Aug. 20, 2025

Dear Friends,

I hope you can join me tonight for Bible study (at 5:30!) as we consider some of Jesus' powerful teachings about the cost of discipleship. The Scripture is Luke 14:25-33. Notes are attached.

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LIVING THE CHRISTLIFE

WAYNE BARRETT

AUGUST 20, 2025

Luke 14:25-33

25 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.

______________________

ESV heading: The Cost of Discipleship. An accurate one.

cf Bonhoeffer’s book by the same name (who was martyred)

Many Christians today can testify on this subject. And many continue to be martyred.

v 25 – “Now great crowds were accompanying him …”

This is not the usual response to great crowds

Jesus cautioned and challenged them for their own sake, not his

cf Billy Graham in Budapest

v 26 – “If anyone comes to me …”

This is a difficult saying. And that is one thing that makes it almost unforgettable.

“hate” – miseó, more lit. to renounce, reject, even to detest.

So, it does not necessarily mean to feel a seething, malicious emotion toward someone,

but it is a strong word

It is often used to describe the basis for persecution –e.g “you will be hated because of

me”

So, we have to ponder and interpret what Jesus is saying without, in any way, seeking to change

or lessen the impact of what he is saying.

This is one example of many Scriptures, including within the teachings of Jesus, that might help

a person who declares that he “never interprets.” (Note: it is true that no Scripture is a matter

of our own interpretation (2 Peter 1:20), but as we seek to understand sacred writings, we

need the guidance of the Spirit himself to reveal to us the message, the truth, that is being

conveyed.

A literal interpretation of this teaching would have immediate and unthinkable consequences.

We believe that Jesus’ point was that not only are his disciples forbidden to have divided

loyalties—there cannot be another loyalty that is even close to our loyalty to Christ. And to

reinforce this contrast, even the loyalties that are, in human terms, some of our noblest and

most natural—compared to our love for Jesus, they must be hated! Despised, rejected,

completely disregarded – by comparison.

If this is not the case, the devil will use the other loyalty(ies) to cause us to compromise our

allegiance to Christ.

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Christ first means just that—first with no close competitors. Even our own selves. (We might

say, especially our own selves.)

v 27 — “Whoever does not bear his own cross…”

Another difficult saying—and one that, perhaps, is often misinterpreted.

This teaching came at a time when (probably) no one associated Jesus with a cross. But they all

knew what a cross was, what it was for.

He is recorded earlier as having said: “And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let

him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.’”—Luke 9:23

“cannot be my disciple” – dýnamai, lit. “is not able to be,” or, “does not have the power to be”

my disciple. (As opposed to it being forbidden.)

The cross was certainly associated with suffering, death, punishment, rejection.

The message of Jesus was: this is what is will take!

And we know now that cross also relates to divine mission and purpose and task. That to be a

disciple of Jesus, a person must be faithful to God’s specific call upon his life.

All of this is very, very different from some annoyance of life that a person would refer to as

“my cross to bear.”

vv 28-30 – “For which of you, desiring to build a tower …”

“Count the cost”! What an unexpected thing for Jesus to say.

Think, listen to what I (Jesus) have taught, decide if you are willing to do this, if you see yourself

being faithful to Jesus no matter what comes—use the same kind of informed thinking that

you do when you consider other projects. Can you pay the price. [Note to self… this is

causing me to consider changing the way that I issue “invitations” to come to Christ!]

vv 31-32 – “Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war …”

A related but different perspective

Discipleship will involve conflict and opposition—physical and spiritual. A disciple of Jesus

needs to realize this going in.

Not only that, but the opposing king has more forces that the disciple himself does. (Although

not more than Christ.) The disciple will have to face overwhelming odds.

If he does not realize this and accept it—he will cave in and surrender. He will compromise. He

“sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.”

In Christ we are to endure, to persevere. We are not to surrender.

v 33 – “So therefore, …”

“houtós oun” - “In this manner then …”

This is a summative teaching

Any one of you – pas, it is usually translated “all” or “every” or “every one.” Here it is singular,

so “every one” would be a normal translation. “Any one” is not incorrect, but “every one”

seems to hit more forcibly.

“renounce” – apotassó, this means (and is normally translated) to say goodbye to, to take leave

of, to bid farewell

But on taking leave of them [Paul] said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail

from Ephesus.—Acts 18:21

“my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of

them and went on to Macedonia.”—2 Corinthians 2:13

“all that he has” – hypárchō

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This word means much more than “possessions.” It certainly includes possessions, but it

encompasses what a person “has,” and we might even say “is,” such as status, or

authority, or reputation—or comfort, or plans, or ambitions.

And the word is a verb, a present participle. So, the way that we might say “all that you

are doing”—this verb means “all that you are having or being.”

“cannot be my disciple” as in v. 27, this verb is dýnamai (negated), it means is not able, does not

have the ability, does not have the power – as opposed to being forbidden.

“In this manner then, every one of you who does not say goodbye to all that he has and is, is not able to

be my disciple.”