Luke 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Our text today is about discipleship. We are going to analyze what Jesus says in this one verse. But please, do not assume that this one verse or this discussion represents the totality of what the Bible says about discipleship.
A Disciple is a follower of Jesus. But not in the most casual of ways. The word “follow” can have a wide range of definitions. I know people that are “followers” or “fans” of sports teams, but never see a single game. They simply like the CONCEPT of that team. Many people believe they are followers of Jesus in the same sense. They like the concept of Jesus. They may even approve of many of the teachings of Jesus, but they have not done the things required to be his true follower.
The followers that Jesus is seeking is more of an imitator; like the childhood game “Follow the leader”. In that game, the person in the front of the single file line would travel in wavy and zig-zag patterns, waive their arms, jump on one foot etc. and everyone following after was to do EXACTLY as the leader did. It is not good enough for the fellow player just to end up at the same location. You are only successful at the game when you went where the leader went, did as the leader did and behaved as the leader behaved. To be a real follower or disciple of Jesus, we must not just have a general approval of him, we must conform our entire life to mimic his way of thinking, his mannerisms, his behaviors and his direction.
In this truth about discipleship, Jesus uses a “If-Then” statement. Let’s start with the “Then”. It is the “then” that we desire. The actual word “then” is not actually stated but it is implied. Then...he cannot be my disciple. The opposite is equally true. If we fail to do what is in the condition, we cannot be his disciple. But if we do what is asked of us, then we can be his disciple. Being his disciple is what we ultimately desire and seek...and even profess. But no matter how much we claim to be his follower, if we fail to meet these requirements, we cannot.
So what are the conditions of being his disciple. Jesus says that we MUST:
1. Come to Him!
The first condition is a condition of Action! We must come. There is a lot implied in this statement that we do not have time for. I could do several RTS’s on this one word. Suffice it to say that “To Come” implies that we leave where we are and go to where he is. This is not a physical action, it’s spiritual. This is not a call to go to some “holy” city at some point in time of our life, but rather we must leave a life of sin, to live the life that God would have us live.
Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
2. Hate Father, Mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters.
This statement throws a lot of people in a tail spin simply because of the use of the word “hate”. We must understand that our language uses the word hate in a very narrow way, but the Greek language is was much more broad. The word hate as used here is better translated as: “Love less”. We must love our parents less than we love our Savior. We must love our spouses less, than we love our Lord. We must love our children less than we love our Master. We must love our brothers and sisters less than we love Jesus. Let’s be clear. The Bible teaches and stresses our responsibility at loving our families. Jesus is not condoning or even suggesting that we abandon our families to serve God. He is speaking of priorities of our lives. In normal situations, our families are the center of our universe. However, if we want to be a true, real disciple of Jesus, we MUST learn to center our lives around HIM!
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
3. Hate his own life
This is when it REALLY gets tough!
My daughter (now 21 years old), when she was but 4-5 years old, mastered the saying: “It’s my life!” It was adorable then. The problem is we have several generations of people that grew up with that saying as their general motto of life. We are an independently minded society that loves to determine our own way. As Americans we have the “Right” to do so. That is not in question. However IF we want to be THE disciples of Jesus, we must be willing to give up our control and independace of our lives to be able to make the statement that Jesus did.
Luke 22:42 ...nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
These are the words of Jesus! He said that being the Son of God. He said that being equal to God the Father. However, in this circumstance, he knew he must submit his will to the will of the Father.
If Jesus did, so can we! If Jesus did, so MUST we.
One of the foundational principles of Christianity is that we must be willingly to give up control of our lives to allow God to be our controller, master and Lord.
1 Corinthians 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Thus Jesus is Lord! Those are not just empty words. They must be the new nature of our lives.
To be a genuine disciple of Jesus, we must no longer dwell on our own wishes, interests, or desires. Instead, we must give ourselves wholly to serve God. God must come First!
Reflecting His SON,
Dennis Hogan
Minister, North Hardin Church of Christ
1804 Sam Stewart Dr.
Radcliff, KY 40160
Questions, comments or further explanation? Contact me at: dennis.hogan@icloud.com
If you have friends, family, or acquaintances that you feel could benefit from RTS, please forward
their e-mail address to me and I will add them to my mail list.
No comments:
Post a Comment