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Do You Really Want To Follow Jesus?
Brian Mashburn
April 13, 2014
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Hate Everything But Me
If you listen to the stories that Jesus tells, you find that the God he is promoting is shockingly inclusive, surprisingly persistent, and unbelievably generous. And if you keep listening, you find that He is also incredibly demanding... albeit for our good.
As a matter of fact, Jesus spends a good portion of time trying to explain why you might NOT want to follow him. He is nothing if not honest. We modern day preachers like to give the sound-bites that make Christianity only look attractive, not costly.
But for Jesus to promise the kingdom without explaining that there is a cost that needs to be weighed would be like a doctor promising his patient that he will overcome hypothermia even if he keeps sleeping naked in the artic snow. If you want the Way, you have to give up lessor ways. If you want the Life, you have to give up lessor lives. If you want the Kingdom, you have to give up lessor kingdoms. There is not a pew in a throne room.
In Luke 14, Jesus tells two stories, one about a builder building a tower, the other about a King going to war, that demonstrate the need for disciples to calculate carefully whether they really want to follow Jesus. If they don't, they would lose face at best, their lives at worst.
He tells these stories right after he makes one of the most extreme statements of his ministry in Luke 14:26-27 where he says that you can't follow him unless you hate your family, your life, and would be willing to be crucified yourself out of devoted love for him.
The application? Make a list of all the people and things that you love most. Put "I love Jesus more than..." in front of each, and see if it is true. If not, then your next steps of Kingdom work are cut out for you.