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The Sovereign Call and the Cost of Discipleship Sunday Morning, Sermon
Good morning, family. It is good to be in the house of the Lord today.
Before we open the Word of God together, I want us to take a quiet breath in the presence of the Holy Spirit. If you brought your Bibles with you and I hope you did, turn with me to the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 14. We will be reading verses 25 through 33. And keep your ribbons in Matthew chapter 16 as well.
Church, as I look out at you this morning, my heart is overflowing with love for this congregation. I look at young parents holding their newborns; I see young men and women full of ambition; I see our faithful elders who have walked with God for decades. God loves you deeply. I love you too much as your pastor to preach smooth things to you. I love you too much to give you a lukewarm, comfortable gospel that tickles your ears today and destroys your soul tomorrow.
There is a trumpet sound echoing from the throne room of God in this hour. There is a battle cry going forth from the lips of Jesus Christ. And my prayer today; my heart’s desperate plea; is that the Holy Spirit of Almighty God would sweep through these pews, shatter our complacency, demolish our religious illusions, and awaken us to the sovereign summons of our King.
Let us read God’s Holy Word together. Luke chapter 14, beginning at verse 25:
“And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”
Look down at verse 28:
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.”
Pray with me, saints.
Heavenly Father, in the precious, matchless name of Jesus Christ, we ask that You open our eyes today. Send the Holy Ghost to search our hearts. Cut through the noise of this world, Lord. Let the Word of God be sharper than any two-edged sword today. Convict us, transform us, and raise us up as true soldiers of the Cross. In Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.
I. The Sovereign Call: Screening the Multitudes
Look closely at how this passage opens in verse 25. The Scripture tells us that “there went great multitudes with him.”
Crowds! Thousands of people were following Jesus! By modern church-growth standards, Jesus had achieved total success. The stadium was full! The seats were packed! If a modern marketing consultant had been advising Jesus that day, he would have whispered in His ear: “Jesus, tone down the hard sayings! Smile, keep it light, give them what they want, don’t say anything offensive, and whatever you do, don’t mention sacrifice or death; you’ll lose the crowd!”
But what did Jesus do?
He turned around and delivered a discourse designed not to maximize crowd size, but to screen out half-hearted followers! Jesus was not interested in passive spectators who only came for the free loaves and fishes. He was seeking disciples.
In the original Greek text of the New Testament, the word translated here for “disciple” is mathētēs (μαθητής). Oh, hear me today; mathētēs signifies far more than a casual student, a weekend attender, or a passive listener sitting in a church pew once a week. Mathētēs denotes an apprentice! An adherent who completely surrenders to and assimilates into the Master’s lifestyle, discipline, doctrine, and mission!
And then Jesus uses language that makes our comfortable 20th-century sensibilities recoil. He says, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”
What does Jesus mean when He uses the word “hate”; in the Greek, miseō (μισέω)? Is Jesus commanding us to harbor malice toward our precious families? Absolutely not! Scripture commands us to honor our parents and love our wives as Christ loved the Church. Jesus is using a classic Semitic idiom of comparative loyalty.
He is establishing an absolute hierarchy of allegiance!
He is saying that your love for Jesus Christ must be so supreme, so radical, so undivided, so absolute, that every other earthly devotion; your bloodlines, your marriage, your heritage, yes, even your very survival and self-preservation; looks like hatred by comparison! If it ever comes down to choosing between the pleasing of your family and obedience to Jesus Christ, Christ must win every single time!
II. Counting the Cost: The Tower and the Warring King
To drive this home to our conscience, Jesus gives us two vivid parables:
First, He speaks of The Tower Builder (Luke 14:28–30). A man decides to build a tower. He lays the foundation. But because he failed to sit down first and count the cost, he runs out of resources mid-way through. The walls are half-built, exposed to the elements, a useless ruin. And everyone who passes by laughs and mocks: “This man began to build and was not able to finish!”
My dear friends, how many half-built Christians do we see in our culture today? People who made an emotional decision at a youth camp or a crusade ten years ago, laid a foundation, but never counted the cost of daily cross-bearing? When the trial came, when the temptation hit, when obedience required sacrifice, they quit! They became a spiritual laughing stock before a watching world because they never counted the cost!
Second, Jesus speaks of The Warring King (Luke 14:31–32). A king goes out with ten thousand men to face an enemy coming against him with twenty thousand. He sits down first to consult whether he can prevail in battle.
Why did Jesus use a military parable here? The inclusion of a military parable is no accident!
Jesus is explicitly framing discipleship as an entry into warfare! He is telling you: When you come to Me, you are not stepping onto a luxury cruise liner; you are enlisting in an army at war!
And then comes the climax in verse 33; the non-negotiable demand of King Jesus:
“So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.”
Listen to me very carefully: Salvation is freely given by grace through faith. You cannot earn it; you cannot buy it; it is the gift of God! But while salvation is free, true discipleship will cost you everything you are and everything you possess. It costs your life, your will, your pride, your future, your possessions, and your supreme devotion!
III. Unmasking the False Cross: What “Taking Up Your Cross” Really Means
Now let us step into verse 27: “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”
Church, we must stop and repent for how we have degraded this scripture in our modern talk.
How often do you hear people in our culture today say, “Oh, my knee acts up when it rains… well, I guess that’s just my cross to bear!” Or, “My mother-in-law is so difficult, but I suppose that’s my cross to bear.” Or, “My boss is unreasonable, but that’s my cross.”
What a tragic, terrible dilution of Christ’s holy words!
To a first-century listener in Judea under the brutal iron heel of Roman occupation, the cross; in Greek, stauros (σταυρός); in Hebrew, tzlev (צלב); was not a gold ornament resting on a velvet dress or hanging from a neck chain. It was not a metaphor for a minor irritation, a headache, or an inconvenient job!
To a first-century Jew, the stauros was an instrument of excruciating, horrific, shameful, public execution.
When a condemned criminal was forced by Roman soldiers to hoist his patibulum; the heavy wooden crossbeam; onto his torn, bloody shoulders and march through the crowded streets of Jerusalem out to the hill of execution, the onlookers understood one undeniable, absolute fact:
THAT MAN IS NOT COMING BACK.
He was not going out on a Sunday stroll. He was not coming back to his business. He was dead to his earthly ambitions. He was dead to his personal rights. He was dead to his temporal future. He was dead to the opinions of society. He was stepping onto a one-way street to die!
Therefore, when Jesus Christ looks you in the eye today and commands, “Take up your cross, and follow me,” He is declaring three radical truths:
- Death to Self-Sovereignty: It means the total execution of your carnal ego, your self-will, your worldly ambitions, and your pride. You resign as the sovereign ruler of your own life.
- Enlistment into the Execution of Darkness: Taking up the cross means stepping onto the battlefield of this world, fully aware that following Jesus will incur the violent hatred of the devil, the opposition of the age, and potential martyrdom.
- Unconditional Loyalty unto Death: As Jesus declared in Matthew 16:25, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”
IV. Demolishing Easy Believism: The “Ticket to Heaven” Fallacy
My heart aches over what has happened in so many churches across our nation in these modern times. A deadly poison has crept into the pulpit, and that poison is called “Easy Believism.”
It is the false, damnable teaching that salvation requires merely an intellectual assent to historical facts about Jesus; that if you just agree that Jesus lived and died, or if you slipped your hand up in a meeting twenty years ago and prayed a ten-second prayer, you now have what they call a “ticket to heaven.”
They tell people: “Congratulations! You prayed the prayer, you bought your ticket to heaven, now go live your life in comfort! You don’t have to obey, you don’t have to bear a cross, you don’t have to engage in spiritual warfare, and your life doesn’t need to change!”
Brothers and sisters, that is a lie from the pit of hell! It promises all the rewards of the Kingdom without any of the duties of the Kingdom! It offers a cheap grace that Dietrich Bonhoeffer called the grave of the church.
Look at what the holy Word of God says to demolish this delusion:
Matthew 7:21: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”
James 2:19–20: “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” The demons have correct theology! The devils know Jesus is the Son of God! But they do not obey Him!
Hebrews 5:9: “And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”
Let me illustrate this: Imagine a man who goes down to the military recruitment office, signs his enlistment papers, puts on a military uniform, and receives his marching orders. But instead of reporting to basic training, instead of stepping onto the battlefield where the war is raging, he goes home, sits on his living room couch, eats junk food, and watches television all day long.
When the news reports that the battle is raging, he smiles and says, “Well, it doesn’t matter to me whether I fight or not. Look at my enlistment papers! My papers guarantee me a victory medal!”
You would call that man a fool! You would say his enlistment papers are a mockery because he refuses to obey his Commander!
Salvation is not purchasing a cruise ticket to float lazily into paradise! Salvation is a sacred covenant relationship that immerses the believer into an ongoing, cosmic conflict between the King of Kings and the powers of darkness!
V. The Purpose of Human Existence: Born to Fight the Lord’s Battles
Ask yourself this question today: Why were you born?
Why did God breathe life into your lungs? Why did He redeem you by the precious, spotless blood of His Son Jesus on Calvary? Did He save you so you could spend your short life on earth accumulating fine furniture, building temporal empires, seeking personal luxury, and pampering mortal flesh that is going to turn back to dust in a few decades?
NO! You were created and redeemed to be a holy warrior for the Almighty God!
Look at the Old Testament! In 1 Samuel 25:28, when noble Abigail spoke prophetically to David, what did she say? She said:
“My lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.”
Look at the New Testament! When the Apostle Paul writes his final, solemn letter from a cold Roman dungeon to his spiritual son Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:3-4, what language does he use?
“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”
Look at that Greek word for soldier: stratiōtēs (στρατιώτης). A soldier chosen by the Commander-in-Chief!
We were born into a world at war! Ever since the serpent whispered his lies in the Garden of Eden, this world has been a war zone! We are called to sing that great hymn of the faith:
Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus going on before!
VI. The Battle Cry, Spiritual Weapons, and the Promised Victory
Oh, beloved! There is a battle cry going forth from heaven today!
When we fulfill the Great Commission; when we go out to win souls for Jesus Christ and make disciples; what are we doing? We are making soldiers to fight the battles of the Lord!
And I want to give you great encouragement today: We are not fighting this battle alone!
Jesus did not say, “Pick up your cross and go on ahead without Me.” No! He said, “Pick up your cross, and FOLLOW ME!“
He steps out onto the battlefield ahead of us! He is the Captain of the Lord’s Host! He leads the vanguard!
And because He leads us, we should have no fear of loss! The victory has already been secured at Calvary! When Jesus Christ stretched out His hands on that cruel tree and cried, “It is finished!”, He stripped principalities and powers, making a public show of them, triumphing over them in the cross!
We do not fight for victory; we fight from victory!
The only ones who lose in this war are those who are on the wrong side; those who align with Satan, sin, and self! And hear me, church; those believers who refuse to pick up their spiritual weapons, who neglect to put on the whole armor of God; the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit those who grow lazy, soft, and worldly… they become the casualties of this war!
They become spiritual fatalities, swept away by the corruptions, deceits, and compromises of an evil age.
We must fight! We must fight for our families! We must fight for our children! We must fight for our lost neighbors, our co-workers, and the broken souls sinking into hell around us!
And as we fight, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, we keep our eyes on the promise: there is a crown of life waiting for those who endure to the end!
You see, the Bible promises us REST. But when does the rest come?
The rest does not come on the battlefield! A soldier does not lie down to sleep in the middle of no-man’s-land while bullets are flying! The rest comes at the end of the war!
According to the Word of God, we will enter into the glorious rest of the Lord when the fight is finished, when our course is run, and when we finally make Heaven our eternal home! Then and only then will the sword be laid down and the crown of righteousness be placed upon our heads!
VII. Call to Conviction and Altar Invitation
My dear friends… brother, sister… where do you stand today?
Have you been living under the delusion of “Easy Believism”? Have you been treating your relationship with Jesus Christ like a cheap ticket to heaven, sitting on the sidelines while the great cosmic battle for human souls rages all around you?
Have you Diluted the Cross? Have you avoided counting the cost?
The Holy Spirit is in this sanctuary right now. He is knocking on the door of your heart. He is calling you out of spiritual slumber. He is summoning you to step onto the battlefield, to take up your cross, to surrender your self-sovereignty, and to follow Jesus Christ without reservation.
If you are tired of weak, powerless, lukewarm religion…
If you are ready to say, “Lord Jesus, I surrender all! I take up my cross today! I enlist in Your service! I will fight Your battles, I will seek the lost, and I will follow You wherever You lead!”…
I want you to get up out of your seat right now and come down to this altar.
Don’t wait for your neighbor. Don’t look around at what others are doing. If the Holy Ghost is touching your heart, step out into the aisle and come forward right now.
Come… bring your life, bring your self-will, bring your ambitions, and lay them down at the feet of Jesus.
Father God, in the name of Jesus, we yield to Your Spirit! Burn away every lie of easy believism. Raise up an army of true disciples in this house today! Seal this conviction in our hearts. Give us the boldness to bear our cross, to put on the whole armor of God, and to fight the good fight of faith until the day we see You face to face. In Jesus’ mighty and holy name, Amen!
