Luke 9:23-25 – The Heavy Cost to Follow Christ

Reverend Leo H. McCrary II

If you desire to follow Christ, that is a wonderful thing! However, in Luke 9, Jesus makes it clear that one must be prepared to pay a heavy price to follow Him.

Introduction

In the coming weeks, I will be going through the Book of Judges, sharing studies with you that will focus on being in and out of fellowship with God.  To prepare for those studies, I want to take a look at the cost of discipleship, a topic Jesus often taught about, as shown throughout the Gospels.  In this study, I will primarily focus on Jesus’ teaching in Luke 9:23-26.

Luke 9:23 – Commitment and Devotion

Those who desire to follow Christ should understand that following Christ comes at a price.  Those who would say they are currently following Christ should remember that following Christ came at a price.  Now, I don’t want any of you to think that I am talking about spending money to follow Christ because salvation is free.   

Paul said to the Ephesian believers, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Eph. 2:8).”  Salvation cannot be bought is what Paul is saying, yet, there is a heavy price to pay to follow Jesus.

After asking the disciples who people said He was, and then telling them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, Jesus spoke of what it cost to follow Him.  Let us pay close attention to what one must do to follow Christ.

In Luke 9:23, Jesus said to the disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”  Deny yourself.  Take up your cross daily, Jesus said.  

Let us understand that the hefty price to pay to follow Christ is yourself.  Think about this for a moment:  If I tell you to follow me to the park because you don’t know how to get to the park, you have to follow where I go, right?  You are ignorant of its location, so you can’t second-guess where I am taking you or tell me where to go, right?  

Are you willing to sacrifice your own will to follow Christ?  Are you willing to listen to His every direction?  Are you willing to follow Christ to the ends of the Earth and beyond?  Would you follow Christ unto death?

Faith unto death

When I say follow Christ unto death, I want to be clear that there is a difference between saying “unto death” and “into death”.  Christ is not dead; therefore, you cannot follow Him into death.  Faith ‘unto death’ speaks of having faith unto your physical death.  Faith, we should understand, speaks of loyalty, devotion, and commitment. Will you be devoted, loyal, and committed to Christ til the day you die?

It is believed that most of the apostles were martyred because they ministered the name of Christ and would not stop, no matter how often the religious leaders or their government condemned them.  Scripture only records one of the deaths of the apostles, James.  We are told that James, the brother of John, the son of Zebedee, was killed by the sword (beheaded), by Herod (Acts 12:2).

The only other apostles whose deaths are hinted at or implied in scripture are Peter and Paul.  In John 21:18-19, Jesus predicts Peter’s hands would be stretched out, which John seems to confirm that Peter was crucified, as tradition has it that he was crucified upside down by Nero, the wicked emperor of Rome. 

In 2 Timothy 4, Paul was awaiting his death, as he spoke of having finished the race and fought the good fight of faith. Paul’s last 4 letters were written from prison; he had been arrested at the temple in Jerusalem for blasphemy and bringing Gentiles into the Jews’ courtyard of the temple (Acts 21:26-36). Tradition has it that he was beheaded by the same wicked emperor of Rome who killed Peter.

Now, I want to be clear, once again, Jesus had not commanded the disciples to follow Him into death, but rather, to follow Him into everlasting life.  Christ asked them to follow Him into His Father’s house.  They wouldn’t let any man or woman, prince or king, stop them from following Him to the Father. Now, they was hated along the way, and their physical bodies were put to death, but they live on with Him.

Persecutions will come

In that region, early Christians faced much persecution, even unto death as Christianity was despised.  In his earlier years, Paul was the one who led the crowd to stone Stephen to death, when he was called Saul and did the bidding of the scribes and Pharisees. (Acts 22:20).  

As shown in Revelation 2:8-11, the church in Smyrna faced great persecution, and it is said that the bishop of that church, Polycarp, was burned and then stabbed to death when the fire didn’t kill him.  Jesus said to them, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

To this day, there have been many Christians who have died because they believed in Christ and would not turn back.  I think of those who were killed in the Mother Emanuel AME Church shooting a few years ago, after moving faithfully.  I also think of my own dad, who passed away hours after he was supposed to stand and preach.

I feel that all ministers and pastors should be upfront with their parishoners and newcomers to the faith – you will face persecution because of what and whom you believe in. You must prepare yourselves to be despised because of your faith.

Following faithfully for the rest of your life

Faith unto death, I believe, is what faithfulness is.  Faith unto death speaks of commitment, loyalty, and devotion.  Would you consider faithfulness unto death a price to pay?  Some may, but I don’t, but that is because I see such commitment as being faith.  If I weren’t going to follow Christ faithfully, then I wouldn’t bother following Him at all.

Later in this chapter, in Luke 9:57-62, when others spoke of wanting to follow Him like the disciples, Jesus said to them, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”  Discipleship is about devotion and commitment.

If we can’t be committed, loyal, and devoted to Christ unto death, what would be the point of following and entering into a relationship with Him?  If you’re going to follow and enter into fellowship with the Lord, know that God does not do part-time relationships.  God desires total commitment, as He will be fully committed to us.  It is when we talk about devotion and commitment to God that we find the true cost of following Christ.

Luke 9:24 – The Price to Follow Christ

Adding Luke 9:24 to the thought of the prior verse, Jesus said to the disciples, “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.”  

Sacrificing earthly desires

In His statement, Jesus spoke of the desire that all people have, as everyone desires to live prosperous lives.  However, what Jesus also points on in His statement is that there is only one prosperous life and one way to live prosperously.  Sadly, not all of us choose to go in the way that leads to living a prosperous life, which also highlights a lack of understanding of what prosperous living is.

What is a prosperous life to you?  This is a question that we will have to answer.  Those who attempt to ‘save their life’ speak of those who are committed and devoted to their own efforts to live what they believe is a prosperous life.  Those who lose themselves for Christ, sacrifice their will and desire to devote themselves to following Christ and live what they believe is a prosperous life.  

Living a life committed and devoted to Christ, sacrificing one’s will and desire, is not easy– that is a heavy price to pay.  To explain how heavy a price this is, let’s refer to Luke 9:57-62 again.  One told Jesus that he would follow Him wherever He went, but Christ responded, saying, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head (Luke 9:58).”  

Christ’s response wasn’t a rejection but a warning to anyone who desires to follow Him.  The first thing I would point out about Jesus’ warning is that He spoke of how He lived poorly and didn’t have much – a lowly and humble living.  

Jesus warns that if your intention is to follow Him so that you will get rich in earthly treasure, you would be following Him with the wrong intention.  Now, does that mean that you’re going to live broke and in poverty for following Christ?  Absolutely not.

There are many who follow Christ who are wealthy; however, wealth ought not be your reason for following Christ.  One who follows Christ ought to be concerned about their soul and becoming rich spiritually.  We are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, laying up our treasures in heaven and not in earthly treasure (Matt. 6:19-21,33).

Jesus taught the disciples not to worry about their lives, what they would eat or put on their bodies (Luke 12:22-34).  He pointed to the birds and the flowers of the field and spoke of how they are cared for by the Father, and asked, “How much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?”  

The prosperous life is about more than earthly riches.  A prosperous life is a life that is given by God, uplifting the soul from sin.  This is a teaching that goes against the notion of laboring and hustling for earthly riches to live a prosperous life.  

Living lowly, not prodigal living

Secondly, Jesus warned that the life of one who follows Him wouldn’t be grand.  From the outside, many saw the celebrity of Jesus and thought it would be like a party.  

The scribes and Pharisees, along with Judas Iscariot, are great examples of failing to sacrifice their desire for a grand lifestyle – prodigal living.  Iscariot, I believe, is the best example of how difficult it is for one to closely follow Christ while still holding on to worldly desires.  The other disciples followed Christ because they loved Him, were committed to Him, and devoted to Him as one should be trying to follow Christ.

Iscariot, on the other hand, was committed and devoted to money, and the gospels show this to us.  In John 12:4-6, John tells us that Iscariot had the money box the group traveled with. Not only did Iscariot keep watch over it, John tells us that he was a theif and would steal from the box, therefore, stealing from his brothers and Christ.  As the gospels show us, it was that love and devotion of money that led Iscariot to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.

Iscariot enjoyed the celebrity of following Christ and was more frustrated that they wouldn’t spend the money on more grand things.  He would’ve been happy living as the scribes and Pharisees did.  Remember, Jesus spoke of how the scribes and Pharisees did their works to be seen and glorified by others (Matt. 23:1-7).  Jesus condemned those scribes and Pharisees, and Iscariot’s ending was destruction (Matt. 27:3-5), rather than glory.

Luke 9:25-26 – Faith Hindered By Worldiness

Iscariot’s story is truly one of a tragedy.  You see, Judas had a wonderful opportunity to grow and to better himself, physically, in the presence of Christ.  Yet, he never learned those lessons because while he walked with Christ, he didn’t walk with Christ spiritually.  

As Jesus told the Samaritan woman, those who worship (or follow) the Lord must do so in spirit and truth (John 4:24).  Judas hindered his own transformation because his devotion was elsewhere and not for the kingdom.  Keep in mind, if your desire is the kingdom of heaven, then you must live for it first – seek it first.  Jesus said that one is to lay up for themselves treasures in heaven and not in earth (Matt. 6:19-20).

In Luke 9:25, Jesus shared a warning that is ringing very loudly in a world that is growing more distant from God.  Iscariot actually chose to entertain walking with Christ and did so for three years, but many today don’t bother with entertaining the idea of walking with Christ.  

I truly am concerned for mankind.  Doing the simplest thing of opening the Bible and reading a few verses is absent from the minds of many.  The gospel is widely available in today’s world, with worship and studies available online, but it’s not being entertained.  You see, many are happy to be out of fellowship with God, having no desire to enter His presence. 

In Luke 9:25, Jesus asked, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?”  Some of you may be more familiar with Mark 8:36-37, where the scripture says, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”  

Both scriptures are asking the same thing, with a focus on one choosing the world over their soul.  One ought to be concerned more about their soul than their bank account.  Trust me, I understand being concerned about putting food on the table and paying bills, but again, Christ taught us that the Lord will care for the faithful.

We hinder ourselves today from true spiritual growth because our hearts are not for the Lord.  If you have the desire to know the Lord, fully commit yourself to being in a relationship with Him.  If you have the desire to follow Christ, fully devote yourself to following His way.

Does that mean you must be perfect in following Him?  You’re not going to be perfect, as none of us are perfect.  Yet, when you dwell in God’s grace, there is mercy.  God simply desires for you to put forth the effort of walking faithfully – in obedience and loyalty – with Him.  The effort of faith is what pleases the Lord.