Moving from Intention to Activity

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “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. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:25-33

How many of your New Years resolutions have you already broken? If I could ask for a show of hands, how many raised hands do you suspect we would see? While we make many well-intentioned plans and promises, the reality is we often fall short and fail.  The great encouragement from Jesus in Luke 14:25-33 is have a realistic assessment of yourself. Consider the cost and whether or not you can afford it before you move forward. That being the case, if you have journeyed with us and asked yourself the four questions put forth, what do you do now?  Provided you do not want to abandon the faith, here is a place to begin:

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In the Month of Love | Part 1, Pastor Josh proposed two ways to respond in love to God. In the video below, he challenges us to get after loving others the way Jesus loved us and gives us two practical ways to pursue just that. Love God, love others. Check it out.

Pastor Josh reflects on February, The Month of Love. In view of the fact that God first loved us, Josh proposes two ways we can respond in love to God. Check out what he has to say in Part 1 below.

Watch The Month of Love | Part 2 here.

Is Jesus worth everything I have?

This is the fourth and final question in a series of questions we will ask ourselves as we seek to evaluate our walk with Christ. Let’s continue to reflect upon our commitment to Jesus knowing it’s something that Christ asked of all who would come after him. Luke 14:25-33,

 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “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. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

According to Merriam-Webster, renounce means, “to give up, refuse, or resign usually by formal declaration.”  In context here, Jesus is demanding we formally give up, refuse, or resign all that we have in order to follow him. The way He posited it negatively makes it sound even weightier: “unless you do this, you cannot be my disciple.” Whoa.

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Is Jesus worth the effort?

This is the third in a series of questions we will ask ourselves as we seek to evaluate our walk with Christ. Given the advent of a New Year, it is a natural time to reflect upon our commitment to Jesus and something that Christ asked of all who would come after him. Luke 14:25-33,

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “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. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

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Is Jesus the sole focus of my life?

This is the second in a series of questions we will ask ourselves as we seek to evaluate our walk with Christ. Given the advent of a New Year it is a natural time to reflect upon our commitment to Jesus and something that Christ asked of all who would come after him. Luke 14:25-33,

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “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. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

That the follower of Christ needs to be willing to bear his own cross is not news to many. What this means practically, however, is lost on most. Both Jesus’ first listeners and we are very familiar with the “cross.”  What is different between them and us is what that cross represents. For us, the cross is synonymous with Jesus and his church and in one sense, rightly so. For Jesus’ first listeners on the other hand, the cross represented one thing and one thing only, death. To see one carrying his cross ensured an inevitable outcome. That man was dead. Recognize this is what Jesus was calling those first listeners to.

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Is Jesus the primary relationship in my life?

This is the first in a series of questions we will ask ourselves as we seek to evaluate our walk with Christ. Given the advent of a New Year, it is a natural time to reflect upon our commitment to Jesus and something that Christ asked of all who would come after him.  Luke 14:25-33,

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “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. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Obviously Jesus does not require that we literally “hate” our families, but he is making a pretty direct statement: we shouldn’t love them more. Jesus demands that He is the primary relationship in our lives. To understand who He is and what He did would necessitate nothing less. To our great embarrassment, too often Jesus is one of many important relationships in our lives and not the one.

If time spent together is an indicator of the importance of a relationship, what does the time you spend with Jesus say about the value you place on your relationship with him? What relationships need to be relegated to another spot to allow Jesus to have the center stage? What steps would you have to take to address the inequality?

There is no middle ground and, painfully, Jesus strikes at the relationships most of us hold dearest, but there can be no other way. Is Jesus the primary relationship in your life?

See the rest of Pause & Deliberate: Introduction, Question 2, Question 3, Question 4, and Question 5.