Lord, this is one of those beautiful texts in your word that calls us to great things, calls us to hard things. But Lord, we want to see through your spirit, through your word, that what you call us to is for our good. That it is for our blessing. So let us see the beauty and the joy of obedience in the text this morning, and let us see the beauty of what it is to follow Jesus, to follow Him and to count the cost, Lord, to be one of His disciples. So we ask that You would fill us with grace. I pray that You would fill me now with Your Spirit. Lord, protect us from error. Lord, help us to feast on the risen Christ as we come through Your Word. In Your name, Jesus. Amen.
Well, I am an admitted history buff. I was a history major in undergrad. And so I love studying history. I love reading biographies and reading about it. And history is an interesting subject. Sometimes you can look at big momentous things and you can see really clearly what's happening even in the midst of them. I'll never forget when 9/11 happened, coming to a class, a history class, it was actually a class on the Reformation, and we didn't have class that day. We just sat and the professor sat on the desk and just said, you are experiencing the moment that will mark the beginning of the 21st century. Just in this momentous event, he knew, we knew, the world knew things had changed. Sometimes history happens like that. Sometimes the events that are happening sort of remain veiled. Big things are happening, but you don't really realize it until decades or centuries later. Every once in a while, though, we can see God's quiet providential hand using a major event to nudge a single person. And in nudging that single person, all sorts of dominoes begin to fall and change happens. That's what happened with the reformer John Calvin in the 16th century.
John Calvin was a Frenchman. We won't hold that against him. He was born in the 16th century. He was a contemporary of Luther, but younger than Luther. And in 1536, he had set off on the road to Strasbourg. Calvin was still a young man. At 27, he had written his first edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion. So he had written his first systematic theology at 27. What have you done in your 20s, right? He's a gifted guy. He was fleeing his native France because he had been converted. He had found the Gospel and he had come into the Reformation, so he was fleeing Roman Catholic persecution in France. But also, he had felt a shift in his calling. He had been trained in Orleans as a lawyer, but now he felt he was called to study theology, called to write about theology, to continue editing his Institutes, and to become a teacher of theology. So he was headed to Strasbourg to settle down to a quiet life of study and writing and teaching. But God had other plans. A war actually broke out right as Calvin was leaving, and so as he sets out, a war breaks out right in the midst of his path. And so in order to avoid the collateral damage of what's happening in those days, he took a quick detour and decided to spend one night in a small, out-of-the-way Swiss canton called Geneva. This little tiny city just across the border from France. They speak French in Geneva. He thought, I'll spend the night here, it'll be a little safer than sleeping out on the road. And it would prove to be a fateful decision.
Calvin's budding reputation had preceded him. There was a man in Geneva named Farel who was already beginning to do the work of reforming the city and the church. And that evening, Farel found out that Calvin was in town, and so he invited Calvin over to sup with him, as they would say back then. And while he was doing that, he essentially accosted Calvin. He literally put the fear of God in Calvin and told him that if he left Geneva, if he continued on the road to Strasbourg, God would hound him all of his days. Now, how Farel knew this, I don't know. He was a pretty bold man, but he told Calvin this and he prevailed on him. Farel said, stay in Geneva, help me see the Reformation take root in Geneva. You have to understand, this was the last thing Calvin wanted to do. This was the very last place he wanted to be. He's on the road to be a professor and a writer. That ivory tower looks really nice and really comfortable. Farel is calling him to stay in Geneva. Geneva is this town that was renowned in that day for its licentious living. It was a town that was just 13,000 people, pretty small. But just filled with adultery. You can imagine a town of 13,000 people that's known for adulterous relationships, how messed up the dynamics of that small town must have been, right? That's not a comfortable place. It's also a city that's completely divided politically. This is a day and age where some cities really wanted reformation for the sake of the gospel, and some cities really wanted reformation just so they could have their political independence. And those two factions were fighting in Geneva. And so Farel says, 'Hey, jump into the muck with me. God is calling you to get dirty.' This wasn't an honor so much as a sentence to hard labor. But Calvin sensed God calling him to the narrow path. And so he passed on his dream. And it was brutally difficult from the very beginning.
Geneva, you see, was controlled by a city council, actually several, a series of city councils, the very smallest that would meet weekly up to a whole council of 200. 3 or 4 of these city councils that had total control over the city in matters of state and in matters of the church. It was a very complex relationship. They were the ones who decided what happened in the church. So to give you an idea of what Calvin was dealing with, it was the city council who decided who the elders were in the local churches. Think about that for a second. The Chamber of Commerce in Lenexa gets to decide who the elders are in Providence. Well, so-and-so has really done us some nice favors. I think we'll put him up as an elder. Right? That's the framework that Calvin is dealing with. More than that, the city council was the one who decided matters of church discipline. So here's this city that's known for just its scandalous living, and it's the city council who decides if and when the church ever disciplines somebody for it. And with that, it's the city council who decides who gets to take the Lord's Supper. And so the city council told Calvin and Farel, You must admit everyone to communion. Doesn't matter if they've professed belief, doesn't matter how they're living their lives, everyone gets to take the Lord's Supper. Everyone will get access to the communion table in this Reformed city. And so Calvin was at an impasse, and he held his ground. And so, 2 years in, the city council kicked him out. And they removed him from Geneva. And Calvin finally ended up with the quiet life he desired in Strasbourg. He got to study with another Reformed colleague, Martin Bucer. He was living the dream. For 3 years he escaped the cesspool of Geneva. He's not looking back longingly at Geneva, but Geneva in Calvin's absence, in Farel's absence, fell to pieces. And so it wasn't very long before they came back begging him to return. Come back to the craziness. Leave your dream job in your dream city with your dream colleagues and get messy with us. And Calvin sensed God calling him to do it.
You see, what Calvin understood was that the call to follow Jesus often isn't an easy path. Calvin knew that there was a cost to discipleship. He understood that in following Jesus, he might be forced to leave his homeland of France, and he was. And he understood that in continuing to follow Jesus, he might have to leave that dream job to go to this post that he didn't desire. So he gave all those things up because Calvin also understood that there was a deeper joy to be found in obedience to the Lord. That's what we see in Luke 9 today.
6 · The pastor reads the primary text of Luke 9:51-62 aloud, establishing the biblical foundation for the sermon on the cost of discipleship
Look with me starting at verse 51. Hear God's holy and authoritative word. When the days drew near for him to be taken up, He, Jesus, set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers ahead of Him who went and entered a village of Samaritans to make preparations for Him. But the people did not receive Him because His face was set towards Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw it, they said, 'Lord, do You want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?' But He turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. To another he said, follow me. He responded, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. Jesus said to him, leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.' Yet another said, 'I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to those at my home.' Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.' The word of the Lord. May he write its truth upon our hearts.
7 · The pastor introduces the sermon's main thesis and first point: discipleship requires radical self-denial because it follows Jesus on His own difficult path toward the cross
Luke 9 shows us The true cost of discipleship. The way of Jesus, the path of discipleship, the way of Jesus requires a radical sort of self-denial for anyone who would follow him. That's what we see in Luke chapter 9. The first thing we see as we explore this idea is that Jesus and Luke point us to the difficult destination that's in store. Luke starts off reminding us it's not just that followers of Jesus have a hard path to follow, right? But that Jesus had a hard path. Jesus isn't just some fat, overweight king sitting in his palace with one of those big turkey legs from the Renaissance Festival and people serving him wine and grapes while all of his minions do all the hard stuff. That's not King Jesus. King Jesus is on the road. King Jesus is bearing burdens. King Jesus is serving. King Jesus is giving his life as a ransom. The path of discipleship is difficult because it follows Jesus along the way to his difficult destination.
8 · The pastor exposits Luke 9:51, explaining that Jesus' resolve to go to Jerusalem is not about earthly kingship but about the cross, and that this difficult path leads to glory
Verse 51 is a key verse in the entire gospel. It marks a turning point. Luke says, 'Jesus set His face to Jerusalem.' Now to set your face means that Jesus has determined with total and absolute conviction and purpose that He will drive towards His divine destiny in Jerusalem no matter what the difficulty is. No matter what the distress. You see, Jerusalem isn't pictured here so much as David's city, this place where the Messiah is going to have a throne and a palace and a kingdom. Right. That's not the picture of Jerusalem that Luke has in mind. That's what the crowds think on Palm Sunday. Right. We're familiar with the story where Jesus walks into the city. He doesn't actually walk. He's riding a donkey and they're throwing their cloaks in front of him. They're waving palm branches. Hosanna! You know, the king has arrived. That's how the crowds imagine. That's why Jesus is going to Jerusalem. That's not why Jesus is going to Jerusalem. He's not going there to sit on a throne. What Luke is showing us is that Jesus is determined. He knows his destiny. Jesus knows the brutality and the humiliation and the horror that await him in that city. He knows the cross is looming. He knows there's going to be rejection and abandonment, but He also knows that as difficult as that destination is, He knows that the cross is the way that leads to glory. This chapter is full of it, right? The Transfiguration before this passage. This preview of Jesus' glory. Luke starting out here in the wilderness. Verse 51, right? He says, 'When the days drew near for Him to be taken up,' probably an allusion to His ascension, 'He set His face to Jerusalem.' There is glory waiting for Jesus, but only after He gets to the difficult destination of Jerusalem and the cross.
9 · The pastor uses the instinctive human avoidance of suffering and the pursuit of comfort as a setup to contrast with Jesus' willingness to embrace suffering
Now, if we're honest with ourselves, we instinctively avoid suffering. Right? None of us are wearing hair shirts this morning, right? Right? We've given up those monastic, ascetic ways. We instinctively avoid suffering. And part of that is we just know it's built in. We know our frailty. We know how fragile we are. The older you get, the more you avoid suffering, right? The things that you'll do at 2 or at 12 or at 20, you don't do those things at 30 and 40 and 50. 'Cause your body creaks and it hurts, right? We don't want to suffer. We wear warm jackets this morning, right? Even I, coming down here from Minnesota, put on a warm jacket 'cause it was cold this morning. Who wants to be cold? We get in beds that have nice thread count sheets that feel so silky 'cause it's comfortable. We pursue comfort.
10 · The pastor illustrates the contrast between modern comfort and historical suffering through a movie about the Old West, highlighting how unusual our comfort-seeking is in the scope of human history
All those creature comforts were actually driven home for me in this past week. I saw a movie that was set in the Old West, but this isn't like the nostalgic Old West, you know, like the Westerns of like the mid-20th century. Now, this is like the real Old West. This is the gritty Old West. It showed the Old West, the frontier life of early-mid 19th century America, for all the horror that it was. I walked out of the movie and I said to my buddy who I had watched it with, I said, 'I think the thing I remember most, I'm gonna remember most is I was uncomfortable the whole movie.' There's just this overwhelming sense about that guy's life and everyone around him experienced not a single iota of comfort in anything they ever did. It's so easy to forget that. It was this movie that was a brutally accurate description of how horrible life was back then. Every minute of the movie was this reminder of constant danger and constant cold, constant edge of hunger, this constant fight for survival. For most of human history, comfort is a luxury that's reserved just for kings, right? Just for the aristocracy. And most of the kings of history, if we're honest, You look back, most of the aristocracy, even in a guy like Calvin's day, they don't live as comfortably as we live today. We get in cars and it's cold out, and what do we do? We turn up the heat. And that's if you've got an old car, because if your car is newer, you sit inside your heated house and you push a button and the car starts and heats up on its own. You don't even have to scrape the windows because they're already defrosted for you. We have incredible levels of comfort. We don't pursue suffering intentionally. We live our lives in the pursuit of avoiding suffering.
11 · The pastor exposits the spiritual anguish of the cross and introduces Hebrews 12:2 to explain Jesus' motivation: He endured for the joy set before Him, showing that obedience to the Father brings deeper joy than avoiding suffering
But here Jesus sets his face towards a kind of difficulty, a kind of trial. A kind of tribulation that we can't possibly imagine. We can approximate in some small, honestly puny ways what the physical pain of crucifixion might have been like. But have you ever noticed how limited the amount of space is in the Gospels that gets devoted to the physical pain of the crucifixion? It's not that much. I think the reason for that is that's not the main agony of what Jesus suffers. There's a brevity because the true horror, the true difficulty is the spiritual anguish he endures. And Jesus knows what's in store. In Luke 9, he sets his face And yet the author of Hebrews explains why Jesus sets His face. It's not because He's a glutton for punishment. It's not because He wants us to suffer with Him. No, Hebrews 12:12 tells us that Jesus, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of God. Regardless of the rejection he'll experience, the first taste— he does this, he says he sets his face, right? He sends out guys to prepare ahead of him. And what happens? He sets his face to Jerusalem. He sends out people, hey, make things ready. The first town they go into, what happens? They reject him. Why? Because he's going to Jerusalem. From this point forward, the opposition is going to increase. The crowds are going to decrease. Jesus knows all of this, but he also knows there's joy in obedience to God the Father.
12 · The pastor asserts that Jesus calls disciples to a difficult journey, but this difficult path ultimately leads to glory and joy, making the call to discipleship for our good
There's a joy in obedience that goes deeper than any earthly difficulty, and that's why he calls his true disciples to follow him on this difficult journey of discipleship. Jesus has a difficult destination But ultimately, eternally, it's going to be the source of His glory and the source of our joy. And so it's for our good that He says, 'Follow Me.' And so He has a difficult destination and those who follow Him are set on a difficult journey.
13 · The pastor sets up the exposition of three encounters in Luke 9, using Leon Morris and Paul's example in Acts to show that discipleship means following Jesus on the path He sets, regardless of the cost
Jesus, we see, encounters 3 different individuals on the road to Jerusalem. We see in this second point of a difficult journey that He encounters 3 different people that have responses to the fact that he's set on this path. Right? These responses tease out the nuance of how there's a cost to discipleship. Leon Morris comments on this passage in one of his commentaries, and he says, 'Regularly God tests the earnestness of our hearts by bringing them to a fork in the road.' Strasbourg or Geneva? When it becomes necessary to choose between two ways, which way do we follow? Comfort? Custom? Convention? Or Christ? The test from the very outset of discipleship has been, 'Follow me.' That's what discipleship is about. To follow Jesus on the path he sets for us. It's a very helpful reminder. Jesus isn't a pirate with a sword, like pushing us off the plank into suffering, right? He's calling us to follow him on the path he's already walked. There's this incredible scene in the book of Acts. So remember, Luke, Acts are really two volumes of the same book. The reason why they're two different books is simply just the way that they wrote in those days, the way they had parchment and scrolls. You couldn't fit both of those on one scroll. And so they got to become two volumes, but they're really one compendium volume, Luke-Acts. And in Acts 21, there's a prophecy given by a man named Agabus. And he tells Paul, 'If you go to Jerusalem, you're going to be bound up, you're going to be arrested, you're going to be imprisoned, you're going to be beaten. It's going to be the end of you, Paul.' And so all the Christians that are gathered there, they would have fit in really well in 21st century America. 'No, no, Paul, avoid the suffering. Don't do this.' right? It's the natural reaction. But Paul responded, 'What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? If I am ready not only to be imprisoned, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.' And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, 'Let the will of the Lord be done.' Later on in the book of Acts, this exact thing happens, and Paul gets chained, he gets imprisoned, he gets dragged before the magistrate, and he begins to describe to them why he's willing to suffer like this. And he uses this beautiful phrase, 'You have heard that I am a member of the Way.' Acts has this little phrase, the early church is called the the way. It's not because they're a cult. It kind of sounds cultish to us, right? I'm a part of the way? What kind of Kool-Aid are you drinking? No, it's this beautiful, concise description that these people were so obviously disciples following the way of Jesus regardless of the cost.
14 · The pastor exposits the first encounter in Luke 9:57-58, explaining that Jesus warns the enthusiastic volunteer that following Him can cost us earthly comforts and security
So although Jesus calls us to a difficult journey, He knows, Paul sees, God's Word shows us that this way is ultimately the way of joy. Now there's 3 different conversations Jesus has in this little episode. The first shows us that the way of Jesus costs us our comforts. The way of Jesus can cost us our comforts. The first person that Jesus encounters tells him, 'Jesus, I will follow you anywhere.' He must be Peter's cousin, right? I will do anything for you, Jesus! To which Jesus responds, 'You know, foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.' There's no roof at night, there's no feather bed, much less a bed of straw for the Son of Man to sleep in. The point is following Jesus can cost us our comforts.
15 · The pastor contrasts Jesus' call with the prosperity gospel, asserting that Jesus promises no guarantee of earthly comfort but does promise deeper joy in following Him than in pursuing wealth or the American dream
There's no guarantee of ease or wealth if you jump on the Jesus bandwagon. Jesus isn't promising that no one who follows him— he's not saying if you follow him, there will never be another moment of comfort. Obviously not, right? But he's also not promising that if you follow him, your life will be nothing but comfort. More than that, he's saying you have to be willing to lose these things. Comfort and ease and wealth. You must count the cost of losing these things if you will follow Jesus. It's the total opposite of the prosperity gospel. The prosperity gospel promises that following Jesus will get you exactly what Jesus says there's no guarantee of. You'll get a bigger house, you'll get a newer car, you'll get designer jeans. You can be one of those guys with like the cool thing on like your your back patch going down your leg with those $150 jeans if you follow Jesus. No, Jesus says, you might lose all of those things if you follow me. He promises you though deeper joy in following him than you'll ever find in pursuing the American dream.
16 · The pastor applies the first encounter by challenging the congregation to examine whether their desire for comfort prevents them from full engagement in kingdom mission, using hypothetical examples and reminding them that ministry is not reserved for 'super Christians' but falls on all believers under the priesthood of all believers
More than this, Jesus is telling us that we must be willing to give up comforts for the sake of the kingdom. The question for me, the question for you, the question for all of us who read this text, who are sitting in this room under this sermon is this: does a desire to protect or desire to pursue comfort or wealth, do those desires keep us from being fully engaged in the mission of the kingdom? Are there things you're unwilling to give up if God were to call you to it? Now, I don't presume to know what those things are. I'm not Pharaoh. I'm not bold enough to tell you God's going to hound you if you don't do this or that. But if God was calling you to downsize your home so you could help fund a church plant, plant, or to radically downsize your standard of living so you could give incredible amounts to an orphanage. Would you? If you had a sense he was calling you to that, could you do it? I don't know if he's calling you to that, but I do know that he expects followers, he expects his disciples to be open-handed stewards of all that we have in this life. Stewards because it's not really our stuff, it's His stuff. Would you be willing to shift careers like Calvin, giving up comfort and a stress-free life? Or do we imagine that that sort of thing only is for the Calvins, it's only for the missionaries, it's only for like special super Christians? Most of us don't ever have to do stuff like that. But that's not the vision of Luke's Gospel. In fact, that's not the vision of the New Testament. The beautiful thing of the Reformation that Calvin and Luther and guys like him realized was there's this thing called the priesthood of all believers. Right? Now on one hand, we love the idea that that means everyone has direct access to God through Jesus. You don't have to get access to God through a priest. You have access through the Scriptures, through prayer, through the Spirit. To God via His Son Jesus and faith in Him. That's the idea of the priesthood of all believers, right? And we're all like, 'Yay!' The other idea of the priesthood of all believers is that ministry isn't reserved just for the priest or just for the pastor. Ministry as Luke envisions it, as Acts envisioned it, as the New Testament envisions it, ministry falls upon all of us. That we are all engaged in ministry and engaged in mission together. The way of Jesus can cost us our comforts.
17 · The pastor exposits the second encounter in Luke 9:59-60, explaining that Jesus' shocking command to let the dead bury their own dead reveals that following Jesus is the supreme act of devotion — even above culturally sacred duties like burying one's father
The way of Jesus also costs us our priorities and our commitments. You see, after this, Jesus calls a person and he says, 'Follow me.' And this is contrasted. Remember earlier in the gospel, way earlier, when he calls his first disciples, what do they do? They throw down their nets They throw down the way they make their living and they walk away from their boats and they follow him. Here he says, 'Follow me,' and the person seems totally willing. 'I would love to do that. Just one second. I gotta bury my dad. My dad just died. Let me bury him.' Bury him. I'm gonna get harassed after the service saying, 'Berry.' It's not a berry. He's not talking about putting berries in the ground. He's burying a guy, right? It's my high-class British pronunciation, I think. That's not an unreasonable request, especially when you consider in Jesus's day, the height of religious devotion is what you do and how you handle the dead. For a Jewish person, how you care for loved ones who have died, there is no greater sign of service. There's no greater sign of loving kindness that you can render in a very, very real sense culturally in that day. To bury your father or your loved one is to obey the command to honor your father and mother. This is like the single highest thing you can do to show, 'I love the Lord, and I love my neighbor, and I love my family.' And here Jesus says, 'No. Don't do it.' Jesus turns to the person and says, bury their own dead. The point is, following Jesus, following Jesus, is the supreme act of religious devotion and commitment. Following Jesus is the supreme thing that shows your love for God and your love for neighbor.
18 · The pastor addresses the congregation's likely discomfort with Jesus' harsh command, acknowledging that we are not called to apply this text to others in the same way Jesus did because we are not Jesus — only He has the authority to make such absolute demands
Now, That sounds— yeah. But can you imagine a good friend? His dad has just died and you walk into the funeral? Hey man, I don't know what you're doing here, but you're supposed to leave right now and go do things for Jesus. Let your mom cry. Somebody else will comfort her. You've got things to do for the Kingdom. Yeah, I can't imagine doing that either. It'd be an awkward conversation. And the reason we're probably not supposed to do that is because we're not Jesus.
19 · The pastor clarifies the application of the second encounter: Jesus is not calling us to stop loving our families, but He does call us to prioritize Him above all else, which can cost us the things we value most
We're not called to tell people to do that. But the point is, Jesus completely recalibrates our priorities. Jesus recalibrates our priorities and our commitments. It's not that he's calling us to stop loving our families, but he is calling us to love him and to prioritize him, to be committed to him over everything else. And so the way of Jesus can cost us the things we prioritize most, the things we're committed to most, the things that most dominate how we spend our money or how we construct our schedules and spend our time.
20 · The pastor exposits the third encounter in Luke 9:61-62, explaining Jesus' use of the agrarian image of plowing to illustrate the requirement of undivided attention and devotion in following Him
Finally, the way of Jesus Costs us everything. Jesus gives a final hard example. Another person seems willing to follow but just wants to say goodbye to family and friends. I am there, my house is like just around the corner, I will fly in, I will just, I'm not even gonna hug them, I'm just gonna see ya, I'll be right back. Is that okay? Can I do that? No. You put your hand to the plow and you look back. There's no place for you in the kingdom. You're unfit for the kingdom. Holy smokes, Jesus. I mean, this is hard. Well, it's an agrarian image. The idea is to plow in those days, it's not like you sit— like farmers today, like I grew up in Iowa, right? So I know farmers today. Like my grandpa, when he started farming, like there's no power steering. I remember trying to drive his original tractor. And like even as a 13-year-old, I couldn't turn the steering wheel. It was so hard to turn it. These guys today, they sit in these quarter-million-dollar tractors that have GPS that literally guide them up the rows. Some of these guys have satellite TV in there. They're sitting in there fully air-conditioned, sipping margaritas and doing their farm work. That's what I picture farmers today. It's not all that inaccurate. But in this day, when you plow, you got this plow, and you're behind the ox, and you're behind the mule. And this thing is hitting rocks. This isn't nice, beautiful Midwestern soil. This is rocky Middle Eastern Palestinian soil. You're holding the thing and you're trying to keep it on track. Everyone who heard this would immediately know. You put your hand to the plow and it's got to be full commitment, full concentration, full devotion. You can't put your hand to the plow and be trying to flip through your iPhone to the next song. You'll screw the row up.
21 · The pastor draws out an Old Testament allusion to Elijah and Elisha, contrasting Elijah's permission for Elisha to say goodbye with Jesus' refusal, arguing that Jesus' greater authority as Messiah demands greater devotion
It's also an Old Testament allusion. This same image happens when Elijah the prophet calls Elisha to follow him. Elisha is plowing. He's behind the ox at the plow. And Elijah calls him and says, Follow me. I'm going to transfer my stuff to you. You're going to become my disciple. Right. And what does Elijah say? One second. He's going to go right around the corner. I'm just going to pop my head in. Right. And how does Elijah respond? Go right ahead. It's totally reasonable. I totally get it. Say goodbye to your family. Good call. Elijah even sacrifices the ox, sort of like a burning your boat sort of thing. Like, I'm sacrificing the animal that pulls the plow. I'm so all in. Well, why does Elijah say, 'No big deal,' and Jesus says, 'Absolutely not. You are unfit for service in my kingdom'? Because someone greater than Elijah is here. Jesus isn't just another prophet. He's not just another leader or a more gifted rabbi. He's the Messiah, and his arrival The onset of His reign should mold and shape every decision of our lives.
22 · The pastor draws out the verbal force of 'looking back' as continuous action and connects the call to undivided devotion to the early church's confession 'Jesus is Lord,' arguing that the cross has claimed us and made us slaves to righteousness, which requires total commitment, not sporadic devotion
There can't be any double-mindedness in following Jesus. The tense of the verbs here isn't just, 'I kind of glance back.' No, it's just kind of consistent like you're constantly glancing back. This continuous idea that you're looking behind you. Disciples, Jesus says, are people who are all in on following Me. He's not just one priority or one commitment amidst Several important ones. He's the priority that reshapes every other priority. That basic confession of the early church, right? What's the most basic confession of the early church? Jesus is Lord. The whole empire says Caesar is Lord. The ones on the way, they say Jesus. Jesus is Lord. It's this recognition the cross has declared that our lives belong to Jesus. He is Lord. He has claimed us. His blood has bought us. His substitutionary life, death, and resurrection have secured us. We were once slaves to sin. We are now slaves to righteousness because Jesus is Lord. It's the recognition, the cost of discipleship. It's not just a call to a short-term missions trip or spring break discipleship, as if a few weeks of deep devotion every few years at the cost of a whole bunch of other people you fundraise through, right, is all that discipleship demands.
23 · The pastor tells the story of a believer in a Middle Eastern country who risked his life to confess Christ to a police officer and ended up giving the officer a Bible, illustrating radical obedience and the deeper joy found in following Jesus despite the cost
Now, in countless ways and in countless different callings and countless different locations to people with countless different giftings and resources to steward. So I'm not telling you what the call is, right? There's countless different variations of it. But to all of us, Jesus calls us to undivided devotion, whether that's a diversion to Geneva, a renewed commitment to Christian community, or any points in between. A few weeks ago, Dave and I had the privilege of sitting under the teaching of a renowned seminary professor. I'm going to leave it a little bit vague because we're recording this. It'll make sense in a moment. And this man told us of a man that he had met, firsthand encounter, a believer in a Middle Eastern country. It's a very, very hard context. This is a country that if it isn't at the top, it's right below North Korea or right in that top 5 of hardest places to be a Christian. And this believer was telling the professor a story. He had earned a reputation for proselytizing. Essentially, he's sharing the gospel with people in this Muslim country. And in this Muslim country, the penalty for proselytizing, for proclaiming the kingdom, for sharing about the way of Jesus is usually arrest and often death. And he had become notorious enough that he knew there was a warrant out for his arrest. But he still felt compelled to do this. And so he didn't leave the country, he remained in the country, he continued proclaiming the kingdom, doing the work of evangelizing people. Who were completely lost in Islam and trying to bring them over into the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he was driving along one day in his car and a police officer, one of the security forces in the country, put their lights on and pulled him over. And so immediately he is just in a panic. If this guy knows who I am, this is it. He is going to arrest me. I am never going to see my family again. It is over. So the officer comes up and approaches the window, rolls it down, 'Let me see your papers.' And just in a moment, a thought came to his head, 'I'm so sorry, officer. I grabbed the wrong pair of jeans this morning. My papers are at home in my bedroom. I'm so sorry. I just totally absent-minded.' You got to remember, this isn't like the US where it's like, 'Make sure next time you get in the car you've got your driver's license.' Now this is like Nazi Germany kind of thing. You don't have your papers? And for whatever reason, the officer just said, 'Okay, well, make sure you have them next time,' sends him on his way. The man starts driving, he's just, 'Oh Lord, thank you, I can continue this work in this country.' And he's driving, he's just filled with gratitude, and then all of a sudden he's just hanging hammered with conviction. I just lied to this man. I just failed to trust the Lord in that moment. Let me just say, he's processing this very differently than I would be processing it. I usually get pulled over and I'm really— grumbling is a nice way of saying I'm ticked off at the officer. And he's convicted. And so the professor tells us he ends up turning a right and a right and a right And he pulls back around the block, and the officer is still parked on the side of the street. He parks his car, gets out, comes up to the window, and he tells the man, 'Sorry, I have to confess to you I lied. I have my papers, they're right here. I didn't tell you because I'm wanted as a Christian for sharing the gospel.' full expectation never see his family again, might not even live out the month. And the officer looks up to him and says, 'Do you have a Bible?' 'Yes.' 'I've been wanting a Bible for so long!' And so stunned, he goes back to his vehicle and he picks up the Bible that's in his bag and he brings it out and he hands it to the officer and the officer is just thanking him profusely, 'I've wanted a Bible for the longest time, but you know, in this country you can't get a Bible.' And so the man gets back in his car and starts driving off, and in his rearview mirror he sees the officer poring through the pages of Scripture. But he was a man who had counted the cost. The seminary professor He went on to say, 'In all likelihood, this man will die. As long as he stays in this country proclaiming the name of Jesus, he will become one of the martyrs numbered in Revelation. But he has counted the cost, and he has understood the deeper joy that is found in following Jesus.'
24 · The pastor closes with a direct question calling the congregation to examine where God is calling them to count the cost, and then recites a hymn celebrating the joy and sufficiency found in Christ despite the loss of earthly treasures and comforts
And so I ask us, where is God calling us to count the cost, to be single-minded and undivided in our devotion to Jesus? We finish with the words of this hymn: Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow thee. Destitute, despised, forsaken, Thou from hence my all shall be. Perish every fond ambition, all I've sought or hoped or known, yet how rich is my condition! God and heaven are still my own. Let the world despise and leave me, they have left my Savior too. Human hearts and looks deceive me, Thou art not like them untrue. Oh, while Thou dost smile upon me, God of wisdom, love, and might, Foes may hate and friends disown me, show Thy face and all is bright. Man may trouble and distress me, 'twill but drive me to Thy breast. Life with trials hard may press me, Heaven will bring me sweeter rest. Oh, 'tis not in grief to harm me while Thy love is left to me. Oh, 'twere not in joy to charm me were that joy unmixed with Thee. Go, then, earthly fame and treasure! Come disaster, scorn, and pain! In Thy service pain is pleasure; with Thy favor loss is gain. I have called Thee Abba, Father! I have stayed my heart on Thee! Storms may howl and clouds may gather, all must work for good to me.
25 · Closing prayer asking God to sustain the congregation in undivided devotion, reminding them that the call to costly discipleship is not burdensome because God gives the grace to obey, and appealing to Romans 8:28 for assurance that all things work together for good
Would you bow your heads? Oh God, let us hear the grace of your gospel. Lord, you have called us to an undivided devotion, but it is not a burdensome call. Falling. It is for our pleasure and for our joy. Lord, would you sustain us on the promise of Romans 8:28 that all things, not some things, not most things, not a few things, that all things work together for those who love you and are called according to your purpose. So Lord, we ask that through the preaching of your word, by the power of your Spirit, You would blow on the embers of our heart, stir up the flames of devotion. God, help us to leave here loving Jesus more, more firmly committed to following Him. And God, we are reminded by Your gospel and by these words, Your commands are not burdensome, and in all that You call us and in in all that You command us, You have made us slaves to righteousness, which is to say, You give us the grace to do it. So now, Father, sustain us by the grace of Jesus. Let us understand Your immense mercy, Your infinite lovingkindness. Lord, as we leave here committed to the way of Your Son Jesus, in His name we pray, amen.