Follow My Leader or Being a Disciple

Question

Devoted to God's Church Being a Disciple

IT is not possible to be a Christian unless you are a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.

What is a disciple?

What does it mean in the church today?

What is its meaning in the Scriptures?

“to learn, get to know, become familiar with”

Not just someone who sits under another’s teachings

Think of an Apprentice

Someone who attaches themselves to a master in order to learn, to imitate, and to understand

Historically, in the church, at many different points, there has been battles over whether someone can call Jesus their Savior, but he not be their Lord.

Can someone have a conversion story (what we talked about last week) and not have an ongoing story of transformation?

The debate is: can someone be saved and not daily submit their lives to Jesus?

So the issue is can someone be saved and not be a disciple?

What do you think?

To be Jesus’s disciple is to say, “Not only has he saved me, but now I am submitting to him. I am learning from him. I am becoming like him. I am more and more resembling him.

Romans 8:29–30 ESV

29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

So the question for us is, “Can someone profess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord, be a member of the church and not be a disciple?”

Yes - this is why we have the visible church and invisible church distinction

Visible church - all those who profess faith together with their children

Invisible church - all those who are elect - those who are actually saved - those who persevered to the end

What did Jesus mean by disciple?

Luke 14:25–35 ESV

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. 34 “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

What do you see in this passage?

Jesus limiting the scope of who can be a disciple

No church growth formula

strict guidelines for being a disciple.

Here are the 3 things that mark disciples according to Jesus:

Devoted to God's Church Being a Disciple

• They hate father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and their own life.

• They bear their cross and come after Jesus.

• They renounce all they have.

Can you imagine these questions being asked on a church membership examination?

Do you hate your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and your own life?

Do you bear your cross daily?

Have you renounced all that you have?

There must be some exaggeration, right?

So what does Jesus mean here?

Devoted to God's Church Consecration—settled priorities

He means we are to love him far more than we love anyone else—so much more that, if the occasion arises the way we value him and give him priority (which is what love does) may lead to us being accused of hating our own family members.

1. We have to have the right priorities.

Our family cannot take the place of Jesus

Family is one of the greatest blessings we have

But think about what it is that is the easiest to draw you away from Christ and his church.

It is our family and our responsibility to our family

As men we’re tempted to work long hours (neglecting our family in one sense) but in another sense, it is to provide for our family because we think that it is completely up to us

As wives and mothers, there is the temptation to worry and have anxiety over things you can’t control with your husband or kids

As parents, we involve our kids in so many things because we want them to be well rounded, but inevitably, it takes them away from the church.

The point is that when we’re faced with this line… “You must hate father, mother, sister, brother…” Our lives should be structured in such a way that there is no doubt where our priorities lie when it comes to loving Christ and following him.

2. Our Cross to Bear

Question:

In our modern context, what do people usually mean when they say, “That’s just my cross to bear?”

This uncomfortable situation is just something I have to go through to get to something better later.

But when Jesus said in Luke 14:27 “27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” is that what the people would have thought?

No, they would have seen multiple men carrying a wooden cross, shamed, humiliated, on their way to die.

I love the Sinclair Ferguson puts it…

Devoted to God's Church Cross carrying

We would not imagine Jesus was referring to ‘life’s trials’ if he had said: ‘If you are going to be my disciple you will need to submit to a lethal injection’ or, ‘If you are going to be my disciple you will first need to die by hanging.’

He goes on to say:

Devoted to God's Church (Cross carrying)

Jesus is saying—this time with graphic visual imagery—that a disciple is someone who is prepared to follow him and ‘die’ to his or her own plans and submit to God’s purposes—whatever they are, wherever they may take us, whatever it will cost.

So the question for us is, “Is there some part of our life that we have failed to surrender to Jesus?”

Discipleship isn’t parts of our life, but the whole of it. It is putting our entire life to death, so that we might live to Christ.

Counting the Cost

Illustration: David Tepper

In 2021, David Tepper, the new owner of the Carolina Panthers, decided it was time to build a state of the art practice facility for the Panthers seeing as they didn’t have one. Tepper made a quick agreement with the city of Rock Hill and York county, but then began before all the details were ironed out. Several months into construction - the negotiations began to fail and all construction halted. Long story short, the site sat unfinished for months, the construction company filed for bankruptcy and Tepper was forced to pay the county and city upwards of $20 million. Yet, the Panthers still have no additional practice facility and everything that had been built has now been torn down. The name David Tepper is almost a vile word in Charlotte in part because of his terrible business decisions (especially when it comes to the Panthers).

Jesus says to be my disciple - Stop - count the cost of what that will mean for you.

Can you afford the cost of discipleship?

When was the last time you took stock of what it will cost to be a disciple of Jesus?

Are you salty?

Jesus finishes by saying this weird line about salt…

Luke 14:34–35 ESV

34 “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

If Jesus is talking about those who are his disciples, who are those who are not salty?

Is it not those who profess with their mouth

but their lives are not prioritized to Christ and his kingdom,

their lives are not marked by having died to the world - not bearing their cross daily

Their lives are not seen as those who have truly counted the cost…

Jesus says these people - these false disciples aren’t even good as manure.