Discipleship:

Introduction I find that I am always prone to overestimate the benefits of things I desire and to underestimate the price involved. My wife and I recently committed ourselves to a ‘small’ remodeling project. Any of you who have done the same know that it has become a far bigger commitment than we anticipated. This is also a danger in the matter of discipleship. Repeatedly, our Lord cooled the enthusiasm of eager candidates for discipleship by urging them to consider its cost. 216 In evangelical circles today, there seems to be a trend in the opposite direction. We urge people to be saved and to become disciples of our Lord, highlighting its benefits and blessings. We conceal the true cost of discipleship and any liabilities in the fine print, if we mention them at all. 217 If we truly desire to be followers of our Lord along the path of discipleship, it is imperative that we first heed the words of our Lord and count the cost of discipleship. Lest we become falsely discouraged or disillusioned, we should also weigh these costs against the benefits of being a follower of Jesus. In this way only can we make an intelligent decision in this decisive matter of discipleship. The Requirements of Discipleship In the gospel of Luke, we find the requirements of discipleship outlined by our Lord. “Now great multitudes were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, “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. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and take counsel whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks terms for peace. So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions” ( Luke 14:25-33). From one perspective, discipleship centers upon the issue of dependence and submission. Taken from another direction, we might say that discipleship entails a complete rearrangement of our priorities. To be a disciple of our Lord demands that He become the most important thing in our life. This is what Luke sought to remind us of when he recorded the words of our Lord in the fourteenth chapter of his gospel. Consider with me the rearrangement of our priorities demanded by discipleship. (1) The disciple of Jesus Christ must put his Master above those nearest and dearest to him. “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, … he cannot be my disciple” ( Luke 14:26). We should all understand that Jesus did not mean by this that we cannot love God and family at the same time—that we can only love God while hating those nearest and dearest to us. 218 The Scriptures speak too plainly elsewhere of our obligations to our families, husbands, wives and children. What our Lord means is that our love for Him must have precedence over any other. Our attachment to Him must be greater than any other. While husbands are to love their wives ( Ephesians 5:25), they are to love the Savior more. No human relationship should be more intimate, no human bond more inseparable than that between the disciple and his Master. We in America can hardly grasp the potential threat that family ties pose to true discipleship. In the days of the New Testament as well as down through church history, individuals have been confronted with the ultimatum to choose either Jesus or family, but not both. Many Christians have been totally disowned and disinherited because of their faith in Christ, the Savior. Several years ago when I was teaching school, I had a little Jewish girl as a student. More than anything else in the world she dreaded telling her parents of her new faith. She was a handicapped child and to be put out by her family would seemingly be disastrous. Not only is our relationship to Christ to have priority over family ties, our union with Him is to have precedence over all human relationship. Friendship (or identification) with Christ will inevitably result in enmity with the world. “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore, the world hates you” ( John 15:18-19). The disciple of Christ may not desire persecution, but he can depend on it. “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become as his teacher, and the slave as his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!” ( Matthew 10:24-25). (2) The disciple of the Lord Jesus must value following Jesus Christ above life itself. The basic instinct to preserve life is inherent in all of creation. Discipleship demands a devotion to the Lord Jesus that surpasses the instinct to preserve our own life. The history of the church sufficiently proves that this requirement has resulted in the death of countless Christians through the centuries. Once again, we Americans can scarcely comprehend the demands of discipleship as faced by many of our persecuted and oppressed brethren. Perhaps even in our own lifetime conditions in our nation may become such that we will come to appreciate the significance of this requirement of devotion to Christ above life itself. (3) The disciple of Jesus Christ must place his commitment to Christ above material possessions. I have the distinct impression that we are now beginning to arrive at the real crunch for those of us who are complacent, affluent, American Christians. “So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions” ( Luke 14:33). Simply put, we must love God more than we love money and what it can buy. The story of the rich young ruler illustrates this requirement of discipleship. He wanted to be a disciple of our Lord (and therefore obtain the fringe benefit of eternal life), but not at the cost of his material possessions. I do not think that the Bible teaches that one can become a Christian only after disposing of his material assets. It is the attitude behind our affluence that is the crucial factor. Oftentimes the poor are more materialistic than the rich, for they assign too much importance to material things. The desire to have money and material goods is what is sinful. In biblical terms, “The love of money (not the possession of it) is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang” ( 1 Timothy 6:10). Paul instructed those who were rich in material things to be rich in good works, and not to trust in the uncertainty of riches ( 1 Timothy 6:17-19). That is the point. Nothing must compete with our devotion to and our dependence upon the Lord Jesus. (4) The disciple of Jesus Christ must daily die to self-interest. Even as our Lord spoke of His destiny leading Him to a cross, so also every true disciple must also bear a cross. “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple” ( Luke 14:27). Our cross must not be confused with the cross of our Lord. His was a cross borne once for all, while ours must be taken up daily. “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” ( Luke 9:23). His cross was the instrument which put to death the sinless Son of God. Taking up our cross involves the daily putting to death of the selfish desires and ambitions of the old self, our lower nature (cf. Romans 6:1-14; 1 Corinthians 15:31; 2 Corinthians 4:7-12; Colossians 2:20; 3:11). There is a “Christian” song which is nicely done, but its theology makes me cringe. The words go something like this (be grateful I don’t attempt to sing it): Must Jesus bear the cross alone