25Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, 26?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. 27Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30saying, ?This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.? 31Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

If the focus in the book of Revelation was on worshiping God and making Christ the center of your life, is a huge part of our belief. But is believing in God, worshiping God, and putting Christ at the center of our lives enough? No. And that is part of our next journey. What Disciples Believe?I mean, What Disciples Do. As Christ?s followers we are known not as much by what we believe as what we do. ?And I think that although we are identified by what we believe, Jesus seemed to care more about what his followers did. Our faith practices and beliefs are crucial to Christianity. So we are going to look at the different things that we can do as Christians. It is my hope that all people we meet in our community will know all of us by what we do as disciples of Jesus, not by what folks think we believe. Let us pray as we walk into more avenues for living out our faith.

I remember hearing about Westboro Church years ago. The Upper Branch coalmines were about thirty minutes away from the churches I pastored in Charleston, WV, had collapsed and many people had died. I remember President Obama attending the funeral and I remember the Westboro Church planning to attend the funeral as well. You see, Westboro Church is a church who has a particular set of beliefs based in how they interpret Scripture. Based out of their belief system, they have very distinct ways they live out their faith and in what they do. You see, they didn?t show up to honor the 29 coalminers who died in the country?s worst mine disaster in four decades or to mourn with their families?instead Westboro Church came to protest the funeral and call the family members sinners, telling them they deserved to die, and many other hateful things. You see, Westboro Church isn?t really a church. But they proclaim a message that people believe to be true about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. And based on their beliefs, they go and do what it means to them to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. It is groups of people like this who know what they believe and act out their faith, that share a message that isn?t in agreement with the teachings of Jesus. And for some people, the message of Westboro Church is the only thing they have seen the church do. And they give the rest of us a bad name because they see that we believe, but they don?t see what we do.

Our passage for today isn?t an easy passage to hear. It is the push to not be shallow and noncommittal in our faith. It is a charge to not have a lame faith, a Sunday faith. As one young man said, ?If all my religion is going to change is my Sunday schedule, then I?m not interested. I want something that is going to change my finances, my sex life, the way I work, the way I treat my family, the way I treat others, and the way I use my time.? Now that is called an active faith, a faith that involves doing. This young man understands something important. Authentic faith impacts every part of our lives: how we spend our money; how we work; how we treat our family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers; how we use our time. Authentic faith impacts how we treat the environment and how we treat the poor. Authentic faith impacts our character, ethics, and values. In short, Christian disciples are called to take their faith extremely seriously.

This text in Luke is not a passage that makes us feel comfortable about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. In this text, Jesus tells his followers to count the cost of discipleship. He clearly tells us that we need to be ?all in,? or it?s not worth the effort. According to Jesus, our commitment to him is more important than our possessions and even more important than our family. There is a serious cost to discipleship. But there are also incredible rewards, including a life of meaning, purpose, service, and vitality. The key verse from this section is ?Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them,??Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.? That is incredibly strong.

As I reflected on that verse, I thought about how are we carrying our cross in our community? How are we ?doing? our faith together and with our neighbors? What are some ways you can name that we are ?doing faith? in our community? (Serving at the Homeless Coalition, collecting food and clothing for the Homeless Coalition, hosting and participating in 2 neighborhood watch groups, AA, NA groups, starting the Grandparents Support Group, and a midweek program, by walking our neighborhood to get to know our neighbors, and more). Here is what I am truly going to start doing on a weekly basis when I am here. I am going to walk around the neighborhood for about 30 minutes each week. I am going to talk with the folks I meet, see if it looks like we have neighbors who are in need, share what is happening with our congregation and for our community, and invite people to join us for worship. My goal is to become the community pastor. That is what I can do as a disciple of Jesus Christ and as the pastor of this congregation.

One of the amazing things that happened when the Westboro Church showed up to ?share their message? at the funerals of the coalminers, is another group of people showed up too. They are known as the Angels. Every time it is known where Westboro might show up to share their gospel of hate, the Angels show up to share a message of protection for the families affected by the tragedy and their faith, hope and love in what Jesus has called us to all do. This is the type of thing that disciples do.? We share a message that says, this faith stuff takes believing in Jesus and some sacrifices; it takes work and action; it means more than just believing, it means doing. It is my prayer that our congregation is a congregation that is bigger than Sunday morning minimum faith and we do faith, by carrying the cross and following in the footsteps of Jesus. Amen.

?The Motions by Matthew West

This might hurt, it’s not safe
But I know that I’ve gotta make a change
I don’t care if I break,
At least I’ll be feeling something
‘Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life
I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking,
What if I had given everything,
Instead of going through the motions?
No regrets, not this time
I’m gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love make me whole
I think I’m finally feeling something
‘Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of this life
Cause I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything,
Instead of going through the motions?
Take me all the way (take me all the way)
Take me all the way (’cause I don’t wanna go through the motions)
Take me all the way (I know I’m finally feeling something real)
Take me all the way
I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking,
What if I had given everything,
Instead of going through the motions?
I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking,
What if I had given everything,
Instead of going through the motions?
Take me all the way (take me all the way)
Take me all the way (I don’t wanna go, I don’t wanna go)
Take me all the way (through the motions)
Take me all the way
I don’t wanna go through the motions