The Devotion of Discipleship - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, September 13th. Sometimes Christians can have hesitations about their walk, but the devoted disciples should develop an attitude that says yes, regardless of what is required. Now, when we talk about discipleship, my friend, we talk about devotion to Jesus Christ. And that is the theme of this particular message, and that is the devotion of discipleship. Discipleship demands something from us. God is always giving to us, but he's also demanding something from us. And I believe in this passage is a clear delineation of what that price, what that cost, what that devotion to him demands in this area of discipleship. Now, let's see what he says. He says, beginning in this 26th verse, If any man come to me, whoever he may be, teenager, teenage girl, boy, adult, if anyone come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters in his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Now watch this three times. Here's Jesus. Three times he says, You can't be my disciple. Secondly, you can't be my disciple.

Thirdly, you can't be my disciple. He did not want to leave anybody in question as to the devotion which he demanded for discipleship. Now, devotion speaks of loyalty. It speaks of love. It speaks of enthusiasm and zeal in our performance for God. Devotion says something about the innermost being of a man in a woman's heart. Devotion says something about their allegiance and loyalty and love to Jesus Christ. It speaks of something of the giving of themselves with enthusiasm and zeal and ardor and force toward him.

Enthusiasm. Yes, because you see, devotion knows nothing of a passive attitude toward Jesus. Their discipleship. He said, Follow me and I will make you to become fishers of men. You'll be my disciples. So that discipleship demands devotion to Jesus. Now, I think there are four things he's saying here. The first one is this discipleship demands a devotion whereby our love and loyalty for Jesus will exceed our love and loyalty for all of us.

That's what he's saying. First of all, discipleship demands a devotion to him, a love and loyalty and allegiance and enthusiasm and zeal for him and his work that will exceed our love and loyalty for all of us. Now, any love for any thing or anybody that interferes to any degree with my being obedient to what I know is true is a rival to God. He says there's to be no rivalry, that our devotion to Jesus Christ is to be to the point that when there comes the point of making a decision between obeying God and loving him and being obedient to his word, there can be absolutely no question about that in the life of the believer. Devotion to him means I follow him whatever the price and whoever may not understand. You see, that's difficult for us today because we think, well, the Christian ought to be soft and sweet and understanding.

And that is true to some degree. But you see, no rivalry with Jesus. Now, notice I didn't say no rivalry with an institution or an idea or philosophy. He said, follow me, the person of Jesus Christ. And I simply ask you this morning, is your life confused?

Is there conflict in your life? Because you know that God is saying, this is what I want in your life and somebody else is saying, why don't you do this? Why don't you do that? Why don't you do the other?

I think this is best. Are you influenced by the crowd? A small group? Are you influenced by someone on your job, somebody in your school, somebody in your home that you know? What they're saying to you is rivalry.

It creates friction and tension in your heart. And as a fellow says, I know what I ought to do, but, but what do I consider him? You have rivalry in your heart.

The Lord Jesus Christ is battling in your heart for your allegiance and loyalty. And you are trying to share it with someone else. Now, listen, if you are going to be what you are on the mandate to become, you lose some friends.

You can bet your life on that. You lose some friends. But what I discovered, those whom I have lost weren't really my friends.

Because the true friend ought to be building me up, not tearing me down. And if my devotion and obedience to Jesus Christ means that I lose friends, I must lose whatever is necessary because to be built up by him is far more than to have the praise and the approval of others. And I want to ask you, my friend, who is it in your life today that is a rival with your allegiance and devotion to Jesus Christ? Devotion to him demands no rivalry within our heart.

Second thing I want you to notice is this. Look in verse 27. Whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. What is he saying?

The second thing he's saying is this. The discipleship demands a devotion whereby we are willing to suffer willingly for Jesus sake. It is a devotion to him whereby we are willing to suffer for his sake, what men say, what they do, what they attempt to do. We are willing to suffer without complaint, without grudge, without defense and without bitterness. You see, lots of people can serve the Lord and then they get all upset when the world attacks or when the devil attacks in some way.

But you see, discipleship means that we have come to the place we have been nailed to the cross. And brother, you can't kill a man who's dead. You can't hurt a man who's dead. You can't take from a man who's given it all away to begin with.

You cannot steal from a man who has nothing. And why did he use the cross? Because the cross meant death, suffering and shame for the glory of God. And discipleship, we said, means that a person has accepted Jesus Christ as Savior. That's glorious. Yield it to him as Lord. That's wonderful.

And who is available? For the Lord Jesus Christ to reproduce his life through us in the life of someone else. That may mean you're going to suffer mockery, all kinds of persecution, whatever it may be. But he says, ye cannot be my disciple unless you are willing to freely, without bitterness and begrudging, suffer for Jesus' sake. And my friend and I believe if we could get a hold of that verse in our heart, there'd be a lot less telephone calls to the pastor.

Oh, do you know what so-and-so's done to me? Because of my witness for Jesus. Now, most of the time, that's not the problem. Most of the time, it's not the witness for Jesus.

It's some other problem. But my friend, when it is because you have been faithful to God, praise God. Every once in a while when somebody attacks me, I just say, thank you, Lord.

Praise God, praise God, hallelujah. Because if everybody loved me for everything, I'd know there's something wrong somewhere. Because he said, beware if the world speak well of you. If everybody speaks well of you, watch out. But friend, when you're obedient to God, you will stir up a strange animosity. Let me tell you what it is.

What it is, is this. Jesus in you is reflecting through you to them what they ought to be. And when they're committed to not being that, you irritate them. So that your obedience to him is an irritation to them. And your irritation to them invokes animosity and persecution towards you.

And that's what makes it difficult sometimes. But he says, unless you're willing to bear persecution without bitterness, without retaliation and without defense, he says, ye cannot be my disciple. My friend, discipleship demands something. It demands a devotion to him that knows no defense when attacked. But accepts it from God and says, thank you, Lord.

I must need what you're sending and I'm going to trust you to do in my life all that you desire. When Jesus went to that cross, he went in obedience to God the Father. He did not begrudge one drop of blood and his giving his life meant salvation for mankind.

Third thing I want you to notice. He says, whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Not only does discipleship demand the devotion of love beyond all of us. Not only does it demand a devotion of a willingness to suffer without complaint, but thirdly, that discipleship demands a devotion whereby we are willing to follow him, period. Because you see, to follow him means to obey him. Obey him how? Obey him in his words, obey him in his walk, obey him in his way of life, obey him in his will. That his walk, words, way and will may be an expression of our own life.

And that our life would be an expression of that in him. When he said follow me, he didn't say follow me up so far. He didn't say follow me until you get 30.

Follow me until you get 65. Follow me in this situation, but don't worry about it over here. To follow him means that everything he wants, we want. And even, listen, even when we don't want what he wants, just do it anyway.

Now how can you do that? Now my friend, if you give your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, then he becomes Lord in your life. Here's what you say. A true disciple must say this, Lord, there'll be some things I don't like. Lord, there'll be some places I don't want to go.

Lord, there'll be some things I don't want to say. But whether I want to or not, I'm going to do it because you said do it. Now my friend, I believe that a disciple must move to the point of devotion to Jesus Christ whereby, by his own will, he is locked into the will of God.

And I mean by locked in this. When you get yourself in a position of devotion and obedience and loyalty to him, whereby you can honestly say, Lord, above everything else in this world, I want to be obedient to your will. Put the pressure on me, God.

Just move me and squeeze me tight. Put me in the vice, but make me obedient regardless of my old fleshly nature. Now, dear brother, when you get to that point, you watch what he'll do. He'll squeeze the delights out of you when you rebel against him because you have committed yourself to that kind of discipleship. Follow him wherever that leads.

Fourth thing I want you to notice. He says in verse 33, having given the illustration of a man who started the bill, but had not counted the cost properly, and a man who was going to war who also had not counted the cost properly, he says in verse 33, likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Discipleship demands a devotion to Jesus Christ whereby we are willing to give everything to him without reservation. Now, people read that and they say, well, now I think I know what he meant, but what he meant by that was that we're just sort of willing to.

That's not what he said. Discipleship is not merely a subject. It is a way of life. It is a way of life that is to characterize our attitudes, our habits, our actions, everything about us. Discipleship demands our devotion to the point that we are willing to say, Lord, here is everything. I hold nothing in return.

Now, what does he mean by that? Well, we look around, we say, what is it in my life that I love the most? Give it to Jesus.

What are the things in my life? Give them to him. And what he's simply saying here is this, that if a man is going to be a true disciple, he's got to give it all away. Whatever God wants to give him back, that's fine.

But he must give it all up to him, his family, his possessions, his self-will, everything given to him. Lord, if obedience to you demands the furthest most part of the earth, I am willing to go. A few weeks before this church called me as pastor, I had a stack of letters about so high on my desk from pulpit committees all over this country.

I wanted to know that since I was in trouble, if they could consider me as their pastor. I got on my knees and I said, now, Lord, you've got to give me some wisdom about something in a hurry. And here's what I did.

I simply, after I got up off my knees one day, I shoved every one of those letters in the trash can. I said, Dear God, if they throw me out on my head, I'm going to be obedient to God, whatever the consequences may be. And I got the most beautiful, perfect peace in all of my heart. Now, listen, it is amazing how the devil will let you hold to one single thread that you can wiggle your way back across the river in case you don't make it.

He'll do anything to keep one thread of attachment in your life. I believe when the people of God burn all of their bridges and they say, Lord, regardless of the consequences, here is my life. My friend, something is going to happen to your testimony and you witness the fire of God is going to begin to burn bright in your life. And this whole world is going to begin to look and see and feel the heat of the people of God moving in their lives and influencing them because their devotion to Jesus knows no limitation. You see, one torch of a man can light the torch in hundreds and millions of people's lives. But there's got to be devotion. And you see, a disciple is a man whose devotion to Jesus Christ knows no limitation.

Now, listen, got two choices. Verse 34, salt, use it every day, probably. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its savor or its seasoning power, wherewith shall it be salt? Now, somebody says, well, but salt can't do that. The salt that he was referring to was the salt of that day which had many, many impurities in it. And sodium chloride, which is the salt, would oftentimes be bleached out.

And what they had left was simply the impurities that didn't season anything. You know what he's saying? Now watch this, dear brother, whoever you are, whatever you're thinking. He is saying to you and to me, if we are not willing to pay the price in our devotion and loyalty and allegiance to Jesus Christ, if we are not willing to become New Testament disciples, then we choose to become useless to God. Now watch this. You're already saved, and if you're unavailable for him to have his way in your life, then you can't be used.

So what do you have? Now, my friend, I think I will do anything under God's heaven if I could get this simple truth in your heart. Listen carefully. Far too long, we have been satisfied. You see, here's what we've done. We've brought God's standard down, down, down, down, down, to about where we think we can live comfortably. And if we can just go to church and love the church and love the Lord a little bit, read the Bible and pray and give a little bit, if we've brought it down to the point that if we can do that, maybe give to missions and a few other things, if we can do that, we have so seared our conscience that we are no longer pricked about his standard.

We've brought it down to where it is comfortable to us, thereby we can be what we've always been and never get upset. And my friend, listen, whatever it takes before God, don't let yourself be trapped by the circumstances of this age that is a lukewarm age for God. He wants to do something that is astronomically, absolutely unbelievable among his people. But he cannot do that in the life of the man who's saved and satisfied, who is unavailable and therefore useless before God. Now listen, you say, well, I'm a son of a school teacher, I'm this, I'm that, I'm the other.

That's not what he said. He said, we are to be disciples. Now listen, some of you are 60, 65 years of age. I am just as intent to see God do that in your life as I am the life of a man who's 40.

And some of you are 16, and it's just as important for it to happen in your life as the man who's 60. If you're unavailable for him to make you a disciple, then you, when it comes to bearing fruit that is lasting and fruitful and pleasing to God, if you're not available for him to make you a disciple, you are useless before God. And what I'm asking you is this, if God's standard and mandate for the believer is discipleship, saved, Lord of your life, and he is continuously reproducing his life through your life day by day, if that is his demand upon your life, my friend, can you be satisfied being less?

I tell you, no, you cannot be satisfied. And the world is hungering and thirsting and crying and weeping and bleeding and dying and hoping and listening for somebody to give them some kind of help to say that he is the way. They not only need to hear it from the lips, they need to see it in the life. And when God's people become living tortures of discipleship, where they work and where they go to school and where they live, this whole world is going to shake its head to say, God must be alive. He must be real. And Jesus Christ must be the son of God.

But there is a price. And what I'm asking you this morning from God's standard, how much does your devotion weigh in the light of God? Does it weigh enough to make you a New Testament disciple? Thank you for listening to the Devotion 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.