Read the rest here.In Luke 14, Jesus tells the stories of a tower builder and an embattled king. In many English Bibles, these twin parables are labeled “The Cost of Discipleship.” But Jesus’ first hearers would have known that label was exactly backwards. For these stories are not about disciples, but fools...Make no mistake. The tower builder and the king are not models of discipleship. When does Jesus ever speak of discipleship as if it were a construction project, carefully calculated and accounted for, or a war, in which we marshal our own forces and find them adequate for the battle? Biblical faith is the abandonment of our tower building, the surrender of our ambitions to foolishly fight our way to security.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Rethinking the Familiar
You should really read almost everything that Andy Crouch writes. Here's a sample that should get you started.
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That is an interesting thought on those parables and made me revist them to digest those words a little more. Reading the two parables I see these phrases: "Will he not first sit down and estimate teh cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? ... Will he not first sit down and consider whether the is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ... In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple." And I find myself seeing both sides of the coin - that considering the cost and ramifications of throwing our lot in with Christ is an essential part of the process to fully living for God in a life bound to Jesus. I also see it, as has been said, that these two men were fools to hold back what they have to throw their lot in with Christ, no matter that it appears ridiculous to others or that the odds say they will lose the battle or the building. I feel both interpretations are valid.
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