Precepts Of Discipleship

PRECEPTS OF DISCIPLESHIP

MT 16:24-27

Dietrich Bonhoeffer- From childhood, I only have 2 modern day heroes. One is Br. Andrew that smuggled Bibles behind the Iron Curtain and the other is Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a great German theologian during the time of Hitler. He preached against Hitler and Naziism and was put in prison. Just before the war was over, Bonhoeffer was hanged. A great book/movie “Hanged on a Twisted Cross” tells his courageous story. My favorite book that Bonhoeffer wrote is “The Costs of Discipleship”. It reveals that there is much more to following Christ than walking down the aisle and repeating a prayer. I’ll share a few of Bonhoeffer’s quotes in this sermon.

A. THE COSTS OF DISCIPLESHIP.

Mt 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

“If you wish to come after Me”

* To Unbelievers there, He is calling them to repentance and rebirth. He is calling them to leave their old life of sin behind for new life.

* To believers, He is inviting them to a deeper relationship with Him.

* To all, He is saying “I am not camping out in this one place. I am heading in a direction. If you want to know Me, to really know Me, then you must come after Me.”

* It is sad to see believers, after some time, live with a diminished love for Jesus Christ. To religiously go thru the motions, but never experience the awesome presence and power of our Lord.

* Many asked Jesus “What must I do to be saved?”

* This morning, the question is “How do I experience a deep relationship with Jesus Christ?”

Jesus said “If you wish to come after Me you must.....”

1. You Must Deny Yourself.

Deny- aparneomai- to disown and completely separate yourself.

In this case, it is to separate yourself from yourself.

a) To Separate yourself from your past life of sin. You will never have a close relationship with Jesus if you continue to live in sin.

b) To surrender your own will and earthly desires and embrace God’s will as your own will. Seek to accomplish the will of God at all costs.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer- “We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God.”

2. You Must Take up Your Cross.

* When the Crowd heard Jesus say this, it brought up the horrible imagery of the Crucifixions they had witnessed. There was nothing mystical to them about taking up your cross. A man who took up his cross began a death march bearing the cross on which he would die.

* This is why many followers left Jesus. They could not bear what He was teaching them to do.

What taking up your cross is not...

a) Some mystical level of spiritual enlightenment that comes from self-flagellation or that which only the religious elite can achieve.

b) It is not putting up with a no-good drunk of a husband.

c) It is not suffering thru living with a nagging wife.

d) It is not even suffering thru illnesses, handicaps, incurable disease.

What is taking up your cross?

Taking up your Cross is the willingness to pay any price and to suffer any hardship for the cause of Christ.

“Taking up your cross” does not mean “to seek to be tortured to death”, although for some believers martyrdom is a stark reality.

* It means accepting the work that God has for you and all that comes with it. It means paying the price. That price might be financial, it might be relational, and it might be persecution.

* Your cross involves voluntarily participating in Christ’s suffering. And, it also involves a willingness to die for the Lord Jesus Christ, if necessary.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer- “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

3. You Must Follow Me.

Only after a person denies himself and takes up his cross is he prepared to follow Jesus. True discipleship only comes with absolute surrender and submission to the Lord Jesus Christ.

The main mistake that many make is inviting Jesus to follow them instead of them following Jesus. That is not how it works, though.

* When Jesus chose His disciples, they had their own lofty agendas. But Jesus destroyed those. He had not called them out to fulfill their own agendas, but for them to help fulfill HIS!

Jn 15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you.”

If you really want to dive into the deep spiritual waters, then you will do so on His terms, not your own.

One of the hardest things in this area, is to plainly see with your own eyes what seems to be the best course of action, yet hearing the Spirit tell us to do something that seems totally illogical.