Luke 14:27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. (28) For which of you, wanting to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? (29) Lest perhaps, once he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all those looking on will begin to mock him, Rev. 20:6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
[Part 1 of 2] The tone here [in Luke 14:25-35] is very different from that in 14:15-24. For salvation there is no need for us to do anything. This means that for salvation there are no terms, no conditions. We simply need to answer God's invitation and receive what He offers us and we are saved. But there is more to God's economy than just being saved. After we are saved, we need to enter into the coming kingdom to receive a reward. Therefore, to be saved by grace is one thing, and to be rewarded according to our following of the Lord is another thing. We all need to see the difference between salvation and reward. God's salvation is for us to enjoy the jubilee today, and His reward is for us to enjoy the jubilee in the coming age. We have seen that the New Testament jubilee is of three stages: first, the jubilee in the present age, the age of grace; the second, the jubilee in the coming age, the age of the kingdom; and third, the jubilee in eternity, in the new heaven and new earth. Enjoying the jubilee today is a matter of salvation. However, enjoying the jubilee in the coming age is a matter of reward. The enjoyment of the jubilee in eternity in the new heaven and new earth will be the full taste of God's full salvation [for all the believers]. Today everyone who accepts God's invitation and receives the offer of what He has prepared for us has the ground to participate in the New Testament jubilee and enjoy Christ in this age. But in order to receive the reward of the jubilee in the coming age, we need to enjoy Christ faithfully in this age. Many saved ones are not faithful to enjoy Christ today. For this reason, God has set up a reward as an incentive that we may enjoy Christ faithfully in this present age. If we do not enjoy Christ faithfully today, we shall lose the enjoyment of Christ in the coming age. Here we see that in His wisdom God has made the enjoyment of Christ in the coming age a reward for the faithful ones, the ones who enjoy Christ faithfully in this age. [Continued tomorrow] (c) 2007 Living Stream Ministry.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Luke, pp. 276-277. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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