Disciple - First Things First

Welcome‌

Well, good morning Church! Good morning to those of you joining on the LIVE stream. We are glad you can be with us this morning.

‌Introduction

Well I am excited this morning. I have been praying about where to go when we finished our journey through the book of 1 Corinthians. You may recall that I felt led to begin the preaching ministry in that book, not because Lebanon First Baptist was plagued with all the same problems as the Corinthian church, but rather, because I think we need to be reminded of what CAN happen if people do not take seriously their walk with the Lord and their understanding of some of the deeper things of God’s Word. ‌

Donna and I came here right at the end of COVID, and at that time this church had just experienced a mass exodus of many people. It was a difficult time. As a church we are still recovering from some of those old wounds and still, I believe, in the midst of the healing and rebuilding process in the wake of that difficult and hurtful time.

‌And I am happy to say that I believe we have come far, and I sense a spirit of excitement and a lot of positive energy in our midst these days. We have been in a growth pattern recently in both numbers and, more importantly we are seeing some really incredible things happening in the spiritual lives of some of you. We have an awesome children’s ministry, and I gotta tell you we have some of the coolest teenagers I have ever had the privilege of serving. What I am trying to say here is things are good right now. ...Are you thinking there is going to be a “however” here? There is.

‌However, I have to say, and I have been doing this for a while now, this is precisely the time when, if I may, and I mean this quite literally, this is precisely the time when “all hell can break loose” in the church.

‌By that I mean, it is during times of growth and momentum and excitement that complacency can begin to creep in and our enemy the devil LOVES to capitalize on that and next thing we know, we’re in trouble.

So, there is that. The other thing is, and I have shared this in our Romans study and with some of you personally, if I am honest, I get pretty frustrated with the overall lukewarmness I see, first in my own life at times, and certainly in the church at large.

‌So I say all that to say this. This morning, we are going to embark on a new series that quite frankly, could last from now until Jesus comes back! The series title is simply “DISCIPLE”

‌As you know, disciple is a word we use often around here. In fact, you hear it every week, Our goal is to engage in the disciple-making Process” We define the steps in this process as Win, Build, Equip and Multiply.

And often we encourage you all to “engage in that disciple-making process”. But there is a problem. As myself and the other Elders have been talking to many of you, we are hearing that the “disciple making process’ has not been clearly defined. It may have been at one time in the history of the church but right now it seems many are not sure what it means to “engage in the disciple-making process. And as we have been talking about this in our elder meetings, it has occurred to us that we may have many folks in our flock that are not even very clear on what it means to be a disciple let alone engage in a process to make other disciples!

‌So, here we are. A brand new series called “DISCIPLE” What I hope to do over the next, who knows how long, is to define what a Disciple is and what it means to disciple someone else. We are going to get into, what a disciple is. We are going to look at Who we are being a Disciple to which of course is the Lord Jesus Christ. We are going to get into what discipleship is and how we can engage in the disciple making process. This is gonna take a minute.

At the same time, Sean has been working on our membership class and the discipleship aspect of that class is being more clearly defined. I know some of you have been waiting to take membership and I want you to know it is at the top of the teaching and preaching ministry list right now. So I want to begin this morning with ...

THE CALL TO BE A DISCIPLE

‌and I think it is important to address “first things first”. And the first thing we need to understand is being a disciple requires us to do some hard things. And to illustrate this I invite you to turn with me to Luke the 14th chapter.

‌While you are making your way there, I have a rather probing question I want to pose to us as the church this morning.

‌When it comes to our walk with Christ and our commitment to Him, why is it that we expect for everything to be easy? And whenever things begin to get a little difficult, we tend to cast it off when Jesus Himself tells us that the Christian life will indeed not be easy. Why is it that we just want to take the easy way out?

‌As we think about that question, let me ask it another way. As we begin this series, what I am asking you, what your Elders are asking you, and believe me we have been asking ourselves this very same thing, how about, as of right now, First Baptist Church of Lebanon, as it pertains to our walk with Christ, how about we determine right now that we are going to be the people of God who are willing to do the hard things. Not always be looking for the easy way. Why not be the people who are willing to do whatever it takes to be sold out, honest to goodness, Disciples of Jesus Christ? Can you imagine what this church, this community could look like if there was a group of people willing to do that?

‌Folks, we just read in our study of 1 Corinthians…‌

1 Corinthians 2:9 (ESV)- 9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—

‌Now before we answer the question I posed, I know, because as I said, I have been doing this while, I know that whenever you start pressing people to get more serious and more committed to their walk with God, you run the risk of losing people. I hope that does not happen. But, I am willing to take that risk if it means we will see God’s Kingdom expanded and people’s lives seriously changed.

‌So, what might help, before we answer whether or not we are willing to do the hard things, it may be helpful to understand, when it comes to our relationship with Jesus Christ, what it is that comes easy and what it is that’s more difficult.

‌WHAT COMES EASY?: Our Salvation.

‌The scripture says by grace we have been saved through faith. Not of works. not of ourselves. As a matter of fact, what we know is this: the moment we try to add works to our salvation, in a sense we disqualify all of it. We mess it up....a lot.

‌So, it’s important for you to know that there has been a time in your life where you made a sincere decision to acknowledge Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.

‌So, what do we do to earn salvation? Not a thing. What do we do to earn the right to go to Heaven with that brand new body we talked about last week? Absolutely nothing. It comes by the Grace of God, not our works.

‌So salvation comes easy.

WHAT IS HARD? - Quite frankly, Being a disciple of Jesus Christ. I know there are some in the room thins morning and perhaps watching online that would say, “I am a disciple of jesus Christ. By the end of the message today, we will see if that is true.

Because Jesus Himself is going to tell us that being a disciple of His is a very difficult path to walk. That is why it bothers me so much when I hear some well-meaning Christian tell a non-Christian who is facing some difficulty in their life, “Well if you just accept Jesus everything will get better” Beloved, there is no such promise in the Word of God.

‌Now the difficulty in being a disciple begins with the word itself.

‌So, let’s look at it and define it. First the Biblical definition of Disciple.

‌Disciple (defined): The Hebrew word for disciple is talmid. This word stresses the relationship between rabbi (teacher or master) and disciple (student). A talmid of Jesus' day would give up his entire life in order to be with his teacher. The disciple didn't only seek to know what the teacher knew, as is usually the case today. It was not enough just to know what the rabbi said, but the foremost goal of any talmid was to become like the rabbi and do what the rabbi did.

‌In His book, “practicing the way” John Mark Comer argues that the best word for translating the Hebrew word talmid into English would be the word “Apprentice” This is a type of learning that most people never experience, especially those who got their education from places of higher learning, like college or university. To be an apprentice is more like what we see in the trades where say a guy who wants to become an electrician, works as an apprentice under a journeyman electrician until he learns all that his “Rabbi” has to teach him.

‌So, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ means to be a serious student of Jesus, to be a serious follower of Jesus, to be His apprentice until you learn everything he has to teach you. It is, as Comer puts it, to Be with Jesus, Become like Jesus and do what Jesus did.

‌‌In the New Testament the Greek word for disciple is…listen carefully...

Disciple (Greek: mathetes):

‌I am already in trouble because that word starts with MATH! A subject I never really excelled at. I was fine with it until they started adding letters to the equations. That made NO sense to me!

‌But the fact that this word for disciple begins with the word MATH may indicate that there is going to be a certain amount of calculation required before I can really embrace it!

‌So, the first thing I want to say about being a Disciple of Christ that it is going to cost me something. Also, there will be problems I face as a disciple or an apprentice of Christ that will be difficult to the point that I may be tempted to back away.

‌Now, as we come to Luke chapter 14, what we find here is Jesus is addressing a crowd. This is not some private one on one conversation. And he is challenging people in this crowd to come out of the crowd and no longer remain a casual follower, but He is calling them to become Disciples.

‌As He is calling out to this crowd, I want us all to imagine that he is calling out directly to us because I believe that He is through this living Word. And He is calling us to be willing to do the hard thing. And He is calling us to carefully consider what is involved in actually being His disciple or his apprentice. He is calling us to first things first.

‌And in this passage we are going to see Jesus call us to do 4 hard things if indeed we want to become serious apprentices, serious disciples of Him.

‌Remember, we become a believer by grace. But if you and I are going to become serious students, serious followers of Jesus Christ, we are going to have to be willing to count the cost and do the hard things that are required.

‌And beloved, I have to tell you that if EVER there was a time for us to “serious up” regarding our apprenticeship to Jesus , its NOW!

‌Let’s look at Luke 14 and verse 25...

‌Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me...

‌Now I am going to stop for a minute here and point something out. Jesus is talking to a crowd. We have a bit of a crowd in here this morning. And He is saying if you want to follow me, you are gonna have to come out of the crowd and come to me.

‌You know sometimes I wish pastors and spiritual leaders today would be willing to do what Jesus did. What do I mean? You know, Jesus had people around Him who were his bookkeepers if you will, ones who kept track of the ministries money and resources. And from time to time they would come to Jesus and say, Rabbi, we have a big crowd here and we are not sure we have enough to take care of all these people who are following you around. Now yes I know the loaves and fishes story, but more often than not, what Jesus would do is THIN the crowd. Often we read in scripture that all these people would be following Him around because of all the miracles and stuff He did. But then He would call them out by teaching one of the hard things they would need to do if they were willing to follow Him. And when he would do that, we often read that the multitudes would what? DEPART!

‌When I talked to the other Elders about where I wanted to go with the preaching ministry I said, be ready, we may lose some people. Now please know that I hope and pray we don’t lose a single one of you. But as I said earlier, I’ve been doing this long enough to know that whenever you start calling people to a more serious and sold out walk with Christ some will depart, or at least, some will choose not to come along. It happened to Jesus, so I am not so arrogant to imagine it won’t happen to me.

‌So, the very first hard thing Jesus calls us to do is to ...

‌1) BE WILLING TO BE CALLED OUT OF THE CROWD

‌You know for as many years as I have been preaching the main emphasis has, for the most part, been on church growth. But what I really love here is that there was something that Jesus wanted more than a big crowd. You know what it was? He wanted a sincere disciple. One that would take following Him seriously. Now it’s not that He was anti crowd. He loved the multitudes. In fact, this was how Jesus did ministry and really how we should do it. We draw crowds in order to make disciples. Make sense? And often, if not always, the group of disciples that come out of the crowd, is often a much smaller group than the crowd itself. Are you with me church?

‌Jesus wanted something more than a crowd. The most important number to Jesus was not the number of people in the crowd, but number of DISCIPLES that were willing to come out o the crowd and take the next step with Him. What we see right off that bat here is that Jesus wanted some to be willing to step out of the crowd, in order to go further with Him.

‌Now, I want to give you a few examples of the kinds of crowds you may have to Exit if you want to be a serious Disciple of Jesus Christ. One of these crowds is certain, the other two are very probable and some of you can testify to this.‌

Three Crowds You May Have to Exit:

‌The CULTURAL Crowd (Rom 12:2)

‌What I mean is the way the world thinks.

‌Now when I say exit, I do not mean abandon. I don’t mean to seclude yourself away out in the woods somewhere and have nothing to do with anyone else. I am talking about a spiritual decision that you are going to come out from among the crowd of our culture and stand with a significantly smaller crowd.

‌So, this one is pretty easy to see. Let’s take it a step further.

‌There may come a time in your journey as a genuine apprentice of Christ, you may be called upon to step out of...

The RELIGIOUS Crowd

‌Let me tell you something that is very true. In many churches today, too many i am afraid, if you find yourself thinking like the majority of the leadership and the majority of the crowd in those churches, you will find yourself in opposition to God and His Word.

‌I know that kind of statement does not sit very well with many, maybe even some of you. But I promise you that the Laodician church we read about in the book of Revelation is alive and well today. The lukewarmness with which many churches today approach their walk with Christ, and the compromises that churches are making with the Word of God so as not to upset the people they SAY they are trying to reach, has gotten to epidemic proportions.

‌I hope it never happens here but be prepared and be willing to depart from any religious crowd that compromises the truth of God’s Word.

The third thing is this and this may be a little painful. You also may at some time be called to exit from....

‌The FAMILY Crowd

Again not abandon. But the bottom line that we are going to look at in a minute in the Word of God where we may have to say, you know, if I am going to be the spiritual leader in my home then there may come a time when i am going to have to put some distance, not abandon, but create some margins if you will between me and mine and some uncle or aunt or even grandparent because they are not having the kind of influence on the life of my family that is conducive to our spiritual convictions.

‌Now what we are looking at is not the only place we see Jesus confront the crowd with the kind of difficult stuff we are going to read here in minute. If I could summarize it is as If Jesus is saying, you know what guys? You have seen me heal, you have seen me teach, you have seen me raise the dead, and you are kind of wowed by that. And with those kinds of things going on, of course I am going to draw a large crowd. Has it occurred to you that you are following me because of the stuff I am doing FOR you. But what will you do when I begin to ask something FROM you?

‌Hmmm.

There is a difference between being a believer and being a disciple. Being a believer is about everything Jesus has done FOR us. Anyone grateful?

‌But listen to me, Being a Disciple means all of sudden that Jesus is going to ask something FROM you.

‌Uh oh!

‌And here is what we see over and over in the Word of God. Whenever Jesus stated to ask something FROM the people of the crowd, the crowd got smaller.

‌So we have to be willing to be called out of the crowd. The second thing we have to be willing to do is…

‌2) BE WILLING TO PROPERLY POSITION YOUR FAMILY (Lk 14:26)

‌If I wanted to thin this crowd I could do a series of messages called, “All the things you wouldn’t believe the Bible actually says. All the most unpopular verses in the Bible. Here is one. Watch this. Luke 14 And verse 26…watch this. You might want to hold your heart when we read this.

Luk 14:26 ESV - 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.

Do you see what Jesus is actually saying here? He is saying if you cannot properly position your family then you cannot be my disciple. Do you realize beloved that you do not HAVE to be a disciple. Theres all kinds of other religious things you can do. You can be a church attender without being a disciple.

You can be a religious person without being a disciple.

Jesus says I am the one who makes the rules and what I am telling you is that if you cannot learn to properly position your family He says you CANNOT be my Disciple.

And I understand that some of you are sitting around some of those people today.

Now he uses a strong word here…hate. There is a bit of Jewish translation thing here but some read this and ask, is this God really telling us to hate our family?

Can I just say something here. When you read and interpret the Word of God we need the Holy Spirit and we need maturity in the Word of God. But it also requires a little bit of common sense. If you read all the rest of what scripture says it is pretty clear that the word “hate” here does not mean what we are thinking.

God is not only pro family, He created the family. No one could have a family without God. Even people who hate God can’t have a family without Him even if the DON”T know it.

And just what IS the proper position of the family? Jesus is saying here that the family needs to take its rightful place somewhere behind Him. I will tell you why in a moment.

I feel like I want to give you a bit of a caution.

‌

BEWARE OF THE MISAPPLICATION OF “FAMILY FIRST”

‌I hear many people in the church today who would say family comes before the church. I know I just got some of your attention. Pastor? What are you about to say?

Do I believe the family comes before the church? YES I do. Does the Bible teach that the family comes before the church? The answer is yes.

But the same Bible that puts the family before the church would also teach that the family does not come first at the expense of the church. In other words, the same Bible that teaches you that family comes before the church ALSO teaches you not to neglect the church.

What am I saying? Summer is coming. Your gonna want to take the family on vacation and you should. If you are going to Hawaii you ought to take me. I have a vision! It’s one thing to take a vacation, it is another thing to take the whole summer and be gone from among us in the name of family. Just sayin.

Here is a second misapplication. If you did not throw anything at me yet, you probably will on this one. I have heard many parents say that children come first. That children are most important. And you guys who have been here a while know how we as a church feel about our children. We absolutely love them.

But I honestly do not know where we get this idea that children are MOST important, but it is doing great damage to our family life. Please hear me out here. You know when I was a young pastor up in Canada I was always shocked by the number of 13 and 14 year old kinds who were running the show at home. (Charter of Rights)

What I have been noticing as I have gotten older is that number has dropped. From 14 to 13 to 9 and 10 to 3 and 4 year olds.

Can I encourage you Dad’s when you get home today to take your kids from 3 to 14 years of age and measure their shoulders. Shoulder to shoulder. Then Measure your own. You know what you will find? Yours are wider. Yours are broader.

And I am telling you that when your little 3 and four year old dictates the spirit of the home, and you cannot tell them no, the next thing you know, they are running the whole house. And do you understand you are putting more weight on those little shoulders than God ever intended or designed them to carry. And we are raising an entire generation of kids today that are stressed out!

Not such a good thing to make children first, for THEIR sake.

So, what is the rightful place of the family. Somewhere behind the Lord Jesus. Now, why do you suppose Jesus demands that we love Him most?

‌

WHY LOVE JESUS MOST

‌There are two answers. One is logical thinking, worldly thinking and it goes like thins. Well, if I take more love and direct it to Jesus then that means I am taking love away from my wife and my children. That is true if you are operating in the wrong love.

People latch onto some of the craziest things. When you look at divorce situations and you ask person A who was married to person b for 20 years and you ask them why did you get divorced. One of the top answers is :Well I just didn’t lob=ve them anymore. They call it falling out of love. You know I just gott say that is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. But it is partly true. And the reason today so many people “fall out of love” is because they are building on the wrong love.

So logical thinking is if I love Jesus more then I am going to have to love my wife and children less. And that is partially true.

Right Thinking is this (Rom 5:5)

Okay the bible teaches us that God loves us with a supernatural unconditional love right?

And the Word of God says we are to love Him with all our heart, mind, and soul.

Get this. He loves us abundantly, As we love him back it does not make Him love us more. Now stay with me. He loves us. We love Him. As we love him back it does not make Him love us more but in connects us with the love he already has for us.

Now here is what you need to learn. Here is the right thinking. The worlds thinking is Lord if I love you most I am going to have less love for my family. That is wrong!

The more I receive God’s love, the more I am able to love my family in the way God intended me to love them. Listen to me folks. You cannot love your spouse, you cannot love your children, you cannot love that relative that isn’t very easy to love, until the love of God flows inside of you and takes over your life.

Now here is what Jesus said…Talking about being a disciple. He said you cannot be my disciple until you have properly positioned you family. There is a third thing.

‌2) BE WILLING TO CARRY YOUR OWN __CROSS_________ (Lk 14:27)

Luk 14:27 ESV - 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.‌

What is the qualifying mark here. Bear your own cross.

The Cross – that has been fitted for Jesus since the foundation of Creation. And He wore it faithfully. And he is saying there has also been a cross fitted for you. And as I have been faithful to wear mine, are you going to be faithful to wear yours?

‌Bear his own cross (what it means) (Col 1:24):

Not the common run of the mill troubles and difficulties we face in life.

It means you are willing to take on in this life, His suffering, His shame, His rejection, humiliation. Can I say it not such a nice way. It is high time for some of you to stop playing it so safe. Because believe me when I tell you that when you are willing to take a serious stand for the lord Jesus Christ you are going to have people at your work walk away from you. You are going to have people at your school walk away. You are gonna have family and friends walk away, your gonna have some people sitting right here in church with you thins morning who may walk away. That is bearing the cross.

And I gotta think there are some in this room the morning that cannot even remember when you ever experienced suffering because of the commitment you made for Jesus Christ.

I want you to hear what he said, not talking about being a believer. He is talking about being a disciple.

You can be a church attender. You can be a church member. You can be a religious person. Anyone in here thinking this disciple stuff might be a little too hard?

Listen folks, we have a decision to make. If we are willing to take a position of comfort and ease then Jesus says you can do that but you cannot be my Disciple.

So Jesus is asking us to

BE WILLING TO BE CALLED OUT OF THE CROWD

BE WILLING TO PROPERLY POSITION YOUR FAMILY

‌BE WILLING TO CARRY YOUR OWN CROSS

Wow? A little eye opening isn’t it? There is a fourth thing.

‌4) BE WILLING TO FINISH YOUR COMMITTMENT

Luk 14:28-33 ESV - 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?

What do you have to do to be saved? Simply believe. What do you have to do to become a disciple. Well, twice in this passage He uses the word “first”. That means before you do anything else…

Count the cost (v28)

Not with a view of falling away. Not with a view of failing. What He is asking you to do is follow through. Jeus is not just looking for starters. He is looking for a few finishers.

‌The Keys to Becoming A Disciple (adopting the idea that I have not arrived. Can I just say to everyone in here. If you are spiritually satisfied with where you are, you are in a dangerous place.

You never become satisfied. A Disciple is always willing to take the next step.

Listen to Paul…

Phl 3:12-14 ESV - 12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.)

Paul was willing to do the hard things. We are at a place as a church where I believe we need to make a very serious decision as individuals and as a community. Are we going to be willing to do the hard things. Folks I did not preach this message today to scare you or run you off. But Jesus is very clear here. Tere is a distinct difference between merely being a believer and being His apprentice. Being His apprentice requires that we count the cost and then be willing to do the hard things. He will meet us in that hard place and he promises to walk with us through it. Being a believer is the start. Being a true disciple is a whole other level.

Folks, take it from me. When the hard things in life come, and they will, that is not the time to decide to be a disciple. When the hard things come, you have to already have counted the cost and decided like Paul, whatever comes, you will forget about the past and be willing to take the next step He asks you take. They won’t be easy steps. I think Jesus is clear about that. Paul talked about working out your salvation. To put it another way…do the hard things.