Please turn to the Gospel according to Luke, Chapter 14. We will read from verses 25 through 35. I will read it in English first, and my brother will read it in Chinese.
And there went great multitudes with Him: and He turned, and said unto them,
If any man cometh unto Me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.
Whosoever doth not bear his own cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.
For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doth not first sit down and count the cost, whether he have wherewith to complete it?
Lest haply, when he hath laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all that behold begin to mock him,
Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
Or what king, as he goeth to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and asketh conditions of peace.
So therefore whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.
Salt therefore is good: but if even the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
It is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill: men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee that we are not only in Thy presence, but also in the presence of Thy Word. Thy Word is life and spirit. So we pray, Lord, that Thou wilt remove any veil upon our faces. Open our inner eyes, that the light of Thy Word may shine upon us, that Thy Word would really be living and operative in us.
We want to give Thee all the glory. In Thy precious name we pray. Amen.
Well, dear brothers and sisters, we are still here. Actually, the Lord has not come yet, so He is giving us another opportunity that we may truly be ready to welcome Him.
Yesterday, we shared together on this matter of the call of discipleship. The Lord has not only called us to come to Him, but He has also called us to follow Him. To come to Him is to receive His pardon, that we may have rest. But He has also called us to be yoked with Him and to learn of Him, because He is meek and lowly. If we do, we shall find rest for our souls.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we find that we as believers are all called to be His disciples. There is no such thing as being called to be a believer and not being called to be a disciple.
If you have responded to His first call, to believe in Him personally, then automatically you are included in His call to discipleship. Whether you want to be His disciple or not, you are His disciple. Whether you succeed as His disciple or not, you are His disciple.
So, brothers and sisters, this discipleship is a general call to all believers, and it is a lifelong call. There is no such thing as graduating from discipleship. You do not graduate and become a teacher or a master who disciples other people to yourself. In discipleship, there is no graduation.
Discipleship is a holy calling. We find in 2 Timothy 1:9 that God has called us with a holy calling. It is not according to our works.
You know, when we hear of discipleship, we immediately think, “What can I do? What should I do that I will become His disciple?” But this holy calling is not according to our works. As a matter of fact, if you try to work as a disciple, you will never succeed.
Brothers and sisters, we are called by a holy calling. It is not according to your works, but according to God’s purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus.
First of all, the call of discipleship is according to God’s eternal purpose, that we may fulfill God’s eternal purpose concerning man. Furthermore, it is a matter of grace. It is not a matter of works.
I hope that in our mentality there should be a drastic change. As soon as we hear the word disciple, we think, “Now, what can I do? What should I do?” But no, discipleship is according to the grace of God.
No one can by his own works become a true disciple of Christ and be a successful disciple. Only by the grace of God can we be His true disciples.
This calling is not only a holy calling; it is an on-high calling. If you read Philippians 3, you will find that we are pressing on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
This is an on-high calling. Or, we may put it another way: it is the highest calling. This is what God calls man to—the highest degree—because it is none other than to gain Christ. There is no higher standard that anyone can have: that we may win Christ, that we may be conformed to Christ.
It is an on-high calling. It is a glorious calling. Furthermore, we find that this calling is a heavenly calling. You can find that in Hebrews 3:1, because we are partakers of a heavenly calling.
It is God’s will that He will bless us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So this call to discipleship is an all-inclusive calling. It is not a small thing. It is actually what should occupy us throughout our lives.
Now, knowing that this call of discipleship is such a noble calling, you should expect that it costs a lot, because this is not a small thing. The higher the calling, the costlier it will be, because that is the character of the calling.
So this morning, we would like to share on the cost of discipleship. Now, do not be afraid.
I would like to mention two things before we consider the cost of discipleship—what discipleship will cost me. Before you deal with this matter, let us deal with two other questions.
Number one: How much did that calling cost the One who calls us to be His disciples? Before we consider how much it will cost us, let us first consider how much it cost the Caller—our Lord Jesus, who issued this call to us.
Behind that calling, how much has He paid? Brothers and sisters, if you consider this, it will relieve you of your burden.
If you read Philippians 2:5-8, that will tell you how much it cost Christ to issue that calling to us. He, being equal with God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.
But, brothers and sisters, in order to issue that call of discipleship to us, what must He do? He had to empty Himself.
How much can we empty ourselves? What we have been filled with is not worthy to be there: our self-life, our own ambition, our pride. All these things should not be there. They need to be emptied, but we do not empty ourselves.
Think of the Lord Jesus. He is equal with God. He is filled with all the fullness of God. He is full of the love of God, the holiness of God, the gentleness of God, the righteousness of God, the authority of God, the power of God, and the glory of God. Nothing can be better than what He has been filled with.
And yet, for our sake, in order to issue a call to us to follow Him, He emptied Himself. Of course, He could not empty Himself of His deity, because that is what He is. But He emptied Himself of all the honor and glory surrounding His deity.
Instead of sitting on the throne, He came down to this earth as a babe in a manger. Instead of receiving all the worship of all the angels, He came down to earth as a man despised and forsaken. He emptied Himself of all His glory and honor.
None of us was born in a manger. We were born in a hospital. But our Lord Jesus was born in a manger. He became a companion to all those animals. There can be no lower birth than such a birth.
The Bible says that He took the form of a bondservant. The word form in the original does not refer to outward appearance. The word form points to inward character.
In other words, when He was born into this earth as a man, in His inward feeling He was born as a bondservant. We are born as men, the highest of the animal kingdom, but our Lord Jesus was born with the inward character of a bondservant.
He was born without any right, because He was a love slave to God. If you search His heart, you find that there is no such thing as, “This is My right.” In His heart there was only obedience to His Father.
It seems as if He said, “I come not for Myself, but for My Father. I have no right of My own. I come to do Thy will, the Father’s will.” He is the love slave of God.
Outwardly, He was a man, and He was a perfect man. He had no sin in His life. Yet, to obey His Father and to be a substitute for all fallen mankind, He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
The punishment of the cross is a Roman punishment. This is the Romans’ severest punishment, because when people are crucified on the cross, they die gradually. They suffer to the uttermost.
Yet our Lord Jesus had such a mind, such an attitude, and such a will. He was willing to empty Himself fully, to be treated as a criminal—the worst criminal the world can ever have.
This is the cost that He paid to issue a calling to us. So He said, “Follow Me.” He was not sitting on the throne and telling people on the earth to follow Him. He came to this earth to be crucified on the cross for our sake.
He is the only Man who could die for us, because He was sinless. He died for our sins, that we might be the righteousness of God.
Brothers and sisters, when you consider what our Lord Jesus paid in order to call us to follow Him and to be His disciples, whatever cost it may cost you is nothing. We cannot say, “It costs me too much,” because He has paid it all in full.
The second thing is this: when you hear this matter of discipleship, immediately our reaction is, “Well, that means I have to work for it.” But if you read the Word of God, you will find that the call to discipleship is a calling of grace.
When we are called to believe in the Lord Jesus, we say it is grace. Why? Because this is not by works. The more you work for it, the more you find that you cannot earn it.
We have all passed through this experience. When we are conscious of our sin, what is our natural reaction? We want to do something good. We want to accumulate some merit, so that we may be saved. But all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. They cannot cover our nakedness.
How can we be saved? It is all by grace, and it is a free gift of God. If you are humble enough to receive God’s free gift, then it is yours.
When we think about being saved, we understand that it is grace—not by works, but by the free gift of God. But when we talk about discipleship, immediately our natural mind takes over: “Now I have to work for it. I have to use all my energy to get it.”
If you try, you will find that even a tiny little challenge will defeat you. Brothers and sisters, if you really understand the character and nature of the call of discipleship, you will find that it has to be grace—from grace to grace.
We cannot do it. Nobody can pay the cost of discipleship. But if we allow grace to work in our lives, then you find that it is done.
Grace, in the original, includes three things.
First, grace means that the One whom you look to is full of grace. In other words, the object is grace. God is grace. He is full of grace and merciful. That is what God is. If you look at God, you find grace and you find mercy, because this is what He is.
Second, grace is something freely given, and it is given universally. It is not selective. If you desire, you will have it. It is freely given to all.
Third, because we have looked at the One who is full of grace, and as we look at Him His grace is freely given to us, then His grace being in us changes us to be gracious.
In the world there is no such thing as grace, because grace is in God, and grace comes to us through Christ Jesus. We believe in Him, and we receive that grace. But having received His grace in us, that is not the end. His grace changes us to be gracious like God.
If you receive God’s grace and you do not give grace to others, then you abuse the grace of God. The grace of God is wasted in your life. There needs to be a transformation within us.
Brothers and sisters, in this matter of the cost of discipleship, if you can see this secret, then you can overcome, because it is not you. It is the grace of God that enables you to pay the cost.
I hope that you really take these two points to heart. If you do, then we can continue on with the cost of discipleship. Otherwise, we will stop here and let you struggle over this matter until you come to your end. But do you want to do that? Well, let us proceed then.
One day our Lord Jesus was walking, and He was surrounded by great crowds. Do you like to have great crowds follow you? I think there is nothing better than that for man. But our Lord Jesus is different.
We find in Luke 14 that He turned around and challenged the people. What He challenged them with, it is clear, was driving people away from Him. Our Lord Jesus is not for crowds. What He wants is quality, not quantity.
When a great multitude was following Him, He turned around and challenged them. He said:
If any man cometh unto Me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.
You notice that what our brother read in Chinese is different from what I read in English. In the original, the word is not love. The word is hate.
We do not like the word hate because it has a bad connotation. We all love the word love because it gives us a sweet feeling. But, strictly speaking, love and hate are neutral. It depends on what you love and what you hate.
If you love what you should hate, then that is wrong. God loves sinners, but He hates sin. You cannot turn it around so that you love sin and hate God. What is important is that you know what to hate and what to love.
Here our Lord Jesus used a very strong word. He said that if anyone does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be His disciple.
Are you able to do that? Do you find that the cost is too much? Do you find that this is unreasonable? Is there not a commandment in the Ten Commandments to honor your father and mother? This is the first commandment with a promise.
If you honor your father and mother, you will have a long life. This is not only true in the Old Testament; it is repeated in the New Testament.
God wants us to love our father and mother. God wants us to love our brothers and sisters, love our husbands and wives, and even love ourselves. Take care of yourself—not for your own sake, but for God’s sake. This is God’s will.
But unfortunately, because we are fallen men, in our fallen state we love what we should hate, and we hate what we should love. Even what we consider as love— is it really love, or is it loving yourself? What you hate— is it really what needs to be hated?
We are so confused. Our natural love and our natural hate are irregular. So God wants to purify even our love and hate, to deliver us from loving ourselves or hating ourselves, that we may be purified to love as God loves and to hate as God hates.
This is a process of purification. Our Lord Jesus challenges us with that. When we are following the Lord, sometimes you find that your family becomes your enemy. You want to follow the Lord, but they want you to follow them.
You find that there is a conflict between you and the one whom you love, and that becomes a cross. Man’s love and God’s love cross each other. When that happens, it is a crisis.
If you want to follow the Lord, you have to follow God instead of man. If you follow man, then you cannot follow God, because your love or hate is natural; it is not spiritual.
To be a disciple of Christ, the first cost concerns your emotional life. He will purify your emotional life. Are you able to do that? If you do not, the Lord said, “You cannot be My disciple.”
Number two: the Lord Jesus said:
Whosoever doth not bear his own cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.
We have already said that if the love or hate of your kindred is in conflict with the love or hate of God, it becomes a cross. If you do not carry your cross and follow the Lord, you cannot be His disciple.
Thirdly, you find in verse 33:
So therefore whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.
If you do not forsake all that is your own, you cannot be His disciple. That is why you find in the Bible record that when the Lord called Peter and Andrew, they were fishing. He said, “Come and follow Me. I will make you fishers of men.” The Bible says they left all and followed.
James and John were mending the nets. The Lord said, “Come and follow Me.” They left the net, they left the boat, they left their father, and followed the Lord.
Levi was at the customs house, because he was a tax collector. The Lord said, “Come and follow Me,” and he left all and followed.
In the old days, all who followed the Lord left all and followed. Now, it may not mean that you have to leave your home and follow the Lord. It may not mean that you have to leave your work and follow the Lord.
Today we are God’s spiritual people. But in your heart, you have to forsake all. Then you can follow the Lord. If in your heart you are still lingering over anything, if you are bound by something, you are not able to follow.
The call is absolute. The call of discipleship is an absolute call, just as our Lord Jesus gave all and followed the Father.
Can you do that by yourself? To men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. That is the glory of God.
Here you find that our Lord Jesus used two parables. He said that if a man is going to build a tower, before he builds that tower he has to sit down and count the cost, to see whether he is able to finish the building.
If he only lays the foundation and is not able to finish the building, then people will pass by and mock him: “This man began to build, but he was not able to finish.” What does it mean?
It means that to be a disciple is to be engaged in a building work. You remember our Lord Jesus said, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
Brothers and sisters, we are all engaged in building that tower—not the tower of Babel, but the tower of the testimony of Jesus. God has committed His testimony to the church in His Son, and we are all engaged in this building work, to have the testimony lifted up, that the testimony of Jesus may be known throughout the whole world: that He is truly Lord.
This is our work. But in doing this work, are you able to start and finish it? Are you able to give your all to it? If you only want to pay a little bit out of your resources because you want to use the rest for other purposes, then you will not be able to finish it, and people will laugh at you. Sit down and count the cost.
Our Lord used another parable. It is like a king going to battle. He is going to fight against another king who comes with twenty thousand people. But if he only wants to use ten thousand soldiers, he does not want to use all his resources. Then what should he do? He had better ask for peace.
Brothers and sisters, we are all engaged in a spiritual battle. The gates of hell are trying to swallow up the church. There is a spiritual warfare going on. If we are not willing to put all into that battle, we will not succeed.
We are not here idly. We are here building, and we are here fighting. We are builders and we are soldiers. We are engaged in a most important work, and to do that you need to be disciples of Christ. You need to pay it all; otherwise, you will not succeed. The secret is: count the cost.
I would like to share with you a little experience of mine. By the grace of God, I was saved in 1930. I was fifteen at that time.
By 1932, I was baptized according to God’s Word. As I mentioned yesterday, this act of obedience seemed to open heaven to me. The Lord began to reveal His mind through His Word.
By 1933, I was in a great crisis. I was in college at that time, but the Lord began to show me about this matter of the testimony of the church.
I was born into a Methodist family. My father was a pastor, and he loved the Lord. I was very zealous and active in the Methodist church.
I attended a Christian college. The professors were missionaries from this country. But as I associated with them, I discovered something I never expected: these professors did not believe in Jesus as the Son of God.
They took Christianity as a social, religious, moral thing. When I discovered it, I felt that I could not go on. So I withdrew from all so-called Christian activities.
I was in the dormitory with two others in the room. But during that period, I felt that the only way I could maintain my faith was to draw near to God. So I spent much time on my knees, praying and reading the Word of God.
More and more, the Lord began to reveal to me that such an institution was not what God wanted me to be involved in. So I withdrew from those outward activities.
Thank God, I found some companions. I had two classmates who were also saved. Oftentimes, the three of us would go to an empty room and pray together.
Later on, we discovered that in the other corner of our city there was a Baptist hospital. There were four sisters who truly loved the Lord. We were introduced to them, and seven of us began to meet together in that home, trying to follow the Lord as we understood Him.
I remember the first time we came together and broke bread together. We were all in tears. We felt the presence of the Lord. We felt His love toward us. From that time on, the Lord began to open up, and people began to be added.
But it caused a big problem for me. In a way, it seemed as if the burden fell upon me. I felt I was at a crossroads. Could I follow the Lord absolutely? Or would I compromise?
I found myself as one whose two feet were on two different boats, and the two boats were sailing apart. I did not know what to do.
At that time, a dear brother came to visit us. I can still remember that Sunday. He spoke in the morning, and he spoke on Luke 14. He said, “If you want to follow the Lord, you have to sit down and count your cost. You cannot be on two boats.”
After his message, we had lunch together, and then rested before the afternoon meeting. I was sitting by myself. I said, “Lord, why is it that my way is not clear? Is it because I have never really counted my cost?”
So I tried to count my cost. If you try to count your cost, the enemy will come in and increase the cost a hundredfold. I counted and counted. I thought, “If I really follow the Lord absolutely, I will be cast out of the university. I will have to leave my family. I will be alone.”
“Lord, I cannot pay the cost.”
Then I saw, as it were, the Lord coming to me. He showed me His bleeding hands, and He asked me a question: “I have done all this for you. What will you do for Me?”
Brothers and sisters, I was melted by the love of Christ. I told the Lord, “Everything is here—my life, my blood, my all.”
It seems easy, but for three days and three nights I was in a crisis. I did not hear what the professor said. At night I could not sleep. I was still struggling.
But thank God, He held me to what I promised. Finally, His grace conquered. By His grace, I was willing to choose Him and nothing else.
Brothers and sisters, I could not do it, but grace carried me through. I believe this is what God will do for every one of us.
Throughout our Christian life, we will be challenged again and again. Are we willing to forsake all and follow Him? Will we choose Him above all else? Are we willing to carry our cross and follow Him?
Again I say, man cannot do it. His grace is sufficient for us. Therefore, we boast of our weaknesses, that His power may be manifested in us.
When you read Luke 14, it ends with the matter of salt. Salt is good.
You remember that Matthew tells us the Lord said, “You are the salt of the earth.” We have a flavor which the world does not know. It is the flavor of Christ in us.
Salt not only brings out flavor; it also prevents corruption. That is what we Christians should be. We should have a salty flavor. When people come to us, they may feel the flavor of Christ. It will bring out that which is good in them, and it will preserve them and preserve the world from corruption.
People in the world may not appreciate Christians, but if there were no Christians on earth, the whole world would be so corrupted that it would already have been judged.
Where does the salty flavor come from? It is the flavor of Christ.
But if the salt becomes savorless, how can it be restored? Unless it is diluted and diluted and diluted, until it has lost its flavor. Then what can you do with the salt? You cannot use it in the field, nor can you throw it to the dunghill.
Do you know what it means? It means that if we who are called to be disciples are so diluted by the world that we have lost our flavor, what will happen to us when the Lord comes?
Can He use us in the land? In other words, can He use us in the kingdom age to rule with Him? No. Can He throw us to the dunghill? The dunghill means those unbelievers, those useless ones. No. We are not unbelievers.
Then what will happen? We will be cast out. You remember the parable of the ten virgins. The five foolish virgins were shut out from the marriage feast of the Lamb. They had to weep and gnash their teeth.
In other words, they lost the kingdom. Though they are saved, during the kingdom age they too will be disciplined, in order that in eternity all who are called of God will be conformed to the image of God’s Son.
May the Lord help us.
Dear Lord, we commit ourselves and these few words into Thy hand. We pray that Thy Word will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Thank Thee for Thy encouraging grace—grace upon grace. We worship Thee. Amen.