Sermon Tone Analysis

There is a huge debate in the contemporary church, on an issue that is more important to us than any other.

And this debate has to do with how we answer a simple question:

"What must I do to be saved?"

Surely, there is no more basic question that every person must answer.

None of us want to go through the entirety of our lives, only to discover that we answered this incorrectly.

What a tragedy it would be, to think you are saved, to go through life thinking God is pleased with you, and that you have eternal life, and then on the last day, have God tell you, "No.

You have no entrance into my kingdom."

When you ask most people in the pews what we must do to be saved, you will find the answer goes something like this: "Admit that I have sinned.

Believe that Jesus is God, and that he died on the cross for my sins.

Confess Jesus as Savior."

It's very simple.

There are verses, taken out of context, that give the appearance of logic and biblical truth to this.

But it's very wrong.

A few people in every church talk about reaching out to the world, and telling people the good news about Jesus.

But I have come to believe that my main mission field is within these four walls.

I see congregation after congregation that doesn't understand what God wants from them.

They don't understand how we are supposed to respond to the good news.

So what I want to do to today is teach a very simple message.

I'll use the ESV.

There will be no fancy Greek.

Nothing complicated.

25 Now 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.

27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' 31 Or 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?

32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

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25 Now 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.

Jesus has reached the point in his ministry where he has become incredibly popular.

People know Jesus is something special.

They have seen his miracles; they have heard his teachings.

They are drawn to him.

And what are the crowds doing?

They are "accompanying" him.

They are "going along with him."

Most churches, and most pastors, would see this, and they would lift their voices to God in praise.

"Praise God who is blessing this church.

Praise God for the large crowds."

But what does Jesus say?

What is his response?

"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."

Jesus sees people "accompanying" him.

But that's not what Jesus wants.

Jesus wants people who will "come" to him.

And it's not enough to come to Jesus.

You have to come to Jesus, and despise everything else in your life-- and despise even your own life.

If you don't despise everything else, you can't be Jesus' disciple.

There are some who read this, and they casually keep reading.

They think there is no challenge here.

Nothing scary.

Because they think one of two things.

(1) Some people think Jesus is talking about something optional, done secondarily after people are saved.

First, people become Christians.

Then, later on, they realize that there's a cost to being a Christian.

Jesus wants you to be a Christian, and then a disciple.

And so they hear this, and they half-shrug their shoulders and they think to themselves, "Yes, I know this is something I need to work toward."

Does it sound like Jesus is saying this?

Is he saying, "It's great if you believe that I will die on the cross for your sins, but if you want to get an "A," you need to hate everything else about your life."

No.

In Luke-Acts (same author, a two-part work) there is no distinction between Christians and disciples.

We read in Acts 11:26 that it was at Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

Disciples, are Christians.

Christians, are disciples.

So when Jesus is challenging the crowds here in Luke 14, he's telling them, "If you don't hate everything, and everyone, even yourself, you can't be a Christian."

This language about hating maybe bothers you.

I hope it does.

I don't want to water it down, but I think what he's actually saying is, "You need to commit yourself solely to me."

His first words prove this-- "if anyone comes to me." Do you want to come to Jesus?

This is how you do it.

You give him everything.

This is the only way to come to Jesus.

(2) Other people read these verses and don't panic because they think Jesus' words aren't for us.

Jesus' teaching was only relevant for people who lived while he was on earth.

But now that he has died on the cross, we are saved simply by believing in Jesus.

This teaching is most closely associated with Dallas Theological Seminary, and it has spread throughout the church.

It's known as dispensationalism.

You will find it, most famously, in the Scofield Study Bible.

These people will say the only parts of the Bible we actually have to obey, are parts of the book of Acts, and everything that follows.

Jesus' words were only supposed to be applied by the twelve disciples.

What makes this teaching particularly stupid is that we most of us know the Great Commission in Matt.

28:18-20.

There, Jesus calls his disciples to make disciples of all nations.

And do they do that?

By teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded.

Jesus expects people to obey his words.

That is at the heart of what it means to be his disciple.

Our mission, as the church, is largely to teach people what Jesus taught, and teach them to obey it.

That's how you make Christians.

That's how you make disciples--it's the same thing (Acts 11:26).

Jesus then expands on this in verse 27:

27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

We talk sometimes about "bearing our crosses," but if someone pressed on what that means, I'm not sure we'd have an answer.

I think what it means is being willing to die.

Following Jesus doesn't just mean despising everything else in your life, it means despising life itself.

If coming to Jesus means I will die, then I will die.

I am willing.

Jesus will bear his cross, and die.

And we are supposed to follow on his path.

If you aren't willing to do this, you can't be his disciple.

But someone at this point will say, surely, you can't teach this to non-Christians.

You'll scare them off.