The Christian faith does not subsist in a little personalized bubble in which a sort of religious relief takes place about self-salvation and then goes through life not caring about others, not concerned about service, not self-conscious about the battle with sin and the forces of evil. The Christian faith is lived out; it is immensely active; it is described in Scripture both as a race/marathon and a fight/battle.

This “living out” of the faith is called “discipleship”…it is the active life of faith which hears, listens to, and actively follows the Lord Jesus Christ. It is impossible to be a Christian, and to NOT be a disciple. If one is a Christian, then one is a disciple of the Lord.

Our Lord Jesus describes in tomorrow’s Gospel “The Cost of Discipleship” (the sermon title) and describes our discipleship in some of the most difficult, challenging, and confusing words in Scripture: we are to — in proper context and qualification — “hate,” “bear,” and “renounce.” We will find that the two little parable illustrations in-between make or break proper interpretation.

We will discuss that the experience includes both love and hate for example. It is a fascinating duality and should be understood as we live as disciples.

In the end, however, you will be greatly encouraged in how all of this relates to Christ Himself for you.

Come and receive the powerful Word of Christ; and come to receive His body and blood which sustains your discipleship in Christ!

I rejoice to serve you!

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow’s sermon:

“The Cost of Discipleship”

 (St. Luke 14:25-35)

Pastor Espinosa

            Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, our Gospel today is a fantastic summary on being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s be clear about the word “disciple,” to be a disciple is to be a hearer, a listener, and a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. It means that you “come after” Jesus or that you go after or behind Him (Barth, Dogmatics IV. 3.2: 625). This call of discipleship binds a man to the One who calls him (ibid, 536). And make no mistake about it Christian, Jesus has called you and chosen you to be His disciple as you were baptized into Christ, you are one with Him and now you follow Him! Bonhoeffer says that “discipleship is commitment to Christ (Discipleship, 59).” Bonhoeffer elaborates: “What is said about the content of discipleship? Follow me, walk behind me! That’s all…Former things are left behind; they are completely given up. The disciple is thrown out of the relative security of life into complete insecurity…(ibid, 58).”

 

To say that Bonheoffer is challenging here is an understatement, but he is being completely consistent with our Gospel in Luke 14, the very words of Jesus. Jesus is as plain as day when He describes what discipleship does. The disciple of Christ…

1)      Hates (verse 26) his family members and even himself or herself.

2)      Bears (verse 27) their own cross.

3)      Renounces (verse 33) all that he has.

 

These three things make disciples “salt” (vs. 34-35). Salt is a preservative, it checks corruption in the world; it preserves the world so that darkness would not overcome light; so that Jesus is still known in a world that is so lost and confused. So soak it in Christian: If you are truly a disciple of Jesus, you must and you will hate, bear, renounce, and you will be, and actually are already, salt!

 

But the call to discipleship is beyond difficult. Many commentators soft-peddle what Jesus says about hating your family and hating yourself. There are many who say that the word “hate” may simply be reduced to “do not love more than (e.g., L.T. Johnson (The Gospel of Luke, 229-30); Robertson and his words about reducing this simply to the element of choice (Word Pictures, 200), even Cyril of Alexandria (ACC, New Testament III Luke, 240, etc.).” So as long as you do not love your family or yourself MORE THAN God, then you keep these words of the Lord. But we must be very careful about this reductionism. When Jesus made a whip and drove the moneychangers out of the temple court (John 2:13f), I don’t think that those being driven out were thinking about shades of love. When Jesus told Peter: “Get thee behind me Satan (Mt 16:23)!” we can be fairly confident that Peter didn’t feel especially loved at that moment. When we are commanded in God’s Word to hate evil (Amos 5:15) and to crucify our own sinful nature (Gal 5:24) which word “crucify” always refers to a violent putting to death, these are words that do not describe — at least in the first round of considerations — degrees or levels of love. They are harsh realities. It is better — beyond the soft-peddling — to know that God calls you and me to love and to hate at the same time.

 

“So the hate required for discipleship goes together with our love…to our parents, etc., that love which understands any evil in them [would]…with the help of Jesus, remove it (Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Luke’s Gospel, 785).” If your child who you love so much that you would give your life for them, starts to engage in destructive behavior, how many of you parents would coddle and permit the destructive behavior so as to turn into perversion the idea of “unconditional love”? No, instead while you absolutely love your child, you would with all your might hate and go to battle against anything that threatens their well-being. And you all know that what I’m describing while being the right thing is a very, very difficult thing indeed. You’ve heard the saying, “Love-hate relationship.” Well, this is the normal Christian life. This is the life of discipleship.

In Your Service and To Christ’s Glory,

Pastor Espinosa

p.s. thank you for your prayers to bless my family’s journey to Chicago (some not all of the family)…Traci and I rejoiced to see Danielle graduate — with honors — from the University of Chicago. All glory be to God!