You don't have to look very far in the New Testament (like this teaching from the Sermon on the Mount) to feel your own sense of right and wrong challenged. You begin to see that GOD'S way is higher than your way. God's morality is pure. His righteousness is unparalleled. Truly, the way of Jesus cannot be reduced to rules of right and wrong. Do this, don't do that. The way of Jesus can be lived only by one code: love.
I have already written on the subject of love and how love is the fulfillment of God's law. (http://40daysab.blogspot.com/2014/09/god-is-love.html) Love is from God. The Greek word agape describes the kind of other seeking, self-sacrificing love, that fulfills the law. When we love God more than our own lives, we begin to understand love.
“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:25-27)
Jesus taught some tough teachings with harsh rhetoric, I read passages like the one above from Luke and shudder. How could Jesus say something like that? How can He tell His disciples the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself, but then say hate your own life? How can He say, "Hate your family, if you want to follow me?"
What does it mean to follow Jesus, to be His disciple? Discipleship means to become His servant and His student. Jesus' disciples called Him, "Master," "Lord," "Teacher," and "God." As Americans we pride ourselves on having no king to bow down to, nor masters who enslave us. We value freedom. Our democracy has given us freedoms no human culture has ever enjoyed. To call Jesus, "Lord" is to submit to His control over our lives, including our finances and our schedules.
Sundays are no longer sacred in America. Church members take their children to sporting events on Sundays, missing worship because the league has scheduled games on Sunday mornings. Girl Scout troops schedule Sunday morning events. Professional sports, like the NFL, schedule games on Sundays. Worship houses sit half empty while the stadiums fill up with fans. When it's warm we go to the lake, or the golf course. We do not want to give up any recreation time for worship.
We have placed our children's athletics, extra curricular activities, and our own recreation above service to God. Considering that we seem to think lake time and game time is more important than the worship and service of God, we might be able to hear Jesus a little more clearly.
When Jesus says hate your father and mother, wife and kids, He is using rhetoric to shock His audience. Jesus does not mean for you to literally hate your family. It means to love Him more than you love anything or anyone in this world. He comes first. He means to make a point that following Jesus is an all consuming life with Him. It takes total commitment to learning how to love as He loves. One cannot place their family first above Christ and expect to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus.
And one cannot love money and God both. You will love one and hate the other. You cannot serve both money and God. You have to choose. Otherwise you will always be conflicted and straddling fences. Considering money cannot buy you eternal life, you might want to think about your priorities. Your children cannot give you grace for living, nor impart to you heavenly peace that passes understanding. You parents cannot heal your wounds.
And one cannot love money and God both. You will love one and hate the other. You cannot serve both money and God. You have to choose. Otherwise you will always be conflicted and straddling fences. Considering money cannot buy you eternal life, you might want to think about your priorities. Your children cannot give you grace for living, nor impart to you heavenly peace that passes understanding. You parents cannot heal your wounds.
Consider what God is offering you in Jesus Christ. God is offering you freedom from the fear of death; freedom from destructive habits and unhealthy attitudes. God is offering a life that is full beyond measure with the stuff of life, not the stuff of the world which is coming to nothing.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 5:19-21)
A disciple has to be convinced that what God is offering is way more valuable than anything the world is offering. Families are a wonderful blessing of this life. Families can also cause you pain and sleepless nights. The right order in the way of Jesus is God first above all, others second, then you and yours.
Christ humbled Himself and became like a slave, offering Himself completely to God. His journey led to the cross. His cross led to the grave. The grave led to victory. None of us would choose His path, but that is exactly what Jesus is calling us to.
Christ humbled Himself and became like a slave, offering Himself completely to God. His journey led to the cross. His cross led to the grave. The grave led to victory. None of us would choose His path, but that is exactly what Jesus is calling us to.
Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:27)
When you consider that Jesus' sacrifice led to eternal glory, why would you choose to ignore the call to pick up your cross? Examine your choices. Examine your priorities. Do you really love God? Do you truly love Jesus more than these others? More than family? Friends? Recreation? Entertainment? Hobbies? Money?
Do a time budget. Record how you spend your time, hour to hour each day for a week. We can assume you spent time sleeping, time at work, and time with domestic duties. How much time did God get? Did you spend more time serving yourself and your family, than you did serving others? Do you spend more time on your leisure than on your faith?
How about how you spend your money? Record how you spend your money in a month's time. We can assume your mortgage and car payments, insurance, and utilities take most of your cash. How much do you give for ministry for the glory of God? How does that compare to what you spend on yourself and your family's leisure activities, hobbies and other interests?
Does your time and money budgets prove you love God more than the world?
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (James 4:3-4)
When it comes to following Jesus we have to decide if we truly want to be His disciples. Because Jesus is claiming all of who we are. He will rule over every aspect of our lives as Lord. In return for our submission, we will know life abundant, with a wellspring of living water within overflowing to eternal life. Jesus once said the kingdom of God is like a man who found a great treasure in a field. So he sold everything he had to go and buy that field. Are you convinced that what God is offering through life in Christ, far outweighs anything else you may want or desire?
The key to following Jesus is the realization that this world has nothing to offer you that lasts. There's nothing and nobody you can take with you to the grave. There's only One who will not abandon you. Will you abandon Him for these lesser things?
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 13-14)
Who needs transformation? I sure do. How about you?
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