What does it cost to be a disciple of Jesus?
According to Merriam Webster a disciple is someone who accepts and assists in sharing the doctrines of another person.
A disciple of Jesus therefore is a person who accepts and assists in the spreading of the good news of Jesus Christ.
We call such people Christians.
If we were to go up to any person who calls themselves a Christian and ask them if they believed they were a true disciple of Christ, the majority of the people would stand up and raise their hands and say, “Yes, I am a true disciple.”
They would do so without giving a second thought to the requirements that Jesus set forth for those who followed Him. They would be insulted if you challenged their claim.
There is a cost to being a disciple of Christ, a cost that most people do not understand.
PRAYER
Father, open my eyes to see Your Word.
Open my ears to hear.
Open my mind to understand.
And open my heart so I may receive Your Word today.
AMEN
In the July/August issue of the Message Magazine, President Jeff Farmer stated, “Large Crowds followed Jesus but he was not recruiting cowards. He set the discipleship bar high. Many believers in the church assume that they are Christ’s disciples. They are not… at least by Christ’s standards.”
Jesus’ words in Luke 9:23-27 take us to the heart of the matter. What is really needed to be a disciple of Christ?
23Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? 26If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God." Luke 9:23-27
Jesus said almost the same thing again in Luke 14:25-27.
25Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:25-27
I am not advocating that we are supposed to hate our parents, our wives and husbands, our children and our families.
The point Jesus is making in this portion of Scripture is that we must place Him above all other relationships. In order for us to be Christ’s disciples we must put Him first. He must be Lord of all.
If He is not Lord of all, He may not be Lord at all.
He must be the Lord of your marriage, the Lord of your family, the Lord of your friendships, the Lord of your job, the Lord of your finances, the Lord of your recreation; He must be Lord of all.
Makes me wonder if an armed gunman stood before anyone who calls themselves a disciple of Christ, what would they do?
Would we be a martyr or not?
I want to share a powerful video clip with you that really helps drive this point home.
Show Video.
Jesus set the bar of discipleship very high for those who would follow.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, 13"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Is it possible that the gate and the road are narrower than people thought?
That is why Jesus said, 21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. “Away from me, you evildoers!’” Matthew 7:21-23
And that is why John reports in John 6:66, “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.”
And that is why the rich young man in Matthew 19 could not follow Jesus.
If He is not Lord of all, He may not be Lord at all.
The cost of being His disciple is making Jesus the Lord of all in your life.
For some reason, this is one of the most difficult accomplishments for any of us. Throughout the history of mankind we have failed at putting God first.
Why is this so difficult?
It is so difficult because since the beginning of time man has wanted to fulfill his own personal agenda and meet his own interest and needs and take care of his own welfare.
While we are seeking our own will God is pleading with us to seek His will.
Too often we want to think about what I want, what I am, what I will.
This way of thinking is the opposite of what Jesus taught both in words and in actions.
When we become consumed with I it becomes impossible for God to work in us and through us.
Jesus knew the importance of knowing and doing the will of God. He and the Father were one.
And here is something that is really cool. We and the Father can be one as well. Jesus even prayed that for us in John 17.
It is Jesus’ desire, His hearts cry for you and I to become a physical, emotional, and spiritual conduit of the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
That is what Jesus was.
He was so totally surrendered to God that Jesus even went to the cross to give His life as a ransom for ours.
Jesus was totally surrendered to the will of the Father and we are supposed to be totally surrendered to the will of the Father as well.
But there is a problem. Surrender is not a popular word. When we think of surrender we think of weakness, we think of giving up, we think of losing.
According to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, it is a paradox of Christianity that true strength is found in weakness.
Jesus himself embodied the world's idea of weakness, even to the point of surrendering to an excruciating death.
And when Jesus did surrender, God’s power was visible.
God’s power is often most visible in the midst of suffering, humility, weakness and especially when we are surrendered to His will.
How can we get to that point in our lives when we are totally surrendered to God?
It starts with Luke 9:23. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
1. We must make a definite decision to come after Christ.
We cannot hold on to the world with one hand and heaven with the other. Either we are going to follow God or we are not.
We need to make a clear, definite decision like Joshua made in Joshua 24:15 when he said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
This decision is made when we accept Jesus as our Savior and allow God to forgive our sins.
Once that decision is made we can then move on.
2. We must deny ourselves of those things in our lives that oppose the will of God.
When Jesus says that we must deny ourselves He means that we must remove from our lives anything that is damaging to the relationship between the Father and the child.
It may be pleasures, profits, views, connections, practices, friends or whatever. Anything that is damaging to our walk with God needs to be removed.
This very point has caused many to turn from Christianity because it is too much to give up.
This command of Jesus is so very important to the life of a Christian that it cannot be ignored, for to ignore it would cost us our souls.
If we want to be a disciple of Christ and walk in the blessing and power of God then it will require us to practice self-denial, complete dedication, and willing obedience in our commitment to Christ.
We cannot afford to lose the victory that we have been promised by following God’s will over our own. It’s not about me. It’s not about I. It’s about surrendering to God’s will.
Jesus had to face this same thing in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed “Lord not my will, but Thou will be done.”
Once we get this down then we can move on to the third part of that Scripture.
3. We must take up our cross.
Jesus could not take up His cross until He was able to deny Himself.
The cross symbolizes pain and suffering.
We are supposed to say no to ourselves and we are supposed to be willing to suffer?
That is what Jesus did. He took up His cross and carried it to His death.
We have to do the same. We have to be willing to suffer insult for Jesus. We have to be regular in our attendance at church. We have to be willing to spend time in His Word and in prayer and praise.
Taking up your cross is the total dedication of your life to God every day.
This is not necessarily in a physical sense but rather the total sacrifice of self daily for God. It means saying, “Whatever You want God I will do. I’ll go where You want me to go. I’ll say what You want me to say.”
Daily nailing our own desires to the cross
Whatever He wants with my life is what must be done with it. What I want no longer matters, but I give myself for Him, just as He gave Himself for us despite the fact His human nature did not want to have to do it.
Then we can move on to the last point.
4. We must have dauntless determination and follow Him.
Jesus is recorded using the exact phrase “Follow me” some 20 times in the four Gospels.
Most of the time when Jesus said, “Follow me,” the people followed. A few times they did not.
God doesn’t desire for us to just observe from the sideline. An observer is nothing more than a religious window shopper. Always looking for something great, something better, something they would love to have but they are not willing to pay the price to get it.
The church today is full of people who will observe and maybe even tag along for a while but once their comfort zone starts to get threatened they stop following.
They may attend church, they may listen to the message, but they never allow the power of the Word of God to catapult them into a deeper experience with God that changes their lives forever.
The result is a church with no substantial witness or testimony that would draw others from their community into the saving power of God.
The Apostle Paul understood what it was like to deny himself and take up his cross and follow Christ.
7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:7-11
A true disciple of Jesus Christ is a person who has counted the cost and surrenders all so they can possess all that God offers.
God wants us to follow. He doesn’t want us to walk away or give up when our spiritual comfort zones are challenged. His desire is that we surrender to Him and when we do He promises to take care of everything else.
Are you willing to have a bulldog tenacity, a never give up mentality, a do or die attitude to be a disciple of Christ?
It means saying no to temptation and sin.
It means saying no to the enemy.
It means tearing down all the things in our lives that build up walls between us and God.
It is a daily event.
It is lining our life up with the Word of God.
It means obedience to God.
It means that we may have to suffer.
But it also means that we will reign with the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
