| Are You A Disciple? Are you a disciple of Christ? Please don't answer too quickly because I believe that there are thousands of well meaning, sincere Christians who honestly believe that they are disciples of Christ--but they are not. You may be one of these. I'm not trying to shock you or try cheap theatrics to try and get your attention. No, it's a fact that there are very few true disciples of Christ in the church today. If you had asked me this question not too very long ago, I would have said with confidence, "Of course I am," and I would have been wrong. Now how could I have been wrong and yet so confident? That is what we are going to talk about today. Maybe you'll find yourself in the same situation. Before we look at what Christ says about discipleship, I want to tell you a story about a church that I once belonged to that read Christ's command in Mt 28:19 " Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," and then took matters in their own hands to accomplish God's command. We so often do that. We look at God's commands in the Bible, and then with such enthusiasm, set out in our own strength and wisdom to do His will, forgetting that we can do nothing without the Son. That is exactly how this church set up it's discipleship program. Perhaps you have been part of a similar type of program. We had a series of 10 or 12 lessons, one a week on various topics like tithing, reading the Bible, praying, the gifts, etc. Once you had attended the 12 lessons and had "mastered" the material, you received a discipleship certificate and were then qualified to "disciple" other members of the church by having them go through the same curriculum. The goal of the plan was, through multiplication, to have the entire church become "disciples" in about a year's time. Sound familiar? There were several real indications that there was something desperately wrong was this program. The most apparent one being the same marked absence of love that existed before the program began. Jesus says in John 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." And that's the real killer, isn't it? Love. That's the litmus test for true disciples. If there's not real, true, genuine love, then there isn't real discipleship. If there is not genuine discipleship, then why not? You see, there's a big difference between a Christian and a disciple of Christ. A disciple must be a Christian, but a Christian is not necessarily a disciple. Just as a decision to receive God's tree gift of life for salvation had to be made to become a Christian, there must be a decision before becoming a disciple. Let's look at a few scriptures in which Jesus talks about becoming a follower or disciple of His. Matthew 16:24-25 "Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." Mark 8:34 "Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Luke 9:23 "Then he said to them all: 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 14:27 "And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:33 "In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. The last scripture really nails the issue down. You see you must release your claim to everything you possess, from material possessions to your individual "rights." In other words, you must lose your life, or surrender it to Christ. This is the decision that must be made. Otherwise, it doesn't matter how many discipleship seminars, programs, or home-study courses you have participated in, you cannot be a disciple until that decision is made. In the classic book Absolute Surrender, Andrew Murray tells of an interesting story. He says "...in Scotland once I was in a company where we were talking about the condition of Christ's Church, and what the great need of the Church and of believers is; and there was in our company a godly worker who has much to do in training workers, and I asked him what he would say was the great need of the Church, and the message that ought to be preached. He answered very quietly and simply and determinedly: "Absolute surrender to God is the one thing." The words struck me as never before. And that man began to tell how, in the workers with whom he had to deal, he finds that if they are sound on that point, even though they be backward, they are willing to be taught and helped, and they always improve; whereas others who are not sound there very often go back and leave the work. The condition for obtaining God's full blessing is absolute surrender to Him." Paul talks of this absolute surrender in Romans 12:1 where he says "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship." We are to put our lives on the altar. And why wouldn't we? Who else knows and loves us more that our God and Savior? Have your made this all important decision yet? If not, then you may be a Christian, but you are not a disciple. What is holding you back? Whatever it is, whatever you are still holding on to or holding back on has got to be placed on the altar. Otherwise, you are not a disciple yet. (Taken from "The Arrow" Newsletter, Issue 1) Disciples Making Disciples HOME |