How to Follow Jesus
From TABLETALK
Jesus was a popular preacher. People were “traveling with Jesus” (Luke 14:25, NIV); like a popular performer, He had followers. So what did He do? He thinned the “great crowds” by revealing the cost of discipleship (Matt. 13:2, 22). Jesus wasn’t dispiriting sincere devotees. He was cautioning naive fans. Our Lord looked not for crowds but converts, not admirers but adherents. In Luke 14, Jesus crystallizes three things that we must do to follow Him.
First, we must love Christ best. A disciple must “hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life” (Luke 14:26; see Matt. 10:37). Jesus is speaking seriously but not literally. His other discipleship images are also figurative—carrying crosses, building towers, leading armies. This “hatred of family” is like how a man scorns every other prospect when he marries. His devotion to his wife is unique. Disciples don’t simply admire Jesus’ sermons; they join Him at risk of communal expulsion (John 9:22). There is no reasonable excuse for declining the invitation to Jesus’ wedding (Luke 14:15–24). We can love this world or the Lord—not both (1 John 2:15).
Second, we must prepare to suffer. “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27). Christ’s audience knew the Roman cross, that “emblem of suffering and shame.” Disciples are like convicts carrying the instrument of their own execution. We must die to the world’s ways. Jesus’ conclusion is stunning: “Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (v. 33). What does that mean? I once read about two women killed in a shooting while shielding two surviving children. Few mothers make this sacrifice, but every good mom has the instinct. To follow Jesus, you must expect loss. So Jesus asks, “Am I worth it?”
Third, we must finish well. Jesus’ examples of building half a tower and engaging in an unwinnable war (vv. 28–32) make one point: Don’t start what you won’t finish. Of what use is a partial tower? Jesus’ military illustration is stronger; failing to count the cost of war is disastrously foolish. The king who rashly encounters a superior army sacrifices his soldiers. Marriage licenses that require waiting periods illustrate why disciples must be spiritual actuaries; because marriage demands sacrifice, impulsive marriages rarely last. Likewise, halfhearted spiritual commitments are worse than none at all (Heb. 10:26–27). “Sit down first and deliberate” (Luke 14:31).
Following Jesus requires laborious building and hard fighting. But you can trust that “the materials, expense, arms, and forces, are supplied by the Lord out of heaven,” John Calvin wrote. Those who do the spiritual math correctly know that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18). Count the cost. Forsake the world. And follow Christ through suffering to glory.
Rev. William Boekestein is pastor of Immanuel Fellowship Church in Kalamazoo, Mich. He is author or co-author of many books, including The Future of Everything, The Glory of Grace, and Glorifying and Enjoying God: 52 Devotions through the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
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