3 D Christianity
Luke 9:23
If you have your bibles, turn to Luke, Chapter 9 and we will begin with verse 23. If you don’t have your bibles… SHAME ON YOU! Please use the one in the pew this week… and bring your own next week.
Today I am going to be asking and discussing the question, “What is a disciple?” Specifically, what is a disciple of Jesus Christ? Even in scripture there were other disciples other than disciples of Jesus and today there are people who would call themselves disciples of other religions and other leaders. But, I am talking about, “What is a disciple of Jesus Christ?” What is a disciple? Is a disciple just someone who claims to be a follower, someone who believes in God, someone who joins a church or is it someone who reaches some higher level, some supernatural level of spiritual experience that they have been through; some special experience?
Let’s read here what Jesus had to say to his followers beginning with verse 23. 23 Then he said to them all: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whosoever will same his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? 26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste the death, till they see the kingdom of God.
We see specifically in the 23rd verse that Jesus is teaching about what it is to be a disciple. I would tell you that based on Jesus’ own words here, the definition of a disciple is not just someone who believes in God, not just someone who claims to be a follower of Jesus, not even someone who had some kind of spiritual experience because if you look back at verse 18, it says, And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him. He is speaking to disciples when he says these words. He is speaking to men who have already left everything, men who have already been with him through many spiritual experiences and people who not only called themselves followers but also truly were followers. Even in speaking to them, Jesus lets them know that the whole definition of disciple is a person who is willing and committed to move deeper, to experience more. He is speaking to men who already have given much. He talks to them he is not talking to about other people becoming disciples, He is talking about THEM being disciples and he lets them know that he is speaking of people who want more, want to move deeper and follow him closer. How many of you saw the movie Godspell? It was about in the early 70’s. Some of you may not remember it but there was a song in that movie that says, “Oh dear Lord, three things I pray: to see thee more clearly, to love thee more dearly and follow thee more nearly.” Those are the 3 things in that song and I think that’s what a disciple is. So first of all Jesus started out with a big word here. He said if any man would come after me. It starts with an “if”. Now why does he use that word “if”? The reason is simple… because discipleship is a choice. It’s not forced on you, it’s not required and it doesn’t happen automatically. That’s the thing you need to understand – it doesn’t happen automatically. It doesn’t happen by just going through the motions. Becoming a disciple is a choice but that word “if” not only spoke of choice, that a choice would be required, it spoke of SEPARATION because there are many who don’t chose to be disciples. Many believers don’t choose to be disciples because they are content to stay pretty much were they were.
I remember a story about a little boy who was in the bed and rolled out of the bed. His mom came in and got him up from the floor and asked, “son what happened?” He said, “I think I fell asleep too close to where I got in.” I think there are a lot of Christians that have fallen asleep too close to where they got in. They really haven’t moved on. So think about that word “if. When Jesus used “if” it was really a line in the sand and he was saying if you want to be a disciple, you have to step over this line. You have to choose. You have to separate yourself too and this line will separate those that want to be true disciples. Now listen the “if” means you have to choose whether or not you really want to be that kind of disciple. Not all followers and not all disciples are equal. God loves us all equally. He died for us equally. We are equally saved. When I say not all disciples are equally, I don’t mean in those terms. But it’s just like in baseball, there are ballplayers and then there are ballplayers. (a power point presentation of various athletes is shown) Do you see the difference? You can see the difference between those ballplayers and these ballplayers. There are bikers and then there are bikers. So there are disciples and followers and then there are disciples and followers. See you can be at a different level as a ballplayer or biker and you can be at a different level as a disciple and follower. Some choose to follow closely and some only at a distance. Some are like Peter, who followed at a distance but then he became a closer follower.
So that’s the good news… wherever you are now you don’t have to stay there, you can get closer. Some choose to follow consistently and others only periodically. Some follow when it is costly and some only follow when it is easy.
I want to talk you today about something I call 3D Christianity (3D-discipleship) because the things I’m going to talk about all start with the letter D. As Jesus was speaking in this scripture the first thing he talked about was DENY. If any man would come after me he must deny himself. Now lets look at the word “self”. “Self” is not hard to understand. “Self” is as easy as “if” to understand. “Self” is that person that looks back at you when you look in the mirror. If everybody would take their right hand and put down 3 fingers and keep you thumb and forefinger up and then reach over and pinch you left arm really hard, that person that says ouch, is “self”. We have to deny the self. That’s what the bible says. But what does it mean to deny the self? It’s not enough to say we have to deny the self… we have to learn what that means. What do I deny the “self”? If I want to be a follower of Jesus do I have deny myself anything I like? If I find something I like does that mean I can’t have that? Do you like banana pudding? You can’t have that. Do you like to go hiking? You can’t do that anymore. You’re a Christian, you’re a follower, and you can’t do those things? That’s not what it means to deny self. I have a friend that took this too literally and regularly picked something that he was going to deny himself for a particular day. Just because he thought it would make him a closer follower. He didn’t understand that just denying yourself something doesn’t make you any closer. Now if there is something you want to deny yourself in the sense of fasting that’s different. Fasting is denying yourself something in order to spend that time, or that money, or that energy for spiritual pursuit. Just not eating, or giving up any of these other things doesn’t make you more spiritual. So that’s not what Jesus meant when he said we have to deny ourselves. When we deny our self, it is denying ourselves something that is in opposition of what God wants. Now that is when you have to deny the self. You don’t have to deny the self everything you enjoy. That’s not what it means to be a disciple. What it means is there are going to be times when there is going to be a conflict between what self wants and what God would have; between what God would have me to do and what my friends want me to do; between what family expects of me and what God expects of me. That’s not all the time but there will be those times and those are the times when that word deny will have to come up. When there is anything or anybody that would try to get me to do what they would have me do, being with them or whatever activity, that would cause me to have to disobey God or that would cause me to do something that would damage my relationship with Jesus Christ, I have to deny myself in that case. I like banana pudding and I’m not going to deny myself banana pudding. I can like banana pudding and be pleasing to God because that’s not what denying is. Lying is another matter. I cannot lie and be pleasing to God. So if I have a desire to lie, either to keep myself out of trouble or to get what I want or to get ahead or any other reason that I would cause me to choose to lie, that will cause me to move away from Jesus Christ. So then I have to make a decision. I can tell the truth and not get what I want; I can tell the truth and get in trouble; I can tell the truth and not advance the way I want; I can tell the truth like God wants me to do or I can tell this lie, but somebody is going to get denied. God is over here and saying “Tell the truth” and self is over here and saying, “No tell the lie.” I am either going to do what I want to do and turn my back on God or I’m going to turn my back on what I want and do what God wants me to do. Again, somebody is going to get denied. Jesus said “if you want to call yourself a disciple, if you want to call yourself a follower, you have to turn your back on the self (deny the self) in those cases because every time you turn your back on me, you are not a disciple and you are not a follower”. It’s only when you turn your back to the self and again, like I said, that’s not on every thing. It’s only when that conflict comes up between God’s way and my self’s way and we have to make that decision. So that’s what it is to deny the self. Remember: if I decide to tell the truth, I can still be in God’s will, but if I decide to tell the lie, I have to turn away and get off that straight and narrow road that would lead me to be pleasing to God. I HAVE TO DENY, THAT MEANS TO SAY NO TO THE SELF, ANYTIME AND EVERY TIME THE SELF WANTS SOMETHING THAT IS IN OPPOSITION TO WHAT GOD WANTS because that thing will move me farther away from God and not closer to God. So the first thing I talked about here that we have to do if we are going to be followers is you have to deny the self. That’s not easy, that’s not something that people want to hear. People don’t want to deny their self; people don’t want to deny pleasure; people don’t want to deny themselves anything. We live in a culture where we are really not very good of denying ourselves things. Most young people today, when they get married, expect to have everything their parent had after 20 years; a house, 2 new cars. They tell themselves that this is what I deserve because this is what other people have. We are not very good at denying ourselves of those things. Like starting out in a “fixer upper” or even in a rental then moving up to a fixer upper and in time to a small house and then move up to the next one. We are not good at denying self. Jesus said if you want to be my follower, if you to be my disciple, you have to first deny self and turn your back on anything that keeps you from him.
Then he goes to the second thing. He says you have to disconnect.
The next part of this verse is a hard part. If you look at this verse, Jesus said, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. “Take up the cross”, now you have probably heard that preached on a lot of times. But you have to disconnect. Jesus said you have to take up your cross. What does that mean to “take up your cross”? What is the “cross”? I know what the cross has become. The cross has become a beautiful symbol that we dress up by making it gold or silver, with a nice smooth finish, maybe with flowers on it and maybe wrapped it up with a nice piece of cloth. We have come to love the cross because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Therefore, the cross has become one thing to us… but it is not what it was to Jesus. The cross was not beautiful. The cross was not gold or silver. The cross was not light. The cross was not something that made you feel good. The cross was an instrument of death! That’s exactly what it was, a hideous instrument of death. It was the way to kill people. It was just like the guillotine, just like the electric chair, just like a hangman’s noose. We don’t see those things in a jewelry store. When was the last time you saw someone wear around their neck a guillotine or an electric chair? When was the last time you saw that? You don’t see that nor do you see pictures in people’s homes of a hangman’s noose up on the wall with pretty words underneath it. But we do that with the cross because we have forgotten what the cross was. When Jesus told his disciples to take up their cross, even then the whole thought of carrying a cross with you would be abhorrent, not beautiful. But Jesus was saying we have to be ready to put to death, to kill, anything or anybody that comes between us and following Jesus Christ. I know that is probably upsetting to you. Jesus didn’t tell them to bring your gun. When Jesus said that you have to carry your cross it was the same thing as saying “you have to carry your gun and if anybody comes between you and me, shoot them”. Not literally, but we have to put to death anything that comes between us and Jesus. We put ourselves to death in that we deny ourselves. We turn our back on what self wants and we do what God wants, so we have already crucified the flesh, crucified the self but that’s not enough. Even if you were successful with that; even if you crucified the flesh; even if you crucified your own desires, you’re still going to have trouble because people are still going to try to come between you and Jesus. They will try to lead you astray and in order to follow those people; you would have to turn away from Jesus. Lets look at Luke, Chapter 14, starting with verse 25. 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. Those words cause trouble for people because it says that we have to hate our mother, hate our children, hate our spouse. How can that be biblical? It doesn’t mean that we are to abuse them; it doesn’t mean that we are to have ill feelings toward them. That hate is not an emotion. When the bible talks about loving Him and hating something else, it is not an “emotion thing”. God is saying that it is a “priority thing”. God has to be up here. Everything else is somewhere below/beneath. Some things are higher than others (in priority) but nothing is higher than our love for Jesus Christ. So when you choose one thing over another, just like Jesus said you can’t love God and love money. When you choose one thing over another, you are loving one thing and putting it up here and you are putting the other thing beneath it so you hate that thing in relation to the thing you chose. Not that you have ill will towards it, not some emotional response to it, but it is a position/priority. Jesus said you will put me in first place, you will love me, and anything else will be in second place; which is below that so you then hate that thing in relation to Jesus. So even with people, we will hate them in the sense that we will always say that Jesus it here(indicating a high position) and even momma is here (indicating a position lower than the position of Jesus). Jesus is here and the kids are here (lower). Jesus is here and the spouse is here (lower). Jesus is here and the job is here (lower). Jesus is here and government is here (lower). Jesus is here and I am here (lower). Jesus is here and everything else is lower than, submissive to, my love for and my obedience to Jesus Christ. So in those situations where I am forced to make a choice between momma and Jesus, you might think can never happen but it happens; between the kids and Jesus; between the spouse and Jesus; the job and Jesus; between the government and Jesus, I will love him and I will hate the others. Hating them in the sense of putting them in submission. Now that’s a hard thing to do but that’s what Jesus said. Our desires and anything else has to be crucified. They have to be in submission and subjection to my obedience to Jesus Christ. That’s a hard thing to do. People don’t like to read this verse, where it says to HATE your mother. How can that be Christian? We know that God doesn’t expect you to hate your mother(emotionally) because one of the Ten Commandments says to LOVE or honor your parents. He expects us to do that. We love them and we honor them above other things but Jesus is still above them and is still up here. So we have to be willing to DISCONNECT FROM … crucify, submit mom, the kids, or anything else that would take us away from and would be in opposition to what Jesus Christ would have for us. So the first thing is we have to deny ourselves and then we have to DISCONNECT from… deny… other people. We might call it disconnect to take up our cross and be willing to crucify, put anything else in submission and subjection to Jesus Christ…
and the third thing is DEVOTE.
DENY yourself
DISCONNECT (deny) everything and everyone else
DEVOTE yourself to following/obeying Jesus
Jesus said to follow me or be devoted to me. When he said that we have to follow him, that’s not just living like he did, or to walk in his footsteps. That’s not what he meant here by follow me. Jesus understands that “nature abhors a vacuum.” You might have heard that term before. In nature, you can’t have a “vacuum”, it just doesn’t happen. As human beings we can’t “JUST SAY NO” to something. (sorry Mrs. Bush) Because if we just say no to an activity and stop that activity; I turn away from that person and I don’t hang out with that person anymore, I don’t think these thoughts anymore, I don’t go to this place anymore; if we just stop something… it creates a vacuum. If you try to just stop… you are going to create a vacuum and if you do, guess who is going to fill it? Satan or the world will fill that hole for you. What we have to do when we create that vacuum is say I am not going do this anymore because that’s not what Jesus Christ wants me to do, because that takes me away from him because I know he wants me to give that up; he wants me to stop doing that. When we stop that we create a vacuum and what we have to do then is put something in that place(vacuum). We need to stick Jesus in that place. So that’s what Jesus is saying here. He said I don’t want you to just turn you back on the self and I don’t want you to just crucify any other relationship or anything else. He says I want you to put something right there in the middle, something you can focus on, some positive thing. He said FOLLOW ME. Put me in that place. Let me fill that place for you, and then it’s not as hard to follow him. It’s really hard to just stop doing something; just not do something. It’s a lot easier to not do that… but do this instead. It’s real hard for me not to eat banana pudding when it’s on the table. It’s easier to not eat banana pudding if I eat cheezecake else instead. Of course, I’m not going to eat greens but I’ll eat something else. So it’s easier to not do something if you can fill it with something else. We fill that thing with Jesus Christ and that’s what Jesus said – “the only way you are going to be successful at this; the only way you will be successful at turning you back and denying self; the only way you will ever be successful at putting other things separate from Me is that you fall in love with Me; fall deeper in love in that relationship with me.” When you do that it’s not nearly as hard to stop or not do or put something else in submission. Jesus said, “I have to be first” and the more we do this; the more we deny the self, disconnect and put everything in submission to Jesus Christ; the more we devote ourselves to Him, to knowing Him, to following Him, to be obedient to Him, the more fall in love with Him ???????
I’ll close with this, you might have had several girlfriends or boyfriends, depending your sex, you might have had several dates or several people in your life, but then that one person came in your live; that one special person. Now you started to spend time with this person, you started to share yourself with this person, make yourself venerable with this person, you just started to fall deeper and deeper in love and as you did that it was easier and easier to let all those other things go. Those things didn’t matter anymore because you had something else. That’s what Jesus meant, “Follow Me, fall in love with Me and you will see that denying self isn’t all that hard; putting everything else in submission to me isn’t all that hard. The secret is that you have to fall in love with Me.”
This morning we are going to sing our hymn of invitation. I don’t care where you are in the spiritual walk. You may be very young as a Christian. Maybe you haven’t learned how do deny the self and you’re still struggling with that or you still have some other relationships in you life and you can’t find a way to submit them to Jesus Christ and you’re struggling with that. Maybe you’ve been a Christian for ten years and you’re still struggling with that same thing, whatever it is, wherever you are in your walk with Jesus Christ, you may be pretty mature as a Christian, Jesus still calls us to come deeper, to deny our self… more, and to put more things in submission. Why, is that because He is greedy? No, it is because He wants to grow deeper in a love relationship with you; He wants you to grow deeper in that love relationship with Him. It is because He knows there are so many blessings you are going to enjoy; so many things He has for us as we fall more deeply in love with Him and give ourselves more to him.
As we sing our hymn of invitation… if God has spoken to you today… come… and make whatever decision He leads you to make.
