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Hold on one second.
There we go.
If you've got your Bibles, open up to Luke chapter 14.
That's where we're going to be this morning.
I want to share with you guys, seated right here during that last song, and then standing
up here during that last song, and just hearing the people of God singing the hope of God was
just a beautiful, beautiful piece.
And so while I know that the songs that we sing are not designed to be projected at any individual
here, right, they're all being declared toward God, just the beauty of what that was, just
touched and blessed my heart.
And so thank you as you proclaimed the hope and praise that we have in Christ.
Thank you that it blessed my heart.
Well, if you've got your Bibles, we're going to be in Luke 14 today.
We're going to continue on in our series in the Gospel of Luke.
And I hope that you're, as we're going through this, we've been in this since before Christmas
time, and we're keeping on plugging along.
I hope you've been able to seek and kind of feel through, and I've tried to point these
out, that occasionally we hit these themes that kind of stand out and jump out to us.
And we've gone through a lot of those.
For the last couple of weeks, we talked about the concept of repentance, of Jesus calling
life, and what life looks like if it's going to be experienced in Christ, that it's going
to be found in repentance to Him in order to follow Him.
And we're going to kind of continue on with that as we continue on this morning.
Now, kind of a recap from all the way back from December.
Don't worry, I'm not going to walk through the first 13 chapters, but the origination
of this Gospel, of who it was written toward.
Sometimes we can read the Bible and we think that everything was written to a church or for
theological study or for a historical account.
But it's important for us to know that the Gospel of Luke was a letter that was going to
be written and addressed to an individual.
And it was going to go to the churches, just as it's going to the churches today, but that
its original intent, as Luke penned this, was going to be to an individual, a man by the
name of Theophilus.
And so as this was written, those very specific reasons that are found in the very beginning
of the Gospel of Luke, that this was written so that Theophilus may hold certain to all
of those things that he's heard or been taught about Jesus.
And so what we find in here, the reason why I love the Gospel of Luke is because there's
a very simplicity of application that happens, it's because Theophilus, you've heard who
Jesus is, because you're believing correctly about who Jesus is, that the Gospel is something
that transforms us and that we put it into practice.
So there's a very practical essence of the Gospel of Luke that we see.
And so as we're going through this, this is part of what you and I need to hold as true.
Now there's something else that happens in the Gospel of Luke.
There's moments and times where I refer to it as Jesus shrinks the crowd, that there are
people who are there and there's some masses that are following Jesus and He shrinks the
crowd.
They want to follow Him.
They want to hear some teaching of His.
And Jesus begins to go on a true teaching part for Him of saying like, hey, this is what
it looks like to follow me.
He talks about things with struggles and with suffering and it's not the most open message.
It's not the easiest message.
It's not the message that at the heart as you look at it, help takes a skeptic and say, well,
this is easy.
Come on and chase this with me.
And that's what we're going to find here in Luke 14 this morning.
Where Jesus is going to continue on by establishing what it means to follow Him, of what this is
going to look like, of what this pursuit is going to be.
And He's going to do this by teaching through a set of parables.
And you and I are going to be reflective of this at the end of the message by partaking
in the Lord's Supper together.
You know, right before COVID hit, we had started, I tried to find the new word that doesn't embrace
legalism.
And so I'll say a new practice for our church of partaking of the Lord's Supper together
at the first Sunday of every month.
And we've hit a point to where we can do that again together.
So at the end of the message, we'll conclude by partaking together.
And if you didn't grab one as you came in, they're at the back of the auditorium and please
go back now and get one so that you can take part of this with us.
But it's the practical nature of the gospel of what that looks like in our lives.
And Jesus is going to do this by the telling of some parables.
So we're going to look at all those as a whole where last week we looked at one parable and
really focused in on that.
We're going to look at a series of them today.
But I think what's important for us to know the setting in which Jesus begins to tell these
is that the ruler of the Pharisee's house.
So this is an influential individual.
This is a person who, during the time, during the day of Jesus' ministry, this would have
been a huge win, strategically speaking, for the gospel.
This would have been a huge win, strategically speaking, for the movement of God during the
time.
This would have been a great opportunity for Jesus to kind of lessen it a little bit so that
more influence, more power, more credibility could come.
But instead of that, Jesus continues to proclaim the truth of what he's been saying.
And in doing so, he shrinks the following.
This is something common that we see in the life of Christ, all the way back to the rich
young ruler.
When he comes to Jesus and says that he wants to follow Jesus, and what is Jesus' response?
Well, if you want to follow me, I know you define yourself by these things.
Go and sell all you have.
Give it to the poor and follow me.
And then the rich young ruler, Scripture tells us, walked away sad because he knew how much
he loved his possessions and his money of what he decided was going to define him.
And this is one of those moments where Jesus cuts to the heart of the individuals in the
room and begins to address the struggles who were there.
And it all begins as a group of individuals are seated around a table.
Now, these individuals that are seated around their table, they seat themselves in the way
that culture requires, that culture calls for, the customary practice to do so.
Now, I've never been to like a highfalutin, right, dinner with something like this.
I've never been a guest of honor in something like this.
But I did grow up having Sunday dinner at my aunt's house.
And I knew all the way back to then and thinking through now, when I walked into her house,
there were seats that weren't intended for me.
There were seats of honor for different individuals.
And maybe you grew up or even still in a house like that.
I'll be honest with you, still a little bit of me when people come over to my house and
they sit down in my brain like I've got like, no, that's my seat because I can see the TV
clearly from right here.
So, right, I'm going to need you to move over.
My wife won't let me.
And that's where we end up, right?
But we got those.
We've got those traditions.
At my aunt's house, the table in the kitchen was reserved for the older individuals in the
family.
They were the most comfortable chairs.
It was the most comfortable table.
It was the closest to the food, less distance that they had to travel.
I've never in my life sat at that table, right?
Then there was the table that was on the screened-in back porch.
That was the card tables with the folding chairs.
The card tables were steady.
The folding chairs were steady.
And those were for the older teenagers and the adults and their friends.
And so that's where they would go.
But all of us who were really young at the time, I think by the time the family had moved
to different areas, it was like I was probably eight years old.
And when we would go to eat, we would get our plate of food last and we would have adventure
eating, right?
So I would like sit on the corner of the recliner while I had my plate positioned on the end
of a night table while being told, no matter what, you better not spill anything, right?
That's where we were.
And so imagine if that's you, like Jesus is in that setting and he's in the kitchen and
he's got everybody that's surrounding them.
And the younger parents' table was out there because they know where they're supposed to
sit.
And in the living room and in the den, that's where the kids are all positioned.
And Jesus is sitting amongst the people who were set in the places of honor.
They've earned their spot.
They lived in their tradition.
They know what's required of them and they've established themselves in their works and in
their works alone.
And Jesus looks and says, hey, when you're invited to a wedding feast, do not come in and
take the seat of the place of most honor.
Jesus says, instead, go and sit at the lowest seat.
Don't walk in and sit where people know from you where your title is where you're supposed
to be.
Instead, go sit in the den.
Go get on the corner of the recliner and get the edge of the table.
And if you do this, the host may come up and say, no, no, no.
This is where you think you should be.
This is where you've chosen to be.
This is where you've positioned yourself.
But come with me so that I can elevate where you sit.
The host at that time says, come with me so that I can elevate your standing.
As we look through taking the gospel of Jesus Christ and the application for that in our
life, the first thing that I want us to see this morning in the heart of this parable
that Jesus teaches us is embracing humility.
That's what it's called for us.
Jesus at the very end in verse 11 says this.
She says, look, if you position yourself in your life by this is what I'm owed, this is
what I'm deserved, this is what I've earned, you in that mindset will be humbled.
But those who live in the confidence of grace alone, those who understand they're unworthy
of the calling that God's given them, those that rest and trust in who Christ is and Christ
alone, they will be exalted.
You know, when we think of humility in our humility is a positive word that we talk about with even
within our culture, but it's very rarely, rarely applied.
And in fact, within our world, within our life, it's very rarely something that's encouraged because
we have a misunderstanding of what humility is.
We think of humility as beating yourself up, speaking down about yourself, but that's not
humility at all.
Humility is not thinking of less of yourself, but humility is thinking of yourself less.
The heart of the commandment that Jesus calls us to, to love God and to love others.
Where am I in that?
I'm not.
In humility, it's difficult for us because it's the opposite bent of the world in which
we live.
Yeah, on the side, we'll, we'll praise the people who are humble at work and humble in
sports and humble in all of those other things that we think of.
But yet at the same time, we feed a mindset of go and get yours, take what you deserved, fight
for what you long for and what you desire.
But Jesus, embracing power and calling and authority, embraced humility at the same time.
That he came to this earth as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, but yet he was the earthly
son of a virgin teenager and a carpenter.
We think, we know that Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, but yet he wasn't
born at a, at a hotel, he wasn't born in a hospital, he wasn't born in a home, but instead he was
born in a manger, surrounded by animals.
Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, but, but wasn't welcomed with a parade of influential
people, but was instead welcomed by shepherds.
Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, but didn't leave there to take his throne in
Jerusalem.
But Jesus of Nazareth went out into the rural areas and began to spread the hope of the gospel.
Jesus, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, as he's currently making his journey to Jerusalem,
would not establish his kingdom by the might of armies, but by the blood he would spill on the
cross of Calvary. Thinking of himself less while thinking of others. I read an author this week,
and I really love this, of what humility causes us to do when we embrace this in our life.
It causes us, he says, to take our eyes off of ourself and place them on God and others.
He said, all too often we walk around this world looking into a mirror,
focusing on ourself and ourself alone, but the gospel causes us to remove the mirror and instead
to keep our eyes focused on God and our eyes focused on others. And I love the picture of what
Jesus gives. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be
exalted. So Jesus begins his hair in another parable. Jesus kind of set the mood or the tone in the room.
He turns the apple cart over. He upsets the norm. But then he tells another one. Now seated in that
room at that table with Jesus are men of influence and power who all have come and all have shown up
because they've been called to by someone who they feel is greater than them as the ruler of the
Pharisees. So Jesus tells another one. He says that a man gave a banquet. And the scripture tells us that he
invited a lot of people. And he sent his servant out to let everyone know that everything is ready. So
this was new for me as you understand this, right? During the time of Jesus, you didn't necessarily
have a watch, right, where you could go and you could say, well, it's six o'clock. We better head to the
party that we've invited to. So if you're invited to a party on the day of the party, you would continue
to do everything that you needed to do in anticipation that at some point in time, you were going to be
summoned for the party. And when the master, when the person who was throwing the party was ready for
everyone to come, he would send out his servants to let everyone know so that they could stop all that
they were doing to come and be a part of the party, to come and be a part of the banquet. And so Jesus
says, this is what this master has done. He sent his servants out. Everything's ready. The table was set.
The food has been prepared. Come and enjoy. But instead of them coming, what began to happen is the people
began to make excuses. We're sorry we can't come. We have different obligations that we have to
fulfill. Some were work obligations. Some were family obligations. Some were financial obligations.
And what began to happen is all the people who had been invited, none of them arrived.
What I want us to look at this morning and this continuum of the application of the gospel is this.
You and I, if we're going to be serious with our walk with the Lord, we have to move past excuses.
You know, the Bible doesn't say that they had obligations, but the words of Luke as he penned this
were excuses. Look at verse 18.
But they all alike began to make excuses. Now, let's pause here for just a second, right? Parents, you know
what he's getting at, right? These aren't good reasons. This isn't communicated understanding.
This is explaining away a bad behavior. They all began to make excuses. The first said to him,
I've bought a field and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused. And another said, I've bought
five yoke of oxen and I go to examine them. Please have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife
wife. And therefore, I cannot come. They all come with excuses. They all come with things in their life that
they said, it's more important than the banquet that I've been invited to. And so I choose to reject
based off of who I am. So Jesus continues telling the parable. The servant came and he told the master.
And Jesus' words were the master became angry.
And he said then, go bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. Go out into the roads,
the hedges, the highways, and bring those who are passing by because the banquet will continue.
The party will push on. That those who have rejected, have rejected what was laid before them,
but there are those who are going to live in the benefit of the master. Now there's parts of this
that you and I have to wrestle with that I'm not sure that my brain fully understands,
but a truth of this rings true today. And I want you to think through this. In this very difficult
parable that Jesus gives us is the great banquet. There becomes a point in time in this banquet
for those who are invited, the master moves on from.
It says there was a seat, but there's now someone else who's going to fulfill it.
There's now someone else who's going to take this seat. You've rejected, and you've rejected,
and you've rejected, but they have not.
You know, as we think about the application
of this in the gospel, as Luke would pin this to Theophilus,
as I studied it this week, and the Holy Spirit working and moving in my heart,
as I pray that as you hear this morning, the pursuits of yours as well.
My fear, my concern, my prayer is this.
Don't miss the invitation.
Don't let the pursuits of this world, don't let the stuff that you and I think are good,
cause us to miss out on the banquet that we've been summoned to.
Because there are individuals in here who said yes to all of the things that they want to say yes to,
and as a result, are saying no to Jesus.
And here's what I find so many times in the life of individuals who say they are followers of Christ is this.
We're good at saying yes.
We're good at saying yes to everything else.
We're good at saying yes to family.
We're good at saying yes to financial.
We're good at saying yes to work.
We're good at saying yes to hobbies.
We're good at saying yes to everything that we want to do.
And as a result of that, where you and I oftentimes find ourselves is we're really good at saying no to Jesus.
I'm going to ask you, look at your calendar.
Look at your calendar.
See how many things that we say yes to.
And see how many times, as a result of saying yes to everything out here,
we say no to Jesus.
I'm not talking about filling your life with religious obligations.
But what I am talking about is saying no to the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
And does that reveal more of your heart than you think it does?
Here's the thing that I believe that Jesus is trying to get this group of men who are seated around this table.
Here's what I think Luke is passionately pouring out to Theophilus.
That I wrestled with this week and that I hope that you begin to wrestle with,
if not so already today, is this.
That following Jesus isn't easy.
Following Jesus isn't simple.
So many times in our life, what we want is we want Jesus to fix all the things that are broken,
but then we continue to live in what we break.
We continue to live in the chaos and sin of our life.
So many times we want to follow Jesus and we want our eternity secured and we want our struggles to change,
but everything else that we want in our life, we want it to stay the same.
And Jesus looks at all of them and says, if you're going to follow me, things got to be different.
I know you got a family obligation.
I know you got a financial obligation.
I know that you've got a work obligation.
But don't put it in comparison to Jesus.
Don't miss the opportunity.
You see, in our life, we want to add Jesus to things.
We want to add Jesus to the same loves.
We want to add Jesus to the same pursuits.
We want to add Jesus to the same mindsets.
And it just doesn't work that way.
Following Jesus isn't easy.
Look down at verse 25.
Now, let's pause here for a minute, all right?
So the crowd again.
Jesus is going to shrink it.
Verse 26.
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters,
yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
Now, I want to be honest with you.
I've preached this passage of Scripture more times than I can remember.
And this is one of those passages of Scripture that if I had my sinful preferences, I'd just skip right over every time, right?
Even maybe like cut and paste, let's get this out of here.
Because this is a hard passage of Scripture for us to wrestle with, all right?
Now, number one, if you're getting ready to send your mama a text, that preacher says, all right, got to hate you, follow Jesus, don't do that, all right?
This is not a call of family hatred.
This is not a call to exclude yourself from the individuals in your life.
This is not a call to hate yourself.
But what this is a call, and I think I use this every single time I preach on this passage of Scripture,
this is a call to examine your list.
This is a call to see.
Jesus isn't saying,
hate your dad, hate your mom, hate your children, hate your brothers and your sisters, hate yourself.
What Jesus is saying is this,
that in comparison with me,
that in your life that I'm free of everything else.
Think about it this way.
You and I, when we place what we call our priorities,
and oftentimes I think it is good intentioned people,
but we think through these and what it communicates.
We say, you know what?
Jesus, number one.
My wife, number two.
My kids, number three.
My church, number four.
My neighbors, number five.
My friends, number six.
My hobbies, number seven.
And we begin to go through our life and rate all of these things.
And at the heart and the core of the gospel,
what God is communicating to us is this.
Get Jesus off the list.
Remove him from your list.
That the king of kings and lord of lords is greater than any list that you and I can create on our own.
So he says in comparison,
this is what this life looks like.
This is what this is.
And I love what Jesus is dealing with in these parables and in these passages of scripture.
Jesus doesn't even deal with jobs, hobbies, and friendships,
which most of us struggle with.
He cuts right to the core and says,
your eyes have to be locked in on me and on me alone.
And he looks at the crowd that's around him.
This is in order to follow me, bear your cross.
You see, in order to follow Jesus, there is a cost.
Jesus continues on teaching.
Verse 28.
He says,
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 10,000 men to meet him
who comes against him with 20,000.
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 of you who does not renounce all that he has
cannot be my disciple.
Jesus says,
Look, there's a cost in following me.
Jesus is not like another credit card
to just put in our pocket
to be able to pull out when we need him.
Jesus isn't another activity to add to the schedule.
He's not another name on the list.
He's not another box to check
that when we come to Jesus,
he says,
Count the cost
because if you're going to follow after me,
everything that I am
has to penetrate
every aspect of your life.
Count the cost.
It's going to cost you something.
And the great litmus test that we look through,
that we examine,
is can you see that cost in your life?
When we examine our world,
as Luke writes to Theophilus,
as he examines his life with the Lord,
do you see the effect of the cost of Jesus
in your life?
He says,
Because if not,
it's like a man who began to build something.
But he couldn't finish.
It's like a king who heads off to war
without understanding what it's going to take from him.
And Jesus says,
We have to count the cost.
Church, my prayer for you and for myself,
this week on my knees,
taking some examinations of my own life
through the power and the conviction of the Holy Spirit,
is what am I letting go of
so that God can continue to fill the voids and spaces of my life?
Of counting the cost
of understanding what it means to follow Jesus
in Jesus alone.
I want us to understand this before we wrap up.
Counting the cost
is not about repaying Jesus.
That's not what Jesus is getting to.
Jesus isn't saying
by counting the cost
and paying back
that you then will earn what's there.
Because if that were the case,
it wouldn't be grace.
We'd be saved by our works.
And the Bible is clear.
We're saved by grace through faith alone.
It's not about repaying.
It's not about what's due from us.
Counting the cost, though,
is about responding
to what Christ has done for you.
As we sit here in just a moment,
and as we open this together,
and as we take part
of the elements of the Lord's Supper,
it's not about repaying
because we can't repay,
but it's about responding.
It's about responding to the fact
that this little wafer that we've got
represents the body of Christ
that was sacrificed
to pay the penalty
that you and I
should pay for ourselves.
But it was paid on our behalf.
And so the penalty is taken away.
It's about responding
to the blood of Jesus
that we see in this cup of juice.
That the blood of Jesus
that covers us
and washes away our sin
so that we can be
in relationship with God.
It's about responding.
It's about seeking
and praying
and desiring.
Transformation
is what cost means.
Transforming from who you were
to who you are today
and the power of the gospel
that it represents.
It's about submitting.
It's about saying that,
God, I submit my will
and my freedom
to live in your will
and your calling
of my life.
And it's about remembering.
It's about remembering.
It's one of my favorite
calls that the scripture tells us
is to remember.
To remember.
In the Old Testament especially,
as you see people go
on their journeys with God,
as you see them
have moments of victory
and moments of struggle,
as you see them
in moments of obedience
and moments of sin,
in the continual pattern
of what they're told,
what they're commanded
to remember.
And I think oftentimes
you and I want to find out
what we don't know,
what the future holds.
But a simple truth
of scripture is this,
to remember.
And so this morning,
as we think of what it means
to count the cost,
I want us to remember
the sacrifice
of Jesus.
To remember the body
that was given.
To remember
the blood
that was spilled.
And it's our response
for Him.
If you're here with us
this morning
and you're a follower
of Jesus Christ,
maybe you're not a member
of this church.
Maybe you're not even
a member of our denomination.
But if you're a follower
of Jesus Christ,
we want to invite you
to partake with us
as brothers and sisters
in Christ.
If you're here today
and you're not a follower
of Jesus Christ,
it's sitting for you.
This is for those of us
who are part
of the family of God.
But today,
if that's where
you find yourself,
it's the simple hope
of the gospel
of the call,
what God's called you to,
of what God's invited you to.
To admit
that you're a sinner.
To believe
that Jesus came
and lived
and died
and rose again.
And to confess
that Jesus Christ
is Lord.
And that today
you may become
a follower of Jesus.
Would you pray with me?
Lord,
as we go into this time,
Lord,
I pray for the hearts
of each person
that's here.
Lord,
for those of us
who are believers
in Jesus,
Lord,
I pray that we would do
what your word
calls us to do.
These acts
would not be done
out of religious
obligation,
Lord,
but they would be done
out of remembrance
of who you are,
Lord,
and what you've
called us to.
Or if there's anyone
here who's not
a follower of Christ,
I pray that today
would be the day
where that they respond
to the calling
as you lead
their hearts
to confess
that Jesus
is Lord
and Savior.
And today,
Lord,
they can take part
in this with us
as they are welcomed
into
the family of God.
And it's in Jesus' name
we pray.
Amen.
As you take the bread,
God's word tells us
that Jesus on the night
he was betrayed,
he took the bread.
And we'd give him thanks,
he broke it and said,
this is my body,
which is for you.
Do this in remembrance
of me.
And in the same way,
he took the cup
after supper,
saying,
this cup is the new
covenant in my blood.
Do this
as often as you drink it
in remembrance of me.
Let's pray.
Lord, thank you
for your words.
Lord, I pray
that as we're here
this morning,
Lord, we would understand
the cost to follow you.
Lord, through the power
of your Holy Spirit,
Lord, have us examine
our lives,
our ways,
confessing and repenting
of our sin,
bringing ourself
before you.
Lord, may it not become
a sense of where we feel
like we are,
of finding what we deserve,
but yet, Lord,
counting the cost,
responding to what
you've done for us.
Lord, seeking to be
transformed by the power
of your Holy Spirit
to live for your name
and for your glory.
Lord, submitting,
submitting ourselves,
submitting our will,
our way
to your will
and your way
for our life.
And Lord,
may we never forget
and continue to remember
the sacrifice of Jesus.
in His name we pray.
In His name we pray.
Amen.
You've been invited
to seat at the table.
Don't let the pursuits
and passions
and obligations
of this world
cause you to miss it.
Trust Jesus.
Seek after Him
and follow Him
with all that you are.
We'll stand
as we respond to Him.
Thanks again for listening
to the Willow Ridge Church
weekly podcast.
We hope that you enjoyed
listening to this week's message.
If you'd like to learn more
about who we are
or explore additional resources,
visit us online
at www.willowridgechurch.com
or by searching
for Willow Ridge Church
on Facebook and Instagram.
Thank you.