This is a question we all need to consider…
Are you too busy with your life to consider God and to give Him first place in your life?
Don’t you realize that we are His creation, that it is He who made us, that we belong to Him and we did not make ourselves?
If you don’t realize that then you’ve been educated beyond your intelligence!
Galatians 1:16 tells us that, “For in Him (Jesus) ALL things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.
All things were created through Him and for Him”; and in John 1:3, we are told, “All things came into being through Him (Jesus), and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.”
In Luke 14:15, Jesus tells a parable about a wedding feast which the Father in Heaven is planning for His children, and this parable illustrates the low regard that so many of His children have for Him.
The first thing necessary for one to obey the gospel message and be born-again, to have their sins forgiven and be reconciled back into God’s family again is that they have to recognize the value of what God is offering them!
What an honor and privilege it is that God is a requesting the honor of our presence at His wedding banquet!
Luke 14:15-33
The Message
The Story of the Dinner Party
15 (Someone said) “…How fortunate is the one who gets to eat dinner in God’s kingdom!”
16-17 Jesus followed up. “Yes. For there was once a man who threw a great dinner party and invited many.
When it was time for dinner, he sent out his servant to the invited guests, saying, ‘Come on in; the food’s on the table.’
18 “Then they all began to beg off, one after another making excuses.
The first said, ‘I bought a piece of property and need to look it over. Send my regrets.’
19 “Another said, ‘I just bought five teams of oxen, and I really need to check them out. Send my regrets.’
20 “And yet another said, ‘I just got married and need to get home to my wife.’
21 “The servant went back and told the master what had happened.
He was outraged and told the servant, ‘Quickly, get out into the city streets and alleys.
Collect all who look like they need a square meal, all the misfits and homeless and down-and-out you can lay your hands on, and bring them here.’
22 “The servant reported back, ‘Master, I did what you commanded—and there’s still room.’
23-24 “The master said, ‘Then go to the country roads. Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full!
Let me tell you, not one of those originally invited is going to get so much as a bite at my dinner party.’”
Figure the Cost
25-27 One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them,
“Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one’s own self!—can’t be my disciple.
Anyone who won’t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can’t be my disciple.
28-30 “Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it?
If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you’re going to look pretty foolish.
Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: ‘He started something he couldn’t finish.’
31-32 “Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? And if he decides he can’t, won’t he send an emissary and work out a truce?
33 “Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple.
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Let’s take another look at verse 26, which in the New King James Bible says, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”
Jesus here is telling those who follow Him that in order to be His disciple, they must love Him supremely, above all else.
One point that becomes very clear, as we understand the Second Commandment, is that ANYTHING that we put at a higher value and importance in our life than our relationship and devotion to God is an idol.
He’s not suggesting that men should have bitter hatred in their hearts toward father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters.
Rather He is emphasizing that love for Christ must be so great that all other loves are hatred by comparison (cf. Matt. 10:37).
No consideration of family ties must ever be allowed to deflect a disciple from a pathway of full obedience to the Lord.
Actually, the most difficult part of this first term of discipleship is found in the words “and his own life also.”
It is not only that we must love our relatives less; we must hate our own lives also!
Instead of living self-centered lives, we must live Christ-centered lives.
1 John 2:6 makes it very clear that WHOEVER says that he or she (is a Christian)that their lives [abides and remains] in God, they must learn to live and walk as Jesus lived and walked.
Come join the Adventure!
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