Are You A Disciple?

Welcome‌

Thank you music team. Well done this morning.

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, if your are paying attention this morning then you may have noticed that main passage we are focusing on is pretty much the same one we focused on last week. That is not a mistake. I have more to say about what it means to be a Disciple and the cost involved.

The title of this morning’s message is, “Are You A Disciple?” What I hope to do this morning is to offer up some things for our consideration, that will help us evaluate our current status as disciples, specifically disciples of Jesus Christ.

I said last week that part of the difficulty in determining if we are indeed disciples begins with the Word itself, and I provided us with a couple of biblical definitions from both the Old and New Testament.

But here is the thing...

I don’t want us to get too hung up on the word “Disciple” itself, but it is vitally important that we understand the larger idea behind it. It is not JUST a follower of Jesus but one who has dedicated his very life to the pursuit of and imitation of the one he or she follows.

One of the reasons I say we should not get hung up on the word itself is because, interestingly enough, once we leave the 4 gospels we don’t see the word used much in scripture outside a few times in the book of Acts. In the book of Acts, a disciple seems to be synonomous with a true believer in Jesus, not only in what he taught but also in who he claimed to be…God incarnate. So we begin to see the Word disciple used less and instead followers of Christ were being called believers, brothers/sisters, and a couple of time Christians. But as I said, all of these terms seem to be synonomous, that is they mean the same thing.

What is that? Discipleship is the process of devoting oneself to a teacher to learn from and become more like them.

For the Christian, this refers to the process of learning the teachings of Jesus and following after his example in obedience through the power of the Holy Spirit. Discipleship not only involves the process of becoming a disciple, but of making other disciples through teaching and evangelism.

Or as Comer puts it, a disciple is one who spends time with Jesus, Strives to become like Jesus, and does what jesus did. A person he calls an apprentice of Jesus Christ.

And one other idea I want to float that I hope will help us understand what we are driving at with this series.

A person may say I am a golfer. That means they play the game of Golf. But we all know there are good gofers and not so good golfers.

The difference between a mediocre golfer and a pro golfer is commitment to the game. It has to do with a combination of instruction, effort and practice over time, that is put into the game of golf. There is learning involved, there is practice involved and maybe most important of all is there is time involved. Pro golfers do not happen overnight.

Now, when we are talking about disciples of Jesus Christ, some of the same things are true. Certainly commitment to Jesus and His teachings is required. Are you the type of disciple that chooses to rest on the laurels of your salvation, just sort of bide your time until you get to heaven? Or, are you one who has dedicated yourself to spend time with Jesus, learn from Him, practice to become like Him, and strive to live your life doing what He did, which was make other disciples?

My point is, and I touched on this last week, you can call yourself a disciple simply because you can point to a time where you recognized Jesus Christ as your Savior and accepted His sacrifices in order to gain salvation and thats sort of where it ended for you. Oh sure you come to church every Sunday but what about Monday thru Saturday? What about the dash?

But if you are a true disciple, then you ALSO recognize Jesus as your LORD and KING and you have come to realize that following Him is about a whole lot more than saying a prayer and then waiting to go to heaven.

So what I want to do this morning, is to go back to the passage we looked at last week and revisit Jesus statements there about what it takes to be His “disciple”, understanding that what He was really doing is using the language of His time to talk about commitment, to talk about true followers, true believers....to talk about Christians. And to ask ourselves...

AM I A “COMMITTED” DISCIPLE?

We talked about this last week. What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus. What does it cost?

We have already established that a disciple is a learner. You can be a disciple of anyone, but to be a disciple of Jesus is to let Jesus teach you.

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said come to me,

Mat 11:28 ESV - 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Come to me, that is come out of the crowd, now listen, and then in Matthew 16:24 He said He said come after me...

Mat 16:24 ESV - 24 Then Jesus told his [who?] disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Come after me, that is follow me.

So, to ALL people Jesus invitation is to come TO me. But to His disciples He bids, come AFTER ME…FOLLOW me. Keep following Me.

A disciple is someone who learns from his teacher, his master and then, this is very important, becomes like his master. Would you like to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? Now before you answer, remember what we said last week. There is a cost involved and so there really isn’t an easy “Yes” to the question.

Discipleship costs. Salvation is free but discipleship costs. Are you willing to pay the price? These days people want air conditioned, streamlined faith. A lot of us don't want to pay the price.

In our passage in Luke 14 and in verse 25 we read,…

Luk 14:25-27 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.

Now notice. The crowds were following Jesus. Jesus had great multitudes following Him. He was at the peak of his ministry. His popularity was at an all-time high. And all these people were clamoring after Him. And what does He do? He thins out the crowd. He doesn't do some sensational miracle to get more followers. He doesn't water down his teaching with user-friendly evangelism. What He does is turns to them and in the sternest terms possible he talks to them about something that seems almost shocking.

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.

One thing you have to say about the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no fine print in the contract. He's not mislabeling. There's no bait and switch here. He's not looking for easy followers.

Folks, there are churches all across the country this morning who have men standing in the pulpits and they are watering down the gospel in an attempt to gain more followers. And more and more people are demanding that we do just that or they won’t come here. Well, I don’t want them here on those terms. Jesus never did that nor will I, nor should we. When you follow Jesus he's not inviting you to share in his popularity. The invitation we see coming from our Lord is to share in His unpopularity. Are we willing to do that? Does that make sense to you? I hope it does.

I wanna show you a few things that I think we clearly see in scripture that a true disciple of Jesus Christ is. And when we are done, I hope you’ll say with me, “I want to pay the price because it's worth it.”

The first one is this.

Jesus wants disciples that will worship at any cost.

Go back to verse 26 of Luke 14. Jesus says...

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.

Again, there's no fine print here in the contract. I said last week that Jesus wants us to put our family and friends somewhere behind Him. Jesus Christ must come before personal relationships. He us using this word Hate to mean make a choice.

What he is saying is that Jesus must come before any other personal relationship.

My sweet wife Donna knows that she is number two in my life. Not number two to the church. Not number two to you all. She is number two only to Jesus. And she knows that I will love her more making her number two than I ever would making her number one.

What Jesus saying here is that if you're going to be a disciple of His, then He must be number one in your life.

To be a disciple, we have to take ourselves off the throne and enthrone Jesus Christ. Jesus says not only give up your reputation but even give up your own life. I will say more about that in a minute. But a disciple of Christ is to love Jesus even more than he or she loves their own self. Hard things.

In many modern churches today the theme is what? Fulfill yourself. It’s all about self-fulfillment And our churches have become sort of a cafeteria line where we just go by and pick up the things that are going to make us feel better about ourselves.

Look I hope you all have a good self- image. A healthy self-image. But if it comes between Hutch and Jesus I have to say no to Hutch and yes to Jesus Christ. Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to say Lord Jesus, I put you first in spite of my own reputation, my own fulfillment, are you listening high School Students? You have to be willing to put Jesus ahead of what people at school think of you. That is what it means to be a disciple.

27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

You know I see a lot of people have a cross. A gold ornament around their neck and there's nothing wrong with that that I can see. But beloved, as I said last week, a cross is not a thing of beauty. A cross is a thing ultimately of shame and reproach. That was its purpose in Jesus day. We have made it a piece of jewelry or a beautiful piece of woodwork in our churches but when a person comes to Jesus Christ, he is a worshipper who will worship at any cost. To take up your cross is a mark of Shame. Personal realization.

Some people might say well my sickness is my cross. Some might say that Donna’s cancer is her cross. Not unless she got it by serving Jesus.

Some people might say, well, my mother-in-law is my cross. Sorry. No. Your motherinlaw is not your cross. Please understand. When Jesus says pick up your cross he is talking about something that you willingly take up. You don’t have to bear it. In John 10:18 Jesus said no man takes my life from me. I lay it down of myself. To follow Jesus as a worshipper, who worships at any cost. Above the cost of personal relationships. Above the costs of personal reputation. Above the cost of personal realization,

Somebody once asked AW Tozer, “What does it mean to take up your cross? What does it mean to be crucified with Christ?:

He said, “Three things.

1 A person who is crucified is facing only one way.

2. A person who is crucified is not going back. He has said goodbye. He is not going back

3. A person who is crucified has no further plans of his own.

To take up your cross means facing one way, not going back, no further plans of his own.

Beloved, can you say that? I am crucified with Christ. We say it glibly. Do you mean it? That's what it means to be a disciple. Still want to be a disciple? Take up your cross that's what the Lord Jesus Christ said.

So a disciple is someone who will worship at any cost.

Next. Disciples must keep working at any cost.

Have a look at v 28. jesus goes on to say...

Luk 14:28-30 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.'

First we see Jesus speak of crucifixion, now He is speaking about construction. being a disciple is not all negative, it is also positive. Jesus wants to help us build our lives spiritually and that is part of what being a disciple means. it means we will lean into Him and allow him to teach us how to build spiritual precept upon spiritual precept in our lives. But he warns that there are going to be some building costs involved and a disciple is one who is willing to weigh the cost and pay the cost.

If you're looking for a cheap way, an easy way, a lazy way forget it. Sadly, that is what most people want. The “towers” we build need to be spiritually conceived, sacrificially constructed and also steadfastly completed. He says, “Count the cost so you'll be able to finish the tower”. Do you know what I see a lot of in America today. In the church today? We have so many half-built towers that it’s causing people to laugh and mock. That is exactly what Jesus warned about.

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.'

Too many half built towers. Some who used to be Bible students you stopped studying the Bible. Some who used to be prayer warriors but now rarely lift a word to God.

Do you know what they are? They are half built towers. They have not finished the task. Jesus said in Luke 9:62... "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

So a disciple is a worshipper who will worship at any Cost. A builder who will keep working at any cost and also we see disciples will fight at any cost

Have another look at verse 31.

Luk 14:31-32 ESV - 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.

Now notice what our Lord is doing. First of all He speaks of a crucifixion. Then he speaks of construction. And now he speaks of a conflict, a war.

A disciple is one who has determined to follow Jesus Christ into battle. Because beloved, we are indeed engaged in warfare. It is not flesh and blood we contend with but principalities of the air. It is a spiritual battle we are in. This is a fight to the death and you are on one side or the other.

My friend in Canada, Jeff Christipherson wrote a book called the Kingdom Matrix. I hope to preach a series on that one day. But in the book, Jeff contends that there are only two kingdoms. the Kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of Light. And at any given moment, with every decision we make, we are either serving to expand the kingdom of God or the kingdom of darkness. You see, we ant there to be three kingdoms. We want a third spiritual kingdom that is somewhere between. A place of comfortable orbit around God where we can still call the shots but have him close by if we need Him. But not too far from Him the we are easy pickins for the enemy. That nice comfortable....lukewarm…mmm…orbit. Sound familair? Well, that third kingdom does not exist. There are only two. Kingdom of darkness and kingdom of light. And we are in a battle to the death. And we are on one side or the other.

A disciple cannot be neutral. Oh, and by the way. We are terribly outnumbered. in the example jesus gives the numbers are 10,000 to 20,0000. That is two to one but the odds are still in our favor because if God is for us who can be against us?

Disciples are not cowards. Too many Christians today are afraid to talk about jesus because they might upset someone. I am not talking about being in people’s face. I am talking about courageously expanding the kingdom when the opportunity comes. Disciples are not cowards and disciples do not compromise.

Jesus is telling us her that if we do not count the cost when the battle gets thick, what are you going to do? Send out an ambassador and try and make peace with the enemy?

Who is the enemy? He's the devil. Do you think that you can negotiate with the devil? Do you think you can appease him or buy him off? Do you really think you can come to some sort of a standoff with the devil? Forget it. General Douglas MacArthur said in war there is no substitute for victory.

That is the truth. In this life there is no substitute for victory over the devil. Now if you try to make a peace treaty with the Devil he's going to beat you. Either you get him, or he'll get you but there's no such thing as neutrality.

There is a story of a bear Hunter who went out one time to hunt a bear. He spots a bear and has him in his sights, started to squeeze the trigger, but the bear said hold it hold it hold it hold it don't pull that trigger. Let’s go out here in the middle of the road. You put the gun down and let's talk. Let's reason this thing out. Why are you hunting? You want a fur coat, isn't that, right? The hunter said that's right. The bear says I am out here in the woods and all I want is a good meal, can you understand that? The hunter said yes. The bear said let's talk it over. They did and when it was finished the bear had a good meal and he man had a fur coat!

That’s the way the devil is. He says now let's just see if we can't compromise here a little bit with sin. What our Lord wants is disciples who are not cowards. 10,000 against 20,000. What our Lord wants is disciples who are not compromisors sending out ambassadors to sit down with the devil. And He also wants Disciples who are not overly Cautious.

When you go into battle you have to go in with all of your heart and soul. Look in verse 33.

Luk 14:33 ESV - 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

We say well Lord I will give you this. he doesn’t want that. I will give you this part of my life. He doesn’t want that part. He wants it all. He deserves it all.

Let me ask you a question. It's a rhetorical question so don't answer it out loud. Does Jesus Christ have everything that you have? Is there any part of your life that is out of bounds to the Lord Jesus Christ? Is there anything that you would say, “Now Lord Jesus take your hands off of that.” If there is, you cannot be his disciple.

So Jesus wants worshippers who will worship at any cost who will be willing to take up their cross. Jesus wants disciples who are willing to work at .

He wants disciples who will continue building at any Cost. He wants disciples who are not cowards or compromisors. He is not looking for those who ar cautious and finally this morning, Jeus wants disciples who are willing to witness at any cost.

Luke 14 beginning in verse 34.

Luk 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."

Our Lord knew that some people would not listen to this. Some people have no ears for what I'm preaching this morning. Some are thinking I didn't come to hear a message like this. I came to be made to feel good to be petted to be praised to be flattered but not to be challenged. But notice what our Lord does. Our Lord speaks first of all about a crucifixion. Then construction. Then conflict and now a commission.

Folks the problem in America is not the drug dealer, not the pornographer, not Hollywood, not the liberal Theologian. The problem is saltless Saints. People who will not be Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. America is in a moral meltdown. Sodomy has gone from a sin to a sickness to a socially accepted practice, to a virtue here in America.

Our church families are unraveling. Standards are lower. The entertainment industry has reached the bottom of the garbage pale. Its like a sewer has broken on America and we need something to decontaminate our land.

Do you know what it is it is? Salt, Jesus said you're the salt of the earth. It is salt that preserves. it is salt that flavors. is there something about your life that's different? I am of the opinion that salt tastes bad when you don't have it. That’s what makes the potatoes taste bad when it ain't there.

Is there zest about your life? Can your neighbors see something different about you or are you just Bland and tasteless. Just a person with no zest in your life. Why would anybody want to have my faith why would anybody want to be like me if he cannot see a change in me.

Paul said in Colossians 4: 6…

Col 4:6 ESV - 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

I've seen the salt of the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ heal broken hearts and broken hopes and broken homes. Our world needs salty Saints. I tell you something else though. Salt Burns. It stings. You rub salt into an open wound and a person will say ouch that burns that stings. We're going to irritate some people. If we do not from time to time then we have lost our saltiness.

We need to stop trying to win popularity contests. Not everybody's going to love you if you follow the lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said over there in Matthew chapter 10 that the disciple is not better than his master. If they've hated me they will hate you. If you're salty you're going to be an irritant. Salt penetrates. You take just a pinch of salt and put it in a jug of water and the whole jug will become salty. Salt penetrates. It just permeates everything that you put it in.

Here is the thing folks. i shared this with our staff this week.

Jesus’ followers were called “disciples” way before they were ever called “Christians.” Their discipleship started when Jesus called, but something else happened when Jesus called them. Seems insignificant at first but what had to happen when Jesus called was, they had to respond. They had to make a conscious decision to follow Him. Is it that decision that makes a true disciple? Well it is certainly where it starts. We have to respond to His call to follow Him.

The most amazing to me of these “follow me” episodes was Matthew the Tax collector. Of all the apostles He called to follow Him Matthew had the most to lose from a material perspective.

Matthew by all accounts was doing pretty well as a Tax collector. But when Jesus invited Him to follow, Matthew just got up and followed Him.

Mat 9:9 ESV - 9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed him.

But with regard to His 12, the first seven He called, Peter, Andrew, James, John, Phillip, Batholemew and Matthew, just basically got up and followed Him. Dropped everything and followed Him. Didn’t seem like they “Counted the Cost” at all.

But in the case of Peter, Andrew, James and John, when Jesus said “Follow Me” that was not their first encounter with Him. They were not following a total stranger. We see in scripture that they all had met Jesus before and spent some amount of time with Him. But in every case, the 12, when they decided to respond to Jesus call to Follow Him, left their lives behind to do so.

In contrast we see hesitation on the part of some when Jesus issues the call.

Luk 9:57-62 ESV - 57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." 58 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." 59 To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." 60 And Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." 61 Yet another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home." 62 Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

So apparently His personal invitation was not the thing that compelled everyone. Now we don’t know whether some of these who hesitated at first, later made the decision to follow Him so that certainly could of happened.

We also see instances where those who were following Him departed.

From the passage we have been looking at for the past couple weeks, Jesus was pretty explicit about the cost of following Him. Discipleship requires a totally committed life: “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). Sacrifice is expected: “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me’” (Matthew 16:24).

Not all of Jesus’ followers were able to make such a commitment and stick to it. There were many who followed Him for a while then, left.

In John 6 we read that Jesus starts telling His followers that He is the bread of life and starts talking about feeding on His flesh and drinking His blood and it freaks some people out and in Chapter 6 v 66 we read “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (John 6:66).

So they were following Him for whatever reason, probably for what they thought they could get from Him but when it got a little hard, they quit following Him.

In fact, John chapter 6 is an interesting chapter because we see clearly that there were some who answered the call to follow and at some point quit, but we also get a glimpse of what I think defines a true disciple.

Jhn 6:60-71 ESV- 60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe." (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." 66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" Here it is…68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." 70 Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil." 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.

Here is what I think defines a true disciple or at least is a critical realization in a Christina’s life that makes all the difference. The realization that my life is no longer my own. The willingness to give up everything we thought was important in order to follow Him more fully. Doesn’t mean He will require you to give up everything, but only He knows when your heart has reached that point. I think that may be where the good stuff really starts happening.

My friends. When you gave your heart to Jesus Christ and said I will take up my cross, do you understand that's the last legitimate independent decision you ever make.

And here is one of the things that I think separates the men from the boys, the women from the girls if you will when it comes to being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Coming out of the crowd and following Jesus means that from now on, your life belongs to Jesus Christ. Your life no longer belongs to you. Hmmm. I should send you all home right now to just think of that one piece of information. because if you can get your head and your heart around that, then you will begin to understand the true cost of discipleship. A disciple of Jesus Christ means you're not your own. You're bought with a price. And you are His. Still wanna be a disciple? Boy I sure do. I reckon there is nothing better. Let’s pray.