Life in Christ is effortless – His burden is light, His yoke is soft, His love is infinite and His grace is abounding. Yet there still exists within most communities of believers across the world a slight caution and an underlying reservation that it just can’t be that easy… After all, Jesus said it would cost us everything, right?
So then every one of you who does not abandon all his possessions is not able to be My disciple. (Luk 14:33 LITV)
This can definitely not mean that a person can’t be a disciple if they own a home, or a car, or earn an income to provide for their family’s needs. Jesus would not have put such a disclaimer on discipleship unless He intended to only have disciples from the poorest countries in the world, or have only people who choose to walk around in utter poverty being able to follow Him. He must therefore have meant something else with this statement.
Jumping on the Meat Train
Many “ministries” have jumped on the back of the Luke 11 passage, twisting Jesus’ words and telling their members that in order to be Jesus’ disciples they need to give their possessions or money away. Isn’t it always ironic then that when such statements are made, that people are also very conveniently given the banking details into which they can deposit this money?
A Good Deal
Earthly possessions can be either a tool or a master – a very useful tool but unfortunately a terrible master; one that will make people work their backsides off for their entire lives, but always leaving them unfulfilled.
However when Father captures our hearts with His grace, everything else becomes like dung in contrast. Our priorities will begin to reflect our passion for Him as we realize how much we are loved and valued. We love because He first loved us. The old man was circumcised (Col 2:11) and buried with Christ (Rom 6:4) and we received a new life which pulses its desires though our every fibre! There is a vast difference between living for God and having God live through us.
This exchanged life (our old, rotten, sinful corpses exchanged for His righteousness, life, love and the presence of the indwelling Spirit) is the best deal we could ever possibly hope to get! Everything else pales in comparison!
It is therefore not really a sacrifice to abandon our desires for earthly wealth, since such things will simply lose their appeal when we are filled with the Kingdom’s realities.
Another Interpretation of Luke 14:33
When we preach the truth to the extent that Jesus or some of the early apostles did, persecution is almost a guarantee. In fact, Jesus promised it:
Remember the word that I said to you, The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. (John 20:15a MKJV)
This may even include the loss of personal possessions at times, especially when the enemy throws his weight in behind the legalists.
