By: The Very Rev. Canon David Roseberry
What is the job description of the follower of Christ? What methods will she be engaged in as she follows Christ throughout her life? How can a follower of Jesus live his life for the Lord in the world today? These are the questions that Jesus addresses when He gives us two of the most evocative images from his ministry of teaching: A Builder and a King.
Many Christians know about the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-19). We are called to make disciples of all nations. That is part of our mission, our purpose. Most Christians also know that Jesus gives us the Great Commandment: To love God and love our neighbor as our self. The Great Commission and the Great Commandment are our life’s work. They are the twin engines of our life with God.
But how are we do to this extraordinary work? In Luke 14, Jesus describes these methods in terms so familiar to us that we may miss it.
Method #1: We Build. Jesus poses a question about a builder, a contractor, who assembles people, material, and talent to do a project of significance. He (the Builder) needs to plan to finish.
That is what a good builder does. That is the method of our carrying out the Great Commission and living out the Great Commandment. We build! We build families and churches and communities and nations. In fact, when you step back from it, the entire Bible story is one building project! It starts in a garden, and it ends in a City! Builders are people through whom God works.
Method #2: We Battle. Jesus poses the other question: Support a king goes off to war. Will he not be a wise king, too? That is the role of the King. He is there to protect and defend, to battle for the sake of his kingdom and its people.
That is the inescapable conclusion of Luke 14:25ff. Individuals who follow Christ will always build and battle. Each is called to be a “Contractor/King.” We are charged to develop and to defend. (Bible readers will note that Nehemiah dispatches men to both protect the city (battle) and rebuild the walls (build). He gives them both a sword (a tool for the battlefield) and a trowel (a building
tool) in Nehemiah 4.) We will do well to remember this today in the cause of the rights and sanctity of the unborn.
Christians should build the human family, build more faithful churches and communities of faith, and build centers of human flourishing where the glory of our humanity may be honored and upheld. And at the same time, we are all called to engage a battle: to defend the rights of the unborn and to engage the culture in an ideological battle of values and convictions for the sake of others.
Even more soberly, we should never expect a people or culture NOT to need those who will protect and defend the vulnerable and the defenseless. It is an axiomatic truth: Sin will always call Builders and Battlers into the service of our God.