By Hershall (Wes) Spradley
I want you to look with me at the details of two Scripture passages. Our focus will be on the distinction between the gift of life given freely by Jesus to those who believe in Him—a gift explained so well by the Apostle John—and the call to follow Him as a disciple, explained clearly by Luke. We are going to look at the story of the woman at the well in Chapter 4 of John. In Luke, we will look at Chapter 14, where we find one of the passages in which Jesus teaches what is required to follow Him.
In John 4, we will focus much of our attention on verse 10: “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’”
In Luke 14, we will examine verses 25-33.
What is John 4:10 about? What is Luke 14:28 about? Let’s title John 4:10 “The Gift of God and the Giver of the Gift.” And let’s title Luke 14:28 “Counting the Cost.” Without going any further, what do we already know concerning these two passages? Since a gift has no cost to the recipient, the law of noncontradiction tells us that the two passages cannot be talking about the same thing.
The law of noncontradiction says that “the proposition and its negation cannot both be simultaneously true, e.g., the proposition ‘the house is white’ and its negation ‘the house is not white’ are mutually exclusive” (Wikipedia). The present possession of everlasting life cannot both be a free gift and something we buy.
Now let’s look at John 4:10 in more detail. In verse 10 there are two questions for which we need answers. The first question is: “What is the gift?” Verses 13 and 14 answer this question. The gift is eternal life. Using water as an illustration, Jesus tells the woman that the water He offers will forever quench the thirst of the one who drinks it.
The second question concerns the Giver of the gift. Jesus is the only Person in the universe to whom the Father has given the authority to give life. The question is sometimes raised concerning how much information someone needs to know in order to trust in Christ for everlasting life. Verse 10 answers that question. If you knew the gift of God and the Giver of the gift, what then? You would ask Him for the gift. How would He respond? He would give the gift. The gift and the Giver—all we need to know to receive the gift of eternal life. After His statement in verse 10, our Lord directs the conversation to lead the woman of Sychar to understanding two truths. First, He leads her to an understanding of the gift (vv 11-14). Second, He leads her to an understanding of who He is (vv 15-26). The purpose of the part of the conversation about her sin is not to get her to confess her sins, but to lead her to understand that she is talking to Messiah—a Man who knows everything about her, who is the Father’s designated gift Giver, and who is offering her eternal life as a gift. All she need do is ask Him for it.
Now let’s turn our attention to Luke 14:25-33 and focus on verse 28. The first observation about the passage is that being a follower of Jesus Christ is a costly proposition. He tells the crowd traveling with Him—a crowd that would have been composed of both believers and unbelievers—that one must hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, and that if he does not, he is not able to be His disciple (vv 25-26). It hardly needs to be said that He does not mean hate literally. Rather, He means that our devotion, affection, and commitment to our Lord makes all other loves pale in comparison. Anything less, and we do not have what it takes to be a disciple of Jesus. Note what the Lord does not say. He does not say that if we do not hate father and mother we cannot be saved. Everlasting life is a gift given without cost to us but following Christ as His disciple is costly indeed.
Following Christ is like building a tower (vv 28-30). Our earthly life is the tower, and every day is a brick in the tower. So how does the idea of cost figure into building a life of following Jesus Christ? Jesus speaks of the cost in terms of hating mother, father, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, and even one’s own life. The point is that every brick in the tower of your life of discipleship is expensive.
Following Christ is a day-by-day process. Jesus says to count the cost before you begin to build. It would be better to not be His disciple than to begin and not be able to finish. Is there any possible way we could understand from this that it would be better not to become a Christian? No. While He is suggesting that we consider not being a disciple, He still offers the gift of life to all those who believe in Him for it.
Following Christ is like going headlong into battle (vv 31, 32). The world, the flesh, and the devil are our enemies. They are powerful. But our resources are quite formidable if we put on the full armor of God (Eph 6:10-18).
Jesus calls the believer to enter the spiritual battle. The cost will be dear. We will suffer as our Lord suffered. But even if a believer backs back down from the battle, he will never perish (John 3:16; 6:35, 37; 11:26).
The requirements for being a follower of Christ are costly for the disciple, and the Lord makes it clear that if we do not meet the requirements, we do not qualify as His disciples.
On the other hand, the sole requirement for being born again is to believe in the Lord Jesus for the gift of everlasting life.
Believing in Him is different than following Him.
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Wes had a BS from UT Arlington, Th.M. from DTS, and MLitt from UTSA. His love of language carried him through a lifelong journey of study and ministry. Wes went to be with the Lord in August of 2025.
