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The Demand For Committed,
Radical Discipleship; The Need To Go Against The
Majority; Even One’s Family; The Need To Give
Up One’s Life
When the
long-awaited Messiah finally came, the majority
of the political and religious leaders of the
Chosen People did not respond to the Seed of the
Woman with recognition and acceptance and love
and loyalty. The majority of the leaders rejected
Him, and ultimately killed Him.
But, the
Stone which the builders rejected was willing
to suffer their rejection, because He knew that
God would overrule those foolish builders, and
make Him the chief corner stone of the Temple
of God, the foundation of a whole new and magnificent
and lasting and completely righteous universe!
Christianity
and Messianic Judaism is not for wimps! Messiah
does not request - He demands - that we be like
Him in this regard, and be willing to go against
the majority, and suffer if necessary.
Let’s
learn more from the Holy Spirit, communicating
to us through His servant Luke.
Now
large crowds were going along with Him.
Not everyone
in Israel rejected Yeshua. The young miracle working
Rabbi from Nazareth was very popular among many
of the ordinary Israelis of His day. Large crowds
were going along with Him.
Most people
like to go along with the large crowds. It seems
safe to go with the majority. In this way, we
are like sheep. Sheep are not known for being
solitary creatures, like tigers and leopards.
Sheep generally stay close to the rest of the
flock, and move with the rest of the flock.
But, Messiah
doesn’t not want sheep-people - sheeple! He wants
strong, independent-minded followers who will
go against the crowds, and even go against their
own families! He wants men and women who are so
committed to Him and to the truth that they are
willing and able to endure rejection and persecution.
Messiah wants men and women, Jews and Gentiles
who desire God’s approval, not the approval of
man, not the approval of the crowds and not even
the approval of their families.
God has
designed us in such a way that most people love
their family. Our families are very important
to us. Love of family is very strong. We love
our families more than almost anything. But, Messiah
demands that we must love Him more than we love
our families! Our allegiance to Him must come
before our loyalty to each and every member of
our families!
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.
This is
directed to anyone - to each and everyone who
wants to come to Messiah and be saved. It is not
directed to leaders, to pastors and rabbis and
evangelists and teachers, but to everyone.
If
anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own
father and mother and wife and children and brothers
and sisters ... he cannot be My disciple.
Some family
members are easy to dislike, even intensely dislike
- but that is not what Messiah is talking about.
The Rabbi from Nazareth does not want us to literally
hate our families, or to treat them badly, or
want to see them harmed. He wants us to love our
families; but compared to our love for God the
Father and for Himself, our love for our families
seems like hate in comparison! We are to be more
devoted to Messiah than to our fathers and mothers,
husbands and wives, brothers and sisters and children.
Our love and loyalty and affection and dedication
to Messiah must come before our closest earthly
relationships.
What does
this greater devotion to the Son of God look like?
If Messiah teaches us one thing, and our families
teach us another, we take the side of the Son
of God.
If our
families tell us to do one thing, and Messiah
tells us to do something else, we do what Yeshua
tells us to do.
Messiah
takes it even further. Many of us love our family,
and the Son of God demands that our love for Him
come before our families. But, there is someone
most of us love even more than the other members
of our family, and that is ourselves! Messiah
demands that if we will truly come to Him in the
right way, and be saved, our love for Him must
come before our love for ourselves!
If
anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own
father and mother and wife and children and brothers
and sisters, yes, and does not hate even his own
life, he cannot be My disciple.
What Messiah
taught others, He Himself lived.
Messiah
was rejected by the majority of the leaders, yet
He endured.
Messiah
was rejected by the majority of His people, yet
He succeeded.
Messiah
was rejected by the majority of the people from
His home town of Nazareth, yet He fulfilled the
will of God.
Messiah
was rejected by many of the members of His family,
yet He overcame.
Messiah
hated His own life. He resisted all temptations
to advance Himself in this world. Instead, God
the Father asked Him to give up His life, and
Messiah was willing to do so to fulfill the will
of God.
Messiah’s
love for God took precedence above His love for
His own life.
Like Messiah,
we are to love the Three-In-One God with the totality
of our being.
Our loyalty
to the Creator and Redeemer is to come before
our loyalty to the creature, even if that creature
is ourselves.
Our devotion
to and submission to God the Father and Messiah
the Son comes before our devotion to ourselves.
That means
we do not consider ourselves to belong to ourselves,
but because of creation and redemption, we understand
that we belong to God.
That means
that the will of God comes before our own will.
That means
that we see ourselves as servants of God and Messiah,
and not as free individuals who can do anything
we want. We no longer have the right to do whatever
we want, go whatever we want. Our priority is
to do what Messiah wants, and go where Messiah
wants.
That means
we submit our lives, our desires, our wants, our
goals, our plans, to God, and seek Him and His
will and His kingdom and His plan and His agenda
for our lives.
Love of
self is an very strong idol that must be torn
down. It is not easy, but Messiah says it is necessary
and it is possible!
To be
a genuine follower of Messiah, we must be willing
to give up not only the approval of the majority
of the community in which we live, and the approval
of our families, but we must give up our very
own lives.
In a Satanically
dominated world that is at war with God, the man
or woman who comes to Messiah and lives for Messiah
will be opposed. Living for Messiah will mean
persecution. It may mean serious suffering. It
may even mean death. Messiah wants us to realize
that and be willing to endure what a God-rejecting
world will try to do to us - like Messiah Himself
did.
Whoever
does not carry his own cross and come after Me
cannot be My disciple.
Carrying
your own cross and coming after Yeshua means having
this attitude:
I am willing
to give my all to Messiah - my possessions, my
agenda for my life, and even my life.
In order
to be faithful to Messiah, I am willing to experience
rejection, suffer humiliation, and even die a
painful death.
I am willing
to die for Messiah - today, if need be.
Today
may be my last day - but that is OK, if it is
God’s will for me, and His plan for my life.
Messiah
knows that He is asking a high price to for us
to pay to be one of His genuine disciples. He
also knows that it is a fair price for the benefits
that will be received.
Messiah
also recommends that before we make the decision
to commit ourselves to Him, and identify with
Him, and suffer with Him, we do a thorough cost
analysis of becoming one of His disciples. We
should carefully think through all of the benefits
and all of the costs. We do cost analysis with
other important decisions that affect other areas
of our life. Why not with the most important decision
that affects our life in this world, and our eternal
life?
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 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. So then, none of
you can be My disciple who does not give up all
his own possessions.
Here is
what Messiah is saying: If, before we start major
projects, we calculate the costs and decide if
we still have the desire and resources to complete
the project, we should do the same with this most
important decision - gaining eternal life by committing
our lives to follow the Messiah.
So, let’s
do our cost analysis. First, the costs:
We must
become one of Messiah’s committed followers. We
must publically identify with Him with our words
and by baptism.
We give
up the right to live for ourselves. We must give
up the right to do whatever we want. We must start
doing the things that the Lord has told us to
do.
We must
turn over to Messiah all of our possessions, and
seek Him regarding what He wants us to do with
them.
Our life
may be difficult, hard, filled with trials and
persecutions.
We must
be ready to experience rejection by the majority
of the world, and even by friends and family.
These
are the costs. They are very real and they must
be paid.
Just as
the costs are real, so the benefits are also very
real. So, let’s consider the benefits:
We will
have a genuine relationship with the Creator.
We will
be close to the eternal God.
We will
be loved, accepted and honored by our Creator.
We will
have a genuinely successful, meaningful life.
We will
live forever.
We will
receive amazing rewards and a great and eternal
inheritance.
Have you
counted the costs and considered the benefits?
If you have, have you decided what you will do?
Will you become the kind of true disciple Messiah
wants, and endure all the costs that are part
of being a disciple?
If you
make that commitment, keep going with that commitment!
Renew that commitment every day! Don’t lose that
passion to follow the Lord with everything you
are and have.
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.
Even though
the world will hate us, the reality is that genuine
disciples of the Lord are like salt. Just like
salt makes dull food taste better; just like salt
acts as a preservative; just as salt can helping
with healing; just as we need salt to live - so
Messiah’s real followers, by their lives and words
and prayers that are based on Messiah’s teachings,
make the world a better, healthier and tastier
place.
Once you
become a Messianic Jew or a born-again Christian,
stay salty! Don’t get distracted by other things!
Don’t lose your zeal. Don’t lose your focus! Don’t
lose your passion for God, for Messiah, for the
Bible, for the community, for evangelism, for
righteous and holy living! Don’t fall back into
your old bad habits and worldly ways and desires.
If you do, you won’t be fulfilling your purpose,
and your life won’t be the success that God wants
it to be, and you will suffer loss.
If you
have lost your first love, and your desire to
give all, and sacrifice all, and be all for Messiah,
won’t you admit it and turn back to Him? He will
graciously accept you and restore you and once
again use you.
He
who has ears to hear, let him hear”.
Are you
hearing? Are you really?
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