How much are you willing to relinquish to be a follower of Jesus. That seems to be the question Jesus had for His followers as crowds began to come out in mass to follow Him. He addresses this question in Luke 4:25-33 (ESV)
“Now great crowds accompanied him, 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.”
Now Jesus is not talking about construction here but evaluating the cost of following Him. Many individuals begin to follow Jesus after an emotional plea from a pastor or evangelist but many fall away after realizing that the cost of really being a disciple is just too great. In fact, statistics show that less than 1% of all those who “accept” Christ at an evangelistic crusade ever wind up in a church to be discipled. Jesus begins the passage by saying that “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.”
One might think, “really Jesus? That’s pretty intense!”
However, Jesus illustrated this point in His own life when His earthly mother and siblings (possibly included were James & Jude) came to possibly confront Him about the commotion He was stirring up; Mark 3
“And his mother and his brothers came and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” 33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
Jesus never lost His focus on the “prize’. Why the Father sent Him to earth? To reveal the Father to men Jn 14:9) and restore relationship with the Father by His own sacrificial death. Even as a child Jesus knew His mission; Luke 2:41-52 (ESV).
“Every year Jesus’ parents would go to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. 42 When he was 12 years old, they went as usual. “When the festival was over, they left for home. The boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents didn’t know it. 44 They thought that he was with the others who were traveling with them. After traveling for a day, they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they didn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 Three days later, they found him in the temple courtyard. He was sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions. 47 His understanding and his answers stunned everyone who heard him 48 When his parents saw him, they were shocked. His mother asked him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been worried sick looking for you!”49 Jesus said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you realize that I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they didn’t understand what he meant.”
Say what you will about the lack of “parenting skills” by Jesus’ earthly parents, Jesus wasn’t worried at all. Even as a twelve year old boy, He knew exactly what He was supposed to be doing. Jesus never lost focus of His calling, all the way to the cross.
It’s only in teachings of the Apostle Paul that we begin to understand the “mystery” of the church in this present age. We are being transformed into His image, mature sons (Uios) of the Father who resemble Jesus; Romans 8:26-30 (ESV)
“At the same time the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we don’t know how to pray for what we need. But the Spirit intercedes along with our groans that cannot be expressed in words. 27 The one who searches our hearts knows what the Spirit has in mind. The Spirit intercedes for God’s people the way God wants him to.28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God—those whom he has called according to his plan. 29 This is true because he already knew his people and had already appointed them to have the same form as the image of his Son. Therefore, his Son is the firstborn among many children. 30 He also called those whom he had already appointed. He approved of those whom he had called, and he gave glory to those whom he had approved of.”
The mystery of this calling trumps everything else that we have come to call church; community, good teaching, following Biblical principles, worship, etc. Everything! In fact this is the main role of the Pastor and the rest of the “five-fold” ministry gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4:11-13 (ESV)
“He also gave apostles, prophets, missionaries, as well as pastors and teachers as gifts to his church. 12 Their purpose is to prepare God’s people to serve and to build up the body of Christ. 13 This is to continue until all of us are united in our faith and in our knowledge about God’s Son, until we become mature, until we measure up to Christ, who is the standard.”
Have you counted the cost of this incredible privilege offered to each of us? Unless you have, you are not ready to begin the journey. This calling will cost you your own life. This is the reason why Jesus exhorts us to “pick up our cross”, the instrument of death to “self”, daily. Every day becomes a day of crucifixion to self and a yes to His working in my life. It’s also the reason our enemy, Lucifer himself works so hard to create division and our focus in secondary issues.
Jesus is worth it all!! He really is. When the “sons of God’ are revealed to the earth, (Gal 4:1) it will be glorious, and Jesus will receive all honor, glory, and blessing. So my encouragement is to count the cost of following Jesus, review what it might cost you personally and be willing to pick up whatever the cross looks life in your life and follow Him. God bless you as you consider the cost in your own life!!!