I know, I know... We're still in Chapter three, right? But please bear with me. Here's why. I want us to be on the same page, with respect to personal revival, and also specifically dealing with fellowship with each other and with our God. In past meetings, we’ve talked about, and agreed, that we cannot have biblical fellowship with each other without first having fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ. Roy Hession describes this in The Calvary Road book in depth, in Chapter 3.
Therefore, the Lord has continued to put on my heart the need to get the first-things-first, and to get them right, and to not rush through this section without dealing with our own personal relationship and fellowship with the Lord Jesus. And the same topic keeps coming up – “DISCIPLESHIP!”
So we’re going to look at what the requirements are for being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
First, read Luke 14:25-35. This will be our text this week.
Below is an excerpt from a book called “Discipleship – The Next Step In Following Jesus”, by Greg Laurie. Chapter 2, Are You His Disciple?
Side note: I could have found many writers comments on the topic; why this one? First, it’s from one of Greg Laurie’s older books. I like early works of most bible commentator’s because they’re not so refined, and maybe that makes them easier to relate to? And secondly, this book practically fell into my lap - almost literally. At a conference, standing at a used books table, as I rifled through the $3 books, this one fell off the table in front of me, so I picked it up and bought it! And as I started reading it, it struck me as incredibly complimentary to The Calvary Road.
Excerpt:
“The pointed statement that Jesus made in Luke 14 about forsaking all to follow Him, was directed to the fascinated multitudes that crowded around Him when He walked this earth, but it is still relevant for those who crowd around the church today. For back then, even as today, Jesus saw a problem developing. He saw people who responded to only certain aspects of His message. He determined that it was time to clearly lay out the requirements of following Him.
“In this passage, we do not hear Jesus calling people to a marginal belief in Him. He was looking for complete and total commitment. He was looking for people He could call disciples. And that is what Jesus Christ is still looking for today. He is not looking for people to be called Christian in name only; He is looking for those who will commit their lives to becoming disciples!
“In this passage, Jesus lays out the cost of true discipleship to the fascinated multitude. These were perhaps the most solemn and searching words that ever fell from His lips. Three times in this short passages Jesus says that if you do not do these things, you “cannot be My disciple.” These are absolute prerequisites. I might also point out this is the one and only time He explained the severity of His terms.
“I think many of us are like the people who listened as Jesus spoke those words. In essence, Jesus is still asking us, “Will you step out from the multitude and be a disciple? Will you be more to Me than a fair-weather follower?” A fair-weather friend is someone who stands by when it’s convenient to do so, but as soon as things get difficult, he is gone.
“Jesus has many fair-weather followers today. They follow Him when it’s convenient, socially or economically advantageous, or when they are in the mood [, or when things go exactly as they planned and expected them to go]. But when crisis, persecution, or difficulty hits, they throw in the towel and turn away.”
Greg goes on to point out some insights on true discipleship from a book on the subject by Dwight Pentecost, summing discipleship up in three simple words: curious, convinced, committed.
Curious:
He relates “curious” to the those who see or hear of Jesus for the first time, and like the multitudes, we become attracted or curious as we listen to His words, learn about His life, see the miracles He performed.
Convinced:
But there’s a time in one’s life when we go from being curious to being “convinced”. Greg writes, “I would venture to say that many who attend church today have never really crossed that line [from curiosity to convinced]. They are curious, but nothing more. They are attracted to the message, they are attracted to the Christian life, but they are not fully convinced it is true [or worth changing for].
(Consider the 5000 that Jesus fed. After that, many came to hear Him speak, but many came only to have their stomachs filled. “They were interested in Jesus’ message as long as it took care of their temporary needs and as long as it was convenient.”).
Someone who is convinced is someone who has come to understand that Jesus has the “Words of eternal life”, and who has come to believe that He “is the Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6:67-69).
Committed:
Then there’s Matthew 16:13, where Jesus asks His disciples who men say that He is, and after they tell him who others think He is, He asks them point blank, “Who to you say that I am?” Their answer (well Peter at least, but I think he spoke for the others) was the answer of someone who had again crossed over from being convinced to “committed.” Peter spoke, saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
“Where do you stand? Are you merely curious? Or perhaps even convinced? Have you made that step of faith to being committed? You become a disciple in the biblical sense only when you are totally and completely committed to Jesus Christ and His Word.”
Therefore, the Lord has continued to put on my heart the need to get the first-things-first, and to get them right, and to not rush through this section without dealing with our own personal relationship and fellowship with the Lord Jesus. And the same topic keeps coming up – “DISCIPLESHIP!”
So we’re going to look at what the requirements are for being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
First, read Luke 14:25-35. This will be our text this week.
Below is an excerpt from a book called “Discipleship – The Next Step In Following Jesus”, by Greg Laurie. Chapter 2, Are You His Disciple?
Side note: I could have found many writers comments on the topic; why this one? First, it’s from one of Greg Laurie’s older books. I like early works of most bible commentator’s because they’re not so refined, and maybe that makes them easier to relate to? And secondly, this book practically fell into my lap - almost literally. At a conference, standing at a used books table, as I rifled through the $3 books, this one fell off the table in front of me, so I picked it up and bought it! And as I started reading it, it struck me as incredibly complimentary to The Calvary Road.
Excerpt:
“The pointed statement that Jesus made in Luke 14 about forsaking all to follow Him, was directed to the fascinated multitudes that crowded around Him when He walked this earth, but it is still relevant for those who crowd around the church today. For back then, even as today, Jesus saw a problem developing. He saw people who responded to only certain aspects of His message. He determined that it was time to clearly lay out the requirements of following Him.
“In this passage, we do not hear Jesus calling people to a marginal belief in Him. He was looking for complete and total commitment. He was looking for people He could call disciples. And that is what Jesus Christ is still looking for today. He is not looking for people to be called Christian in name only; He is looking for those who will commit their lives to becoming disciples!
“In this passage, Jesus lays out the cost of true discipleship to the fascinated multitude. These were perhaps the most solemn and searching words that ever fell from His lips. Three times in this short passages Jesus says that if you do not do these things, you “cannot be My disciple.” These are absolute prerequisites. I might also point out this is the one and only time He explained the severity of His terms.
“I think many of us are like the people who listened as Jesus spoke those words. In essence, Jesus is still asking us, “Will you step out from the multitude and be a disciple? Will you be more to Me than a fair-weather follower?” A fair-weather friend is someone who stands by when it’s convenient to do so, but as soon as things get difficult, he is gone.
“Jesus has many fair-weather followers today. They follow Him when it’s convenient, socially or economically advantageous, or when they are in the mood [, or when things go exactly as they planned and expected them to go]. But when crisis, persecution, or difficulty hits, they throw in the towel and turn away.”
Greg goes on to point out some insights on true discipleship from a book on the subject by Dwight Pentecost, summing discipleship up in three simple words: curious, convinced, committed.
Curious:
He relates “curious” to the those who see or hear of Jesus for the first time, and like the multitudes, we become attracted or curious as we listen to His words, learn about His life, see the miracles He performed.
Convinced:
But there’s a time in one’s life when we go from being curious to being “convinced”. Greg writes, “I would venture to say that many who attend church today have never really crossed that line [from curiosity to convinced]. They are curious, but nothing more. They are attracted to the message, they are attracted to the Christian life, but they are not fully convinced it is true [or worth changing for].
(Consider the 5000 that Jesus fed. After that, many came to hear Him speak, but many came only to have their stomachs filled. “They were interested in Jesus’ message as long as it took care of their temporary needs and as long as it was convenient.”).
Someone who is convinced is someone who has come to understand that Jesus has the “Words of eternal life”, and who has come to believe that He “is the Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6:67-69).
Committed:
Then there’s Matthew 16:13, where Jesus asks His disciples who men say that He is, and after they tell him who others think He is, He asks them point blank, “Who to you say that I am?” Their answer (well Peter at least, but I think he spoke for the others) was the answer of someone who had again crossed over from being convinced to “committed.” Peter spoke, saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
“Where do you stand? Are you merely curious? Or perhaps even convinced? Have you made that step of faith to being committed? You become a disciple in the biblical sense only when you are totally and completely committed to Jesus Christ and His Word.”