What Discipleship Involves
Mark 8:34-38
Leadership magazine once ran a cartoon that showed a church building with a billboard in front that said: "The LITE CHURCH: 24% fewer commitments, home of the 7.5% tithe, 15 minute sermons, 45 minute worship service; we have only 8 commandments—your choice.
When I first saw the cartoon, I did what most folks probably did.........I laughed about it. But the more I thought about that cartoon, the more I begin to realize that far too many folks have that kind of relationship with the Lord.
Let me throw out some words which define most people’s relationship with God, and with the church.
1. Casual defines alot of people who profess to be Christians.
The word "casual" means occasional.......coming at certain times, without regularity, in distinction from stated, or regular;
The antonym for "casual" or the opposite is "committed".
Would you describe your relationship with Christ as casual or committed ?
2. Convenience defines alot of people who profess to be Christians.
Illust.
Washington DC on Palm Sunday this year. The city had scheduled a marathon on Palm Sunday, which greatly interfered with normal traffic. The leaders of various churches were upset and made their feelings known in local papers. Many churches reported attendance down 50-70 % on that day. Why, was it not possible to get to church on that day? No, but the race did delay traffic about 15-30 minutes and many regular church attendees were by their own admission unwilling to take the extra time and fight the traffic to get to church.
The faith of many is driven by convenience, and fails when it is challenged !
3. Comfort defines alot of people who profess to be Christians.
We want to meet in air conditioned building in the summer, and heated bldg in the winter, and we want to hear sermons that make us feel good, and God forbid if we should ever be made to feel uncomfortable or asked to do something that we’re not comfortable with doing !
4. Cost free defines alot of people who profess to be Christians.
I’ll be glad to participate as long as it doesn’t cost me anything.
ILLUSTRATION:
British evangelist Gypsy Smith described 4 classes of Christians:
1. Ankle-deep. Come to church once a week, period.
2. Up to their knees. Sunday School, church, evening service. Pews warm.
3. Up to their waists. (Loins) Morally strong for Christ.
4. Up to their necks. Small minority. They live to serve Christ. Lives are above reproach. They are "doers."
I want you to understand this morning that the attitude, and actions of most people who profess to be Christians is in stark constrast to what Christ teaches !
This morning I want us to look at what Christ expects of his followers..........at what is involved in discipleship !
*Interesting note-269 times in the N.T. the word disciple is used...........3 times the word "Christian" is used ! Approx 15 years after the day of Pentecost before the term Christians was coined.
Acts 11:26 ......."And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch."
I. Discipleship Involves Learning.
Matt 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
The word "disciple" itself means "learner" or "pupil".
It always means the pupil in constrast to the master or teacher.
How much do we know about Christ ? How knowledgeable are we about his word ?
How can we possibly call ourself disciples if we do not know his teachings, and or not following them ?
II. Discipleship Involves Leaving.
And when he called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
During the ministry of Christ, there was a large crowd that travelled with him whereever he went. Many were just along for the ride. They listened to Christ, they watched him, they talked about him, but they were not disciples. He wanted to make it clear to them what discipleship involves !
Christ says..........if we are to follow him........if we are to be his disciples, we must deny ourselves.
The instructions of Christ do not sit well with the idealogy of our day !
Our society knows little about self-denial ! And it shows............It shows in our waist-lines........shows in our debts...............if we see it and want it, we get it ! If we don’t have the money, we charge it ! If we can’t afford it, we get it anyway !
Illust.
Many years ago, a new missionary arrived in S. Korea to replace a missionary who was retiring. As the retiring missionary drove the new missionary around showing him the area of his ministry, they came upon two Koreans farming. The new missionary was shocked to see one of the men pulling the plow while the other man held the plow. Those men need a mule said the new missionary. They had a mule was the reply of the older missionary, but they solid it, and gave the money to the Lord’s work !
Yet, Christ says that we must be willing to leave it all, to abandon it all in order to follow him !
ILLUSTRATION:
One of the most dramatic and world-renowned shifts from "I" to God is the conversion of C. S. Lewis. This little man, who held the chair of medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge, sat in his study without typewriter or secretary and penned the great masterpieces which made him perhaps the most broadly-read Christian writer of our century. C. S. Lewis was an agnostic, but was "Surprised By Joy" -- the title of a book in which he tells about "The Shape of My Early Life" as Christ replaced the "I" in his life.
C. S. Lewis describes the exchange between self-will and God’s will in Beyond Personality (and his words are a challenge to you and to me): "Christ says, ’Give me all. I don’t want so much of your money and so much of your work -- I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self instead. In fact I will give you myself, my own will shall become yours.’"
A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing. -MLuther
III. Discipleship Involves Losing.
........take up his cross, and follow me !
The key to understanding this is V35
"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s the same shall save it."
Being a competitive person, I don’t like the term "losing".........but "losing" is exactly what Christ expects from those who would be disciples !
We must allow Christ first place........we must put others above ourselves ! We must give up our lives, and die to self !
Kierkagaard in "And I looked around and nobody was laughing" says this, "I went into church and sat on the velvet pew. I watched as the sun came shining through the stained glass windows. The minister dressed in a velvet robe opened the golden gilded Bible, marked it with a silk bookmark and said, "If any man will be my disciple, said Jesus, let him deny himself, take up his cross, sell what he has, give it to the poor, and follow me."
Bonhoeffer........When Christ calls a man, he bids him come, and die !
Jim Elliot........Blessed is the man who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose !
"General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, was asked the secret of his amazing Christian life. Booth answered, ‘I told the Lord that He could have all that there is of William Booth"
I once read about a lifeguard on a beach who saw a drowning man. He walked into the surf but didn’t go out to rescue him. People gathered on the beach and yelled and screamed at the lifeguard to go out and rescue the drowning man. The lifeguard waded a little deeper, and kept his eye on the drowning man, but the yells and screams of the onlookers didn’t motivate him to swim out. Just when it seemed the man was going down for the last time, the lifeguard swam out with strong strokes and grabbed the man and brought him back to shore. After some spitting and coughing, the man was conscious. But rather than hailing him as a hero, the onlookers were angry at the lifeguard and said, "You coward! You saw he was drowning, why didn’t you go out sooner?"
The lifeguard patiently explained, "You can see that he is much bigger and stronger than I am." If I had gone out sooner, he was thrashing and kicked so violently that he would have probably drowned both of us. As long as he was trying to save himself, I couldn’t save him. But when he got tired, and gave up, then I knew I could save him."
It is only through losing our life to Christ that we really achieve life !
IV. Discipleship Involves Leading
Mat 4:19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Luk 5:20 Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch me.
Being a disciple involves leading others or bringing others to Christ.
Notice the words of Christ to those original disciples.........I will make you fishers of men.
If we are following Christ, then we should be fishing for men.
Discipleship involves not only leading others to Christ........but involves leading by being a servant !
Mat 23:11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
V. Discipleship Involves Loving
John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Christ sets the standard by which we shall be identified !
We shall be identified by our love for one another !
The greatest witness that we can show of the love of God is by loving each other !
I believe that one of the reasons why we are not making disciples as Christ commanded is because when the world looks at us, and our relationships with each other , they do not see disciples !
In closing this morning, are you really following Christ, or just along for the ride ?
At the close of life, the question will not be,
"How much have you gotten?" but "How much have you given?" Not "How much have you won?" but "How much did you lose ?" Not "How much have you saved?" but "How much have you sacrificed?" It will be "How much have you loved and served," not "How much were you honored?"
