ONEFamily
Outreach exists to "Connect
Kids to Community and Communities to Kids." Have you considered having a
mission week for your church? This
is one of my favorite "in-depth" ways of reaching out with the Great News of
Jesus Christ. Activities can include:
Interactive and participative praise concerts for children,
youth, and families;
Morning staff studies on "Authentic Leadership"
and "Building a Culture of Intentional Courtesy"
Brown-Bag Luncheon Studies for your community
focusing on our scriptural call to justice;
In-service for your volunteers or teachers on reaching
today's youth and families with the vibrant, living, message of Jesus
Christ;
Evening parent seminars based upon two of
Jerry's recent books: "Significant Conversations: Helping Young People
Live Meaningful Lives," and "The Deepest Longing of Young People; Loving
Without Conditions."
Local networking with other area groups (secular
or faith-based) regarding prevention and intervention strategies for
high-risk and incarcerated youth;
Humorous and thought-provoking school assemblies
(secular or religious, elementary through high school).
ONEFamily
Outreach is primarily
supported by your donations and by trainings, workshops, retreats and concerts.
[Lk 14:25] Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, [26] “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. [27] “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. [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? [29] “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, [30] saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ [31] “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? [32] “Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. [33] “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.” (NAS)
Luke 14:25
[Lk 14:25] Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them...
Large crowds were going along with Him
At what point do I move from “going along with’’ or “following” Jesus to actually being his disciple? That is the question at the heart of this reading. These people had no idea where Christ was leading them. Sure, they knew they were headed towards Jerusalem, they knew the Passover was drawing near; they had eaten their fill with leftovers, seen the miracles, and witnessed religious leaders set in their “place.” Yet, they had no idea that where Jesus was heading. Sure, they were on the road to Jerusalem – the symbol of religious power and authority – but he was leading them to the cross – the symbol of forsaking self for God.
So, despite the thousands flooding through towns and trampling over fields, Jesus turns to warn them. “You have no idea what lies ahead so let me tell you the cost.”
When John tells us this story, he tells us that it ends like this:
John 6:66-68
[Jn 6:66] As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. [67] So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” [68] Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.”
So, when do we move from a follower to a disciple? It is when, like Peter, we leave behind every other alternative, it is when – like the Apostles and Mary Magdalene and a few others – we have no one else to whom we can go.
Luke 14:26
[26] “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.”
Even his own life
Jesus was now talking in heated extremes because those following him wanted to live in lukewarm comfort. A consistent theme of Jesus (as he neared Jerusalem) was to challenge his followers into a radical relationship with God; to quit living in the middle. It is the comfortable man that Christ calls “the fool.”
Luke 12:19-20
[Lk 12:19] ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ [20] “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’”
It is the lukewarm church that the risen Christ condemns in Revelation:
Revelation 3:15-16
[Rev 3:15] “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. [16] ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”
And, it is the people that lack compassion that God condemns in Amos:
Amos 5:21-24
[21] “I hate, I reject your festivals,
Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.
[22] “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings.
[23] “Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.
[24] “But let justice roll down like waters
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
Jesus wants to knock us out of our complacency, to awaken us from our stupor. We are in danger – not from without – but from within!
All the way to Jerusalem Jesus confronted religious leaders who had become too smug, the wealthy who had become too greedy and now… followers who had become too complacent.
Where am I on the list; smug, greedy or complacent – or maybe all three? “Wake me up, oh Lord, lest I lose you in my slumber!”
There is but one cure for all of these sicknesses; action! I cannot be cured of complacency without becoming compassionate for the needy. I cannot be cured of comfort without pushing myself to the extreme. I cannot be cured of greed without breaking my heart for the most vulnerable. The cure lies in taking the love of Jesus to those who have felt it the least. “Here I am, oh Lord, send me [Isaiah 6:8]!”
Luke 14:27
[27] “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”
“Carry his own cross and come after Me”
It is hard for us to comprehend the full gravity of this statement to the early followers of The Way. We buy gold crosses and wear them around our necks, we put chrome ones on the back of our luxury SUV’s. We have gaudy jeweled ones prominently displayed in our churches.
When Jesus preached this message there was only one image of the cross. It was the worst form of torture that imperial Rome – in all its barbarity – could invent. On feast days, the Romans would line the road into Jerusalem with crosses bearing men agonizing in death and the corpses of those who had already died. They were left there for days, exposed to the vultures and the elements as an example of Rome’s power and dominion. That was welcome and warning Rome gave to Jewish pilgrims nearing the holy city.
No synagogue would display a cross; no Jew would wear one. The cross was a symbol of enslavement, subservience, and the utter powerlessness of the Israelites. Yet, that was the symbol that the Christ used to portray his purpose. He would become enslaved for our freedom, servant for our debt and powerless for our salvation.
Then, he would invite us to share in the same freedom; the freedom of the cross; the freedom of service and humility.
That is the way of Christ. That is the cross of Christ. That is the freedom of His salvation.
Luke 14:28-32
[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? [29] “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, [30] saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ [31] “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? [32] “Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.”
“This man began to build and was not able to finish.”
The majority of those “going along” with Jesus did not have what it would took to finish the course. They were following because of his miracles and feedings, maybe even because of his preaching. Jesus, to them, was merely the “movement of the moment” and they wanted to be a part of the crowd. Is my faith any deeper than theirs? Is my faith more than emotional worship services, pot lucks, and hanging out with the right people? Has my faith progressed beyond worshipping comfortably with Christians to going out to the lost and vulnerable?
If my faith doesn’t reach out beyond the walls of my church, then I have yet to count the cost. I am the man who “began to build and was not able to finish.”
Christianity shines brightest in the darkness of trial and persecution and I am not talking about being persecuted by a rude driver on my daily commute. Persecution is not having a ‘‘bad day.” Persecution is being targeted for your beliefs and your advocacy of the least of these. Jesus was killed for his advocacy of the poor – not his theology. Messiahs and prophets came and went in Israel but rarely did they march into Jerusalem and accost the systemic abuse of the religious elite. Access to worship was being denied to the least of these; the temple treasuries overflowed with the blood money of widows and the poor while the wealthy few amassed immense power and obscene fortunes.
The “least of these” were following Jesus – and they consisted of a majority of the population locked out by a radically entrenched class system. The poor were kept poor and the wealthy used religious and legal means to lock them out.
Christianity should always shine brightest in that type of darkness. Christianity should be a light of advocacy in the darkness of inequity and injustice. Christianity should be a light of compassion in the darkness of trial and persecution.
Christians should not wait passively for trial and persecution to possibly come their way – we should not sit and hope against persecution occurring in our lives! A true disciple goes where trial and persecution exist and picks up his/her cross in that place! Jesus didn’t stay in Galilee and pray for change; he didn’t wait for the cross to come to him. He charged the gates of Jerusalem and turned over tables at the heart of the political/religious institution; he took his body to the cross.
Do I have what it takes? Will I count the cost? Will I go towards the darkness with Christ’s light in my heart?
Jesus was threatening the complacency of followers then and the comfort of followers now. A Christian doesn’t troll about the harbor in a dinghy; he sets his course into the storm.
Luke 14:28-32
[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? [29] “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, [30] saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ [31] “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? [32] “Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.”
“This man began to build and was not able to finish.”
Christ closes this illustration with two parables and a statement of true discipleship. The first parable would come from his own experience as a carpenter and it would be embraced by many of those laboring in Jerusalem and its suburbs. Herod the Great literally redesigned Jerusalem and building projects were everywhere. The temple project alone would span more than half a century (and then be destroyed within six years of its completion).
Jesus warned his disciples about humanity’s tendency for hubris and grandiosity as they left Jerusalem one day: “And He said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down [Mt 24:2].’”
Jesus tells his followers that they should instead seek a temple that will stand the test of time:
John 2:18-19
[Jn 2:18] The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?” [19] Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
Am I spending my life building something that will stand the test of time; something that is eternal?
The temple of Herod was not permanent. What will be remembered about Herod eternally – is the way he treated the infant Jesus, born in his back yard. In perfect irony, Herod became a footnote to Jesus; remembered only by his cruelty and the mini-despots he raised.
What am I building that will last eternally? Like Herod, I will be remembered for the way I react to the vulnerable Jesus who is born today somewhere in an obscure part of my own community. Will I seek him in that vulnerable state and elevate him to his proper place; will I place him at the top of my personal throne? Will I seek him in his vulnerable form and offer the protection and love due a true king? Or, will I, like Herod, try to wipe out any trace that he existed?
And furthermore, will our Lord say that I counted the cost and finished what I set out to do?
The word Jesus uses for “finish [GSN1615 ekteleo]” is a combination of two words: Ek (or ex) [GSN1537] meaning “from” or “out of” and teleo [GSN5055] meaning “perfectly focused, complete or fulfilled.”
Teleo is frequently used in the New Testament. However, two distinct applications of this word stand out:
“Therefore you are to be perfect [GSN5055 teleo], as your heavenly Father is perfect [Matt 5:48].”
Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished [GSN5055 teleo]!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit [John 19:30].
Jesus was perfectly focused and he completed perfectly what he set out to do. He became a perfect sacrifice of God. He calculated the task ahead of him, examined the cost, then paid it with his life.
“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple [v27].”
Jesus tells us the cost upfront – directly and with no fine print. Will I pay the cost of the disciple or will I be a fool who was both poorly focused and incomplete?
“He sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.”
The second story that Christ shares is of a wise king who chooses humility before he is humiliated. It goes against our grain to “give up” or “give in” but this king is wise enough to count the cost and retain his position as a result. A king who lost the battle in Christ’s day would be humiliated. His wife and children would very likely be killed or sold into slavery in front of him and that would likely be the last thing that he would ever see. He would then either be killed or blinded and made a public laughingstock. The statement of the invader would be clear; “This is what happens to those who stand against us.”
Just who are the two kings in Christ’s story? Can there be any doubt that one of these kings is you and I? We are that king who must take stock. We must choose between humility and humiliation, between wisdom and stupidity. Only one king can sit on the eternal throne and only a fool throws his weight against that King.
We need to be careful though, because a subtle aspect of this reading is that the world is full of would-be potentates who would willingly send us into battle for them; battles against the inevitable.
How often do we labor for the wrong person’s approval? How frequently do we strive for the wrong kingdom’s treasure? Thinking we are royalty we are rarely more than cannon fodder. If we are going to die – and we are – will we die for the right cause? If we are going to invest our eternity in something – and we will – will it be something eternal?
Jesus tells us that compassion, mercy and humility are the towers that will last for eternity. Is that the tower I am building and the King that I am serving? If not, I need to change – not someday – but today.
Luke 14:33
[33] “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.”
“Give up all his own possessions.”
Here is one of the most uncomfortable sayings of Jesus, one most us might be prompted to explain away with the statement; “What Jesus really meant...”
In fact, “What Jesus really meant” was even stronger than what we read here. We are called to give up not only our possessions, but we are also called to give up our very existence [GSN5225 huparcho], which means property, possessions and being. It isn’t ours anyway. We didn’t create it – we manage it, we won’t take it with us and it is worthless outside of restoring God’s people anyway. So, why do we cling to it?
For safety? Is God not our safety already?
Psalm 18:2-3
[2] The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
[3] I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.
For comfort? Is God not our comfort already?
Isaiah 40:1-5
[1] “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.
[2] “Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been removed, that she has received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.”
[3] A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
[4] “Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley;
[5] Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Is it to prevent worry and fear about our future? Would a God who gave His only Son for our salvation forget our daily bread?
Matthew 6:25-24
[Mt 6:25] “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? [26] “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? [27] “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?[28] “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, [29] yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. [30] “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! [31] “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing? ‘[32] “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. [33] “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
[34] “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Why let anything stand between God and us? Why let anything keep us from being true and complete followers – perfect [GSN5055 teleo] disciples?
Count the cost. Is there anything we have or do that is comparable to bringing one more child safely into Christ’s arms? Count the cost. Will we pay it?
The New Testament Greek Lexicon based on Thayer’s and
Smith’s Bible Dictionary plus others; this is keyed to the large Kittel and the
“Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.” These files are public domain.
The Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon is Brown, Driver,
Briggs, Gesenius Lexicon; this is keyed to the “Theological Word Book of the Old
Testament.” These files are considered public domain.