Are You Counting Your Cost Or Your Comfort?

A big crowd can follow Jesus for all kinds of reasons, but Luke 14 forces one unavoidable question: what does it actually cost to be His disciple? We sit with one of the hardest sayings Jesus ever delivered, the command to “hate” father and mother, spouse and children, even our own life. Taken superficially it sounds cruel, but the point is piercing and clarifying: our love for Christ must be so first that every other loyalty becomes second place by comparison. 

To make the warning concrete, we connect Jesus’ words to Annie Dillard’s account of the John Franklin Arctic expedition, a tragic story of people who prepared for danger with the comforts of home. They carried luxuries where they needed necessities, and they paid for it. That becomes a mirror for modern Christianity, especially where faith is culturally acceptable and casual devotion feels normal. We talk honestly about how good gifts like family can become ultimate, and how our calendars and priorities reveal what we truly worship. 

Then we face the second cost Jesus names: bearing the cross. The cross is not jewelry or décor; it is an instrument of death. Following Christ means ongoing self-denial, a willingness to suffer rather than quit, and what C.S. Lewis called “no half measures.” We also tackle the uncomfortable but biblical conclusion Jesus draws again and again: salvation and discipleship are not separate tracks. If you belong to Christ, you follow Christ. 

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Transcript

Foundations Of Truth Opening

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You're listening to Foundations of Truth, the Bible teaching ministry of Dr. Timothy Mann. Our mission is to help you build your life on the unshakable foundation of God's Word, rooted in Scripture, anchored in the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each week, Dr. Timothy Mann opens the Bible to bring clarity, conviction, and encouragement for everyday life.

Luke 14 Reading And Tension

SPEAKER_02 0:22

So what we're talking about this morning is the cost of following Jesus. Luke chapter 14. We're going to be examining verses 25 through 35. The Bible says, Now great multitudes went with him. So he's got a big crowd. He has an entourage. Now great multitudes went with him. And he turned and said to them, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it? Lest after he laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king going to war against another king does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand, or else while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So, likewise, or in the same way, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dung hill. But men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. And this is God's word.

A Tragic Lesson In Miscounting

SPEAKER_02 2:30

This is a hard passage. We'll deal with it here in just a moment. Annie Dillard, who is a historian, in her essay entitled An Expedition to the Pole, P-O-L-E, An Expedition to the Pole, she describes the very ill-fated John Franklin expedition that perished because its preparations were actually adapted to the aristocratic conditions of the Royal Navy's officers' clubs in England rather than the harsh realities of the Arctic. And so Dillard writes this. He says, in 1845, Royal Navy Rear Admiral John Sir Frank Sir John Franklin and 138 specifically chosen officers and men left England to find the Northwest Passage. They sailed in two three mast ships with the daunting names, the Erebus, which means the dark place, according to Greek mythology, through which souls pass on their way to Hades. That's the name of one of the ships. And the other ship is named the Terror. Each ship was equipped with an auxiliary steam engine, besides its sails, and had a 12-day supply of coal should steam power be needed sometime during the anticipated two to three year voyage. But instead of loading additional coal, each ship made room for a 1,200 volume library, an organ, and full elegant place settings for everyone. China, cut glass goblets, and sterling silverware. The officer's sterling was of especially grand Victorian design with the individual officers' family crests and initials engraved on the handles of the knives and spoons and forks and so forth. The technology of the Franklin expedition, says Annie Dillard, was adapted only to the conditions in the Royal Navy officers' clubs in England. The expedition, the Franklin Expedition, stood on its dignity. The only clothing which these proud Englishmen took on the expedition were the uniforms and great coats of Her Majesty's Navy. The ships, as you might imagine, sailed off amidst imperial pomp and glory. Two months later, a British whaler met the two ships in the Lancaster Sound, and reports were carried back to England of the expedition's high spirits. He was the last European to see them alive. Search parties, funded by Lady Jane Franklin, John Franklin's wife, began to piece together a very tragic history from information gathered from the Eskimos. Some had seen men pushing a wooden boat across the ice. Others had found a boat, perhaps the same boat, and the remains of thirty-five men at a place now named Starvation Cove. Another thirty bodies were found in a tent at Terror Bay. Simpson Strait had yielded a very eerie sight. Three wooden masts of a ship protruding up through the ice. For the next twenty years, search parties recovered skeletons from the frozen waste. Twelve years later, it was learned that Admiral Franklin had died aboard the ship. The remaining officers and crew decided to walk for help. Accompanying one clump of bodies were place settings of sterling silver flatware bearing the officers' initials and family crests. The officers' remains were still dressed in their fine button-blued uniforms, some with silk scarves in place. Sir John Franklin and 138 men perished because they underestimated the requirements of Arctic exploration. They either arrogantly or ignorantly imagined a pleasure cruise amidst the comforts of their English officers' clubs. They exchanged necessities for luxuries. And their lack of truly counting the cost led to their death.

Jesus Confronts The Crowd’s Motives

SPEAKER_02 7:27

Now, in our passage this morning in Luke chapter 14, verses 25 through 35, Jesus' life was set on going to Jerusalem. He was determined to die there. That was his plan. That was his purpose. That was the Father's plan. For him to go to Jerusalem to die. Luke 13, verse 33. So his every intention was to go to Jerusalem to die. Because that was the case, a very, we could say, rough voyage lay ahead for Jesus and his followers. But at this moment, when we read our passage, verse 25 said, great multitudes were constantly around Jesus. I mean, he had a crowd. He had a major crowd. Great multitudes were constantly around Jesus because of his kingdom preaching and his power and the miracles that he did. And it was exciting. A lot of fanfare going on. In today's terms, there were groups of bandwagon fans. That would be today's terms. Hangers on with no commitment. And they conducted themselves as if they were on the way to a ballgame or a concert or something. And so what Jesus does, he has this huge crowd hanging out with him, following him, because he's so popular right now. He turns to them and he gave them a reality check. As he laid out in at least what I consider unforgettable terms, he laid out for them the cost of truly being his follower. Jesus did for his followers what Sir John Franklin failed to do for his. And any would-be disciple, anyone who really was wanting to become a Christian, wanting to follow Jesus, any would-be disciple who listened to Jesus would understand that discipleship, that following Jesus, would cost him or her dearly. Even though the benefit of following Christ would make it all worthwhile. And so what we're talking about this morning, as you could pick up as we read the passage, is the cost of following Jesus. The cost of being a disciple of Jesus.

Invitation To Support The Ministry

SPEAKER_00 9:55

You're listening to Foundations of Truth, the biblical teaching ministry of Dr. Timothy Mann. If these broadcasts encourage your faith and help you better understand the scriptures, would you prayerfully consider becoming a financial partner with us? Your tax-deductible gifts help place biblical teaching on radio stations and digital platforms where people around the world can hear the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ. To give a gift securely online, visit foundationsoftruth.net. That's foundationsoftruth.net. Now let's return to today's message.

What Jesus Means By “Hate”

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Let's jump back in this and dig in a little bit more. Verse 26 and 27. He says, So this big crowd's with him. He turns to them and he says to them, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. I don't know about you, but I think Jesus' opening statement, when he turns around to these people, it was a shocker.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

I think it's a shocker. Do you not? I'm like, what? It's a shocker.

SPEAKER_02 11:11

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, even his wife and his children, husband, brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my follower. Jesus wanted, here's what he wanted. These people that were following him, these people that were like, Yeah, I'm a Christian. I'm a follower of Jesus. He wanted them and the Holy Spirit of God, who inspired James to record these words, one that wants the same for us, Jesus wanted his would-be followers to think, to really think, to seriously consider the reality of this. Now, certainly, in light of the full of the New Testament, the whole of the New Testament, Jesus was not demanding an unqualified hatred. He could, for example, he could not command, honor your father and mother and demand that we also hate them. He could not command, husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave up himself for her, and then advise them to hate their spouses. Jesus, who so loved little children, that he, as it says in Mark 10, 16, that he took children into his arms, he put his hands on them and blessed them. He would not advise his parents to hate them. Neither would he advise his followers to, as he did in Matthew 5.24, be reconciled to your brother and then encourage brotherly hatred. I mean, how could he command, love your enemies and then call us to hate our friends? The truth is, in the biblically recommended sense that we're to love our neighbor as ourselves and to love one another as much as Christ has loved us, we can't love others too much. In the biblically recommended sense.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Now we can focus on our family too much. We can focus on our family too much.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

We can dote on our loved ones too much. But we cannot love them too much. Again, in the biblically recommended sense. The people hearing Jesus would have clearly understood what he was saying. Darryl Bach notes in his commentary on Luke, he says at that time, a Jewish person who made a choice for Jesus would alienate his or her family. It's the same way today, as well, in an Orthodox Jewish family. If someone desired acceptance by family more than a relationship with God, one might never come to Jesus, given the rejection that would inevitably follow. In other words, there could be no casual devotion to Jesus in the first century. There very much can be in the United States of America today. Casual devotion to Jesus. But I'm here to tell you, there's coming a day it's not going to be that way. It's not going to be that way eventually. So a decision for Christ in Jesus' time marked a person and automatically came with a cost. It came with a cost. Contemporary comparisons might be seen in formally, in certain formally communist European settings, in Muslim countries, or maybe in very tight-knit Asian families. The modern Western phenomenon where a decision for Christ is kind of popular in the larger social community, like it was in the Bible Belt South where I grew up, and where Pastor Josh grew up, that was not true in Jesus' setting. Which that kind of complicates then our understanding of the significance of a decision to associate with Christ. Today, one might associate with Christ simply because it's culturally appropriate. Again, where I grew up, it was very culturally appropriate. And a person can associate with Christ because it's culturally appropriate rather than for true spiritual reasons. If one chose to be associated with Jesus during this time period, one would receive a negative reaction, often from within the home. So they understood what he was talking about. And further, Jesus even stated that each of his followers must hate even his own life. Now, Jesus was not recommending a psychologically destructive loathing of existence or a psychologically destructive loathing of self. No. What Jesus was saying here, paradoxically, was that our love for him must be so great, and our love for him must be so pervasive that our natural love for self and our natural love for family in comparison looks like hate. That's how much it pales in comparison. We are to subordinate everything, even our own being, to our love and our commitment to Christ. He is to be our first loyalty. He is to be our first priority. All other relationships must take second place, or third, or fourth, or fifth, or however down the order you need to go. And so with a very harsh, and I do think it's harsh sounding. Man, I I've I've struggled over this all week. I have a hard time understanding this. With a very harsh, hard to understand statement of fact, Jesus kind of yanks us from our dream world. Oh, do you fancy yourself a Christian? You think you're a Christian? You think you're going to follow me? Be my disciple? Well then, you must love me so much that your love for your family seems like hatred in comparison. Hate your own life. Otherwise, don't even pretend to be following me.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Because you're not. Don't fool yourself. You're not a follower of mine. If you don't play this call. That's what he said. Jesus' words. They can found us. They can found me. But he said it. Any minute. This is where so many of us fall short. Some of us love our wives.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Some of us love our husbands and children and grandchildren more than we love Jesus. And it's obvious in our lives. We miss the mark when we put their development, our children's development, athletically, artistically, intellectually, culturally, socially. We miss the mark when we put their development in all of those areas before their spiritual well-being. We miss the mark. We fall short when we spend more time in the car in one day shuttling them to games and lessons than we do in a month in prayer for their souls, talking about biblical truths with them and bringing them together with God's people to worship him. We fall short. When that's what characterizes our lives. And by comparison, then, by comparison, our lives actually then reveal that we hate God and love our children disproportionately. It reveals that we are not Jesus' disciples. That we're actually disciples of our children and our grandchildren, or our husband, or our wife. That's what he's saying. The paradox is that the proper way to love our children is to hate them. Because our greater love for God, our greater love for Jesus, will enable us then to love them with a greater love. Disciples are the best lovers of God. Followers of Jesus are the best lovers of family. Followers of Jesus are the best lovers of friends. Disciples or followers of Jesus must always be ready to hate, to give second place to everything and everyone else. Now, the relational cost here of discipleship of following Jesus may seem harsh at first. It does seem harsh. But in the right perspective and in the right priority, this actually focuses our lives and makes them richer and fuller. Accepting discipleship's costliness produces true followers of Jesus, produces true Christians. So he says very clearly, there's a relational cost if you're going to follow me.

Carry The Cross And Die To Self

SPEAKER_02 21:15

And then he goes on to say, he cites the vast sacrificial crucifixion cost of discipleship. Look what he says in verse 27. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Listen, the cross is not a piece of jewelry. The cross is not a decoration you hang on the wall. The cross is an instrument of death. The cross is an instrument of execution. That was the purpose of the cross in the first century. It was not decoration, it was not jewelry, it was an instrument of execution. And so Jesus is saying, in effect, here whoever does not. Put it kind of in terms we'll understand. Whoever does not hoist up his gallows or his electric chair and follow me, whoever does not lift up his instrument of death and follow me cannot be my disciple. He cannot be my follower. And so discipleship is a series of deaths. It's perpetual self-dying. Discipleship follows Christ on a path of self-denial. Disciples actually embrace suffering as a part of life. As the apostle Paul prayed, he said, I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. Philippians 3, 10 and 11. So the disciples' life is not easy. C.S. Lewis had it right. He said this. He said, The Christian way is different. Christ says, Give me all. I don't want so much of your time or so much of your money or so much of your work. I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here or a branch there. I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth or crown it or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked. The whole outfit, hand it over. Discipleship, following Jesus, according to what he said, requires everything. There are no exceptions. Jesus is not calling for a makeover, he demands a takeover.

Salvation Always Includes Discipleship

SPEAKER_02 23:54

I am not a genuine Christian if I am not his follower. Can I truly be saved and never live as a disciple? Can I truly be saved and not live as a follower of Jesus? Jesus always equates everywhere in his word. Jesus always equates salvation with becoming a disciple. He always equates getting saved, being saved, with becoming a follower of his. Always. You can't be saved and not be a follower of Jesus in the way he says. A Christian is a follower of Jesus. A follower of Jesus is a disciple. So therefore, to become a disciple of Christ is not to move up to some higher plane in the Christian life, it's to be saved. To become a follower of Jesus is to get saved. To become a disciple of Christ is to pass from death to life, from darkness to light, from Satan's kingdom to Christ. No one has ever become a Christian and not become a follower of Jesus.

Final Encouragement And Giving Link

SPEAKER_00 25:07

You've been listening to Foundations of Truth, the biblical teaching ministry of Dr. Timothy Mann. If you'd like to hear this message again or learn more about this ministry, visit us online, foundationsoftruth.net. If these broadcasts encourage your faith and help you better understand the scriptures, would you prayerfully consider becoming a financial partner with us? Your tax deductible gifts help place biblical teaching on radio stations and digital platforms where people around the world can hear the life changing gospel of Jesus Christ. To give a gift securely online, visit FoundationsOft.net.