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Demands of Discipleship Luke 14.25-33 Introduction: Three times the Lord said you cannot be my disciple unless we do something. Jesus is talking about His demands on His disciples. I) Background A) What is a disciple? 1. A learner or student of; one who takes what he hears and puts it into action. He is practitioner of something. 2. Matthew 28.18-20 Go make disciples of all nations teaching them to observe (to follow). B) A disciple must 1. John 8.31-32 abide in, continue in, stay in the word 2. We read of those who were disciples of Moses, John the Baptist, and Jesus. There must be a master or teacher for one to be a disciple. 3. A Christian is a follower of Christ, Acts 11.26. C) More than a title 1. Our sign reads "Church of Christ" but some churches have the same phrase but they are not really followers of Christ. 2. We may call ourselves Christians or disciples of Christ but are we really following Christ? II) What are the demands of discipleship? A) Luke 14.26 God must come before family 1. To hate is hyperbole -- "When more is said than is literally meant" a. Hyper -- over and above or beyond. b. Bole -- a casting, to throw. c. Literally to cast or go beyond, overshoot, to exaggerate. 2. To hate here means to love less than. We must love these less than Jesus. a. The blood of Christ must be stronger than our own families blood. b. See Matthew 10.37 is a parallel account; to love more than me is not worthy of Me. 3. Who comes first in our lives? a. Jesus or our spouse? Do we allow a spouse to draw us away from God? b. Our children or Jesus? Do we change our beliefs when it affects our family? c. Do we allow relatives who come right before services to stop us from coming. B) Luke 14.27 God must come before self 1. Principle first stated in verse 26 2. We must bear the cross. What does this mean? a. Before my fleshly desire, Titus 2.11ff i. The grace of God is connected to the word of God ii. The grace of God teaches us iii. To deny ungodliness -- which is a disrespect and disregard for God. To be irreligious. iv. Worldly lust -- 1 John 2.15-17. Lust is inordinate or unlawful desire. b. Mark 10.28 our personal comfort i. v. 29 we must hate these things ii. v. 30a He speaks of our spiritual family which we will gain iii. but this will come with persecution. We today have religious liberty but it may change. 3. Luke 14.27 what is Jesus really saying? a. Rome crucified people for a reason; to intimidate and put fear into people b. Jesus had to bear His cross on the way to Calvary. c. See a person bearing a cross meant they were already dead. d. We might have to die for the Lord, Revelation 2.10. C) Luke 14.28-30 Must count the cost 1. The cost is from start to finish. 2. Some people are baptized but then fall away; they had not counted the cost. 3. We must make the commitment to count the cost. a. Watching Tim Tebow on ESPN as he trained for his first year in the NFL. b. He one time said "no one will out work us, or play harder than we will." c. How about us? We must study, stand for the truth, defend the truth, etc. 4. Our services are training services. Do I have to go to all the services? Yes D) Luke 14.31-32 War and Peace 1. We are soldiers, we are at war with the devil, sin, and the flesh. 2. Titus 2.5-9 addressed to elders. a. Verse 9 be able to exhort and convict or stop false teachers. b. Verses 10-11 must out teach them 3. Jude 3 addressed to all Christians 4. There is also a time for peace to be peace makers. Some brethren have not learned this lesson. a. Ecc. 3.8 " A time of war, and a time of peace". Romans 12.18; Romans 14.19; Hebrews 12.14 b. Blessed are the peace makers (first must make peace with God) E) Luke 14.33 Wraps it all together 1. Must be willing to forsake all, everything already mentioned plus everything else. a. Cell phone, computer, hobbies, car, house, money, ballgames, my times, social status. b. John 12.42-43 God must come before the brethren. Conclusion: The price might be high but look at what you gain. A spiritual family, fellowship with God, the avenue of prayer, eternal life in heaven. (Adapted from a sermon by Lanny Smith). D.T.
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