Hate Your Family Series

If you didn’t bring a Bible with you, you’ll need one today. And we’ve provided you with one if you didn’t bring it. Turn with me to Luke 14:25-35 or page 1111 in the black books in front of you, there in your pews. If I asked you who Mary Lucy Phalen is, would you immediately recognize that name? She’s been called the most famous mother-in-law in Texas. And she’s the mother-in-law of our governor, Greg Abbott. She’s well-known for her campaign commercials both in English and Spanish on behalf of her son-in-law. Most people love families.

So it’s surprising when we hear Jesus calling on His followers to hate their family. After all, churches like ours do much to strengthen the family. Indeed, the political world sees us as a “pro-family.” So it’s surprising to see Jesus call on His followers to hate our families.

Today, we’re finishing in a short series looking where we’ve examined some of Jesus’ most curious sayings in the Gospel of Luke. And we’ve saved the best for last.

Among the most baffling of all of Jesus’ teachings, is His instruction to hate your family. After all, I thought “church people” were nice and loved their families. Today, we’ll encounter another of Jesus’ “hard sayings.”

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.” (Luke 14:25-35)

There is no such thing as an instant disciple. Look at the word for a minute in your mind, to be a disciple it takes discipline. A Russian comedian, Yakov Smirnoff talks about when he first moved to America, he was amazed at the variety of instant products he could buy in the store. There’s powdered milk: just add water and you have milk. There’s powdered orange juice: just add water and you have orange juice. Then he saw Baby Powder and thought, “What a great country! If you want a baby, just add water!” Some people think that’s how discipleship works. You take a person, add a little baptism water, and “poof” you have a fully-devoted follower of Jesus–a real disciple. But it takes more than water to make a disciple.

Sermon Preview

Today, I want you to see Jesus offers four warnings and two parables.

Hate Your Family

Double Standard

Define the Relationship

And along the way, I want you to meet Jesus the Algebra Teacher ?.

1. Hate Your Family

“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.” (Luke 14:26)

Jesus essentially offers the same teaching/warning in three ways: “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27) “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:33).

Jesus really wants to understand what it means to follow Him.

Let’s focus on the importance of family in Jesus’ day You never disgraced your family. You never moved away from your family. You never married somebody your family didn’t want.

1.1 Hate

Does Jesus really want you to hate your family? After all, Jesus is the One who calls on us to even love our enemies. In Ephesians 5 the Bible calls on husbands wives to love their wives. In Titus 2 the Bible calls on wives to love their husbands. What Jesus is saying is, “Look at these kinds of loves.” There’s family love and loyalty with your father and mother. There’s erotic love with your spouse, husband or wife. There’s a unique kind of love you reserve only for your children.