Unshaken: Chapter a Day

Luke 14 Discussion

• Pastor Plek

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A crowded table. Watchful critics. A sudden healing that slices through fear and formalism. Our journey through Luke 14 begins with Jesus restoring a man on the Sabbath and dismantling the idea that holiness means withholding mercy. We unpack why the law’s heart is compassion and how silence from the Pharisees reveals a deeper problem: systems that forget people. From there, the dining room becomes a masterclass in humility, as Jesus reframes status and invites us to take the lowest seat so honor can find us instead of being seized.

Then the conversation widens from etiquette to eternity. Jesus urges hosts to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, promising repayment at the resurrection rather than in social favors. The great banquet parable lands with force: good excuses can still betray a disordered heart. When the master fills his house with outsiders, we see both the wideness of God’s welcome and the danger of treating his invitation like another calendar conflict. We talk candidly about priorities, excuses, and what our choices reveal about who or what we truly prize.

Finally, we face the cost of discipleship. Jesus speaks of “hating” family and life, bearing a cross, and counting the cost like a builder or a king. We explore allegiance as the key—how supreme love for Christ reorders every other love without cancelling it—and why the warning about tasteless salt matters for public witness. Expect practical takeaways on humble living, non-transactional hospitality, and choosing worship over convenience, alongside a hopeful vision of God’s character: the King who exalts the humble, throws open his feast, and keeps eternal accounts. If you’re weighing what faith should change, this conversation invites a decisive, joyful yes. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review to keep the conversation going.

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Pastor Plek:

And welcome back to a chapter today. Keeps the devil away. I'm Pastor Pleck along with Pastor Holland. We are talking Luke chapter 14. We're gonna outline it. We are then going to find some observations. We're gonna bring up some interpretations about the nature of man, the character of God, and then finally get into some application. All right, real quick on the outline. Uh, Jesus heals on the Sabbath, uh, verses one through six, heals a man with dropsy. We'll talk about that. And despite scrutiny, he challenges the lawyers and Pharisees with a question about Sabbath law, and then he uses the analogy of rescuing an ox or a son from a well, silencing their objections. And really, they don't say anything at all because they don't want to incriminate themselves with the other rulers or with the people. They are cowards. Okay. Verses 7 through 11, the parable of the wedding feast and the humility at the table. Uh, Jesus observes guests vying for places of honor, and he tells them to go and be humble. Verses 12 through 14, he teaches on inviting the needy. He advises the host against inviting those who can repay him, instead, urging banquets for the poor, crippled, lame, and blind, promising blessing and repayment at the resurrection of the just. And then verses 15 through 24, prompted by a guest remark about the kingdom's feast, Jesus describes a man who whose invited guests make excuses land, oxen, marriage, leading the master to angrily invite the city's outcasts and compel outsiders from highways to fill his house and to stick it to the man, excluding the original invitees. Okay, then you've got the last bit here, verses 25 through 35, really getting to the cost of discipleship. And he, you know, turns to large crowds. Jesus demands hating family, life itself, and bearing one's cross, counting the cost like a tower builder or someone going to war to follow Jesus and warns that um if you don't renounce everything, you that's that you might be worthless and discarded, which was just wild. All right, let's get into some observations. I mean, it seems like Jesus is not tiptoeing through some conversation here.

Pastor Holland:

Worthless, even for the manure pile, he said, like you're not even good enough for a poop a pile of dump if you are not like he sets the bar pretty high of saying you've got to be willing to give it all up, or you're not really even a Christian.

Pastor Plek:

This, this, this then gets me to say, who then can't be saved? I mean, I feel like the disciples, they had to have come across this all the time, going, What? We are all done for that.

Pastor Holland:

But Jesus modeled this so well. Like at no, at no point was, you know, was he ever halfway in or 90% in. Like he lived and he modeled for us as an example. Look, this is what life is supposed to be about. You're all in with God. Right. And so if you want to be a Christian, okay, there's not a there's not a legitimate Christian option that's 90 10. Yeah. You're either all in or you're not a Christian. And um, and you know, so that doesn't mean that we'll be perfect, that we'll never sin, that we'll never um, you know, fall short or struggle with our allegiance to God or something. But it does mean that the standard is all in. And that's what we're continuously called to and sanctified toward by the Spirit.

Pastor Plek:

And so that's what you're responsible for. Yeah. Only by the grace of God, what he did for us on the cross, yes, can we see that, oh, he did it for us, which is why he's such an awesome one to watch. Let's look at that healing on this on the Sabbath with the Pharisee. Like this. It's so great. Yeah. So what is dropsy? Do you know what that is?

Pastor Holland:

Uh okay. So I got an ESV study Bible open here, um, where it it says that the man probably had edema, where excess fluid gathers in various parts of the body. Which would mean he would be a constant, unclean person. Constant unclean and in pain. Yeah, I would assume. Um, but that that's my guess. Um and so Jesus heals him. Now, so this is the third Sabbath healing. Yeah, I mean, he's final one. He's like he's making a big point. Clearly, there was a lot of misunderstanding about the Sabbath in his day, and I would say there's a lot of misunderstanding about the Sabbath in our day as well. So I think it's really good for for us to understand like what Jesus is trying to establish here. Right.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, the Sabbath is a place of rest, and they had made it a a place of just fear. I I think that's what it we could like don't mess up on the Sabbath. Right. Or you are instead of rest, enjoy. Yeah. Celebrate. Yeah. Um, be healed.

Pastor Holland:

Be healed. And so here's what's great. So back in this study, the the study Bible, the comment, um, verse six, no, sorry, verse four, it says they remain silent. The comment is by now the Pharisees have learned they can never win when they get into an argument with Jesus. That's so true. Verse six, they could not reply, emphasizes Jesus's mastery and debate.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. I'm like makes me want to go learn debate skills.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, it's you be like Jesus. Learn how to learn the word, learn God's law, understand to the point where you know people have no argument against you.

Pastor Plek:

All right. How about this? I love the fact that Jesus, he actually is gonna quote, not necessarily quote, but at least reference um Proverbs, I think it's 25. Uh, don't put yourself forward in the king's presence or stand in the place of a great man, for it's better to be told, come up here, than to be put lower in the presence of a noble. I one of the things I just love about Jesus, he is just he is the word of God, so he speaks the word of God. And all he does is re requote, requote, I don't know, like repeat the Old Testament over and over again, whether it's Proverbs or Psalms or Deuteronomy. I just thought that was fascinating.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, I love that.

Pastor Plek:

Um, what else you got?

Pastor Holland:

Um the back to the salt, you know, um the idea of salt, salt is good, he says. Um and so what what does he mean by salt is good? The idea of salt, salt um brings out flavor, it preserves, right? Would you add anything to that? Um no, those are the two biggies. And he says, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? And you know, so he's criticizing the idea of Christians that our purpose is supposed to be salt in the world. Um, we're supposed to actually draw out, you know, goodness in the world. Um but if we're not doing that, um, what are we doing? Why you know we we're we're not doing what God put us in the world for?

Pastor Plek:

Oh man, it's good. All right, how about this? Uh Jesus demands, and this is hard. I want you to kind of really think about this for a second before you give me a quick answer there, Holland. Okay. If Jesus demands hating family and renouncing all possessions to be a disciple, doesn't that contradict teachings on love, provision, all that elsewhere in the Bible, making faith seem unreasonably extreme and contradictory to the other stuff he said about, you know, don't worry about anything because God's gonna provide everything for you.

Pastor Holland:

How long do you want me to think about it? Okay, you're done. Okay. So, one, if you believe that Jesus is not crazy, yeah, and therefore he's not gonna contradict himself, and Jesus says, you know, love your neighbor as yourself. Um, Jesus teaches you to love one another, right? Then somehow that has to be compatible with what he's saying here. You gotta hate your family. So, so either Jesus is crazy and contradicting himself, or um, there's a sense in which you can love and hate your family at the same time.

Pastor Plek:

Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah. And and I think to that extent, it's I love my family enough in the sense that I'm I'm commanded to love them. I hate them the sense that I'm not codependent on them, that if I like, if you take this away from me, I'll die. Or I don't give them my ultimate allegiance. Right.

Pastor Holland:

My ultimate allegiance goes to Jesus. Love and hate is used in a way to refer to who has your allegiance, your loyalty. Where does your loyalty lie? Is your loyalty ultimately with your family so that Jesus says, follow me, and your family says no, and you stay with your family, then you can't be a disciple of Jesus.

Pastor Plek:

Going with that, how about in the great uh banquet parable? Why does the master react with anger and exclusion to excuses? And, you know, like I feel like every week we have people have pretty decent excuses of why they can't show up at church, you know, why they can't serve in children's ministry. And now, granted, they do tell us a lot of times at the last minute, but uh what is this about? It seems like he's this is where a skeptic might say, It seems like Jesus is calling this master, this God is pretty petty. He is like, instead of being this forgiving, loving God, he's like angry, and he is, you know, to stick it to these uh original invitees who had legitimate excuses of marriage, oxen, you know, taking care of a land. Like that seems wild. What do you think that is? That get to the allegiance thing again?

Pastor Holland:

The allegiance, or just missing, you know, um, the value of what was extended to them. Right. Um, a banquet with the king is worth more than any of their excuses. Right. And the only way you would turn that down is if you go, the king's not really that important. Right. Uh being in the king's presence, feasting with the king, doesn't really matter that much. I'd rather just kind of do these other things. And so it shows a contempt and a disdain for who the king is.

Pastor Plek:

It's like putting yourself on equal playing field with the king. It's like, listen, king, I listen, I gotta wash my hair tonight. I gotta do, I got stuff to do. You know, if you got invited to the president's um, you know, to the oval office to have dinner with the president, uh, you would be like, oh, um, I'm dropping everything. Um, I know I had a business, they will understand. Everybody I talk to will go, Oh, I just got invited to the Oval Office and I'd have a dinner with the president. Gotta go. Everyone's like, yeah, go. Why would you what are you doing here? Nobody, nobody's gonna think that's crazy. In the same way, if if Jesus calls you to follow him and he is the son of God, he is the king of kings, he is the Lord of Lords, and you're like, I got some, you know, I I gotta go check on my my land that I just bought to make sure it's still like that. Is a weird priority miss.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it's about priorities, allegiance, and loyalty here.

Pastor Plek:

All right, so let's get into some uh principles or some truths about the nature of man. What do you got?

Pastor Holland:

Nature of man. Uh, we make bad judgments in terms of our priorities and values very often, and we feel justified in them, where we take things um that are less than God and we put them as more important to God in our life. Okay, how about this?

Pastor Plek:

Humans naturally seek self-exaltation. I want more honor, I want more uh fame, often at the expense of others. I want to be closer so that other people can be farther, leading to the inevitable humiliation without humility.

Pastor Holland:

Wow, yeah. Um we uh if we're if we lose our taste, our saltiness, we are useless. Worthless. Yeah, that's brutal.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. All right, let's shift to character of God. Okay, uh, God values and rewards humility, okay, exalting those who lower themselves while humbling the proud. In fact, he kind of enjoys that. Yeah. And he he wants to feast with people.

Pastor Holland:

He likes to party. He likes he does. Uh his you know, the idea here is that God is like a great king who just wants to feast with whoever wants to come. He's a God, you know, who who wants to share his riches with the world. That's beautiful.

Pastor Plek:

That is beautiful. What to go? All right, how about uh to that end? Uh God practices extravagant generosity. Yeah. I mean, I think that's he invites the lame, the crippled, the whoever will come. Whoever sees him as who he really is. Yeah.

Pastor Holland:

Which is wild. Yeah. For I just think, you know, going to application for that. I'm like, stop um rejecting what God has for you. Uh be putting other things in front of God, prioritizing worldly things instead of the kingdom of God. Like, you just you're missing out on the greater blessings of life.

Pastor Plek:

Nice. Okay, let's get into some more application. Uh how about uh command obey? Uh renounce all. Yeah. Have your allegiance to Jesus alone, before Jesus before family, Jesus before uh your own life, Jesus before everything.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, practically, I I think of that like with family, for instance. If you're like, oh, my family, uh, let's say husbands are fathers. Yeah. Um, my wife and kids don't want to go to church on Sunday. They want to spend the day shopping and playing sports. You got to choose Jesus and lead your family and say, this is the Lord's day. This is the Sabbath. We're gonna worship God. We're gonna, you know, uh, we're gonna rejoice and rest and worship our God. Um, you don't just go, well, this is what my family wants to do. Then that's wow, that's choosing your family over Jesus.

Pastor Plek:

That was a hard, that's a hard allegiance right there. You just pulled there, Pastor Holland. All right, how about this? Um promise to claim that there is eternal repayment and blessing for selfless hospitality toward those who are unable to repay within the resurrection. What do you think about that? Like, so like when you go today in this in this age, where you take care of the poor, the crippled, the lame, uh, there is a blessing for you that's eternal, which you might not see this side of heaven. Amen. Yeah, do it. Yeah. Uh anything else you got there for an application?

Pastor Holland:

Um, a sin to avoid, uh quit arguing with Jesus. And uh, you can't win, you know. Like, I just think uh, yeah, well, I don't know. I think if I were to be nuanced about that, I'm like, you can wrestle with God about I don't understand, and what do you mean by this, God? But if you're trying to shut down Jesus and insist on your own way, like you just have to see from the gospels, it doesn't go well. Um, follow, follow Jesus and trust his word. He's good.

Pastor Plek:

Follow Jesus. I like that. Hey, we'll see you tomorrow on a chapter, a day.

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