Sunday Message
September 5, 2004
Robert D Bohnsack
Texts: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18; Luke 14:25-33

"What are you prepared to do?" "What are you prepared to do?" ¹ Is the question Jimmy Malone, a tough Irish Chicago beat cop, asks Treasury Agent Elliot Ness, the young agent bent on bringing down Al Capone. In the movie, "The Untouchables," Treasury Agent Elliot Ness arrives in corrupt 1920s Chicago determined to enforce the 18th Amendment, Prohibition. He is going to bring down gangster, Al Capone.

Immediately after arriving in Chicago Ness, learns that Capone owns the Chicago Police Department. One night after learning about Capone's influence the hard way Ness meets Malone, the last honest cop in Chicago. Ness asks Malone for his help, and Malone asks him, "What are you prepared to do?"

Malone wants to know if Ness is willing to go all the way to get Capone. He wants to know if Ness is willing to sacrifice and pay the price to bring down Al Capone. Ness tells Malone that he will use his mind, body, and soul to bring down Al Capone. He is prepared to do whatever it takes. He will "never stop fighting till the fight is done." ²

Jesus Christ asks us, "what are you prepared do?" He asks us if we are prepared to pay the cost of discipleship.

Are you prepared to hate your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself?

Depending on the day we read this passage during our teenage years we may have leaped out the pews and shouted, "Yes, Jesus, I am prepared to hate my father and mother. Yes, Jesus, I am prepared to hate my brother and sister."

I don't think that is what Jesus was thinking about when he said those hard to understand words. They are hard to understand words though. Hate your parents, hate your siblings, and hate your own life? Why is the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, our Savior, telling us to hate our parents, siblings, and ourselves?

Christ is not instructing us to wreck the relationships we have with our loved ones. Christ is not suggesting that we should turn to our spouses on the drive to lunch after church and say, "I hate you."

Christ is telling us that one of the conditions of discipleship, one of the costs, is putting our relationship with him, our discipleship above everything else. We are even required to put it above being a spouse, a sibling, or a parent. He is telling us that our relationships with others cannot interfere with our commitment to being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Christ is savvy enough to realize that sometimes our relations will not be comfortable being second to Jesus. They will not like the attention we are giving his church and the service of others. They will remind us that the Ten Commandments say, "honor your father and mother." So, "honor your father and mother" and don't go on that mission trip, don't go to church this morning, and don't give so much money to that church."

Discipleship forces us to choose. Discipleship is not easy. It forces us to make sacrifices. It forces us to put our faith in Jesus Christ first. It forces us to trust God. We trust and know that God blesses us with parents, siblings, a spouse, and a life created by God for God. We are all "fearfully and wonderfully made."

"What are you prepared to do?"
Are you prepared to carry the cross and be Christ's disciple?
Are you prepared to do what it takes?
Are you willing to endure what Christ endured?
Are you willing to be persecuted?
Are you willing to be ridiculed, shunned, despised, and mocked?
Are you willing to be celebrated, applauded, and thanked for the things God uses you to do?
Are you willing to work long hours, invest your whole self, and spend a lot of time in meetings?
Are you willing to work alongside others that also want to serve Jesus Christ and his church?
Are you willing to pray with and for each other?
Are you willing to enjoy Christian fellowship?
Are you willing to come and worship God with others?

Carrying the cross of discipleship was not, is not, and will not ever be easy. Christ knows this, and he wants us to make sure we know it. Christ invited us to take a good look at what it means to be a disciple. Jesus did not go to the cross without knowing the cost, and he does not expect us to be disciples without knowing the cost.

At long last we read that all our meetings, feasibility committees, budgets, task forces, subgroups, planning, and deliberation is what God wants us to do. As Presbyterians we have no trouble making fun of our way of doing things. We form a feasibility committee to determine the feasibility of forming a feasibility committee. We form task forces to form a planning team, and form committees so that we can establish subcommittees. We budget money to prepare the budget. We keep track of every cost, and make sure that everything is accounted for.

We are a group of disciples that love to meet and plan before we ever execute. At long last we are validated. Christ asks us: for which you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? ³

Plan ahead, look ahead, and know what you are getting into. Christ wants dedicated and committed disciples. Christ wants disciples who know the cost of discipleship. Christ wants disciples who have considered the costs. Christ wants disciples who are willing to carry the cross. Christ died on the cross, and that is how serious discipleship is. ⁴

Jesus Christ did not go to the cross not knowing if his life, death, and resurrection would bring about salvation and forgiveness for the world. Christ went to the cross knowing he would bring salvation. We must carry the cross knowing we will be used by God to serve the church of Christ. Christ knows us.

We are "fearfully and wonderfully made."

One of my favorite parts of a wedding reception is that classic everybody dance song, "The Hokey Pokey." ⁵ Everybody: the bride and groom, mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, Uncle Ed, all the cousins, the groom's "way too cool" friends from college, the bridesmaids in their lovely bridesmaid dresses, the cousins, and even the minister stand up to participate in this traditional wedding song. Actually the song was not written until 1949. We all stand up, the dj starts playing. We put our right hand in, put our right hand out, we put our right hand in, and we shake it all about. We do the hokey pokey, and that's what its all about. "Left hand." The song culminates with the putting of our whole self in, putting our whole self out, putting our whole self in, and shaking it all about.

Jesus Christ desires, wants, and demands that we put our whole self in. We need to be disciples on Sunday, and all the other days. We need to be disciples when it is fun, convenient, meaningful, and when things are going our way. We need to be disciples when it hurts, its inconvenient, boring, and when things are not going our way. We need to be disciples even when it seems like we are the only ones doing it.

"What are you prepared to do?" Are you prepared to give up all your possessions? Are you prepared to forsake everything for Jesus Christ and his church? It is a tough question. Not many of us are asked to give up all our worldly possessions, but we must be prepared to do so.

Our worldly possessions are more than just our cars, homes, stereo equipment, and golf clubs. Our worldly possessions are those things we put between ourselves and God. Our worldly possessions become those things we worship and make sacrifices for instead of worshiping and sacrificing for Christ Jesus.

This weekend I am stripping the paint and varnish off the wood paneling in my breezeway. I even recruited my brother to drive down from Michigan to help. I really want to get this project done, and if Christ came to me and said, "Rob, I need you to set aside this project," I am sure I would and try and negotiate with Christ. "Just give me a few more hours and then I will come and do what you need of me. Just let me sand this last board and then I will be your disciple." It is very easy for our worldly possessions to possess us. As disciples we need to only be possessed by our service of Jesus Christ and his church.

Too often when we ask somebody to join us in ministry, join this church, or to serve on a committee or project we open the request with, "this is not going to take a lot of time, the committee only meets once a month, or you don't really have to go to the meetings." We expect that people do not have the time or willingness to serve. We expect they will say, "no, I am too busy." We are afraid they will say no, so we try and sell the request as no huge commitment or demand.

Jesus Christ did not ask us if we had the time to serve, nor did he tell us that discipleship will only take one evening a month. He tells us it will cost us everything. It will cost us our family, our lives, and our possessions. It will take more time than we have. It will be all consuming. It will hurt. Christ is unapologetic about the "cost of discipleship."

Psalm 139 reminds us that we are known completely by God. God knows us at our best, and at our worst. God knows better than us what we can do.

My high school swim coach used to tell us, "know that you have limitations as a human being and an athlete, but know that you do not know what those limitations are." ⁶

Christ who knows us and knows our limitations calls us to be his disciples. Christ who knows us when we are sitting down after an exhausting day calls us to be his disciples. Christ call us, the ones who are "fearfully and wonderfully made."

What are you prepared to do?

If you are prepared pay the cost of discipleship, step forward and pay the cost. Invite others to be disciples with you. Remember you are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Dr. William Willimon, Dean of the Chapel at Duke University said this of discipleship: People are hungry to give their lives to something more important than themselves. It is a fact of life, not only that everything costs us something, but that, in our better moments, we are even eager to pay the cost. ⁷

Praise be to God. Amen.

1. "The Untouchables." 1987.
2. Ibid.
3. Luke 14:28.
4. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. "The Cost of Discipleship, revised edition." Collier Books, Macmillian Publishing Company. New York. 1963. p114.
5. The Hokey Pokey. Copyright 1950, Acuff-Rose Music Inc.
6. Coach William Colebank. Maconaquah High School, Bunker Hill, Indiana.
7. Willimon, William. "The Price of Discipleship." a sermon preached on September 6, 1998 at Duke University Chapel. http://www.chapel.duke.edu/chapel/worship/sunday/viewsermon.aspx?id=11.