Luke ch 14

[newbiefound]

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.
14:27
And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot * be my disciple.
14:28
For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
14:29
Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
14:30
Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
14:31
Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
14:32
Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
14:33
So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
14:34
Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned ?
14:35
It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Do verses 26 and 27 mean one must leave his family and friends and his current lifestyle to follow Christ in order to be his disciple?

Do verses 28-32 just mean you must plan thoroughly before leaving everything and following Christ?

As for verse 33 this simply means we must leave our friends, family, and things behind before following Christ right?

What do verses 34-35 mean? Does it mean if we go and then lose our passion that we probably won’t be able to get it again?

I feel such an urge to go now. At the same time I feel that I must be patient. When will I know that I am ready? Should I wait until I have no doubt at all?

 

[Lazerlike42]

Verse 26 and 27 mean that you must have Christ as the number one thing in your life and be ready to give everything up for Him. It does not mean that you necessarily will have to give everything up, only that you be ready to. It also does not mean that you must actually give up your family and friends. Jesus spoke Aramaic. In Aramaic, there is no word for “more,” or “less,” or, “most,” or “least.” If you want to say “I like Bob more than I like Ed,” you had to say something sortof like, “Bob I love and Ed I hate.” Basically, when Jesus says you must hate your father and mother, it simply means you must love Jesus more than your father and mother. You must still love your father and mother and you must respect them. To do otherwise, or to hate anyone at all, would be unChristian.

For the verses about building the tower and the army, you must remember that this section is where Jesus is teaching a very specific thing. He is teaching about what is called the “cost of descipleship.” He is basically… warning the people He is speaking to about what they are getting themselves into. There are some deep reasons for this that get somewhat deep into theology, but all you need to understand for now is that Jesus is basically saying this: “Ok people, if you want to be my desciple, remember that it’s going to require a really big commitment so make sure you’re ready for it!”

As far as the army is concerned, it means something a little different. It does mean the same thing as the tower does, but also it means that if you are a desciple of Christ, you need to surrender yourself to God. You have to do what He tells you. The king with 20,000 wants the other king to do what he tells him to, more or less. If he won’t listen, he’s going to get destroyed by the bigger army. But, if he does surrender, the king with 20,000 is just going to make him one of his people and feed him and clothe him just like the other 20,000 he already has. The way to think of it is this: If you try to fight God, you’re gonna lose. He’s God for crying out loud! You don’t have a chance! Now, He is marching up to you every day of your life, and one day, He’ll reach your gates (when you die). If you are still trying to fight God, you’re gonna lose. You’re gonna end up in hell. On the other hand, if you go to God now, while He is still “Far away,” and surrender, He’ll give you food and He’ll provide for you and He’ll let you live in His castle (Heaven). It’s basically about the fact that we can’t beat God.

This does NOT mean we should look at God as some conqueror or some guy that we have to just surrender to or else He’ll come and get us. God is love, and that is number one what He is. That is the way to look at Him. If you read the Bible, you’ll notice that it talks a ton about how God is Love and loves us all. But, there are a few passages like this, because God is just too. In other words, He is Love, and that’s how we need to think of Him, but we have to at least remember that He is also just so that we don’t get carried away into sin and whatnot.

Like I said, verse 33 means we need to be ready to give up everything. It doesn’t mean at all that we need to stop talking to our families and give away all our things and live on the street. Some Christians basically do that. It’s cool if they want to, but you don’t have to. Just be ready to in case it turns out you do need to. That’s all. Be prepared.

You’re sortof right about 34-35. If we go and throw away our passion for God, we can’t just get it back. What you’re missing is important though: salt can’t get it’s flavor back, on it’s own, but God can give it its flavor back. We can’t get our passion back, but if we throw it away God will always try to offer it back to us and we can accept it back. Same thing with the tower. This is so important! If we start to build our tower of faith but run out of resources, God will always be willing to give us more if we ask.

Should you wait until you have no doubt at all? No!! You have to have faith! Always, always keep seeking understanding. Stay here. Learn more. Always learn about God and use your reason and your mind to understand Him. But always remember that God is first and foremost about faith. Put your faith in Him. If you do that, He won’t let you down!

 

[TOME]

It is my opinion that these verses should be taken as a whole and not separately to get their full meaning.

Many scripture scholars, at least the ones I have read, point out that Jesus’ style of teaching was usually to employ short sayings and or parables. This makes sense to me giving how much easier it is to remember short sayings rather than long disertations.

With that in mind, I’m also relying on other’s who hold that Jesus as found in the Synoptic Gospels was clear that He understood His mission to be to proclaim the Kingdom of God being present here and now and in a special way in His very person. From this we also see that Jesus demanded from His followers a total response from them, beginning with their “Metonia” or repetence followed by a life style that was(is) an uncompromised commitment to the Kingdom.

And if you look at all the verses in question as a whole you will see this theme brought out clearly. You will also knowtice that while some of the statement seem very hard, that do reflect a semetic pattern of speach found in 1st Century Palestine. In other words Jesus’ own words.

So I think the best way to summarize all these statement taken together is Jesus’ demand of us to first be aware of what one is committing himself to in becoming His follower, and having decided to make that choice then live this life totally committed to it.