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Discussion Forum : Devotional Thoughts : “Take My Life and Let it Be…” Counting the Cost of following Christ (Luke 14:25-33)

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intrcssr83
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Joined: 2005/10/28
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Logan City, Queensland, Australia

 “Take My Life and Let it Be…” Counting the Cost of following Christ (Luke 14:25-33)

This was originally published as a four-part series of articles in my fellowship's weekly newsletter. But here it is in it's original draft.

“Take My Life and Let it Be…”
Counting the Cost of following Christ (Luke 14:25-33)

25Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26“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. 27Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

A well-known antiquities expert was invited to a museum to display his collection of rare historical weapons and pieces of armour that he had collected from various sources from all continents. Before the display opened, he spent a week examining each piece, polishing it, maintaining it, and setting it in place. The curator took him aside to ask about the coming exhibit, and while the collector said that he loved his collection and felt very protective yet proud of it, it still brought it’s burdens.
“I suppose it’s like owning a Porsche,” he said. “It costs you thousands to buy, but it’ll take your entire life’s fortune to actually keep if you ever want to drive it.”

What about your walk with Christ? What does Jesus ask for when he calls you by name, and essentially says: “Follow me!”

I’m often asked: “Ben, you talk – or scripture talks – a lot about the authenticity of our faith, but is it really something that can be demonstrated visibly?” My answer is both “yes” and “no”. “No”, because only God can see the true motives of the heart; “Yes”, because the New Testament is full of guidance regarding the signs that we are truly abiding within the Lordship of Jesus Christ in such a way that such knowledge would be pointless unless God wanted us to exercise some degree of discernment in this area.
Verse 25 of Luke 14 says: “Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them”. So here you have this multitude of people who were following Jesus, having seen his ministry upfront with his preaching, miracles and acts of compassion. Then he stops them, turns and begins to preach. What he says is by no means light and easy. While there is a degree of truth in that Jesus met with people “where they’re at”, absolutely nowhere in the gospel accounts does it say that he tailored the message itself in light of circumstantial reasons; he always told people the truth up front consistently. In this case, the cost of following him. The gospel that Christ declared was a summons to discipleship and not just a call to make a momentary decision or change in lifestyle preference. It was a “take it or leave it” offer for the forgiveness of sins and at the same time a rebuke against the self-righteous and hypocritical. He put sinners in the spotlight of holiness.
What he didn’t want was a group of people who deep down harbored feelings of doubt and hesitation, showing passionate enthusiasm some days and lukewarm skepticism the next. As much as he loved people, his intention in this instance is to deliberately discourage those with half-hearted convictions towards him.

Jesus then goes on to use a series of common, yet graphic illustrations of what he wants from his followers.
v26: Our love for him would make our love towards our friends, family and loved ones seem like hatred in comparison to the extent that we would gladly forsake them in favor of Jesus without any hesitation whatsoever.
v27: Willingly letting go of one’s own life along with the hopes and dreams we personally cling to, even to the point of death.
v28-30: The analogy of a builder who sets to construct a large tower, yet has planned neither the funds nor the resources to build it despite having already laid the foundation
v31-32: A king at war with another nation who sends his troops into battle without realizing the might of his opponent’s army and is forced to send ambassadors to negotiate surrender.
Jesus concludes this illustrations in verse 33 by saying “33So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple”. He gave his followers a clear ultimatum: Only those willing to give up absolutely everything materially and emotionally, leaving behind no personal luxuries, cherishes, loves or possessions in an act of complete, unconditional surrender could not follow him as disciples. This concept is further made clear in Luke 9:62: 62Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Sadly, the prevailing view within the 21st century church as to what actually constitutes saving faith growing more broader and more shallow, with anyone who claims to be a Christian finding others that are willing to accept a profession of faith regardless of whether or not the person’s behaviour shows any evidence of commitment to Christ. This watered-down understanding of salvation and the gospel itself is commonly called “easy-believism” and it stands in direct contrast to what Jesus actually teaches. When Jesus asks everything of us, he’s not just explaining the cost of being a disciple, he’s talking about what it requires to truly enter the kingdom.

If you’re thinking “Dude, that’s pretty heavy stuff!”, you’re probably right, at least in terms of what is commonly expected within churches today.
Today, easy-believism teaches that saving faith is merely being convinced or simply giving acceptance towards the gospel and does not have to include actual commitment to the person of Christ. Imagine if you will, if Jesus didn’t ask for such a high level of commitment, and instead opted for the modern models for church structure, polity and leadership. “Okay gang, hold up for a sec! I’ve sensed from my Father that there are definitely some among you who are more into this than others. So here’s what we’re going to do: we’ll have our Sabbath meetings as per usual where we’ll look through the Torah passages that point to me, after which we’ll have a time when I’ll pray for the sick. We’ll break up for lunch, then Pete, Jim and his little brother Johnny will take those interested in a rehash lesson of what I’ve taught you guys so far. During the afternoon, those of you who are really keen can meet me in the hills where I’ll take you through the deeper stuff. Then last but not least I’ll be meeting with the twelve in the evening for an evaluation of the week plus Judas’ fortnightly budget report!”
Of course, Christ didn’t say that.
Salvation includes a transformation of the inner person (Galatians 2:20), a difference in the inward nature (Romans 6:6), a desire to follow Christ (John 10:37), obey God’s commandments (John 15:14), abide in God’s word (John 8:31) and persevere in the faith (Hebrews 3:14). In contrast, easy-believism teaches that disobedience and prolonged sin are no reason to doubt the reality of one’s faith.
Jesus recognised no distinction between belief in him, and commitment to him. Discipleship, in his own eyes, was not something that was to be left for only the elite among those who had his name within their personal vocabularies; he was expecting anyone that would declare him as Lord to be willing to drop everything on the spot and follow him no matter what the resulting costs would be, even if it resulted in suffering and death. Full surrender to Jesus’ lordship is not an addendum to the biblical terms of salvation, but rather the call to submission is really what is at the heart of the gospel found throughout scripture.

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_________________
Benjamin Valentine

 2007/9/6 22:03Profile





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