Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20091202.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Luke: Jesus, The Son Of Man For All Mankind
Part LIV: Christ's Identity As God's Savior By His Demands Of True Discipleship
(Luke 14:25-35)
  1. Introduction
    1. God is perfectly separate from sin, perfectly holy, so IF Jesus IS God's TRUE Savior of the world, a true disciple of His would necessarily be required to live a devoutly upright life.
    2. Jesus' identity as God's true Savior is seen in the demands He has of His disciples, demands necessary for them to be effective as His disciples. These demands verify Jesus is the truly righteous God's Son and Savior, and they also reveal the high expectations God has of us if we wish to be His effective disciples:
  2. Christ's Identity As God's Savior By His Demands Of True Discipleship, Luke 14:25-35.
    1. Jesus revealed His true disciples were expected to follow Him as their first priority, Luke 14:25-27:
      1. Jesus said His true disciple must follow Him at the cost of all relationships, even family, 14:25-26b:
        1. When the Lord commanded His disciples to "hate" his parents, spouse, children and siblings to be His disciple, He had to have been using a figure of speech, for Scripture passages elsewhere dictate that believers must love their family members, cf. Ephesians 5:25,33; Titus 2:4.
        2. Accordingly, "(t)he stress here is on the priority of love . . . [Christ taught] (o)ne's loyalty to Jesus must come before his loyalty to his family . . .", Bible Knowledge Com., N. T., p. 243.
        3. Thus, true disciples of Jesus were expected to follow Him above all human relationships like family.
      2. Jesus said His true disciples must follow Him even at the cost of all possessions like one's physical life:
        1. Christ stated one must "hate" his life to be an effective disciple in Luke 14:26c, and then added that one must be willing to take up his cross and bear it to be His true follower, Luke 14:27.
        2. In Jesus' day, one was forced to carry his cross to his crucifixion to admit before onlookers that the Roman government was right in executing him this way, Ibid.
        3. In the immediate context, this meant one who wished to follow Jesus must be willing to admit that Christ had the right to demand his life from him if doing so meant obeying God's will!
    2. Jesus revealed His true disciples were thus expected to plan and sacrifice to follow Him, Luke 14:28-33:
      1. A true disciple was thus to plan to follow Jesus as in the case of building of a tower, Luke 14:28-30: the illustration of the building of a tower teaches that one must be willing to plan to consider the cost of building a tower before he starts its construction or it will be left undone to his shame, Lk. 14:28-30. So, to follow Christ, one must plan to pay the price or look foolish in quitting after starting to follow!
      2. A true disciple was to sacrifice all to follow Jesus as when a king prepares to fight, Lk. 14:31-33: a king who goes to war faces a crisis that calls for his investment of all his resources -- his life and the lives of his men -- to achieve victory! Thus, one must willing to pay the ultimate price to follow Jesus lest he suffer tragic loss as a king in quitting after starting to follow due to the high costs involved.
    3. In summary, then, Jesus revealed that for a disciple of His to be EFFECTIVE as salt needs to be effective in retaining its savour, one MUST heed His word in Luke 14:25-33 on discipleship, Luke 14:34-35. We can then summarize this claim in application form as follows:
      1. To be an effective disciple, one must follow Jesus above all relationships, even family, Lk. 14:25-26a.
      2. To be an effective disciple, one must follow Jesus above all possessions, even one's life, 14:26b, 27.
      3. To be an effective disciple, one must then plan and sacrifice to follow Jesus at all costs, Lk. 14:28-33.
Lesson: Jesus revealed He expected His true disciples to be so committed to His will in their lives that they would choose to follow Him above all human relationships, even that of family, that they would be willing to follow Him above the cost of all possessions, even one's life, and that they would then FACE these facts, and PLAN to PAY the HIGHEST price POSSIBLE if they wanted to be EFFECTIVE.

Application: (1) In His lofty demands of true disciples, Jesus revealed He had an absolute level of righteousness that DEMANDED WHOLEHEARTEDNESS in His DISCIPLES, meaning He IS the HOLY GOD'S TRUE Savior of the world! (2) To be effective as His disciple, may we wholeheartedly plan to follow Christ, putting Him above all other relationships and possessions, and do so at all costs!