Well, yesterday we spoke about the meaning of faith. We saw that faith is this complete commitment of ourselves to God. Today we must pursue this question somewhat further. We need to look at when we say we commit ourselves fully to Christ, and what is involved in saying so, and in making this kind of commitment. Today I seek by the grace of God to expound to you the Lord's teaching from Luke chapter 14, verse 25, on to verse 33.
Now these words, the Lord Jesus speaks to us. Things to be difficult words, and by God's grace, we have to face up to them. The Lord Jesus always speaks the truth to us. And even though the truth may be hard to take, He always speaks the truth.
Now we see in this passage that great multitude, verse 25 tells us, were following, were accompanying Jesus. The people knew that Jesus had something they needed. And everywhere that Jesus went, the great crowds were accompanying him. He was not a vote catcher. He was not looking to be popular. And so there were these great crowds following Jesus. And notice what He does. He turns around to the crowds and He speaks to them.
And notice what He says: "If anyone comes to me." He does not speak to some special people. He speaks to anyone. "If anyone comes to me." He is not speaking to His apostles or His disciples only. And so we must notice that these words are to every single person. And verse 27, He says, "Whoever does not bear his cross." So we can see that these words of Jesus are going to apply to you and to me. As He spoke this to the crowds, all those crowds, these were the people He was speaking to.
He said, "If anyone comes to me." Well, they were there with Him already. What does He mean, "come to me"? How do we come to Jesus? He clearly did not mean a physical coming because they were already there. But He meant a spiritual coming to Jesus. Some people are physically coming here today, but they have not spiritually come to Jesus.
And then when He speaks to these people who want to come, He says, "If you want to come to me spiritually, I'm going to tell you what is the condition." And then He speaks words which seem to be so difficult. What does He say? He says, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."
Isn't that frightening all the people away? Yes, many people went away. Many people listened to Jesus once and they said, "The second time, we can't take it. What He says is too strong for me." And somebody said to me, "If you preach the gospel like this, as Jesus did, wouldn't it be that most of the people will not become Christians?" The Lord Jesus knows that. He didn't say, "You all come to me, it's okay. It doesn't matter how you believe, so long as you come to me, that's all right with me. Just come and fill the place up. I'm very happy when you're here." No, Jesus doesn't preach like this. But He says, "I'm going to tell you what is the condition." Those are hard words.
And so He says to them, except you hate all the people who are dear to you, including your own life, you cannot be His disciple. You cannot come to Him spiritually. Unless you do this, you cannot be a disciple of His, a follower of His.
Now, again, a disciple in the Gospels referred to any Christian. Any true Christian was called a disciple. It was not some special class of Christian. It was only later on, in Acts, that we find that the disciples were called Christians in Antioch. Who were called Christians? The disciples were called Christians. That means Christians and disciples, they are the same thing in the Bible. And that is why we saw that the opening words were addressed to everybody, the whole crowd.
But what did Jesus mean when He said, "You've got to hate your father and mother"? What does He mean by such frightening words? This is what Jesus said. We don't want to preach about this. Now, I know that many preachers, they don't want to preach about this. Let's look for another passage where it speaks about loving one another. Have you ever heard a preacher preaching on this passage? I've never heard a preacher preaching on this passage. So I'll be the first foolish man to preach on what Jesus taught us.
What did Jesus mean when He said that you cannot come to me spiritually unless you hate father, mother, and everybody, including your own life? Now in the Old Testament, you know that the fifth commandment says you shall honor your father and your mother. How can Jesus say that you need to hate them? I want to explain this to you because there are some enemies of the gospel who also like to take such passages and twist them, and young Christians become very confused.
Now in the Bible, we need to notice that Jesus had many enemies. And these enemies were always looking for some opportunity to attack Jesus. If He did some work on the Sabbath day, like His disciples picked a few grains of wheat, they'd say, "Ah, you're breaking the law." These enemies of Jesus, these Pharisees and scribes, they were always like vultures trying to find an opportunity to pick some bones. But if you notice, you'll find something interesting. Never once did the Pharisees and the Sadducees attack Jesus on what He said here. But if they wanted to attack Jesus, this would be a good thing to attack Him on. If they could say Jesus taught His disciples and everybody that they should not honor their father and their mother, and that they should break the fifth commandment, wow, they really got Jesus.
A strange thing is, Jesus' enemies never took the chance to attack Jesus for teaching this. You know why? Because the Jews understood what Jesus meant much better than anyone else. They knew exactly what He said. Jesus, of course, was not teaching any breaking of the fifth commandment, and the Jews knew that. In fact, in Mark chapter 7, verses 9 onwards, He rebuked the Pharisees and the scribes for not honoring their fathers and their mothers. So how can it be that He rebukes them for not honoring their father and their mother, and then says, if you want to come to me spiritually, you have to hate your father and mother?
So what did Jesus mean then? What did the Jews understand by what Jesus meant? Well, in the Jewish language, in the Jewish idiom, this hating somebody did not mean that you go out and you go and kill your father and mother. No, no, it didn't mean anything like this. It was an expression. When He says you must hate your own life also, it doesn't mean that you go to the revolving restaurant up there and then you jump down from there because you hate your own life. Jesus is not teaching us to commit suicide.
What this expression means is that when you are faced between the choice of two things, then what you choose is the one that you love more. And what you don't choose, that in the Hebrew expression was called to hate. So if you are forced to choose between two things, the one you choose is the one you love more, the one you don't choose is called hate. This is what we see also in Genesis chapter 29, for example. That Jacob loved one, and he hated the other of his wives. That doesn't mean that he really went and hated her and wanted to kill her. It means that he did not choose this one; when having to face between two, he preferred the one rather than the other.
Now once we understand this, we begin to see what Jesus is teaching us. This means that you can love both very much, but the one you prefer more is the one you love more, the one you don't prefer, that is the one in this Hebrew idiom, this way of speaking, that is called hate. Now what it means, what the Lord Jesus is saying to us is this: if you want to follow me, if you want to come to me spiritually, then you must put Jesus above everything else. You must love Jesus more than your father and your mother. You must love your father and mother. You must love them. But you must love God, you must love Jesus more than them. You must love Jesus more than even any member of your family who are close to you. And you must love Jesus even more than your own life.
So yesterday we saw that becoming a Christian is total commitment. And you may say, "Oh, total commitment, that's not so difficult. I just say, 'Lord, here I am. I commit myself totally to you.'" Not so quick. Jesus wants you to sit down and count the cost. Jesus doesn't want anyone just to rush in and say, "OK, I'm a Christian now." Two times in this passage Jesus says, sit down and count the cost. You notice that many times in big evangelistic meetings, people are swept by the emotion, the wonderful singing of the choir, and people feel so moved, they all rush to the front. And what Jesus says is, "No, no, no. Sit down. Sit down and count the cost." Total commitment is very costly.
What is the cost? The cost is to choose from now on, that whenever you are faced with a choice between God and your father, your mother, your wife, your children, yourself, you choose God. You say, total commitment is easy. Can you do that? You say you preach like this, all the Christians, which of us are going to be Christians? How hard is to become a Christian like this? But my friends, I didn't tell you this. Jesus tells us what He requires. We love our fathers and mothers very much. We love our wives and our children. We love our own life too. But if we are going to become a true Christian, Jesus says, you love them is right, but you will love God even more.
This means total commitment requires of us that God always comes first in your life. You say you are a Christian, then let me ask you, is God always first in your life? Can you honestly say that through this day, God has always been first in your life? Can you honestly say that God is more important than your studies, than your business, than your family?
Let me illustrate what the Lord Jesus means by an illustration that shows us that when called to the test, when we have to make a choice, the true Christian chooses God. This is a true account that is recorded for us, and which always moves me when I read that account. This account is found in the Jewish literature. This was the time when the Greek king in Syria was persecuting the Jews. And he tried to stop the Jews from worshiping God. And there was a family in which there was a mother and seven sons. They had a wonderful life together because they all loved God. They were united in God. Their hearts were devoted to God. No family was so united as they were. This father died, and the mother had brought up these seven sons. They were very precious.
And when the Greeks came to this place, they said all Jews must not worship their God anymore. If anyone was caught praying to their God, they would be put to death. Every family was tested. And this happened to this family. Now this family had been very happy. Now the Syrian and Greek armies brought this mother and these seven sons to the altar of idols. But not one person was willing to worship any idol. They were brought before the government official. He said, "Are you not going to worship our gods?" They said, "No."
So he said to the mother, "Well, if I can't persuade you to talk to the sons, maybe I will be able to persuade you by some action." So he took out the oldest son and put him to death in front of his mother and the other six. He said, "Now, do you think you are going to turn away from your God? Will you persuade your sons to turn away from God now? Do you enjoy seeing your sons dying? Do you want to see them all dying?" She said, "You can do what you like. I love my sons, but not one of them is going to turn from God."
And so one by one, down to the sixth, the fifth, the fourth, the third, everyone was put to death in front of the mother and the sons and all the people of the village. Not one son would turn from God. And it came to the youngest son. He was only a teenager at that time, a young teenager. The governor said, "Well, you are a young boy. You don't have to die. Your whole life is in front of you. You can just turn away from God and you will be alright." And the young boy said, "Don't waste your time. Just get on with it."
So he said to the mother, "Persuade your son." She spoke to him in Aramaic, which of course the Greeks couldn't understand, and told him, "Stand firm to the end, my son. I don't want to lose you." That means she didn't want to lose him in eternity. To lose him now meant that she would not lose him in eternity. She had to choose now. And she chose.
Which do you think would you call this: loving the son or hating the son? Of course she loves the son. But you can see now that these sons love their own lives. Of course they love their own lives. Nobody enjoys dying. But they loved God more than their own life. They hated, in comparison to their love for God, they hated their own life. In the end, the mother also was forced to death, having watched all her seven sons put to death in front of her. This is something that teaches us what it means, exactly what the Lord Jesus says, that when you have to be put to a choice, here you see that this mother and these sons, they loved God more than everything else, more than their own lives also.
This is the kind of commitment that Jesus requires of every person who is going to come to Him. This is devotion to God. If every person in the church had this kind of devotion to God, what kind of a church would we have today? What kind of Christians have we got in the church today? Oh, that God would speak to us. Jesus doesn't just want His churches to be filled up. He wants the men and the women of this kind of quality.
Think about it. That is the cost He requires of us when we come to Him. And when you thought that when we said yesterday that faith means total commitment, did you think that that was too high a standard that the Bible set for us? And let me ask you to look at Jesus' words and see for yourself what He said. I ask you to go home and look at these words again and see what they say to you. Jesus wants every Christian to be a dedicated man and woman.
How are we going to reach out in mission to the world with Christians who are neither hot nor cold? How can we be the light of the world when we are half darkness rather than light? And I hear people who want to say they want to bring the gospel to China. How are you going to bring the gospel to China? Do you know that the communists are some of the most dedicated people in the world? I say to you as I say to others: if the Christians today were to preach the gospel to the communists, they would laugh at you.
I was in China during what is known as the Korean War. And do you know, when the Chinese soldiers came back from the front, we had the most funny reports about the American soldiers and the United Nations soldiers. The American soldiers were always called the chocolate soldiers. That means to say, if they didn't get their daily ration of chocolate bar, they can't fight properly. And we had every kind of joke in China about these allied soldiers. The Chinese soldiers, you know, when they had nothing to eat, they took their leather belt, they boiled that and they ate their leather belts. They kept fighting. They went in there to fight, often hungry, often frozen, but they fought with dedication.
But the Americans required saturation bombing, they required long range artillery attack. No wonder, when I was in Hong Kong later on, there was an American Air Force officer. And some of our friends took him up to the Chinese border. He had just come from the Korean war. And we took him to the Chinese border and showed him, "That's China over there." He said, "Let's get going. Let's get out of here." So what's the matter? He said, "They frightened the wits out of me." Why? Because of the dedication of these soldiers.
And you want to be Christians? You want to preach the gospel to people with this kind of dedication? Would you be willing to chew your leather belt for Christ? Would you be willing to go through the icy waters of Korea, frozen, when even their trousers were frozen stiff into ice barrels, and they went on fighting the battle? How many Christians would be willing to do this?
I think that when the communists listen to Jesus' teaching, oh, that makes sense to them. Yes, of course you expect this kind of dedication. What else do you expect? But when you speak to the chocolate soldiers, you say, "Oh, this kind of thing, this is too high, this is too much." What kind of soldiers do we have in the church? We are going to go out and preach the gospel to these kind of people?
Any of you have heard of the 25,000 li long march, the 8,000 miles march that the communist soldiers made? I think the communists really put every Christian to shame. I feel ashamed of the church in talking to the communists. When we take them traveling, they cross several mountains and they have too much food. 8,000 li, they walked 8,000 li. We in the church go out hiking and we walk a few hills and those people already say, "Far enough." But these communist soldiers, they walked over 8,000 li.
They used to astonish me, some good sisters from Hong Kong. They seem always to be used to sitting on the bus. When I said, "Let's walk the three blocks down," "Wow, three blocks? No, no, no, we'll take a taxi." Oh, what Jesus requires of us is dedication. "You want to be my disciple? I tell you what I require of you."
And do you think Jesus wants His whole church full of these chocolate soldiers? No, He wants men of this kind of dedication. I tell you honestly, if I hadn't seen the Chinese Christians, the brothers and sisters in China, I would never have become a Christian. It is because I saw the lives of this kind of Christians, dedicated Christians, I said, "Lord, that's the kind of Christian I am ready to be. This is the only kind of Christian that really makes sense." That's why I often say, I thank God that the communists came to China. If the communists didn't come to China, I would never become a Christian. Because when the communists came to China, you know, the churches were full every Sunday. You squeeze in the church, so many people wearing nice jackets, nice hats, all come to church. And as the communist armies got nearer and nearer, the church got fuller and fuller, until the communists had arrived in Shanghai, and then the church was empty. Because the others got frightened, they started running very fast. And so the only kind of Christians that stood back, which remained, were the dedicated Christians.
I wonder how many of you would come into this meeting if you had found outside there was a desk at the front door, and there was a cadre sitting there to take your name and address down before you come in. I think very few would like to come in. I went to church one day and that's exactly what I found in Shanghai. One day I went to church and I saw at the door of the church the cadre was sitting there, taking the names of everybody coming in. And I saw some people coming to the church, they saw the cadre, quick turn back. There were only the few who went in.
# The Meaning of Faith (2) - Part 2
Like this kind of building. Notice what it means when we say the Christian life is like building a tower. The first thing about the tower is that it doesn't build sideways, it builds upward. So the true Christian life is one that builds upward towards God. And also like the tower, the true Christian life stands out from the rest. When you are building your life, are you building your life upward or are you building sideways? If you are building sideways, you are not building a tower. But if you are a true Christian, your life is going upward. As Paul says, "Let your mind be concerned with the things above."
When you talk to many Christians, they will talk to you about the latest model of the car. They know all about cars. They know all the latest things about cars. The latest kind of stereo, and how you use this one. And there's the latest tape recorder. They know all about that. But the spiritual things, they know nothing about that. Their knowledge is that from the Sunday school. Their interest is not upward. It goes sideways along the ground. And not surprisingly then, not like the tower, their life doesn't stand out from the crowd. The true Christian life is like the tower. It stands out from the crowd. It stands there for all to see. The light shines out.
And thirdly, we notice the towers, because of their height, are built very strongly. Many times you'll find if you see archaeological things, most things have collapsed. It's surprising. Many towers stand. In Jerusalem, I remember I saw a tower, very ancient. In many places, the walls fell down, but the tower is still standing. They had to build it so strong. And so also us, as Christians, we build for eternity. We build for the things which last, not the things that pass away. When you are a Christian, you live the life with a view for eternity, or just building for the time being, and soon it will fall apart.
Now the Lord Jesus says, you've got to count the cost. Why? Not just so that you make a start, but that you can finish it. There are so many Christians, they make a start, they never finish. And there are too many of these people. Even people who are going into Christian work, they made a start, they never finish. They even went as far as theological college, and then that's the end of them. You see, becoming a Christian is not just to make a start, you have to finish. That's what being a Christian means. And the Lord Jesus says, if you make a start and you don't finish, then the people will laugh at you and say, "Well, this man started, and he couldn't finish." So many Christians, they have so dishonored Christ. They made a start, they made some profession at some conference, some meeting, they raised their hands, they went to the front, and then they fell away from Christ. These people do great damage to the church.
Just like the other day, I was speaking at a meeting in London, Ontario, and there was a man who said, "You know, I've been a Christian for many years but I'm not a Christian now." I said, "You know what is a Christian? You tell me what is a Christian." And I found out he didn't even know what is a Christian. He'd been a Christian for many years, but of course he goes around telling everybody that he had been a Christian when he never even knew what it was to be a Christian. Now we find that these are people who made some kind of start, they never finish. What is your Christian life like? Are you building for eternity?
Now the other thing that the Lord Jesus says is that the Christian life is like warfare. I hope you know that being a Christian means involved in warfare. If you are not a Christian today, let me tell you, to become a Christian means you're going to get involved in spiritual fighting, spiritual war. So many Christians, you know, they hear this spiritual shooting going on, they say, "Hey, I'm in the wrong place," and run. Did you think becoming a Christian was going on a picnic? Enjoying the scenery, "Oh, this is okay, to be a Christian like that is alright." But when you tell them this is war, this is a different story.
The Bible tells us again and again that when you become a Christian you are going to be involved in warfare. Now if you told a communist that you become a communist you are going to be involved in war, he says, "I know that, it's clear." That is why when Chairman Mao said we are going to make the 8,000 mile march, they march. So when you tell the Christians the Christian life is a war, they think, "Who said I don't want to join a war? I want to join the peace. I want to have a peaceful time." I hope tonight you really know that becoming a Christian is going to involve you in a very long march. The march through this life. The long march from now until we see Jesus face to face. And on this march you are going to be attacked by enemy after enemy. You are going to come under pressure of attack from the enemy on all sides as you go on. And don't say what kind of strange thing is happening here. That is why the apostle Peter said to the Christians, don't think something strange is happening to you when you suffer tribulations and trials.
Notice the Lord Jesus says, it is like a king going to war. We are in a certain sense like a king. In this sense that we have the full responsibility of our life on our hands. We are going to decide what we are going to do with our lives. In this sense we are king of our lives. And so Jesus, when He gave this example in His teaching, is always so perfect. He didn't say it was like a soldier in war. He says like a king going forth to war. In this sense you see the soldier has no decision over his own future. His commander makes the decision. But Jesus says you have the decision. You can decide today what you are going to do with your life. You can decide whether you are going to live for Jesus. You are going to join Him on the long march. Or you are going to back out. You can decide whether you want to go for eternal life. Or you are just happy to live for the next few years, and die and get buried and call it the finish. You are the king of your own life. And you have to decide whether you are going to be willing to face this cost or not. You cannot pass the responsibility of your life to anybody else. God says He will hold you to account. You are master of your own life right at this moment. You can say, "I'm going to hand over my life to You." Or you can say, "I'm going to do what I like. I'm going to make a mess of it."
Now notice also the beauty of Jesus' teaching. He says it's like a king going out with an army of 10,000 soldiers to fight an army of 20,000 soldiers. He says, you may be a king, but you are faced with very heavy odds. It is said in English that there is no head that is so heavy as the head that wears the crown. You see, you are the one then who is going to face the disaster head-on. Notice the Lord Jesus says that the odds are always against you in this life. You are going to face enemies which are more strong than you are. How are you going to win? Either you are going to win in Jesus' strength, or you will never win at all. And the king that loses is worse than the slave. The slave that loses just becomes the slave of another master. The king that loses gets his head chopped off. So you can see that Jesus is saying life is like this. You are a king. You have to face life. But all the odds in life are against you. You are bound to lose unless you have the power from Jesus to win. Unless you are on Jesus' side, you are going to lose.
And so today you have to face this decision. Whether you are going to win or to lose. There is no neutral ground here. Are you going to become this true Christian or are you not? But when you become a true Christian, you have also the enemy against you. The world is against you. Every enemy is going to come against you. And as soon as you try to be a true Christian, you know when you are a true Christian because every enemy will come up against you. If you are not a true Christian, you have very few spiritual problems. You have lots of problems inside yourself, but the enemy outside does not attack you. You are not worth attacking.
What kind of enemies do we face? We face the attack even of those who are dear to us. You see, here is where sometimes we have to make the choice between father, mother, wife or children. Here is where we have to make a choice, often in following Jesus.
You know, recently we had some people in England who came to Christ. And the strange thing in your life is, often the people who love you most become your strongest enemies when you take a step for Christ. There was a brother who wanted to come to be baptized. He committed his life to Christ. And his brother was a kung fu expert. When he heard that his younger brother became a Christian, oh, he was so angry. And he phoned the pastor of the church where we are going to have the baptism. And he said to the pastor, "If my brother gets baptized in your church, I am going to see to it that that service in your church will be stopped. I am going to deal with you."
And so when I got back, I was away at the time, and this pastor passed the phone to me, and he said, "You've got to come and protect me. Somebody's going to beat me up on that Sunday." So I said to him, "What would you like to do? You want to call in the police?" He said, "No, no, I'm not calling in the police." He was willing, this dear man, to be beaten up for Christ's sake. He didn't want anybody to come and interfere. And this brother said to the pastor, "If my younger brother is baptized, I tell you what, I tell you honestly, I'm going to kill him." So when I came back, I asked his younger brother, I said, "You know, your brother is threatening to kill you and to disturb the church. Do you want to still be baptized? If you want to step back, I understand." But you see, these are people of total commitment. He said, "Oh no, I am going on with the baptism." But when he took the step and we prayed for the brother, it was amazing. His brother was completely changed. And he phoned to me, and I thought he was going to come and threaten me too, that brother. He said, "Can I come and see you?" I said, "You're most welcome to see me." And when he came, his whole attitude was changed. He said, "I'm so sorry to disturb you." I thought, funny, this was the same man who went to telephone the other pastor and went to see him and threaten him. And now he became good friend with me after the conversation we had together.
Or else there was another one who, when he became a Christian, a student of physics. And when he became a Christian, his family said, "You become a Christian and we cut you off financially." The family was so angry with him. And there would be no more education for him. There would be no more money from his family. And I asked him also, "Will you go on with the baptism or not? I said, it's a high cost to be a Christian. You might lose your education. You'll lose your future, your career. Do you really want to go on with baptism?" I remember when I asked him that question, he bowed down his head. And a few moments later, he looked up at me and he said, "I'll go on." He had counted the cost. The cost was high, but he would go on.
These are soldiers of Christ. These are true disciples. And he went on, and his family cut off the supply. He had no more money. He had to stop his education. But the church got together and tried to help him, and we managed to see him on. But of course, at that time, he didn't know that the Christians were going to stand by him. He had never been a Christian before. He never knew that the church would love him, would stand by him. You see, these were people who became Christians at such a cost. It's no wonder that God used these people so much. God blessed them so much.
So I speak to you, and I present these words of Jesus to you today. Are you willing to be totally committed? And look what Jesus says to us. He says to us, you have got to put God above everything else. Even above your own education, your own interest, everything, God comes first. If you are willing to live that kind of life, God will commit Himself to you in His fullness. Because you can say, if I commit myself in this way, I commit myself totally to Him, what have I got left? What you have, you will have God. God will be your reward. God will be your exceeding great joy. God will be your strength. You've got nothing left, you've got God. How would you like that? If you want the world, you don't have God. You want God, you don't have the world. What is your choice today?
You see, there are so many Christians, then, when they say, "I come to God, I pray, and God doesn't hear me when I pray. I don't have joy in the Christian life. I don't have the power of the Christian life that I see the true Christians have." You have to choose either you want God or you want the world. And Jesus' message to us today is very clear. If you want me, then you have to leave everything else. I am the one that's going to be most precious to you. Is it worth it? I testify it's worth it. When I became a Christian, that's exactly what I learned to do. In all these years, I have proved that when you put Jesus first, you put Him above everything else, then you know the joy and the power of the Christian life.
But if you are not willing to walk this way, then don't say you haven't been told how to live the rich, the full, the overflowing Christian life. That is why so many Christians are spiritually so poor. Just as I said to you yesterday, that rich doctor, he had everything. He had religion, he had money, he had all those things. But he didn't have God and he was so poor. But you will see that you cannot try to grab with one hand the world and the other hand trying to take hold of God. It doesn't work.
So we have seen faith is total commitment. But total commitment involves a high cost. But there is nothing that is more precious than having God. But I say to you again, if you want God and you want to hang on to the world, you will never get either of them. If you want the world, you will never have God. Brothers and sisters, I beg of you to understand it. I hope you will understand this. Tomorrow we will go on to see what is the outflowing richness of the Christian life. But first we have to lay the groundwork. The basic truth. How to be a true Christian. Let us be quiet before God. Thank you.