In a Bible study, I participate in the ladies and I are being asked, “What do you love more than Jesus?” There are a few other questions. As I consider this one, it gets to the core of our walk with the LORD. I often think about the weight of this question. It is one as disciples of Jesus that we must evaluate. Not simply because it’s an estimation of our loyalty to our King but also because it is a command of our LORD.
The book of Luke is the study’s focus. We have not come to chapter 9:57-62 in our study. We can read that Jesus did not just tell people, “You have nothing you need to give up following me.” When Jesus calls his eventual Apostles, he says, “Follow me.” By their actions in Matthew 4:18-22, many left their work and family to obey the command after reading that you may begin to inhale with shoulders up and murmur opposition. I get it; we are asked to count the cost of following Jesus. It is seriously imperative that we answer.
Western Christianity hasn’t emphasized the cost to our lives and all we must offer to follow Jesus. When these topics arise, resistance is decried as “earning our salvation.” We cannot earn our salvation. It does come by grace, through faith. Faith is the fulcrum that takes us from spiritual death to life. Faith is not a work; it is taking in the evidence; grace allows us to believe the proof of who Jesus was and is. He does all the rescuing, simply believing credits us nothing. Faith does not work, it believes. Grace captures us before, during, and while we believe and walk with Jesus. Sadly, it hasn’t cost us much to come to Jesus in our modern American church. And because of this, many are offended even to consider such a question, "What do you love more than Jesus?" Even the thought of having to consider this question, in our minds, we begin to put things we value with our lives behind our backs, hoping we can hide those from him.
In Luke 9:57-62, there are three encounters with men who enthusiastically wanted to follow Jesus. Jesus’ life and work were an invitation to follow Him. In these verses, Jesus gave the cost to those who thought they’d be ready to become His disciples. The first declared, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus challenged that. The challenge was not so the man would not follow but that he would count the cost. The text does not tell us whether he did or didn’t. The second was Jesus’ invitation, “Come, follow me.” The man counted the cost and recognized there were things he held to more than the One offering the invitation. Jesus told him the cost. It has been inferred by many who preach on this passage that the man did not follow. There is no implicit statement that he went away and did not follow. The third states, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first, let me say goodbye to my family.” Jesus again characterizes what it will cost to follow in verse 62, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” Those are powerful words, “not fit for the Kingdom of God.” We are not told whether any of these men followed Jesus, like the rich man in Matthew 19:22-24 where the text says, “When the young man heard that, he went away grieving…” He was challenged in the same way as these three, but he loved his wealth more than his desire to be justified by Jesus. Jesus does require that those who follow him consider the cost.
Matthew 10:37-39 goes further with the cost of discipleship, “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” The Word of God qualifies these in the context of God’s character. When Jesus explains the two greatest commands, “You shall the Lord your God…. You shall love your neighbor as yourselves…” Living out the cost of following Jesus is not dismissing or feeling less connected to those we love or the things he has gifted us. We must be willing to offer them to God to follow him fully. We must be willing to offer them, putting Him first. We see this in the Old Testament with Abraham in Genesis 22.
Abraham exemplifies the cost of his discipleship in a story that aggrieves many of our sensibilities. His faith is proven true. He is asked by God, “offer his son…” We read this to the extent of Abraham taking Isaac, a teen or in his 20s, to the Mount to be offered to God. This story is concluded, “… I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.” Unfortunately, most conversations focus on “How could God do that?” That misses the point reiterated in the New Testament. God commands us to love and care for our family. He directs us to put others before ourselves. He commands children to honor their parents. He directs wives to submit to their husbands as unto the Lord. He warns husbands that their prayers can be hindered if they don’t love their wives as their own bodies. With all this Scriptural context, when we are told to count the cost of not putting any of these relationships before Him, it does not impede us from continuing to put people before ourselves as Jesus did in His death and resurrection. God loved Isaac more than Abraham did. His direction was similar to Jesus', "Will you offer everything?"
Jesus counted the cost of coming as the propitiation for our sins. We forget what He had to give up to obey the Father. He counted the cost by rejecting Israel's desire to make Him King. He rejected their self-aggrandizing purpose, desiring Him to revolt against Rome. He went against the rules that made their religion their god by healing on the Sabbath, traveling through Samaria, touching a leper, and more. In this way, His Father’s will was of the utmost importance. When we are told the cost of our discipleship, it is simply to ask, “Is living for God in obedience above all else and everyone else?” That is where counting the cost begins.
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