Counting When It Counts – Part 3
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. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple [Luke 14:26-27].
Let’s present the additional proof of our interpretation now, as we promised at the close of yesterday’s study. The proof is in the pudding, dear friends. As we noted earlier, Jesus provided two examples for interpreting verses 26-27. These two examples are recorded in Luke 14:28-33. Let me summarize the two for you.
No one starts constructing a building, without first counting his money to see if he can afford to build it. He needs to do the counting when it counts. Otherwise he might get the foundation laid and the framework built atop the foundation, but haven’t the money to add the roof and walls and floors and windows. He’d be the laughingstock of the entire town!
Again, no one decides to rush over to his neighbor’s house and kick his rear end, unless he first knows whether the neighbor is a wuss or a warrior. Otherwise he might kick the door down and rush inside, only to find himself staring down barrel of a shotgun! His family won’t find it funny at his funeral, though the rest of the town might!
Jesus concluded those two illustrations with the words, So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions (v.33). In the example of constructing a building, the person had to count his money to see if he had enough to finish building. He couldn’t start off building unless he was willing, if necessary, to spend all he had to finish.
In the example of going to a fight, the person first had to be totally committed, even at the cost of paying with his very life. In both cases total sacrifice to the job he undertook had to be recognized and agreed to beforehand.
No one can be a disciple of Jesus, so long as he expects affluent living in country club church settings. To be a disciple of Jesus each of us is required to want the job so badly, that we no longer receive pleasure from the things of the world. The only pleasure we can receive from the things of the old life must come from serving Jesus and placing Him first and foremost.
We can and should use the things of the world to serve Jesus. This is what Jesus meant by His parable of the unjust steward (cf., Luke 16:1-9). But we cannot desire anything the world offers, including family, except in the context of serving Jesus first and foremost.
That, dear friends, is the definition of Jesus’ words “his own cross”. Our cross is Jesus, His death on the cross and His resurrection life. We take up our own cross by dying to our life of self-living, substituting in its place the new life of the resurrection Christ who lives in us.
I have a fantastic idea. Let’s take up our own cross. I’ll bet you it’s the cross of Christ.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Let’s present the additional proof of our interpretation now, as we promised at the close of yesterday’s study. The proof is in the pudding, dear friends. As we noted earlier, Jesus provided two examples for interpreting verses 26-27. These two examples are recorded in Luke 14:28-33. Let me summarize the two for you.
No one starts constructing a building, without first counting his money to see if he can afford to build it. He needs to do the counting when it counts. Otherwise he might get the foundation laid and the framework built atop the foundation, but haven’t the money to add the roof and walls and floors and windows. He’d be the laughingstock of the entire town!
Again, no one decides to rush over to his neighbor’s house and kick his rear end, unless he first knows whether the neighbor is a wuss or a warrior. Otherwise he might kick the door down and rush inside, only to find himself staring down barrel of a shotgun! His family won’t find it funny at his funeral, though the rest of the town might!
Jesus concluded those two illustrations with the words, So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions (v.33). In the example of constructing a building, the person had to count his money to see if he had enough to finish building. He couldn’t start off building unless he was willing, if necessary, to spend all he had to finish.
In the example of going to a fight, the person first had to be totally committed, even at the cost of paying with his very life. In both cases total sacrifice to the job he undertook had to be recognized and agreed to beforehand.
No one can be a disciple of Jesus, so long as he expects affluent living in country club church settings. To be a disciple of Jesus each of us is required to want the job so badly, that we no longer receive pleasure from the things of the world. The only pleasure we can receive from the things of the old life must come from serving Jesus and placing Him first and foremost.
We can and should use the things of the world to serve Jesus. This is what Jesus meant by His parable of the unjust steward (cf., Luke 16:1-9). But we cannot desire anything the world offers, including family, except in the context of serving Jesus first and foremost.
That, dear friends, is the definition of Jesus’ words “his own cross”. Our cross is Jesus, His death on the cross and His resurrection life. We take up our own cross by dying to our life of self-living, substituting in its place the new life of the resurrection Christ who lives in us.
I have a fantastic idea. Let’s take up our own cross. I’ll bet you it’s the cross of Christ.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
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