Good morning, my name is Sean. I'm one of the pastors of Trinity Kendrick Church.
It's my privilege to preach God's Word to you this morning.
We are in Luke chapter 14.
If you do not have a Bible, please raise your hand.
And Sungmin's going around right now with a few Bibles that you can use.
You could grab one and read it this morning while we're going through.
So we've been going through the Gospel of Luke and we are in chapter 14, verses 25 to 35.
Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.
Heavenly Father, we are a people that are governed by your Word.
Because we worship not a mute idol that cannot speak, but a God who speaks.
A God to whom we are accountable.
God who is Lord over our lives and over the universe.
We come to you humbly, desiring to submit ourselves to your laws, to the guidance you provide in your Word.
So please now teach us this morning what it means to be a follower of Christ.
What it means to be a true disciple.
And shape us more and more to be the kind of disciples you want us to be.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Luke 14, 25 to 35.
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,
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.
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?
Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying,
This man began to build and was not able to finish.
Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000?
And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?
It is of no use, either for the soil or for the manure pile.
It is thrown away.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
This is God's infallible authoritative word.
We've all made decisions in our lives that have proved costly at one point or another.
Going to college, for example, is costly.
It's not only a commitment of your next four years.
It's, for many people, a commitment to repay debt for the next 10 or 20 years.
Making that decision means that you're not going to be able to do a lot of other things.
It's a consequential decision.
It's a costly decision.
Similarly, getting a pet is costly.
Not only the cost of the pet itself, but the cost of vet visits, food, pet sitters, grooming, and time spent in walking and cleaning and entertaining the pet.
It's a choice with consequences.
Getting married is costly.
Having children is costly.
It transforms all of your relationships and radically reorients your life.
Of course, there are many benefits to all these decisions.
But there are also significant costs.
The costs vary, but all of our decisions to varying degrees, small or large, have costs attached to them.
And it's wise to think about those costs before we make those decisions.
And our passage for today is a turning point in the Gospel of Luke.
Because from chapter 11 until now, Jesus has spent most of the time really engaging in debate with the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees.
And having kind of controversial conversations with them.
But from now on until he dies on the cross for the sins of his people, the focus is really on Christian discipleship.
What does it mean to be a disciple?
To be a follower of Jesus?
Jesus.
And here in Luke 14, 25 to 35, Jesus teaches the crowds that are following him that they must renounce all other allegiances in order to follow him.
That's the main point of our passage.
We must renounce all other allegiances in order to follow Jesus.
And it's a full commitment, not a halfway commitment.
And in this passage, it talks about the impossibility of a halfway discipleship.
And then a foolishness of halfway discipleship.
And the uselessness of halfway discipleship.
So first, let's talk about the impossibility of halfway discipleship in verses 25 to 27.
Verse 25 begins this way.
Now great crowds accompanied him, and Jesus turned and said to them.
Luke frequently notes the presence of large crowds following Jesus.
But instead of regaling the masses, entertaining them with a crowd-pleasing speech,
often Jesus preaches his most hard-hitting messages when he has crowds following him.
And that's because Jesus is not looking for adoring fans.
Jesus is not looking for fans, but for committed disciples.
He's not looking to boost his numbers or his approval ratings.
And Jesus explains in the parable of the weeds in Matthew chapter 13,
that whenever God plants the seed of the gospel, things grow.
But within the wheat that grows, among the wheat that grow, there's also weeds.
The weeds and the wheat always grow together.
And so Jesus, because he understands this reality well,
he's not impressed or swayed by the crowds, the size of the crowds that follow him.
Instead of seeking to appease the crowds,
so then Jesus appeals to them with this high call to discipleship.
And actually he is actively trying to dissuade people
who have not counted the cost of following Jesus from following him.
He wants everyone that follows him to count the cost before following him.
So Jesus says to the crowds in verses 26 to 27,
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.
Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
This is the most blunt statement on Christian discipleship in the Gospel of Luke.
And it's intentionally phrased in a way that's shocking and diametrical.
When we hear the word hate, and as English speakers,
we immediately think of it in terms of our emotion, right?
Having a malicious intent towards someone or really despising someone.
But Jesus is not teaching us here to despise our family members.
Rather, the love and hate dichotomy is a Hebrew idiom
that is frequently used to indicate the choice of one over another.
When you're making an important consequential decision,
and you're choosing one thing over another,
that's often described in ancient Hebrew in terms of love and hate.
So in English, we might say something like,
I love God more than I love my family.
But an ancient Jew would say,
I love God and hate my family.
It's to show the way they have made a clear choice to prefer one
and to prioritize one over the other.
It's not unlike a jealous sibling.
Many of you guys have siblings.
A jealous sibling that protests to his or her parent,
you don't love me.
Of course, what they really mean is,
you don't love me as much as you love my brother or my sister.
But they put it that way to communicate the fact
that they have made a clear preference,
a choice of one over the other.
You don't love me.
And so that's what's going on here.
And you see this throughout the Bible.
Genesis 29.30 says that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah.
But then it describes that priority this way in the following verses.
It says,
Jacob went into Rachel also,
and he loved Rachel more than Leah,
and served Laban for another seven years.
When the Lord saw that Leah was hated,
he opened her womb,
but Rachel was bare.
So the reality is,
he loved Leah less than he loved Rachel,
but that is described in terms of hate,
that Leah was hated.
It says,
And Leah conceived and bore a son,
and she called his name Reuben,
for she said,
Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction,
for now my husband will love me.
So that's what this is referring to.
That's the same expression that is used later in Malachi 1.2-3,
quoted in Romans 9.13,
As it is written,
Jacob I loved,
but Esau I hated.
Here God's not saying that he does not love Esau in an emotional sense.
Rather, it's the language of covenantal election,
that God chose to fulfill his promises to his people through Jacob,
and not through Esau.
That God chose Jacob over Esau.
That's what that's expressing.
It's a language of choice.
And that's why,
if you look at the parallel of this Luke passage in Matthew 10.37,
the Hebrew idiom is explained in a more understandable way,
this way,
whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
So then Jesus is not telling us literally to hate our family members.
In fact,
one of the Ten Commandments is to honor your father and mother.
And 1 Timothy 5.8 teaches us that if anyone does not provide for his relatives,
and especially for members of his household,
he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
So you should love your families and take care of them.
That's not what Jesus is talking about.
But let's not water down what Jesus is saying, however.
Because he is demanding that we make a clear choice.
Because if you love your family more than you love Jesus,
then you cannot be a disciple of Jesus.
Notice the language that is used.
It doesn't say that if you love your family more than you love me,
that's not ideal.
It says that it's impossible.
He doesn't say that if you love your family more than me,
then you'll be a bad disciple.
No, he says if you love your family more than me,
you cannot be my disciple.
You must make a clear choice to prefer Jesus and following him
over all other commitments and relationships.
And this was particularly important in this context,
in the ancient world,
because Christians would encounter all kinds of persecution.
And most Jews who would convert in this context
to follow Jesus Christ
would then be subsequently disowned
and rejected by their own family members.
And so this was a cost that they had to count and to bear.
And in our church, actually,
there are several people in our church
that have experienced similar persecution
or pressure from their own family members
for following Jesus.
But for most of us, we haven't experienced that.
But even for us,
this is an important requirement to heed.
Do you love God more than you love your father and mother?
Because Jesus says,
if anyone comes to me
and does not hate his own father and mother,
he cannot be my disciple.
Karen Fingerman,
who teaches human development and family sciences
at the University of Texas, Austin,
published a paper last year
entitled Millennials and Their Parents.
We have a lot of millennials in our church.
I think I barely made the cut.
You guys don't believe me.
So she's documenting the changes
that have taken place in society
that have made young adults more dependent on
and closer to their parents than ever before.
Some of the changes that she notes
is that first,
there was a rise of helicopter parenting
and tiger moms
who are involved in every facet of their kids' lives
and really trying to dictate
the course of their lives
to the nth degree.
So that's the first phenomenon.
The second phenomenon
was the simultaneous rise
of the perceived importance of education
and the cost of education,
which means more and more people
end up going to college
and getting higher education
and also end up being more in debt
for a long time.
And the third phenomenon
is the lack of high-paying job opportunities
when millennials first began
to enter the workforce.
And so all of these things
have conspired together
to make young adults
stay with their parents
or remain dependent on their parents
for much longer
than previous generations have.
And through that,
they also develop
very close relationships at times
where sometimes adversarial
kind of love-hate relationship
but still very much desiring
to please their parents.
But if you desire
to please your parents,
if your desire
to become something,
to make them proud,
is more important to you
than pleasing the Lord Jesus Christ,
you cannot be a disciple
of Jesus Christ.
Similarly, Jesus says,
if anyone comes to me
and does not hate his own wife,
he cannot be my disciple.
Of course, the vice versa
is also true.
If your life revolves
around your boyfriend
or girlfriend
and you cannot give them up
even though
they are unbelievers
drawing you
farther and farther away
from the Lord,
if your desire
to please your husband
or to please your wife
outweighs your desire
to please the Lord,
then you cannot be
a disciple of Jesus Christ.
If your spouse
is the center of your life
and your purposes
and priorities
flow from them
and not from God,
not only is it detrimental
to them
because then you're
drawing them away
from the Lord,
you cannot be
a disciple of Christ.
If anyone comes to me
and does not hate
his own children,
he cannot be
my disciple,
Joseph Epstein,
not to be confused
with Jeffrey Epstein
that's been in the news,
is an acclaimed author
who writes in
a weekly standard,
in the weekly standard,
and he wrote this article
entitled Kindergarchy,
and he writes in it
that for the past
30 years at least,
we have been lavishing
vast expense
and anxiety
on our children
in ways that are
unprecedented
in American
and in perhaps
any other national life.
Such has been
the weight of all
this concern
about children
that it has exercised
the subtle
but pervasive
tyranny
of its own.
This is what I call
Kindergarchy,
dreary,
boring,
sadly misguided
Kindergarchy.
Kindergarchy,
a rule by children,
that parents,
our societies,
are ruled by children.
If going to
our children's
Little League
baseball game
on a Sunday morning
is more important
than bringing them
to a worship service,
what message
are we sending
to our children?
That their
extracurricular activities
are more important
than God?
That their future success,
worldly success
is more important
than their faith
and godliness?
That God
can be kept
on the periphery
because
they have more
important things
to do?
God told Abraham
in Genesis 22
verse 2,
Take your son,
your only son Isaac,
whom you love,
and go to the land
of Moriah
and offer him there
as a burnt offering
on the mountain
of which I shall
tell you.
God fully intended
to continue
Abraham's line
through Isaac
and he had
explicitly promised
him that.
Yet God says this
in order to test
Abraham
because
his allegiance
to the Lord God
must proceed,
must be prioritized
over his love
and allegiance
to even his
only son.
God
will
be
to the Lord.
We parents
in the church
should love
our children
like the apple
of our eyes,
but we should
never love them
more than we
love the Lord.
When we do,
we teach them
that they are
the center
of this universe,
not God.
And their attitudes
and their actions
and their future
will be shaped
by that
dangerous delusion.
Moreover,
if anyone
comes to me,
Jesus says,
and does not hate
his own brothers
and sisters,
he cannot be
my disciple.
Maybe this is not
as much of a
prominent issue,
but there are times
sometimes siblings
really,
they have this
kind of shared
identity.
They call,
you know,
they're like the Smiths
or we're the Smiths.
I use these names
because there's no
Smiths, I think.
Right?
We're the Smiths
or we're the Joneses.
We are like this.
My family is like this.
We roll like this.
We stick together.
And that can become
idolatrous.
Their family identity,
their identity
with their siblings
becomes stronger
than their Christian
identity,
their lordship to Christ,
their allegiance
to Christ.
Their allegiance
to their brothers
and sisters
trump their allegiance
to Jesus.
And if they do,
they cannot be
a disciple of Jesus.
And lastly,
Jesus says in verse 26,
If anyone comes to me
and does not hate
even his own life,
he cannot be
my disciple.
If we love ourselves
more than we love Christ,
if we seek our glory
more than we seek
Christ's glory,
if we live for ourselves
rather than living for God,
then we cannot be
his disciple.
Jesus continues that thought
in verse 27,
Whoever does not bear
his own cross
and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
A true disciple of Christ
bears his own cross.
Just as Jesus
bore his cross
and died to save
his people
from sin and death,
we as followers of Christ
must bear our own crosses.
And the cross
is a picture
of total submission.
We must surrender
completely
to God's authority.
Paul puts it this way
in Galatians 2.20,
I have been crucified
with Christ.
It is no longer
I who live,
but Christ
who lives in me.
And the life
I now live
in the flesh,
I live by faith
in the Son of God
who loved me
and gave himself
for me.
to bear one's cross
is to die to oneself
and to live
to Christ.
We cannot remain
the Lord of our own lives
and make Christ
our Lord
at the same time.
If Christ will be Lord,
then we must
be his servants.
We must be willing
to make sacrifices
for Christ.
We must be willing
to suffer for Christ.
We must be willing
to say,
no matter
what it costs me,
I will follow Christ.
And it is in that
submission and obedience
that we are to go
after Jesus.
Note the sense
of movement
in this description
of discipleship.
Verse 26 speaks
of coming to Jesus
and then verse 27
speaks of coming
after Jesus,
following in his
footsteps,
right?
The coming to
emphasizes the initial
entry,
coming after
emphasizes the ongoing
pursuit of God.
It means to follow
the pattern of Christ.
Sometimes people think
that they have come
to Jesus
and that that's the end
of their Christian story.
They believed,
they've been baptized,
but then they become
complacent
and stagnant.
But that's not
how Christian
discipleship works.
We come to him
in order to go
after him.
There's a journey,
a movement,
growth
that's supposed
to happen
year after year.
Hannah and I
keep several plants
in our house
and after having
had several plants
die under my
expert care,
I now can guess
fairly accurately
when plants
are about to die.
Because a plant
usually stops
growing
before it dies.
I know that doesn't
sound revolutionary
at all.
It was to me.
It still looks alive
for a little while.
It looks alive
for a while,
but if it's not
growing at all,
that's a warning sign
to me.
Okay,
that thing is going
to die.
Because a plant
that's not growing
is dying.
In contrast,
I can know that
a plant is alive
because it's growing.
It grows
imperceptibly.
I don't see,
I've never,
you know,
I've never caught it
in the app.
I never see the plant
growing.
You know,
but then I see it
one day,
I'm like,
okay,
there's a leaf,
new leaf that's
just unfurled.
Oh,
here's a new shoot
that I had never
noticed before.
It grows imperceptibly,
but undeniably,
every plant that is alive
grows.
The Christian life
is much the same way.
Those who come to
Jesus in earnest
continue to go
after Him.
And they become
more like Him
because they are
pursuing Him
and following in
His footsteps.
Their words and
actions reflect
Jesus more
and more.
They might not
see themselves
growing.
They might not
catch their growth
in the act.
But as they look
back,
months ago,
years ago,
they notice
that they have
grown.
So unless we
love Jesus
more than we
love our family,
we cannot be
His disciple.
Unless we love
Jesus more than
we love even
ourselves,
we cannot be
His disciple.
There's one more
concrete requirement
that Jesus lays
down for us
in this passage,
and it comes
toward the end
in verse 33
as kind of a
summary statement.
It says,
So therefore,
any one of you
who does not
renounce all
that he has
cannot be
my disciple.
Notice the
parallel structure.
This too is a
requirement for
Christian discipleship.
Unless we
renounce all
that we have,
we cannot be
Christ's disciple.
Not just our
family,
not just ourselves,
but also our
possessions.
everything that
we have,
everything that
belongs to us.
If we're
preoccupied with
accumulating wealth,
if we love
saving and or
spending money
more than we
love Christ
and serving Him,
if we are more
about maximizing
our earning
potential than
following Jesus
Christ,
then we are
not Christ's
disciples.
We cannot be.
remember from
earlier in Luke
14,
18 to 20,
that the primary
excuses that
people gave for
not following Jesus
and entering into
the kingdom of God,
the banquet of God,
were one's
possessions,
one's vocation,
and one's
family.
It is no wonder
then that here
Jesus puts this
requirement so
starkly.
Halfway
discipleship is
not merely
sub-ideal,
it's
impossible.
we must
renounce all
other allegiances,
including our
family,
ourselves,
and our own
possessions,
to follow
Christ.
And having
spoken of the
impossibility of
halfway discipleship,
he now comments
on the foolishness
of halfway
discipleship in
verses 28 to
33,
using two
illustrations.
Our first
illustration is in
verses 28 to
30,
please read with
me.
It says,
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.
Otherwise,
when he has
laid a
foundation and
is not able
to finish,
all who see
it begin to
mock him,
saying,
this man
began to
build and
was not
able to
finish.
The word
tower here
likely,
most likely
refers to a
watchtower that
people in the
ancient world
built over
their vineyards
or over their
houses.
It's a
protective
measure so
you can
stand guard
at the
watchtower and
see from
afar when
people are
coming.
It was not
a small
financial
undertaking.
It speaks
of foundations.
It has a
foundation.
It's a
massive
structure.
Maybe it's
similar nowadays
in modern
days like
a home
addition that
you pay
for.
It's a
major cost.
The average
cost of
adding a
room nowadays,
they say
that it
costs $44,000.
So it's
not a
small sum
of money
that this
person is
speaking of.
And it's
not money
that you
just happen
to have
lying around
inside a
piggy bank
somewhere.
And sometimes
I walk into
a grocery
store without
checking how
much money
I have in
my wallet
because I'm
just buying a
few small
things and I
assume that I
have enough
money in my
wallet.
But imagine
if you were
trying to add
room to your
house.
That's not
something that
you just
kind of
casually stumble
into and
think,
okay, I
think I'll
add a
house, you
know, add
a room to
my house
today.
No, you
have to
check your
bank account.
You have to
check to
make sure that
you have
enough money
to complete
the project
that you're
about to
start.
Sitting down
and counting
the cost,
whether I have
enough to
complete it.
A half-built
bathroom that
has a toilet
and a faucet
but no water
pipes is
useless.
So he
says,
when he
has laid
a foundation
and is
not able
to finish,
all who
see it
begin to
mock him
saying,
this man
began to
build and
was not
able to
finish.
It's
foolish to
undertake
something so
consequential,
so big,
so costly
without first
estimating the
expenses.
There's a
skyscraper in
Pyongyang,
North Korea.
It's called
Ryugyeong Hotel.
It's the
tallest
skyscraper in
North Korea,
1,080 feet,
105 floors,
but it
remains to
this day
unfinished.
Construction
for it
began in
1987,
but problems
with building
materials as
well as a
prolonged
economic crisis
have prevented
its completion
to this day.
So according
to the
Guinness World
Records,
Ryugyeong Hotel
holds the
dubious
distinction of
being the
tallest
unoccupied
building in
the world.
It's
embarrassing.
The
skyscraper that
was supposed
to be a
monument to
North Korean
technological
advancement at
the 13th World
Festival of
Youth and
Students in
1989,
instead now
stands to
this day in
2019 as
the monument
to their
poor planning.
men.
This is the
foolishness of
halfway
discipleship.
If you
wear the
name of
Christ and
call yourself
a Christian,
but you
live in
contrast to
his teachings,
it's
embarrassing
to Christ.
Christ.
If you
say that
Christ is
your Lord,
but you're
not willing
to do what
he commands,
then it's
pointless.
If you
don't
persevere in
your faith
and obedience
to the end
of your
life,
and you
fall away
from Christ,
it's futile.
It's like
having an
unfinished
tower.
The second
illustration,
verses 31
to 32,
makes the
similar point.
It says,
Or what
king,
going out to
encounter another
king in war,
will not sit
down first and
deliberate whether
he is able with
10,000 to meet
him who comes
against him with
20,000?
And if not,
while the other
is yet a great
way off,
he sends a
delegation that
asks for
terms of
peace.
Just think
about how
foolish that
is.
This king
and his
kingdom is
under attack
and he
only has
half the
number of
soldiers as
the invading
king.
But imagine
that in spite
of that clear
numerical
disadvantage,
this king
without counsel
lunges headlong
into battle
without strategizing
with his generals
about how to
overcome this
deficit.
He's going
to get
destroyed.
war is
not a
video game
that you
can start
over
anytime you
want.
Foolishly
going to
war without
adequate
preparation
will have
devastating
consequences
and so
any king
with any
common sense
will carefully
assess the
dire situation
and determine
whether he
has enough
to go to
war.
And if
not,
he will
send for
a delegation
to ask for
terms of
peace.
Likewise,
following Christ
is not
a stroll
in the
park.
It's not
a video
game.
It's not
a casual
undertaking.
It requires,
it determines
one's eternal
fate.
It raises
the stakes,
asks questions
of life
and death
and it may
come with
suffering
and persecution.
It may
come,
it will
come at
great personal
cost to
yourself
and to
your own
life and
for these
reasons it
requires
serious
consideration.
Have you
considered
becoming a
follower of
Christ?
Do you
know what
Christ
demands of
you?
Do you
know what
the Christian
life entails?
If you're
not yet a
follower of
Christ,
I urge you
this morning
to answer
these questions
for yourself,
to consider,
to deliberate
seriously.
the Christian
life is
not for
the faint
hearted,
it's not
for casual
observers
and lukewarm
fans.
In order
to be a
disciple of
Christ,
we must
renounce
all other
allegiances
because
Christ the
King will
have no
life.
You can
only pledge
allegiance to
one King.
Think about
it this way,
at a U.S.
naturalization
ceremony,
which I
got to
attend at
Red Sox
for my
naturalization
ceremony,
it was
really cool,
but that's
irrelevant,
sorry.
One of the
things that
you have to
say in
your vow
of allegiance
is this,
it begins
like this,
I hereby
declare on
oath that
I absolutely
and entirely
renounce and
abjure all
allegiance and
fidelity to any
foreign prince
potented
state or
sovereignty of
whom or
which I
have heretofore
been a
subject or
citizen.
I don't
think people
actually think
about it when
they recite
that oath.
That's a
serious
commitment.
It's
exclusive.
You're
renouncing all
your other
previous
allegiances.
Why?
Because you
cannot be a
U.S.
citizen while
pledging
allegiance to a
foreign country.
in order to
enjoy the
privileges of
citizenship in
this country,
you must
renounce your
obligations to
other nations.
In order to
enjoy the
protection provided
by this
country,
you need to
pledge to not
support another
country,
which is
undermining your
very own
protection,
which comes from
this country.
That's the
nature of
relationships,
nature of
citizenship,
and these
allegiances.
becoming
likewise a
citizen of
the kingdom
of God
requires the
renunciation of
our citizenship in
the kingdom of
this world.
You cannot serve
two masters.
others.
So it's foolish to
try to do
otherwise.
That's the
foolishness of
halfway
discipleship.
And the
last point
Jesus makes
is of the
uselessness of
halfway
discipleship in
verses 34
to 35.
He says,
salt is good,
but if salt has
lost its taste,
how shall its
saltiness be
restored?
It is of no
use,
either for the
soil or for
the manure pile.
It is thrown
away.
He who has ears
to hear,
let him hear.
Salt is good,
it says.
What does it
mean for salt
to be good?
Luke uses the
word good earlier
in his gospel to
tell us that we
are to be like
good trees planted
on good soil in
order to bear good
fruit.
So good is a
word that he
specifically uses to
refer to
the right
Christian
discipleship.
A true
Christian that
bears fruit,
that is responsive
to the word of
God, that grows
on good soil.
So saltiness is
the mark of the
Christian because
salt is good.
This is quite
appropriate metaphor
for the Christian
because of its
preserving properties,
you know,
disinfecting
properties,
especially in a
day when they
didn't have
refrigeration,
it was a sign,
really a symbol
of permanence.
A salt,
that's what
preserves food.
And it's
extremely important
and essential to
life for many of
these reasons,
but the primary
function that Luke
seems to have in
view is spelled
out in verse 35.
It is of no use
either for the soil
or for the manure
pile.
What's in view here
is salt's function
as a fertilizer.
A little bit of
salt can activate
nutrients in the soil
for the plants
but control the
growth of weed.
It can also be
used to enrich
manure to make
it more effective
as a fertilizer.
However, he says,
if salt has lost
its taste,
how shall its
saltiness be
restored?
And the Greek
word translated
here as lose
its taste
literally means
to become foolish.
He's saying salt
when it becomes
foolish, what
good is it
anymore?
What use does
it have anymore?
It's a metaphor
for Christian
discipleship.
The answer is,
of course, it
cannot be restored.
We have some
chemists in the
room, they might
object that salt
cannot lose its
saltiness by
definition because
when it does,
it would cease to
be salt.
And that's true
if I did my
Google research
correctly.
But that defeats
the point of the
metaphor.
In this part of
the ancient world,
salt was likely
derived from the
Dead Sea by
evaporation.
And so the residue
would have contained
salt, real salt,
but it will also be
mixed with other
minerals that are
not salty.
And that can be
mistaken for salt.
So often people
saw this as salt
losing its saltiness.
And this was a
common problem in
the ancient world.
And salt that is
mixed with these
other minerals that
are not salt would
be useless for
preserving and
purifying, flavoring,
and even as in
view here,
fertilizing.
Similarly, a
Christian that
loses his
Christ-likeness,
a halfway disciple,
the so-called
Christian that
becomes foolish,
loses his
usefulness.
He's useless for
preserving what is
good and right in
this world.
He's useless for
halting the moral
decay of society.
He's useless for
purifying the sinful
world and bringing
the light of Christ,
his healing, to this
world.
He's useless for
flavoring this world
with the goodness of
God.
But beside all of
those things, a
halfway disciple is
useless for the
primary purpose that
Luke has in view of
fertilizing.
A true salty
Christian fertilizes
the soil so that
people's hearts are
fertile so that they
respond to the seed of
the gospel and produce
good fruit that
pleases God.
A true disciple is a
good tree that sits on
good soil and bears
good fruit, but to lose
our saltiness is to lose
our Christian identity, to
have no good.
That's the uselessness of
halfway discipleship.
And here's the reason
why Christian
discipleship is so all or
nothing.
We can think about it in
relational terms.
The level of intimacy that
you enjoy in a
relationship is directly
proportionate to the level
of priority you accord to
that relationship.
Can you imagine a man
proposing to a woman
this way?
Would you like to marry
me and become the
second most important
woman in my life?
I will love you very
much.
I'll love my mom a
little more, but I
will love you very much.
Or can you imagine a
man saying, hey, I'm
going to love you.
You're going to be the
second best woman.
I love my sister more.
But I'll also love you.
You'll always be second
in my heart.
Who would say yes to
such a lousy proposal?
The depth of commitment
and intimacy involved in
marriage demands primacy
and priority.
It's not enough to love
your spouse second best.
She must be first.
Among all your human
relationships.
In the same way, God
has loved us with a
consuming, jealous love.
love.
We have sinned and rebelled
against him.
We have been unfaithful
to him.
And as a result of that,
we have been unlovable,
unworthy.
And yet God the Father
sent his only son,
Jesus, to die for our
sins on the cross,
to woo us.
Jesus' life, death, and
resurrection is the
divine proposal.
follow me.
Follow me.
Be the bride of Christ.
That's how the church is
described in God's word.
And because of what Christ
has done, because he bore his
cross for us, he cannot demand
that we bear our cross to follow
him.
Because that's the kind of
relationship that he has
offered to us.
That's the kind of commitment
and cost he was willing to
pay for us.
And so now he says,
the only way you can have
this kind of relationship
with me is you must make me
first in your heart,
in your life.
That's the privilege.
But the privilege comes with
the cost.
Thank you.