We Are His Disciples Series

Who are we in Christ? We have been looking at this pretty much since Easter.

We considered that “in Christ” we are a new creation. All the old has passed away and before God, all has become new!

Being in Christ, we represent Him to the world, we have become His ambassadors. We have the ministry of reconciliation to the world.

We are His “workmanship, we are His masterpiece. We see that our identity is found In Jesus.

Belonging to Jesus, we are overcomers, we are super conquerors. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God that we have in Jesus.

Last week, we looked at being salt and light in the world. We are Jesus’ agent in the world to arrest the moral decay of our culture and to shine the light of His truth to those that are in the dark.

Today we are considering that being “in Christ” our desire should be to be like Christ, to follow in His footsteps, to see the world as He sees the world, to conform to His likeness. We have a word for it, we call it being a disciple. We are called to be His disciples. Do we fully comprehend to what it means to be a disciple of Jesus?

Luke 9:57-62

Luke 14:25–33

Jesus was popular, and he had a lot of folks who wanted to follow Him.

Luke 9:57 (CSB) As they were traveling on the road someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

In Matthews account, this man was said to be a scribe. The scripture tells us that Jesus knew the hearts of men, and perhaps Jesus knew this scribe’s heart, perhaps he was seeking the fame that following a controversial Rabbi such as Jesus would bring. But Jesus said He had no place to lay His head. Another said:

Luke 9:59 (CSB) Then he said to another, “Follow me.” “Lord,” he said, “first let me go bury my father.”

His father probably wasn’t dead, but the man was waiting on his inheritance. Something was in the way of this man’s being obedient.

Luke 9:61 (CSB) Another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me go and say good-bye to those at my house.”

There is always something else to do first. Scripture does not tell us what these 3 men decided about following Jesus, but let’s look at those who dropped everything to follow Jesus:

Matthew 4:19–20 (CSB) “Follow me,” he told them, “and I will make you fish for people.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

These were Peter and Andrew and in the next verse Jesus calls James and John and they left their father and followed Jesus. These and a few others, turned the world upside down.

Look at Luke’s account of the calling of Matthew (called Levi by Luke).

Luke 5:27–29 (CSB) After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 So, leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow him. 29 Then Levi hosted a grand banquet for him at his house. Now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining at the table with them.

Jesus called Levi and he left all at the tax office and followed Jesus. The next verse is very telling about Levi. Levi (Matthew) the tax collector was inviting all his tax collectors friends and other “sinners” to meet Jesus. Right from the start, Levi was not hiding who he was following. Following Jesus means not holding back. There is no such thing as a part-time Christian, or part-time disciple of Jesus.

Jesus tell us about what it takes to follow Him, mostly in a negative sense, but Jesus is quite clear.

Luke 14:25a (CSB) Now great crowds were traveling with him.

Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. The cross awaited Jesus there. How many would follow Him all the way to the cross. There were those along the way who were offended by the words of Jesus and they turned away. These were disciples in name only. Many were spiritual thrill seekers. They loved the sermons and the loved seeing the miracles. They love multiplication of loaves and fishes. It all was great until it came time where it will cost them something. Jesus proceeds to tell what it takes to be His disciple.

1. We must love Jesus supremely.

2. We must carry our cross.

3. We must renounce all of our possessions.

Let’s look at loving Jesus supremely

Luke 14:25b–26 (CSB) So he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.