Imperishable Inheritance

We often times downplay some of the harder sayings of Jesus for more familiar ones. It's not uncommon, and some of the things Jesus declares really emphasize the utter devotion that must be displayed to be His disciple and Him be your Rabbi. One of the great parables I find is in the fourteenth chapter of Luke concerning calculating costs in following Christ. I know I certainly do not reflect enough on what it means and what it will entail to follow Christ whole-heartedly. He starts the passage with an admonition to the amount of devotion needed to follow Him.

Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, "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. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."
Luke 14:25-27

We have this language also recorded for us in Matthew 10:37-38 which is one of the most authoritative passages on who Christ said He was. Imagine for a second this picture. The people around Him were probably familiar with the commandment to "Honor your father and mother" (Exo 21:12), but Jesus was telling them that they must hate their father and mother to follow Him. We must understand the hatred being talked about here. The Greek word behind "hate" in this passage is miseoÌ„ which means "to love less." A good summarization would be, "If the love exemplified towards your mother and father is more than the love you have for Me, then you are not worthy to follow me." We have in mind here a vivid portrayal of what it means to follow Christ.

"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.'"
Luke 14:28-30

We have in context what it takes to follow Christ: pure obedience to the point of relinquishing everything. So now He is encouraging those who hear the words to think about what it will take to follow through on that. As a builder would calculate the cost of building a building before starting, so should be consider what following Christ will entail. If the religious man, or builder, cannot complete the task he set out to do then he is to be ridiculed; and how often do we see people start the Christian faith only to "fall away" when trial comes. Not that we can be saved and then lose it, but it is for those who never were of God's family (1 John 2:19-20). Jesus asks rhetorically: Can you afford to follow me?

"Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider 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 for terms of peace."
Luke 14:31-32

What has changed in this second example? Well, the builder takes the project of building upon himself, but in the second parable the king is forced to act. The king decides to pursue peace. Likewise, we can see what will happen if we "take on" God. The disproportion is much larger that 1:2, but the point is that the king, and us, will not win the battle. We must seek peace from the battle, because we can see that there will be struggle in it.

"So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
Luke 14:33-35

"So then," after you have calculated the costs of following me, and you know what will happen if you do not follow Me then give up all your possessions to follow me. Jesus concludes with rhetoric about what will happen when the salt loses it tastelessness/function, and likens it to the believer who loses his religion: He will be useless. And since it is useless it is to be thrown out (Mat 3:10), and He commands that those who can hear had better heed this command. Matthew Henry comments on this passage in his commentary.

"May we seek to be disciples indeed, and be careful not to grow slack in our profession, or afraid of the cross; that we may be the good salt of the earth, to season those around us with the savour of Christ."