The Luke 14:25-27 Dillema

This question was written on the white board in my office a few weeks ago. I don't know who wrote it, but hopefully this post helps explain it.

If you can't read it, it says "D-Rock, I have a question. Luke 14:25-27 says that I'm supposed to hate my parents but the commandments say to honor them...I don't get it..."

First let's look at the verses in question. Anytime we approach scripture, we want to be aware of the context of the passage. If your bible has headings, the heading of Luke 14 will say something like "The Cost of Being a Disciple" or "The Cost of Discipleship." In the passage Jesus is explaining the cost, the price, or the sacrifice that must be made if the crowds that followed him truly wanted to be his disciples. This is key to understanding what Jesus is communicating to the people. A couple of things to note before reading the passage:

• The term disciple simply means student. Those who followed Jesus were students of Jesus. Today we call ourselves Christians, but the terms ought to mean the same thing. We are disciples if we choose to follow Jesus. Jesus says "if anyone wants to be my disciple, he must take up his cross and follow me." We could say today that "if anyone wants to be a Christian, he must take up his cross and follow Christ." This is a call for all who believe.
• The word "hate" in Greek (miseo) and Hebrew (sane') can also be translated as "to love less." It is translated this way in a similar passage in Matthew which we will look at in a moment.

Luke 14:25-33 (bold and emphasis added) says:

²⁵ Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
²⁸ “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? ²⁹ For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, ³⁰ saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
³¹ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. ³³ In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

There is no way to twist the words here, Jesus speaks plainly. So, is what Jesus speaks here contradictory to the ten commandments where it says to honor our father and mother?   If we were only to look at this passage, we may think so; however, Jesus echos the commandment to honor your father and mother elsewhere in scripture (Matthew 15:4-6, 19:17-19; Mark 7:10-13). So, is Jesus contradicting himself? I don't think so. Another rule when approaching the scripture is to look at it in the whole context of Scripture. God is perfect, without fault. As Christians, we believe that Jesus is not only God's son, but God himself in human form. When Jesus speaks, it is God's word and the written word of the Scripture is also his word to us. In the Gospel of Matthew 10:34-39, Jesus speaks similarly to the Luke passage above.

³⁴ “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to turn

“‘a man against his father,
    a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
³⁶     a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

³⁷ “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

Jesus said he has come to turn man against father and daughter against mother. This is an echo from Micah 7:5-6, a sign that Jesus is the Messiah who has come to fulfill the prophecy. Jesus desire is not for families to be divided. He prays for all of us to be one (John 17). Because of sin, many fathers and sons, mothers and daughters are divided. Jesus explains in verse 37 the reason - many of us love others more than we love God. We must be willing to give up our own desires in order to follow God. Jesus lived his life as an example for us. He carried the cross and laid down his life so that we could live, but in order for us to live the abundant life he promises we must be willing to follow Jesus at all costs. If we love God more than anything else, than we will pursue him above anything else. This means that if when our family relationships are broken, we are still going to follow him. If it is difficult, we are going to follow him, if our friends make fun us, we are going to follow him. If no one else believes, we will follow him and even if it requires our lives, we will follow him. No cost is too great for the eternal glory Christ promises to those who follow him.

In conclusion, God wants us to honor our parents and he wants us to love him above all else.

Jonah 3-4 - God's Compassion

Last week we learned what happened to Jonah while he was in the belly of the whale. It took being caught in the middle of a storm, thrown overboard, and being stuck in the big fish for three days before Jonah realized what he had done was wrong. Sometimes, we can be just as stubborn as Jonah. It takes everything crashing down around us before we realize that God alone is our salvation. He is the only one that can get us out of the mess we have made of our selves because of our sin. Let’s see how the story ends.

Read Jonah 3

Jonah goes back to Nineveh to bring the word that God spoke to him. Upon hearing the word, the Ninevites repent and turn away from the sin. Because of this, the Lord has compassion on them.

• Why didn’t God destroy Nineveh?
• Why did he send Jonah there to tell them he was going to destroy them if he hadn’t intended to?
• Why did God send Jonah at all?

God intended to destroy Nineveh, but he wasn’t just going to throw down the hammer. He gave them 40 days to turn away from their sin and they did, so he chooses to spare them.

• What does this say about who God is?

God has compassion on his people. He doesn’t want to see us continue in our sin. If we do, surely, we are walking on a path that leads to death. But God always gives us the opportunity to follow him first. He won’t keep us from sinning, but he will show us the path to life and when we sin, his mercy, grace, and compassion cover us.  Jonah knows that because he received compassion himself when he chose to sin.

Read Jonah 4:1-4

Jonah knew God was going to have compassion on Nineveh and didn’t want to be disgraced as a liar. Jonah says he would rather be dead than to be known as a liar to the Ninevites. The Lord replies with a question? Go figure. Have you any right to be angry?

• What do you think? Did Jonah have a right to be angry?

Read Jonah 4:5-9

Apparently Jonah is not getting it, so God helps him with an object lesson. Jonah in his anger and kind of pouty goes out and waits to see what will happen to Nineveh. While he is there, God provides a vine for Jonah to give shade to his head and to ease the discomfort Jonah was feeling. Jonah is happy when he is comfortable, but the next day God destroys the vine and case a scorching wind, and now Jonah wants to die again.  Then he asks Jonah a trick question – “do you have a right to be angry about the fine?  Jonah feels he does have that right.

Jonah  4:10-11

Jonah should not be angry about the vine. He did not plant it, tend to it, or make it grow.  God loves the people of Nineveh and has compassion on them. In the same way he loves Jonah and had compassion on him and he loves each one of us with the same mercy and compassion.

To wrap it up:

1. God does not force us to obey him, but he gives us the opportunity to listen and follow him. 
2. When we fail, he is there to bring us back to him. Sometime it just takes us to reaching the point where we have nowhere else to go before we realize we need him to save us.
3. God’s compassion isn’t just for us. He loves all his creation and wants them to know his love and grace. God gives us his grace so that we can’t boast in ourselves. Because it is a gift it can be given to others. Just as we have received freely, let us freely give.

Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Jonah 2 - Jonah's Prayer

Last week, we met Jonah. Jonah was called by the Lord to prophecy to the wicked people of Ninevah. He chose, however, to run the opposite way. In doing so, he wasted his money, put the lives of others in danger, and got himself into quite a bit of trouble. His sin could very easily have led to his death. In the same way, when we choose to disobey what God has commanded us to do, we put others’ lives in danger. When we think only of ourselves, we hurt others. We also learned that is important that our words and our actions line up. Jonah claimed to worship God, but his actions showed otherwise.  We pick up with Jonah this week in the belly of the whale.

Read Jonah Chapter 2

• When Jonah finds himself in the belly of the great fish, what happens?
•  At this point was there any way that Jonah could have saved himself?

It took Jonah a while to realize that God was the only one who could save him. Before he entered the storm, he didn’t realize the wrong he had done or at least chose not to face it. Something really awesome happens here. Jonah cries out to God. God has literally thrown Jonah into the midst of a storm, but God has plans for Jonah.

• Why does it take being thrown into a whale for God to get Jonah’s attention?
• Why didn’t God keep Jonah from getting on the ship?

God sometimes throws storms at us to destroy our plans so that we will follow His. He doesn’t keep us from sinning or going our own way, but he also won’t let us get too far before he shows us the right way.While we are in the storm, we may feel helpless and overwhelmed, but those emotions help us to realize, like Jonah, that he is the only one who can save us.  Jonah truly recognizes his sin and acknowledges it before God. (v.8-9) Jonah was worshiping himself, his own desires, a worthless idol. But he repents and sacrifices himself to God and promises to make good on his call to the people of Nineveh.

Though Jonah deserved to die, God has the whale spit him out and gives him another chance. This undeserved gift is called grace. It’s getting easier and easier to relate to Jonah. Jonah messed up bad and because of it, he ended up in a really messy situation, but God didn't leave him there. God listened and brought Jonah out of the fish. God does the same thing for us. Our sin can get us into some messy situations but God always gives us a way out if we are willing to seek him. This is grace, even though we don’t deserve it, God saves us from ourselves and our sin through his son Jesus Christ.

If you find yourself in a messy situation, try to be alert. What is God teaching you? How is he using your current situation to help you learn to follow him?

Jonah 1 - Running From the Lord

These posts are a little late, but over the past few weeks we have been looking at the story of Jonah. It's a story we heard often as children and may have gotten the veggie tales version, but it's sometimes good to look back at those stories and see how God speaks to us today through this same story.

Read Jonah 1

A little background on Nineveh. Nineveh was a wicked city. It was a major city in Assyria, the rising world power during this time. The prophet Nahum prophesied against this city for its practices of war, idolatry, witchcraft, and many other things against the lord. The Israelites viewed Nineveh as an enemy. Jonah is called to take word from the Lord that God is going to destroy Nineveh. Jonah chooses to run the completely opposite direction that God has called him to go. 

• Have you ever run the opposite direction of something you knew you were suppose to do?

You may not feel like God has ever given you a direct command to do something, but we know what the right thing to do is and sometimes, we go the other way.

Read vs. 5-8 again

Jonah knows that disaster has come because of his disobedience. He lets the crew throw their cargo into the see while he goes and takes a nap. Angry, the crew asks him why he has brought this on them. Here Jonah responds that he fears the lord, but his actions would say otherwise. He has put the lives of the crew in danger and seems to care very little. In verse 12 he finally takes responsibility.

• Does what you say ever contradict how you act?
• What message does that send to others? (John 2:3-6)
• Have you ever hurt someone because of a selfish decision you have made?

When we disobey God, we aren’t just putting ourselves in danger. We are endangering the lives of others and keeping them from hearing the word of God. When we decide to keep our faith to ourselves, others suffer. Not just the crew of the ship but the 120,000 people in the city of Nineveh were going to suffer if Jonah didn't follow God's instruction. We can’t live our lives unconcerned for the fate of others. Next week, we will see how Jonah's actions effect his relationship with God.