The Detachment of Discipleship - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, September 18. When you were a kid, did your parents ever tell you that you needed an attitude adjustment? Turns out disciples of Jesus need that too.

Here's more on today's In Touch Podcast. Now when you examine the scriptures, it is interesting to notice that every single passage on discipleship with no exception demands the disciples detachment from something. Now by detachment, I simply mean what the dictionary means by detachment, that is a severing of a relationship, a parting, a disentanglement with something, the separation of something, disengaging yourself from something or someone. Detachment is found in every single passage where discipleship is mentioned. And we noticed in this very chapter here in the 23rd and 24th verse, and it's interesting also to notice that each time Jesus began to talk about detachment in discipleship, that his casualty list just skyrocketed.

I mean the dropout list was absolutely unbelievable. In the sixth chapter of John, when he began to talk about detachment from the world system, what happened? The scripture says so many of those who were following him left him that he finally turned to his apostles and said, are you going to leave me also? When the rich young ruler came to Jesus asking him for the way to eternal life, Jesus said to him, if you really want what you're asking, then you must be willing to detach yourself from the riches you have, give them to the poor and then come follow me. And the scripture says he was sorrowful and walked away still attached to those things that were separating him from the lordship of Jesus Christ. In 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 10, Paul referring to a disciple of our Lord said, for Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world and is departed at Thessalonica.

What was his problem? He was attached to the things of the world. He professed to be a disciple, but a disciple has to come to the point of commitment in his life whereby he is willing for God to sever relationships, for God to detach him from things that heretofore seem to be legitimate parts of his life. And once that begins to happen, you lose a lot of people because there are many who want what God has to offer, but are not willing to pay the price of true discipleship. Now, first of all, let's look at this matter of the world system for a moment, because this is the system in which you and I must live and the things from which we must detach ourselves.

Stay with me. According to the scripture, the world system is the society in which you and I live, a society that is anti-God. It is anti-Christ. It is materialistic.

It is secularistic. It deifies man and denies God's rightful place as Lord in life, in religion, in the economy, in politics, in the society of which we live, the social areas of life. Any way you look at it, what is happening? Satanic powers are controlling the system in which we live. Industry reeked with greed. Look at our financial crises and situations.

What has happened? Simply this, that the world has chosen the philosophy of a system that was born of the devil, which always leads to destruction and despair and want and eventually war. It's going to get worse and worse and worse and worse, because the godless system is a philosophy.

It is a way of life. And the church today is tolerated, not because the world says, well, there's some asset to this, but rather because they feel the repercussions are really putting the vice on the church would be of such consequence, it wouldn't be wise to do it. There are those today in government, there are those today around the world whose concept of the church of being an enemy of their desires and their plans is so evident. And so today the church finds itself living in a system that sometimes we make the mistake of believing that they are approving of what we're doing. Now listen, those denominations and those churches that according society are doing nothing but playing right into the hands of a philosophy, a world system that is anti-god.

Now, this is the kind of society we live in. Therefore, we are naturally going to be the object of the attachments of the world. The world wants to move into the church and make the church like the world. Jesus said, we're to be a peculiar people, a separated people. We are not to look like them, walk like them, act like them, talk like them, feel like them, or have a countenance like them. That does not mean we look down upon them. We look out to them in love, but we are not to become like them.

They are to be like us. He says, you to be like salt. He didn't say pour the salt into the church. He said the church is the salt poured out in its society. He didn't say shine the light in the church building. He said the believers in the church building are the light to shine out into the world of darkness. The system that surrounds us would seek to drown us, darken us, put out our light, and cut out our cutting edge.

Therefore, the believer has to ask the question, if I'm going to be a disciple, what is my relationship to the world about me? It is not going to change except for worse. It is not going to get better. Now because we live in a society like that, what is our society made up of? Of pride, of greed, of bitterness, of jealousy, of materialistic desire for things, a hunger, a thirst, a yearning for money, affluent security, all of these things.

Think of all the things that attach themselves, that are reaching out like tentacles, seeking to attach themselves to us. It is a system in which we live. Man is deified, God is denied, and man's eyes and heart and mind is turned to the material. And today the devil is reaping a great reward when God ought to be reaping it.

And that is with a system that is falling apart at the seams. God's people ought to say, all right, this is the time for the Lord to demonstrate what he can do in the lives of men and women who are trusting him and believing him and committed to him and faithful to him. And the devil on the other hand is saying, aha, this is my opportunity.

For when men get in need, men who are unbelievers suddenly turn. What can I do to get a little bit more? What can I do to bolster up our security?

What can I do to make more money? It is materialism, secularism. It is the desire for things and man's heart, mind, soul, and body begins to pursue the making of more money because here in he finds his security. My friend, the concept of security, materialistic security is a pinnacle of the world system.

Nowhere in the Bible do I find any idea that man is to lay up great treasures on earth, but rather what? He is to become dependent upon God. God is to be his security, not the banks, not Wall Street, not anything else, but holy God.

Now watch this. My friend, if you are going to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are going to have to let God pull you and strain you till he pulls the roots of some things out of your life and you're willing to say, God, I no longer want to be independent. I want to be totally and completely dependent upon you, period. Discipleship, that means to follow him without reservation, period. That's difficult for us because we live in the world system that has colored us, shaped us, molded us, made us, and friend, what God is looking for is a fellowship of people who are willing to shatter the mold, who are willing to break out and be what God wants them to be, whatever the price may be.

You see, discipleship means that I am willing to turn my back upon every attachment in my life and walk right off and leave it, separate myself from it, disentangle myself from it, detach myself from it, move away from it. And I will ask you this morning, what is it? Who is it in your life? What is that thing, that desire, that attitude in your life?

Something that has an attachment to you. You just know that it's there. And once you pull away, it is still there. And when you think you've just about gotten away, there it is. You somehow cannot escape the attachments of the world.

And here's the reason. Because you look about, you know, watch this, you look around you and you see what other people are doing. And then you see what God requires of you and you say, if I do that, what in the world are they going to think? Which says your gaze is in the wrong direction.

As long as you look like that, you're going to have a problem. When you're beginning to be willing to look up, then what you're saying is, God, I'm throwing everything, all of my dependents, all of my security, all of my future on you, praise God. If I sink, I sink.

If I swim, I swim. It'll be your responsibility. You are responsible for the consequences of my obedience. And my friend, you'll never be a free man until you're willing to do that. You'll never be free until you tell God, here I am, as obedient as I know how to be, the consequences are totally yours. Only then will you experience discipleship.

So he says, I cannot go because of that reason. Now, I want you to notice, if we can just analyze for a moment, the attitudes. I think the attitude of a disciple who's learned, who's learned what it means to live detached.

I think there is a, there's a full full attitude that is essential if we're going to do that. Now, if you'll notice, the first one said, Lord, I will follow thee whethere so ever thou goest. The first attitude is submission. Now, before you will be able to be a disciple and live detached from those things that are hindering you from becoming maximum for God, you must be willing to be submissive to God's will and purpose in your life, period. Second attitude is the attitude of separation. There's some things you will say, Lord, I submit to your will. He says, all right, take an about face and then walk, leave it behind you.

Don't look back, but separate yourself from that thing absolutely and completely and totally. You may say, but that's my security. He's got better security. That's my friend. He's got a better friend. You say, but, uh, but these are my plans. He's got better plans.

Submission to his will, separation from that thing or those things. And the third thing I want you to notice is there's going to be a struggle within that attitude. There's going to be a struggle because you see the first fellow said, no, I'm reporting for duty.

I'll go wherever you want me to go. And then suddenly the war started. The dusty road, his comforts long walks at night, easy chair, the comforts of the open door compared to the comforts of his warm house, nothing doing.

So he dropped out. My friend, I would never lead you to think that if you become a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, the true disciples that you're not going to have a struggle. You're going to have a struggle with those things that attach themselves to your life.

And even when you have severed some of them, the world will keep clawing at you, reaching for you, lunging for you, doing anything it can to pull you back into the mold, conform you to the system. And listen, we just quote that beautiful passage in Romans 12, let's see if it were just a nice platitude. I present my body, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is my reasonable service. He says, be not conformed to this world. And we read that and say, praise the Lord. We're not to be conformed. But now listen, we are conformed to the world because we allow the world's philosophic attachments to mold and shape and make us so that we are like it.

When everything Jesus taught was absolutely and completely opposite from the world system, the attitude of submission, the attitude of separation and the attitude of struggle, that is, you are willing to get in the battle with God and to pray and to ask him to separate you from anything and everything, any desire and every desire that will pull you back into the world's mold. Brother, when you go to work on Monday morning, you ought to walk in radiant as a Christian, a child of God, a true disciple, and something will happen. First of all, your life is going to cast a countenance that will absolutely penetrate and saturate that room. Number two, you're going to irritate and prod some of the people because of the holiness of your heart. Some people will love you and others will hate you. Some will understand you. Some will never understand you.

That's not our responsibility. That's his. But he says, we are to live in the struggle. The next thing I want you to notice is this, and that is in order to be a disciple, not only must I be submissive to him, but I must separate myself. Now watch this.

This will throw you. Not only must I walk away from those things, but listen dear brother, you can walk away from a lot of things and still be attached by long distance. When he said separation, he meant walk away. And then when he said surrender, he meant cut every time, every string, every attachment, every thread, every rope, every steel cable, cut it all. He says, walk away and leave it, give it to God and know that he will replace in your life what he's taken out. Now, if you're willing to do that, my friend, here's the choice. You're listening?

I'm going to close. Already God has showed you in your life this morning some things that have you. If you had to give them up, I'll tell you, it just bet take your life blood.

You just couldn't do it. Now listen, in the struggle for discipleship, one of two things happens. When you face it, like these men faced it and you're doing that today, you didn't come for that, but there's no choice and that's too late. When you face the demands of discipleship, one or two things happens.

If you miss everything else, don't miss this. When you face the price, face the cost, when you see the demands of detachment from the world system, that you've got to live in it, but somehow your heart's got to be above it. That is your heart desires the things that are above. While you must make a living and you must have money and you must live in a home and you must drive an automobile, these are the things that God provides for you in order for you to obey him, serve him, love him, focus your attention upon him and give yourself totally to him. See, I'm not a preacher, it has nothing to do with preachers.

It's just disciples. Now listen, if in your attempt to be detached from the world, you come to the place where you say, Lord, here's my decision. One of two things will happen. If you are willing for him to uproot, pull out, tear down, destroy, remove from your life all of those things that would hinder you in your walk with him, he will launch you into a place of service, my friend, that will make you a blessing to untold numbers of people. If in your evaluation of what that detachment will require of you, you say no, there is only one other alternative.

He will shelve you and let you spend the rest of your life satisfying yourself miserably. That's the only choice of discipleship and that is the surrender and submission and separation and struggle to service or the submission and separation and struggle and failure to be shelved. Discipleship demands detachment and detachment means, God, I walk away, separate myself and surrender to you every single thing in my life, oh dear God, that would hinder my walk, my work, my words and my service to you. Your choice this morning is to be catapulted into a life of service and fruition and productivity to God or to be shelved and to live a life that is miserably, uncomfortably empty. Lord Jesus, you've made it so simple and so plain and so clear and we've covered it up with so much. I want to ask you this morning, speak to our hearts. First of all, if there's somebody here who's unsaved, to help that person realize there's just no hope, it's just a useless, futile, empty void.

There's just nothing to try to live without you. Today they can be saved, they can be forgiven, cleansed and take the first step forward in discipleship. Speak to that heart. Then Lord, I want to ask you for those of us, all the rest of us dear Lord, oh God, just scrutinize our lives this morning. Just put your finger on every single thing in our life that is a worldly attachment.

And then dear God, please dear Father, just so overwhelm us with your love and your wisdom and your strength and your courage that we would just not do anything other than say, Lord, take it. Pull it out by the roots. Detach it. Separate me from it. I surrender it.

Give it up. Disentanglement from this time forward. Thank you dear Father for loving us, being patient and good and kind to us, teaching us the truth. Now Father, please dear God, I beg of you with all of my heart, don't let us be disobedient, but so initiate a desire within our heart that there'd be some sober, sober, intimate, honest and personal evaluation that will lead not to the shelf, but to a vibrant, joyful, happy service to God. For we ask it in his wonderful, wonderful name, the name of Jesus. Thank you for listening to The Detachment of Discipleship. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.