What Is a Disciple?: Becoming an Impactful Christian

You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us learn to be full strength, fully developed, fully effective Christian disciples. A disciple must and will impact their culture.

One of the classic old CCM songs of days gone by was called Two Hands by Love Song. The song said, With one hand reach out to Jesus, with the other bring a friend. That's a pretty good description of discipleship in a nutshell. And today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us follow the Lord wholeheartedly and show others how to do the same.

We'll learn how to embrace the very purpose we're here to have fellowship with God and to bring others into that fellowship. We're in a series now on the topic of discipleship. In the last message I asked you, are you a disciple? Now I'm defining what a disciple actually is, and so go over to Luke 14 where Jesus really breaks down what it means to be a disciple. Verse 26, he says, If any man comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers, sisters, yes, in his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

I made this point in my last message, but in case you didn't hear it, I want you to know what it is. Number one, if you want to be his disciple, you must love Jesus more than anyone or anything else. You must love Jesus more than anyone or anything else. When Jesus says hate your father, mother, brother, sisters, etc., he's not being literal, because in other passages I'm told to love my wife as Christ loves the church. I'm told to even love my enemies. Jesus is using a contrasting term to make a larger point. In effect he's saying your love for God should be so intense that your love for others would be like hatred in comparison.

So you must love God more than anyone or anything else. Love him more than your career. Love him more than your ministry.

Love him more than even your life. Point number two, the disciple must take up the cross and follow Jesus. Verse 27, whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. In Luke's gospel over in the ninth chapter, Jesus addresses this again with a little more detail.

He says, if anyone desires to come after me and be my disciple, he must deny himself, listen to this, and take up his cross daily and follow me, for whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Now here's the problem. We have no idea what this means.

And I think it's even more complicated from the time we live in. Because what do you think of when you think of the cross? Probably the symbol of the church or Christianity. You see a cross, you think that's a symbol of Christianity. The cross for many is a fashion accessory. It's a new tat on their arm.

It's something they maybe have somewhere. But the early church did not wear crosses. They died on crosses. So when you hear Jesus say, take up your cross and follow me, it means one thing. It means you die to yourself. And by dying to yourself or losing yourself, you ultimately find yourself.

Point number three. The disciple must turn the title deed of their life over to Christ. The disciple must turn the title deed of their life over to Christ.

Or if you're a car guy, give him the pink slit. Right? Verse 33. You cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. The King James translation is forsake all that you have. It's just reminding ourselves we're actually not owners.

We're stewards. Because everything you have one day is going to be passed on to someone else. You know, you can't take it with you. So what does it mean when Jesus says, giving up everything that you own? Does that mean it's a sin to have a car or a house or some money in the bank or some clothes? No, no.

Of course not. Here's what it means. It could better be translated, surrender your claim to those things. If you want to be my disciple, surrender your claim to everything in life. So it's a recognition God is the owner. God is the pink slip. God is in control of it.

And I recognize I'm just a steward over it for a period of time. See, it's not wrong to have a career, but it's wrong if a career has you. It's not wrong to have possessions, but it can be wrong if your possessions have you. Your only real passion and obsession in life should be Christ and all these other things have their place.

But not the most important place. My granddaughter, Allie, loves to collect stuffed animals. She really loves them. And so whenever I go on a trip she'll say, Papa, bring me back a stuffed animal. So, you know, if I'm traveling you'll see little stuffed animal heads sticking out of my carry-on bags.

I'll look for them and bring them home. And so the other day I was on a trip and I made a video of a bunch of stuffed animals. I said, which one do you like, Allie? And I got her on the phone on FaceTime, and we're talking, and she says, Papa, I'm not obsessed with stuffed animals anymore.

I said, really? She says, I'm just obsessed with talking with you. I said, oh, I like that. It's very good. Girls, try that line on a guy. Girls, I think that line would work on any guy, no matter his age, no matter your relationship.

You know, it warmed my heart. I think we all should say to God, Lord, I'm obsessed with talking with you and walking with you and hearing from you and knowing you. Number four, a disciple must impact their culture.

A disciple must and will impact their culture. Look at verse 34 of Luke 14. Jesus says, salt is good for seasoning, but if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It's thrown away.

Anyone willing to hear what I'm saying should listen and understand. Hey, what good is salt if it's not salty? Really? It's like Coke without carbonation. You ever get a flat Coke? Kind of gross. It's like an espresso without caffeine. What's with that?

I love like a triple espresso decaf. Get out. Really? It's like having a car without an engine. Also known as a Prius.

Sorry. And you probably have a Prius with a God Is My Co-Pilot sticker on their back, right? No, that's not true. Because no Prius owner would ever have God Is My Co-Pilot sticker. They would have a Co-Exist sticker. Am I right?

Right? And I know because I've seen them. I've gotten behind them on the freeway. They always drive slow. That's because the wheels on a Prius are this big. And I have a sneaking suspicion that cats drive Priuses. I'm just.

They're all interconnected somehow. So when Jesus says you are the salt, what good is unsalty salt? The point he's making is what good is a half-hearted Christian? What good is a deluded believer? What good is a decaf disciple?

Right? What good is it? Well, the answer is not good for much. So what does salt do? Well, we have to understand in this culture, just like we misunderstand the cross, we misunderstand salt. Salt was kind of a big deal in the first century. In fact, it was so important and valuable that sometimes they would pay Roman soldiers in salt. Hence the expression. He's not worth the salt.

Valuable commodity. Also salt obviously has an impact. A little bit of salt goes a long way.

You know, with a meal. Put a little salt on it. Or hey, if you have watermelon. I love watermelon. A little bit of salt takes it to another place. Doesn't it? Works in cantaloupe too. I like it in cantaloupe. Also an oatmeal. Just a little bit.

Don't overdo it or you'll wreck it for sure. So what is Jesus saying? He's saying number one, you're valuable.

And number two, your life can make a difference. So when he says you're the salt, he's saying you have value and you can make a difference. Another thing that salt does is it stops the rotting process.

Back in the first century without refrigeration, the way they would preserve meat was by rubbing salt in it. And in the same way we sort of stop the spread of evil. A Christian may speak up in a classroom or speak up in an office or speak up in a neighborhood or speak up in our culture when something is wrong and speak up for what is right.

But not only do we stop the spread of evil, we're not just there to stop bad things. We're there to speak up for the most important thing, Jesus Christ, because salt stimulates thirst. Now of course movie theaters know this well. They salt that popcorn. So you'll come back and buy a Coke that costs $100. And it's in a trash can.

So why does everything have to be so big and so expensive? But you know you get thirsty and I think the greatest compliment that can be paid to a Christian is when a non-believer says, what is it about you? I admire you.

I want to know what makes you tick. Ah, you've done your job, Christian. You've done your job, disciple, because you've created thirst in another. In just a moment, Pastor Greg points out how this subject of discipleship intersects with his recent movie on the life of Steve McQueen.

That's coming up in a moment. So many listeners have commented on the help they receive from Pastor Greg's daily messages. God's word ministers to them.

And it often gets them through some of their darkest hours. Hi, Pastor Greg. I'm calling to thank you for your ministry. Almost two years ago, my teenage son passed away in a drowning accident. After that, a friend gave me one of your books, Hope for Hurting Hearts, which really helped. Knowing that you lost your son, Christopher, and how you dealt with that has been a huge help to my husband and me.

We've been listening to your messages ever since. Your hard work in giving us the gospel has been such a blessing. If I'm not reading one of your books, I'm reading the New Beginners Bible, which I have read front to back a few times now.

Learning as much as I possibly can about Jesus, where my son is, and where we're all going to go is comforting. Thank you, Pastor Greg, for all you do. If you've had your life changed because of Harvest Ministries, would you let Pastor Greg know? Just drop him an email, Greg at Harvest.org. Again, that's Greg at Harvest.org. Well, Pastor Greg is presenting a message from his series called Discipleship, The Road Less Taken.

And you can get an instant replay of today's program at Harvest.org. As you all know, this film about the life of Steve McQueen, and some have asked, what is your deal with Steve McQueen? Okay, it's not my deal with Steve McQueen.

It's a story of a transformation of a life that was like a modern-day Solomon. He had everything this world offers. Steve McQueen in his day was the number one movie star in the world. He had incredible wealth. He had women throwing themselves at him, and he was a willing recipient, I might add. He had the coolest cars, motorcycles. He bought an airplane hangar to just store his cool stuff.

It was like the ultimate man cave. He lived the dream and saw the emptiness of it and walked away from Hollywood at the peak of his fame and moved to this little town called Santa Paula, California. It's like small town USA because it reminded him of the town he grew up in as a young boy, Slater, Missouri. And the reason he moved there also was because Santa Paula was the antique plane capital of the world, and Steve bought a Stearman biplane, a very old plane, because he wanted to learn to fly. He didn't know it, but he was setting himself up for what God had for him because it was only one guy qualified to teach people to fly in this Stearman biplane, and it was a guy named Sammy Mason that was a totally committed disciple of Jesus Christ. But here's how Sammy reached Steve McQueen, not by fawning over him. In fact, the cool thing is Steve calls, says, I want to learn how to fly, and Sammy answers and says, I'm not taking on new clients right now, new students. And Steve says, well, this is Steve McQueen. And he says, I don't care.

I'm not taking on new students right now. Steve couldn't believe it. Whenever he said who he was, everyone wanted to help him. So he called back, I'm Steve McQueen. I'm a movie star. I want you to teach me how to fly. I don't care, he says.

I'm not taking on new students. So later that day, Sammy says to his son, Pete, yeah, some guy called me. An actor, Steve McQueen, wants to learn how to fly. His son's like, Dad, that's Steve McQueen. We watch his movie, The Great Escape, all the time. Oh, whatever.

Okay, I'll take him on. That was Sammy. So they spent hours in the cockpit. And Steve saw something in Sammy that impressed him. And Sammy was a man's man. He was a regular kind of guy. He was a salt of the earth kind of guy.

And the best use of that phrase. And he wasn't ashamed to talk about his faith. And Steve said, Sammy, I see like you have a peace, and I want this peace.

What is it? And Sammy said, well, Steve, it's my relationship with Jesus Christ. And then Steve said, well, you let me come to church with you. So Steve actually asked if he could go to church with Sammy. He ended up in church. He heard Pastor Leonard DeWitt speak, who's still alive.

And I've talked with Leonard, an amazing guy. And Steve came to faith. But you see, it was someone living the life and stimulating a thirst in someone else for Jesus Christ.

Are you doing that right now? One last point. A disciple will bring forth spiritual fruit. A disciple will bring forth spiritual fruit. Now, this is not here in Luke 14. This is in John 15, where Jesus says in John 15, 8, by this is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit. So shall you be my disciples. If you are really a disciple of Jesus, you'll have fruit in your life.

You say, but what does that mean, fruit in my life? It means results. It means evidence. Another way of putting it, if you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? By evidence, I don't mean Bibles laying around or Christian bumper stickers or things like that. I mean evidence, where they would talk to people you know, look at your lifestyle and say, I can see the evidence in their life.

And one of the first things we do as a Christian is we bring forth what the Bible calls fruit in keeping with repentance, you see. So your old buddy say, hey man, let's go out and get a drink after work. I don't do that anymore. What? You don't do that anymore? Yeah, I don't drink anymore. Okay, I found this poor incitement.

I don't look at that stuff anymore. Well, what's wrong with you? Well, it's not what's wrong with me.

It's what's right with me. Christ has come into my life. See, they know you now by the fruit of your repentance.

You've stopped doing some wicked things. Now you are doing in their place godly things and that intrigues them and also perplexes them but you should be known by your repentance. That's one way to bring forth fruit. Giving praise and thanks to God is a way of bearing fruit because we're told by him let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of your lips. So earlier in worship when we sang the praises of the Lord, that was bringing forth fruit. When we gave in the offering, that was bringing forth fruit.

Those are tangible results. One other thing, I could go on and on about this one but one other thing is a change in your conduct and character is spiritual fruit. A change in your conduct and character. Galatians 5 22 says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Can people see the fruit in your life?

Let's review and conclude. Number one, a disciple of Jesus Christ loves God more than anyone or anything else. Number two, a disciple of Jesus Christ takes up his cross daily and follows him. Thirdly, the disciple of Jesus has turned the title deed or the pink slip of their life over to him. Fourthly, a disciple impacts our culture. And fifth and lastly, a disciple brings forth spiritual fruit. Okay, let's pull out the word disciple and insert your name in its place.

Greg loves Jesus more than anyone or anything else. How does that fit? Depends. I try to. I want to. Do I always measure up to that? Of course I don't.

But that's something I should aspire to, isn't it? How about this? Kathy takes up the cross daily and follows Christ. Josh impacts his culture. Mary brings forth spiritual fruit.

Put your name in those places. And do you do that? And you say, well, no, I don't know if anyone can do that. Who can even live up to these standards? Answer, you can, I can, and you must if you're going to be a disciple. You say, but I can't.

No. It's more like you won't. Don't you remember when your teacher used to tell you there's a difference between can't and won't? You can, you just won't. Don't say you can't because you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

Okay, that's what the Bible says. This is not a can I do it issue. This is a will I do it issue. Will I do it?

Will I make that decision today and then make that decision again tonight and tomorrow morning, then in the early afternoon, then at lunchtime, then after, then into the evening, then into the next day? Remember, being a disciple is taking up the cross daily and follow Christ. You don't do it once a year or once a month. You do it every day and really in effect multiple times throughout the day.

That's what we are to do, take up the cross. Listen, and when we bring forth spiritual fruit, it doesn't grow overnight, right? You don't go in your backyard and pull up a chair in front of your peach tree and just look. I mean, you can do that, but you won't see anything. But if you set up a camera and did time lapse photography over a period of a month, oh, you'd see dramatic growth.

But you look at it every day, you may not see any growth, but it's growing. So this takes time, but we just need to start by saying I wanna take up the cross daily and do it because I wanna find the life God has for me. See, living in this in-between spot is the miserable place.

Living in this sweet spot of commitment is where the life is. Listen to what Paul said. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet it's not I, but Christ that lives in me who loved me and gave himself for me. Did you notice what Paul said? I'm crucified in Christ. Death, cross, cross bearing. Nevertheless, Paul says, I live.

See, he understood this. That's where the life is. As I lose my life, which means give it to God, I find my life, I find my purpose and meaning in life by putting God first. As I quoted earlier, becoming a Christian costs you nothing. It's a gift, but being a disciple costs everything.

Yeah, being a Christian costs you nothing. Listen, God has an awesome gift for you today. It's called the gift of eternal life. I love how the Bible calls it the unspeakable gift. I like that word because it's effectively saying there's no word to describe it, it's so incredible. It's just unspeakable.

Why is it unspeakable? Because it's the only gift that becomes more valuable with the passing of time. It's not that the gift itself becomes more valuable, but I think our understanding of it does. Because we see the depth and the width and the greatness of it. And then as we get closer to the end of life on earth, that's where we see the full power of the gift because it means we have the hope of heaven.

And I ask in closing, do you have that hope right now that when you die, you'll go to heaven? God offers you a gift. You say, well, how do I receive a gift? Well, how do you receive any gift? You reach out and you say thank you and you open it. So God offers you the gift of eternal life.

And you say, Lord, I receive that gift. You have to admit you're a sinner, turn from your sin, and ask Jesus to come inside. And I would like to pray and give you an opportunity to do that. Father, now speak to any that have joined us wherever they are. If they don't know you yet, help them to come to you and believe in you and receive the forgiveness of all of their sin and the hope of heaven. In Jesus' name, I pray.

Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer about coming to the Lord to receive that gift of eternal life. And if you'd like to do that, Pastor Greg will help you in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. But if you missed any part of today's study, you can get a replay online at harvest.org. Just look for the message titled, What is a Disciple?

Again, go to harvest.org. And then we're so excited to make available a brand new book from popular news anchor Shannon Bream. You may see her on Fox News at night.

She's also the chief legal correspondent for the network. And Pastor Greg is talking with Shannon about her new book, The Women of the Bible Speak. Hey, Shannon, in your book, you write about the women that interacted with Jesus Christ. And of course, the woman caught in the act of adultery, the woman at the well. What would you say to a woman who has a past that she's ashamed of?

What hope can she find from the stories of these women you write about in your book? I hope that chapter, if she picks up the book, will be the first one she turns to because Jesus went to women who were considered outcasts or undesirable, who were on the fringes of society, who were accused very publicly of sin. And he didn't shy away from them or say, clean up your act and then you can hang out with me. I mean, he broke all kinds of norms and going to them. He showed up when that woman was about to be stoned for adultery and he just started to ask simple questions about the religious leaders who were so pious and ready to take her out saying, you know, who among you is without sin? Let him cast the first stone. And then we see his interaction with her and it wasn't that he said to her, what a terrible thing you've done.

You must, you know, go banish yourself from society. He forgave her, he had compassion on her. He did tell her to go and sin no more. So he didn't write off that part of the equation, but he treated her with such compassion.

The woman at the well, the Samaritan and Jewish people, were not friendly, to say the least. And the fact that he went into Samaria, he went to that well knowing he would see her. She's there in the heat of the day without the rest of the women because she was shamed.

And she was shameful with many relationships and husbands and broken relationships that she'd had. So not only does he go and speak and interact with a Samaritan woman, he has compassion on her. He identifies himself as the Messiah to her. Now she has such a transformed life.

Think about all the people that she then goes back to who have known her as this woman who has had shame and has had circumstances that are not enviable in her life, but to see how she has changed incredibly in a moment by her interaction with this man who was the Messiah. So he went to people who were in pain and that were unacceptable and weren't cleaned up. And that's what he wants from us.

We can't get our act together without him. So we shouldn't say, let me straighten out all the messes I've made, then go to Christ. He says, come bring them with you to me and let me help you put your life back together. And I love that about his interactions with these women in the New Testament. Well, that's well-known news anchor Shannon Bream talking about her brand new book, The Women of the Bible Speak. The subtitle is The Wisdom of 16 Women and Their Lessons for Today.

And I'm thinking about the holiday this weekend. There's got to be a woman in your life that's going to benefit from this book. It is so beautiful.

It is hardcover, and the artwork and the graphics are so lovely. I think every woman would be absolutely delighted to receive this. And even the women in your life that may not be mothers or grandmothers, I think really would benefit from this at this time because it speaks to ordinary women, just like all of us, all the ladies out there that are listening.

We need to see how Jesus and how God can take ordinary women and do extraordinary things through them. Thank you so much, Shannon. Thank you all for having me.

It's a blessing. And we'd like to send a copy of this new book your way to say thank you for your partnership and bringing Pastor Greg's studies each day. It's only through listener support that that's possible. So send your donation today and ask for the new book, The Women of the Bible Speak. You can write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime around the clock, seven days a week. Again, 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to harvest.org. Well, Pastor Greg, a moment ago you pointed out the importance of coming to the Lord for eternal life, asking Jesus to forgive our sins. Could you help those who want to do that very thing right now? Yeah, you know the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ stands at the door of our life and he knocks. And if any man will hear his voice and open the door, he will come in. Maybe as you've heard me speak today, well, you've heard another voice speaking to you.

It's the voice of God. And you realize you need Christ in your life. You need your sin forgiven. You want the assurance that you will go to heaven when you die.

Well, here's what you need to do. You need to pray. And I would like to lead you in a prayer right now where you will be saying to Jesus, Lord, come into my life. I choose to follow you.

So let's pray. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I thank you for dying on the cross for my sin. I turn from that sin now and I put my faith in you. Be my Lord, my Savior, and my God, and my friend. I choose to follow you, Jesus, from this moment forward.

Thank you for loving me and calling me and accepting me. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Listen, if you just prayed that prayer, I want you to know on the authority of Scripture that Christ himself has come into your life. The Bible says these things we write to you that believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. If you just prayed that prayer in a minute, you can know today you have eternal life.

And may I be the first to say to you, welcome to the family of God. And we want to help you grow as a believer, so let us send you our New Believers Growth Packet. We'll send it free of charge if you prayed with Pastor Greg today. Just write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California. 92514. Or call us any time, night or day, at 1-800-821-3300.

Again, 1-800-821-3300. Or you can request it online at harvest.org by clicking Know God. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here, encouraging you to join us this weekend for what we call Harvest at Home. It's worship, it's a message from the Word of God.

You can watch it with your family, in your front room, or you can watch it on the go, on your tablet, on your phone, or your computer. Take it with you, take the Word of God with you, and join us for Harvest at Home at harvest.org. Well, next time, we'll see discipleship is a giver-receiver relationship. Pastor Greg says we should either be being discipled or we should be discipling someone else. More good insight coming your way next time on A New Beginning. This is the day, the day when life begins. Thanks for listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for daily devotions and learn how to become a Harvest Partner at harvest.org.