Disciple, Part 1 Series

What about you, Christian?—Are you a disciple in respect to bearing the cross of Christ?

• Do you live to please THE WORLD, or to please THE LORD?

• Are you willing to stand with the Lord and His people, or are you ashamed of your faith in Christ, and hide your Christianity from those who know you?

• When pressured to do sinful things by your peers, do you fold like a house of cards, or are you willing to stand for Christ and righteousness regardless of the cost?

• If your friends make fun of you, does that bother you? or do you rejoice that you were counted worthy to suffer for His sake?

III. THIRD, JESUS SAYS THAT TO BE HIS DISCIPLE MEANS MAKING HIM THE LORD OF YOUR POSSESSIONS – Luke 14:33 – “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.”

The word “forsake” in verse 33 is an interesting word. It doesn’t mean “reckless abandonment of one’s belongings.” Greek scholar Spiros Zodhiates says the Greek word translated forsake here means “to properly categorize.”

So let’s read the verse that way – “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that does not PROPERLY CATEGORIZE all that he has, he cannot be my disciple.”

Here Jesus is saying that to be His disciple you must have Jesus and your material possessions in their proper perspective. In other words, Jesus and the cause of Christ must come FIRST before our own material well-being.

This is what Jesus was driving at in Matthew 6:24-33 where He says not to worry about money and the material, physical things in this life. He ends that passage by saying, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)

In the whole passage, Jesus teaches, “Don’t be materialistic. Properly prioritize money and things. Put them in their proper place. Don’t live for these things. I’ll supply all your needs. Seek first MY Kingdom, and MY righteousness. THAT’S what really counts. THAT’S what leads to eternal riches.”

That’s what you are doing when you lay up treasures in Heaven.

POEM: There’s a poem that goes like this:

I counted dollars while God counted crosses.

I counted gains while He counted losses!

I counted my worth by the things gained in store.

But He sized me up by the scars that I bore.

I coveted honors and sought for degrees;

He wept as He counted the hours on my knees.

And I never knew ’til one day at a grave,

How vain are these things that we spend life to save.

“So likewise, whosoever he be of you who does not forsake (who does not properly categorize and prioritize) all that he has, he cannot be my disciple.”

CONCLUSION

“Disciple”—are you living up that name? To be disciple is to strive to follow Christ with TOTAL COMMITMENT. To do that will cost you a lot.

Vance Havner said this: “Salvation is free. The gift of God is eternal life. It is not cheap, for it cost God His Son and the Son His life—but it is free. However, when we become believers we become disciples and that will cost everything we have.”