Luke 14:25-35
14:25-26 Now great multitudes went with Him and He turned and
said to them: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife
and children, brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also he cannot be My
disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My
disciple.” What?
Wait a minute I thought GOD is Love, and JESUS told us to
Love even our enemies, now He’s telling us we have to hate our family, even our
own life to be His disciple?
Yes He is! Mark 8:34-38 When He had called the people to
Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them: “Whoever desires to come
after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever
desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake
and The gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the
whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his
soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My Words in this adulterous and sinful
generation, of his The Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in The
Glory of The Father with the holy angels.”
Several important points here; JESUS told us to store up
treasures in Heaven where they are eternally safe and to not store up earthly
treasures that will not last (Matthew 6:19-24; 1 Corinthians 3:10-17). Our
treasures are based on the works of our life, which are being recorded in
Heaven (Revelation 20:11-15).
Jesus told us that He is The Way and The Truth and The Life
and that no one comes to The Father except through Him; He also told us that
the difficult way that leads to the narrow door is the way to Life (Matthew
7:13-14; John 14:6). He said if we love our life we will lose it but if we hate
it in this world we will keep it for Eternity (John 12:24-26). That is the key
thought, Eternity, we are always thinking in the natural realm and JESUS is
always talking of the Eternal Realm.
Eternity is the Realm of GOD, it is limitless, no matter how much
we think we understand about Eternity based on our study of The Bible we really
know nothing about Eternity. We are restricted by time, but GOD created time
for our benefit, GOD is outside of time and our existence; we have to fit into
His Realm of Existence. That requires a great deal of sacrifice and obedience
here in the natural world.
GOD tells us that He is not like us in any way, shape or
form. We are supposed to be like Him, made in His image and likeness (Genesis
1:26-31, 2:7; Isaiah 55:6-13; Philippians 3:1-11).
What was JESUS’ cross? To give his Life as a ransom for us (2
Corinthians 5:12-21) Then what is our cross? (Romans 8, 12:9-21)
So Yes, GOD is Love and we are supposed to Love one another,
Love the brethren, Love our enemies and pray for them and do good to them; and
we can if we have given our life to GOD in JESUS Christ! You can be a “Born again,
SPIRIT filled ” Christian and not even touch Eternity in your life on the earth;
you can be saved and go to heaven with no works to show for your time here (1
Corinthians 3:10-15; James 1:19-27, 2:14-26). But what fun is that?
14:28-32 “For which of you intending to build a tower, does
not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it –
lest, after he has laid the foundation
and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying,
‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king going, to
make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he
is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
Or else while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and
asks conditions of peace.” These are examples of counting the cost, every
decision we make in life has a cost and a reward, but the reward is only for
those who counted the cost and made the right decision (Matthew 7:24-29).
14:33-15:1 “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all
that he has cannot be My disciple. Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its
flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the
dunghill (rubbish heap), but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him
hear!” Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear
Him. Luke 15:1 is important because it tells us there is a change in thought
and message, remember the Scriptures were not written with chapter and verse
division and little titles and breaks in the paragraphs. Always read before and
after the section you are studying so you get the full context of the message.
In this case Luke 14:25 showed it was a different message from what was before and
Luke 15:1 showed us there was a break from what we just read. Do not depend on
how others decide where context and messages change, they can be wrong (so can
I). There are many places in The Gospels where JESUS seems to make random
statements, they are not random, pay attention to the context before and after
them, they always have a deeper meaning.
So verses 33 and 34-35 are always taught as two separate
thoughts, but I believe they are one thought. I’ve always heard verses 34 and
35 taught as applying to Christians who are Sunday go to meeting Christians or
backsliders, but that is not what JESUS is teaching in this section that He
ends with this statement, “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all
that he has cannot be My disciple. Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its
flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the
dunghill (rubbish heap), but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him
hear!”
First He reinforces what He has been teaching about the cost
of discipleship, remember He is not teaching us how to be successful in life He
is teaching us how to be His disciples, that there is a cost, everything we are
and desire!
Second He is reminding us that if we do not follow Him as He
teaches we will be practically useless in His Kingdom, it is “all in” or
nothing as a disciple.
When He says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Mark
4:21-25) remember He is generally speaking in parables so “…hearing they may
not understand…” (Luke 8:9-10), but we are born again and have The SPIRIT of
GOD living in us to teach us (John 8:31-32, 14:25-27).
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