Welcome to Day 26 - the final day of parables we'll be reading through in this blogging series (although be sure to check back in here for Day 27 & 28, as I have a few more goodies to share over the weekend!).
In today’s passage of Scripture, we'll be reading Luke 14: 25 - 35, the parable of counting the cost of building ...
Now great crowds were traveling with Him. So He turned and said to them: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."
“For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the onlookers will begin to make fun of him, saying, ‘This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ “Or what king, going to war against another king, will not first sit down and decide if he is able with 10,000 to oppose the one who comes against him with 20,000? If not, while the other is still far off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not say good-bye to all his possessions cannot be My disciple.
“Now, salt is good, but if salt should lose its taste, how will it be made salty? It isn’t fit for the soil or for the manure pile; they throw it out. Anyone who has ears to hear should listen!” In a recent poll, George Gallup concluded that "fewer than ten percent of evangelical Christians could be called deeply committed. Most of those who profess Christianity don’t know basic teachings and don’t act differently because of their Christian experience."
And in another survey, George Barna discovered that "almost half (46%) of evangelicals read their Bible only once a week or not at all." (Steven J. Cole)
In today’s parable, Jesus is laying out a stark truth for His Followers and would-be-Followers: To truly follow Jesus Christ, we must consider the cost and put Him above everything else.
This lesson seems almost contradictory to His previous story, in which Jesus presented God’s free invitation of the gospel.
If you read my blog post yesterday, you'll remember the expansiveness of His invitation: the Father has provided everything at His expense and He invites sinners to come to His great dinner, and even more astounding, there's nothing you can bring or do to earn an invitation. The contradiction Jesus poses here is this: Salvation is absolutely free - all it costs you is your very life.
This teaching is a bitter pill for many to swallow. A lot of so-called Christians have a misunderstanding of Scripture, and falsely believe that they can be "saved" and become a Christian, and then only (maybe) become a disciple at some later date, when they choose to make Jesus their Lord.
Unfortunately, these arguments fall apart because of the simple fact that Jesus Christ is Lord. It is a crucial aspect of His identity and it cannot be separated from salvation according to Romans 10: 9, "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
Naturally, people prefer preaching and teaching about God’s grace, when that grace is defined as God’s covenant loyalty to redeem and save people.
But we can just as naturally neglect preaching about the covenant loyalty that is expected from us in return.
Salvation in Jesus isn't simply a transaction - it is, at heart, a covenantal relationship. And no relationship lasts without loyalty and commitment, on the part of both parties.
Jesus Christ freely offers the water of life to everyone who thirsts. But we need to understand that when we receive His free offer, we are no longer our own; we have been bought with a price.
And this is the message of today’s parable: if we desire to truly follow Christ, we must consider the cost and not merely follow Him superficially, only to turn back later when things get tough. That's what Jesus is warning His Followers against in this text.
"Today’s parables highlight the true cost of following Christ all the way to the cross. Everything else must be placed in submission to our role as a disciple of Christ—including our family, work, and entertainment." (Sarah Koontz)
As Paul Apple puts it, this parable teaches Believers that the whole-hearted demands of genuine Christian disciple demolish " superficial believism".
Heavenly Father, Thank You that I am saved by grace through faith in Christ's finished work on Calvary.
Lord, I want to be Your disciple and to take up my cross daily and follow You in humble obedience. May I willingly submit to Your will in every area of my life, so that I may be continuously transformed into the likeness of Christ, to Your praise and glory.
This I pray in Jesus name, Amen. (Source: https://prayer.knowing-jesus.com/Luke/14)