The Cost

Sermon Series: The Gospel of Luke

The Cost

Pastor George Stephens | October 5, 2025

““If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26, ESV) 

Jesus Will Always Draw a Crowd 

“Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,” (Luke 14:25, ESV) 

What everyone gets from Jesus…The Freebies 

• Authority 
• Respect 
• Emotional Acceptance 
• Purpose 
• Community 

Jesus Demands Commitment 

““If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26–27, ESV)  

• Personal Cost 
• Exclusionary Terms 

Jesus Directs Your Consideration 

“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 ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 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 one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:28–33, ESV)  

Jesus invites open consideration of what He expects 

Questions: 

1. Where are you? Are you in the crowd or are you fully committed to Jesus Christ? 

2. How do you explain the cost of discipleship to someone in the crowd?