The cost of being a disciple

(A salty Christian)

Luke 14:25-35

Key Verse 14:34

"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 

In Matthew 5:13 Jesus said to his disciples, “You are the salt of the earth.” Salt is a necessity of life. In Biblical times people used this mineral as a seasoning, a preservative, a disinfectant, a component of ceremonial offerings, and as a unit of exchange. The Bible contains numerous references to salt. In various contexts, the Bible uses it metaphorically to signify permanence, loyalty, durability, fidelity, usefulness, value, and purification. Today we would like to think about how we can be a salty Christian (or simply a disciple). 

In the key verse Jesus said, “Salt is good.” By the salt Jesus meant his disciples. Jesus is good. Naturally Jesus’ disciples are good. Just as salt does good to food so also Jesus and his disciples do good to the world. How then can one become Jesus’ disciple? The passage for today teaches us three things:

First, love Jesus

Look at verse 26, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.”  This passage lays down the first condition: that is, we must love Jesus with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength.  

The first condition is easy to understand: that is, in order for us to be a disciple of Jesus, we must love Jesus as a matter of first priority and preference. In the passage we see large crowds following Jesus. Jesus loved them. In love Jesus desired them to become his “disciples”. Urging them to become his disciples Jesus laid down the first condition that is to love Jesus more than anyone else. 

There are many whom we love. For example we love family members such as parents, spouses, siblings, and children. But when you think about it, of all whom we love, we love ourselves the most. But if we love ourselves more than we love Jesus, then, we cannot be Jesus’ disciples. Why? The answer is obvious. Jesus alone is good, and he is good all the time, whereas we are not always good; sometimes we are good, sometimes we are not good. But Jesus is different. He is good all the time. The four gospels prove the goodness of Jesus, for they describe all the good works of Jesus. 

So in order for us to be good we must love Jesus more than anyone else.  Practically it is more easily said than done. And in order for us to love Jesus more than anything or anyone else, we must make conscious decisions, so that we would choose Jesus over everything that is competing with Him.

    

This morning when I was seated on the couch in the living room, Rebekah woke up around 5:30 a.m. She came out to the living room and said to me, “Good morning.” Then she did three things: first she went to the kitchen, took a glass of water and consumed it; second, she came back to her desk in the living room, and grabbed a bag containing her Bible and the daily bread booklet; and third, she took the keys to the Bible center, and left home.  In fact this has been her routine for more than 30 years. And I call her routine “Rebekah’s choice.” Notice here the word “choice”. What is a choice? A choice is a noun from the verb “to choose” which means making a selection, selecting one out of many other things. During the morning hours she could have selected to do a variety of things. For example, upon waking up and seeing me, her beloved husband, she could have asked me, “Honey, you woke up so early! Can I fix a cup of coffee for you?” In fact I almost asked her to do that. But I did not ask her to do that, because I know that she prefers to go to the center and spend time with the Lord instead of spending time with me. 

Second, carry the cross

In a book entitled, “The Contemporary Christians”, John Stott (1921-1960) says in effect that discipleship consists in worship, faith, obedience, and hope. We can sum up worship and faith as the call to love Jesus the most. After an act of worship and faith in the Lord, comes obedience. Similarly Jesus says in verse 27 that if anyone does not carry his cross and follow Jesus, he cannot be Jesus’ disciple. 

Here then we find the second requirement for being a disciple of Jesus, that is, carrying his cross daily and following Jesus. What then does “cross” mean? Essentially it means to obey Jesus and his words. We know that Jesus is good. We also know that Jesus’ words are good. How then can we incorporate that which is good into our lives? It is through practicing what Jesus says. For example, Jesus says that we must love one another as Jesus loves each of us. Jesus also says, “Love your enemies.” When we obey Jesus’ commands, we can turn our enemies into our friends, for the best way to get rid of our enemies is to love them. 

In my opinion, carrying one’s cross means practicing what we know as good. The deal is that inasmuch as we know Jesus and his words are good, we choose to incorporate what is good into our lives by actually obeying Jesus and his commands. 

Again, this is more easily said than done. But when we remember that practice produces perfection (in character) we can joyfully go for what Jesus asks us to do. About a couple months ago one person I know bought a membership to LA Fitness. Why did he buy this membership? He did it because Dr. David Min who teaches pharmacology at the Western University of Health Science said, “You must exercise, for it is good for your body.” Then reluctantly he walked into LA Fitness. When he walked into the fitness center, a guy named “Joe” asked him to sit down in front of his desk. Joe explained to him a number of things: the meaning of “light-weight training”, the importance of building “muscles”, what food to eat, what food to hate, etc. One of the things Joe said was that in order for him to be in shape, he must exercise at least three times a week. Further, he must discipline his diet. For example, for breakfast, he must not eat the yellow part of eggs (the part called the ‘yoke’). The white part is good, but the yellow part is awful. This man found that it not easy to practice what Joe said. For example, every morning his wife serves him a fried egg for breakfast. And she believes that “the yellow” part is really good. But Joe said, “It is really bad.” He knows that Joe is right, so he tries not to eat the yoke. Of course it is not easy to exercise three times a week. But at least knowing that it is good to exercise, he is motivated to go to the gym more often.  

So is the case with obeying Jesus’ commands – the command to feed Jesus’ sheep, the command to make disciples of all nations, the command to do all Jesus asks us to do. And as we struggle to obey Jesus’ command beginning with a small thing, obeying one thing at a time, eventually the Lord will prove his goodness in our life. 

We find that the same proved true with his disciples. When we compare the life of the Apostle Paul before obeying Jesus’ world mission command and after obeying Jesus’ world mission command, we find a complete difference: before he obeyed Jesus’ command, he operated as an evil man. But after he obeyed Jesus’ world mission command, he became a totally good person. In order to get the gospel to the Gentile world, he went through tons of difficulties. But despite all the hardships, the Risen Jesus worked in his life, and the greatest work the Lord fulfilled was the change of the Apostle Paul himself. Certainly Paul’s example proves the truth that practice produces perfection in character. 

Third, give up everything

The third condition we need to meet in being a disciple of Jesus is to invest everything we have in Jesus Christ. In verses 28-33 Jesus explains this requirement with two examples: the example of a man building a tower and the example of a king who goes to war against another king. Building a tower is not a small venture. Unlike building a one story building like an apartment complex, building a tower requires a lot of investments for it must come with a stronger foundation, better materials than just two by fours, and much more. It requires a more sophisticated design. It can be a lot costlier than just building a California bungalow. The same is true with a king going to war against another king, for war can be very costly. Concerning the costliness of a nation going to war against another nation, Sun Tsu, the ancient Chinese military strategist says in his book, “The Art of War”, “War is the gravest venture of a nation. It is the way of existence or extinction. One should never get into a war without first counting the cost involved.” 

The two examples of Jesus – the example of a man building a tower, and the example of a king going to war against another king – has one message for us: that is, counting the cost, coming up with all the resources necessary, and then investing the resources to successfully finish the project. The message then consists of two parts: cost counting and investing. 

How much then does it cost for one to build a disciple out of himself? Surprisingly the answer is simple: everything. Look at verse 33. “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” Here three words get our attention: give up everything. Here “everything” refers to the sum total of the cost. “Give up” means “invest”. So let us think about the third condition in two parts:

1) The cost

The other side of the cost is value. The more valuable anything is, the higher the cost for it will be.  For the last five years the value of real estate in Downey almost tripled. It went up so much that it is virtually impossible for average Americans (even two bread earners) to buy a house in Downey. For example, a single family house in Downey starts out at $600,000. Normally in order to buy a house you need to make a 20% down payment. [Of course a lot of people talk about alternative programs like a zero down payment program, but it comes with pitfalls such as higher interest rates, higher closing costs, the need to buy PMI (private mortgage insurance) etc.] Now, 20% of $600,000 equals $120,000. And not many Americans have that much in savings! But let us assume that you have that much money saved up in your savings account. Even if you come up with a good interest rate like 7 or 6 percent, in order for you to be able to make the mortgage payments and all the other costs involved in owning a house such as property taxes and insurance, most of the lenders will require you to prove that your annual income is above $150,000. 

How much then does it cost for one to be a disciple of Jesus? To make the job easy, Jesus figured all things out: “everything”. What does “everything” mean? Everything means everything. The good thing is that it is “your” everything. Suppose you do not have any savings. Suppose you rather have a lot of debt such as credit card debts. Suppose you do not have a job or you have a job where you only earn minimum wage. Good for you! You are qualified! But here is the catch: the “everything”  means everything including your life, your ideas, your energy, your habits, your dreams, your passions, your everything. 

2) Investment

In verse 33 Jesus says, “…unless you give up everything, you cannot be my disciple.”     

Here the expression “give up” means “to let go of” or “to sacrifice”. For what should one let go of everything? For what are we called to sacrifice everything? The answer is obvious: to be a disciple of Jesus. In business terms, it means to sacrifice something in exchange for something else, or simply it is to invest all one has in Jesus Christ. And being a disciple of Jesus is such a valuable thing that in order to secure it, we must be willing to pay any price. 

Here is a fabulous aspect of investing one’s everything in Jesus. That is, Jesus does not charge us as any teachers in this world do. In fact being a disciple of Jesus is ‘for free’. In order to register in Jesus’ school of discipleship, we do not need to pay any kind of tuition fee. Why? It is because God gave us Jesus for free. In this world, nothing is free. But Jesus is for free. The only reason Jesus then says that we must give up everything is because of the truth that until we give up everything it is impossible for Jesus to bestow upon us the full load of what is true (his goodness) of him. 

The philosophers of this world also understood this truth and said, “To lose is to gain.” But it does not require a genius or a philosopher to figure this out, for our day to day experience says that in order for us to gain something valuable, we must learn to give up what is comparable to the gain we desire to secure. For example, if you want to get good grades at school, you need to give up the desire to play video games. Then, you’d better do your homework diligently. 

In Philippians 3:7-10, the Apostle Paul also realized this truth and said, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” So daily let us pray to invest our time and energy, and in this way all we have in and for Jesus. 

In conclusion, let us read verses 34-35. “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.    "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."” Here Jesus leaves us with a question: “…how can it be made salty again?” This indicates that a lot of people try to follow Jesus, but they do not make disciples out of themselves. And the essence of a disciple is described as “saltiness” which in turn means “Christ-likeness.” How then can we be a Christ-like person? Again we can become a Christ-like person by loving Jesus the most, carrying our cross daily, and learning to sacrifice everything we have for Jesus.  

One word: a salty Christian

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