And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, 26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:25-27 (KJV)
So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:33 (KJV)
In 8 verses Jesus told the multitude 3 times that unless they met certain criteria they could not be his disciple. The charge was not to "only believe" but challenged the crowd to a higher standard. Jesus was in affect telling them that some of them were not going to make it. They did not love him enough, had not counted the cost and were not willing to pay the price. The parables he speaks during this time make his message extremely clear.
Note that there was a multitude following Jesus. The power of the gospel attracts people. The church today puts great emphasis on numbers and often, to attract and hold those numbers, we water down the message. Jesus had no such inclination. The crowd that was following Jesus wanted to see the miracles. They wanted to feel the excitement. They wanted to belong to the "movement" of the day. In many ways they are like the crowds of today. They seek out the most popular church with the well known preacher and the most comfortable pews. Jesus knew the problem with allowing this crowd to be identified with him. They had not counted the cost and were not prepared to pay the price of sacrifice to be His disciple. Note what Christ said in the verses following His declaration to the crowd.
Luke 14:34,35 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? 35 It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
He was talking about the danger of allowing those that would not pick up their cross and follow Him to call themselves His disciple. If the church does whatever it takes to attract the crowd then they will have to do whatever it takes to keep the crowd. When the crowd demands an easier road to travel, the church will have to oblige. Pastors will have to stop preaching about sin. Deacons will have to stop denying membership. Preachers will have to turn the holiness of God into a message of prosperity. If they don't the crowd will leave and then who will we count?
When the church is full of people who haven't counted the cost and aren't willing to pay the price of discipleship it will begin to look just like the world. There will be no savor, no seasoning and in Christ's own words it is fit only to be cast out. All this will cause leaders of the church to gather at large conferences and opine about the lack of discipleship in the crowd and look for ways to somehow get the crowd to "follow" Jesus, to "be like" Jesus, or to "do what Jesus would do". When what those leaders really need to do is break out the accounting sheet and inform the crowd what it costs to be a disciple and say like Jesus, "If you aren't willing then you cannot be His disciple."
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