What it Takes to be a Christian
Luke 14:25-35
I think we could probably all agree that life can be really difficult at times, right? And on top of normal, everyday life difficulties, we have the difficulty of attempting to follow the teaching and commands of Jesus. It’s not easy for sure. Jesus warned His disciples of life’s difficulties ahead of them, and there is a certain amount of perseverance, determination, and steadfastness that we as followers of Jesus seek to have… but have you ever felt like you just didn’t have what it really takes to be a Christian- a good follower, a good disciple of Jesus? Have you ever compared yourself to others that seem like they are doing a good job following Jesus? A pastor, a missionary, an evangelist, a Christian speaker or author? And in looking at the lives of some of these folks that we admire, thoughts perhaps come to mind, thoughts like- “Man, I’ll never be like them.” Or “Maybe I’m just not cut out to be a good disciple of Jesus like those guys are.” If you have ever felt like this, then I have some good news for you this morning. We’re going to be looking at a teaching from Jesus that I believe has often been misunderstood, in Luke 14, verses 25-35. Let’s read the passage in its entirety, and then we’ll attempt to unpack it and understand it’s meaning.
From the context described in verse 25, and the illustrations Jesus presented, it appears that many were following Jesus who didn’t really understand what it meant to be a true follower of Him. So, in this passage, Jesus lays out some terms in order to provoke some self-reflection, hopefully leading the people at that time- and us today- to understand what a true follower of Jesus looks like- helping us to better follow Him.
Let’s look first at verse 26… Now be assured, Jesus is not commanding His disciples to hate anyone. Obviously hate is not the message of Jesus nor the Bible. Jesus would never say something that would contradict God’s commandments. The fifth commandments says “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.” (Exodus 20:12) I’m pretty confident hate is not a part of biblically honoring your parents. Nor is hate part of honoring your wife, Ephesians 5:25 states “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” No, we’re not to really hate father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters or ourselves as Ephesians 5:29 says “for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church.” Jesus even says later that a defining characteristic of His disciples to the world will be their love, not their hate. He says “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)
Jesus here is using a figure of speech. What He is saying is that a follower of Jesus should love Him so much, that the love they have for their family pales in comparison. He is challenging our relationship priorities. Following Him demands that He is number one in our lives, and it’s only through Him being number one, that we can then truly love others, family and friends, in a significant, meaningful way.
I want us to pause for a moment and really take in the words “cannot be My disciple.” If Jesus is not priority number one, above yourself or anyone else, then you cannot be His disciple. This isn’t saying “cannot be a pastor, missionary, teacher, good Christian”- no, it’s basically saying you can’t be a Christian at all unless Jesus is your number one priority.
Verse 27… Often this verse gets misused. We’ll say things like “Yeah, it’s my cross to bear…” speaking of different kinds of trials in life, but when Jesus mentions the cross here and in other places, He’s referring specifically to death. Not trials, not hardships- but death. Death to oneself, death to a former way of life- surrendering in death. And notice it doesn’t say carry “His cross,” as in we are to carry Jesus’ cross- no, we are each to carry our own cross. We are each to die to ourselves, to our own desires, to our viewpoints, opinions, understanding- we are to die to this world so that we can be raised to new life in Him- living for His desires, according to His viewpoints and opinions. We are to die so that we can live in the newness of His eternal Kingdom. And again, let the words “cannot be My disciple” sink in. These two verses describe the first steps of becoming a Christian, this is Christianity 101, these verses describe the basic premise behind the whole gospel. If we don’t get this concept of surrendering all to Him- ourselves and all other relationships, then we cannot be called a disciple of Christ. All of us, who claim to be Christians, need to consider- has there ever been a time in our life in which we decided to surrender all to Jesus according to this level of surrender that these verses describe? If not can we, biblically speaking, say that we are Christians? Maybe we’ve prayed a prayer, or made a “decision for Christ,” but the decision He requires is this decision- to surrender all to Him. Not that He’s going to take everything away from us, but we hold everything loosely, letting Him take full command of every area of our lives, knowing that whatever He takes, He gives back exponentially.
I’ve heard it described as a little girl playing with her plastic pearl necklace. And the Father wants to give her real pearls instead, but only after she gives Him her plastic ones. But she resists, it’s easy for her to say “My pearls!” and cling to her fake necklace. God wants to give us better things, but we have to let go of our things first. And then to demonstrate His point further, Jesus in verses 28-30 gives the illustration of building a tower. Often, we think of these verses as a warning to make sure we realize how hard it is going to be to follow Jesus. Well, what do we do if we didn’t read this verse before committing our lives to Jesus, and now we’ve been attempting to follow Him for 5, 10, 20 years or more and it’s just now that we are able to see that we really don’t have what it takes to follow Him? What do we do? How many people out there, when presented the gospel, are really able to see the whole scope of what following Jesus entails? Is this verse implying that Christianity is all about mustering up enough strength, energy, will-power, resources, gifts and talents, and making an honest assessment of oneself to be able to say “I have what it takes to follow Jesus?” That doesn’t sound like the heart of the gospel, right? He then tells another illustration, giving us another opportunity to try and understand what it is that He is teaching. Verse 31-32…
Ok, verse 31 tells us the king is up against highly unlikely odds, if not close to impossible odds- 10,000 soldiers against 20,000 soldiers- 2 to 1. Now, leaving modern technology in weapons aside, there’s not going to be too many kings, presidents, commanders- that would consider sending in 10,000 trained soldiers to fight against 20,000 trained soldiers. More than likely it would be slaughter- a huge loss. So, what does the wise king do? Verse 32 says he sends a delegation of peace before engaging in a battle he can’t win. Now typically in a situation like this, during these times, a delegation asking for terms of peace would really mean that one side is surrendering completely to the other. This delegation is being sent out not to negotiate some semblance of coexistence, no this delegation is being sent out to declare complete surrender in order to keep the peace. From this point on the land of the 10,000 will be subject to the rule of the 20,000- they will be told what to do, when to do it, where to go, how much to give, and who they will now answer to. The king, rather than attempting to build a tower he couldn’t finish, wisely chooses to save his 10,000 from certain death in order that they might serve a more powerful king. Now we’re getting a step closer to understanding what Jesus is really trying to convey in the story of building the tower.
In verse 33 Jesus tells us flat out what the meaning of these two illustrations is… He started this whole discussion in verse 26 saying that a disciple’s love for His family must pale in comparison to their love for Him. Concerning relationships- He has to be priority! And now He is saying that concerning possessions- He has to be priority. He has to be the prize possession. A disciple’s love for things must pale in comparison to their love for Him. A disciple’s love for others must pale in comparison to their love for Him. A disciple’s love for himself must pale in comparison to their love for Him. He requires all from His disciples, priority in relationships, priority in possessions, priority even over oneself.
How do we love Him like this? Is this what we are to evaluate before building a tower- our capacity to love Him? Do we look inside, and muster up all the love we can and then evaluate it and see if it’s enough love to sustain us through the journey of being His disciple? No, this is not the take away from the parable of the tower. The take away of this whole passage is that Jesus requires complete surrender, not complete assessment of oneself to see if we have what it takes to be a true disciple of His. You and I don’t have what it takes to be disciples of Jesus. You and I don’t have enough love to sustain us through the journey of following Jesus. You and I don’t have enough focus, determination, will-power, stamina, to sustain ourselves through the long haul of following Him. You and I are not equipped to live this life right, we are not worthy enough to be considered followers of Him. And if somehow, we have been convinced otherwise, that somehow we do have enough love, grit, will-power, worthiness to follow Him- then we’re going to keep building our tower, and one day it will be brought to our attention that we actually didn’t have enough to finish it. One day we’ll end up defeated, realizing that we attempted to win a war with 10,000 battling 20,000.
Let go of building your tower- you won’t be able to finish it. Surrender fully to Him. Don’t fight a war you can’t win relying on yourself, your relationships, your possessions- in the end you will have nothing, it will be a total loss. Instead, surrender fully to Him.
What does God require of you? The answer is everything. No matter whether you consider yourself great or insignificant, rich or poor, successful or unsuccessful- God’s standard is fair and equal across the board, he requires the same amount from everyone- all are required to give ALL. He requires that everything we have be available for Him to do with as He wishes. Nothing held back. Following Jesus is like handing God a blank check. It’s saying whatever I have is Yours, whatever You tell me to do I’ll do it, wherever You tell me to go I’ll go.
I heard Chip Ingram recently give a modern-day illustration of a man walking into the bank and asking to pull out $1000 from his account. And the teller replies “$1000?! What are you going to do with $1000? You can’t ask for that, that’s completely unreasonable- I’m telling the manager!” And the manager comes over to the teller and whispers in her ear, “It’s his money, he can pull out whatever he wants, anytime he wants to.” As followers of Jesus, we have signed all our accounts over to Him. And I’m not primary talking about money, I’m talking about everything that we are, own, and know. It’s all His. And here’s the thing, if God wants to pull out $1000 from our account, He’s going to do something great with that money. What do you think He’s going to do, squander it? No, He’s going to do something amazing with it, and we’re going to reap the benefit of it.
This passage reflects the lesson of the loaves and the fish. The disciples were thinking about how they might go into town and purchase enough food to feed the 5,000. They were going to build that tower and it surely wasn’t going to be enough. They were going to march against that 20,000 with their 10,000 and it would have ended poorly. And Jesus rescued them, basically saying “Look and see what you do have and bring it to me.” And He took from them everything they came up with- 5 loaves and 2 fish. It could have been 20 loaves and 7 fish, it could have been 1 loaf and half a fish- and He still would have taken it all, requiring complete surrender of all to Him, so that He could give in return something much greater.
This passage teaches the lesson from the parable of the hidden treasure. “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matt. 13:44) It’s the lesson from the parable of the costly pearl: “…the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matt 13:45-46)
This is the lesson Jesus later gets so excited to see played out in real life with the widow’s gift. Seeing the wealthy bringing their gifts to the temple treasury, and then a poor widow putting in her two small copper coins in the temple treasury, Jesus calls His disciples over and says “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.” (Luke 21:4) But it wasn’t about the money, in the verses that immediately follow, those who were around Jesus were talking about the rich adornments of the temple and He replied to them that all of the grandeur was going to be toppled down anyway. (Luke 21:6) God didn’t need the widow’s two copper coins, He wanted her heart. He wanted her trust. He wanted her to be solely reliant on Him. And He wants the same from you and I. Not just wants, but requires the same from you and I. Verses 34-35…
Now what does salt have to do with surrendering all to Jesus? Let me tell you what I believe Jesus is saying here. One of the chemical properties of salt- NaCl Sodium Chloride- is that it tastes salty. Saltiness is one of its defining characteristics. It’s nearly impossible for salt not to taste salty. In the same way, one of the defining characteristics of a follower of Jesus is that they surrender all to Him. It’s impossible to be a Christian and have not surrendered to Jesus. And if by some wild circumstance salt loses its flavor, it is useless. In the same way, a Christian who hasn’t surrendered to Jesus is equally useless.
So how is this good news? Perhaps this hasn’t felt like good news, hearing about how God requires everything in order to be a Christian. The good news is that you don’t actually have to have what it takes to be the Christian you’ve always wanted to be. You don’t have to beat yourself up measuring yourself against others you deem as “super Christians.” You don’t have what it takes, and this is good news. You can stop building your tower and rest. You can surrender now and miss the inevitable defeat from the 20,000 marching against you. All it requires is complete surrender to the One who owns everything, who knows everything, who can do anything. I guess in a sense we could say that you and I have actually do have what it takes to be great Christians. What that is, is not necessarily the determination, focus, skill, talents, but rather whatever we do have, everything, all- whether great or small- giving that all is what is required to be a great Christian. You never have to worry about one day having enough, being enough, doing enough- what you have right now is enough, but it’s going to require ALL of it. Complete surrender. Whether you have much to surrender or little to surrender- it just has to be complete. And this is good news. No matter what has been given to you in life or taken from you in life, all you are required to offer to the Lord is what you have right now. He doesn’t require more than what you have, but He doesn’t require less than what you have. All is His anyway.
Are you ready to sign the blank check and surrender all over to God? Do you see the value of the kingdom and the blessing and reward God wants to give you if you’d just hand Him over the plastic pearls? For some of you this might mean a first time full surrender to the Lord, a first time decision to throw all in, resisting God no longer and choosing to follow Jesus. For others this might mean letting go more, and trusting God more in some areas in your life. Some of us might need to shift some priorities in our lives after reading this passage. And Jesus is telling us over and over again, that it’s worth it. That this surrender gives us so much more than we could ever have on our own. This surrender will entitle us to the amazing buried treasure. This surrender will give us the really expensive great pearl that is so much better and more valuable than just the few little ones we’ve been holding onto. In contrast, not surrendering will lead to an unfinished tower and ridicule. Not surrendering will lead to defeat and death.
I want us now to bow our heads, close our eyes, and examine our hearts. I want us each to evaluate and calculate- as Jesus says- building the tower and facing the 20,000. And my encouragement to you would be to surrender fully to Jesus, now, in this moment, every area of your life.