Matt. 28:18 And Jesus
came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven
and on earth.
Matt. 28:19 Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Matt. 28:20 teaching
them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
I want to
draw your attention to verse 19 above out of what we call the “Great
Commission”. When you take time to hear the mandate that Jesus gave His
followers you realize what His primary focus was for all of mankind. There is
great emphasis on getting people born again, and I am all for that, but what
Jesus was focused on was something more than just a born again experience. One
must be born again to become a disciple, but you can be born again and not
actually be what scripture reveals a disciple of Christ is.
In a day
when there is much debate and argument it seems between different parts of the
body of Christ about what some believe is being legalistic or not, we just need
to do our best to continue to look to our relationship with Christ and His Word
so that we can not only get to know Him better, but keep making Him known.
Scripture is defined as that which is God-breathed and therefore should be a
vital part of our life in developing our walk with God. So I am going to look
to what the Word of God clearly defines as a disciple of Christ and share that
with you.
A key
element here to mention as well is what our focus is on. What you aim at you
will hit every time. If you aim and nothing that is what you will get. Our aim
should be on what Christ declared the goal was. He commissioned His church to
go and make disciples so we should not be focused on just winning souls. If our
goal is focused on what He declared was the purpose for the church, then our
goal should be to both become a disciple and to make disciples which obviously
includes getting people born again. When the focus is to just get people born
again we sell people short of who they can become.
John 8:31 Then Jesus
said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My
disciples indeed.
John 8:32 And you
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
The first
element we will look at that defines what a disciple is can be found here in
John chapter 8. Many quote John 8:32, that if we know the truth the truth will
set us free, but this is in relation to what Jesus stated in verse 31. Jesus
said if you abide in His Word you are His disciples indeed. One who abides in
the Word is going to know the truth and that truth will bring liberty to their
life. But the key is abiding in the Word of the Lord. So it can be said that if
one is not abiding in the Word they are not a disciple of Jesus Christ. As you
will see you can be born again but not a disciple of Christ and the goal is to
become what Christ said we could be.
The word
for abide means to cleave or hold fast to something. A disciple is going to
cleave and hold fast to the teachings of Jesus Christ. One translation says, “If you continue to follow my teaching,
you are really my disciples.” To do this we must of course abide or live in the
Words of Christ, but we must then also apply what He taught consistently. Don’t
let people tell you that reading the Word of God and applying it is not that
important as long as you love the Lord. Jesus said if you love Me you will obey
my commandments. What Jesus taught in how we should live our life was not a
suggestion, but from His perspective a commandment. He did so for our benefit
and for the benefit of helping others.
The confusion
for some has been that when anyone speaks of obeying God’s Word that is
immediately perceived as a form of religious bondage or legalism. When we look
to the Word as a part of how we learn to relate to our God and desire to honor
Him by honoring His Word that is not legalism. Legalism is when one thinks by
their own merit they can become right with God. The gift of righteousness is
just that, a gift that cannot be earned. But once you receive this gift of
righteousness you now have the God-given ability to be transformed on the
outside. That happens as we look to God’s Word (our mirror) and begin to learn
how to relate to God and walk in what is good for our life which is doing
things God’s way. That is liberty not legalism.
Luke 14:26
“If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and
mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, more than your own life.
Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.”
Here in Luke
we have another element that reveals what a disciple of Christ is like. In many
translations it is stated that you must hate your father and mother, wife and
children, etc., but that would of course go against what we know Jesus taught
about loving others. Here the NLT gives us a little better insight as to what
the original Greek says. Jesus tells us that we cannot love others more than we
love Him, for if we do then we cannot be His disciple. I want to emphasis again
this does not mean you may not be born again; therefore being a disciple has to
do with more that just receiving salvation.
What is
interesting here is that Jesus uses family relations to relate this truth. As a
pastor going on 22 years in ministry I have seen this unfortunately far too
many times. To love others more than Jesus means that even if I know what Jesus
said is true, even if I know in my heart that Jesus brought me to a church
where He wants me, even if I know that He has given me a ministry to fulfill, I
choose instead to allow my parents, spouse, or children to determine what I
will do instead of Jesus. Stop and think about this for a minute. If being a
disciple is what Jesus died and paid for then shouldn’t we be dealing with
ourselves to become what He paid for?
I know how
easy it is to have selective hearing for I, no different than anyone else, have
to deal with this in my own life as well when I hear something preached or read
truth from the Word that I may not be applying. For example if someone knows
that God’s Word says that they should not forsake assembling with the church
body and yet they will allow a spouse to determine if they go to church or not,
then they are not living the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ.
You see this
issue often with people who have children. Statics prove that roughly around
70% of people who have children determine where they go to church based on
where their children want to go, not based on where the Holy Spirit leads them
to go. One reason for this is because parents may not be fulfilling the
responsibility to teach their children the things of God and they want the
church to do so. Can you imagine where you would eat if you allowed your children
to make that decision for every meal? Yet the most important decision in your
life is where you will get fed spiritually and our children should not be
making that decision nor influencing their parent’s decision, they should hear
from God. If we are disciples of Jesus then we place our obedience to Him above
all others in our life.
Luke 14:27
Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
Another
attribute of a disciple of Christ is one who carries their own cross and
follows after Jesus. To carry your own cross means that you carry out what is
God’s will for your own life. You must work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling. In the days of Jesus when one was crucified they were made to
carry their own cross. Going to the cross was a part of Jesus fulfilling Gods’
will for His life. For us to fulfill God’s will for our life we must work out
our own salvation. I can’t live off of someone else’s faith or study of the
Word of God. I must learn to walk on my own to feet as a believer and develop
my own personal relationship with Him.
Luke 14:28 For which
of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has
enough to finish it—
Luke 14:29 lest,
after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it
begin to mock him,
Luke 14:30 saying,
“This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
Luke 14:33
So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My
disciple.
One who
becomes a disciple of Jesus is also willing to forsake all that he has to
become His. To do this as I have emphasized in verse 28 above you must count
the cost. Jesus said what good would it do you if you gained the whole world
and yet forfeited your soul? The more spiritually mature you become the less
focus you have on the things of this life. There is far too much emphasis
placed today on getting more things with our faith. I will be the first to tell
you God loves us and desires to bless us, but our focus should be on Him, not
on how He will get me more things. The relationship is the focus, not what we
can get because of our relationship with God. You cannot serve God and mammon.
John 13:35
By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if you love one another
[if you keep on showing love among yourselves].
Another key
element of a disciple is the love they have for one another. This to can be
easily misunderstood as well. We are told to speak the truth in love. If you
love people one of the ways you show that love is in telling them the truth. If
they are being misled through deception or false teaching you tell them the
truth because you love them. To walk in love means we walk in truth for God is
love, and He is the Word; and God’s Word is truth. We should show the same
compassion Jesus did in all we do. This comes from yielding to the Holy Spirit
within for the love of God is a fruit of the Spirit.
These are most
of the elements of a disciple of Christ. Simply put, to become one we need to
fall head over heals in love with Jesus, and pursue Him with all we have. The
more we get to know Him the more He will rub off on us. Walking in the light of
His Word helps us to become who He died and paid for us to be, His disciples!
See You Again
Next Week For More “Weekly Wisdom”
May God’s Best
Be Yours!
Pastor Darryl
Baker
