Lord What Are You Saying?

This is one passage I've heard often, and the pastors I sat under always stopped in the middle of it, and said, "This doesn't mean hate here, it means to "love less"..."

In this instance, I would have to agree, because the Lord tells us here:


" Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;" ( Ephesians 5:25 )

" Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with [them] according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered." ( 1 Peter 3:7 )

 

Ok, I agree.

We love Christ more than all the rest.

 

*sigh*

Yes, I agree with you more than you may know.

 

Hate - but what kind of hate?

I believe there is a kind of hate that does not abandon care and concern.

 

Hank...
We should love Christ more than the rest, but we do not abandon the care and concern of wives and children.

It's been said that the believer should love Christ so much, that in comparison to that love, our lives, our wives, our children mean nothing. How far past the stops can we put that throttle?


" He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." ( Matthew 10:37 )


Only in the strength of the Holy Ghost, my friend.

Otherwise, it cannot be done.

 

That's what I said.

 

We are commanded to love our God forst and foremost, but also to love own families and fellow saints!

 

That's what I said.

 

“So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, break it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.” Moses saw that the people were running wild, for Aaron had let them get completely out of control, causing derision from their enemies.So Moses stood at the entrance of the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” All the Levites gathered around him, and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Each man fasten his sword on his side, and go back and forth from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and each one kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’ ” The Levites did what Moses ordered, and that day about three thousand men of the people died.Moses said, “You have been consecrated today for the Lord, for each of you was against his son or against his brother, so he has given a blessing to you today.”” (Exodus 32:24–29)

 

We are all individuals. The world (society) opposes God by causing the world to love their family member (brother, sister, mother, father) especially against the truth that we are not any of us born into salvation. So, the truth of God is hijacked by the world and replaced with the burden of family.

God does not call families. He calls individuals. And once an individual is back with the Father of Lights, then real warfare is engaged.

Matthew 10:34-36 (KJV)
34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

If an individual is called of God in a family of JW's, then outbreak of war is engaged.
If an individual is called of God in a family of Mormons, then outbreak of war is engaged. Etc.

But apply this to a Hebrew family. Jesus experienced it. The main reason why the religious leaders and Jesus bumped heads and frequently was the religious leaders only knew the letter of the law while Jesus spoke and taught His disciples the spirit of the law. And then there was ideological and religious disagreements between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. I liken them to today's Arminian and Calvinist. So, if an individual was called of God in a Hebrew family who THOUGHT they were in correct doctrine and Christ opens the mind of the individual He's called, then a choice must be made.
Family or Christ.
Everyone whom Christ had called came to Him - even Judas.
Not having the Holy Spirit (until weeks later on Pentecost) Judas turned back to what he and the others knew of their upbringing:
The Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets.
In some families where God had called an individual the conflict is subtle.
In others, the conflict is more hostile.
Christ is 'heading them off at the pass' by warning them ahead of time.

 

Re: Luke 14:25-27. It is my understanding that was said regarding following Jesus when He was on the earth at that time. Many things Jesus said in that day fall into this category. Such as Luke 18:22-23.
Also Luke 18:28-30.

 

I think Jesus was using that extreme language to reinforce to His hearers that alliance and devotion to Him is first place, as in he must come before even our own families, so its not hate as we normally associate it as being, but as in loving them less than Him now!

 

Take the lesson of the prodigal son.
The scripture does not say he "hates" his son but shows how love works in ways unlike our own.

Notice the father does not enter into a debate with his son like we would but gives him his inheritance and lets him go his own way.
The father does not go after his son but lets him go and leaves him to his decision.
Later he does not send emissaries to find him and see how he is doing and perhaps to persuade him to come home.

He respects his choice and leaves him alone with it.

What he does:
He waits and watches the road day after day...
And when the son had squandered his fortune...

Luke 15:20 And he (the son) arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

Our father in heaven similarly watches and waits for each of us to come unto Him (via Jesus) to give us life and save us from our lost estate.

 

This is an instance where Scripture must interpret Scripture. Compare the parallel passage of Matthew 10:37.

 

In His answer to the question, "What is the greatest commandment?", Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

We certainly can't imagine that Jesus is asking us to love our family members less than other "neighbors".