The Call To Discipleship
Imagine in your mind that you are a news reporter for station W-O-R-D in Jerusalem. You have been assigned the task of following some new religious fanatic who has appeared on the scene and seriously shaken the status quo. Not much of a Jew yourself, this whole scene seems to you to be a bit unreal.
He is so unlike the television evangelists you are used to covering. He seemed to appear out of nowhere. One day you were called to cover a wedding in Cana of Galilee and there you discovered the wine had run out, and this stranger, so without credentials according to the Sanhedrin simply turned a vase of water into wine. Just what kind of trickery it might be, you don't know for sure. One thing you do know. There is a quality about this man you've never experienced before.
He has an awesome kind of power about Him, yet He seems so humble. When He speaks, it is as though He is speaking with an authority that causes the very elements to bow in submission. Yet He is not harsh or condemning or dictatorial. Whenever He sees a child, or an invalid, or a blind man, He stops His message, (much, I must admit, to the dismay of His staff), and He goes over and picks up the child or touches the lame and the blind and they seem to be healed.
So intrigued was I with the difference in this man, that I asked the station if I could cover Him as a special feature story, the way they cover Presidential candidates in the states. I would just follow along behind Him and photograph His every move, record His every word. Surely, sooner or later, I will figure out what He's all about. Sooner or later, He'll slip, and I'll find out just what His angle is.
Since news was a bit slow these days, the station manager gave me permission, and I have been traveling beside this stranger of Galilee for months now. One day when I was there, an incredible thing happened. As He was walking with His staff, they passed a young man who had been horn blind. All of us in that area were used to seeing the lad. We knew him well. I had my tape recorder on, and I accidentally caught an interchange between this preacher and two members of His inside team. One of them asked Him "What did this guy do to deserve such a fate? Why was he born blind? Was it his fault or his parents?" Talk about a loaded question. You'll never guess what He answered. He said "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him."
Then He went over to that blind man and He spit on the ground (our TV cameras caught that one; it was our lead story that night), and He made clay out of the saliva and put the clay on the blind man's eyes. I overheard one of our crewman saying "How gross!", but I was so taken up by what He was doing, it seemed almost beautiful to me. He told the man to go to he pool of Siloam. We split our news team up at this point, and I followed the man so I could interview him.
I couldn't believe what I saw. The man went to the pool, washed his eyes, and began to shout "I can see! I can see!" I thought it must be a hoax, so l followed him. People began asking him what had happened, and he didn't really know, except that this man Jesus (the one I was telling you about) had put mud on his eyes and told him to go and wash in this pool. What a stir this thing caused. I later learned that the Pharisees had raised a ruckus and disputed this Jesus' validity, because He healed the man on the Sabbath. I've never seen those guys heal anybody anytime. Sounded a little like professional jealousy to me.
Anyway, I followed this man with even more intensity then. He kept calling the people around Him and talking to them in story form. Boy, I like those stories. I didn't always understand what He was driving at, but the simplicity of his preaching was so different from what I'd heard in the synagogue before. He didn't seem to be impressing us with His knowledge, but rather with His love. But there was no doubt about His knowledge. He seemed to possess the very wisdom of the ages.
I'll never forget that story about being the "Good Shepherd". He talked about how shepherds lay down their lives for their sheep. Then He told the people that He was "The Son of God". Boy did that stir up a hornet's nest.
Seems now that the whole religious establishment is out to get Him. What a story that will he. Anyway, it's a feast day now, and huge crowds are gathering around Him. Philip, one of His key men, is approaching Him, pointing to a pair of Greeks who were begging to speak to Jesus.
Jn. 12:23 Jesus answered... The hour is come, that the Son of Man should be glorified.
I wonder what He means by that? He's used that phrase so many times. Only usually He says "My hour is not yet come. This time He is saying "My hour has come." What could He mean? Shhh... He's going to speak again:
Jn. 12:24 Verily, verily. I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
What an interesting way to describe death and life. This man Jesus is using the simplicity of nature to demonstrate the process. But, of course, I don't understand what He means. Maybe He'll explain. He's about to go on:
Jn. 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Jn12:27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father. save me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour, Father. glorify thy Name.
It was at this point that it happened. An incredible sound thundered from the heavens. But it was a discernible sound. It was, I know this sounds crazy, but it was a voice. And that voice said something like this:
Jn. 12:28 I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
Everyone around me started to murmur. Some said, "It was just thunder". Others said, "An angel spoke". Then this man Jesus turned to look us straight in the eye and said:
Jn. 12:30 This voice came not because of me. but for your sakes. Now is the judgement of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.
Well, you can imagine my surprise. And that's why I'm writing to you. You are evangelical Christians living on planet earth in the 1990's. If anyone should understand what He meant, you should. You do, don't you? Please write and let me know. Somehow, I feel I just might be onto the biggest story of my career. Who knows?
Signed... Eddie Exclusive, Reporter, W-OR-D, Jerusalem.
The man wants an answer. Do you have it? Do you fully understand what the Master meant in John, chapter 12, verses 20-36? Do you fully grasp the callings of God to the heart of man as found in John, chapters 12 through 14? If not, why not travel along with us for a few weeks as we walk beside the Master and dictate a letter to send back to our inquiring reporter of 20 centuries ago. The title of our mini-series will be "The Four-Fold Calling of God", and this study is "The Call to Discipleship".
I- The Priority of God's Timing (Jn. 12:23)
II- The Priority of our dying (Jn. 12:24)
III- The Priority of our choosing (Jn. 12:25)
IV- The Priority of our suffering (Jn. 12:27)
V- The Priority of God's dying (Jn. 12:28-36)
The Priority Of God’s Timing
I believe no words Jesus ever spoke were more vital or more challenging than those. He began His call to discipleship by placing the ownership of time as we know it squarely on the hands of God.
Until His time had come, He was invincible. Satan had no freedom to take His life. He was able to pass right through the crowds unharmed and untouched. The disciples lived in fear that by turning around and going with the Master, they would be captured or imprisoned. Jesus was unruffled and unconcerned. His time had not yet come.
Ps. 116:15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.
Ken Taylor adds: "He does not lightly let them die".
But, beloved, when the Cross loomed upon the horizon and death seemed to be the will of the Father, Jesus made no effort to prolong His life at the expense of the Father's plan. He quietly understood. "His time had come." Paul understood that. He reached a time when he was able to say "the time of my departure is at hand. I have finished my course He did not cling to life needlessly, nor did he fear losing his life before his time had come. He understood the sovereignty of God where life and death are concerned. Do you?
Until God was finished with Paul he was invincible. God needed him in prison before He needed him in glory. Until Jesus stood before Pilate and saw prophecy fulfilled as they railed at Him and mocked Him and gambled for His garments, He could not be called home. But, oh, when the moment was right, and the time was at hand, He was ready to be with the Father. True discipleship understands the sovereign control God has over the movements of Satan. God granted Satan permission to harass Job and to visit him with disease and suffering and sadness. But he warned him; "Do not touch his life". Without the Father's permission, the devil was helpless to take Job's life. It is as true with your life and mine as it was with Job's.
The Priority of Death to Self
The second priority Jesus made plain to those who were struggling to understand what it was He expected of them, was that He was expecting them to die.
Their plans; their dreams; their aspirations; their ministries. All these were to be taken to the cemetery where spiritual objectives are resurrected out of lives that no longer hold any right to the ownership of their own fate. Until we die, He cannot live. Until we stop clinging to those tattered remnants we will not give up, we cannot really come alive. in Christ. Paul understood that. That's why he could say, "For me to live is Christ." But precious few of us really come to that place in our lives and stay there.
The reality of dying to self seems to have been lost in this "me-too" society in which we live. Today, dying to self is characterized by giving up watching a football game to attend a Christian concert your family wants to see. Dying to self has degenerated into giving up something you don't want anyway to help someone in need, and then accepting accolades for it on planet earth.
Death to self is a constant, ongoing mindset. It is not the continual, self-martyrdom "I'11 give that up for Jesus" routine. Someone who is dead to self doesn't elevate self by calling attention to its absence, anymore than a dead man in a cemetery calls out to those passing by "Look at me; I'm dead." Someone truly dead to self simply doesn't call attention to self at all.
When the flesh cries out for recognition or gratification that is contrary to the Word of God, the cry is simply ignored. How can a dead person hear? So the muffled call of the flesh is translated into the language of the Spirit and the Word of God answers instead. That you can hear. You are alive in the Spirit, so when the Spirit calls to you from the Word you immediately respond. This pattern repeats itself over and over until you no longer even mourn the loss of the things you are denied, because they only appeal to dead people, and you're alive in Christ. That's exactly what Paul meant when he said, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live." And that's what Jesus meant when He said in this passage:
John 12:24 Verily. verily. I say unto you. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die. it bringeth forth much fruit.
25 He that loveth his life shall lose it: and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Jesus is saying that if you really want to be a disciple. you must understand that even nature demonstrates the procedure which precedes the bringing forth of new life. That which represented the old life must die, be buried, and left alone. You can't have it both ways. You can't be "dead to self" and still place limits on God about what He can and can't do in your life. You can't he "dead to self" and still cling to habits and desires and appetites that are in disharmony with the principles of Scripture. You no longer even have that option. People who are dead don't fight change. They can't. That's why Jesus defined dying to self as a matter of love and hate. Love this old life? It's all going to go some day. You'll only lose everything you've given your life for. Hate the old life and what it stands for? Good. What you will gain in the process of choosing you can keep for all eternity.
The Priority of Our Choosing
Death to self must become a practical applicable doctrine to be fruitful. You must study the rights of a dead man and then apply those rights when life gives you choices. Think about it:
You must literally choose on a minute by minute basis to acknowledge that you are a dead man; a dead woman, so that when the flesh cries out for recognition, you simply choose to ignore the cries of a dead man. Otherwise, you will assume the Christian life is a battle between two equally imposing forces and will spend your life trying to live in both worlds. You cannot do that and live in victory.
If there is a habit or a thought pattern that has plagued you from your youth, and you constantly have to do battle with those thoughts, remember, a dead man doesn't enjoy those things... and you're dead. Therefore, every time those thoughts begin to appear in your mind, you consciously say "I am crucified with Christ". Self is dead. And dead people can't respond. "Christ is alive, and Christ doesn't enjoy those thoughts; yea, Christ in me hates those thoughts. Therefore, by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within me, I choose to acknowledge that self is dead, and Christ is alive, and those thoughts have no place in my heart. Then you begin to meditate on the Scriptures. It all happens in an instant. But if it happens often enough, it becomes automatic. And the choices are made based on God's Word, not on the emotions of a dead man. Self is dead. Leave it there. Christ is alive. Put on the new man "who after God is created in righteousness and true holiness," and you are beginning to be a disciple.
The Priority of Our Suffering
What then will this "new life" be like? Will it be filled with prosperity and health and the absence of trials? Will it be a life of continual external peace and happiness on the way to Heaven?
Not if you're talking about the "new life" Jesus was talking about. The new life Jesus spoke of was filled with trials and persecution and hardship and suffering. In fact, Jesus made it part and parcel of your calling as a disciple. In verse 27, Jesus gave us what may well be one of the most beautiful verses to claim in the Bible when trouble faces us.
John12:27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this cause came I to this hour. Father, glorify thy name.
Jesus was facing the Cross. Everything His disciples imagined that He was working for was about to dissolve in a frenzy of misunderstanding, false accusation, obstruction of justice, mob frenzy, peer rejection, and ultimately unjust execution. Doesn't sound like a taste of heaven on earth, and Jesus understood our feelings. He was tested in all points as we are. And He admitted: "Now is my soul troubled." What an honest statement for God to make. Jesus was admitting that the choices that faced Him were not pleasant choices. He could do His Father's will and be beaten, shamed, humiliated, spit upon, mocked, and murdered. Or... He could miss the Father's will. As a dead man, He had no rights. It really didn't matter that pain and suffering awaited Him. How could pain hurt a dead man? How could humiliation hurt a dead man?
So the choice was made. For our benefit, He asked the question. What shall I say? How shall I respond? I have two choices: I can say "Father, save me from this hour". I can say "Lord, deliver me from this prison house of pain and suffering. Lord, don't let your anointed he misunderstood or mocked or abused. Lord, protect your reputation by saving me." I can pray like that, Jesus said, and presumptuously demand that God change His will to suit man's natural desires. Or, Jesus went on, I can relax and relinquish control of my life into the hands of God and admit that the Cross is why I am here, and suffering is part of my calling. So He prayed, "Father, this is why I'm here. For this cause came I unto this hour. Father glorify thy name." And of course, the Father did. And the Father audibly answered the Son "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again."
What an incredible verse to claim when life deals us desperately unexpected or uninviting blows. When the crises form on the horizon and we tend to cry out in anguish, "Lord no!" Why not, instead, quietly crawl up into God and pray "Father what shall I say. deliver me from this hour? No. it was for this reason that you brought me to this hour. Father. glorify your name."
The Father will answer in sweet tones from His Word "I have glorified it, and will again." Learn to pray like that in times like that, and you are beginning to be a disciple. Learn to pray when the phone rings and it's bad news: "Father what shall I say, save me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto this hour Father, glorify thy name." The Word will comfort your heart and remind you of why you are alive on planet earth. You are not here to enjoy life. You are not here to become successful. You are not here to be free from pain and suffering and hunger and loneliness and trial. If you were, how could Jesus be our example of God living in man on planet earth? You are here to glorify God.
If passing through the valley of death glorifies God, then for that cause God brought you to that hour. If being misunderstood and responding in love glorifies God, then for that cause God brought you to that hour. If a life of pain and incurable illness most glorifies God by demonstrating His incredible grace, then for that cause God brought you to that hour, and He will bring you through that hour that He might glorify His name. And if that is why you are here, why even listen to the cries of a dead man to do otherwise. Simply cry out in victory, Lord for this cause came I unto this hour, glorify your name.
You have a guarantee in writing from His Word. He will. What more could you ask for? That is why you were born, to glorify His name. That is why you were re-horn at such an incredible price to God, to glorify His name.
If you would, in fact, like a simple definition of a disciple, it is this:
A disciple = One whose sole goal in life is to glorify God.
Now, would you still like to be disciple? If so, remember the priority of God's timing. He will answer your prayers at the exact moment in time that will most glorify His name. and that will often be hours or days or weeks or months or years after what you thought was His deadline. But the doctrine of God's timing also gives us confident hope. It means that Satan has no access to take our lives until our hour has come. Being a disciple means understanding the awesome timing of God.
Secondly, being a disciple means understanding experientially what it means to be dead. Dead men don't have a reputation to protect. So whatever God decides to do with our reputations, let Him. Dead men can't vote on where they get to work or what they get to eat or how rich they get to be. So when God allows the circumstances in your life to be altered until your dreams die and your hopes are crushed, praise Him. He knows what you need. You don't. Dead men can't make those decisions. And dead men can't cry out for acceptance or praise. So when you labor in God's vineyard and appear to be unappreciated, so what? If you're truly dead, you can't hear the applause anyway. But when you get to Heaven, and the Master says, "Well done, thy good and faithful servant," you'll hear Him. beloved. You'll hear Him well.
Thirdly, being a disciple means understanding that discipleship is a moment by moment choice. It isn't something that happens because of some earth moving emotional experience. It isn't something that comes because you drummed up a lot of faith. Discipleship is a choice. The power is God's; the choices are ours. Unless we accept that responsibility, we will come to the end of our pilgrimage on earth, angry at God because He never made us disciples. Beloved, He made us to become disciples. If we have refused to choose to do so. we cannot blame Him.
And fourthly, being a disciple means accepting the priority of suffering in the Christian life. It means abandoning once and for all the foolish doctrines of foolish men who claim that God wants all believers healthy, wealthy, and successful. The Christian life was described by Jesus.
Matthew 10:22 And Ye shall be hated of all men...
24 The disciple is not above His Master.
Luke 9:23 If anyone would come after Me. let Him deny Himself and take up His cross daily and follow Me.
John 12:2 He that loveth his life will lose it.
That's what it means to be a disciple. It means suffering. It means giving up what you thought was important in life so God can use you to do what is important in life. And the way to become usable is to die.
That's why Paul said his one goal in life was "to know Him; the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings.” Oh, the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ; entering into His sufferings to enter into His glory which is to follow. If you're not willing to die, don't ask God to use you. If you're not willing to suffer, don't ask God to use you. If you're not willing to give up everything you hold dear to get everything God calls dear, don't ask God to use you.
The disciples didn't get raises and new cars and fancy homes for joining the Master's team. They got exiled and stoned and shipwrecked and beaten. They lost families and lost homes and lost ambitions and lost acceptance. They became nothing so God in them could glorify His name. That, he loved, is discipleship. And that, beloved, is exactly what God has called you to.
The Priority of God’s Dying
The Christian life, you see, can all be summarized by one word, "Cross". So until you truly understand that word and all it stands for, you cannot be a disciple. It's a word that will be used less and less as we come to the end of this age. The reason? It is a stumbling block to the Jew and foolishness to the gentile. It's nonsense, and it gets in the way. It says God had to die or man couldn't live. It says man, apart from God doesn't have the ability to please God, in fact, he doesn't even have the ability to approach God. It says that the best man can do apart from God is sin and sin and sin and sin. That's because he is a sinner by birth and a sinner by choice and sin makes God sick. He hates it. But He loves us. And the Cross stands as a reminder of the depravity of man and the helplessness of man apart from some kind of supernatural divine intervention.
It's not difficult to find churches today that teach men to enjoy God or even worship God as a loving friend who helps us through life. It's not difficult to find messages of hope and messages of comfort. That's as it should be. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to find churches that still preach the Cross.
The Cross offends people. It interferes with the process of drawing crowds. It defies the humanistic philosophies of our age and requires men to make a choice between the philosophies that herald the goodness of man and the depravity of man. It requires men and women to see themselves as nothing in an age that builds its whole foundation on self-improvement, self-help, and a healthy self-image. It makes a mockery of man's ability to improve himself and improve society and build a utopian world that gets better and better. It decries the "good" words of "good men who build churches and empires on how sweet and kind God is without regard to His righteousness or His judgement or His wrath.
The Cross is at the center of the controversy between religion and discipleship. Always has been. Always will be. That's why Jesus completed this discourse on discipleship as He did. He explained that God's voice had thundered for their sakes so that they would know that He planned to glorify His name.
The question was how. And Jesus wasted no time explaining. He said:
Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
And I if I be lifted up from the earth. will draw all men unto me.
This He said. signifying what death He should die,
Uh-oh. So, that's what He meant by glorifying His name. That's not what they meant. He meant God was going to judge the world. He meant that there was a war going on in the heavenlies between Satan and God, and until Satan was defeated once and for all, God could not ultimately be glorified. And finally, until Jesus was lifted up on a Cross and died, Satan could not be defeated.
That's not what they wanted to hear. It still isn't. So they argued with Him. They still do:
The people answered Him. We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever: and how savest thou 'The Son of Man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?
They caught on quickly. He wasn't talking about building a kingdom, sitting on a throne and living happily ever after. He was talking about dying. He was talking about dying the death of a common criminal. They must have misunderstood who He was.
"Who is this Son of man?" they cried. "It can't be Messiah. Messiah is supposed to live forever. Let's talk about God's love and God's power and God's grace. Let's don't talk about death and dying and crosses and crucifixions." Sound familiar?
Jesus basically said to them, You don't understand. Unless I be lifted up, unless God dies man can't live. But if I be lifted up then (and only then) can I draw all men back to God." Without the Cross, men can have happy times thinking about God, pleasant times singing about God, wonderful times, writing about God, rewarding times, preaching about God; but they won't be talking about the true God at all.
The true God is repulsed by sin. The true God cannot even look upon sin. The true God is a God of holiness and righteousness and truth. He cannot compromise that holiness or cancel that righteousness or counterfeit that truth and still be God. Yes, He is a God of love. That's the point. He loves man too much to leave him in his sins. So he calls it like it is. He says
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not one.
Until and unless a man sees himself as God sees him, as a sinner eternally separated from a holy God by the filth in his life; and until and unless that man sees himself as totally unable to reform or be changed apart from something supernatural happening, God can't help him. You don't just get better. You don't just heal yourself. You don't just decide to "be a Christian" by joining a church and struggling to live up to God's kind of life.
God's kind of life is a gift. It's free. But you have to take it. And the only way to get it is to come to that offensive, uncomfortable place we call "The Cross". Now, He was saying, "You still want to be a disciple?" That will be your message, you know. Not sweetness and light and peaches and cream. Death. Dying. Suffering. A Cross. Agony.
Have you been there? Has the time ever come in your life when you gave up the claim to your own life, and acknowledging your helplessness apart from God's free gift of salvation, you threw yourself at the mercy of God and asked Him to redeem you from the jaws of eternal death? If not, you cannot be a disciple. Discipleship begins with salvation. And many a church today is preaching the claims of discipleship apart from the clear reality of the new birth. "Except a man be born again, He cannot." And one reason so many are paralyzed in their attempts to live for Christ is that they are trying to live for Christ. You cannot live the Christian life apart from God's indwelling Holy Spirit who graciously inhabits your life forever the moment you say "Yes" to Jesus Christ. But until "He is lifted up" and you come to Him, discipleship is a mute point.
If you are not certain that you have, at some time, come to God on His terms and asked Christ into your life, you have neglected the first calling of the Christian life. The first calling is to be "born another" (from above). Until that has happened, living for God is a religious substitute for the real thing, and the deadliness of it is that Satan will let you play the game, counterfeit some of the fruits of the Spirit, and the church will often accept you with open arms because of your "commitment". And there will be many who come to Jesus in that day who have taught Sabbath School, led singing, been deacons or elders, even been in the ministry, and He will have to say, "Depart from Me, I never knew you." They will have done all kinds of things in "His Name (but not in His power).
That is why the church of God must return to the preaching of the Cross. Yes, it offends. Yes, it alienates. Yes it is a stumbling block to many, and yes, it is sheer foolishness to others. But to those who believe, "It is the power of God unto salvation". Which would you rather have? Crowds of people who think they are believers, acting out their faith in the flesh? Or perhaps a smaller flock of men and women who are inhabited by God's Spirit and motivated by God's Word? Which would you rather have? A new Porsche with no motor? Or a ten year old sedan that runs like a top? And churches all over this world are filled with powerless Porsches who are giving money, serving on committees, teaching classes, and acting out their Christian lives by "serving God".
They have no more power than the Pharisees had. And they will have no more eternal hope than the Pharisees had. The Pharisees did all the right things religiously speaking, but they did not know God personally. To no one did Jesus speak as bluntly and as harshly as they. Follow the thread:
Matthew 23: 23-33 Woe unto you, you hypocrites, He cried. You make clean the outside of the cup but inside you are full of extortion and excess. You are like whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Not too delicate a sermon, I would say. Didn't build a following. Didn't make the religious hierarchy happy. Didn't satisfy those who were keeping all the rules, but hadn't met the Master. But the entire thrust of Jesus' preaching was this:
Mark 8:36, 37 what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world. But lose his own soul? And what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
That was the gospel when Jesus was the preacher. And it has never been rescinded. It is the essence of discipleship. It was what must happen before a man can become a disciple, and it is the only message the disciple has, if he is to reproduce himself spiritually.
The numbers game is a hoax. Jesus never played it. Remember John, chapter six? There Jesus got serious about sin, salvation, and discipleship. The crowds responded. "This is a hard saying, who can hear it? - We read in verse 66, "From that time, many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with Him." The church house was emptying. The crowds were shrinking. The disciples were panicking. The message was too harsh. So Jesus turned to them and asked the same question He asks today. "Then said Jesus to the twelve. will ye also go away?"
The Master said, "The bus is leaving. Want to get on it? I can do without you, hut I cannot change my message." Then of, course, those memorable words came from the lips of Simon Peter. He answered,
Lord. to whom shall we go. thou hast the words of eternal life. and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ. the Son of the living God.
The call to be a disciple in our generation is the same as it was two thousand years ago. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His Word is complete and completely immutable. "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God abideth forever." Discipleship is the result of the Cross and its message is the Cross. Always has been. Always will be.
Easy numbers and programs that substitute activities and religiosity for a face to face confrontation with the Living God break the heart of God. Churches which substitute form or ritual for the clear message of salvation are nothing more than Pharisaic temples. Churches who soften that message in the name of evangelism to gain larger crowds who "might grow to know the Lord" have been sold the devil's lie. At the forefront of the gospel is that one word: Cross. Nothing else will save man. Nothing.
So in John, chapter twelve, Jesus painted a clear picture of what life in Christ was all about. It meant understanding the awesome timing of God. Until God wills it, Satan has no handle on the hammer of death. And God's timing in all things is perfect. He is omniscient. He is omnipotent. He is sovereign. He is God. It meant understanding the priority of dying to self to live unto Christ. It meant the priority of choosing to die, so God could live through us. It included the priority of suffering, of being able to say with Jesus,
What shall I say, Father, save me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name.
And finally, it meant the priority of the Cross as the only basis for preaching,' for teaching, for living. The only foundation upon which to build the church, a ministry, a relationship, or a life. Soften the message of the Cross and you shield men from the truth of the gospel. Shield men from the truth of the gospel, and their blood is on your hands. "Now", Jesus asks, "Do you still want to be my disciple?" The crowds in John, chapter twelve, were confused. They thought Jesus must be talking about someone else. About a different kingdom. About a different king. He wasn't. He isn't.
The call to discipleship is the heart of Jesus' ministry. He didn't come to build religious empires or change the face of the social or economic climates of His day. His goal wasn't numbers, but lives, one at a time. His message was simple. Come to the Cross. Die. And let the living God have His way in your life. He'll lead you down treacherous, rocky mountain paths. He'll lead you into the valleys of persecution and suffering. He'll even lead you through the valley of death. But even there, He has promised, "we need fear no evil, for He is with us."
We've not been invited to a religious party with fun gifts and games and fellowships. We've been invited to become inhabited by the living God so He can guide us and lead us through the minefields and cannon fire of the most awesome spiritual warfare known to man, the intensifying struggle between Satan and God in the last days. We have been promised tribulation, suffering, rejection, and persecution. We have also been promised an inner joy the world cannot understand; an inner peace the world cannot have; and an inner hope the world can never find. And we have been promised, that when the battle is over, (And soon it will be) our Commander-in-Chief will call for us, wrap His loving arms around us, and escort us personally into the realm of eternity, where all of the pain and suffering and sorrow will dissolve into an ocean of praise and love and joy forever.
As Paul said it so beautifully in 11 Corinthians 4:16-18:
...we faint not. But though our outward man perish. Yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
For our light affliction. which is but for a moment. worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory:
While we look not at the things which are seen. but at the things which are not seen. for the things which are seen are temporal. but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Our affliction is "light". It is not even to be compared with the exceeding and eternal weight of glory that will soon he ours. The cost of discipleship seems heavy when weighed on the scales of life. But when weighed on the scales of eternity, it doesn't even register. Dear God, may we then press on with the business of being the disciples we were called to be. Amen."
A challenge to further study...
1- What do you think Jesus meant when He said "My hour has come? Can you find verses where He said "My hour has not yet come?" What could Satan do to Jesus before "His hour had come"? Does God place a limit on what Satan can do to your life? Find Scripture to verify your answer.
2- Make a list on a piece of paper of the "rights of a dead man". What are his rights concerning his reputation? his possessions? his ambitions? his acceptance? At the bottom of that page, write these words: "These are the rights I have as a disciple. I hereby accept that calling. Signed (Your Name)" Put that paper inside your Bible where you can see it daily to remind yourself that you are not guaranteed happy times, affluence, the absence of pain, misunderstanding, and persecution. Make out a "Death Certificate" with your name on it. Consider yourself a dead man. Now make out a list of the "privileges" you enjoy as a believer: love, joy, peace, patience, etc. You have the privilege of suffering for Jesus' sake. You have the privilege of a home prepared for you in glory. You have the privilege of a life to come where there will be no sickness, sadness, pain, or death. Focus your attention on these things.
3- Memorize John 12:27. It says "Now is my soul troubled: and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour? But for this cause came I to this hour. Father. glorify thy name. " Meditate on it every day for a week. And as the crushing blows of life come your way, and Satan tempts you to cry out to God "why me?" or to ask God to remove these problems, claim that passage by whispering it back to God.
4- If you could summarize the message of the gospel in one word. what would that word be? Why does the world so hate that word? What has the church done in our day to accommodate the world? What has been the result?
5- If you have a friend who is active religiously, but has never been "born from above" how can you explain to the them the difference between Christian activity and Christianity? Why is the doctrine of the depravity of man so essential to the gospel? Why does Satan hate it?
6- Begin praying regularly for those you know in the ministry. that the message of the Cross would begin to be or continue to be paramount in 'their preaching and teaching. Purpose in your own life to never depart 'from the clarity of its message.
