Becoming the True Disciple of ChristНамуна

CONDITIONS OF BEING A DISCIPLE OF CHRIST

INTRODUCTION

Oxford Dictionary defines a disciple as “A personal follower of Christ during his life, especially one of the twelve Apostles.” The origin of the word “disciple” comes from Latin, meaning “learn”.  In other words, a disciple of Christ is one who learns from Him and follows in His footsteps, just as the 12 disciples did when they were with Jesus.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Matthew 16:24 (NRSV)

“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:26-27 (NRSV)

So, therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

Luke 14:33 (NRSV)

In these passages of Scripture, the conditions that Jesus places on His disciples are:

1. Deny oneself

2. Take up your cross (Luke 9:23 says “take up your cross daily”)

3. Follow Jesus

4. Love Jesus more than your own family and your own life

5. Do not hold tightly to your earthly possessions such that they hinder you from following Him 

SHARING

1. Deny yourself and Take up Your Cross

To follow Christ is to take up a life of suffering.  Jesus gave up life in heaven for 33.5 years to come to earth and live as a mortal man.  From the day of His birth, He knew that His destiny was to go to the Cross for all mankind.  The reality of suffering was so great that He sweat drops of blood the night before He was to be crucified.  The Cross was not the source of pain.  Separation from the Heavenly Father for a short moment was what He did not want to bear.  Yet, to save all mankind from sin and hell, He chose to walk that path.

Denying oneself takes a lot of discipline and courage. A disciple has to be well-disciplined in order to learn well from the master.  Whatever we do as a disciple, it will reflect upon the master. Jesus has shown us the way to lead a godly life. His Word will direct and guide us. There is no way we could repay for the life of Jesus that was shed for us at the Cross. The way we could demonstrate our love for God is by living for Him each day.

2. Follow Jesus

To follow Christ means to walk in His footsteps.  It means to do everything that He did:

• Worship the Father and pray 

• Be a servant to all

• Be a witness

To be a worshipper is to worship Jesus exclusively.  There is no other god besides Him.  In today’s busy society, we may be overwhelmed with deadlines and routines that we may have challenges to seek Him. Take time to worship God daily. 

To serve is to love others as Jesus did (without prejudice) and to wash their feet (humble yourself before others). Washing of the feet during those times was done only by the slaves but Jesus took that role to demonstrate how much He loved us. Likewise, we ought to do the same (in serving each other) in love, humility, and obedience to Christ.

To witness is to tell about the Good News of Christ.  There is freedom from sin and oppression in Christ.  Our job is to lead people to Jesus. The first step is to pray for them. It is important that we win them to Christ and not push them to believe. We should help them to find and experience Jesus personally in their life. 

3. Love Jesus Above All

Jesus tells us that to follow Him means we have to love Him more than we love our family members and especially our possessions.  The word “hate” is a strong word. What Jesus means is that our love for Him must be much stronger in comparison to our love for our family members.  Jesus demands that we give Him our best. 

Our earthly possessions must not possess us. There is nothing wrong with having money or possessions, but what is more important is not the gift but the Giver. A toy is not comparable to a parent of a child. In the same manner, the things we have are nothing compared to God. That is why the Apostle Paul was willing to give up all his worldly possessions for Christ (Philippians 3:7). 

DISCUSSION

1. As disciples of Christ, how far have we denied ourselves?  

2. Am I willing to serve the way Jesus did?

3. If you were to lose everything tomorrow, would you still love Jesus?  

CONCLUSION

To be a true Christian is to be a disciple of Christ.  Every day walking with Jesus is a step towards being more like Him.  When we love one another just as Jesus loves us, then others will know we are His disciples (John 13:34) It is not enough to “receive Jesus into my heart”.  That is just the first step on the journey of discipleship.  We call Jesus “Lord” (meaning “master”) and it means He is the Master and we walk in obedience according to His Word. May our lives glorify Him.