Sermon Series: “The Gospel and the Parable”

Sermon 3: “Count the Cost”

Luke 14:25-35

Jacob Anderson

June 21, 2026

 

Today we’re going to ask ourselves one simple question, “Am I prepared to pay the cost to follow Jesus?”

 

Luke 14:25 “Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them.”

 

Luke 14:26 “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.”

 

Jesus says we are to hate? Seems out of character for Jesus to tell us to hate.

 

Well let’s look closer at the word “hate”; in the original Greek the word for “hate” is “Miseo” which actually means “to love less”.

 

Jesus isn’t saying to have no love for your family; Jesus is saying, our love for our family, even our love for ourselves, must be less than our love for Him.

 

Matthew 10:37 where Jesus says “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”

 

Jesus is saying, our love for Him must surpass our love for everyone else.

No matter where we are in our walk with Jesus, He must always be first in our lives.

 

Luke 14:27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”

 

According to commentator Malcolm O. Tolbert “To bear a cross is to accept fully the consequences of discipleship; the shame, the loneliness, the hostility. A disciple is not a person who memorizes vast amounts of religious tradition, but he is a person who follows after Jesus and gladly shares in His sufferings.”

 

There were two understandings of the phrase “carry your cross”. To the original hearers of this parable, it meant a piece of wood that you would be nailed to, also, the cross figuratively represented humiliation and suffering.

I believe Jesus was making reference to both meanings. He was making a reference to His own death on a cross in the not-too-distant future, but He was also making reference to the intense persecution that would arise from an anti-Christian culture in the future.

 

As American’s we don’t understand this idea of persecution; we may be mocked or ridiculed at times, but we have never experienced persecution like the rest of the world.

 

Luke 14:28 – 30 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’”

 

The cost of being a disciple of Jesus

 

Your family may shun you for the rest of your life if you become a Christian.

 

I have known people who have lost their spouse to divorce, because they were a Christian and their spouse wasn’t.

 

You may face losing your job if you become a Christian.

 

You may lose your life if you become a Christian; think about the 9 Christians killed in South Carolina in 2015 while at Bible study.

 

You may face persecution, humiliation, or criticism for being a Christian.

 

Jesus is saying, “If you don’t first count the potential cost of being a disciple of Mine, then when things get difficult you will bail out.”

 

If we wish to be followers of Jesus, then we must daily count the cost of our commitment.

Are we willing to make the sacrifices necessary to stay faithful to Jesus until the end?

 

Luke 14:31 – 32 “Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.”

 

Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

 

As a Christian, our life is a battlefield, and if don’t daily count the cost of fighting this war, we will become a victim.

 

 

Luke 14:33 “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.”

 

Does Jesus expect us to give up everything we own to follow Him?

No, that’s not what Jesus is saying here. To understand what Jesus is saying, we must look more closely at the phrase “give up”.

 

In the original Greek the phrase “give up” literally means “to separate one’s self from”.

 

As disciples of Jesus, we need to find our identity in Jesus not in our possessions.

 

Matthew 6:19 – 20 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

 

Our identity is in Christ, and in Christ alone.

 

Luke 14:34 – 35 “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

 

Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth.”

 

Matthew 28:19 – 20 “Go, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you.”

 

Our purpose is to be a disciple of Jesus, to baptize, and to teach, and we need to follow that purpose with all of our hearts.

 

Have you evaluated your life today? Have you counted the cost of following after Jesus with all of your heart.

 

The cost of following Christ can be high, but whatever we may face in the future, fully commit yourself to Christ, make Him first in your life, and don’t let anything stand your way.