In Luke 14, when Jesus discusses the cost of following Him as a disciple, He uses the analogy of salt keeping its saltiness (see Luke 14:34-35). It is not a coincidence that the salt analogy reflects His discussion in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:13-20 (as discussed in the previous post on April 6, 2025). The connection is clear: to be a member of the Kingdom of God means one will be a disciple of Jesus. In this post, I momentarily step away from the Sermon on the Mount to examine Jesus’ warning in Luke 14 that being a member of the Kingdom and a disciple comes at a personal cost.
The basic definition of “disciple” is learner or pupil. However, it does not have the same nuances today as in the First Century. Today, anyone can access troves of information online, leading some to declare themselves experts on a subject after reading little more than a few Wikipedia articles. In the First Century, only a small minority were literate. People learned from others who taught them orally; there were no public libraries where a person could self-educate.
Learning was relegated to sitting at the feet of teachers and listening. Those who took seriously what they learned would apply that knowledge. They would become disciples, learning from the “master,” and then live out his teachings. Jesus had a tremendous following, and many followers could be described as disciples. We typically only consider the twelve He selected and who followed Him throughout His traveling ministry. In Luke 14, Jesus addresses more than the twelve.
According to Jesus in Matthew 7:24, learning and putting His teaching into practice is like a wise man who builds his house on a solid foundation. In Luke 12, Jesus distinguished how His disciples were not to be preoccupied with the same things that people of this world are. Instead of spending their lives accumulating the temporary “stuff” of this world, His disciples were to “seek His kingdom” (Luke 12:31).
However, Luke 14 ramps up the value contrast between Jesus’ disciples and those of this world. Jesus teaches that His disciples must not only prioritize seeking the eternal things of the Kingdom, but they must also be prepared to lose things valued by this world. There is a cost to following Jesus as a member of the Kingdom.
Jesus teaches that anyone who will follow Him must calculate the personal cost of being His disciple, like a person who sets out to build a large tower or a king contemplating going to war (Luke 14:28-33). The failure to calculate the cost ends in disaster in both circumstances – an unfinished structure ridiculed by neighbors or humiliating defeat and subjugation to an enemy.
According to Jesus in Luke 14, the cost of discipleship is most evident in relationships and possessions (following Joel B. Green, NICNT: The Gospel of Luke). Both are sought excessively in this world. It is a logical path. Believing there is nothing beyond this life, people think they should take all they can and experience this world’s benefits as much as possible.
In this world, who you know or who knows you feeds your sense of self-worth. Your importance is based on how many “likes” you get on your social media post or how many “followers” or “views” you have. This world strives for the “best” seats at the party – the places of honor (Luke 14:7-11). This world’s view of relationships is transactional – looking toward what the other person can do for you before you expend your energy and resources toward them (Luke 14:12-14: inviting guests to a party so they can repay you with their reciprocal invitation). Jesus teaches that His disciples are to expend themselves on those who cannot repay them.
Jesus drives the point even further in Luke 14:26. The Kingdom requires His disciple’s love and affection to be singularly focused upon Jesus. In comparison, commitment to others would be like hatred. The irony, of course, is that if you love Jesus singularly, He calls you to love others – your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters. So, the point is that those affections to others do not take precedence over your love and commitment to Jesus. Understanding Jesus’ use of the term hate as rhetorical is affirmed in Matthew’s recounting of His teaching as “whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37).
Jesus is to have first place in the disciple’s life, including family; nothing else is to be first (Darrell L. Bock, Baker Exegetical Commentary: Luke). Like in the First Century, a decision to follow Jesus today risks alienation from family.
The disciple’s love and affection for Jesus must also take precedence over his/her own life, desires, and inclinations. The call to discipleship is to renounce oneself and commit to following Jesus, not only when it is convenient but also when it means suffering. This is not self-hatred. Instead, “Jesus is calling for the reconstruction of one’s identity, not along ancestral lines or on the basis of one’s social status, but with the new community oriented toward God’s purpose and characterized by faithfulness to the message of Jesus.” (Joel B. Green, NICNT: The Gospel of Luke).
This commitment to Christ is more than a one-time decision made at conversion. It is expressed through consistent discipleship daily in life’s decisions. Do I choose Jesus and His way, regardless of the potential consequences of rejection by others? Do I expend myself for others who can do nothing to repay me because He directs me?
Regarding possessions, this world’s mantra is excessive materialism – the goal is to have more than you would ever need (which is never reached) so that you can “take ease, eat, drink and be merry” (Luke 12:19). This world misses the unseen and spiritual realities of the Kingdom. They are oblivious to the fact that one day they will give an account for their souls (Luke 12:20). Seeking the Kingdom means storing up riches in heaven through generous giving that does not seek repayment (Luke 12:32-34).
In Luke 14:33, Jesus teaches that His disciples must give up all of their possessions. It is bidding farewell to everything one has and leaving it behind to follow Jesus. The best way to read Jesus’ words here is that He is not requiring His disciples to literally give every possession away, but to renounce and relinquish all claims of ownership to earthly possessions and be ready to give them when He requires it. Disciples are stewards, not owners of the possessions they have in this life. If He calls His disciples to give money or an asset to someone, they realize they never owned the money or asset and are merely transferring His asset to the person He intends to receive it. His disciples own nothing; they manage what He places in their care as trustees. Trustees will give an account to the valid owner of the assets who entrusted the assets to them.
Jesus’ cross was to accept the will of the Father and see through the other side of the suffering to effectuate our salvation. Similarly, if we are disciples, self-denial is our cross—our place of dying (Luke 14:27). At a minimum, our cross requires giving Jesus precedence over our lives, relationships, and possessions. Discipleship manifests episodically in our decisions. Do we value a relationship more than Jesus? Do we seek to hold particular possessions more than striving for the Kingdom? If we reject paying the cost, we may be admirers of Jesus, even fans, but we are not disciples. If we reject our cross, we become like salt that has lost its effectiveness—we are worthless in the Kingdom.
We cannot be members of His Kingdom and be his disciples without a willingness to pay the cost and “bear” our cross. Jesus’ parable of the guests making excuses to avoid the invitation from a wealthy man throwing a big dinner in Luke 14:15-24 is a cautionary tale for our inclination to make excuses and avoid our crosses. The ancient custom was for invited guests to initially affirm that they would attend the feast (an RSVP), and based on the number of responses, preparations were made. When the feast was ready, a second invitation would go out. But in Jesus’ story, the second invitation came at the most inconvenient time for the guests, and their unwillingness to join resulted in their being barred from ever participating in the feast. Similarly, the initial decision to follow Jesus is merely the start; it requires follow-through. Discipleship is walking with Him on a life journey in which He transforms our self-identity and worldview.
This is reflected in the contrast of Matthew’s account of Jesus’ teaching on the cost of discipleship, in which the requirement is to “take up” one’s cross (Matthew 10:38), whereas in Luke it is “bearing” or “carrying” one’s cross. Matthew emphasizes the willingness to endure suffering. In contrast, the account in Luke 14:27 emphasizes a willingness to go through the process of suffering. “To follow Jesus means to follow in suffering, for the world rejects the disciple” (Darrell Bock).
In the well-known words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
Thy Kingdom Come 
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