Knowing The Word in Luke 14:25-35

The Cost of Discipleship

14:25 Now great crowds accompanied Jesus, 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.

Salt Without Taste Is Worthless

34 “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 35 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.”

Comments

Discipleship means the giving of one’s first loyalty to Jesus. He did not mean we should literally hate our family members. He meant for us to give him priority over those closest to us. When speaking of cross-bearing, he revealed the heart of discipleship. We cannot follow him without dying to ourselves. Jesus does not want followers who rush into discipleship without thinking about the cost of what must die in us. That was why Jesus spent time with Peter, Andrew, James, and John—as we see in the first chapter of the Gospel of John—before they walked away from their fishing business. Their decision was thoughtful, not an immediate whim.

In speaking of salt, Jesus taught there is an incisive quality about discipleship in dying to oneself. If anyone lacks it, that person is useless.

Application

Jesus used an analogy of a king going to war when teaching on discipleship. Have you ever thought that you were at war within yourself—and perhaps with others—as you grow as a disciple of Jesus? There is a cost you must pay in how you organize and live your life.

Another way to think of being a disciple is as an apprentice. Apprentices recognize that they lack necessary skills and need a mentor to teach them. Do you think of yourself in that kind of relationship with Jesus? When he says “any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple,” do you understand how we are to be dependent upon him . . . for everything?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, I want to follow you more and more each day by becoming more and more dependent upon you. I want to be salt for you. As I become silent in your presence, reveal to me where I need to die to myself and become more alive for you.