Outline:“The Challenge to follow Christ” Luke 14:25-35 March 23rd , 2015

“The Challenge to follow Christ”
Luke 14:25-35  
March 23rd , 2015

We are called to loyalty to Christ in fully following Him.

Faith and resultant works.
Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
I. Jesus speaks to Crowd to encourage them to think in following Him(25)
25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,

II.  Two warnings about Loyalty to Christ. [26-27]
a. It may cause family relationship problems. (26) 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.
How do these words fit with the call to love?
Mark 7:10 (ESV)
10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’
Ephesians 5:25 (ESV)
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Luke 6:27 (ESV)
27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

Consider hate as simply to love less.
Matthew 10:37 (ESV)
37 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.

b. It requires us to set aside our agenda for His. - sacrificial cost (27)
27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

III. Two Considerations about Loyalty to Christ,
a.  Consider the cost before starting a project (28-30)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.’
b. Parable of the king going to war (14:31-33)
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.
Philippians 3:7-8 (ESV)
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
IV. Two warnings about the commitment required for discipleship (33-35
a. Jesus must be first in our priorities (33)
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Jesus must be first in our priorities... regarding our time, talent, and treasure....

b. Losing Christian character makes us good for nothing (34-35a)
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.
The point is that disciples who do not live like disciples are worth as much as unsalty salt: nothing.

V. Following Jesus takes serious reflection and focus [35b]

 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”