6 Conditions Of A Disciple Series

Jesus said, we cannot be His disciples until we have the following in our lives:

1. To love God more than anyone else in the world - Luke 14:26

- Here in this text Jesus was not asking his disciples to withdraw from their family responsibilities. He Himself was a responsible son, we find it from His lifestyle and also from His words on the cross.

- Jesus did not violate and did not expect His disciples to violate Old Testament commandment "Honour your mother and father"!

- In this context if we see the context from the other gospel writer Matthew 10:37, Jesus meant "he that loves father or mother more than me"...

- It is not hating anyone but not to love anyone more than God!

2. Carry your own cross - Daily - Luke 14:27 & Luke 9:23

- It is not carrying Jesus' cross, it is carrying our own cross.

- If we can understand what Jesus' cross meant to Jesus, we can understand what our cross can mean to us.

- Jesus' cross signifies our sins and burdens, our cross is not Jesus' cross but it is people' burdens.

- That's the reason the parallel scripture Luke 9:23 says to deny ourselves to carry our cross. Why do we need to deny ourselves when carrying our cross? Our cross which means people' burdens is never our interest. To take care of others we need to sacrifice our own interests.

3. Do not posses anything - hold loosely - Luke 14:33

- Jesus did not mean not to save anything for our future or for our children. His attitude towards money is always to be treated as a servant not a master. Money is a good servant but a bad master.

- 1 Timothy 6:10 says the love of money is the root cause of all evil.

- Possession is what possesses us. Let not the money possess you but handle it loosely.

- Let us run after God, let the money run after us. Our focus must be God, not money.

- Have money, have riches but hold it loosely. Don't let the money get hold of you!

4. Obey the teachings of Jesus - Obey His Word - John 8:31

- the Words if Jesus are Spirit and life.

- Jesus has commanded us to be His witnesses!

- we cannot be a powerful witness without obeying His word ourselves.

5. Love one another as He loved us - John 13:35

- 1 Corinthians 13 says even if we have all the gifts of grace working in us and yet we do not have love, it is vain.

- We cannot only be the receivers of God's love and without being distributers of His love.

- The whole bible and commandments are summed up in love. It is not an option to love somebody, it is a command for every believer to love one another!

6. Bear much fruit - Be fruitful - John 15:8

- We are all born again believers. Once we are born again, we need to grow spiritually.

- A fruit bearing tree bears no fruit, the tree should be abandoned.

- Growth and being fruitful is our responsibility and also a common sense.

- It hurts the father if He finds no growth in His child. Same with earthly parents.

Let us continue to be His disciples by abiding to these 6 conditions applied in our lives on our daily lives.