Are you growing as disciple?
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Read Luke 14:25-35
Through the sermon “Jesus cares for the lost”, we learned about the importance of reaching others with the gospel of Jesus. The Lord is interested in saving the sinners; but once He saves them, He wants to recycle them into something useful. He wants them to grow and mature.
The church must grow in quantity (new converts) and in quality (mature believers).
If we want our church to grow, the church must be intentionally occupied in teaching and training the believers into maturity, into obedience.
The Great Commission is very clear: baptize them and teach them to obey the Lord. If there’s no obedience, the believer will not share the gospel and the church will not grow in quantity.
The intentionality of the church in making disciples will not suffice if the believers are not willing to grow.
If you want to grow as a disciple, you must know that:
Discipleship requires preparation.
Discipleship requires preparation.
“A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.
Requiring a teacher.
Requiring a teacher.
The second portion of this verse suggest that someone is training someone: “after he has been fully trained”.
“A blind cannot lead another blind” (v. 39). If you want to be an engineer, you must be taught by an engineer... If you want to be a disciple, you must learn from someone who is a disciple.
tell us that God has given pastors and teachers to Church for the training and building up of the saint for the work of the ministry and to teach them to become like Jesus.
Requiring self-effort.
Requiring self-effort.
If you want to get a degree in any field, going to school is not enough; having a good teacher is not enough; you must do your part, you must study and do your homework.
Growing as a disciple demands time and effort. How much time and effort do you dedicate to your growth? The reward will be proportional to the time and effort spent on it.
“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out.” (Robert Colliers)
“Continuous effort -not strength or intelligence- is the key to unlocking our potential.” (Winston Churchill)
God has given us the potential to be great disciples, but we need to unlock it thru our effort.
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
“The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever.
Is it easy to continue in His word or requires effort? Effort!
How can put effort into something you are not interested in?
Recently, I announced a book for those who wanted to grow as disciples. Do you know how many showed interest? Did you show interest?
If you want to grow as a disciple, you must know that:
It requires willingness to suffer.
It requires willingness to suffer.
“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple.
The cross was an instrument of punishment, its purpose was to bring suffering. As such, no one would carry it willingly; but Jesus is calling His disciples to be willing to carry it.
To suffer death for Christ’s sake, if necessary.
To suffer death for Christ’s sake, if necessary.
“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.
luke 14:26
The disciples knew what Jesus meant when He said that. That’s why, at the Last Supper, all the disciples, together with Peter, said “Even if I have to die with you, I will not deny You.”
To suffer death for Christ’s sake, if necessary,
To suffer death for Christ’s sake, if necessary,
If you’re not willing to spend time with Jesus (in the Word and prayer), I doubt that will be willing die for Him!
With the exception of John, all the apostles suffered violent death. They proved to be His disciples.
Putting Christ before his family.
Putting Christ before his family.
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“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
Putting Christ before his family.
Putting Christ before his family.
“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.
This a verse that has confused many. Is Jesus asking us to hate our family in order to be his disciples? No!
What He meant is that if you compare your love for Jesus with the love for your family, the second one would be seen as hate.
In the parallel passage, Matthew said it in more understandable way:
“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
Mat 10:37
If you are not willing to put Jesus as your first love, you cannot be His disciple.
To be a disciple, you’re not only expected to be willing to die for Him and to love Him more than your family, but also:
To surrender everything you own to God.
To surrender everything you own to God.
“So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
Here is where the rubber meets the road! This is a test where all the love you claim for Jesus is tested! Are you willing to surrender “all your possessions” to Him?
Love for money deters many believers from becoming mature disciples.
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
A mature disciple understands and accepts that everything belong to God. Have you understood that? Why do you refuse to give God what He asks from what belongs to Him?
If you want to grow as a disciple, you must also know that:
It requires deliberate imitation of Jesus.
It requires deliberate imitation of Jesus.
Discipleship is imitation! A disciple imitates his master!
Learning from the Master.
Learning from the Master.
Although we can have earthly teachers, the best teacher is Jesus, the Master. If you want to grow, you must learn from Him.
He told those who were following Him:
“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Mat 11:29
A disciple’s goal is a total imitation of Jesus: to “be like his teacher” (), that means to think like Jesus, to act and behave like Him, and to speak like Him.
Willingly obeying God’s will.
Willingly obeying God’s will.
Discipleship not only means imitation, it means obedience!
“…make disciples…baptizing them… and teaching them to observe (obey) all that I commanded you:” ()
The bottom line is not much knowledge, but obedience! That’s the undeniable proof of being a disciple!
While Jesus was teaching, someone came and said to Him “your mother and your brothers are outside seeking to speak to you.” How did Jesus respond?
But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
mat 12:49
Are you disobeying the Lord? Is there anything He has commanded that you are not doing? Is there anything He has forbidden that you are doing?
Do you really want to grow as a disciple? Start today!