Six Things Jesus Calls His Disciples To – Part 7

We come now to the fifth of the six hallmarks of a disciple of Jesus. Jesus says this in Matthew 10:38-39,  “And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it.” The fifth marking or hallmark of a disciple is that a disciple gives up his own life.

Selfishness is so prevalent in our world today. It seems rare out in the streets to see simple courtesy. If you do not believe that than you must not be driving a car in traffic. Everybody seems so in a hurry and if you get in their way by obeying the speed limit people will try and run you over and usually when they pass you some form of aggression is passed to you at least in the means of a dirty look or nasty gesture. In other words, “Get out of my way. I am more important than your desire to follow the law.”  The world has become a “me, me, me” world. Psychology speaks so much of self-esteem and tells us “we” are important.

Jesus preached a different philosophy. His, unlike the world’s, speaks of complete self-denial. Even to the point of death. No one denies that to Jesus love is an imperative. Jesus however steps up the meaning of love quite a bit. He says this in John 15:12-13, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.”

Jesus did what He expects us to do. Die for others. Jesus wants us to give up our wants, our desires, and even our needs in an effort to do what He has already done at the cross. We are to “take up our cross and follow Him.” Taking up our cross does not speak of the difficulties of everyday life or even the tragedies that happen in our lives. Taking up our cross means we sacrifice everything we have, including our lives to follow Him. This means we drop our pride and apologize even when we don’t feel like it. It means we share the blessings God has given us in this life such as our money, our time, and our talents. It means we forgive others. It means we forgive each other no matter what the crime. Period. It means our forgiveness has no limit. If our brother keeps doing the same thing over and over we forgive and we love him by helping him up every time he falls. This is what Christ has done for us.

This is a hard teaching and probably few of us ever attain the completeness of really following Christ in this manner. But we must seek the power of God’s Holy Spirit on a daily basis to attain this quest of pure self-denial if we choose to follow Christ. The first disciples left everything behind to follow Jesus. We must do the same.

Six Things Jesus Calls His Disciples To – Part 6 Forsaking Family

Today we as we look at the next item of the six things Jesus calls us to as disciples we come to a fascinating scripture and one that some really just don’t quite understand. The fourth hallmark of discipleship is that a disciple forsakes his family. On the surface this just doesn’t seem right to us and one might even be tempted to suggest this contradicts scripture. 1 Timothy 5:8 instructs us about family saying, “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Obviously taking care of our family is important and they should be our first priority in taking care of and in sharing the Gospel.

This is what Jesus says about His disciples in Matthew 10:34-37, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Let us break this down and find out what this means.

First of Jesus says he did not come to “bring peace to the earth.” Jesus is not contradicting the idea that the Gospel is a gospel of peace, it is for those who have decided to accept His it. Romans 5:1 tells us, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Thanks be to God, through Christ our sin can no longer keep us at war with God’s holiness. The blood of Christ has covered our sin once and for all time when Jesus shed it for us at Calvary. And along with this good news is the news that we have been set free from sin, worry, anger, and anything else that creates havoc within us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

But for those who refuse God’s offer of the Gospel, their sin puts them at war with God, for God is a Holy God and by nature is directly opposed to sin. What Jesus is saying here in Matthew 10:35-36, “For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household”  is that a disciple of Christ cannot help but be in conflict with those who reject His truth. Jesus is referring here to a quote from Micah 7:6, “for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.”

God does not like compromise and that is clear when we read the history of Israel in the OT. Jesus confirmed this in His time on earth by saying things such as "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." from Luke 9:62. What Jesus expects from us is a total commitment. This is modeled for us in His choosing of the original disciples who left everything behind to come follow Him. By using our families as an example Jesus is demonstrating how serious He expects our commitment to be.

So the bottom line here is that nothing should come between us and Jesus. If our friends are unbelievers we must forsake them to do what Jesus asks. If our jobs require us to deny Christ we will be required to leave and seek other employment. Though we are not commanded to divorce an unbelieving spouse, we cannot allow our spouse to draw us away from God. 1 Corinthians 7:12-16 Paul explains, “To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. Wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife?” At all times our efforts and our prayers must be directed toward leading those who are opposed to us and Jesus to a saving knowledge of Him.

The world is our enemy for it is an enemy of Christ. But never forget what Jesus commands us to do to our enemies in Matthew 5:44-45 “…love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.” Paul expands on this in Romans 12:18-21 saying, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

So to sum this up we must love everyone even when we are diametrically opposed to their way of life. But loving someone does not mean we agree nor does it mean we act as they do. A true disciple of Christ walks in the Spirit and seeks to be like Jesus. The world and even our unbelieving family members will try and keep us from following Christ’s commands thus they become our enemy. Romans 12:2 must become our way of life even when its causes division in our homes. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

This will not be easy and actually unless we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit it is too much. So keep your eyes on Jesus, stay in His Word daily, and pray without ceasing. God bless all of you.

Six Things Jesus Calls His Disciples To – Part 5

Today we continue on in a study on the hallmarks of a disciple of Jesus and look at the willingness of a true disciple to confess Jesus as Lord. If nothing else convicts me I think my commitment to sharing Jesus with others is too often neglected. The last teaching spoke about not fearing the world yet in so many ways our failure as witnesses come out of that fear. For most of us we have no fear of death because of our witness but our fears lie in our lack of willingness to be ridiculed or to lose friends because of our faith. We simply must stop that. Listen to the words of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 10:32-33, “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”

This is serious stuff. Let us take a look at what Jesus is saying. First of all note that he begins with the word “everyone” which instructs us that this verse is talking to me and it’s talking to you. One thing many people misunderstand is the relationship between the free gift of our salvation and the result of what happens when we receive that gift. No one believes more strongly than I that salvation is in no way put in place by one single act of self. The Bible is clear on this and Ephesians 2:8-9 is just one of many scriptures that explain it. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast.” But after we are saved the Bible is also clear that we are new creations and the Holy Spirit lives in us. While certainly most of us are not instantly made totally like Jesus, if salvation is real in our lives there will be change and growth and by the power of the Holy Spirit we will begin to become obedient to the commands of scripture. The blessings of being a Christian are found in a relationship of cause and effect. Verses such as 1 John 1:9 that say “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” My point is that the Christian life involves a lot of “if” we do this “then” God does that. I do not have time to develop this though deeper here but careful Bible study will teach you how all this works. We must be a participant in our sanctification.

Jesus says we must “confess” him before men. This means we not only say we believe Him to be our Lord and Savior but we also live out our lives before the world in a way that demonstrates we really have made Him Lord.

Following the principle of the “if then” conditional way of life for the Christian Jesus tells us directly that if we confess Him before men, then He will confess us before the Father. Jesus reiterates this by giving the opposite view of that. If we deny Christ before men then He will deny us before the Father. This is a warning about not only a direct denial but also a denial by silence. We are not supposed to sit in our little cubicle at work and privately live out our faith. No we must go out into the world and shine the light of Christ (See Matthew 5:14-16).

Obviously we fail so often in our witness. God knows our weaknesses and though we fail often does not necessarily mean we are not His but the point here is to be constantly watching and testing our faith so we can be sure we are not drifting. We need to encourage each other to stay on the path and follow Jesus. I leave you today with the words of Joshua from Joshua 24:15 “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

We need to make a choice. God bless all of you.