MAKE SURE YOUR BEST IS GOOD ENOUGH
Pentecost 16 - September 5/8, 2013
Hymns: 428, 464, 310, 469
Luke 14:25-33 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to
them he said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and
mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own
life--he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross
and follow me cannot be my disciple. "Suppose one of you wants to build a
tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has
enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able
to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow
began to build and was not able to finish.' "Or suppose a king is about to go
to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether
he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with
twenty thousand? 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. In the same way, any
of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
Dear Christian Friends:
“Your best isn’t good enough.” Over the last few weeks 864 very
talented, very dedicated people heard that bad news. These 864 people had
worked hard. Most of them had spent at least eight years pursuing their
goal. But in the end their best wasn’t good enough.
Who am I talking about? It’s the 864 football players who have recently
been cut from NFL teams. At the beginning of the pre-season each NFL
team can have eighty players. But by the start of the regular season each of
the thirty-two NFL teams can only have fifty-three players. So each team
has to cut twenty-seven players. That means 864 hard working, talented
NFL hopefuls got the bad news, “Your best isn’t good enough.”
In our text we see something similar. It says, Large crowds were
traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to
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me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his
brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.
And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my
disciple.
Just like a lot of people try out for sports teams, so also a lot of people
were following Jesus. However, just like not everybody makes the team, so
also not everyone can handle following Jesus.
That’s because Jesus requires absolute dedication. If you want to follow
Jesus, he must come first; even before your own family. Now, when Jesus
says, you have to hate your family, he was using an ancient figure of
speech that sounds odd to our ears. It means, “You have to love me so
much that, by comparison, your love for your family seems like hatred.”
But even with this correct understanding, following Jesus is not easy.
Our natural instinct is to put our family and especially our children in first
place. But Jesus says, “Everything—even your children, even your own
life—everything must take a place behind me. Either I have first place in
your life or I have no place in your life.”
So, yes following Jesus requires a lot more dedication, hard work, and
sacrifice than it takes to make any pro sports team. Following Jesus
demands a lot more dedication, sacrifice, and commitment than – sad to say
– either you or I are willing or able to give.
After all, just take a look at the attendance statistics for our congregation.
On any given Sunday less than half of our members show up to church.
Now, can you imagine what an NFL coach would do if less than half of his
team showed up for the game? You got it. The coach would cut those halfhearted players. He would find other players who were more dedicated to
the team.
But besides not coming to church as much as we could, we don’t follow
Jesus in any other way. We spend more money on TV, restaurant dinners
and sporting events than we give in our offerings. We spend more time
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watching TV, watching sports, going to movies, and surfing the Internet
than we do in prayer and Bible study. We would rather talk about the
Packers or the Brewers or whatever our favorite team is rather than talk
about Jesus. We would rather show pictures of our children, our
grandchildren, or our latest vacation rather than show people that Jesus is
the world’s only Savior.
And that’s just scraping the surface. Jesus said, anyone who does not
carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. The cross is an
instrument of death. Of course, Jesus is not telling us to commit suicide.
But he is saying, “You have to put your ‘me first’ attitude to death.” That’s
the attitude that says, “Sure, I will let Jesus advise me. But it’s my life. I’m
my own boss. I make the final decisions about what is right for me.”
Well, that’s not following Jesus. Following Jesus means that Jesus must
rule over every single thought, word, and action of your whole life. Either
Jesus has first place over your whole life, or he has no place.
Now, to help you understand that level of commitment Jesus tells two
parables. He says, "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he
not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to
complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it,
everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to
build and was not able to finish.' "
In the first parable Jesus says, “Before you make the commitment to
follow me, make sure you can finish what you start.” In the second parable
Jesus tells us what to do when we realize we cannot get the job done. "Or
suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not
first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to
oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 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. In the same way, any of you who does not
give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
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In the second parable Jesus says, “You are the king with ten thousand
soldiers. You don’t have the resources to win. Your best isn’t good
enough. So, be wise. Don’t try to win the war with your effort. Instead,
ask for terms of peace. Surrendering is better than dying.”
Now, normally surrendering is bad. It means you lost. But this is how it
works with Jesus. What we think is good is actually bad. What we think is
bad is actually good. So, when you lose to Jesus and when you surrender to
Jesus, you actually end up winning.
So, yes, you have to confess, “My best is not good enough to make me
the kind of disciple Jesus is looking for.” But when you do confess your sin
and weakness, Jesus becomes your strength. Saint Paul once said, [Jesus]
said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made
perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about
my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. . . For when I
am weak, then I am strong.
Saint Paul knew that his true strength did not come from himself. His
strength came by God’s grace. His strength was Christ and Christ alone.
Christ is also our strength. Christ is the best thing about us. Christ is the
best because only Christ had the commitment to carry his cross all the way
to Mount Calvary. Christ is the best because only Christ carried the sin of
the world on his body and on his soul. Christ is the best because only Christ
defeated sin, death, and Satan by his perfect life, his innocent death, and his
almighty resurrection.
Now, by God’s gift of faith, Christ is yours. That brings us to another
paradox of our faith. The only power than enables to follow Christ is Christ
himself. So, when it comes to following Jesus, MAKE SURE YOUR
BEST IS GOOD ENOUGH. That is, make sure the best part of your life
is Jesus. With Jesus as your best, your best is more than good enough to be
on God’s team. With Jesus as your best, God will never cut you from his
team. With Jesus as your best and only Savior you will follow Jesus
through this life. With Jesus as your best and only Savior you will follow
him to eternal life in heaven. AMEN.
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