Jesus the Light 4 That I May Know Him
To a vast host of would-be followers, the Lord Jesus turned and said: “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” -Lk.14:25,26.
Hatred of the downward pull of every natural relation is mandatory for every disciple. One cannot properly be called a disciple, a learner, a follower, who disobeys Christ because of man – the pressure of those closest to us.
The requirement for every true disciple is to reject, in the strongest possible manner, any tendency, suggestion, or directive to stray from Christ Himself. A disciple must hate even his own self: his own opinion, perspective, and inclination.
Prov.28:26 simply states: “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool.” And so the only valid alternative is Prov.3:5: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.”
This is why rejection of Self is our only option. In Lk.14:28-35, Jesus tells us that our resources are completely lacking. None of us has what is required to produce fruitfulness in the coming day or to secure victory over the enemy of our souls.
In this Scripture, the Lord Jesus is not directing us to look within ourselves and assess our own will power, commitment, and sincerity. He is not looking for people who will pledge their own loyalty out of a determined self-effort.
Self-help is not God’s help. God does not help those who help themselves; those who think so become the ridiculed fools described who “began to build and were not able to finish” -Lk.14:30.
The point of counting the cost in this passage is simply this: when we honestly evaluate what we possess to contribute toward being a disciple, it falls far short of the requirements.
Actually, our imagined resources are a positive hindrance, a liability which is outstanding against us, a stumbling block. What we have to contribute is so far worthless that the Lord’s conclusion sweeps it all away as so much refuse.
Lk.14:33: “So, therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up/forsake/say ‘farewell’ to all that he has/all his own possessions/all the resources from himself.” The possessions He refers to are not “things;” they are what we account as valuable as contributing toward being His disciples.
They are our perceived assets of religious devotion, culture, intellect, morality, and strength of resolve. You cannot be His disciple while you are relying upon what you possess, expecting to donate that to the cause of becoming what you ought to be.
You rather must hate it. You must see Self as that which is condemned by God as being fit only for a cross. You cannot be His disciple unless you give up all the resources you treasure as dear.
As great as the apostle Paul was, he stated truly in 2 Cor.3:5: “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to consider anything as out from ourselves, but our sufficiency is out from God.” And again he asks in 1 Cor.4:7: “And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”
And John the Baptist confessed in Jn.3:27: “A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven.”
A true disciple abandons Self, his attainments and esteem, and flees to his only hope of life and godliness, the Lord Jesus Himself. A real disciple embraces the cross as putting to death within himself that which is at total enmity against God. Anything else is worthless.
Jesus used salt to illustrate this truth. Lk.14:34,35: “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.”
Salt is always salty; it never can lose its saltiness. This is how it is recognized. If it isn’t salty, it isn’t salt. The very nature and composition of it makes it so.
The only thing that would hide its saltiness would be the introduction of such a volume of other elements that its presence goes undetected. But even then it hasn’t lost its savor, it has merely been overcome by other things so that its flavor is “lost” in the mixture.
The nature of salt is saltiness. The nature of a disciple is an abandonment of Self-confidence. If it isn’t salty, it isn’t salt. If respectable religious Self-confidence has its grip on your heart, you have not yet known the Lord Jesus.
Relying upon your own resources proves that you are not His disciple. If your devotion to Christ is unrecognizable by reason of mixture with so many contrary religious practices of the world, you will be thrown out. If the “salt” in you is undetectable, it renders you useless. What will you do when you discover the true condition of your heart?
When Paul discovered his, he threw it out. All of his heritage, his academic achievements, his strict religious practices, the polished masquerade of righteousness, and his consuming zeal for his religion’s tradition were thrown out as so much offensive filth.
Thus are the flesh, Self, and what we esteem ourselves to be. They are against us. Religious pride leads to our everlasting ruin, and many are deceived thereby.
Lk.18:9-12: Jesus “spoke to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.” The deceived religious ruler prayed thus to himself: “God, I thank You that I am not like other men – extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I pay tithes of all I possess.” But this man prayed and perished in his pride.
When Paul’s eyes were opened to see himself as he truly was, he summed up his past life and what he did about it in Phil.3:8,9: “I count them but rubbish/ filth/ dung/ in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own…but that which is through faith in Christ.”
He did not view anything he possessed as being an asset: as contributing to any right standing with God. Whatever could be conceived of as in his favor, a credit to his account, a resource, a valued commodity, was actually the opposite.
It was a “loss;” it stood against him. All of his perceived gain was actually a debit, a liability, an impoverishment, an outstanding obligation, bringing him down to hell.
Here is the verdict of Phil.3:7,8: “But whatever things were gain to me, I have counted as loss because of Christ. Yes indeed, I count all things loss because of the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.”
Yes, this is life worth pursuing; this is a knowledge above all other: Christ our Righteousness! Christ our Life!
Dear Listener, do you truly know the Lord Jesus or are you merely a respectable religious person? Are you trusting in Him alone or are you assuming that church attendance, or your Reverend’s blessing, or baptism or communion, or tithing, or keeping your church’s traditions will cleanse your heart and carry you to heaven?
These things can never do what only Christ can! O that you might know the Lord Jesus and the power of His resurrection! May you press on to know Him!
Copyright Steve Phillips 2019