Luke 14:25-35
25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
I recently read the book, In Search of the Source, to my daughter Ivy. It’s the true story of a missionary family who moved to Papua New Guinea in order to write down a tribe’s language and translate the Bible into that language. The book explains how difficult the translation process is and what happened when they encountered tricky passages of Scripture. This text in Luke is a good example of one that was difficult to translate. Luke 14:26 says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.”
The missionary read the text to the men he was working with and they nodded at him and said that was great, but he mistranslated one word. The men of the tribe said, “It should say if someone hates their father or mother, then they can’t be a disciple.” The missionary had to explain that no, the translation is correct. It says, “if anyone does not hate.” They disagreed again. How could Jesus possibly be telling us to hate our family members? That doesn’t make any sense! It contradicts what He said about loving our neighbors, loving our enemies and honoring our father and mother. Is Jesus reversing what He said earlier? The missionary wasn’t quite sure how to explain it to them. Fortunately, the perfect illustration presented itself. One man who had a become a Christian needed to decide between following his clansmen or following the Bible. He knew if he didn’t do what his clan wanted him to do, they would be very upset. They would feel like he hated them and was choosing God over them. He talked with the missionary about it all, and the missionary explained that this is exactly what Jesus is talking about in this verse. What his clan expected him to do and what God wanted him to do did not line up. In that moment, he had to decide. Was he willing to risk offending his clan to follow God?
When we follow the Lord, sometimes that means acting in such a way that our family will think that we hate them. We might have to do something, or not do something, that they interpret as hate toward them. In other words, it means putting God’s will ahead of our family’s approval. Sometimes, family members can be very manipulative. They can really put a guilt trip on one another in an attempt to manipulate. I can imagine family members saying, “Don’t you love me?” to someone who isn’t doing what they want. Jesus is saying that we must place His approval of us before the approval of other people.
The other way we can interpret this passage is also that we should we willing to do what the Lord tells us to do, even leaving our family if the Lord so calls us. Mark 10:29-30 says, “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.”
I want to point out that in this verse, Jesus does not say husband or wife. Anyone who thinks they are being called by the Lord to leave their spouse to follow Jesus should not use this verse to justify themselves. I want to differentiate this because a childhood friend of mine’s father used this verse to justify leaving his family behind to “follow God.” He was not following God. He abandoned his family and tried to justify it. I think the children in this verse are not young dependents, but grown children. Again, Jesus is emphasizing that His followers must be willing to do anything that He asks of them. A good example of how to apply this verse specifically is in the context of missions. If the Lord were to call someone to move to a foreign country to be a missionary, that would most likely mean leaving behind extended family members. Following Jesus means we are willing to go wherever He sends us.
After Jesus says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple,” then He says that we must count the cost of being His disciple. It will cost us something to follow to Him. It might cost us relationships that we have with family members. We might have to move far away from our loved ones. It might cost us friendships.
When I became a Christian, it cost me friendships. My friends were not Christians, and I quickly found out that if I wanted to follow Jesus, I could not hang out with them like I did before. Their idea of a good time was not compatible with following Jesus. It was really difficult. I was really lonely. I volunteered to work every weeknight shift at the pizza place I worked at so that I would have an excuse of why I couldn’t hang out. I knew it would be too easy to fall back into old habits if I kept hanging out with them. I wanted to witness to them and be a good influence on them, but in the beginning of following Jesus, their influence was too strong. Thankfully, Jesus helped me pick Him over their friendship.
Matthew 10:37-39 records another time that Jesus said this a little differently: “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. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”
Jesus is making it clear that if we want to follow Him, we must not love anything or anybody more than we love Him. And included in that anybody is our very selves. We must be willing to lose our own lives for His sake. In a lot of cultures, the risk of becoming a Christian means risking your life. There are countries around the world where it is illegal to be a Christian. In those places, not only does the new believer’s family ostracize them, but they can be arrested or killed. People in those kinds of countries, under that kind of threat, must literally weigh the cost of following Jesus and losing their life. To an unbeliever, that choice must seem crazy. Why would anyone want to become a Christian in those situations? These persecuted Christians’ testimonies are so powerful. They, most likely, would be the first people who would stand up and say, I would gladly do it all again. Like Luke recorded in the Book of Acts after the apostles had been flogged for witnessing to people in Acts 5:41, it says, “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.”
The Apostles rejoiced that they had suffered for Jesus. What an amazing attitude to possess! They discovered the promise at the end of what Jesus said. Did you notice the end of that verse? Jesus says, “Whoever loses their life for My sake will find it.” He is making us a promise. We will find life when we follow Him. The Apostles found fullness of life in following Jesus. Even in the midst of persecution, the reward for following Jesus far outweighs the tribulation. I have not suffered any persecution for my faith, so my testimony is not nearly as powerful, but I can attest that every time I have surrendered to following Jesus, the greater my life has been for it. Choices that seemed difficult in the moment always turned out for my benefit in the long run. Even the friendships that I gave up to follow Jesus, I later realized they were pretty terrible friendships. My friendships were not healthy. They were not building me up or helping me grow as a person. They, in no way, compared to the life that Jesus has given me since I have followed Him. I never could have dared imagine this beautiful life that Jesus had waiting for me. Everything that I thought I was giving up for Him is nothing compared to what He has given me in return.
Besides relationships, what else does Jesus mean when He says that we must count the cost? He gives two different examples. The first example is, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’”
How is following Jesus like building a tower? He says that it’s foolish to start building a tower if you don’t have enough money to complete it. We don’t do people any favors if we present Christianity as something that is easy. I know I’ve written about this before, but it bears repeating. When I became a Christian, the youth pastor who led me to Jesus told me that following Jesus would be the hardest thing I would ever do. It was so good that he didn’t tell me it would be easy. That would have been a lie. How many people raise their hand to follow Jesus or go forward to accept Christ at a camp or concert, only to change their minds later when they realize that following Jesus requires something from them? All these “seeker sensitive” churches aren’t helping anybody if they don’t talk about the cost of following Jesus. If our faith is easy, we need to wonder if we are even following Jesus.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who was killed for standing up against the Nazis during WWII, wrote in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, “Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
I’m afraid that a lot of churches are preaching cheap grace. They are rightly telling people that salvation is a gift from God, but they are not preaching repentance or discipleship. Is it any wonder that our society has so many problems when so many Christians are not following God’s word?
It is difficult to follow Jesus. The cost is high. We can’t follow Jesus and the world simultaneously. We need to evaluate our lives and consider what it means to follow Jesus. It is a total commitment. It is not enough to agree to one day a week of attending church. While the gift of salvation is totally free and something we cannot earn, our response to that gift is total surrender of ourselves. Jesus asks for our fealty. He wants our total allegiance to Him.
His second example is, “31 Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”
Did you notice that both examples of counting the cost have to do with making a plan? The first is planning the building of a tower. This second is planning a war. Jesus is telling us to make a plan and weigh the cost and the risk. And it’s no half-hearted plan He wants us to come up with. This king that is going to go to war, he sits down and imagines the battle. Will he be able to win? If he determines he won’t easily win, then the best course of action is to try to broker peace. He will have to give up something to win peace, though. The other king will not agree to peace without getting something in return. Is Jesus saying that if we want peace, we must give to Him everything? Is Jesus the King Who demands it all? Because then He says, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. This plan must include us giving up everything.
It seems to me that the first example of building the tower is Jesus telling us to count the cost of what it will require for us to follow Him. The second example is Jesus telling us what it will cost if we don’t follow Him. If we don’t give up everything and follow Him, then we can’t be His disciple. Going to war against God is a really pointless battle to wage. We will not win. Like my high school youth pastor told me, becoming a Christian will be the hardest thing I could ever do. Then he tacked on this rhetorical question: but what choice do you have, really? What choice do we have? We can decide to “opt out” and think we can avoid this decision, but it doesn’t work that way. Our non-decision is a decision. There is no “opt out” option.
Then Jesus says something that seems completely unrelated. He says, “34 Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.” What does salt have to do with counting the cost?
To understand what Jesus is saying here, we should remember another time that Jesus used this salt metaphor. He said during the Sermon on the Mount, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot” (Matthew 5:13). That is almost identical to what Luke has written here in Chapter 14. It must be a metaphor that Jesus really liked. If we think about this particular time in history, we know that salt was really important and valuable. Salt was used not only to flavor food, but they used it as a preservative. This was before refrigeration, so the only way to make meat last any length of time was to dry it out by using salt. If Jesus is saying that we believers are the salt of the earth, then that must mean we are important. We have a job to do. We are to influence the world in positive ways.
The only way we will be a positive influence on the world is if we follow Jesus. We will lose our saltiness if we don't daily take up our cross and follow Jesus. If we claim the name of Christian but we are not following God, then we are like un-salty salt and our witness is ineffective. If we follow Jesus, then our witness will be powerful. Then, Jesus will lead us to bring the Good News to people. We will sow peace and joy. The broken-hearted will be bound up. We will care for the poor and needy. We will shine the light of Christ into the darkness. At least, that’s what we are supposed to do. But if we merely claim the name of Jesus and do not follow Him, then we won’t be doing any of those things and we will be like un-salty salt.
The same way that just a little salt can change the whole flavor of a meal, just one person, committed to following Jesus, can have a huge impact on the world. I brought up Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s quote. He’s a great example of how one person can effect a huge change. He was used mightily by the Lord. He influenced everyone from the other Christians in Germany, to the other prisoners and guards when he we was captured and put in prison. He was hanged for his part in plotting to kill Hitler, but all his writings have survived and now many years later, he still is influencing, or salting, the world. He was only used by the Lord though, because he submitted to God’s leading. He placed Jesus number one in his life, he daily carried his cross and was strategic and intentional in following Jesus. He ultimately gave up everything in his pursuit of God, even his life.
We will lose our saltiness if we make other people more important than Jesus, act just like the world, and live the same way as everybody else. But if we make Jesus number one in our lives, obey His word, and do the things Jesus says we are to do, then He will use us as salt in the world. Our Christianity should influence our entire society and should preserve the word of God for future generations. If Christians did the things that Jesus is asking, then we would flavor the whole world.
Following Jesus is an all-encompassing, lifelong endeavor. We are to daily work at following Him. We need to plan to follow Him and be intentional in how we follow Him. It’s costly and time consuming. Jesus asks for our devotion. He wants a total life commitment. Following Jesus shouldn’t be a fly by the seat of our pants sort of effort. We need to work at it. Anything worth doing in life takes a lot of focus and determination. If you want to do anything well it takes a lot of dedication. Why would we think following Jesus is any different?
Jesus knew that we would need a lot in help in following Him. That is why He has given us His Holy Spirit to help us. We cannot be passive passengers to the work of the Holy Spirit though, we must partner with Him and let Him lead us. He will be faithful to urge us to follow Christ, we must respond to Him and follow as He leads us. Romans 8:12-14 explains how this works, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” Rather than living according to our own wants and desires, we must be led by the Holy Spirit. He will lead us to make Jesus number one in our lives, help us to daily carry our cross, and inspire us to give up everything that hinders us in following Jesus. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will help us to follow the words of Jesus. For as we follow Him, then He uses us as salt in our world, effecting all of our society, which is something our world desperately needs.
Pray: Holy Spirit, we ask for Your help. Please help us to make You most important in our lives. Help us to die to the desires of our flesh. Help us to want to live according to Your word and Your leading. Help us to be salt in our world, leading people to You. Please forgive us when we fail to follow You. Please cause us to living according to Your Spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
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