Vision Sunday 2026 – Costly Faith • 01.04.26
Nick Lees   -   January 4, 2026

Vision Sunday 2026 – Costly Faith
Luke 9:23-26, 14:25-33

  1. Would you come after Christ?
  2. Will you count the cost?
  3. Do you understand what is at stake?

Manuscript:

Good morning, church family! Happy New Year! (Introduce self + welcome guests)

We like to start off each year with a one-off sermon titled “Vision Sunday”. This is our opportunity to call the church to action for the new year. It’s an opportunity to reflect on a specific passage from God’s Word and consider how we might live in light of it this year.

For today’s sermon we will be studying Luke 9:23-26 and 14:25-33, in a message I have titled Costly Faith. You’ll get to understand the meaning of that title in just a moment, but first, I just want to say that I love that we’re going to get a brief preview of the Gospel of Luke today. If you hadn’t heard, this is the book of the Bible we are focused on studying over the next year or so. Starting next Sunday, we’ll kick off our new study of The Gospel of Luke: The Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ with an overview of the entire book. That will be a great time to invite someone to join you!

Ushers + Bibles (Luke 9; page 1030)

But let’s talk about Costly Faith. Having just focused on The Beautiful Gospel in December this is an opportune time to make sure we comprehend what it means to follow Christ. You could call this part 5 of the 4-part series, if you will… The cost of following Christ is an aspect that is often missed when sharing the gospel. Yet it is important because Jesus taught it and it helps us understand the depth of commitment that he expects of his followers.

Perhaps you are here and you are wrestling through what you believe and contemplating the call to believe in Jesus that you’ve heard over the past month. I hope today will help clarify just what that means for your life, if you were to repent and believe in Jesus.

Still others are here and you know that you have believed in Jesus Christ. There has been a demonstrable change in your life as you have reoriented yourself around Jesus’ calling and kingdom. You are actively seeking to put off selfishness and the old ways of life to live righteously for him. I hope today will encourage you to keep running the race of faith, as you look to Jesus and remember whom you have believed.

But, there is yet another category of people who might hear this message today, this person has heard the truths of the gospel message, perhaps would even say that they believe them, but, if you were to look at their life – say you followed them around for a week or two – you would not see any demonstrable changes that indicate they are worshiping Jesus and living for him. Their speech and their actions are predominantly focused on seeking their own will and ways rather than his. If you happen to be in this category, I hope that our study today will help you put off spiritual apathy to engage in a passionate pursuit of Jesus or even that it will help you examine yourself to make sure you are in the faith. You see, Jesus taught that there was a high cost to following him. A true disciple will count that cost and it will radically change their life.

My hope, by the time we are done, is that each of us will have been challenged and invigorated to count the cost of following Christ in 2026. That, having been so challenged and invigorated, our church family would faithfully and passionately represent and reflect Christ in our community this year. I don’t know about you, but I am planning for growth in godliness in 2026! Let’s seek the Lord together. With that in mind, let’s turn our attention to the reading of God’s Word in Luke 9.

Luke 9:23–26 (ESV)

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

These are the words of Jesus Christ. And in this passage, he plainly states the cost of following him as well as the inevitable outcomes whether you come after him or go your own way. Let’s spend some time digging into this passage before we move on to Luke 14.

We’re going to take this passage as it comes, verse-by-verse. In an effort to drive the point of Christ’s teaching home for each of us, I have phrased our outline in the form of questions. Starting with…

  1. Would you come after Christ?

(Repeat with the emphasis on YOU)

Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me…” This is an open invitation…

Over the past four weeks, we have heard again and again the beauty and hope of saving faith that leads to eternal life. Let me briefly review them this morning:

  • God’s holiness
  • Man’s sinfulness
  • God’s solution: Jesus Christ
  • Our necessary response: Faith in Jesus

This good news of God’s plan of salvation for sinners like us through faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation for all who believe. Every man, woman, boy, and girl must do business with these realities to have the hope of forgiveness and the promise of eternal life.

But the beauty of what Christ is articulating in Luke 9 is that it is possible to come after him! “If anyone would come after me…” The opportunity to receive salvation and the blessings of identifying with Christ are made available to you! In previous weeks, we’ve heard these blessings described in Ephesians 2 as:

  • Made alive together with Christ
  • Saved by grace
  • Raised with Christ and seated with Christ in the heavenly places
  • Recipients of God’s immeasurable riches of grace in Christ
  • Having peace with God
  • No longer strangers/aliens but citizens of God’s kingdom and members of his family
  • Built into a holy temple (individually and corporately)

This list is only the beginning of all the wonderful blessings that come from identifying with Christ by faith in him. For the sake of time, I’m sticking with what we’ve heard recently in our last series.

I share these again today to remind us of the beauty of what Christ has accomplished and what he offers – if you would come after him…

But this prompts a different question that comes before our current one – who are you? (repeat)

Every single one of us needs to know the answer to that question. “Who am I? Who are you?” It’s the question of identity. And given the primacy of God in this universe – He is. And, as Pastor Chris stated, the gospel begins with him. Given God’s primacy and centrality, we must answer the question of identity in reference to God.

Yet again I appeal to our previous sermon series, reminding us of the assessment we heard from Ephesians 2:1-3:

Ephesians 2:1–3 (ESV)

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Who are you? If your faith is not in Christ, then you are still dead in your sins and an enemy of God. You are not coming after Christ but are actively living in sin and the ways of the world and Satan. I know this is a hard truth to hear again this morning. But it is the truth and it would be unloving for me to pass over it. We must understand the utter darkness of the bad news if we’re going to understand the joy of counting the cost of following Christ in the good news.

Who are you? If your faith is in Christ, then you are a Christian – a follower of Christ. By grace, your sins have been forgiven through Christ. You are no longer to be walking in darkness but in the light. You are called to represent and reflect God’s glorious image to the world around you. This is the calling of a Christian. It is no longer about self but about Christ. Notice the language of walking in Ephesians 2:1-2. Before faith in Christ, we all walked in the ways of the flesh and death. But through faith in Christ, we are now to walk in the way of Christ, as Paul shares in Ephesians 4:1-3.

Ephesians 4:1–3 (ESV)

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

When a person believes in Jesus Christ, they are coming after Christ – to follow him. To walk or live in the same way he did – with all humility and gentleness, with patience, and forbearance, eager to maintain unity in the family of God. When one person comes after Christ we call them a Christian, but when we have a gathering of such persons, we call them the church.

Who are you? Who are we?

We are Harvest Bible Chapel Des Moines. We are a local gathering of Christ’s church. Christ’s bride. A part of the family of God gathered in this little corner of the world. And we are called to make disciples for the glory of God. This is captured in our mission statement, which is taken right from the Scriptures:

Harvest Bible Chapel exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment.

We are a gathering of Christians who are seeking to come after or follow Jesus and help others do the same. This is the way of light and life, and it is the way to fulfill our purpose of glorifying God. We want to do this winsomely, not arrogantly. We are driven by our love for the Lord and our love for our neighbors. We know that we have been deeply loved by Christ and we want to show that same love to others. *pause*

I always find it beneficial to remember who we are at the start of a new year. Knowing and being rooted in our identity is so helpful in making wise decisions about how to live in the coming year.

Who are you? Would you come after Christ? – you need answers to these questions.

But that is not where it ends. Jesus provided a conditional statement – “If anyone would come after me…” then he explained what must come next if the answer is YES – “let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Jesus gives three imperatives (commands) that you must follow if you would come after Christ. We’re going to focus on the first two for now, beginning with:

  • Deny yourself

This is an essential quality of discipleship. You cannot serve two Masters. If Jesus is going to be the Lord of your life, then you must remove yourself from the throne and prevent yourself from trying to climb back on the throne whenever you feel like calling the shots.

Allow me to explain what I am talking about. There are many times throughout our days where we are tempted to go back to doing things our way. Foolishly, we think that we have a good plan for our day and life and we ignore what Christ commands us to do.

“It won’t hurt anyone if I just take a little break from work and surf social media for a bit.” But then 5 minutes turns into 20 or 30 and you’ve stopped working heartily for the Lord.

“What will it hurt if I indulge in one more sweet. I know I said I would show self-control, but that can start tomorrow.”

“I worked hard for this $$$, I’ll use it however I please.”

“I deserve a little me-time. My family will be there when I’m ready.”

“It’s my life, why should anyone else get to tell me what to do?”

Who is the master? You or the Lord?

Jesus makes it clear that if you are going to come after him, then you must deny yourself. This is a daily, ongoing calling. Its endpoint is when he returns or calls you home.

Alongside denying yourself, you are also called to…

  • Take up your cross daily

The cross is an instrument of death. It was an invention by the Romans as one of the cruelest ways to kill someone. Crucifixion was public, humiliating, and excruciatingly painful. Prior to crucifixion the condemned was made to carry their own cross to the place of their execution. Bearing your cross was a visible representation of your humility and submission before the state. When Jesus’ uses this in reference to coming after him, he means that you are humbling yourself under a new authority – God.

And you do so daily. Each morning when the Christian arises, they take up their cross again – humbling themselves underneath God’s mighty hand as they seek to live for him according to his will and ways. This fits hand in glove with the call to deny yourself. No longer am I living for my own sake but for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The picture of the Christian life as painted by Jesus Christ is one of self-denial and submission.

This brings us to our second main question to consider:

  1. Will you count the cost?

It is one thing to say, “I want to follow Christ” after you hear the benefits that come from trusting in him. Who wouldn’t want salvation from God’s wrath against our sin? Who wouldn’t want the promise of eternal bliss in heaven with God? You’d have to be a fool to not be excited about those things.

But do you still want to follow Christ after hearing the cost that is required? Are you willing to count the cost of following Christ?

Already you’ve heard about daily self-denial and submission to the Lord, now let me share two others as elaborated by Jesus in Luke 14. (Page 1039)

Luke 14:25–33 (ESV)

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “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. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 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? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 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? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Jesus certainly knows how to handle great crowds, doesn’t he? When large groups gathered, he shared hard teaching to see who was truly interested in following him.

What is your response to this hard teaching? Are you surprised at what Jesus has said? Let’s talk through it together and seek understanding.

Jesus is speaking again about the cost of discipleship (following him). In similar fashion to what we heard in Luke 9, he calls people to prioritize him above all else. The language used here is quite shocking as he says you must “hate” your family and even your own life or you cannot be his disciple. What does Jesus mean by this?

This is rhetorical term used to drive home the point of prioritization. In comparison to how much you love Jesus, you must love everything else less, even your closest relationships and own life. If Jesus literally meant hate, then he would be contradicting his own teaching of loving your neighbors and enemies. The shocking language is meant to grab our attention and force us to evaluate whether we are truly prioritizing our love for Jesus above everything else.

Let’s take a moment to consider this for our own lives. Do you truly love Jesus above EVERYTHING else? How might such a person live? (Give time for answers)

  • You will prioritize time with the Lord (study of the Word + prayer)
    • You won’t let anything else get in the way of your first priority! (Whether your own pleasure-reading or job commitments or family desires)
  • You will endure ridicule from others for the sake of Christ
    • From a spouse/kids/co-workers – you seek to be a godly man/woman no matter what it costs you. Leading your family in a godly manner even if they hate it.
  • You will face persecution for your faith
    • This happens all over our world and back in the 1st century in these cultures.
    • It also happens in American households where Christianity is not the norm.
  • You will not be ashamed of the truth of the gospel
    • The call of a Christian is to make disciples by sharing the good news of Jesus with others and calling them to repent and believe. If we truly love Jesus above all else, then we will not be ashamed of sharing that call with our loved ones, no matter how they might respond.
    • This one is personally challenging to me. Coming back from Christmas vacation I always wish I had been more bold and more direct with the gospel. We did have some sweet conversations with family while we were gone, but I still have unbelieving family who need Christ and I must not be shy about sharing the hope of the gospel!

The language of Jesus in Luke 14 is a call to absolute dependence upon and allegiance to Christ. Jesus must be our first love. We must be willing to endure suffering for Christ’s sake and be willing to renounce all that we have otherwise we cannot be Christ’s disciple! *pause* It is a high cost to follow Christ! And it includes…

Renouncing materialism to prioritize Christ will put us at odds with our carnal world. We live in a society that loves to indulge our appetites – never say no! Yet the call to follow Christ is a call to make a break with this kind of self-focused living. There are many distractions that come from pursuing materialistic pleasures and treasures. They hinder the pursuit of holiness or even outright oppose it.

Let us consider what this might mean for us in 2026. We are entering a new year and seeking to renew our focus on Christ as we do so. In broad terms, now is the time to recommit yourself to:

  • Putting off selfishness/sin (the old man/woman)

Requires you to identify what is of the old man/woman in your life. Are you actively identifying sin and temptation in your life that you may go to war with it? Confess and repent – turn from it. Recommit yourself to…

  • Renewing your mind in the truth of Scripture

At the start of the year, we provide a number of resources that are helpful in doing this.

  • Annual Bible Reading Plan
  • FighterVerse Challenge
  • Monthly Prayer Guide
  • Luke Scripture Journals

As your mind is renewed in the truth, then recommit yourself to…

  • Putting on righteousness (the new man/woman)

This is the process of sanctification! Are you excited to grow in holiness in 2026? Do you have an intentional plan to grow? We are making resources available to help you take the next steps in growing in godliness.

  • Harvest Equip Classes
    • Spring Classes
      • First class – Planning to Grow (3 weeks – 1/7-1/21)
      • Second class – Sabbath Rest (5 weeks)
      • Third class – Preaching the Gospel to Yourself (8 weeks)
    • 5-3-1 Card
    • Prayer guides
      • Monthly
      • VoTM Calendar + Open-Doors Guide
    • Church Initiatives
      • Call attention to their participation in Bold Preaching
      • Intentional plan for regular family worship
      • Congregational singing
      • Engagement in testimonies/open-mics when available
      • Courageous Evangelism challenges
      • Committed to small group + serving roles
      • Getting biblical counseling training (if desired)
      • 1/18 – first informal potluck of 2026
      • Seeking to be salt & light in the world
      • Contributing to compelling community by being present and engaged and seeking to carry out the one anothers

Are you willing to count the cost of following Jesus with us? These are some of the ways we have identified to carry out the mission that God has given us in 2026. They may sound a bit daunting – and they are! – but that’s the point. We need to be stretched to grow in godliness. We ought to desire to be committed to Christ and his church. We want to reach our community with the gospel! And these are some next steps in coming after Christ for us.

The twin illustrations that Jesus gave in Luke 14 were intended to drive home the point of counting the cost of following him! No one would undertake a substantial building project without first planning ahead and making sure they understood whether they could afford to complete it. To do otherwise would be foolish and those who observed the poor planning and incomplete project would publicly mock. If someone is willing to go through the intense effort of planning and estimating to ensure they complete a building project, then why would we not count the cost of following Christ to ensure that we’ll finish the race? You need to understand what you are committing to if you follow Christ – this is a lifetime of putting him first… of loving him most… of denying self and enduring the opposition of those who do not love Christ first or most. People may think you’re weird for living for Christ and being vocal about the need to repent and believe in him, but so what? They are fools in need of a Savior! Do you value the opinions of foolish men more than the approval of God? May it never be! I say this as much for myself as anyone else.

Jesus’ second illustration is about a king going to war and realizing ahead of time that he does not have the forces to win the battle. He is wise and counts the cost of a losing battle and sends his delegation to ask for terms for peace. This illustration is intended to help us consider how much greater God is than us. If we refuse to make peace with him, then it will not end well for us. Far better to recognize the authority and power of God and to ask for terms of peace – which is found through following Christ.

I understand that I’ve said a lot this morning. Perhaps you feel a bit lost in all that has been shared. I want to bring it back together by returning to our original passage. Luke 9:23-26. Here it is again:

Luke 9:23–26 (ESV)

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

When all is said and done, each of us needs to understand that faith in Christ is costly. It will cost you everything to follow him! Yet it is worth it! Though it cost you everything to follow him, it will cost you far more to reject him by going your own way.

So, we close this morning with this question:

  1. Do you understand what is at stake?

As Jesus has laid out, there are two paths forward, two ways to live. You can either do things your own way – aka “save your life” or “gain the world” in this age – or you can lay down your life for Jesus and follow him. But be aware that each path has a distinct destination or outcome.

Following Christ flows from the previous actions of denying self and taking up your cross to follow him daily. For those who follow Christ, who “lose their lives for his sake”, they will inherit eternal life. The Son of Man will be pleased with them at his return and invite them to enter the joy of their master. This is the promised outcome for every faithful follower of Christ, and it is glorious! When you consider this outcome, then is it really that burdensome to be called to deny yourself and take up your cross daily? God is truly looking out for your best interests. What he provides will far outweigh any sacrifices you make in this life.

The alternative path is to follow self. This is the path of gaining the world through their approval or perhaps worldly success, yet the outcome is losing your life. This is Jesus’ way of speaking of condemnation or eternal judgment. The one who chose to be ashamed of Jesus by prioritizing other things will find that the Son of Man is ashamed of him in the end. This is a perilous position to be in, valuing temporary worldly gain over God’s approval and eternal life.

Which path are you on? And what destination are you heading towards?

I hope that you’ll plan to count the cost of following Christ in 2026. It is a high cost, but it is worth it! I have sought to lay out some intentional plans for growing in godliness this year. I hope that you will take me up on them and make it your goal to come after Christ with our church family. It is my aim to help all of us be pleasing to Christ as we move through the year. I look forward to growing with you!

Let’s pray.

Pray