Pastor Scott Andrews | March 22, 2026
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Luke 14:25-35
It always interests me that whenever there was a crowd, it seems Jesus would call a time out. More, it seems He would ratchet up the rhetoric – the demands – which would often result in the crowds walking away. Following Him no longer. It seems Jesus wasn’t interested in what many pursue today – even in the evangelical church – that is, how to attract the crowds. How to build a movement. A megachurch. How to promote a bandwagon. Jesus didn’t seem to be interested in bandwagons at all. I mean, it’s almost like He opposed them, because they weren’t effective. They didn’t change lives.
There was a movement that grew rapidly over the past few decades which saw the intentional development of so-called seeker sensitive churches. There are still many of those well-intentioned churches today. Led by Bill Hybels and Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, the movement sought to be sensitive to the needs of people seeking faith, religion, God. To remove the unnecessary offenses frankly seen in some churches. To develop biblically faithful yet culturally relevant approaches to ministry to gather the masses. Contemporary music, engaging drama, lights, camera, action. Relevance.
But, I must say, I was always intrigued by the title, seeker sensitive, because Paul says in Romans 3, quoting the Psalms, that there are none that seek God – that is, there are no seekers, save the One Himself who seeks lost people. As a result, some have suggested, perhaps rightly, in seeking to remove offense that the gospel in such churches has been diminished, sin and repentance have been obscured, ignored or even hidden, and the Bible has been sidelined – even apologized for.
Jesus never seemed to do that. In fact, quite the opposite. Whenever there were those seeking – better said, crowds seeking what He had to offer in food and healing and exorcisms and miracles – they liked that. Sought to take and make Him king by force. But, whenever He gathered many such would-be followers, it’s almost like He would chase them away. Consider, early in His ministry in Matthew, right after His baptism, temptations in the wilderness, He entered His ministry in Galilee to roaring success. In fact, the end of Matthew 4 says,
23 Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.
24 The news about Him spread [like wildfire] throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.
25 Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.
Large crowds followed Him from every direction of the compass. The newly-named disciples, Peter and Andrew, James and John, had to be ecstatic. They had a movement going on. It was the megachurch before there were megachurches. We have a winner in this Jesus. And yet, in the next verses we read:
1 When Jesus saw the crowds, [don’t miss that – He was prompted by the ever-growing crowds] He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him.
2 He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying, [the Sermon on the Mount, a difficult sermon, starting with the beatitudes]
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit [the word speaks of total destitution spiritually bankrupt, nothing to offer], for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
And it doesn’t get much better through the rest of the sermon. And we have to say, what? That’s not very seeker sensitive, Jesus. Follow Me and you’ll get persecuted? That’s not very inviting. You have the beginnings of significant movement, what are you doing? It seems Jesus never read one of those church growth books or listened to those prosperity gospel preachers.
Matthew 8, the chapter after the Sermon on the Mount, says “Now when Jesus saw the crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea.” When He saw the crowd, He said, I’m outta here. And one in that crowd said, “Teacher, I’ll follow You wherever You go.” To which Jesus responded, great, jump in the boat. Nope. He said, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” What happened to prosperity? Still want to come? Luke 9 adds at that same time, one said, “Lord, I’ll follow You, but let me first go say goodbye to my family.” And Jesus said, “Nope. No one after putting His hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Do you think that guy got in the boat?
What are you doing, Jesus – You seem to be making it difficult. John 6, after some difficult teaching about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, many of His disciples said, “This is difficult, who can listen to that?” As a result, we read many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.
What was going on? Very simply, Jesus was correcting any misconceptions they had about becoming His followers. He was laying out the strenuous demands of discipleship. He was calling them from self-serving curiosity to Christ-exalting commitment. And we see Him continue to proclaim such demanding expectations in our text today – Luke 14:25-35, where we see the cost of discipleship.
These are stunning words. Jesus wants to make sure we know, if we seek to follow Him, there is a cost. Oh, to be sure, the gospel is free, but should you believe the gospel and be converted, there is significant cost, sacrifice to follow Jesus. There’s a sense in which Jesus puts in bold print the fine print of the gospel. We’re the ones who try to minimize that, obscure that, ignore that. Jesus always maximized it. You want to sign up? You want to give your life to the free grace of the gospel? Great – the gospel is free, but it will cost you everything you’ve got. You say, that’s not the way I came to Jesus – I didn’t know that. Then you didn’t come. Jesus said, come this way, or you cannot be My disciple. Here’s the outline of the text:
I. To Be a Disciple, You Must “Hate” Those Closest (25-26)
II. To Be a Disciple, You Must Carry a Cross (27)
III. Two Parables of Counting the Cost (28-32) – He is saying, sit down and consider the cost.
IV. You see, To Be a Disciple, You Must Give Up Everything (33)
V. Parable of Continuing, or not continuing, Well (34-35)
Let’s start with those first two verses to see what being a disciple of Jesus requires. Requires –interesting word. We’re so familiar with the gospel being free, and it is; so used to giving our lives to Christ as Savior with no intention of surrendering to Him as Lord; so used to accepting Jesus as a fire escape from hell but living the rest of our lives for ourselves, this text seems almost foreign to us. It’s certainly hard-hitting.
Verse 25 sets the familiar stage, “Now large crowds were going along with Him.” Along with Him on this journey to Jerusalem where He will die – give up His life for the sheep. But, His popularity is still off the charts – large crowds still accompany Him. And as was His practice, He addresses what is obviously a bandwagon. We know that when Jesus enters Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey on Palm Sunday [that we remember a week from today], the crowds will welcome Him, cutting down palm branches, laying their coats before Him, crying, Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
We also know that by the end of the week, some in the crowd will turn against Him – their cries will go from crown Him to crucify Him. Not all, but where are the rest who hailed Him that day? There are only 120 left in the upper room after He was crucified. The rest apparently slid off the back of the bandwagon – it wasn’t quite as exciting as when Jesus rode into Jerusalem to loud cries of acclaim as when He left the city, beaten, crown of thorns, carrying His cross.
Well, that’s a few weeks away. But, knowing what was in man – the gospel narratives say something like that many times – knowing what their following actually was, He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me” – stop right there. This is a phrase of discipleship – if anyone comes, wishing to follow Me, be with Me, take My yoke upon him – after all, that was the invitation in Matthew 11, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, burdened down, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me – this was an invitation to find rest, yes, but also an invitation to discipleship – come to Me, take My yoke and learn from Me.
So, if anyone accepts the invitation and comes to be My disciple, and yet he does not hate his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. You can come – but understand, while the gospel is free, being a disciple is costly. Notice, if you don’t accept the cost, don’t commit to the cost, then you cannot be My disciple. He says that three times at the end of each of these “to be My disciple” statements. If you don’t do these things, you cannot be My disciple. To be clear, this is not earning your salvation – but it is proving yourself to be truly saved, proving to be a disciple – follower – learner – this willingness to forsake all. You say, I didn’t know that – never heard that – I guess I never read the fine print.
In this first one, He says you must hate all those relationships closest to you – namely, every family attachment you have. At first glance, this can be confusing. After all, it seems to contradict things like, honor your father and mother, which Jesus affirmed when confronting the Pharisees in Mark 7. In Matthew 22, Jesus said the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. He will tell them at the last supper in John 13, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. He’ll even tell us to love our enemies in Luke 6. Then we’ll get to Paul where the end of the law is love; husbands, love your wives, wives love your husband and children.
So how is it that we are to hate those closest to us – our families? Hate? Even the world understands and affirms familial love… Most agree Jesus is speaking in typical rabbinic style with superlative language to get His point across. So, we should think of it in relative terms. Meaning, our love for and commitment to Jesus is so supreme, it causes all other loves to pale in comparison. Such that to compare them could speak of loving one, hating the other. So great is our love for Christ that nothing else comes close, compares. It’s easy to write these words, it’s altogether different to live these words.
Jesus is simply saying, love for Him comes first in all relationships, even the most important in our lives. Even when compared to self-love and care, even our own lives, Jesus says, it pales – it takes a distant second to our love for Him. If Jesus is not our supreme love, then we cannot be, in fact, we are not His disciples. Let that sink in. Contemplate that for a moment.
We are told, even in Christian circles with biblical support to focus on our families. And that is true, but that misplaced emphasis has done much damage to the kingdom of God and the church of Jesus Christ. Because truth be told, many make an idol of the family, and even feel spiritual about it. Remember, an idol is defined as the most important priority in life; the last in a series of priorities to go. And so, love of spouse or love of children comes first. And many will make Jesus and His church take second place. Which turns this text on its head.
What does that look like? Lots of different ways. We see by example in Scripture the church gathers for worship on the first day of week. We are even told not to give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. To consider how we may encourage one another to love and good deeds. And yet, how many times do biological familial commitments take us away? The weather is nice, let’s go on a hike or to the lake. Kids’ sports often take the place of worship – all in the name of focusing on the family. Thing about it, what do we end up teaching our kids? That Christ and His church take a backseat to familial commitments. How often do family financial needs trump sacrificial giving to His church to advance the work of the gospel.
I know, some of that may be hard to hear. And you may think, well, you’re a pastor, of course you’ll say those things. But would you consider for a moment they may be true? I’m just trying to get us to think about what loving Jesus and hating family would looks like? Would it help if I said many commentaries in my library pointed out these challenges?
Darrell Bock has some interesting insights:
“This saying needs to be set in the context of its first-century setting. At that time a Jewish person who made a choice for Jesus would alienate his or her 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…. (Contemporary comparisons may be seen in certain formerly Communist Eastern European settings, in Moslem countries….) The modern Western phenomenon where a decision for Christ is popular in the larger social community was not true of Jesus’ setting, which complicates our understanding of the significance of a decision to associate with Christ. Today one might associate with Christ simply because it is culturally appropriate, rather than for true spiritual reasons. Such a decision was impossible in the first century.”
So number one, to be a disciple, our love for Christ must be first, even above familial relationships and commitments. And if He does not take first place – Jesus says this, not me – then you cannot be His disciple. Second, to be a disciple, you must carry your own cross, which means, you must embrace a life of suffering. Again, this is different than you’ll hear in many churches today.
The cross was an instrument of shame and extreme mortal torture. It was reserved for the worst of criminals. All alive at that time had seen a Roman cross, and someone dying upon it. There was no need for description. It was horrible, the most horrendous and vicious way to die. If you saw someone carrying the cross member of cross down the road, followed by Roman soldiers, you knew the victim was headed for certain, cruel death, and there would be no return.
So when Jesus says, a disciple must carry his own cross, it would have been shocking. Of course, He knows He is heading to such death. And He now tells those who would be His disciples, they must carry their own crosses. They must be willing to die, metaphorically and literally if necessary. They must be willing to die to all the things that call for their attention.
The people knew exactly what He was saying. A few years before, a zealot named Judas had gathered a band of rebels to fight the Romans. The insurrection was easily put down. But in order to teach the Jews a lesson, the Roman general Varus had ordered the crucifixion of over 2,000 Jews in Galilee. Their crosses lined the roads from one end of Galilee to the other. The Jews knew what Jesus meant.
He was on a roll. Not only must you sacrifice the most important of relationships – you must carry a cross. Let me tell you what that does not mean. It doesn’t mean that when we suffer the same maladies, illnesses, trials, temptations that everyone else does, that we’re suffering for Jesus. That we’re bearing our cross. It’s just my cross to bear.
Listen, everyone gets flat tires. Everyone faces financial struggles at some point or another. Lots of people have difficulties in their marriages. Lots of people don’t like their jobs or lose their jobs. Lots of people have lousy neighbors. Not everyone loves school. Some face debilitating diseases and terminal illness. While these things may test our faith, none of those necessarily have anything to do with cross-bearing. The world faces those same challenges.
It meant total self-denial. It meant giving it all up for Christ. Lots of people say, I would die for Christ, but Jesus is looking for people to die to themselves. Who are willing to lay it all down, carry their cross, and follow Him. People who say, Jesus, you’re the only One that matters – I give it all up for you, every day of my life. And if you want to take my life, here it is.
The bad news is this, if you’re not radically committed to Christ – if your life is more important to you than the life Jesus wants to give you, you cannot be His disciple. In Matthew, He said you’ll lose your life. Jesus is not looking for half-hearted commitment. He wants it all.
And the good news is, if you carry your cross, lose your life for Christ, if you give it all up for Him, then you’ll find life that is truly life – abundant life. A life of joy and contentment – a life worth living. We spend all our lives trying to acquire what this world has to offer – material goods, family, success, money, a life of ease, fame. That’s not life, Jesus says – give all that up. Life that is really worth living is one lived for another – His name is Jesus.
Jesus then gives two illustrations, parables to suggest what He is calling for takes great sacrifice, so you better sit down and count the cost. Very quickly, the first one is the guy who wants to build a tower. Lots of discussion about what kind of tower, in the end, unimportant. We know it’s a big one though, since it has foundation. Will not this man, if he has any business sense at all, won’t he sit down to determine if he starts building the tower, can he complete the tower? If he doesn’t complete the work, just lays a foundation, won’t people ridicule him? The point is, if you become a follower of Jesus, understand there is a cost – and you should consider the cost in order to complete a life of discipleship.
The second illustration, parable regards a king who is set to meet another king in battle. If he has any sense, won’t he sit down to consider the battle plans, especially since he has ten thousand soldiers, and the opposing king has twenty thousand. If he determines he cannot win, he better send out delegation before the battle is engaged to ask for terms of peace. The point is basically the same – you should determine before you enter the battle, you should count the cost to determine if you have what it takes to win. It’s interesting to note, when you decide to follow Christ, you are entering a battle. And you should know the enemy is formidable. Do you have what it takes to complete the battle – to win the battle. No, but yes, if you fully rely on the true King. But if you are counting on your own puny resources, you will not make it, you won’t last.
Which brings us to the third “to be a disciple” statement, verse 33, “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his possessions.” So then ties it to the parables He just gave. You don’t have what it takes to complete the tower; you don’t have what it takes to win the battle, if you don’t give it up all up to Jesus. You need Him to follow all the way to the end of life. If you’re just going to make an empty profession of faith with no plans to live for Christ, you won’t make it. If you’re not willing to give it all up to Him, you cannot be His disciple. Do you see what Jesus is saying? He wants everything you’ve got – for His glory and your good, because without full surrender to Him and His Lordship in your life, you won’t make it.
Bringing us to the last point, the last couple of verses, and our conclusion. Don’t miss the first word, therefore. The verses seem a bit out of place – disjointed. But Jesus ties them to what He just said. He ties it to counting the cost to be His follower – that He must be the supreme relationship in your life, that you must carry your own cross, that you must count the cost, that you must give up everything to Him – to be called His disciple.
It’s a parable – but one which they would understand immediately. Therefore, salt is good – useful, completes its intended purpose while it remains salty. Its intended purpose, by the way, was preservation, seasoning, fertilizing, and even in the covenantal sacrifices.
But, if salt loses its saltiness, it becomes tasteless. That doesn’t make sense us – I mean, salt is salt, sodium chloride – how does it lose its saltiness? Well, salt then wasn’t as pure, in fact, much came from the Dead Sea, mixed with other minerals, largely gypsum. And after a while, the salt would leach out, leaving gypsum, which was neither salty nor useful for salty purposes. In other words, salt would lose its intended purpose. It’s not even good for the soil or the manure pile – it was only good to be thrown out.
Jesus is simply saying, in order to be salty – in order to be useful to the Master, you must be a fully devoted follower, which requires sacrifice of everything you’ve got. Everything you pursue, everything you hold dear. He must be first in your life. After all, you are the salt of the earth, the light of the world. We must live like it – with Jesus as the supreme affection of our lives. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.