Committed to Discipleship

  • Rev. Jerry Lepasana
  • Jan 27, 2008
  • Series: Revisiting Our Core Values

 

COMMITTED TO DISCIPLESHIP

Core Value: Deepen commitments and relationship through discipleship.

Luke 14:25-35

25) Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said:

26) "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.

27) And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

28) "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?

29) For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him,

30) saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

31) "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

32) If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.

33) In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

34) "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

35) It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

            Do you believe that our church is set for a great future? If you are in doubt, you need to listen to the words of Jesus Christ when He said, "I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it" (Matthew 16:18). Indeed, every church of Jesus Christ has sufficient provisions not just to survive, but thrive in this world.

Now, you might be asking, "how come there are Christian churches who are struggling?" I believe the answer lies on what the church prioritizes.  If it's the church of Jesus Christ, what is important to Christ must be important to the church. In other words, the Core Values of the church must be aligned with the purposes and priorities of Jesus Christ.

As we continue to revisit our core values, I trust that this is exactly the impression I'm going to leave each one of you. We did not just ask ourselves what is important to us and then listed them as our core values. We carefully searched the Word God, and we were convinced that our values are reflective of Christ's values. We did this because we believe that as we faithfully embrace and live out these values, the Lord will allow us to experience His help and blessings.

Last Sunday, we started out with our commitment to corporate worship. This morning, we move to our commitment to discipleship. There is no doubt that this is so important to Jesus Christ. He literally spent His entire 3-year ministry discipling 12 ordinary men. Then, at end of it, He gave them the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20:

"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 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

 

            Examining these words, the emphasis is on the phrase - make disciples of all nations. The other activities in the passage such as going, baptizing, and teaching are describing how they are to accomplish the process of discipleship. On this basis, we as a church must also prioritize discipleship.

            Who is a disciple of Jesus Christ? What does it mean to be a true disciple?  In the New Testament the word disciple occurs 269 times with almost all the references are found in the Gospels and Acts. The simplest definition of a disciple is someone who learns. But the Biblical process means more than that. A disciple is someone who follows a Master. It is someone whose life is shaped by the Master's teachings and eventually reflects the Master's image.  Jesus Himself said:

Luke 6:40

40) A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.

            Therefore, the ultimate goal of all believers must be Christlikeness. Last Sunday, I was talking about our commitment in worship. There is really a big connection between worship and discipleship. Notice Psalm 135:15-18:

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.  They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.

 

            If we worship worthless objects, then our lives become defeated and empty. If we worship the true Master, Jesus Christ; then, we become just like Him bearing grace and beauty.  So, are you a disciple of Jesus Christ? Jesus in our main text explained further what it means to be His disciple. There are three things I wanted to emphasize in what He said:

 

I           MOVE OUT OF CASUAL CHRISTIANITY: (v.25)

            When Jesus began His earthly ministries, teaching and performing miracles, He started attracting large crowds. However, many of them were following Him out of their curiosity and their desire to see miracles, rather than to make Him their Master.  On this context, He extended an invitation for people to move into a deeper level of commitment.

            There are some similarities between the crowds of Jesus day with many Christians today.  I realize that when Jesus had these crowds, they were not people who were antagonistic towards Him or people who were not interested in his life and message. No, these were people who were "traveling with the Jesus." They are positive in their attitude toward Jesus. They apparently mistook this positive attitude and interest in Jesus for true discipleship, as many people do today.  They considered themselves to be followers of Jesus but in reality they were only casual followers and not committed followers. They were willing and even anxious to follow Jesus providing the cost was not to high or the demands too great. They were like many people today who do "Christian things" like go to church, pray, sing Christian songs, etc. but are not really committed to Jesus.

The idea of casual Christianity was best illustrated by a leadership magazine that once ran a cartoon that showed a church building with a billboard in front that said: "The LITE CHURCH: 24% fewer commitments, home of the 7.5% tithe, 15 minute sermons, 45 minute worship service; we have only 8 commandments-your choice. We use just 3 spiritual laws and have an 800 year millennium. Everything you've wanted in a church ... and less!" (Leadership Summer, 1983, p. 81.)

            Are you looking for the "Lite church"? You will not find it in BCI. As we openly declare we hope to lead people into a deeper commitment in Jesus. Clearly, Jesus demands it from would be disciples. This leads me to my next point.   

II         MEET THE COST OF COMMITMENT (vv. 26-33)

            Martin Luther had appropriately said, "A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing." Undeniably, everyone who wishes to seriously follow Jesus must consider the cost that Jesus Himself had enumerated in our text:

•A.     The Relational Cost: (v.26)

Jesus was not literally teaching that His followers hate their loved ones because this is a violation of the law. Jesus Himself taught His followers to follow this law (Mark 7:9-13).  What this simply means is: Disciples must be ready to give second place to everyone else in their lives. God must receive the highest love. One's loyalty to Jesus must come before his loyalty to his family or even to life itself. Indeed, those who did follow Jesus against their families' desires were probably thought of as hating their families.

 

•B.     The Sacrificial Cost: (v27)

The cross during Jesus day was an instrument of execution. Everyone who was crucified suffered a great deal of shame and torture. Disciples must embrace suffering as a part of life. The disciples' life is never easy. C. S Lewis had it right:

The Christian way is different. . . . Christ says, "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked - the whole outfit."

                                       (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, pp. 163, 164)

 

            After Jesus had mentioned the relational and sacrificial costs, He then proceeded in verses 28-33 in challenging His listeners to be aware of the full cost when they follow. They need to calculate the cost on the front end, so that they don't give up after deciding to follow Him.  

            Have you ever seen people who have stopped following the Lord? Have you listened to their excuses? For Jesus, all excuses are unacceptable because He is more important than anyone else and everything else (v.33).

            Again, counting the cost has to do with priorities as much as anything. To follow Jesus is to choose (no matter how imperfectly) to give Jesus priority in life over against all other options.

III        MULTIPLY YOUR CHRISTLIKENESS (vv.34-35)

            Lastly, once you are a disciple of Jesus, living a Christlike life, you have the responsibility of multiplying yourself. Your life must impact other lives. The Lord Jesus compared the influence of His disciples to a salt. How valuable was salt in Jesus day?

 

•A.     It Prevents Decay - Salt retards decay. With salt on the food, food could be preserved. God wants to use Christians in helping others be preserved from the decay that comes from the bacteria of evil and sin.

  • B. It Provides Flavor - Salt also give great flavor. God wants Christians as channels of His blessings to people whose lives could be bland, without joy that comes only from above. We should never loose our flavor; or else, we are good for nothing (v.34)
  • C. It Promotes Thirst - If you've ever eaten potato chips, you know what this means. As Christians, we should be making other people thirsty for God.

Are you conscious of influencing those around you? Here in BCI, we will continually challenge you to grow deeper in your relationship with Jesus Christ. We will constantly provide venues for you to learn more about the Bible, about our Lord. But, please understand, they are not only for you to keep. They are for you to dispense to other. True disciples of Jesus Christ are simply channels of life. We need the people around us to be thirsty for the Living Water. We want others to find the true source of life who is Jesus.

      It was advertised in one of our large cities that a great violinist would play on a violin worth $1,000. The theater was packed. Many were curious and wanted to hear such an expensive instrument being played. The violinist went on stage and played very beautifully. Suddenly, he threw the violin on the floor and then began to stomp on it, crushing it to pieces, then walked off the stage. The people were shocked. But then the manager came on stage and said that the violinist did not really use the $1,000 violin but a $20 one. He would now play on the $1,000 one. And so he did. But few people could tell the difference. He simply wanted to show that it was the violinist rather than the violin that makes the music. In the Master's hands, even a $20 fiddle would make good music.

      In the same way, when we surrender to the right Master who is Jesus, our lives can experience so much significance.