Luke 14;25-33 (NRSV)
Give up your possessions
Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, "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. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.
SERMON
I’m going to be extremely honest. After reading the Gospel for this week, I actually asked God, “Where is the good news?”
It seems we’ve been preaching very, very challenging scriptures for the last several weeks from the Gospel according to St. Luke. First, we started with Jesus’ words, “I have come not to bring peace, but a sword.” Then we went to “how dare you heal on the Sabbath!” Then we read when you give a banquet invite all of the poor, crippled, lame, and blind, instead of your friends and finally today we hear that in order to be Jesus’ disciples we must hate our fathers, mothers, wives, children, brothers, sisters, and life itself!
Good grief!
It’s enough to make a pastor’s head swim…It’s enough to make any Christian’s head swim. Yet these are the recorded words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
As Christians, we are called to wrestle with Jesus’ hard sayings as recorded in scripture. After all, we know and believe with all of our hearts that salvation is the free gift of God which comes to us by faith alone, grace alone, and Christ alone!
Yet, with all this knowledge, I still find myself puzzled by Jesus’ statement, “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. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
These words are strong statements which cause us to recognize that while salvation is free, discipleship is not. Discipleship is the way we walk out our salvation on the earth, before we get to heaven. Therefore, discipleship is not free, neither is it cheap. It is costly!
Discipleship is about earthly relationship and anyone who has ever been in a love relationship can tell you that love is messy, it’s costly, and it demands great sacrifice.
We are in a covenant relationship with God, through Jesus Christ. God gave His only begotten to make atonement for our sin and gift us with eternal life and in response we take up the cross daily, following Jesus wherever he may lead us, offering our all in service to our King.
We do not work in exchange for our salvation, rather we do good works in response to God’s great love.
So, exactly what does it mean to take up our cross and follow Jesus? What is required of us as disciples of Christ? Well, in today’s gospel we find that the first requirement is that we hate our family and ourselves.
Now that just sounds ridiculous coming from the King of Love, doesn’t it? Why on earth would he call us to hate anybody? Obviously, in this sentence hate does not mean to “dislike intensely.” After all, we know that Jesus affirmed the commandments to honor your father and mother and not commit adultery. Furthermore, it is clear that Jesus loved children! Let us remember, it was he who first said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven!”
So, we simply cannot understand Jesus’ words to mean that we should actually hate our family members and ourselves.
So, what does he mean? Well, we find a parallel version of this hard-saying in Matthew who records Jesus words as, “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."
Here it is clear that what Jesus is requiring is absolute and single-minded steadfastness, loyalty, devotion, and allegiance to Him. It is a call to remember that when we become followers of Jesus, our relationship with God must necessarily become our first priority.
I find that I am okay with this demand on my life because I have learned that when I am right with God, God helps me to be right with others. I am a better wife, when I put God first. I am a better mother, when I put God first. I am a better sister, when I put God first.
But, I cannot be for those whom I love, all that I want to be, and ought to be, until I give God first place in my life…
Likewise, I have learned that just as no person should come before my love relationship with God, no thing should either…
Being a disciple of Jesus means that we are required to return all that we have and all that we love to God. Nothing belongs to us any longer. It is all given to us by God, in trust, and we are but stewards over all of the many gifts that God has entrusted into our care.
What a strange notion! For here in America we are carefully taught that if we work hard, earn the money, and buy something--it is ours! But, when we elect to be followers of Jesus, we make the costly decision to own nothing and to give everything away for the sake of the cross!
This is why Jesus said, “None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” While I do not believe that this statement is a call to live as destitute, homeless, beggars, I do believe that we should always remember that when God has need of “our stuff” for Kingdom work, we should joyfully, liberally, and generously give to God in support of the work of Love on the Earth.
Wow! To be a disciple is a costly calling, isn’t it? It seems that the closer Jesus got to Jerusalem and to his death the more bluntly he began to talk about the costs of following him. And, O my goodness, was he ever right!
For on this side of the cross, we know that to be a disciple means that perhaps there will be friction in our families as non-Christian and Christian family members strive to share the same home. To be a disciple means that perhaps our teenage children won’t be pleased with us when we insist that they come to confirmation classes and attend worship on Sunday morning. To be a disciple means that perhaps I won’t go on vacation this year, because I am committed to tithing no matter what is happening to the economy. To be a disciple may mean for some, that they will give their very lives as martyrs for the sake of Christ. And to be a disciple means that perhaps I am going to have to let go of some of my hopes, dreams, and aspirations, in order to do the will of God on earth until Jesus comes again from heaven!
My Lord!
The call to hate father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and life itself is a reminder that God demands--and deserves--first place in our lives. The call to take up the cross and follow Jesus is a reminder that God gets to lead and guide the direction of our lives in accordance with God’s will. And the call to give up all of our possessions is a reminder that all that we have belongs to God and we are but stewards of God’s awesome creation.
Discipleship is costly my friends! But the rewards are infinite! As we put God first our families become full of love and laughter. As we follow Jesus we get to bear witness to His teaching and healing ministries in the lives of others. And as we offer all that we have in time, talent, and treasure to God, we get to see God multiply our meager offerings in such a way that all of God’s children are fed…
What joy! What wonder!
It is an awesome privilege to know that not only am I a child of God, but I am also a disciple of Jesus. And as a disciple, I’ve counted the cost and I have determined that the investment is worth the risk and the returns are immeasurable…
In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen…
INVITATION
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