Sold Out For Jesus!

Sermon Transcript:

(transcribed with AI)

Promontory Community Church exists to make disciples of Jesus who know, live, and share the gospel for the glory of God.

Thank you, Tyler, and thank you worship team for leading us as we celebrate. Good morning to each one of you. My name is Rich Koppanky. I'm the community life pastor here. And this morning, I'd actually like to talk to a certain group of you. The rest of you, I encourage you to listen in. That's great, but I really want to talk to a certain group of you who honestly are tired of going through the motions of being a Christian — doing enough to maybe placate your conscience or to get your wife off your back about going to church or whatever else might be, but that's it. That's where the line's drawn. And if you're in that group, you probably know who I'm talking to. You probably know that maybe God's got something to say to you this morning.

Maybe you were a lifer. Maybe you were born and raised in Christianity. You cut your eye teeth on a Jesus loves you book. You were the only one in kindergarten whose mom had a "Go to Sunday school" bumper sticker on her car. You've grown up in it, you can quote all the Bible verses, but being a Christian is almost like an open can of Coke left out in the sun. It's lost its fizz for you. It's flat, it's stale. Deep down, you still know that Christianity is true, it's the right thing, but that hasn't been enough to cause you to jump into your faith with both feet. You've kind of been on the sidelines. And quite honestly, all this going to church and trying to be good is boring.

Or maybe you've stepped across that line of faith, and you did it a lot later in life. You tried some other options first — you did the party scene, you climbed the financial ladder of success — and finally you realized that something was missing, that you needed God. And you became a follower of Jesus. You prayed the prayer. You asked Jesus to forgive your sins, and it was great for a while. But eventually that initial flush of excitement wore thin as other pursuits began to fill your life and take the place that God used to have for you. And you began to just kind of go through the motions. Your heart wasn't in it anymore.

And if I'm talking to you — if what I've just described you can relate to, if I'm describing your life — then I have a question for you. In fact, I have a question for all of us. What is it that grips your heart? What is it that really captures your imagination and your thoughts? What is it that fills you with a passion and an excitement? Something you can commit your life to, something you can go for 100%. That's the question that we're going to wrestle with this morning.

Today we enter a powerful and very shocking moment in Jesus' life. We're going to see Jesus draw a line in the sand. We're going to hear him challenge people to choose which side of that line they're on. And then Jesus' words are going to jump over two millennia to you and me today. We are going to be asked that very same question as God's spirit speaks to us today. And your answer — how you respond this morning — will have a profound impact on your life, your family, your future.

Now the setting for this question is Luke chapter 14. If you have a Bible, I encourage you to turn there. It's Jesus' final trip to Jerusalem. Jesus knows that for him, it's a one-way trip. It's going to end hanging on a cross. Which honestly, it doesn't make sense — not when you realize that at present Jesus was riding a wave of popularity. If you had television talk shows back then, Jesus would have been featured on all of them. After all, his teachings, his healings, multiplying several fish and a couple of loaves of bread to feed over 5,000 people — folks were awed with this incredible man. No wonder chapter 14 verse 25 tells us great crowds accompanied him. Jesus was a first-century celebrity. He was surrounded by fans and paparazzi.

But traveling with Jesus and being wowed by all that he was doing — that's a whole lot different than being a true disciple of Christ. Many of those surrounding Jesus were there for the show. He was riding a wave of popularity, but Jesus knows that things are going to turn ugly very soon. His popularity is going to take a dive as the people turn their backs on him. Within several weeks, he will be hanging on that cross.

So Jesus turns to the crowd — his fans — and he decisively draws this line in the sand as he explicitly explains what it takes to be a true follower of him. Now please stand if you're able to as we honor God's word. As we read from Luke 14, beginning at verse 25, I have to warn you about something — be prepared to be shocked by some of the first words that come out of Jesus' mouth here.

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, "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. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 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? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish it, all who see it will begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 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."

Father, give us ears this morning to hear your word, I pray. And not just to hear it, but to respond to it, to let your word enter our lives, our hearts, and change us from the inside out. Thank you, Lord. Please be seated.

I don't know about you, but I can almost hear Jesus' closest friends here as he's talking. Peter, James, John urging him, "Jesus, slow down. You're asking the people too much. How can you be a celebrity if you say things like that?" Three times Jesus has used that phrase — "he cannot be my disciple" — digging this deep line in the sand. Three times Jesus identifies huge sacrifice, a price that we must pay if we want to be his follower, and each time he declares, if you aren't willing to pay this price, then you can't be my follower. This is serious. So let's take a look at the price.

Look at verse 26:

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

Does that make you scratch your head? This is Christianity — this is all about love, isn't it? And now I'm supposed to hate my family? Before you go too far with that one, please realize that the word in the Aramaic for "hate" here actually means to love one thing a great deal less than something else. And that's what Jesus is asking for. It's not a term of ill will and antagonism towards a person. It's really a comparative term. Jesus is saying our love for God must be so much more than even our love for our own family. He's demanding top priority in our hearts. Love me more than anyone or anything else. It goes even so far as to say, love me even more than your own life.

And then, to emphasize this commitment even further, in verse 27:

"Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple."

That word picture would have struck terror in the hearts of Jesus' listeners 2,000 years ago. Every so often they would see a platoon of Roman soldiers marching down the road with a man alongside them who was carrying a cross. And when you saw that, you knew that guy was not coming back. For him, his life was over. To carry your cross is a word picture for being willing to give up your life for your faith.

Now, I realize that even saying those words sounds strange here in safe Canada, where we don't worry about our faith getting us in trouble to the point where we're going to die for it. But friends, there are Christians — brothers and sisters in Christ — in some parts of the world today who on this day will literally die for their faith. Gordon-Conwell resources states that historians have estimated over 70 million Christ followers have been martyred since the beginning of Christianity. More than half of those were killed in the 20th century. They heard the same words that you and I heard Jesus saying here about giving up our life, and literally for them, it happened.

But the possibility of death is not all Jesus is referring to in that verse. When Jesus says, "Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple," the word in the Greek for "to bear" or "to carry" is actually in the continual tense. In other words, it's not a one-shot deal. It isn't that you make this decision one day — maybe when you're a kid in Sunday school or during a church service like this — and you said yes, I'm going to follow Jesus, and that's it. No. It's a decision that you keep on making every day, as you face things each day and make that choice again and again to give up what is yours to serve God. To give up maybe your rights in some situation, to give up your time, to give up your money, whatever it might be, in order to serve God.

Jesus repeats this in verse 33:

"Anyone who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."

And again, that word "renounces" is in the continual sense. It's an everyday decision that we make in our lives as followers of Christ. We're talking about giving up control. Who wants to do that? We're talking about signing over, as it were, the deed to everything we own. The same verb that's used here is translated elsewhere in the Gospel of Luke as "to say goodbye." Everything I own is not mine. It belongs to Jesus, and I'm saying goodbye to it. From now on, my house, my bank account, my car — they're God's. My question to deal with at that point is: how can I use these things for him and not just for myself, not just to make my nest a little more comfortable?

Guys, there's a timeless truth here, a truth declared in these incredibly challenging verses. As Jesus looks out at the crowd of Jesus-follower wannabes, he's telling them — and he's telling us today — a half-hearted religion of convenience and comfort won't cut it. We must be committed to Jesus 100%. He's saying, if you want to follow me and truly be my disciple, then I have to have first place in your life. First place above any other relationship, even your family. First place above any other convenience, even your life. First place above any possession. He's saying, you call me Lord — and that's a phrase we use sometimes, the Lord Jesus Christ — you call me Lord, and that's what I am. From now on, I'm the one who calls the shots in your life. Jesus is requiring total surrender — surrender of our personal autonomy in order to follow him. It's not our choices to do things the way we want to do. It's: God, how do I serve you? How do I honor you? How do I live like you in this world?

Guys, this is heavy. These are heavy words. This is a high commitment Jesus is asking for. One preacher made the statement, "Jesus demands more allegiance than any dictator who has ever lived." But he has the right to.

I can almost see people back then, 2,000 years ago, nervously shuffling their feet as they're standing in front of Jesus, looking down at the ground, not willing to look him in the eye. I can almost imagine the disciples sweating — "We're going to lose the crowd. They're going to walk on us." But Jesus doesn't back down. In fact, he tells them — he tells us — making this kind of commitment requires a well-thought-out choice. In other words, if you're hearing me say these things to you, you'd better look before you leap. We hear that as we read verse 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? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'"

What we've got here is a picture of a farmer. He wants to build a tower in the middle of his field. He's been losing crops to thieves who would sneak in when nobody's looking. And if he could just raise this platform where he could stay at night and be able to see them coming and drive them off, he'd cut his losses. It's a great idea. But as some of you know from working on decks or houses or whatever else, building things isn't cheap. And before he starts, he'd better figure out if he has enough to finish it.

So why the story? What's Jesus trying to say? He's telling us: if you truly want to follow him 100%, it's going to cost you big time. It's going to affect how you use your time and money — remember, it's not yours anymore, what you have belongs to Jesus. It's going to influence what you do with your friends, how you treat your girlfriend on a date, whether you get high or drunk on the weekend. It's going to determine what kind of person you're going to look for as a spouse — does he or she share your love for God, your desire to follow him? It's going to shape what kind of career you choose, looking for where you can make the most difference for eternity. It's going to have a lot to say about how you run your business, how you manage your home.

Choosing to be a Christ follower leads to a tremendous, exciting, abundant life. Jesus himself said:

"I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."

But it's also going to cost you. So Jesus says, go into it with your eyes wide open.

A friend of mine from seminary who teaches at a college in Pakistan told me how he uses Jesus' advice here when a Muslim student would come to him and want to become a Christian. Now here in Canada, we'd celebrate right away — "You want to become a Christian? Let's pray. This is awesome." But he'd take it a little slower. He would advise his students to think carefully about the choice. He would remind the student of the price they probably would have to pay, as they could be disowned by their family, persecuted by former friends, or even have their very life threatened. And it's only after weighing the costs that the student should make this kind of life-changing decision.

Weighing the costs is probably what many of the crowd were doing right then. I can picture them stroking their beards, thinking deeply. "Following this Jesus — it's going to take a lot more than I thought it would. But I've known much happiness and purpose since I've been with him. Maybe it's worth it. But then, maybe it's not. Who knows? I've got to think about this some more. Maybe in the future I'll decide to follow him, but I'm not ready yet, not now."

And so Jesus continues with a second story to show us — and them — how becoming a follower of Jesus is not a decision you should enter blindly. But ultimately we do have to choose. We can't sit on the fence forever weighing the options and waiting for a better day to decide. Verse 31:

"What king going out to encounter another king in war will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace."

This king's in a pretty tough position. Do I fight or do I surrender? One way or the other, he has to make a decision. If he doesn't, that choice is going to be made for him by the invading army. There's an old Bob Dylan song — and maybe that dates me — but the words are, "You may serve the devil or you may serve the Lord, but you've got to serve somebody." And that's the way it is. Guys, that's a choice we all have to make. After weighing the costs and benefits of being sold out to Jesus, we've got to choose. We can't put that off forever. In fact, to continually not choose to follow Jesus is actually to choose against following Jesus. Our refusal to choose is making a statement.

But now that leaves us with one vital question that we haven't even asked yet — one that's probably running through some of your minds right now. Why would I want to follow Jesus 100%? Especially given what that would mean in my life and the price I would have to pay. Why can't I choose the second option — Christianity light? You know, all the benefits with only half the cost. Why can't that be on the table?

And to answer that, Jesus gives the crowd a chemistry lesson. Verse 34:

"Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 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."

Salt in Palestine was obtained from evaporating water from the Dead Sea. As a result, it was anything but pure. There was some sodium chloride in it — that's the salt that makes your tomatoes taste great and that you use to season your soup. But there were also other chemicals left behind when the water was evaporated — potassium compounds, magnesium. And if you weren't careful, the bit of sodium chloride could leach out of the mixture and leave the rest useless. You couldn't even put it in a manure pile or use it for fertilizer.

Alright, great farm example, but why do you care? What's Jesus trying to tell us through his chemistry lesson? Well, it's a fact that an uncommitted faith is useless. Trying to follow Jesus half-heartedly never works. It's like that Palestinian salt mixed in with all those other compounds, rendering it good for nothing.

Guys, when you're straddling the line in the sand — one foot on God's side, one firmly planted in the world, not sure which side you would choose if you really had to — when your heart's allegiance is divided, and yeah, you love Jesus, he's great, you sing your worship songs at the top of your voice, but you also love your comfort and your pleasures and you're not sure if you'd be willing to give those things up — if your faith is uncommitted, then your faith is useless. It's not going to carry you through the difficulties of life. It's not going to bring assurance when troubling times come. It's not going to honor God in how you live your life. I'm not saying you won't get to heaven — that's God's decision, not mine. I am saying that your divided faith and allegiance won't help you when the struggles come. It will leave your Christianity bland, lifeless, dull, boring. Think of that Coke can that's been left out in the sun. No more fizz.

Back when I started out as a Christian, my faith was pretty uncommitted. I believed — at least I believed enough that I wanted to escape hell — so I prayed the prayer, I asked Jesus to forgive my sins, to make me ready for heaven, and I meant that. But my faith was really kind of a fire insurance policy to keep me out of hell, my way of avoiding that option. I didn't let my faith really affect my daily life, how I treated people, all the choices that we make every day. It wasn't until sometime later that I realized that truly being a follower of Christ meant more than just praying this prayer. It meant committing my life 100% to living for Jesus. Doing life his way, seeing this world and the people in this world through his eyes. It meant being willing to give up things — comforts, life — if that's what Jesus asked of me.

And guys, I've been far from perfect in living that out. There are times that my self-centeredness, my pride, can get in the way. I stumble, I need to come to Christ, confess my failure, be forgiven, ask him to help me to do things better. I need to invite God's spirit to search my heart and life and show me where he wants me to change. I've been far from perfect. But that hasn't stopped God from taking me in my imperfections and helping me to grow, to become more Christ-like.

Being 100% committed as a follower of Christ does not mean that you come to Christ 100% perfect. If that's the case, none of us would have ever started. We start where we're at right now today — whether it's with that half-hearted faith, whether it's that foot on each side of the line, whatever it might be, we start there. But then as we come to Christ, we come to him willing to move in the direction that he draws us, willing to invite God to do his work in our life through his Holy Spirit — a work that will transform you and me into the man or woman of God we've been called to be by Jesus himself.

And guys, when that happens, let me tell you, there is great joy and purpose in life. Not just because your eternity is taken care of — your faith is much more than just a fire insurance policy. God is at work in your life right now, and you have the privilege to be used by him to do things that will make an eternal difference in our world. To accomplish, with God's help, the good works which God prepared in advance for you to do. Think of what that means. Think about your kids, your marriage, your church, your world — changed because of what God is doing in and through you. For me, that makes any price that Jesus asked me to pay in being his follower worth it.

So where do we go with this? Two thousand years ago, Jesus very clearly drew a line in the sand and challenged people to make a decision as to which side of that line they stood on. He's asking the same question of us today. That little nudging in your heart is the Holy Spirit speaking to you. He's challenging us to a 100% commitment where Jesus comes first in our lives. Our loyalty to him trumps every other loyalty we have in life. That's what he's asking for. He's not willing to be second, third, or fourth place. And you've got to choose. As you do, God will show you what needs to change. God will begin a work in your life that will move you in a direction that will add joy and meaning and purpose to your life and your faith. It all starts with a choice.

So which side are you on? Where are you standing today? Let's talk to him about that.

Father, here we are. Many of us — probably most of us — your kids have stepped across a line of faith and we've put our trust in you as our Lord and Savior. But there's also a second line: will we seek you 100%? Will we seek to live for you 100%? Or will we just kind of make this one more thing on our list of all the things that we do during the week, all of which probably matter more to us than pursuing you? Lord, we've got a choice to make about where we stand with you, where our heart is at, and where we want it to be. And Lord, as we make that choice, we know that you will help us to move in the direction that we are hearing you call us to move. Give us the courage to make that choice. May we leave here this morning the same on the outside but changed in our hearts — 100% committed to living for you, a disciple, a follower of Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Amen.