HE THAT LOVES FATHER OR MOTHER MORE THAN ME IS NOT WORTHY OF ME… Mt.10:37

By Edward O'Hara,

The meaning of this passage is that when we choose what we will believe in based on what our parent’s religious affiliation is we show that we love them more than we love Jesus. And this was never more true than for Israel.

Because Israel already had a covenant with God before Jesus came to live among them as a man. And when they wrote about this covenant they referenced what they received of their fathers again and again proclaiming things like this saying, “We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.”

Showing that there was an allegiance that had developed between what their parent’s believed and those that the child would adopt. Based many times simply on the fact that it was because it was what their parents taught them!

But, Jesus was saying that since He has come this was no longer to be true for them. That now they would strike out on their own so to speak. To discover what it meant when the prophet said in Jer.31, “33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

What does this mean that “I will put my laws in their inward parts”? Vs.34 tells us the meaning of this by saying “for they shall all know me”. So that it was not the actual 10 commandments written in their hearts instead of in stones. Rather it was that they would all come to have a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus. If they would love Jesus more than they loved their parents.

And what does it mean that God “will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more”? We see the answer to this when Paul wrote in Heb.8 after quoting Jeremiah concerning this by saying, “12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.”

So it is because God made a New Covenant with Israel that He was able to “remember their sins no more.” Because by taking away the covenant of law given through Moses in which their sins were imputed. And replacing it for them with a covenant where sin is not imputed. As the Old Covenant that “vanished away”, so did sins committed while under that covenant.

Making it so that the only thing that can separate a man from God in the dispensation of the New Covenant is unbelief in Jesus. Because those sins Israel committed while under the law have all been nailed to the cross with Jesus. As Paul taught they were in Col.2:14 saying, “14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross”.

This is why Jesus said “It is finished” just before commending His spirit unto the Father and breathing His last breath as a man here on earth. Making it clear that He had indeed accomplished everything He said He came to do. Fulfilling all that the law required so that it would pass away. Just as He taught them in Mt.5:17,18.

This is why the thinking that is expressed in statements like “It was good enough for my parents so it’s good enough for me”. Or “My parents were thus and such religion so that’s why I am”. Is an expression of your greater love for them than for Jesus.

For which Jesus said that the person who thinks this way is not worthy of Him. Even if the parent’s religion is a true faith in Jesus. Because no one can be saved for someone else. But, each of us must come to trust in Jesus in a very personal way to be saved.

And when we do He sends the Holy Spirit to lead us into the truth. And to have constant communion with as we live out our lives according to the love He sheds abroad in our hearts. Living in this relationship through our love for God and one another.

For Israel it means they will no longer be led by the law in their daily decision making. But, instead they will be led by His love. And for gentiles it means they will no longer make choices according to the demands of their idols. But, will along with their Israelite brethren who have also believed in Jesus they will hear God’s voice through His word. And by His Spirit make decisions that will also be in conformity to God’s love.

This is why Paul said in Gal.5 that “4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.”

So if we have a saving faith it does not think or act in terms of works or law keeping and its penal system of condemnation and death as many Israelites did. Rather, a true and saving faith works and acts only by love.

A love by which the Holy Spirit expresses the kindness of God when leading men to repentance. Just as it did for Abraham and David when it was said of their faith in turning toward God, that Abraham was God’s friend, and David was a man after God’s own heart.

But, the fact that Abraham had faith toward God can not save anyone else. And the fact that David’s faith made him a man after God’s own heart also can not save anyone else. You must believe in Jesus yourself to be saved. And not in the faith of your fathers.

This addresses the universalist position that all men are saved because Jesus died and rose again for all men. And also the position the Calvinist takes when he says predestination means most men are meant to be damned regardless of whether they believe in Jesus or not. And only a few are meant to be saved.

These positions are only possible by a rejection of man’s free will. A premise based first and foremost upon the false doctrine of original sin that was first taught by Augustine. So that men are saved or not saved because God predestined this for them.

But, this belief is a denial of John’s statement in 1John4:7,8 that proclaims that because God is love believers will also live by that love. And expressly show they are in relationship with God when they do.

And since by love there must be free will. Because love that is not freely given by those in a relationship is not love at all. But, rather a compulsion driven by what the Calvinist defines as God’s sovereignty.

This is the product of the doctrine of original sin and sin nature that says Adam lost free will for himself and all mankind when he sinned in the garden. This made it so that it is impossible for man to choose to do good. As in loving God by choice rather than by compulsion.

But, love can not exist in this kind of relationship. Because as I said before, for it to be real love it must be a choice. And can not be by compulsion or force. The perfect example in the natural being that a man who wants a woman to love him has to wait for her to choose to. He can not force her to.

And even when the man woos her with all sorts of expressions of his love for her. If she still chooses not to love him back a loving relationship between these two people is impossible.

And it is because God is love that we know that in His sovereign will He gave all men free will to choose to respond in love to Him in response to His expression of love He made by coming as a man. To join with men in our mortality. So that because of His resurrection men can choose to join with Him in immortality and eternal life.

This is why we all individually must come to trust in Jesus. We can not trust in our parent’s trust in God to save us. Because faith comes by hearing the word of God. And not because we know of someone else’s belief.

We must come to realize that it is not by force or compulsion that we are saved. But, only through the love God showed us in Christ Jesus being shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit after we have said yes with our free will to that love.

Will you leave off from loving your parents faith more than Jesus? Will you turn to Him by faith and be born again? Made a spiritual being who was before this only natural?

If you will then you will have eternal life. If you will then you will be a child of God by a spirit created in you by God that never existed before. That will make you heir of God’s kingdom. If you will do this… then I will see you there or in the air!

This message can also be heard at: https://rumble.com/v4jobh3-he-that-loves-father-or-mother-more-than-me-is-not-worthy-of-me-mt.1037.html