The World Behind Me

In Luke 14 Jesus speaks to the crowds about the cost of discipleship. He said following Him will lead to breaks within the closest relationships because they simply will not understand your devotion to Him, He said, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Then he spoke of counting the cost before you follow Him and said, “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” Did Jesus mean that?

Can we follow Him with one foot in His kingdom and one foot in the world or must we count the cost, take up the cross, renounce everything and everyone one, and follow Him? Calvin said, “There is no middle ground between these two things: either earth must become worthless to us, or we must remain bound by the chains of extravagant love for it.” Bonhoeffer said, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.”

Does that seem out of place to you? Does that seem extreme? Does that seem to be something for then, but not for now…maybe it is true for those who live in communist countries, but not for those who live in the good old USA? There is only one way and Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” I want to suggest that Jesus meant exactly what He said every time He opened His mouth and that if our brand of Christianity doesn’t match the one found in the Bible…it is ours that is wrong.

If the lessons we have learned in our schools of faith allow us to think like the world, talk like the world, want what the world wants, and love what the world loves…we need a new school…we need to come to Jesus and enter into the school of His grace and discover the Way to life. That is only found in His Word and that is why the writer of our Psalm is consumed with it…it leads him to God and to life and he wants to eat and drink all that he can.

This week we will look at Psalm 119:33-40 where we will find a man coming to the right place for the right lesson…hope you will join me tomorrow as we dig in.