What does it mean to be a Christian? Our culture tells us competing things. If we go to the loudest voices on the matter, we see profiteers bending the Word of God to their specific agendas, telling us that a true Christian is one who completes certain task for their own well-being. We also see a maligning of the word in religions that seem Christian but who really aren’t. They also switch the word up for their own benefit, alter it to take the follower on a different path.
Following Christ is deceptively simple and at the same time complex. We just have to follow. We just have to put him first. It doesn’t seem difficult on paper, but when we mix into our complicated lives, we see it is not only difficult but seems impossible on some levels.
In Luke 14:25-35, we see Jesus’ demand squarely placed on his follower’s shoulders:
25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “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. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ 31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 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. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. 34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
Let’s take the first three verses:
25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “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. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
Jesus is teaching the crowds, and as usual, he turns to the crowd and uses his moment to layer his teaching. The previous teachings of Luke 14 were in regard to humility and how important it is to the believer. Now, taking the humility that we have learned, we must see what Jesus wants us to do with it.
26 “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
Many can look at this verse and say, what??? I have to hate my mother and father, my, wife, my children in order to follow? No thanks! It doesn’t seem like a very nice command Jesus gives to us here and even seems contrary to his other requirements to honor our parents, to uphold our marriage vows and to rear our children properly. The language here is hyperbole. What Jesus is saying is that He (Jesus), must take the prime spot in your life. In other words, everything else has to take a back seat to the relationship that Jesus wants to have with you. We have to abolish the bad things (sin), but there are also other things we need to take into account (family, relationships).
In our lives, relationships are seriously important. In fact, as we run through our lives in a temporal fashion (just looking at this life), relationships tend to be the most important thing in our life. But what happens when a relationship crumbles? If your footing is in the relationship, you too may crumble and be without identity. But if your footing is elsewhere, perhaps foundational in Jesus, then your identity is secure. Yes, a broken relationship will still hurt, but your identity will not alter.
This is what Jesus is essentially saying. First, in order to be a true follower, you first must identify as being in a foundational relationship with him. Even your own life has to be secondary to the relationship. In other words, that too is something to hate.
Second, Jesus is asking us to make a definitive statement about who we choose to follow. Do we follow our own way, our own relationships, caring for our own selves, or do put our faith in him? Do we have the courage to take that step toward the relationship? Jesus says this clearly: if you cannot do this, you cannot be my disciple:
27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
Taking up the cross harkens to the past, when Christ is dragging his cross through the city toward Golgotha. The cross, viewed by people 2000 years ago, wasn’t about some perceived burden carried through life, as many misinterpret it. To the people of Christ’s time, the cross was a symbol of one of the most humiliating ways to die. Imaging the ridicule, the scorn, the humiliation of dragging your implement of death through the city streets to your end.
Taking up your cross means that you are ultimately willing to die for Christ. It is about surrender. The call is difficult, and in some ways seen unattainable. But the the reward is great. (Matthew 16:25-26)
Following Jesus is great when life runs smoothly. We can see our treasures in life, pretend we have it all figured out, feign a deep alliance with God. But when times grow tough, that’s when we really see if we have what it takes to follow. Discipleship is about sacrifice, and Jesus never hid that concept from us.
Luke 9:57-62 gives us a great picture of this:
57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 59 He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” 62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
Here we have three men confronted by Jesus. They all say they will follow, but when Christ challenges them on this very ideal, none of them can stop and follow completely. In fact, what we see is something cripplingly wrong with many Christians: when the going gets tough, when the challenge come, our faith is a house built of sticks that is easily blown down by a breeze.
This is why Jesus includes the next set of verses. Verses 28-33 give us two examples of men who had to sit down and work out plans before they proceed. One is building a tower and the other preparing for war. In both stories, however, the result is the same: one must sit down and understand the costs, the parameters, the finances. In other words, one must understand what they are getting into before they begin.
Christ asks us to be prepared to understand what is required of us. If we are, if asked, to die for Christ, then we have to understand the ramifications of following. He never says it is going to be easy, but Christ asks us to make a choice: either follow with dedication or do not follow. If you remember the story of the Laodiceans in Revelation, Christ says he will “spit them out.” (Rev. 3:15-17) Why? What’s wrong with being lukewarm?
The answer is found in Matthew 6:24:
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
The Laodiceans have a church, but they are not following God properly. They have become rich and therefore seek God half-heartedly. So in a heated warning, Christ calls them out, calling them lukewarm, neither hot nor cold.
Christ wants us to make a decision for him. He wants us to do the work to understand what we are getting into. And he wants us to strive toward him, with each breath we are given. Of course, this is very difficult to do, but it is the direction God wants us to lean.
Think about this concept in regards to a relationship. Let’s say you find the woman of your dreams. You court her, send her roses and take her places, show her the life you intend to offer her. She accepts it, you marry, life is wonderful.
But after the decision is made, the ceremonies done, the wedding cake eaten, the honeymoon complete, you say to yourself, “cool, I did it, it is done. Now I don’t have to do anything else. No more roses, no more going out, I have a live in maid and cook.” In other words, you’re saying to yourself that you don’t have to contribute to the relationship anymore because the mission has been completed. It could make for a very rough road ahead for your relationship, and could simply wither and die from neglect.
When we look at our relationship with Christ, we can make the same mistake. “I received Christ when I was 16 year old,” someone may say, and in that moment it was emotional and real and solid. But the question is, is it still as vibrant? Has it grown? Is there evidence in your life of a change?
We have to look at our root system and if those roots go as deep as we think they do. Are we watering the roots, strengthening them, growing them into a mighty oak over time. Or have we left them in the ground to wither and die?
The Laodiceans in Revelation 3 show us an example of this failed relationship. At one time they were strong, but over time they withered away. In their case, their land grew rich and so did they and they wandered away, attracted to the better things in life, and their spiritual life suffered because of it. In our walk, we can simply atrophy if we don’t stay connected to the word, pray for ourselves and others, and deepen that relationship. That’s what Jesus is talking about: the daily application of God’s Word into our lives.
Jesus wants us to make that choice and understand the consequences. Life will not get easier- as a matter of fact it will probably grow harder- and he wants us to understand this about following. That’s why he wants us to count the costs and make a decision either for or against him. If it is against, then understand those consequences too. But if it is for, he requires allegiance to him first, then to all else. It is a binary choice.
34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
Christ again talks about salt. Salt in the old world was very important. It was used in preserving food. When salt does not have the chemical compounds to do its job, then it is considered useless. It is thrown out. So what does Christ mean?
As Christians, Christ wants us to be useful. If our entire dedication is not to him, then how useful can we be? Let’s go back to Matthew 6:24:
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
In this verse, Jesus is talking about money. His point is this: if our interests are split between two things, can we give a dedication to either? The answer is no; the dedication is minimized between both. If we are not solely dedicated to God, then can we truly follow? Again, the distinction Christ makes is no. Our allegiance must be singular, and everything else in our life a subset of this relationship.
So getting back to salt, if we are divided between our allegiance to God and something else, then our usefulness is minimized. And if we cannot be useful to God, then can we be effective for him? If our hearts and minds reside elsewhere, how can we bring ourselves to the useful spot God wants us to be in?
Again, it all comes back to focus. Focus on God first. Make your dedication to him authentic. Walk that walk each day, developing yourself into the strength God needs you to be fitted with. If you strengthen the relationship, then everything else that is good will flow from it.