Rev. Roland J. Wells, Jr. - Pastor

The Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost - September 9, 2001

Lessons: Deut. 30:15-20; Luke 14:25-33

"Considering the cost"

Introduction:

In those hot days a few weeks ago, would you have preferred a glass of lemonade -- lukewarm or ice cold?

The cold edge is refreshing, and even though it is so alien to our warm bodies, it's what we need.

Speaking of lemonade. What would you prefer- a glass of sugar water, or a glass of lemonade. The lemonade adds the hard, sour bite of the lemon, which makes it much more refreshing.

Thai food and Mexican food, both laced with the bite of peppers are some of the most popular restaurants around. We've got hundreds of them! The hard edge makes the food interesting. How many bland Scottish, English and Scandinavian restaurants can you name in a metropolitan area of three million?

And in the kitchen drawer, which works better, the newly sharpened knife, or the knife that's 'as dull as a sermon' as my kids used to say. The sharp edge, the cutting edge is what makes the knife useful.

And so it is with the Gospel. It's the shocking cold word, the re-hot passionately pepper word, the bitingly sour word, and the word that cuts us right to the infection that sometimes makes the difference in our lives. It is the hard words of Christianity that get our attention and make us think. This morning's Gospel text is biting, peppery, cutting and sour. Let's take a look at it:

I) Hard Words - Hate?

We hear Jesus' teaching begin with these hard words: Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.

These are not easy words. These are hard words. They sting, they burn, they irritate, we start making excuses for them, we start explaining them away, we move on to the next verse,- hear them again:

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.

Let them sink in. Don't go to the explanation mode right away. Let them sink in. Let them wrestle with you. (Eg: Jacob wrestles with incarnate Word- is changed) How long has it been since you really heard them? "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.

OK, the word hate should be understood as a relative word, "as compared to me, they should 'hate'"If your love for me isn't so much greater than your love for these others, that it is as hate." But let the words sink in.

These are radical words. This is a radical call. This is a call that stops us right in the here and now, and makes our relationship with Christ not a theoretical thing, not a theological thing, not a religious thing, it's a life-and death, center of everything claim. It is all or nothing. It is the most radical call, of laying down one's life, of surrender.

What about my children? What about my wife? What about my parents? What about my job? Let the words wash over you again- your heart will know what they mean: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.

II) A Radical Symbol

Then Jesus goes off the deep end: And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

A cute little cross. Nice little gold jewelry, right?

No, Jesus is talking about the worst torturing tool, torturing to death tool the Roman world knew. A hideous death. A feared tool of repression against the riffraff of the eastern Roman empire. Too ghastly for a Roman citizen. And Jesus is talking before his death. This is before his cross-bearing. This is language in the midst of polite company. And he's talking about being his disciple in terms of the actions of condemned criminals, lugging their torture-death tools along the street to their hideous, suffocating, bleeding, gasping, agonizing death. Jesus is sure trying to make this discipleship thing easy and accessible to his audience! He sure knows how to persuade them and make an easy sale!

'Come and follow me, and it will be like being on death row, and daily walking the green mile to the electric chair!'

I could go on, but have these words started to have a shock value yet? And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

To follow Jesus does not mean 'business as usual.' It means the surrender of self to become what God created you to be. It means surrender of self so that your life can accomplish what God created you to be. So that you can be in harmony with the whole purpose of the universe. So you can experience the deep and abiding joy of knowing every minute that your life is being invested into something that is much greater than yourself, with eternal consequences in the lives of many others.

Now, it's all these things; it's meaning, it's joy, it's what you were created to be; it's eternal life. But it's not primarily about what's in it for you!

What it is, is to know that you are being personally obedient to the will of the God of the universe, who knows you and has called you by name. To a life-and-death response. To a life that will sometimes be hard. But it is God's perfect will for you. But it will cost you everything...and gain you everything. What do I mean?

III) The Cost

It's about the Cost. Jesus goes on:

"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider

whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 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.

In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

It's about the cost.

Christianity is not a leisure time activity; that's called a hobby.

Christianity is not about just church membership; that's called a club.

Christianity is not inspiration to make you feel good for a week; that's called a drug.

Christianity is not a moral or value system to guide you in life; that's called a philosophy.

Christianity is not to make you more popular or happier than everybody else; that's called an infomercial.

Christianity means to say 'Jesus is Lord.' It means to lose your life to gain it. It means to give your life away to get more than life back as a gift. Hear Jesus' words about this: Matthew 19:29:

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

But it's not about a shrewd investment; it's not about what you get. It's simply about surrender. And in that unconditional surrender, comes a return to unity with the God of the universe, with peace and all the rest.

But it's still not about what you get. If it's about what you get, it's not surrender.

Surrender means letting go. We have a hard time with that. But only in the total letting go can we experience what God has for us. It's a paradox. It's hard. We strive so to be in control and be safe. But Jesus says there's no safety there. We can lose all the things we trust in: with war; accident; cancer; divorce; theft, job loss, stock market crashes- all those things we put our trust in can be gone in a second. In one millisecond we hit the windshield and our own mind and personality can be gone too. All these things we trust in. All these things we think can save us. They're idols. They're false saviors. These are the things Jesus' words this morning destroy. When we surrender it all, then it's all in order. It's all there under Jesus' Lordship. It's there as tools, as gifts. Our things no longer rule us. Our relationships belong to God. Our attitudes, our priorities- it all comes back in order and in peace.

In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

As we come to our time of prayer this morning, let's talk about surrender. Until an aspect our life has been surrendered, it's still ours, and it's still under our control. It's not under God's control. It can slide into being an idol very easily. It's not what it needs to be until it belongs to God. That's true of our relationships, our jobs, our families, our attitudes, our dreams, our hopes, our future, our past, our wealth, our bodies, our bitterness, our disappointments, all that we are. When we release it, it gets put in God's order.

This morning, Jesus' words are hard words. But they're the words we really need. Invitation; Amen.

Deut. 30:15-20

See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Luke 14:25-33

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 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. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.