True Disciples Part Two

True Disciples Part 2

Read Luke 6:46-49

Illustration: When I was in the Army many years ago I was a military policeman at for Ft. Irwin, California. While on duty one day we got word that a submachine gun popularly known as a "grease gun" had been reported stolen. This is an extremely serious incident and we immediately were ordered to secure every road leading off the base and to thoroughly search every vehicle attempting to leave the base which amounted to thousands of cars.

There were many shocked and scared people that day who did not know ahead time that their cars were going to be searched. Many, many soldiers and civilians were apprehended as we discovered drugs, child pornography, etc. though we did not find the "grease gun" that day, although it was found at a later time. One person and incident in particular stand out about that day.

He was a First Sergeant who had been in the Army for 19 years and six months. He was well known because he had won "soldier of the year" honors the previous year and he was now getting ready and close to retirement. When we opened his truck we discovered that it was filled with military merchandise such as ammunition, computers, and even office supplies. He was apprehended and his house was searched and it also was filled with many stolen military items that it took several days to collect and tag for evidence.

This was totally shocking because of the amount of years that this apparently had been going on and because this was a high-ranking soldier who had been in the military for almost 20 years and yet in reality he was a thief who had deceived others and had deceived himself about his true nature. After being found guilty he was demoted to private, was given a sentence of many years in a military prison, and given a dishonorable discharge which means he lost his entire retirement after 20 years of service.

In effect this man lost everything because he was not who he claimed to be and because he had deceived himself along with others into believing otherwise. I say he deceived himself because he still believed that he was a "good soldier" and worthy of his retirement and he worked hard to try and keep it but in the end his self-deception and false believes caught up with him so that his whole life came crashing down.

My concern is that many people may be doing something similar in their own spiritual lives. They are deceiving others and worse they are deceiving themselves into believing that they are faithful disciples of Jesus when in reality they are either false or wayward followers. At some unexpected moment the truth will be revealed and the life that they have built upon a faulty and false foundation will come down with a great crash just like that soldiers.

There are very few topics that I will ever give a message on that are more important than this one because today I will discuss how you can know if you are a true and faithful disciple of Jesus. How can you keep from being self- deceived and be sure that your spiritual life is headed in the right direction? Jesus gives us the answers to this questions in Luke chapter six.

In the passage that we looked at last week and which we will look at this week Jesus gives us two things that are consistent with true disciples. Last week I referred to these two things as spiritual gauges or indicators of our walk with God.

True Disciples Are Those Who Have The Character Of Jesus And Are Totally Committed To Jesus.

Last week I focused on Luke 6:43-45 in which Jesus said "a good tree will bear good fruit." In other words true disciples, headed in the right direction, will have the fruit or the character of Jesus displayed in their lives. Today I’ll focus on verses 46-49 which deal with one’s foundation which means one’s commitment to Jesus Christ. This is the second indicator of true and faithful disciples.

Jesus in these verses uses an illustrative story, also known as a parable, to point out and contrast authentic and counterfeit followers. He is also using this story to encourage each person to totally commit their lives to him so that they can withstand the storms. Jesus message and my message to you today is not meant to be harsh, condemning, or judgmental rather it is meant to alert us and encourage us to make things right with God if they are not so that our lives do not come crashing down unexpectedly.

According to Jesus what is it that contrast or differentiates between authentic and counterfeit disciples? The difference is that the counterfeit disciple has a confession of Jesus as Lord while the genuine disciple has a commitment to Jesus as Lord. Many, many people make the claim that Jesus is the Lord or master of their life but their actions and behavior and decisions say otherwise. It is clear that they have to confession right but not a commitment that really counts.