Luke 14:25-35 - In Depth - Pastor Chuck Smith - Bible Studies

Shall we turn now in our Bibles to the Gospel of Luke chapter 14 tonight we will begin in verse 25 we are entering the final weeks of Jesus' ministry he is on his way to Jerusalem where he will be crucified. Luke gives us a vision of a particular Sabbath day beginning with chapter 14 and we will stay with Jesus on this Sabbath day until chapter 17 verse 10 begins with his invitation by a Pharisee to come and have a meal on the day. of rest in the house of the Pharisees an obvious configuration because also among the guests was a man with dropsy, a disease that causes the tissues to retain water in the tissues and a tremendous swelling of the body when Jesus came to dinner he saw the man who was there He realized without a doubt everything was planned. and then he said: Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days? and they had no answer for that and so he healed the dropsy and then he began to comment on the party and watched how the guests competed for the best. place the seats of honor and he said that when you are invited to a banquet do not look for the seats of honor, if you go to the main table and sit there, you know that you will be embarrassed because the master of the banquet may come, since sorry, we have reserved this place for someone who is more important than you and by resigning you know that in front of everyone you will turn red and embarrassed and also take a lower seat. lowest seat in the house when the teacher comes and sees you sitting in that seat, so go up to this table better, it is better that he lift you up than they take you down Jesus said that if you seek to exalt yourself you will be vile but if you humble yourself, you will be exalted only for good principles and then he reprimanded the man who had invited him to the party because he had observed that the man had invited all the important dignitaries in the city, he was the richest. class was obviously an attempt by this man to rise in the social structure of the community Jesus said it would be better for you to go out and invite the poor, you see those you have invited, now they are obliged to invite You endorse, your motives were not really benevolent, your motives are really to improve yourself, you should invite the poor, the lame, those who cannot return the invitation and then he spoke a couple of parables about the feast in the only parable that talks about this. great man who had made a big dinner and invited many guests and at dinner time they sent the guests and began one after another to offer their excuses once they said: I have bought a field, I better go and see it the other said I bought one yoke of oxen, I'd better go try them, another one said, I have a wife and I can't go, and then the master of the party said, then we'll go out into the street and we'll invite to the street the people who came in, the poor, the lame, the blind, the mutilated, and the servants returned and They said we have gone out into the streets and we found them all there is still room there he said then go out into the field go out through the paths and the hedges and force them to come in and Jesus, of course, was talking about the marriage supper of the Lamb, the Jews , the guests offered their excuses for not wanting to come, and so the gospel was taken to the Gentiles, to the roads, to the fences and to the message to the Gentiles is a compelling message to come and eat of the great feast that God has prepared. for her boyfriend her son and her son's girlfriend now Jesus leaves dinner he goes out into the streets it has not been a pleasant and cordial atmosphere with the Pharisees he was rarely with Jesus he was tense he had violated their traditions again he angered them by healing them This man on the Sabbath he has again made his little digs at his exclusivity but now he goes out into the streets and gets a warm reception the crowds are waiting for him the crowds are there waiting and as you look at him you can see in his eyes the commitment the adoration worship as Lord we want to be with you we want to go with you we will follow you wherever you go we want to be your disciples and that is why great crowds were with him and he turned and said to them these great crowds that now follow him through the streets he addresses them and Jesus He says if anyone comes to me and hates me. neither his father, nor his mother, nor his wife, nor his children, nor his brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

What does Jesus mean in the world? First of all, it is obvious what he does not mean, what he does not mean by following. Jesus Christ I have to hate all my relatives to interpret him as such would be to interpret him exactly opposite to all the teachings of Jesus Christ because the heart and core of his teaching was love in fact he said I have heard you that it has been said love your neighbor and hate to your enemies but I tell you love your enemies do good to those who persecute you pray for those who use you with contempt and thus you will be children of the Father in other words you are following the example of God who loves his enemies God loved you when you were still his enemy here in his love not that we loved God but that he loved us and gave his Son as a propitiation for our sins because God manifested his love towards us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for the wicked, so obviously you're not telling us that to be disciples we have to hate all our relatives, but you say that's what you say.

Jesus had just given a parable in which one of the excuses offered for a man not attending the party was that he had married a wife, in other words, my family relationships and family obligations prevent me from coming to the party. party and Jesus is linking the next phrase with the previous parable. that he had spoken at home and what he is saying is that your love for him and your commitment to him has to be deeper and greater than any family commitment you have, you have to love him supremely, God forbid it should be, but yes, some family relationship. would prevent you from a full commitment to Jesus Christ, you must choose your commitment to him over the dearest relationship you can have on earth and if a husband or a wife or a mother or a father or a brother or a sister would try to stop you and restrict you and it would prevent you from fully committing to Jesus Christ when setting your priorities.

He has to come first and your commitment to Him has to be above any family relationship you may experience, so it is a comparative thing and it means that Christ has to be above any other relationship you have if you really want to be his disciple, he has to be at the top of the list. Immediately we are truly struck by the severity of the cost of discipleship of Jesus. He's not really saying look, if you choose to follow me, all your problems will dissolve with the morning dew. Your life will be filled with only glory and blessings until the end, you will have no more problems.

It is a false evangelism that seeks to invite people who come to Christ so that they can enjoy a beautiful and glorious path of rose petals as they travel towards heaven. This is not the case and Jesus did not paint any rosy picture of discipleship. He didn't say it will be easy. He didn't say that you won't have any problems at the end of your problems or when you receive Jesus Christ. He didn't say that because that's not entirely true. It could be the beginning of problems. Jesus was very clear in the In terms of discipleship, he wants a person realizes what it costs before he commits, so here's a crowd of adoring people following him down the street and he turns to them and says, look, if you really want to come after me, this is it. . what it's going to cost he said: you're going to have to love me above and beyond any other relationship, you even have to love me more than you love yourself, talk about hating yourself here, boy, I don't hear much of that today from the pulpit.

I hear so much preaching about self-esteem, loving yourself, and yet Jesus said, look, you can't be my disciple if you love yourself, if you're going to be my disciple, you have to hate yourself. Christ has to be preeminent, he is not promising. that they can drive Mercedes and all they have to do is speak the word of faith and they can live a life of luxury and tranquility that God wants them to be millionaires gives them a very heavy burden secondly, he who does not carry his cross and comes after I can't be my disciple, this is, I think, part of it, not loving yourself because God has a cross and he's not saying take up my cross at this point, he's saying take up your cross, but what? what does that mean?

I think there are a lot of people who when their mother-in-law moves in say well, I guess this is just the cross I have to bear, you know, or you get sick or something else, you know, it happens to be unpleasant, you say, well , i guess. that's just the cross I have to carry the cross involves suffering but not suffering for yourself but suffering for the sake of another person is part of self-denial is giving yourself up for another person that's what Jesus was doing on the cross he was giving himself for you he was suffering for you he was enduring that for you and that is why the cross in our life is when we again make a sacrifice for the benefit of another person without taking care of myself first the cross actually implied that total submission to the will of the Father when in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was praying and Luke tells us that his sweat turned into blood falling to the ground while he was in great agony, he said, Father, if possible, let this cup pass me by.

He was talking about the cross and he is there stating that if there is any other way in which man can be redeemed, let us take the alternative plan if man by religion, efforts and sincerity can redeem himself, then let us go for it, however, he said that not my will, but yours, be done, and there was the submission of self totally to the will of the Father and that is what the cross implies my total surrender of my life to what God wants to the will and purpose of God for me and if I am to come after Jesus Christ if I am going to be his disciple, I must make that total commitment of my life to the will of God and then Jesus said verse 33, whoever of you is, that by not doing everything that He has, he cannot be my disciple, so the cost of discipleship is a high cost, firstly, it is putting Christ above any other relationship, having a supreme love for him, secondly, it is putting yourself totally in the hands of God, a complete commitment to his will, ultimately, is to abandon everything you have now.

A disciple is a follower and Jesus is not asking you to do anything that he did not do and he is telling you, look, you want to be my disciple, you want to be a follower of mine, this is what I have done, my commitment is above any family relationship. Do you remember? When he was only 12 years old, he had arrived in Jerusalem with his parents for the party and while they were returning home, where they had a day trip in the afternoon, they imagined Jesus with some of his cousins ​​or something and on that night they went to look for him and he wasn't there so they asked no and we haven't seen him all day so they had to go back to Jerusalem they searched and finally found him a couple of days later and he was sitting there in the temple talking about theology with the pre and the scribes who were amazed at the wisdom of this child and his mother Mary rebuked him.

Don't you know how worried we were about you? Don't ever do this again. Know? and he turned to her and said: Did you not realize that I must be in my father's business even at that later age, when Jesus was ministering in Capernaum and they were bringing people from all over the countryside to be healed, the crowds pressed? You couldn't even enter the house where he was, there were sick people around and they kept pressuring Jesus without even giving him the opportunity to take time to eat, but he was so moved by the needs of the people that he just continued ministering to them without taking time. to eat and his mother worried about him and gathered his brothers and they came down and were going to rescue him from the crowd and he does not have enough sense to take care of himself and when they arrived at the house where Jesus was there was such a crowd They couldn't even get in, so Mary sent a message to tell Jesus that his mother and brothers are out here waiting for him, we want to see him and when the message came to Jesus he said who is my mother who is my brother and looking around the people who were sitting there listening said he who does the will of the Father just like my mother and my brother but his commitment is seen with God.

It was greater than family ties. If I want to follow Him, then my commitment has to be greater than my family ties. How beautiful it is when a family is in unity in that commitment to Jesus Christ. It is wonderful that you do not have to abandon your husband, wife, mother or son. Father, it is glorious when you have all made that commitment, what a glorious family it is when we are all committed to Jesus Christ and we are all focused on him, if you want to be a follower. disciple of Jesus Christ you have to put God's will above your own Jesus made that if you want to follow him you have to do what he did you have to put aside your own will your own desire your own desire and you have to submit to the desire of the father finally you have to be willing to abandon everything Jesus abandoned his throne in glory, may there be in you this feeling that was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, and did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped , assumed He Himself took the form of a man and came in the likeness of a man as a servant and was obedient untildeath, even the death of a cross, abandoning the glory, abandoning the splendors of the kingdom of God, came to earth and we too have to be willing to abandon one day a The rich young ruler approached Jesus, fell at his feet and He said to him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Jesus said: Why do you call me good? There is only one good, that is God. Look, Jesus says I'm not good or he says no. I am God, do not confuse that Scripture. I wasn't sure he's not saying I'm not good. What he's saying to this young man is: Hey, you recognized something, buddy, do you know what you recognized? Jesus said: keep the commandments he said which ones and Jesus recited the second table of the law is the relationship with your neighbor is a name that I am batting one hundred percent I have done all that from my thought but I am still missing something Jesus said well if you want Be complete, go and sell what you have and take the money, distribute it among the poor and come and follow me and you will have riches in heaven and the young man left sad because he had great possessions and Jesus had nothing.

How difficult it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of heaven. Radia, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a man who trusts in riches to enter the kingdom of heaven. Peter said, Lord, we I have abandoned everything to follow you Jesus said that no man has abandoned houses or homes brothers or sisters husbands or wives lands for my sake and for the kingdom but what in this world will receive a hundred times more and in the world to come eternal life the Lord will never He will receive it being indebted to you but still he asked for that abandonment abandonment of everyone to follow him so he could be his disciple now Jesus in the middle here he gave a couple of parables note you we jump from verse 27 to 33 and in verses 27 our verses 28 more Well, at 32 he speaks a couple of parables, first the parable of a man who builds a tower, which of you who wants to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost to see whether or not he has enough to finish it?

Unfortunately, after he had laid the foundation, he could not finish it and everyone who saw him began to mock him saying that this man started to build but could not finish it. I'm going to add a room. Great idea, so you rip off the roof so you can tie down the new building, but as soon as you frame it you discover you don't have enough money to put up the stucco, you would put up the roof and then you have to put plastic everywhere. and for years you know people walk by and see this rotten wood covered in plastic like, oh what a shame they started building, they didn't have enough money to finish or they say no, don't do it, sit down first of all. then you estimate what it's going to cost to build everything and then you determine whether or not you have enough money to do it.

The second parable is similar only now it involves a war. The first involves construction. The second involves war. What is King going to do? to wage war against another king don't sit down first now king Hussein wishes he had done this, who is the Iraqi king? The boy does not sit down first and consult whether he can with his ten thousand confront those who come against him with twenty thousand or else, while the other is still far away, he sends an embassy and desires terms of peace. Now with these two parables there are two possible interpretations and Bible scholars are divided on which interpretation is correct, as they know that the parables should be interpreted as soon as possible.

The interpretation is that Jesus tells these people who come after him and who follow him saying look, you better count the cost of discipleship before you get on board, you don't want to start something you can't finish if you make a commitment to me. You better know what you are doing and you better make sure you can pull it off, count the cost before you commit, if that is the correct interpretation, it is a very important thing if we are thinking of committing. us to the discipleship of Jesus Christ, first of all you must sit down and count the cost of it and Jesus is surely giving you three high costs.

The second interpretation is that Jesus is actually talking about himself before embarking on his mission in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 16. Jesus. He told Peters confession that you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it he spoke of construction and he spoke of war I am going to build my church there There will be a war that Satan is going to fight, but the gates of hell cannot prevail against it and that is why it was Jesus himself who came to build his church, who came to fight against Satan and to destroy Satan's power, he first counted the cost. and it is committed that the interpretation of the parable depends on the little word that is translated the same way in verse 33 of the King James Version, so in the same way, however, the word is neither an accurate translation nor good of the Greek word that you will find in the modern versions and in the revised versions and it is all translated therefore and with the translation of therefore then you have greater cause to believe that Jesus is speaking of himself having considered the cost having Considering the battle he faced, he came to pay the cost and fight the battle therefore, you too, if you are going to follow him, you have to leave everything to be his disciple because he abandoned everything to be your Lord.

I personally like the second interpretation, but you are free to choose the one you like best. Finally, Jesus closes this chapter by saying that salt is good but if the salt has lost its flavor one of the old translations says but if the salt has lost its flavor I like that there is a little bite in that word if the salt has It has lost its flavor, with what it will be seasoned, it is not suitable for the earth or the dunghill, but men cast it out, he who has ears to hear, let him hear in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said to his disciples, you are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste henceforth it is good for nothing more than to be thrown out and trampled under the feet of men in the time of Christ salt was used for more than simply seasoning one of the main uses of the Salt in those days was a preservative without refrigeration it was difficult to preserve the meat and so when the meat was cut up you took the portion that you were going to roast immediately and roasted it but the portion that you were not going to roast immediately you salted well because the salt killed bacteria of the surface and they would spoil, so in those days salt was often used as a preservative and when Jesus said to his disciples you are the salt of the earth, I think he had both meanings in mind: the Christian must bring a tasty influence to the world but the Christian must also be a purifying influence in the world and when Jesus said that you are the salt of the earth it cannot be ruled out that he was also thinking about the purifying value of salt and he is declaring to his church that we must have a purifying influence on the world we live in now look at the world we live in and as you look at what is happening in the world we live in today, would you say that perhaps salt is losing its flavor?

Could all things? It would be happening in our society today if the church was a purifying influence that the Lord intended for me, but look what Jesus says is the result of salt losing its flavor, it is no good for anything other than to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. About the man Jesus said that it is not good for the feeling or for the dunghill. You see, although salt has no flavor, it has no preservative quality, yet you don't want to throw it in the field because it will kill the vegetation and you don't want to put it in the dunghill because you can't. use the fertilizer if it has salt because by fertilizing your fields it would kill the vegetation, so what they would do with the salt was throw it on the roads where they wanted to kill the vegetation and so it was trampled under the foot of man the roads were spread with salt to destroy the vegetation and so it was trampled under the foot of man I see in this really an ultimatum to the church Jesus says look either you are a purifying influence in the world in which you live or you will find yourself crushed under the world, it will crush the church to death and Unfortunately here, even in the United States, they are beginning in many areas to crush the church.

I receive bulletins about how in various parts of the United States religious freedoms and liberties are being taken away. A

pastor

and his wife were recently arrested in Long Island New York because the neighborhood has a vendetta against the church it's almost the fifth time they've done it They've been arrested all charges were dropped but recently they were arrested and jailed again and it's just harassment from the world. The salt has lost its flavor, it is beginning to be crushed under man's foot. Sampson was the saving salt for the nation of Israel as she kept her vow to God when she broke her vow what happened was crushed under the weight of the fallen Philistines Esther became the saving salt for God's people but to become that salt savior she had to commit and she said I'm going to enter and if I perish I perish Jesus when talking about commitment Jesus when talking about abandoning everything Jesus when talking about priorities being the first and above all he talks about salt you are the salt but you have salt that to have some Tang eNOS you have to have some preservative influence another thing about salt another characteristic is that salt makes you thirsty and if you are doing your work you are going to create thirst in the hearts of those around you to know the Lord the people Whoever sees you will thirst to know him God, help us the cost of discipleship is great but the rewards of discipleship are greater no one has abandoned houses homes brothers families for my sake and that of the gospel in this world a hundred times greater in the world to come eternal life yes , it costs but all what rewards we will pray for thank you Lord because you paid the price you went to the end for us your commitment was complete Lord, help us so that we too can pay the price that our commitment is complete, that our love for you is supreme, greater May any other love, even the dearest and closest loves we experience in this world, may our love for you surpass them, may our commitment to you be total, Lord, that we can truly take. lift up our crosses and follow you abandoning ourselves our own ways our own desires our own desires our own ambitions so that we can follow the example that you have given us and that we can truly be your disciples in the name of Jesus.

Amen, are we standing next week? That interesting chapter of the prodigal son probably one of the most misinterpreted parables that Jesus gave is interesting and I want you to read chapter fifteen. The prodigal son is not the first parable, it is in a series of parables and I want you to try to understand the true meaning of the parable of the prodigal son pray about it read it carefully study it carefully in the context of the entire chapter and then I want you to be able to tell me next Wednesday night what Jesus was getting. in this parable of the prodigal son that is your task see you next Thursday night