rabbi, to unknown places for an uncertain future. We have the privilege of knowing the end of this story. We know that Jesus is the son of God, the Messiah; we know that one the third day Jesus rose again. We know that in the end that Jesus will come back. We know how the story ends, we have that assurance. Are we willing to leave everything behind and follow Jesus?

Jesus also said that “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” The cross is a symbol of suffering and shame. It was not carried lightly by Jesus up the hill of Calvary and it cannot be carried lightly by us. Jesus had to love strongly in order to carry his cross and so do we. Carrying our cross means striking out from our comfort zone. It might be going to visit a neighbor in trouble; it might be going to the county jail to teach a Bible study. Carrying your cross might seem like you are going into the unknown into a place of uncertainty. Remember the end of the story, it did not end with the cross for Jesus and it will not end with the cross for us. Carrying your cross means doing what is right despite the risks to your reputation or to your body. It means speaking out when no one else will. I am reminded of a poem written by another German pastor during WWII his name was Martin Niemöller. He witnessed the atrocities done by the Nazis but unlike Bonhoeffer he did nothing. He wrote this:

In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist; And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist; And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew; and then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.

Are we going to make the move to discipleship? Are you willing to pay the cost? The grace that we have from God can never be cheap grace. It was paid with a cost and it demands a response from us. I hope that as a church we can begin anew commitment to discipleship. I hope that you will take the words of Christ to heart. The cost can be great, but the reward is unimaginable.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.