Take each letter of the alphabet and give it a percentage point as follows: A = 1%, B=2%, C=3% …. Z=26%.  Now add together the letters of ‘hard work’ and you get 98%.  ‘Knowledge’ gets you 96%, and ‘attitude’ 100%.  ‘Love of God’ = 101%.  So, while hard work and knowledge will get you close, and attitude will get you there, it is the love of God that will get you over the top!

Speaking of giving 101% … Sometimes Jesus said some no-nonsense things that his disciples (and in turn, we) find very difficult because they cut to the heart of human selfishness and pride.  And so this morning we’ve read, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.  Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”  Surely some mistake?  Well, it got through to the twelve (or a least eleven of them, when we’ve removed Judas from the scene) because tradition has it that all eleven of them were killed for their loyalty to Christ.  I don’t know if that is true, but according to this tradition:

Simon the Zealot was crucified;

As was Peter but upside down;

So too, Andrew (although it was on a diagonal cross, hence the St Andrew’s Cross);

Bartholomew was flayed alive;

James the son of Zebedee was beheaded;

The other James was beaten to death;

Thomas was run through with a lance;

Matthew killed with a sword;

Thaddeus was shot with arrows;

Philip was hanged;

Matthias (the one chosen to replace Judas) was stoned and then beheaded;

And John the other son of Zebedee apparently died peacefully in old age, although it was as a prisoner for his faith on the island of Patmos. 

The demands that Jesus makes upon those who want to be his followers are extreme.  Christianity is not a Sunday morning religion.  It is a hungering after God to the point of death, if need be.  It shakes our foundations, topples out priorities, pits us against friend and family, and makes us strangers in this world.

But let me clear up any misunderstanding you might be having over that phrase “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.”  Because you might think ‘Whoa!  I’ve got to hate my family to be a follower of Christ?  That’s not good.  I don’t think I want to be a Christian if that is what it entails.  And anyway, aren’t we supposed to love people?  Jesus says ‘love your enemies’, but we’re supposed to hate our families?’  Well, relax.  What we have here is a misunderstanding based on the customs of two very different worlds – the world of 1^st Century Palestine, and ours.   Back in those days a rabbi would often teach his disciples using a part of speech called hyperbole.  It is, if you like, exaggeration.  To stress that his point was really important he would put in very exaggerated terms, which were not meant to be taken strictly literally, but you knew it was crucially important. 

So, here Jesus is not saying his followers must literally hate their families if they are going to be his disciples.  He means ‘unless you love your families less than you love me you cannot be my disciple.  Another famous occasion when Jesus uses hyperbole is when he says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  Obviously, he didn’t mean that literally.  He was taking his argument to absurd limits in order to stress just how important it was.  So, Jesus doesn’t mean ‘hate the members of your family’, rather – ‘where’s your heart?  What are your priorities?  If your priorities are to serve and please your loved ones ahead of me then you’ve got your priorities wrong. 

Now we could rightly respond, ‘well, but in loving our families aren’t we actually following Christ and doing what he wants?’  And the answer is ‘yes’.  I reckon that nearly all the time there is no conflict between devotion to family and devotion to God.  In nearly every example I can think of loving your family will be following Christ.  But I think there can be times when the two are in conflict.  Your spouse doesn’t want you to go to church – there’s a conflict – do you respect your spouse and do what he or she wants, or do you honour God and go to worship.  Another example might be the parent at their son or daughter’s Little League game.  Their kid gets a bad call, everyone in the crowd could see it wasn’t a strike, and you want to go out there and defend your child and give the umpire a good talking to or call out to the other parents sitting nearby that the umpire is a jerk.  There’s a conflict – stand up for your kid or be Christ’s follower by respecting the decision of the umpire?  Or maybe you want to make your kid really happy at Christmas and show them how special they are so you go overboard with presents, even though the only way to do that is to give to the church less than your pledge.  Or you’re filling in the tax rerun and your spouse tells you to bend the rules a little so that you write down an incorrect number and pay less tax than you are required to.  Do you see what I mean?   So Jesus says, in effect, where are your priorities, where is your heart?

This is tough.  Being a follower of Christ is about crosses and graves.  The story goes of St Patrick was standing waist-deep in an Irish river one day baptising new converts when who should appear to be baptised but the local chieftain, King Aengus.  Now Patrick, like all good bishops, was holding his staff in his hands as the new Christians made their way into the water.  Unfortunately, as he was lowering King Aengus down under the water he also pressed his staff into the river bed.  Afterwards the people on the riverbank noticed their chief limp back to shore with blood oozing from the top of his foot.  It became clear that Patrick had his staff on the King’s foot and as he pressed down so he pushed it into the flesh.  So the saint went to the king and apologised and asked him why he hadn’t called out or complained when he stabbed him in the foot.  The chief was surprised by the question and said, “I remember you telling us about the nails in the cross of Jesus, and I thought my pain was part of my baptism.”  Well, he had understood something that we modern Christians have largely forgotten – pain is part of baptism – not a physical piercing but the pain that comes from crucifying our human nature.

Now it is because the Christian life is tough that Jesus goes on to give a clear warning about making a half-hearted decision to follow him.  He uses a couple of simple little parables to encourage his hearers to think long and hard about whether they really want the pain and self-denial that they will have to face if they decide to follow him.  He says that if someone wants to build a tower then first he sits down and works out of he has the money to finish it before he starts.  If he starts to build and then runs out of money half way through then he will be a laughing stock.  And again, if a king contemplates going to war he will analyse carefully whether he has a good chance of winning before he decides to commit his troops to battle.  To go to war with heavily outnumbered troops would mean terrible loss of life for no reason.  So Jesus’ point is simple.  Following him is no picnic.  Sometimes it means doing things you don’t want to do and sometimes it means NOT doing things you DO want to do.  It might involve being unpopular.  It will mean sacrifices of time, energy and money.  It means loving the unlovely, forgiving the malicious, caring for those who offend you.  And Jesus says, “Stop.  Those of you who want to follow me – have you really thought about this?  Have you counted the cost, are you really ready for the hardship and self-denial involved?  Are you willing to take the bullet?  Because if you’re not prepared for the hard life then maybe you’d just better forget it because it simply will not do if you start and then give up.”   Or, as he puts it, “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?  It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure heap.  It is thrown out.”

All three of today’s Bible readings are about making decisions.  Jesus challenges his would-be followers to think carefully and make their decision to follow him with their eyes wide open.  Then there was the reading from Deuteronomy where Moses has just read the Ten Commandments and other laws to the Israelites and says “See I have set before life and prosperity, death and adversity… Choose life!”  And then we had Paul pleading with his friend Philemon to receive Philemon’s runaway slave and when he returns grant him freedom.  So Philemon has a decision too.  So far, this sermon has been all about the unpalatable aspects of following Christ.  But we know, don’t we, that following his way is the only way to find true happiness.  As Psalm 1 says, that we read, “Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor lingered in the way of sinners, not sat in the seats of the scornful … they are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither, everything they do shall prosper.”  Despite all appearances to the contrary it is when we follow in the footsteps of Christ that we find life and when we die to ourselves that we truly find ourselves.  So if you’re facing a tough decision this morning, take heart.  Do what is right in God’s eyes.  Go the way Christ is calling.  Look for him and he will lead you into fruitful and rewarding places, even if it doesn’t seem like it right now.

Let me finish with an extraordinary and inspiring piece of writing by Louise Robinson Chapman, who was a missionary in Africa from 1920-1940.

“I’m a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of His and I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. I’m done and finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, or first, or tops, or recognized, or praised, or rewarded. I live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by Holy Spirit power.

My face is set. My gait is fast. My goal is heaven. My road may be narrow, my way rough, my companions few, but my guide is reliable and my mission is clear.

I will not be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed.

I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice or hesitate in the presence of the adversary. I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy, pander at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus. I must give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He does come for His own, He’ll have no problems recognizing me. My colors will be clear!”