Called To Discipleship
Luke 14:25a: Large crowds were traveling with Jesus,
We often consider a large crowd a mark of success. Large crowds at a football game, or a concert, or the opening of a store, or at a church worship service. Jesus had large crowds follow him. And why not?!? He gave them free food, he healed the sick, he told amazing stories and he could do miracles. But Jesus was not always affirming of the large crowds.
Luke 14:25b-27: turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
Really?!? Jesus expects us to hate our family and die for him? Obviously if God wanted us to hate our family he wouldn’t have given us the natural love we have for each other, and if God wanted us to die, he wouldn’t have given us such a strong desire to live. But Jesus is pushing the crowd. Do you love Jesus more than anyone? More than life itself? We are often disciples of our work or family or money or even a sports team. We will commit our time and wealth to them. But are we disciples of Jesus?
It is easy to be part of a crowd. No one points to you individually. You aren’t held responsible for what a crowd does or doesn’t do. You can blend in, disappear, take all the benefits and none of the responsibility. But God pushes us to be more. It’s great to have people who love Jesus and want to benefit from his blessing. But God calls us to be disciples, and that’s something more. It’s easy to follow Jesus when everything goes the way we want. It’s easy to come to church when we sing the songs we like and hear an affirming message. But that’s not discipleship. Discipleship calls us to step up our commitment. It means our time, our wealth, our efforts are for God. That’s discipleship. And it isn’t always easy. But it is what God desires. And if we truly love God, we will want to do what he desires.
Jesus would say things people didn’t want to hear. Sometimes the crowds would just ignore him, sometimes they would walk away as they did in the sixth chapter of John. The disciples stayed and fulfilled their destiny.
God is calling you to discipleship.
Pastor Tom