S7E23 - Luke 9:46-62 - What is Greatness?

The disciples get into a debate that feels painfully modern: who is the greatest. We open Luke 9:46-62 and watch Jesus dismantle the whole scorekeeping mindset with one simple move, he brings a child to his side and ties true greatness to humility. As we talk it through, we keep coming back to motives: would we still serve if nobody noticed, and do we secretly want recognition more than obedience?

From there, the conversation shifts to ministry jealousy and church unity. John tries to shut down someone casting out demons because he “does not follow with us,” and Jesus refuses the territorial spirit. We dig into what it looks like to hold tight to essential doctrine while staying open-handed on secondary issues, and we ask the hard questions about denominational loyalty, comparison, and whether we feel threatened when God uses someone else.

Then the road to Jerusalem exposes another heart issue: retaliation. When a Samaritan village rejects Jesus, James and John want fire from heaven, but Jesus rebukes them and moves on. We connect that to the online outrage cycle, political heat, and everyday moments where mercy is harder than revenge. Finally, we sit with Jesus’ sober call to discipleship: no comfort guarantees, no “let me first,” no looking back once your hand is on the plow.

If you want a deeper Bible study on Luke 9, Christian humility, servant leadership, and the cost of following Jesus, listen through and take notes. Subscribe to the Life Talk Podcast, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

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Transcript

Welcome And Where We Are In Luke

SPEAKER_03 0:20

What's up, Lifehouse family?

SPEAKER_02 0:22

Welcome back to the Life Talk Podcast. Week after week, it is a true joy to be having deep biblical conversations, bringing those to you, helping you as you continue your daily walk through the week. And this week is no exception. We we work to bring you great content every week. And so, man, the month of June is moving along. We are approaching hotter times, just the dog days of summer are getting here quickly. But I have a great crew that has been super dedicated, been holidays and into the month.

SPEAKER_03 0:58

And so Mitch Poe's still with us. I'm here.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

He's not retired again. Again, thank you, sir. I'm hanging in. I'm racking up the elder scoreboard here on the podcast episode. Good to have you. And sir. Keith is sticking with us. Haven't gone on summer vacation yet.

SPEAKER_03 1:15

So the grandkids keeping you busy. Absolutely. I love all of them.

SPEAKER_04 1:21

They're great, aren't they?

SPEAKER_03 1:22

Number seven is on its way. Due very soon, right? Very soon. Very soon. A few more weeks. Very good. And then Jeremy Alrich continuing the streak. What's going on, man?

SPEAKER_00 1:33

What's up, Nate? Just happy to be continuing the streak. Happy to be here.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

I'm glad you're not on IR. No injuries this past week. You didn't trip down the stairs and were uh get stretched over anything and couldn't talk on us. So that's good.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

It was touch and go for a little bit, but you know, but I'm here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

That's right. I know you were asking for prayer on that illness there. So but man, we are excited to bring another episode. We are going to finish chapter nine this week. Last week, Mitch brought us some really deep thoughts, deep information to help us understand the transfiguration, how we can see Christ's glory, handle mountaintop experiences, understand what's going to follow that. But we are going to see a lot of great wisdom here. A couple weeks ago, we talked about Jesus predicting his death in verse 43 through 45, but we're going to pick up today in verse 46. What does it take to be great in the kingdom of heaven? Keith, what what how do we answer that question?

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Well, as we look at this passage, we look all the way from 46 all the way down to the end of the chapter there. You know, we see Jesus exposes some things here. And this passage moves from the discipleship, the disciples arguing about the greatest all the way

Greatness Through Childlike Humility

SPEAKER_01 2:45

down to Jesus calling people to radical surrender. So let's just jump in right here to verse 46. It says, An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. Just put yourself there with these guys, and an argument arises among them. And which one I'm better than you, you know, you're better than me. But Jesus, knowing the reason of their hearts, that's key there. He knows the reason of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me, for he who is least among you all is the one who is greatest. You know, I just think that is a crazy reality that here we have grown men sitting around deciding who's the greatest because they all wanted to be the greatest. And Jesus leans over, picks up a child, puts them on his lap, and basically in the culture, you got to understand the culture of that day, children had little status. They had no power, they had no influence, there's no prestige. And Jesus, Jesus basically flipped their worldly thinking upside down on his disciples. Jesus is telling them God's kingdom values humility over prominence. And I think that's a key in the world we face today. I think there's a lot of people that are filled with pride and they're not humble. And Jesus wants us to be humble. You know, over in Philippians 2, it talks about do nothing from self-ambition or conceit, but in humility, count others more significant than yourself. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. And as we see that, and we see that right here, and these guys are arguing, you know, servanthood should be the most important thing that we think of as Christians. How can we serve others? Not what kind of title am I going to, how great will I be? What will people think of me? We should be looking at how do we serve others? Jesus came to serve, he's a model of servanthood. And I think that is one of the big things there and faithfulness over platforms. You know, a lot of people want platforms, they want to be popular, they love the celebrity Christian point of view, but really we need to have humility in our life if we're really willing and wanting to reach people for Christ. You know, so as we look at that, you know, I just some few questions here is that I would think about through these verses would be do I secretly want recognition more than obedience? Do I want recognition? And I think that's what the disciples are wanting, recognition more than obedience. So I don't know, let's swing it around here. What what do you guys think?

SPEAKER_02 5:43

I think especially like you're hitting on what are your motives? You know, like you said, what are you are you looking for recognition? Are you looking for obedience? I've had this conversation, you know, in my engineering career where I'd have people come to me and say, I want to be a manager or I want to, you know, head the department. And my my question is like, why? You know, and a lot of times the answer was, well, I want the title or I need the money or it's the next thing in my career. And I was like, we need to stop right here. You're you're doing this for the wrong reason. Because I said if you're going to lead people, you gotta care about people. And so you're doing it for the wrong reason. And that's just in a you know, secular context, how much more important, like you're saying, in the kingdom of God. But interesting arguments among believers, right? That never happens.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Yeah, so I guess the real thing there is what I still serve if nobody noticed. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Yeah, the I I agree with you, Nate and Keith. The you know greatness in in the kingdom is not is measured by humility, like you said, Keith, not about hierarchy. Yeah. And a couple weeks a couple months ago now, I think probably TJ Sylvis had a had when he was speaking into offering, he talked about a root cause analysis. And Keith, I know this is one of your topics that you like to talk about too, but like, but when it boils down, if you ask the why, why why did I do this? Why did I do this? It comes down to pride. And and you know, pr it pride can blind us, it can be a and and and bind us in to but we we we fail to see the the spiritual reality around us because we get so self-centered.

SPEAKER_04 7:16

Yeah, I I had a verse written in my margin, actually right next to this, where it says, Which one of them was the greatest? It's Romans 12, three, and it says this for by the grace given to me, this is Paul speaking, I say to every one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. So I think Jeremy, to your point, and what I've spoken to many times is I think pride is a root. I'll say it again, I think I think at the source of every sin that we commit is pride in some form or another. I think it comes down to that. I read something this week, and it kind of touches on this subject or this passage of jealousy has its roots in pride. And if you think about this, these were the disciples, they're arguing amongst themselves about who's gonna be the they're jealous of each other and they're who's gonna get the highest position kind of thing. I mean, it really comes down to pride and what had just happened prior to this, the transfiguration of Christ, then they get dirty with this ministry. This guy's crying out right off the mountaintop. Jesus foretells his death again, and then they're still they're arguing about you know who's the greatest. It's like, and again, it's easy to Monday morning quarterback this, it's easy to say, you know, woulda, coulda, shoulda on these guys, and but it's so obvious, it's like, you know, they're doing things, and I guess it's recorded here for our learning, and this is the recording here like what not to do, and and Jesus is redirecting them again through this object lesson of a child and the humility that that that child entails.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Yeah, so I think you know, when you look at that, you know, basically, do I treat insignificant people with honor? Do I treat the insignificant, the lower, the people that aren't as popular? Do I treat them the same way I treat others? And Jesus speaks out about it here. He grabs that child, puts them on his lap, and says, Look, look here, guys. Look here. So Jesus says, Greatness is measured by humility and being

When Ministry Jealousy Shows Up

SPEAKER_01 9:10

a servant. Then let's jump down to verse 49 here. Anyone not against us is for us, basically. So Jesus answers, Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he does not follow with us. Boy, have we heard that before? He doesn't do what we do, so let's stop him. But Jesus said to him, Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you. Well, how many times do we think in our own minds, you know, these people are against us? Our mind could play so many tricks on us. So people may say, see, he's for anything and everything, but Jesus wasn't. Jesus was actually trying to teach them something here. And what John is saying here is we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him. Jesus, why was John trying to stop him? Because they weren't part of their group. They weren't part of them. So Jesus rebukes this attitude, and Jesus says, do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you. Now, does that mean that, you know, whatever people do, you just don't stop them? No, I think there's some deep theological, you know, convictions and beliefs there that we should stand for, and we should make sure we call out when it's that. But the reality is Lifehouse Church will reach people that other churches won't reach, and other churches will reach people that will never reach. And the truth is God works beyond our personal circles. God works way beyond that. Paul addresses it later, the dangers of criticism. He actually addresses that over in 1 Corinthians 12, 12 through 27. He said the human body, we're all made up parts, you know, the part, the arms, the hands. We all can't be everything. So but we have to work together. And verse 27 says, and all of you together are Christ's body, and each of you as part of it. This does not mean that doctrine doesn't matter. Important distinctions matter. Jesus is not endorsing false teaching, and neither should we as a church or as people. But we as Christians must stand firm on the scripture and salvation, and that through salvation is through by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ alone. And so when we look at this, are we jealous of ministry? Are we jealous of other people's ministry? Are we jealous of others even in our own church? Are we territorial? Jesus is basically saying, hey guys, don't do that. Verse 50, but Jesus said to him, do not stop him. Don't stop him. You know, I think of some questions here that I would want to ask, I guess, and just talk through is am I more loyal to maybe a church or a denomination than to Christ alone? So who am I more loyal to with my faith?

SPEAKER_02 12:07

I think that's super relevant in our culture today. I think it was something I had heard, you know, because we have so much religious freedom, which is a great thing, we don't want to say religious freedom is bad, but now we have all this disagreement. We have all these, you know, and if you haven't heard a good breakdown is theological triage, maybe a good term for the listeners if you haven't heard. There's like these first, second, third order, and going back to a few episodes, like there are crucial questions, like you say, Keith, on doctrine that we have to stand firm on, you know, who Christ is, what he did, what we are to do. But when there's a lot of things like, you know, we could use big theological words, I won't jump into all of them, but things people divide over that just aren't that important and aren't faithful to like keeping first things first. And that's what we see here is just because they're not part of my group, ah, that's that's another church down the road. Well, are they reaching people for Jesus? That's what we should be asking.

SPEAKER_04 13:00

I wonder if it's not also kind of Jesus continuing this idea of their pride and their jealousy, because what they tried to stop somebody who was casting out demons because they didn't follow us. What were the disciples not able to do 10 verses earlier? Cast out a demon from the man who approached them right after coming down off the mountain of transfiguration. It says, but they could not do it, and then Jesus had to do it. And here they got somebody else that's doing it. Doesn't say whether he was successful or not, but he said he was casting out demons in your name. We tried to stop him because he does not follow with you. I wonder if this is also just an extension of that pride and that jealousy that came from the the last couple of verses. I don't know. It's just interesting the timing of how these these events kind of line up like that. It kind of leads you to believe that anyway.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Yeah. I was thinking the same thing, Mitch. That it was a bit ironic that they were rebuking someone for casting out de demons in Jesus' name and they and they just had not been able to do the same thing.

SPEAKER_04 14:02

Exactly. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Yep. But you know, back on the idea of like this is uh exclusivism of being more loyal to a denomination or a church. Um there absolutely are open-handed and close-handed issues that that we that we should hold to. And the close-handed issues we hold to, like we hold fast to, and the open-handed issues we can have fellowship with with other believers who believe something different than us. There are many Bible-believing, Bible preaching churches in Middletown, and they're they're on our team. Like we're all on the team of Jesus to advance the kingdom, and we shouldn't it shouldn't be a competition among us. Like you said, Keith. Some they'll reach people that we can't reach and will reach people that they can't reach. We're all it's not it's not about us, it's about the kingdom.

SPEAKER_04 14:47

Yeah, I think this is almost an indirect or maybe direct call to unity, if you think about it. I mean, you know, they're dividing, you know, two verses earlier, they're saying who's among us the greatest? Just in there in Christ's inner circle, they're doing this. And then now they're saying, you know, we're trying to stop people who are doing the same thing that God you that Jesus commanded them to do. And Jesus is saying, you know, don't stop them, for the one who is against you or is not against you is for me. I don't know. It just I I think Jesus is a master teacher, and as these stories kind of flow together, you see this theme that kind of unfolds. And really, the next section, then he talks about, you know, drawing near going up to Jerusalem because I think he's calling them to unity, calling them to uh to a to a life of humility, a life of selflessness, because he just talked about this. Deny yourself, take up your cross daily, follow him. He revealed himself, who he is. Ministries messy, right after the mountaintop. He, you know, get he gets right back into it. And then who's the greatest? It's like, man, when are you gonna learn? When are you gonna get this? And that message I'm not preaching to the disciples here, I'm preaching to all of us. Because when are we gonna learn? When are we gonna realize that you know pride comes before a fall and a halty spirit? The same, but it it's it's just a really telling message, I think, and it's a message of unity that that Christ is trying to call them to.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

Yeah, so so I I agree with you guys on the humility there. So so here's a question for you guys. I have in my notes here. Do I become personally threatened when God uses someone else and not me particularly? That's good. And I think that goes along with everything we're saying here, because I think this is what the disciples are. I I think they are like they're jealous. They just watched this guy do something that they can't, and now they're like, wait a minute, what's going on here? And so I I think it comes down to that, and I think it's great the way this passage is, and you know, people say, Well, the Bible's for, you know, it was written so many years ago, it's really not for today. Man,

Mercy Over Revenge On The Road

SPEAKER_01 16:45

it just fits in today's culture so well with how people act and respond to it, and leading into what Mitch is saying there, so you know, verse 51 says, When the day drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. He was directing, he was going, he was moving towards the cross, and he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make preparation for him, but the people did not receive him because his face was set towards Jerusalem. And verse 54, and when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them? Now, guys, I don't know about you, but I think that might be pretty cool to see at least. I don't know. I mean, maybe it may be asteroids, or I don't know how that would happen, but but that would be pretty cool. I mean, and these guys are just real in their spirit. You know, they're like, hey man, let's go take them out. You know, if they reject you, Jesus, let's take them out. And verse 55 says, but he turned and rebuked him. Jesus turns and rebukes them, and they went on to another village. Man, how vindictive do we get sometimes in our Christian lives? When oh, come, let's go get them. Let's take them out back and take them behind the woodshed. I used to hear that when I was a lot, when I was a kid, Mitch. Did you? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:14

I was taken behind the woodshed many times. Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

Me too. And the culture of that day, they despised each other. They just despised each other. Jews and Samaritans had deep hostility, and the disciples likely believed they were defending Jesus with honor here. But Jesus reveals kingdom ministry is not about driven by revenge. And I think a lot of times we are driven by revenge. You know what? They did this to me, let me do that to me. And Jesus is teaching them here. You know, we talk about turning the other cheek, how many times we forget. Jesus is teaching, hey guys, let's just move on. Let's just get past this. The reality is Christians are called to mercy, not personal vengeance. Yep. How much mercy do we show? You know, Jesus addressed it over in Matthew 5.43. Have you heard the law? The law says love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, and the way you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. Man, I I wonder how that would have all transpired if the disciples didn't act that way. One wonder how many people would come to Christ if we didn't act the way we act sometimes. And do that. You know, we talked about humility just a few minutes ago. This deals with humility in our lives. You know, the modern world today that we live in, that we all live in, you know, when I was a kid growing up, we didn't know what cell phones were or social media, but today there is. And there is, if you're on social media, you know how much anger and hatred and mockery and public destruction that is out there. You know, but Jesus says, hey, listen, to us as believers, and we need to take heart to this, speak truth with grace, love enemies, refuse fleshly retaliation. You know, and you know, it comes along even in the church world. Even people try to do things to us, you know, and say things about us. Are we defending ourselves or do we let Jesus defend us? Do we let God defend, step in? And I I think that is so real and so right that we do that. It doesn't mean we compromise, it doesn't mean we let people walk all over us. We shouldn't do that, but it means we should be Christ-like in how we do it. And you know, so what do I want? Restoration or destruction? How do I want to do that? What do I want to do? Has culture and politics shaped my heart, or is Christ shaping my heart? You know, would unbelievers describe me as a gracious person or a vengeance person?

SPEAKER_04 20:55

So Yeah, I think I think it's interesting. James and John at the end of this, and Keith kind of pointed this out, verse 54, says, you know, their reaction to this, and what was the reaction? The reaction was because the people didn't receive them. So their reaction immediately is, Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven and consume them? Basically, it's destruction. I mean, I wonder if this is an extension again of that pride and that lack of humility on their part, because Jesus, twice in these verses, in verse 51 and again in verse 53, it says, He set his face to go toward Jerusalem. What was happening in Jerusalem? His crucifixion. He had already established that in the verses prior to that. And really, from this point on in the Gospel of Luke, the bo the book kind of shifts toward a focus on Jerusalem, a really a focus toward that culmination of Jesus' death. And he said he set his face to go to Jerusalem. He was he had one purpose, and that's where he was heading. He sent messengers ahead of him to prepare him. People didn't receive him. And what was James and John's reaction? Let's call fire down from heaven. Who were James and John? Think about it. They were they're described as the sons of Zebedee. They're also described as sons of thunder. Think about that. Sons of thunder, and they're about to. Fire down for I don't know if that's literal, but I just thought that was that was interesting. And then look at the reaction. But he turned and rebuked as Jesus and they went to another village. They didn't go back. They didn't, you know, they they just all right, moving on. Uh it just like I don't know. Sometimes they it's easy to say it and it's easy to crit critique in in hindsight, but sometimes they just didn't get it.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Yep. The world how does the world react when when when when they're when they're wrong? That they would, you know, they retaliate. Like that's just a natural reaction. And so but Jesus is called is again, we we talked about this a couple of podcasts ago, this upside down, this different thing way of like this different way of thinking in the kingdom. Jesus is Jesus' followers need to reflect mercy and not retaliation. It's like what do you do when somebody cuts you off in traffic? Do you blow the horn? Do you blow the horn?

SPEAKER_02 22:54

If you're my wife, you definitely do. If you're my wife, she says stop. Right. Well, I think picking up, like you guys say, it's like there's a consistent theme here of what Luke is showing us of the posture we should have. And I think it's fascinating here that you know, James and John somehow think Jesus needs them to fight his battles for us. But we do the same thing. You know, we're like, God needs me, you know, I'm God's man, and so I have to fight his battles for him, which could not be further from the truth. And so I think that consistent posture of humility is so critical of following Christ rather than getting ahead of him and thinking somehow we have to blaze the trail, you know, in that way.

SPEAKER_04 23:36

Yeah, I think it's a key point, Nate. And verse 47 kind of unlocks that it says, but Jesus knowing the reasoning of their hearts, Jesus knows what our posture is. He knows our motives before we ever do it, not just the actions, but the attitudes and the motives behind it. And and that's what verse 47 says. He says, That knowing the reasoning of their heart, and that's when he took up that child.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

So yeah, and then when we jump down, so they're on that journey to Jerusalem, and Jesus says, Hey, that's good. Let's just okay, no fire from heaven today. Let's just keep

The Real Cost Of Following Jesus

SPEAKER_01 24:06

moving on. So as they were going along the road, verse 57, there, someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes and birds have air. Birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. You know, so we we find a man enthusiastically says, Hey, I want to follow you, Jesus. And Jesus says, basically, come on, come follow me, but it's gonna cost you. And if you go on through that, it says to the other, he said, Follow me in verse 59. But he said, Lord, first, let me first go and bury my father. And Jesus said to him, Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. It seems like a lot of times, even in this passage, we all we we want to follow Jesus, want to follow Jesus, but we always have something else to do. First, I'll get to it later. And that's what Jesus is saying there's yet another said to him in verse 61. Here we go. I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home. Jesus said to him, verse 62 here, no one who puts his hands to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. You know, when I think about that, I think about are we really engaged in following after Jesus, or do we just like it because, hey, he was a great guy, lived in biblical times, you know, and did all these cool things. So we're mesmerized by who he is, but not what he can do in us and through us. So a lot of times I think we we just sit on the sidelines because the reality is, you know, we like it comfortable. We like it easy, you know, we like conveniences of life. Jesus says, I've got nowhere to lay my head. Wait a minute, you want to go do this? I I've got nowhere to lay my head. But we, in the culture we live in, we want to, we're not ready to sacrifice. We're not even ready to go through hard times, you know, and those things in our lives. So I think one of the things we have to realize is relationships will cost us if we follow after Christ. It can cost us some relationships, it can cost us in comfort, it can cost us in career opportunities or popularity with people. So, how do we follow after Jesus? When I think about that last verse there, man, and this kind of sends it all home to me. No one who puts his hand to the plow. Now, when I was a kid growing up, you know, we plowed the land. My grandfather had a large garden and so a couple acres. And, you know, we get on the tractor. We didn't have to hand plow it. That was a good thing. That was the best thing there. But we would plow the field. And if I got on the tractor when I was a kid and he was teaching me how to drive the tractor, I would turn around and look. He'd say, Stop. And I'd stop. He says, Your line's not going to be straight. He says, You got to focus on something ahead of you and keep your eye on it and keep going towards that. When you get to the end, you lift the disc, turn the tractor, find another spot, and come back. And the problem is we got our eyes all on all these other things and not truly on the thing that matters most, and that's Jesus Christ. So, you know, I don't know what your thoughts are, but what is keeping me or us or our world or even the church as a whole from fully obeying Christ?

SPEAKER_04 27:44

I think there's what I thought was interesting about this, Keith, along those lines is in ver both both of the responses from the people, they put something ahead of their calling. They said, Let me first go bury my father. And then the other person says, But let me first say farewell to those at home. And I'm reminded of Matthew 6.33 that says, But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then all of these things will be added to you. And to answer your question, Keith, what are the all of these things? It's everything you just talked about. This is this this is the passage where he says, Don't be anxious about your life, about what you're gonna put on, about food, about all those distractions you were mentioning, but keep your focus on the Lord. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. That's how we live, and all these things, all these things are the things that he just went through, the anxiety, the the our needs, all the things that he's gonna provide. But these two, at least in two of the cases, they said, Let me first go do this, let me first go say goodbye to the people at home rather than following Christ first.

SPEAKER_02 28:46

And there has to be a proper order. You know, I think in these cases, family's a good thing. We don't want to ever diminish family, but do you put your family above God? Do you put your family above Christ? And I think that's what it's showing. And it was a few, I think it was chapter eight, you know, a few podcasts we talked about when we truly follow Christ. We're part of the family of God, you know, really, and Jesus says, I think it's in Matthew, you know, whoever is not willing to forsake father, mother, brother, sister for my sake is is really not worthy of me. And I think that's you know, with some of these people, like, have you truly understood what Christ, you know, has done for you, your need for repentance, and then that changes our perspective. So again, nothing to that to say forsake your family, but when Christ calls you, like you say, Mitch, the priorities have to have to get realigned. Right.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

Yeah, and I think that the the the man in this passage who asks to go bury his father, I think that kind of speaks out to a like an idea of comfort. What I studied in this was that this man was the the intentions of this man was actually saying, like, when my father dies, some sometime down the road, I'll come follow you. Like, I'm valuing comfort and of my situation right now more than commitment to Christ. And it what I find interesting here is that Jesus in these in all of these situations never lowers the cost to gain followers. He is not about like drawing a crowd in, he's about drawing in the committed, those people who he whose lives are going to be shaped and changed by him.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

And so I wonder why it is so difficult for people to totally surrender to Christ. He gave it all for them. I mean, everything. He gave his whole life brutal, brutal death. And he was on his way to Jerusalem, and that's what he's leading his side. Um we're on our way to the cross, guys. It's gonna cost me everything for you. And I think when we truly, and it's not for pastors, it's not for church leaders, it's for everyone to understand that. You know, it it it cost him everything for us to have salvation. And so I have a hard time sometimes with understanding why people don't surrender.

SPEAKER_02 31:13

I think you were mentioning earlier in the episode we have this comfortable Christianity approach in our society that it doesn't cost a lot, yet we can't even sacrifice minimal things, you know, such as gotta get up and early and go to church on Sunday, or maybe come during a weeknight, or join a group or something. Ah, that's taking some of my time, you know, or I don't want to share my faith because, like you said, they might not like me. So just even in our culture, it's not a lot, but yet not willing to even pay that cost. Whereas other cultures, it might cost truly cost you your life, and we struggle with that because of obsession with worldly things. And and that looks different for everybody, but there's always some cost, and it's will you be willing to pay it? But Jesus gave it all, and so I think it's pretty impactful.

SPEAKER_04 31:59

Like I said, I think the more the the company you keep is eventually the the person you become in some respects. I think I think your associations can can have great influence on who you are, the way you think, the way you process information, and the way you surrender or not. And I've often told people, you know, the closer you get to the Lord and the and the deeper your relationship is with him, the less you want those worldly things. The less you you it's almost like I don't, I don't have to, I don't need that. I don't I don't have to get it's not that I'm giving something up, I don't want to do that anymore. And and you start to have a draw toward the people of God. I mean, I I know and and you guys can probably say the same. A lot of Christians, you know, I get more enjoyment out of hanging around with other Christians, you know, that maybe are in a similar life life stage as my wife and I and whatnot. We were talking about this the other day. It's just I don't know, you get more fulfillment out of those kind of people. And and I think, you know, getting back to the whole idea of surrender, you know, yeah, are you giving things up for Christ? But man, what he replaces it with, it's so much better. It's just, it's so worth it. It's just, I don't know. I mean, yeah, it's a sacrifice, but man, once you once you jump in with both feet and you start to have that daily relationship with the Lord and you realize how rich it is, uh just with him individually, and then with your brothers and sisters in Christ, man, he changes your want-tos. He changes the things that you used to like and you used to think I can never do without these things. And he completely shifts that and flips it upside down. So I don't know. That's that's some of my insight on that and what what has struck me.

SPEAKER_01 33:37

Yeah, I think that's incredible. You know, I I spoke with a person not too long ago, and they were telling me about how they wanted to be in ministry and they wanted to go in ministry, and this is the the exact quote was Once I make enough money, then I'll go into ministry. And my response was if God calls today, you go today. You don't wait. Let God take care of your needs. But the security of what people want today before ministry outweighs ministry for them. So the the surrender part is is uh very strategic for some people. They're not willing to just go all in, you know. And I I think that's what Jesus is talking about here. He says, You got to be willing to go all in. I'm going to a cross. What what are you gonna do?

SPEAKER_02 34:28

Yeah, right.

Final Takeaways And Listener Challenge

SPEAKER_02 34:30

Well, lots of good thoughts. Man, this was a lot in this passage. So, Keith, thanks for leading us through. I think we just see that humility, consistent theme that we've been walking through the last few weeks. You know, just what are we willing to give up in our life to follow Christ? Because he gave everything, like you said, for us. So it shouldn't be a matter of our timing. We we say around here, delayed obedience is not obedience. So when he says follow me, you go. I've heard too many stories of like, well, when I get to my deathbed, I'll accept Christ. I want to have all the fun I want to have. I'll get to that later. Well, that means you you you really missed it in so many ways. But Lifehouse family, thanks for joining us. Uh, we look forward to next week and continuing the journey as we move to chapter 10. Thanks for taking your time. Thanks for tuning in to the Life Talk Podcast. If this episode encouraged you, please be sure to like, comment, subscribe, and leave a review so others can find this content as well. And we'll look forward to seeing you next Monday for another great episode.