I have been preaching through the Gospel of Luke and we have been in Luke 14 since mid-March. These last verses (25-35) have been demanding to preach and to follow. You can listen to these messages from our webpage here.
I have one more message in this series I have entitled "The Path." I am calling it that because the setting of these verses is with a crowd following Jesus and He turns to tell them about the real path of following Him.
Sometimes I encounter things in my study that I can't incorporate into a message, which was the case last week. So, I've chosen this vehicle to share with you in light of the demands of discipleship.
One of the arguments made is if you share this, it will reduce the number of people who wish to follow Christ. Mike McKinley wrote the commentary "Luke 12-24 For You." He is the Pastor of Sterling Park Baptist Church, in Sterling, Virginia. This is the quote:
"Will this mean that fewer people will start down the path of discipleship? Perhaps, but no fewer people will make it all the way to the end. It seems that Jesus would rather you not follow him than follow him on your terms and with your agenda. We see crowds of people as a sign of success for a church, and it may be so. But Jesus saw the crowds in verse 25 and immediately began to clarify the parameters of discipleship so that people would follow him for the right reasons and with the proper understanding of what they would be forfeiting to do so." (Page 54)
That statement has taken my breath away. Especially the second sentence. If I interpret McKinley correctly, what he is saying is speaking these hard messages will not lessen the true disciples of the Lord - those who make it to the end. My oh my. I'm still wrestling with that statement. May God help me to be a true preacher of the Gospel.
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