The Devotion of Discipleship - Part 1

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, September 12th. As Christians, our devotion shouldn't be to organizations or institutions, but to Jesus Christ Himself. Part two of the Call to Be a Disciple series helps you change how you respond to God and relate to others. Would you turn please to Luke chapter 14, and we'll begin with verse 25 and read through the end of that chapter. And I hope before we finish discipleship that you will have memorized that passage of scripture in Luke chapter 14.

Luke Chapter 14, beginning in verse 26, he says, If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brother and sisters. Yea, in his own life also he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

For which of you intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it. Lest happily, after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that behold it began to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first and consulteth, whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an embassage and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Salt is good, but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?

It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill, but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. We defined a disciple as one who has accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour, yielded to Jesus Christ as Lord, and one who is available to Jesus that he might reproduce his life through us in the life of someone else. That discipleship is not optional in the life of the believer, therefore it is not optional in the life of the church. Discipleship, that is, saved, yielded to him as Lord, it is, we are on the mandate to be vessels through whom the Lord Jesus Christ can continuously be discipling other people through us. That is the mission and the ministry of the church, and the only way you and I can accept and believe and know in our hearts that God is going to continue his blessing upon us is that when we discover spiritual truth we obey what we know.

And the purpose of this series of messages is simply this, and that is that you and I would get that truth so deep into our soul we can no longer see ourselves as we have seen ourselves before. What we need in Christendom today is a change of image. Now listen, you see the majority of the church members of the world today see themselves as members of institutions of organizations that are in retreat before the world. They see the world encroaching into the church, diminishing the effectiveness of the church, bringing the church to a point of absolute ineffectiveness in its community with its influence and testimony. So they see themselves in retreat, they're drawing in, they're giving less money, they're going less, they're doing less, they're talking less about God and more about survival of the church. And so their image is that they're in retreat and that God is not who he used to be and the Bible is now antiquated and therefore it is a time to diminish and retreat and let the devil and the world take its course and who knows what's going to happen.

My friend, that's the kind of image that will destroy you. And I believe that those apostles and those disciples in the early days of our Lord could have had the same image. They could have said, well, there are only 12 of us, there are only 500 of us, surely we've been annoyed with the Spirit of God, but look at Rome, look at the Sadducees, look at the Pharisees, look at the religious organization, we don't have a ghost of a chance. We've been saved, we know that he rose from the dead, why don't we just relax, go back to fishing and share our faith with those who happen to drop by or who happen to want to go fishing with us, but let's don't upset the status quo, let's don't rock any boats, let's just relax and be believers in Jesus Christ and that kind of attitude would have been disastrous to the church of Jesus Christ. But rather that group of Spirit-filled believers said, we are going to march, whatever it cost us, we are going to do what he said, we are going to disciple the world if it cost us our blood to do it. I believe the church today needs a brand new image. There needs to be a new image in the pulpit, there needs to be a new image in the pew, and a new image in the Sunday school class, and a new image among deacons, there needs to be a new image in the whole church of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we, under command and mandate of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are to disciple and change and influence our society whatever the cost may be. Far too long men have stood in the pulpit and they've seen themselves as men please us, and so what happens? Hundreds of years have gone by, the Bible has been taught, but few disciples have been made. Men have sat in the pews and listened to hundreds and millions of sermons.

They can read books on any theological question you want to bring up, but how many disciples do we have? There is something deeply and innately wrong in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I believe that which is wrong needs to be righted, can be righted, and I believe this is the way to get it done. And that is that the people of God get an image change. We are not in retreat, brother, we are on the attack than according to the book of Revelation, we have already triumphed, amen?

We have already triumphed, and what we are doing is as we triumph in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, we believe that God is going to conquer, Satan has been defeated, and we are here to disciple every single person through whom the Lord Jesus Christ through us can make like him. Now we need a change of image, and I want to say to you, whoever you are and whatever your relationship and whatever your position in this church, you need to change your image, dear friend, and see yourself first of all as a disciple of Jesus Christ, and if you cannot, if you cannot see yourself that way, you're going to get very uncomfortable, because you see the Word of God says it will prick, it will prod, it will move, it will stir, it will bring great conviction in your heart. And when you face the truth, if you really mean business, one of two things happens. God does something wonderful in your life, which is his will for every single one of us, or what happens is you begin the drift.

Once you face the truth and you say, no, I'm not going to pay that price, something begins to happen. You begin the drift off center, and before long, what happens in your life is exactly what he describes in the last two verses of Luke 14. 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, 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.

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, enthusiasm, and zeal for him and his work that will exceed our love and loyalty for all of us. Now, notice, did he really mean that if we are his disciples, we're supposed to hate our fathers, hate our mothers, hate our wives and our children? What did he mean by that?

No, he could not possibly have meant that because what did he say? He said, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you have love one toward another. He said, one of the indications of discipleship is a genuine love toward each other.

And that kind of love is the kind that is always seeking what is best for the other. Now, if that be true, and again, you'll remember he said that the man who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know what he said about murderers.

So it seems upon first reading that that here is a contradiction. He says we're not to kill. And then he says the man who hates his brother is equal to a murderer. And then he says, if you don't hate your brother, you cannot be my disciple. Now is that double talk? Is that some mistake in the Bible? Is that some contradiction?

No, it's not that at all. But what is he saying? That is to be his disciple, his follower. Before he is able to disciple someone else through you, there must be a degree and depth and intensity of devotion, love, loyalty toward him that our love for him will exceed greatly our love toward all others.

For you see, the Lord knew how many rivals we have in our life and our devotion to him. Now, if I should ask you this morning, do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, yes. Do you love him with all of your heart? Yes. Is there anybody you love more than him?

No. And yet we know deep in our heart that oftentimes that is not true. Now, what kind of rivalry do we have in our heart with the Lord Jesus Christ? Any love for anything 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 has 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. And so often someone will say, well, but here's what they want me to do.

Here's the influence of the crowd. And my friends, you have a rival in your life. You see, he says, follow me, that our love and intensity and loyalty and devotion to him is to be so intense, there just cannot be any question about who we're going to follow. We're going to be obedient to God regardless of the rivalry. Now, we can talk about it all we want to, but God is looking for people whose love for him knows no rivalry with anything or anybody. You see, when we get into the hardcore facts of living a Christian life, and that just can't be any question about it. 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 the fellow says, I know what I ought to do, but what I can say to 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'll lose some friends.

You can bet your life on that. You'll lose some friends. But what I've discovered, those whom I have lost weren't really my friends, because a 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. I 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. Now while I've been talking, you've been thinking about what it is. Somebody, some thing, some group, whatever it might be, but something that has created friction between you and Jesus Christ, something that will not let you have perfect peace and assurance that you're doing the right thing.

Whatever it is, give it up. You say, but wait a minute, listen. How could you be forgiven without him? You could not. How could you be blessed without him?

You could not. Nothing is worthy of rivaling our love and devotion to Jesus Christ. Some of you, you may be quoting someone you're going to marry, and God's already told you that's not it. You better give them up.

Some of you have made decisions influenced by groups, maybe where you work or whatever it might be, you better give them up. He says he'll not tolerate that because if you refuse, if you refuse knowing the truth now, and you know that, if you refuse giving him total loyalty and allegiance and love and obedience to him, knowing the truth, my friend, when we get to the last two verses, you're going to find out exactly what's going to happen in your life. The second thing I want you to notice is this. Look in verse 27. Whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. What is he saying?

The second thing he's saying is this. That discipleship demands a devotion whereby we are willing to suffer willingly for Jesus' sake. Discipleship demands the devotion whereby we are willing to suffer for Jesus' sake.

Now when we talk about the blessings of God, and they are numerous, innumerable they are, but when you begin to be a New Testament disciple, my friend, you watch it. Somebody will be after you. Somebody will attack you. Somebody will persecute you. Somebody will begin to say all manner of evil against you falsely, he says, for my sake, because the one thing the devil can't stand is a believer becoming a disciple, because suddenly that one has become the potential of a multiplier of disciples for Jesus Christ and the devil is going to attack.

Listen. He did not say whosoever doth not bear Christ's cross cannot be my disciple, but his own cross. Now what does that mean? There are people who say that the cross we are to bear means physical suffering or disturbance in the home or it means some physical illness or suffering or some disease we may have or some accident, all kinds of things we may bring upon ourselves.

That's not what that means. When he says whosoever doth not bear his cross, he's speaking of one thing only. All the way through the New Testament, the cross always indicates suffering. And he is not speaking of suffering as a result of things we bring upon ourselves by violation of natural laws or spiritual laws, but he's speaking of suffering that comes our way because of, listen, because of, directly because of, we have committed ourselves to be obedient to God. And my friend, if you obey God, you are going to suffer.

There's no question about that. You see, this is why Jesus had throngs and flocks of people following him. And as long as he fed them and demonstrated his power through miracles, I mean, he had a tremendous congregation. But once he brought up the subject of the cross, the scripture says they turned and walked with him no more because men want what God has to offer up to the point of genuine discipleship. And I'm sure that if I preached an easy message, and you know, just sort of don't get too excited, just talk about how good God is, how much he'll bless you, and let's forget this discipleship bit.

We have a lot more folks around here. But my friend, it is not the number that God is after. He's after men and women who mean business for him. And discipleship demands suffering. 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. 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.