The Correct Order
So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions Luke 14:33
Not Give Up – This is certainly one of the “hard sayings” of Jesus. For that reason, it seems to be universally ignored. It goes against the human grain. Did Jesus really mean that we should forsake all of our possessions? Did He really mean that we should become paupers for the Kingdom? We are more inclined to think of His remark to the rich, young ruler (“Sell all that you have”) as applicable to rich, young rulers but not to us!
The Greek verb here offers some consolation – and some further obligation. The phrase is ouk apotassetai, literally “not place in order from”. In the New Testament, the verb apotasso is used only in the middle voice. That means it has the sense “to place in order away from myself”. We translate this phase as “not forsake” or “not renounce” but the underlying thought is to restructure the order of things so that we give up the incorrect arrangement and take on the correct priorities. Now we see what Jesus is really saying. “No one can be my disciple who does not take up the proper priorities about possessions.” In other words, if you don’t have God’s perspective about your possessions, you will not be able to follow the Master. Get God’s priorities first! Then you can follow Jesus.
What is God’s perspective on possessions? That’s the real question, isn’t it? Once I know what God thinks about my things, I’ll be able to see if my arrangement is correct. If it’s not, then I have a choice. I can change my priorities and become a disciple, or I can keep my priorities and not be His disciple. What I can’t do is keep my old priorities and still claim to follow Him.
Simply put, God’s perspective of things is a lease arrangement. He owns everything. I don’t. It’s all His to do as He wishes. I merely have a lease option, set up by Him. That means that my possessions are on loan to me, and that should He want them back or ask me to do something with them, I have no right to claim them as my own. As a matter of operational method, God is in the distribution business, not the accumulation business. So, He loans me what He owns in order that I may use it for His purposes. That’s it! Whenever I begin to think of things as under my control, I have the wrong priority. Wherever I begin to collect for my storehouse, I have the wrong arrangement. So Jesus says, “If you are not willing to see all that you have as merely passing through your hands on the way to someone else, you are mistaken. If you think that life is about collecting for yourself and your use, you have missed the point. Anyone who has that kind of thinking cannot be my follower.”
Enough said?
