Luke 14:25-35
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Rally Day
9 September 2007
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Four-year-old Benji was wise beyond his years, much wiser than many Christian adults, in fact. Benji had been born to a Christian mother, who, when he turned four, suddenly became very concerned about his soul. When he turned four, she decided that it was time to ask him “the” question: “Benji, would you like to have Jesus in your heart?” Benji thought for a few minutes and then, rolling his big blue eyes, answered, “No thanks, Mom. I don’t think I want the responsibility.”
All joking and laughter aside, Benji realized what many adult Christians have still not figured out – that while salvation is indeed a full and free gift given to each and every person on this earth because “Jesus loves me” and hung on the Cross for me, it comes with some strings attached. That message about Jesus dying on the Cross for me is not a message to simply receive at the time of baptism and then carefully squirrel away into some dark corner of our body until that moment when Jesus comes to take our hand and walk us through the pearly gates of Heaven. That’s sadly what many adults do. Many adults put a premium on baptism – and there’s nothing wrong with that – but even four-year-old Benji knew that there was a responsibility that came with having Jesus in your heart.
That responsibility was spoken of very clearly by Jesus using two beautiful true-to-life stories but also using some very direct words.
One beautiful story is this. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Does he simply just start building.? Oh, no. There’s measuring to do. There are plans to draw. There are permits to pull. There are bank loans to apply for and receive. There’s a plan for repaying that loan that needs to be acceptable. Only when he properly prepares should someone build a tower. Otherwise, he’s the laughing stock of the neighborhood with his half-finished, unpaid for, crooked tower that has a big red “STOP” order taped to it by the local building inspector.
The second beautiful story is about a king set to go to war. He doesn’t send his soldiers off to war if he even remotely believes there’s even a chance for defeat. No, kings carefully measure the king against whom they’re going to war. Certain defeat as a result is not a wise battle to enter. Certain defeat is a much better retreat.
Jesus started telling these two beautiful true-to-life stories with some very direct words: “Whoever wants to follow me must pick up and carry his cross.” That’s the responsibility that even four-year-old Benji knew. That responsibility was further summarized by Jesus with the words, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be My disciple.”
Those are some very direct words. Those are some very harsh words. They’re words we’d rather not hear. They’re words we believe Jesus must not have really meant. After all, God is a God of love. What kind of God of love commands people to hate? We’re even commanded to love our enemies [Matthew 5:43-44]! And, our families? Hate them? They’re some of our greatest gifts from God. Why would God given us precious gifts and then command us to hate those gifts? It all makes absolutely no sense, so we just usually skip over these words of Jesus and hope we’re just not understanding them properly or that they’ll just go away.
For two thousand years now, those words have not gone away. Those words were the words that sent St. Paul to prison [Philemon 1-21] where even the cold steel bars that restrained the body of the world’s greatest evangelist could not restrain his heart that had been touched and changed by Jesus. Those words were the words that, 1900 years later, would send German Lutheran pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer to prison during World War 2 because he would not stop preaching the Gospel about Jesus Christ. There, in prison, Pastor Bonhoeffer would die, just days before the end of the war, but not before writing his classic book, The Cost of Discipleship.
Today, on this Rally Day, I call upon each of us to ponder those words of Jesus, to count the cost, to decide – as four-year-old Benji so aptly put it – if we want the responsibility of having Jesus in our heart.
For the parents out there, I know it’s a chore to get children out of bed on Sunday mornings, to get them dressed and fed, to get them to Sunday School and church. It’s so much easier – mainly for us adults – to just let them sleep in and personally be able to sit down and relax and watch the morning news with a cup of coffee in hand. But I do know, as I look around here Sunday after Sunday, that getting kids to Sunday School and church is not an impossible dream, as I see parents who do it week after week and not just coming from a block away. Some of those parents come a couple miles away, five miles, twenty miles, and even as much as 35 miles each way. Why do they do it? Because they’ve counted the cost and they want to give their children something that this world cannot otherwise give them. Nothing is too great a sacrifice for their children.
And adults? Don’t think you’re off the hook simply because you don’t have or no longer have children at home. There’s also adult Bible study every Sunday morning. There’s Bible / Prayer breakfast the fourth Saturday every month. There’s Wednesday prayer services every week at 11:30 a.m. Sure, it takes time to get church. Even with gas prices having dropped to about $2.60 a gallon, it takes money to get to church. It might mean we have to get up an hour earlier on Sunday morning. It might mean we miss part of our soap opera or game show once a week. It’s part of picking up our cross and following Jesus because of His great love for us.
The question this morning is, “What comes first in my life?” Whatever that is, everything else must be loved less – or “hated” using the wording chosen by Jesus. His use of that word is a relative “hate” – meaning “love less than.” Now those words make more sense: “Whoever wants to be My disciple must love his family less than he loves Me. Whoever wants to be My disciple must even love his own life less than he loves Me” That understanding has compelled people for 2,000 years to face prison bars, to face the jaws of lions, to face economic hardships just to show that Jesus Christ is number one in their lives. And that’s the responsibility Benji didn’t feel he was yet ready to assume.
So, I ask you, are you ready? Does your life witness each day to the power of the risen Christ? Does your faith in Christ affect the quality of your daily life so that there’s a nobility and moral strength? Is there anything in your life that reminds people of the Master to Whom you have pledged allegiance? Is there a discernable difference in your life when compared and contrasted with those who have never acknowledged Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? Do you manifest in the midst of this fevered generation a serenity of spirit that reveals the peace of Christ dwelling in your heart?
Knowing that Jesus loves us is a great blessing and benefit. It makes us warm and fuzzy inside. Showing that we love Jesus and that we’ve counted the cost and are willing to pay the price is all that’s needed for Jesus to come to our rescue and give us the ability to follow through on the responsibility we’ve taken on.
Join me in prayer: “Lord Jesus, today is a new day. Our errors and mistakes of yesterday are forgiven and forgotten. Hear my heart, O Lord. You know I want to follow You. You know I want to be Your disciple. You know Your love for me compels me to respond, but sometimes I feel so weak. Sometimes I let things distract me. Sometimes I put other things first. Help me, by the power of Your Holy Spirit, to accept the responsibility of being Your follower and give me the will and desire to make a difference in my world. In Your Name, Amen.”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena