He Teaches the Multitude
Jesus always adapted the message to the listener. To the Pharisees, he preached
humility and charity. To the multitudes, in these verses, who seemed anxious to
follow Him; he explains the terms of discipleship. Notice:
- How straightforward He is in preparing them for the worse. He
perceived that these people expected wealth and honor in return
for being His disciple, but He warns them quite to the contrary.
- The qualifications for discipleship were very strict. They must
be willing to give up everything that they held dear, father and
mother, even their own life.
- They must be willing to bear the cross, be submissive to the reality
of it, to follow Christ. Not all the Disciples of Christ were
crucified, yet they all bore the cross one way or another.
- He warned them not to consider it if they could not meet these
qualifications. He wanted them to be truthful to themselves
and weigh the matter seriously before they decided.
- Like a man who undertakes to build a tower, you must consider
all the aspects before you begin to build. First, lay the
foundation deep. Then count the cost. Determine to persevere
to the end. Nothing is more detrimental to Christianity than
a "back slider".
- When we undertake to be a disciple of Christ we are like a man
that goes to war. He must first, consider the hazard of it.
The Christian life in this world is a warfare. We are soldiers
for Christ. It is better to understanding our weaknesses at
the start than to pretend to renounce them and fail. The
young man that could not find in his heart to renounce his
possessions for Christ did better to go away from Christ
"sorrowing" then to have pretended to do so.
The application of this parable here is consideration that we ought to take when we
make a profession of faith. We need to have impressed upon us the need to forsake
all for the sake of Christ. Notice he warns them against apostasy. Good
Christians are the salt of the earth. Poor Christians are like salt that has lost
its savor (taste). He indicates that it is extremely difficult, if not
impossible, to recover an apostate. He speaks of the things of God which he had
only a little knowledge of and it becomes as a parable in the mouth of a fool.
It is of no use. Men cast it out. "He that has ears to hear let him hear."
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