Discipleship
Luke 14:25-35
This teaching section is broken up into the following pattern:
26, 27 Discipleship
28 - 32 Parable 33 Discipleship
34 35 Parable
v,26 Amp. N.T. "If anyone (whoever decides) to come to Me, and does
not hate his own father and mother - that is, in the sense of indifference to,
or relative disregard for them IN COMPARISON with his attitude toward God - and
likewise his wife and children and brothers and sisters (yes) and even his own
life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not PERSEVERE and carry his own cross and come after
(follow) Me cannot be my disciple."
"He that does not take his cross = Greek : stauros (ALL CRIMINALS
BORE THEIR OWN CROSS) - see John 19:17, and the CROSS is put, by the figure
Metonymy, for the suffering associated with the burden. See also 2 Cor. 4:10,
11, 1 Cor. 15:31, Rom.8:36.
What Jesus is saying is if anyone decides to follow Him, they must
accept that the decision will place them in 'the firing line' of life. The
Christian life is WAR. There is no way of avoiding the logical consequences of
following Jesus. He was 'shot' at throughout his ministry, so all true
Christians will be too.
When we identify with Jesus, we are treated in much the same way as he
was, by the world - Rom. 11:26, 13:13.
This is why Christian fellowship is so refreshing. When Christians (who
have been persecuted, libelled, slandered, hounded daily by hateful
religious-minded people, mocked, tested and so on) meet, their gathering is
more like a respite for soldiers in the midst of battle. A time of healing, of
refurbishing weapons, of encouragment.
On the other hand, there are people who call themselves
Christians, who find what they imagine to be 'the Christian life' fairly
hassle-free. Of course they do. They get on well with the world, they do
whatever they want, they watch every kind of video and TV program, they never
make much of a stand against sin, they accept all kinds of sinful behaviour
around them without a murmur. . . they are so uncommitted to the cause as to be
totally indistinguishable as Christians. No wonder they have few problems.
v.26 life = Greek : psuche = soul.
This word is used to mean the life of Man, which can be lost, destroyed, saved,
laid down, etc. Whatever we consider to be a priority in our lives, if we
follow Jesus, must be delegated to second place. We must be at least willing to
follow Him, even to death, if need be. Heb. 12:4 "For you have NOT YET
resisted as far as BLOOD, striving against sin." 'Not yet' may have some
reference to the fact that the persecutions which occurred under Nero had not
yet happened, which could date the book of Hebrews as prior to AD 65 - 68. Up
to 65 AD Christians had endured some bad treatment, such as being put out of
synagogues, mockery, ostracism from jobs, discrimination, hate from the Jewish
leaders ... but nothing like the spoliation, physical torture and martyrdom
which was shortly to come.
v.27 cannot = is not able to (as in v. 20) v.28 of = out of. The Greek
is 'ek' v. 28 intending = desiring v. 28 counts = reckons or calculates
Truth is many-sided. In the Pharisee's house the Lord had been speaking
about the feast to which all were bidden to come to enjoy the free bounty of
God - 16 - 23. The subject now changes from the gifts and Grace of God to
discipleship, and immediately we see a cost, or price involved. Grace is free,
Discipleship is expensive.
In this teaching, Jesus is not only speaking about giving up things that
would prevent the acceptance of the gospel invitation, but the on-going giving
up of whatever might hinder a Christian's daily walk. There is an initial
sacrifice, and then a regular daily sacrifice.
v.28 - 32 Builders and Warriors. Jesus warns his would-be
followers that they are going to have to do both building and fighting, and
that this service requires complete dedication. In practical terms, this means
Christians have to avoid worldliness. What soldier goes into battle with his
arms full of clothes, sweets, beer and women? What builder carries a TV set and
motorbike on to the site?
Another part of discipleship is having to do things which sometimes
offend those close and dear to us, our friends and family - v.27. By this
teaching Jesus destroys the myth (lie) that to follow him is to have an easy,
happy life. It is in fact a hard, uphill struggle against a hostile world, and
often a hostile church, with our energy pitted against unseen but powerful
spiritual forces.
v.34 - 35 Salt. To be effective, salt must be pure. Christianity
without purity is useless. Unholy, worldly Christians are a disgrace to Jesus
and utterly useless as witnesses to the world. Worldly Christians gain no
respect either from other Christians, or from the world. Compromising
Christians blend in just enough to be disliked by both sides.
What the unsaved actually want to see (!) is a Christian who makes a
firm stand and holds to it. The world is always looking for people like this.
Even if the unsaved hate the Christians for their uncompromising lifestyle,
they actually respect and sometimes even admire their stand.
The great myth about Christianity is that by being more
accommodating, it will win more converts. This is nonsense. The reverse is
actually the case. The LESS compromising Christians are, the more likely
they are to win converts.
But this is not to say that Mr and Mrs Dogmatic are going to win
converts. They must also show Christian love and do good works to back up their
words. There is a lot more to Christianity than just saying you “believe in
Jesus”!