When she heard that she was picked to be on the team, her heart almost burst with excitement. She had heard great things about the coaches and opportunities for the players, and now her name was on the roster. Being part of the team meant she had the jersey, the matching shoes and bag, but it also meant going to bed by 8:00 pm to wake up at 4:30 am, doing homework as soon as she got home, missing out on going to birthday parties with her friends and working a few hours on the weekends to help pay to be on the team. Being on the team gave her benefits, but it came at a cost.
The cost of a container of salt is nowhere near the cost of playing on a high-level sports team. These days a container of salt costs less than a dollar, while playing on a high-level sports team can run in the thousands and even higher depending on the distances traveled. Salt maybe cheap today, but in many places and times throughout history, it functioned as currency. Salt in the ancient world and even the not-so-distant past was worth its weight in gold as it was vital for survival. Salt worked as a preservative for food before refrigeration and other methods of extending shelf life. It was also a vital mineral and offered medicinal properties. Today salt seems to have lost some of its potency or at least it is viewed as a cheap luxury but salt itself has not changed; salt is still a necessary staple for life.
We need salt to survive, but God offers us eternal life. Salt in our diet may add or subtract a decade or two, but how we follow the LORD God will affect our lives forever. In our Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy 30, Moses spoke to the Israelites after spending forty years in the wilderness. Some of them had been born in the wilderness, while others began the journey as teenagers and grew up wandering. Those who stood before Moses saw the generation that turned away from God die in the wilderness. Now, Moses addressed this new generation and spoke the words God gave him saying, 19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. These words were not like some catch phrase from a commercial or an influencer’s hashtag encouraging love for God as if loving, listening and holding fast to him were equal to having a healthy amount of salt in your diet. These words were life and death, as evidenced by the millions of graves in the wilderness. Moses’ encouragement and God’s promise to Israel was life, protection and prosperity in the promised land as long as they remained who God made them to be. God had made them his people with the promises of children kept to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They were the generation that would gain access to the earthly promised land and enjoy it by remaining God’s followers. The benefits of God’s protection and prosperity would be theirs to lose because God had done everything to give them life.
Almost fourteen centuries after Moses spoke to the Israelites before they entered the promised land, crowds followed Jesus hoping he would welcome in a new era of prosperity. In our Gospel reading from Luke 14, we read about large crowds following Jesus. Many were interested in Jesus because of his miracles and authoritative preaching. Those followers may have suffered a little to follow Jesus, but they did not understand the considerable cost to be a follower of Jesus, so we hear Jesus say to the large crowd, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. The term ‘hate’ Jesus uses here is not opposed to ‘love’ but a friendship or affinity. His point is that we are all lured into elevating our familial relationships above our faith and following Jesus. The path we are called to does entail a cross because our old sinful self has been put to death and must not be allowed to return to control over our lives now that Christ is seated on the throne of our hearts. This is what Paul wrote in Galatians 2, 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. The price to follow Jesus is our whole life, because our whole life has been bought by Christ through his crucifixion. Jesus further instructs the crowd to take the time to consider what following him truly means with two parables. The first teaching us to consider the cost of following Jesus so that we finish life with faith and following him. The second to understand that following Jesus means giving up everything to have peace with him. Estimating, considering and planning are key in the parables, but they are not meant to teach us to plan well. The parables are about taking seriously the considerable cost to follow Jesus.
We have not properly assessed the cost of following Jesus. Rather than wake up each morning considering the cost to follow Christ, we think about the cost of a mortgage, car, vacation, school, utilities, tariffs, groceries, healthcare, retirement, insurance, Pokémon cards, purses, artillery accessories, etc. We also consider the cost of time in our work/life balance. We may work hard at work but fail to work hard at home, or we may work hard at home but fail to work hard for the kingdom of God and our local congregation’s mission and ministries. We may introduce ourselves as Christian and have packaging that looks like a morally Christian life, but I can pick up a container labeled salt with what looks like small salt crystals inside and pour some onto my food only to discover it has no taste. We are called to pay a considerable cost to follow Christ but considering Christ worth that cost is a struggle for us as evidenced by the amount of things we have accumulated for ourselves and the sliver of time we have devoted to Bible study, worship, personal daily Bible reading and Christian living. We might have a sense of a need to repent if we even take the time to consider how little we have considered and daily paid the cost to remain followers of Jesus.
Jesus has picked you to be his own follower, disciple and member of his kingdom. Membership in the kingdom of God does mean giving up sinful connections to the things of this world, which is a considerable cost, but that is not what made us his followers. After telling his parables, Jesus used another brief illustration in Luke 14, 34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” Jesus’ point here is vital for us to understand. We are salt. Jesus has already paid the price to make us salt. When considering the cost to pay for the sins of the world by taking on flesh, living in perfect obedience to God’s law in a world of sinners, being betrayed, wrongly convicted and brutally murdered, God loved us so much to pay that price. Jesus does not tell us to strive to become one of his followers, believers, disciples, to be saved, good enough, a member of his kingdom and a person with an eternal home in heaven. Rather, Jesus is speaking to those who already are his and are all of these, they are already salt, not striving to become salt. For the work done to save us, our hearts burst with excitement that our eternal future is not equivalent to manure that decomposes in the ground so a plant can grow. Instead, our Savior opened our ears to hear and believe his cross was the cost for our eternal future alive in heaven.
Jesus encourages us to daily consider the cost of following him. God put you on his team, paid the price, reserved your spot in heaven and made you a member of his body. You are filled with the Holy Spirit so it makes sense that you would live for him, but it comes at a high cost. Again, it is our whole life, our heart, our mind, our body, our time, our money, our relationships, our words, actions, thoughts, hopes, dreams, what we say, “Yes” to and what we say, “No” to. As reborn and baptized followers of Jesus, we love the LORD God first and love for him affects all our other relationships. Jesus warns us not to lose what we have by turning away, by loving, prioritizing, having affection for and using our gifts for other things above him. Growing in love for Jesus allows us to give up our spiritually unhealthy grip on things and people. We see an example of love for Jesus overcomes worldly, socioeconomic desires in our New Testament reading from Philemon, 17 So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self. 20 I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask. In this letter, Paul asks Philemon to welcome back his runaway slave, Onesimus, who had come to Christ while staying with Paul. Paul encourages Philemon to welcome Onesimus as a brother in Christ and to charge to Paul whatever wrongs or losses incurred. Philemon had lost a lot and would lose more welcoming back his former slave as a brother. At the same time, he would gain so much more. As you daily consider the cost of following Jesus, keep in mind that you will give up a lot, you will struggle in your mind, heart, emotions and physical body. Yet, Christ opened our ears to hear what we have already gained in Christ, and it is what we have in him that allows us to pay the price and even carry our cross to follow him.
When you get picked to be on the team, excitement fills your heart. When you get picked to be on the team, you go to practice and work with your teammates during the games or matches. It would be strange to be part of the team, then do the things that go against the team like skipping practice or working with the opposing team during a game or match. Jesus has picked you to be his own follower, disciple and member of his kingdom. Membership in the kingdom of God does mean giving up sinful connections to the things of this world, which is a considerable cost. But Jesus made you his own dearly loved, paid for, fought for, heaven bound and salty child, so pay the considerable cost to remain a follower of Jesus. Amen.
Gunnar Ledermann, Pastor Divine Peace Church
Gunnar Ledermann
I’m passionate about Rockwall’s vibrant community and actively engage with local non-profits and community organizations, including the Rockwall Chamber of Commerce, the City of Rockwall, and the Downtown Rockwall Association. My background includes a bachelor’s degree in Classical Languages and a master’s degree in divinity. Currently serving as a pastor at Divine Peace Church in Rockwall, I also enjoy spending time with my wife, Marinda, and our five children.
