Jesus tells crowds that to be his disciple requires putting him before all else, even family and one's own life. He uses three illustrations to emphasize the cost of discipleship: 1) Discipleship demands loving God more than any family relationship. 2) It requires being willing to endure hardship as if carrying one's own cross to execution. 3) One must count the cost fully and be willing to surrender everything to follow Jesus, just as a king would surrender to avoid needless war.

1. Count the Cost
Luke 14:25-33 (NIV)
By: Ps. CBR

2. • 25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and
turning to them he said:26 “If anyone comes to
me and does not hate father and mother, wife
and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even
their own life—such a person cannot be my
disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their
cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
• 28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower.
Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost
to see if you have enough money to complete
it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not
able to finish it, everyone who sees it will
ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to
build and wasn’t able to finish.’

3. • 31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to
war against another king. Won’t he
first sit down and consider whether he
is able with ten thousand men to
oppose the one coming against him
with twenty thousand?32 If he is not
able, he will send a delegation while
the other is still a long way off and will
ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same
way, those of you who do not give up
everything you have cannot be my
disciples.

4. • A disciple is a true follower of Jesus Christ.
• If you are a Christian, you are a disciple.
• "disciples" occurs 269 times in the New
Testament, while the term "Christian"
only occurs three times. In the Book of
Acts we’re told that "The disciples were
first called Christians at Antioch (Acts
11:26).“

5. • Biblically speaking, a Christian is someone
who has placed his faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ (John 1:12).
• True Christian is a believer in Christ and
possesses new life through the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit. Because he believes in
Christ, a Christian will also be an obedient
disciple (Galatians 2:20).
• A disciple is one who observes, keeps,
obeys all that Jesus has commanded.

6. A FAMILY:
Love ones vs. Relationship to God

7. • 25Now great multitudes went with Him.
And He turned and said to them,26 “If
anyone comes to Me and does not hate
his father and mother, wife and children,
brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life
also, he cannot be My disciple.
• In Jewish culture the word "hate" was
used to express lesser love, so Jesus is
saying that we must love him much more
that we love our closest family
relationships or even our own lives.

8. A CROSS:
Easy living vs. Godly living

9. "What did Jesus mean when He said,
“Take up your cross and follow Me”
• Christians view the cross as a cherished symbol of
atonement, forgiveness, grace, and love. But in
Jesus’ day, the cross represented nothing but
torturous death. Because the Romans forced
convicted criminals to carry their own crosses to the
place of crucifixion, bearing a cross meant carrying
their own execution device while facing shameful
way to death.
• “Take up your cross and follow Me” means being
willing to die in order to follow Jesus. This is called
“dying to self.”
• It’s a call to absolute Surrender.

10. 1 Corinthians 15:31
“I die every day – I mean
that, brothers – just as
Jesus our Lord.”

11. A TOWER:
Unfinished vs. Value of good finish
•Before he begins the construction,
he must “count the cost” to see if
he has enough resources to finish
the job.
•Jesus is talking about the cost
of Commitment.

12. A WAR:
Unsurrendered will vs. Total surrender
• Jesus describes two kings.
• You and I are one of the kings and God is the
other.
• In Jesus’ time a surrendering king could be made
into a slave of the opposing king, so it required
great humility to bow down and ask for terms of
peace.
•It takes Humility to surrender to
the King.

13. Mark 10:28
•28 Then Peter spoke up,
“We have left
everything to follow
you!”

14. The Promise
• Mark 10:29-30
• 29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, "no one
who has left home or brothers or sisters or
mother or father or children or fields for Me
and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a
hundred times as much in this present age:
homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children
and fields—along with persecutions—and in
the age to come eternal life.