Luke 14:33

Verse of the Day Devotion Luke 14:33

“So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.” – Luke 14:33

Today we will be looking at what Jesus said about the cost of being a follower of Him.  First, Luke points out who He is speaking to.  “Now great multitudes were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them,” Luke 14:25.  Jesus is going to share with them three basic conditions regarding discipleship. And these were not addressed to believers only to make them apostles, but also to unbelievers in order for them to understand what it means to be a follower. These three conditions are therefore conditions for salvation, not conditions for Christians to become a spiritual elite or to reach a new level in their Christian lives. 

Now, the first condition is found in the next verse. “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.” Luke 14:26. The phrase, ‘comes to me’ means either to ‘seek salvation’, or  to ‘make a decision to follow Him’.  These are different from simply believing in Him but has the idea of also choosing to follow His ways.  He then tells them that if they do not hate their father or mother and mother, wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be a disciple.  He is not calling them to actually hate them, for that would go against what He said about the two great commandments. “And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39. Everything Jesus taught was about love for all, just as stated here.  We can look at Matthew’s version to get a better understanding of what is meant here. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” Matthew 10:37. Theologian Robert Stein puts it this way. “A person who commits himself or herself to Christ will develop a greater love for both neighbor and family, although at times loving and following Christ may be seen as renunciation, rejection, or hate if the family does not share the same commitment to Christ.”   It has nothing to do with them hating their family and friends, but loving Jesus more.  And as stated above, if they do not love Jesus more, they cannot be a disciple for when a difference arises between the two, they may not choose Christ’s way which would then make Him a disciple no more. 

Then He takes it one step further with the second condition. “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14:27. He is saying to them if they are not willing to suffer for Christ’s sake, then they cannot be His disciple.  This does not refer to all earthly suffering, but specifically suffering for the cause of Christ.  Suffering for Him must take precedence over everything else.

They are then told to count the cost of discipleship. “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down, and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and take counsel whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks terms of peace.” Luke 14:28-32. Note the words in verse 28. “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?” He is telling them that before they decide to follow Him, count the cost to determine if we are able and willing to follow through.

And condition three is, are we willing to give up everything for Him. “So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.” Luke 14:33.  Along with what’s above, we must be willing to give up everything.  Nothing and no-one should be deemed more important or desirable then Jesus and a life completely dedicated to Him. 

And we must ask these questions of ourselves and be willing to be honest with our answers.  Are we willing to do what Christ calls us to do even if it goes against family and friends desires?  Who’s commands should come first, Christ’s or others?  And this could lead to separation and rejection of us by them.  Would this be worth it to us?  If we cannot be fully dedicated to Christ, then we need to question whether we can truly be a disciple. And are we willing to give everything up for Him? I am not saying that we then choose not to be a disciple of His, but that we must look at where we are weak and decide if it is worth it, and then follow as you decide.  However, I can assure you that He is worth it, for Jesus loves us and wants us to live eternally with Him in His heavenly kingdom.  Would this be worth it?  It truly is.  So, I want to encourage us all to examine ourselves and make whatever changes are necessary.  As the Apostle Paul said, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” 2 Corinthians 13:5.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.

Luke 14:27

Verse of the Day Devotion:  Luke 14:27  

“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” – Luke 14:27

This is a very difficult verse, and being tied to the verse prior to it, even more so. Jesus here is walking and a large crowd was following Him.  After a time He turns to them and says. “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.” Luke 14:26.  This seems rather harsh, but when we look into it, we see what He means by this.  This same account is recorded by Matthew but the wording is slightly different.  “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” Matthew 10:37.  

‘Hate’ as meant in verse 26 should not be understood in terms of emotion or malice, but rather in its Hebraic sense, signifying the thing rejected in a choice between two important claims. He was not saying that if we want to be a disciple, we must abhor our family.  What He was saying is that we are to reject the family if we must make a choice between the two.  So, what He is essentially saying is  if given a choice between Jesus and our family or our very life, and if we choose our family or our life over Him we are rejecting Him and we cannot be His disciple.  Nothing or no one can take precedence over our relationship with Christ.  For if it does, then we are not worthy to be His disciple for it was absolutely necessary they should prefer his service to everything in the world, and by their conduct show they hated father, and mother, and wife, and children, that is to say, loved the dearest objects of their affections less than him.   

Now, to our focus verse.  “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14:17.  The meaning of this here is that if we are not willing to suffer for His cause, then we cannot be His disciple.  We must be willing to suffer all reproach, affliction, persecution and even death itself, cheerfully and patiently.  This does not mean that we are to be happy about it, but rather that we will not choose any other course if that means we deny our relation with Him, for this would show we see comfort preferable to suffering for the cause of Christ, and that there is no question regarding it.  We must be willing to bear that which is extremely heavy.  We must be willing to suffer whatever comes upon us because of our love for Christ and all that may entail. 

So, are we willing to do all this for Christ?  It is important that we periodically examine our  hearts to ensure that we have placed Christ and the work and life He has called us to over anything else.  The Christian life is far more than making a decision to accept Christ yet continuing on in the same way and life.  We must be willing to sacrifice everything we have for Him.  I pray we are all there, or as I have said many times, All In.  Halfway in or 99% in is not enough.  Either we are all in, or we are not in at all.  Think about this, and if necessary, make any adjustments necessary to be a solid disciple of Jesus Christ.  He gave everything for us, is it not reasonable that we give everything also for Him?

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries. 

John 21:7

(Editor’s Note: William underwent surgery yesterday – a positive outcome – and thus this verse was delayed. We’re excited to have him back, hopefully soon.)

Verse of the Day Devotion – John 21:7 (NLT)

“Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped in the water and headed to shore.” –  John 21:7 (NLT)

John’s gospel is my favorite. He shows the most personality, and includes little Easter eggs throughout the gospel. One of these being a pseudo rivalry with Peter. The most notable of these is that when Jesus was announced to be risen, Peter and John race there John makes sure he mentions that he arrived first (John 20:8). We also get a lot of details surrounding events that are crucial to Peter’s future, and his development as a Christian and leader within the church. As I spoke about last time, when I covered John 21:22, those events happened after Peter’s reconciliation with Jesus. Tomorrow, I’ll be writing directly about that. But as usual, let’s set the stage.

Jesus has died, been raised from the dead, and visited with the disciples and Peter before. The disciples keep not recognizing Jesus (that’s a whole other story). Prior to Jesus’ murder, Peter had argued with Jesus about his devotion to him in Matthew 26:33-35 and even after Jesus told Peter that he would deny Jesus, Peter contradicts Jesus by saying, “No! Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” Matthew does point out that the other disciples agreed – John is the only one (that we’re aware of) that doesn’t avoid Jesus in some way.

As fiercely loyal and close to Jesus as Peter was, in Peter’s last few interactions with Jesus Peter failed Jesus repeatedly. When Jesus told them that “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38) and asked them to pray with him, Peter and the other disciples couldn’t stay awake, Jesus says to Peter, “Could you watch with me even one hour?” (Matthew 26:40). When Jesus was captured, Peter chopped off the ear of one of the guards and was chastised by Jesus, “Put away your sword…” (Matthew 26:52-54). After Jesus’s Capture Peter hangs in the back, and eventually denies Jesus three times, Matthew gives the most detailed description of what happens in Matthew 26:69-75 which involves Peter’s escalation in denying knowing Jesus, with just an denial, then denying him with an oath, and finally as the ESV puts it, Peter Invokes a curse on himself and swears, “I do not know the man” Luke tells us that after Peter did this, Jesus from inside the house, “turned and looked at Peter. and Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, “before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” All four accounts of Peter’s denial end with Peter weeping bitterly. Mark’s account (Mark 14:72) mentions that Peter “broke down and wept.” To make matters worse, based on the records we have Peter never gets to speak to or really interact with Jesus until after his death, and those times he doesn’t recognize Jesus at first.

Then comes our verse in John 21. After spending some time hiding behind locked doors, Peter decides to go fishing and the disciples follow him. After fishing all night, Jesus (though they don’t realize it’s him) appears at dawn standing on the shore. Jesus asks them if they’ve caught anything, they say no, and Jesus in a throwback to when he called them to be disciples tells them to cast to the right side, and just like in that time, they catch so many fish they can’t hold them all. It’s at this moment that John connects the dots at what is happening, and identifies the stranger on the shore as Jesus. As soon as Peter hears this he wraps himself in his cloak and swimps the hundred yards from the boat to shore, leaving behind everything else.

Without any hesitation. Without a second guess. Without thinking through how additional clothes could hinder his ability to swim. and perhaps most importantly, without judging himself based on his past and using that as something to hinder his pursuit of Jesus.

Peter puts on his tunic (as a form of respect to Jesus), and rushes to Jesus. He doesn’t shyly hide in the boat, or avoid the situation by focusing on the fish that were just caught. Peter doesn’t let his shame, bitterness, or fear prevent him from running (swimming) to Jesus. And the experience is transformative to Peter. He rushes towards Jesus with a greater zeal than Peter had demonstrated before his repeated betrayal of Jesus. Peter in this place, chooses to embrace a truth he may not have even realized in his rush to see Jesus that Paul articulated in Romans 8:1, “There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”

It can be argued that Peter knew that Jesus had forgiven him. It can be argued that Peter knew this or that… if you’re anything like me, even when you know that on paper everything is straightened out, I still don’t rush out to see someone I’ve had issues with more excitement and zeal than before my betrayal. How many times when we’ve wronged someone, especially with God, we’ll impose a sort of punishment on ourselves. We don’t pray (talk to them). We definitely won’t ask them for anything. Once we’ve done enough penance, we’ll finally ease ourselves back into relationship with them.

Peter, more so than any of the other disciples at that time, had a lot to be forgiven of, But Jesus, consistent and teaching lessons through his love and compassion, demonstrated to Peter the same grace he showed in Luke 7:47, that he who is forgiven much loves much.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at how Jesus uniquely chose to reconcile Peter.

So, May you realize that as a Christian, Jesus has already forgiven you. May you embrace the lack of condemnation you have within Christ and not let it hinder you. May you understand at your core that they that are forgiven much love much, and may we begin to have a zeal for God greater than we’ve had in the past, in spite of our screw ups.