Giving it All to Jesus

Luke 14:25-27 ESV

“Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, ‘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 bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.’” 

Now this word translated here as “hate” can be taken two different ways, and the context usually bears out for us which way we are to take it. First it can mean what most of us believe it means which is to detest, denounce, and despise someone, which is usually manifested in cruelty, animosity, hostility, and/or maliciousness. Now obviously Jesus was not instructing us to treat one another in that way, for he taught us to love one another.

So, what else could he have meant? Well, the word has a second meaning which is to “love less, esteem less, i.e. to love someone or something less than someone or something else or to renounce one choice in favor of another” (source: biblehub.com interlinear). So, what Jesus is saying here is that if we come to him but we don’t love ourselves and our own family members less than we love him, we cannot be his disciples (followers).

Why? Because sometimes it will come down to a choice between our family or God, and we have to choose. For example, many people when they follow Jesus with their lives get rejected by their family members, and their family may even abandon them and push them aside because of their walks of faith. Or they may try to pressure them into compromising their beliefs so as to be included in the family, and so they have to choose God or family. 

They have to choose between acceptance of God or acceptance of family, because one wants them to go this way while the other wants them to go a different way. And it may be hard to stand alone and to be ostracized from family if you have very close family ties. But God must come first. And this is not talking about abandoning your spouse or your dependent children. It is just teaching that God’s ways must take precedence over human desires.

And then he said that whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Christ cannot be his disciple (follower, believer). And when Jesus bore his cross he put our sins to death, so when we bear our cross we die with him to sin so that we can live to him and to his righteousness, but not just once, but consistently, in practice. And to come after Christ is to deny self, die daily to sin and to self and to obey our Lord (see Luke 9:23-26).

Luke 14:28-33 ESV

“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? Otherwise, when he has laid a 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 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? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

Now I know I just recently talked about this, but there is a cost to following Jesus Christ with our lives. Yes, Jesus paid the price for our salvation and so it is his gift to us. Even the faith to believe in Jesus Christ is his gift to us and it comes from God, and it is not of our own doing nor of the will of man nor of the flesh. But “the gift of salvation” is not just forgiveness of sins and freedom from the punishment of sin and the promise of heaven when we die. The gift is deliverance from our lives of slavery to sin so we can now live holy and godly and morally pure and obedient lives to Christ, in his power.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 10:37-38; Lu 9:23-26,57-62; Lu 14:25-33; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 8:51; Jn 10:27-30; Jn 14:23-24; Jn 15:1-11; See also: Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

I will tell you that I listened to two preacher’s sermons today. They both live in America, but in two different states. I don’t even know if they are of the same church denomination. I was just listening for their message. And they said some good stuff. But what they didn’t say was that there was a cost to following Jesus with our lives and if we do not do what the Lord says, in practice, that we will not have eternal life in him. And they didn’t teach that we have to surrender it all to Christ to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

What they both taught is that what we do and how we live will not impact our salvation and our eternal life once we have believed in Jesus Christ. Now they both did teach holy living and that we should obey the Lord and do the right things and not live wicked and immoral lives. But they didn’t say what Jesus said and what his NT apostles said. They didn’t say that how we live matters for where we will spend eternity. So there was no fear of God in their teaching. So holy living ends up being more of a recommendation.

But Jesus and his NT apostles did not teach holy living as something we may or may not add on once we “got saved.” They also didn’t teach discipleship as something that is added on once you are “saved.” Salvation and discipleship go hand-in-hand. Obedience and salvation go hand-in-hand. If you don’t obey God and you continue in sin, you don’t know God and you don’t have eternal life in him. So, you can’t be saved from your sins and then decide that holy living is optional. For our salvation is progressive and it is something that must be lived out in our daily lives.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

The Lord’s Anointed  

An Original Work / December 16, 2011

Based off Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Sov’reign Lord on me;

Anointed to preach the Good News;

Sent me to bind up the brokenhearted;

Proclaim freedom for the captives.

He sent me to preach release for pris’ners

Who are walking in sin’s darkness;

Proclaim God’s grace to all men who’ll listen;

And tell them about God’s judgments;

Comfort all who mourn;

Give crowns of beauty;

Oil of gladness and thanksgiving. 

They will be called oaks of God’s righteousness,

A planting of our Savior, God,

For the display of our Lord’s splendor, and

They will rebuild God’s holy church.

God will renew them, and will restore them,

And you’ll be called priests of the Lord.

You will be ministers of our God, and

You will rejoice in salvation.

The Lord loves justice;

He is faithful to 

Reward those who are seeking Him.

I delight greatly in the Lord;

My soul rejoices in my Savior, God.

He has clothed me with His salvation,

And in a robe of His righteousness.

He has given me priestly garments to wear, 

As the bride of Jesus Christ.

As the garden of our Lord and Savior, 

He causes us to grow in Him.

He makes righteousness, 

Praise, and thanksgiving

Spring up before all the nations. 

https://vimeo.com/114836524