Take a few minutes to catch up and pray that God would bless you through the reading of His word.

[14:25] Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, [26] “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. [27] Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. [28] For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? [29] Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, [30] saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ [31] Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? [32] And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. [33] So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
[34] “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? [35] It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Observation

• Who was following Jesus (v. 25)?
  • Can everyone who comes to Jesus be his disciple (v. 26)? What 7 things must a disciple hate?
  • What two things does Jesus say that a disciple must do in v. 27?
• Look at the illustration in v. 28-33:
  • If you want to build a tower, what do you do first (v. 28)? What might happen if you don’t (v. 29-30)?
  • If you’re a king ready to go out to war, what must you figure out before you head out (v. 31)? What would you do if you conclude that you don’t have enough troops (v. 32)?
  • What is Jesus’ conclusion in v. 33?
• What does Jesus say about salt (v. 34)?
  • What question does Jesus ask about salt?
  • What use is salt without its saltiness?
  • What happens to it?
• How does Jesus conclude this teaching (end of v. 35)?

Interpretation

• We think of “hate” as animosity or antipathy. In Hebrew culture, “hate” was a way to express that idea of loving one thing less than another (cf. Genesis 29:30-31). With that said, what does Jesus mean when he says that we need to “hate” all of these people in our lives?
• What does it mean to bear your own cross? What feelings and images would a cross have conjured up in that culture?
• What is Jesus teaching about what it means to be his disciple?
  • How does a follower of Christ think about his or her own desires compared to Jesus’ will?
  • How is that reinforced by v. 33?
• What is the point of the two examples in v. 28-32? How does that relate to what Jesus has been saying in this passage?
• What is Jesus saying in v.34-35? How does it fit with the larger context of what Jesus is teaching? How is a disciple who doesn’t count the cost like salt that isn’t salty?

Application

• What are the costs of following Jesus for you personally?
• What does it mean for you to pick up your cross as you follow Jesus?
• What are the things that are most difficult for you to “hate” or “renounce”?

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