Great Themes of the Bible Series

#10  “Discipleship”

"When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die," wrote Dietrich Bonhoeffer. When Jesus called

you to follow him, he didn't call you to pleasantries and politeness. He called you to join him in battling

against the spiritual forces of darkness that war against the human soul. He called you to step into the

breach to battle for what is holy, pure, and just. To do that, I have to die to sin and self-will.

My father taught me: "Son, there are no free lunches." I wonder if we should hang that sign over the Lord's Supper? The redemption we commemorate in Communion certainly wasn't free to him. How dare we think we can eat the bread and drink the ‘fruit of the vine’ of that communion meal and not pay a price for doing so.

Discipleship is a costly thing. If it isn't to be taken seriously in my life, I would give God more honor by not paying lip-service to it. A theology that minimizes the commitment involved in following Jesus belies the significance of both Jesus' cross and our own.

In 1937, in pre-war Germany, a book was published that exploded like a bombshell in a very liberal church that had become deaf to the voice of God. The author, a young minister who was deeply concerned about the life of this church, was only 30 years old when he wrote it. The book, The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is really an exegetical study of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Sixty-five years later it is still relevant.

In fact, Bonhoeffer’s introduction to the book sets the right tone for the passage we are studying today as we consider the relationship between the gospel of Jesus Christ and the call to discipleship: “Revival of church life always brings in its train a richer understanding of the Scriptures. Behind all the slogans and catchwords of ecclesiastical controversy, necessary though they are, there rises a more deter-mined quest for him who is the sole object of it all, for Jesus Christ himself. What did Jesus mean to say to us? What is his will for us today? How can he help us to be good Christians in the modern world? In the last resort, what we want to know is not what would this or that man, or this or that Church, have of us, but what Jesus Christ himself wants of us. When we go to church and listen to the sermon, what we want to hear is his Word--and that not merely for selfish reasons, but for the sake of the many for whom the Church and her message are foreign. We have a strange feeling that if Jesus himself--Jesus alone with his Word--could come into our midst at sermon time, we should find quite a different set of men hearing the Word, and quite a different set rejecting it. That is not to deny that the Word of God is to be heard in the preaching which goes on in our church. The real trouble is that the pure Word of Jesus has been overlaid with so much human ballast--burdensome rules and regulations, false hopes and consolations--that it has become extremely difficult to make a genuine decision for Christ.

DISCIPLESHIP: A HIGH CALLING

When Jesus said to his first disciples, "Follow me and I will make you to become fishers of men," and they immediately dropped their fishing nets and followed him, that was just the beginning of the process for them. I'm grateful that this is a process, and that God is patient and loving toward his disciples as he leads them into spiritual maturity.

The Lord's mission on earth was to "...seek and to save that which was lost" (Mark 19:10). Once we place our faith in him as our Lord and Savior, his desire for us is that we join him as disciples in his mission on this earth-the redemption of men, women and children from the kingdom of darkness. We have likened this process to a school curriculum. Thus, in Discipleship #101, we learned that Jesus said, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me" (Luke 9:18-27.)

Then in Discipleship #102, Jesus warned that we are not to try to follow him with our own agenda, but rather when he calls us, we are to be willing to leave our security, family and friends immediately for, as he said, "No one after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:57-10:24.) In Discipleship #103, Jesus reminded all who desired to follow him and become his disciples that we must be willing to hate (love less, in other words) our families as well as our own lives and give up all our possessions (Luke 14: 25-35).

To help us see how some of these truths are worked out in flesh and blood, let me read to you an unknown author's impression of the life of the apostle Paul once he came into a vital relationship with Jesus on the Damascus Road: "He is a man without the care of making friends, without the hope or desire of worldly goods, without the apprehension of worldly loss, without the care of life and without the fear of death. ...A man of one thought---the Gospel of Christ. A man of one purpose-the glory of God. A fool, and content to be reckoned a fool for Christ. ...He must speak or he must die, and though he should die, he will speak. He has no rest but hastens over land and sea, over rocks and trackless deserts. He cries aloud and spares not, and will not be hindered. In prisons he lifts up his voice and in the tempests of the ocean he is not silent. Before awful councils and throned kings, he witnesses in behalf of the truth. Nothing can quench his voice but death, and even in the article of death, before the knife has severed his head form his body, he speaks, he prays, he testifies, he confesses, he beseeches, he wars, and at length he blesses the cruel people" (True Discipleship, Wm. MacDonald).

As we continue in our study we will see that as our Lord moves closer to the cross, the high calling of discipleship continues to be his focus. Thus, in Discipleship #l04 (Luke 17:1-19), we will find that our Lord will remind his men of this high calling by encouraging them: 1) to not become stumbling blocks to sinners who are seeking him; 2) to be willing to rebuke and to forgive sinners who repent of their sins; 3) to grow in their faith towards him; and 4) to serve him with a thankful heart.

Beware of becoming a stumbling block  Luke 17:1-2

And He said to His disciples, "It is inevitable that stumbling blocks should come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.

As we have seen in earlier studies, Jesus has been teaching the gospel to the tax-gatherers and sinners who had gathered around him (15:1). But the Pharisees were grumbling, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." They were inferring that Jesus could not possibly be the Son of God because to eat with sinners was tantamount to agreeing with their immoral lifestyle.

They thought it wrong that these sinners, who had probably broken all Ten Commandments as well as the traditions of Judaism, should be offered forgiveness. The Pharisees regarded this as too simple a solution in light of the fact that most of them had spent their entire lives seeking to live up to the requirements of the law and its traditions. Yet our Lord sought to show them the secrets of the kingdom of God thought parables and stories, but, since Luke 15:1, none of them had accepted his gracious invitation of salvation.

As Jesus listened to the grumbling attitude of the Pharisees, in the presence of the sinners who where seeking to understand spiritual truth, he used this as a "teachable moment." He wanted them to love the Pharisees but not to follow in their footsteps when it came to tempting others to sin. "It is inevitable that stumbling-blocks should come...," said Jesus. The original meaning of the word translated "stumbling block" means tempting someone to sin. It is always used metaphorically in the New Testament, and ordinarily of anything that arouses prejudice or becomes a hindrance to others or causes them to fall by the way.

In this context, our Lord is warning his disciples that as sinners are drawn to the gospel of the kingdom it was inevitable that some would trip over a stumbling-block placed in their path by someone opposed to the messenger as well as the message of salvation. There is the reality of opposition in a fallen world. Within a few months, Jesus and his cross would become an offense to the Jewish leadership (1 Cor. 23), and it has remained so in every generation up to this very day.

"...but woe to him through whom they come!" said Jesus. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble. In that culture, everyone knew of the various types of millstones that were used to crush grain. Smaller millstones were for home use, but when it came to harvest time, farmers used much larger millstones, up to four or five feet in diameter. The grain was placed on a base stone, and then the millstone (which had a hole in the middle as big as a man's head) was lifted up to the stationary stone, which had a center peg as an axle, so that once the milestone was in place it could be turned around in a circle by a mule or camel until the grain was crushed into fine flour.

 

As Jesus was saying this you can be sure he was warning his disciples about their future ministry, but at the same time he was looking at the lifestyle of the Pharisees. They were the very stumbling stones that he had in mind as he observed them trying to confuse and discourage the open-hearted tax-gatherers and sinners. The warning is very serious.

In his book According to Luke, David Gooding wrote: "...no sin against a fellow-man can possibly be more serious than to do something by act or word to stumble him in his faith, or to break that faith, in God, in the deity of Christ, in the authority of His Word, in the value of his redemption or the reality of his salvation."

Therefore, if anyone caused "these little ones" to stumble on their way to Jesus, "..the consequences for the people responsible for that occurrence will be so grave when they come into the presence of God that it would be better ..." for that person to take his own life rather then to go on living and turning others away from Jesus. John encouraged the Ephesian church later that "The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him." They don't stumble and they don't cause others to stumble because they are living in the power of the Holy Spirit and walking in the light of the truth of Jesus Christ.


Discipleship is a high calling. Let us beware of becoming a stumbling block.

Be willing to rebuke and forgive a repentant brother  Luke 17:3-4

"Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' forgive him."

Here Jesus goes on to give three commands to carry out within the Christian community to a true disciple who has been forgiven all of his sins.

Command No. #1: Be on your guard! Speaking of tempting others to sin, look to your own life first and make sure that you are not becoming a stumbling block to those seeking to come into the kingdom. This command has the same idea as our Lord's words in Matt: 74-5: " ...how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye; and then you will see clearly enough to take the speck out of your brother's eye."

Command No #2: Rebuke a sinning brother. "If your brother sins, rebuke him..." If a disciple should see or find out about a brother who has sinned in the sight of God (as in the immediate context of placing a stumbling block in the way of a sinner who is seeking to come into the kingdom of God), he should rebuke him. That is, look for an opportunity so that he will be able to hear you and have an open heart to repent of his sin.

The Lord had already spoken on this subject when he said to his disciples, as recorded in Matt.18:15: "And if your brother sins, go and reprove him in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen to even the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax-gatherer" (a non-believer whom we would seek in love to win into the kingdom).

Command #3: Forgive him. "...and if he repents, forgive him." If your brother or sister is willing to listen to your loving rebuke and confesses, turning from the sinful activity and turning toward God again, forgive them. This is not a suggestion; it is a command from Jesus.

The parable of the prodigal son is a wonderful example of a true repentant heart, a heart that is ready to forgive. Speaking of the son, Luke wrote, "But when he came to his senses, he said ...'I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son, make me as one of your hired hands'" (Luke 15:17-19.)

As his father had already in his heart forgiven his sinful son, even before he confessed his sin, so we must fill our hearts with the spirit of forgiveness towards those who have wronged us or others. And if he sins against you seven times a day and returns to you seven times, saying "I repent," forgive him. The forgiveness must be immediate, definite, incisive, and made in a spirit of genuine forgiveness (Matt.18:35).

The Lord had taught the disciples to pray: "And forgive us our sins as we also have forgiven our debtors....For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions" (Matt. 6:12-15.)

Earlier, Peter had asked the Lord: "'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.'"

Paul wrote to the Ephesian church whose members were having difficulties with each other: "...do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you" (Eph. 4:30-32.)

Why all this talk of forgiveness if one truly repents of his sins against you or me? It is because our Lord understands our frailty. We were born in Adam, and sin has taken a fearsome toll in our lives. God knows that we are still in the process of learning about our new nature in the Second Adam, who is Christ himself, so we need to be patient.

None of us has even been here before, and we make all kinds of mistakes against each other. Nobody plans on hurting people, being angry at people, being jealous, envious and filled with malice at people.

Each morning, I ask God to use me to be a righteous man. When something goes wrong later in the day, when I'm angry at someone and he's angry at me, I ask myself what happened. I didn't plan this. Quite the opposite. Let us remember, first, that God in Christ has forgiven us. Second, we have never before been in this arena where we are known as children of God. And third, God is maturing us so that we will be like Jesus, and the process is not finished yet. We need to remember the wise and godly individual who said, "God is not finished with me yet!"

Speaking of how the "old Adam" expresses itself when Jesus is not allowed to be Lord, I read recently of the end of the long and tragic story of Marine Col. William R. Higgins. This man was serving with the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon when he was seized by rebel forces on Feb. l7, l988. According to a videotape, he was killed on July 31, l989. His body was recently found and returned to the United States for burial.

After the burial services, Higgins' widow, Marine Corps Major Robin Higgins, issued a statement urging Americans not to forgive the hostage takers. She said, "If we forgive, if we forget, if we thank these savages, then we are merely inviting them, at a time and place they will select, to kill again. Shame on us if we do." But this is not how a disciple of Jesus should respond. And I can understand it. It's only the grace of God that can change a hard heart to a forgiving heart. Only God can do this so that a heart is willing to forgive such a wrong. It's interesting that Terry Anderson, another hostage who was released several years later, replying to the question, "Can you forgive your captives?" said, "Life is too short; I have been called to forgive."

To be a disciple of Christ is a high calling. We must beware of becoming a stumbling block; be willing to forgive a repentant sinner, and ….

Ask the Lord to increase our faith Luke 17:5-10

And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" And the Lord said, "If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and be planted in the sea'; and it would obey you. But which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come immediately and sit down to eat'? But will he not say to him, 'Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me until I have eaten and drunk; and afterward you will eat and drink'? He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.'"

In light of our Lord's commands, the disciples felt spiritually weak in their faith. But Jesus never asks any of his true followers to do anything apart from him. As they placed their small faith in him for each new situation, he would accomplish his will in and through them. Here Jesus uses the illustration of one of nature's smallest seeds, the mustard seed. As small as this seed is it still has within it the principle of life: it is a living seed and it will grow. At that moment the disciples' faith was small, but Jesus encouraged them to start trusting him where they were and in time, in the midst of the most difficult tasks they were called to, their faith would grow to such a point that if they needed to cast a mulberry tree into the sea, it would be so. Faith they had; what they needed was the reminder to focus on the Lord rather than on the immediate circumstances or demands.

As our Lord was preparing to go to the cross, he was also preparing the disciples to carry on the good news of the kingdom after his death, burial and resurrection. He was preparing them with the knowledge that they would become involved in a spiritual battle as they sought to redeem men and women from the kingdom of darkness and deliver them into the kingdom of light.

Thus he wanted them to become faithful disciples, men with the same hearts as those referred to in Luke 12:35-40: "Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps alight and be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns for the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master shall find on the alert when he comes..."

While we are on earth we are called to be faithful disciples in the midst of the spiritual battle for the souls of men and women. Our Lord has already commanded his disciples to (1) not place stumbling blocks in the way of men and women who want to come into the kingdom of God; (2) prepare their hearts to rebuke a brother as well as forgive one who repents; and (3) grow in their faith in him so they could be greatly used in his plan of evangelism in the Age of the Spirit and the building of his church.

Disciples should not come to the house after a long day in the field hoping that the master will ask them to sit and eat with him even before they prepare his meal, or for have him stop in the midst of the battle and thank them for their faithfulness. This is the time for us to take our responsibilities of discipleship very seriously.

We are called to be disciples by the grace of God. You and I who were once his enemies are now his disciples. Rejoice, remain faithful, and be thankful. At the end of the battle, our Lord promises, as he said in Luke 12:37, "Blessed are those slaves whom the master shall find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at table, and will come up and wait on them. Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves."

I remember hearing the story of a faithful missionary couple who came back to this country following many difficult years of ministry in Africa. As their ship docked in New York harbor they heard a band on the dock playing welcome music for a returning passenger. Hundreds of this passenger's family and friends were gathered to greet their loved one.

The missionary couple hoped to have someone to greet them, but by the time they came down the gangplank the band and the welcoming crowds had all gone their separate ways. All that was left to greet them were a few seagulls and the trash from the celebration that had been held earlier on the dock. Not knowing what to do next, they walked a few blocks, carrying their suitcases in silence.

Finally, they found a rundown hotel and checked in for the evening. As they sat in the dimly lit room, the husband could not contain himself any longer. In anger and frustration he cried out to: "Honey, we worked so hard all these years. We have been faithful to our Lord, to our calling, and to our people in Africa. You would have thought that someone from our board would have met us and welcomed us home, wouldn't you?" After a moment of silence, his wife reminded him of their eternal hope: "But honey, we aren't home yet!" she said.

Being a disciple of Christ is a high calling. We must beware of becoming a stumbling block; be willing to rebuke and to forgive a repentant sinner; continue to ask the Lord to increase our small but living faith in him so that we may serve him from a heart of love and faithfulness. And finally, as disciples….

We are called to be thankful servants Luke 17:11-19

And it came about while He was on the way to Jerusalem, that He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. And as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten leprous men, who stood at a distance; and they raised their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" And when He saw them, He said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And it came about that as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine-where are they? Were none found who turned back to give glory to God, except this foreigner?" And he said to Him, "Rise, and go your way; your faith has made you well."

The parable that Jesus told reminded Luke of an incident that occurred a little earlier as Jesus and his disciples were traveling south toward Jerusalem, on the border between Samaria and Galilee, before they crossed over the Jordan River into Perea (modern Jordan). Ten leprous men came out to meet Jesus. It must have been a terrible sight to see so many men banded together, their flesh rotting away from their bodies. The smell would have driven away anyone who came across their path. But not Jesus, who had come to save the lost.

These men stood at a distance and, having heard of Jesus from people in Galilee and Samaria, called out, like a choir in unison, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" And he showed them pity. Rather then touching them, as he had done in other instances, providing an instant cure, he asked them to place their faith in him and go to the temple in Jerusalem: "Go and show yourselves to the priests."

According to Lev. 13-14, if a leper was cured he was to go to the priest to demonstrate God's grace, then the priest would publicly restore that man or woman back into fellowship with the community. In this case, as all ten placed they faith in Jesus' command and began to walk south towards Jerusalem, they were completely healed.

Luke records that one leper was different from the other nine. Once he realized he was completely healed at the word of Jesus, he did three things: he turned back towards Jesus; he began praising God; and he fell on his face at the feet of Jesus, thanking him. Then Luke drops a bombshell: this man was a hated Samaritan! The Samaritan people had intermarried with Gentiles, set up their own religion in Samaria instead of Jerusalem, studied only the first five books of Moses, and built their own temple and worshipped God in Samaria. Now this healed Samaritan was thanking a Jew and bowing at his feet.

Jesus asked three questions of this man and then blessed him. "Where there not ten cleansed?" "But the nine, where are they?" "Were none found who turned back to give glory to God, except this foreigner?" And he said to the man, "Rise, and go your way; your faith has made you well ("well" is the same word in Greek as the word for salvation). Jesus was grieved over the lack of thankfulness and praise that was due to the God of the universe who expressed through him his love for sinners. The nine Jewish lepers represented the attitude of the spiritual leaders of Israel: they never returned to Jesus to thank God for their physical healing; they did not realize that their physical healing was only a shadow of the spiritual healing they needed; and that they could have been healed spiritually if they had placed their faith in Jesus as their Messiah. From the story it appears that at least one physically healed leper who was thankful to God and his Son Jesus became a true son of Abraham. He had placed his faith in God and acknowledged Jesus as the Son of God, the Master of his body, soul and spirit. And this man was a foreigner!

To be called to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, our wonderful Lord and Savior, is a high calling. When we confess him as our Lord and are baptized for remission of sins, he begins to bring us into spiritual maturity so that we can join him in his wonderful plan of evangelism "seeking to save those who are lost."

That ministry of redemption occurs in the midst of a spiritual battlefield. Our Lord encourages and commands his disciples to love our lives, our families and our possessions less and love him more. Further, he commands that we do not become stumbling blocks to those who are on their way to the Lord; to prepare our hearts to be ready to rebuke and forgive our repentant brothers and sisters; to continue to grow in our faith towards Christ so that his will in heaven may be accomplished on earth through us; and finally, to minister as his disciples with hearts of thankfulness because of the grace and spiritual healing he demonstrated towards us when we placed our faith in him as Lord and Savior.

Some additional thoughts regarding Discipleship ---The Gospel of Grace

"But what are you saying about the gospel?" someone asks. "Aren't we saved by the grace of God? Doesn't that mean that salvation is a ‘free gift' to us?" In terms of its provision, salvation from sin is indeed free to us. Heaven paid the price for our redemption at the cross of Jesus. In terms of accepting and living out its implications, however, the gospel is hardly free at all. It demands everything one can give in return.

Across the ages of Christian history, we may have produced far more consumers of religion than true disciples. So we buy gold-edged Bibles, listen to Christian music, and attend user-friendly churches. Yet our lives are not particularly upright or civil — much less Christ-like. Every bonus or raise signals the possibility of a bigger house or luxury car instead of greater generosity. We think we have achieved a great moral victory simply in not cheating on our income taxes or our wives. If we are generally pleasant and polite, we judge ourselves to be Christians.

"When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die," wrote Dietrich Bonhoeffer. When Jesus called you to follow him, he didn't call you to pleasantries and politeness. He called you to join him in battling against the spiritual forces of darkness that war against the human soul. He called you to step into the breach to battle for what is holy, pure, and just. To do that, I have to die to sin and self-will. You have to be willing to suffer for what you believe. Occasionally, as with Bonhoeffer, Christ's call means physical death.

The Crowds Were Large

In our text for today, Luke notes that "large crowds were traveling with Jesus" (v.25). The carpenter from the backwater town of Nazareth was a howling success. The crowds were big and getting bigger. So Jesus turned around to the huge crowd and said, "You'd better think seriously about this! If you go with me into Jerusalem, it will be dangerous. If you follow me to the end, it could cost you your life. In fact, if you take what I've been saying seriously, it will cost you your life — if not at Jerusalem, in your home or classroom or workplace."

Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters — yes, even one's own self! — can't be my disciple. Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple. . . . Simply put, if you're not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it goodbye, you can't be my disciple. . . . Are you listening to this? Really listening? (Luke 14:26-27, 33, 35b, The Message).

Jesus illustrates his meaning as he moves along in these verses. Would you start building a house without sitting down first and figuring the cost? How embarrassing to start such a project and not be able to finish it (vs. 28-30). Can you imagine a king going into battle against an enemy army without calculating his manpower and weaponry? He'd be foolish to do it (vs. 31-33).

You and I are supposed to count the cost of being Jesus' disciples, but some of us have been misled into thinking there's no cost involved, that this is a "free lunch." Well, my friend, you've got another think coming!

Discipleship and Discipline

We must rise above the temptation to trivialize both Jesus' cross and our own. We must learn to make disciples instead of what one writer dubbed "inspiration junkies" out of Christians. People who are serious about following Jesus understand that there is a relationship between discipleship and discipline.

Warning bells go off in some of us when we hear such language, for it is has been used to mask and convey pharisaism, legalism, and self-righteousness. On the other hand, some have recoiled from it into a defense of moral indulgence.

The Christian alternative to Pharisaism is not Publicanism but costly discipleship. The laxity of the Publican is just as repugnant to God as the self- righteousness of the Pharisee. In the parable it is not the Publican as such but the repentant Publican who is praised.[1]

There was once a thirteen-year-old boy who wanted to be a musician. He envisioned being cheered on stage, being admired by huge crowds, and raking in millions of dollars. Then he found out it would take hours of practice every week over a long period of time to learn to play and perform; he decided he didn't want to be a musician after all. So a year later he decided instead that he would be not a rock star but an athlete. He saw himself in the NBA, envisioned a $10-million per year contract, and beautiful women fawning over him. So he went to the basketball coach and told him he wanted to join the team. When he learned about practicing every day, running laps, and staying in shape during the off-season, he decided he didn't really want to be an athlete either. And so on with fantasized careers in medicine, law, and business. They would require too many years in school, too many hours in the library and lab, too long an interval between decision and payoff. So he didn't do any of those things.

He is a very unhappy man today. Most of the regret he verbalizes seems to focus on the things he never tried to do, the sacrifices he couldn't bring himself to make, and the waste he thinks he has made of his life.

The Making of a Disciple

Warren Webster: "If I had my life to live over again, I would live it to change the lives of men, because you haven't changed anything until you've changed the lives of men."

That really struck me and caused me to reaffirm again in my heart my own desire to change the lives of men. I do not think we are in any disagreement that the world is in wretched shape, and it is that way because there is something desperately wrong with men. The only answer to the world in which we find ourselves is to change the hearts of men. And I know of only one Person who can change the heart of a man, and that is Jesus Christ.

The events in Matthew 28 took place at the end of our Lord's 40-day post-resurrection ministry to his disciples. In this 40-day period, five times it is recorded--in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts--that the Lord commissioned the disciples to disciple the nations. This passage in Matthew 28:16-20 records one of these incidents:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountains to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Hob Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."

The disciples all died by the close of the first century, so these words were not addressed to the disciples alone, but have validity for all time. They are addressed as well to us. I would like to talk about three things in this passage: the men who are found in this passage; the mandate that was given to them to disciple all nations; and the method by which this mandate was to be carried out.

These men intrigue me. They are set in contrast to the Jewish rulers mentioned in the preceding paragraph who were attempting to discredit the fact of Jesus' resurrection. The reaction of the disciples is set over against their attempts to dismiss the resurrection. The disciples, out of obedience to Jesus Christ, went to northern Galilee to meet the Lord there. The leading Jews resisted him, but the disciples obeyed him. Prior to the cross, Jesus had told the disciples that after the resurrection they were to meet him on a mountain in northern Galilee, and they went out of obedience to him, knowing that they would meet him there.

The passage does say, "some doubted," but it does not in any way indicate that these men were lacking in faith. The word used here is not suggestive of loss of faith but rather, of hesitancy. They were uneasy--and who would not be? They still did not quite understand what the Lord intended to do. Their hopes of establishing a kingdom on earth had been dashed; the Lord had been taken from them and crucified. They had seen him in his resurrection body and knew him to be the victor, but still they were hesitant and disturbed, not quite understanding what the Lord yet intended to do. But they went anyway to the appointed meeting place.

Remember also, the Lord had told them that the Jews were going to take his life, and that they would be next. They had confidence in his ability as a prophet. They believed him. They knew their lives were on the line, and that any association with this man would jeopardize their safety from this point on. So they were uneasy, they were anxious, they were fearful, but they went anyway, because they trusted him.

I think one of the amazing facts of this passage is the contrast between the extent of the commission that the Lord gave, and the relative insignificance of this little band of men. Here were eleven men who were told to go out and conquer the world and lay it at the Lord's feet. Eleven insignificant men. That would make anyone uneasy. These were men who had never been more than 50 miles from home. They had probably never been outside the country of Palestine. They had ranged as far with the Lord in his ministry as they had ever traveled. Jesus had no funds to carry out this assignment. He had no basis of political power. He had already been rejected by his own nation. And yet he tells them, "Go...and make disciples of all nations."

We realize now that the secret of his success was not the size, or the power, or the material qualifications of the group, but rather, the divine authorization given to them by the Lord. In verse 18 Jesus says, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. You go therefore..." The Father had given to the Son the authority, and the Son, by means of the Holy Spirit, gave to the disciples the authority to go out and, for all time, bring men into a relationship with him. They had a promise that all the resources, all the power of the Father, the authority of a Sovereign Lord who created men and by whom lives again could be recreated, was available to them if they would simply act upon it.

That was their authorization, and they needed no other. Historically, we know that within a period of a few weeks they saw 5,000 come into a relationship with their Lord. Within 35 years they had planted churches in every major center in the Roman Empire.

They went out believing that it could be accomplished, and in the name and the authority of Jesus Christ they conquered the world. A little, insignificant group, but with all the power of a sovereign God available to them they accomplished and are still accomplishing what they set out to do.

This leads me to some strong conclusions. The first is that God is not preoccupied with numbers; we are. We count noses; we measure success in terms of numbers and other estimates of strength and power. But the Lord never does. In his program numbers are totally inconsequential. We might as well weigh people as count them. Either measure would be equally inconsequential. God is never concerned about the size of a group. Size has nothing to do with success. Success is always based on relationship.

For instance, God was not at all embarrassed to send Elijah and his servant against the whole nation of Israel. That did not bother God, because he knew that his servants could accomplish what he sent them to do; they had available to them his power. Jonah was sent to evangelize the whole city of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire; Paul and Barnabas were sent into Asia Minor to plant churches; two men sent into a pagan area that had never heard the gospel, We would organize great armies to go, but the Lord sent Paul and Barnabas. Later, he sent Paul and Timothy into Europe to plant churches there. The Lord himself spent three-and-a-half years ministering first to the masses, then drawing together twelve men and eventually, eleven men, and it was through these eleven men that he was able to accomplish his program. He spent all of his time training them. We would be terribly discouraged if we had spent three-and-a-half years and we only had eleven people to accomplish a work. And yet the Lord said, "I have finished the work that the Father gave me to do." He did not measure his success in terms of size. Size is never equated with success.

There is an interesting passage in the book of Haggai in the account of the effort to rebuild the temple that had been destroyed during the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. The work went slowly at first but finally the temple was completed. In contrast to Solomon's temple, it just a tiny thing, and the people were terribly discouraged. Haggai encourages the nation not to despise the day of small things because the Lord says, "I am with you, and my Spirit will be with you. I will fill this house with glory, and the desire of all nations [literally, the One desired of all nations] will come into it. and its latter splendor shall be greater than its former splendor." He was looking prophetically down through the years to the time when the Messiah would stand in the midst of that very temple, the temple that Zerubbabel and Joshua built--expanded by Herod, but the same temple--and fill it with his glory. And the latter splendor of it was far greater than anything Solomon's temple possessed, with its gold, jewels, and ornate furniture.

Haggai says the same to us today. Do not despise the small things, because God's splendor will fill them. The glory of Jesus Christ will control it and use it for his honor.

We can really get bothered at this point. We look at our office, and here we are, two or three men, maybe only one man. What can we do to accomplish his program of making disciples here? Or we are on a campus, and maybe we're the only Christian in a dorm. What can we accomplish? And so we get discouraged, and we want to quit, because we just do not feel that God can accomplish all that he has promised to do.

There is a second strong conclusion that I have reached as a result of looking at the lives of these men: God is not concerned about the quantity of men, but he is concerned about the quality of their lives. God's method is men, men who are controlled by the Spirit of God; not programs, not machinery, but men, women, students, boys, girls, anyone who is available to him.

And I believe that these disciples would qualify as that kind of person. I think quite often that we do not think very highly of these men. But I cannot accept the thought that Jesus totally misjudged these men. He had God's insight into lives. He knew men. He knew the quality of their lives. He scrutinized the lives of these men. He spent a night in prayer before he made his decision. I do not think he chose wrongly, even in the case of Judas. He knew from the beginning what Judas was to be. This man was chosen deliberately to accomplish the purposes of God, in terms of the prophetic scripture.

Jesus knew these men, and he chose them out of all the men that he contacted in Palestine because he saw them not in terms of what they were, but what they were to become as he spent time with them. He sensed that they were men with open hearts and minds. They were hungry, perhaps, for the wrong things, but he took that hunger and turned it into a hunger for him. He never dealt with men who played games but only with those who hungered and thirsted after righteousness. He said, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."

God will put anyone to use who has the real thing, who has a quality of life that only a follower of Jesus Christ can have. I am convinced that people are looking for those who have the real thing. It is the only way we will ever reach this disillusioned generation today. They are fed up with programs, they are fed up with the institutional church, they see nothing but phoniness. They are looking for real people.

Now if you are real, to use the contemporary term, you will be where the action is. People are looking for the real, people are looking for quality, and if we have it they are going to want it and they are going to seek us out. We do not have to be religious (please save us from religion), but we have to be real people who are possessed by God and whose obsession is to serve Jesus Christ. That kind of person God will use.

Now let us look at the mandate. These are the men; now the mandate. In verse 19, Jesus says,

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..."

There is one imperative here, to "make disciples." The other action verbs are all subordinate to this main idea to make disciples. Literally, he says, "Having gone, make disciples by baptizing and by teaching." He tells us what is involved in making disciples. The main idea in this passage is to make disciples, not friends for Jesus, not fans, not to develop a large following, because Jesus says there will never be many who will follow.

To follow involves a cross, and a cross means cutting off our own goals and purposes, the things for which we live, and settling once and for all the issue in our life that Jesus Christ is going to be Lord, and we are going to serve him.

There will never be many who will make that kind of decision. The Lord always drew the lines hard and fast and he said that there would be very few that would step over. And when they did, he would hit them immediately with his claim as Lord, "Are you willing to follow me, and yield everything?"

We have looked at the men, the mandate, and third is the method by which they were to accomplish his commission: (1) going. This assumes that we will go. The command is not to go; the command is to make disciples, but it is preceded by the idea of going. And what he means is that as we go about seeking our livelihood, wherever we may be found, we are to use that place as a platform for making disciples. Historically, these men were fishermen, merchants, seamen, laborers. Everywhere they went they saw as their prime task to make disciples. Their occupations were simply the means of making a livelihood. Their mission was to make disciples and they were told to go to the whole world. God sent persecution, and where there is heat, there is always expansion--they scattered all over the world. Wherever they went, making tents, repairing sails, making shoes, as lawyers, merchants, whatever their task might be, they made disciples.

What a challenging view of our occupations that is! Our job, whether it is as a housewife, or out in the world as a business person, whatever it might be, our job, essentially, is to make disciples. That gives great dignity and meaning to our jobs. Yes, we are to do our jobs well, as unto the Lord. We are to give it the time and energy necessary to do it right. And yes, our job is a means of bringing all of nature into submission, as the Word says we must do. But it is first and foremost a platform for making disciples. We have a whole lifetime to work out the exciting implications of that idea.

Note the Lord said we are to disciple all nations. That means that some will go, must go, to other lands. Some will be cleared to live and minister in the land of their birth, and to engage in the worldwide program of making disciples through sacrificial giving, or intercessory prayer, or through an ongoing concern for what God is doing around the world. But again, what an exciting thing to know that we are engaged in an enterprise that is global in its scale; that God is at work in every corner of the world, to bring men into relationship with him. We are simply one segment, one part of what God is doing.

I think we have two reactions. One is to get hardened by failure, and adopt an uninvolved spirit: "We can't do the job; it's impossible, so why even try?" "Every attempt I've made I've fumbled." "I'm shy." "I'm ignorant, so I'm a waterer."

The other reaction is to see the great need and get frustrated. But remember God is the Savior of the world. Jesus said my responsibility is my neighbor, the person in need God brings into my life and gives to me the opportunity to share my life with. And my neighbor may not necessarily be my next-door neighbor, because we have six-foot fences in our backyard, and I hardly ever see my next-door neighbor. He can be the man at the office, the shop, the campus. He is the man (or the woman) in need, the student in need, or whoever it might be that God puts us next to.

The most difficult thing about going is the last 18 inches, getting over that little barrier of sharing with someone else what our Lord has done with us. But Jesus said, "I am with you always, to the close of the age." There is an adequate resource for the task that God has outlined for us.

The Making of a Disciple Part 2 -- Luke 14:25-35

Now great multitudes accompanied him; and he turned and said to them, "If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him saying, 'This man began to build, and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy and asks terms of peace. So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

"Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored? It is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill; men throw it away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

I am sure you must have been struck by what seems to be the harsh tone of these words from the Lord, the One who told us that the greatest commandment is to love God and our neighbor. I am sure these words must have struck the disciples with even greater force than they strike us. The Lord was certainly an enigma to the disciples. He was always up to something that would completely derail them. They never knew him, and, of course, they could never really know him. The Lord himself said,

"No one knows the son but the Father."

And today he still upsets us by the strange things he said.

The Lord, at the very outset of his ministry, seemed to indicate that anyone could come to him. His invitation was, "Come to me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Men began to respond in great numbers. Luke takes note of the fact that there were great multitudes following the Lord at this time. But now, instead of gathering this number together and teaching them, he begins to warn them against himself. Instead of inflaming their hearts, he throws cold water on them. He seems to go out of his way to offend and antagonize the very people he called to be his disciples. What is he up to?

May I suggest the answer is found in the nature of the crowd that was beginning to gather around the Lord at this time. He was followed by various types of people, people who listened to his words, watched his actions, wanted to be a part of this great movement. But the Lord knew their hearts. He knew that they were following him for what they could receive, their motives were selfish. And be began to move to thin out the ranks.

In this discourse he gives them a revelation of the only terms by which a man can become a genuine disciple. Three times he gives the terms, without which, he says, no one could be his disciple. In verse 26, in verse 27, and in verse 33 he lays down the terms; and then by means of two parables, he clearly explains the reason for the severity of these terms.

Let us examine first the terms of discipleship. These are solemn words. Verse 26:

"If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."

He hits at the very heart of human relationships, the dearest relationships that we have. These have to be laid aside out of loyalty to Jesus Christ.

Then in verse 27, he says:

"Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple."

He moves into the personal life, and the necessity of laying aside our personal ambitions, our own goals in life.

And third, in verse 33,

"So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."

He strikes at our possessions, the things that we own, and says we must abandon these. "Without these terms," he says, "you cannot be my disciples." Now frankly, when I read a passage like this, I have to ask myself the question, " If these are the terms, am I a disciple?" Because certainly these are qualifications impossible to fulfill. It would seem to be a direct appeal from law, laying down demands that are impossible and saying, "Unless you fulfill these requirements, you will never by my disciple." But let us look in detail at these terms.

The first says we must hate our fathers and mothers and wives and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even our own lives. We have to remember, I think, that Jesus frequently used "alarm" words to arrest people's attention and alert them to danger. He is not saying that we must be malicious and hateful to our families in order to follow him. He is not saying that we have to abandon our homes or ignore our wives and children if we are going to follow him. To do so would be to ignore much of revelation in other parts of the Scriptures that tells us we must love mother and father; and love wives as Christ loved the church.

He is saying that we must be alerted to the possibility of a competition in loyalty between Jesus Christ and those whom we love; that love for the Lord takes precedence over all other loyalties. He must be first. And there may be times when to follow Christ will appear to be hatred of those we normally love.

Our primary devotion goes to him. Notice he does not name sin as necessarily a deterrent to becoming a disciple. We think of the sins we commit, rebellious attitudes and actions, as the things that keep us from following the Lord. But he put his finger on the highest of human relationships. There is nothing greater than love for father and mother. Mother love is a cardinal virtue, but even these things may and do challenge our loyalty to Jesus Christ. Our love for our families can turn us against the Lord. Every relationship has to be examined and regulated by our determination to be a disciple. Does this relationship draw me closer to the Lord, or does it separate me? I have known many young people who have had to walk away from a love relationship because they sensed that to continue the relationship would drive them farther away from the Lord.

This is, of course, no justification for abusing parents or wives or children. The Lord warned against that attitude when he referred to the actions of certain Jews who brought a sacrifice into the temple and said, "this is reserved for God," to keep money out of the hands of needy parents. Our love for Jesus Christ ought to cause us to love our families, and to love our parents and our children with a greater love than we could ever have for them without Christ. But he is saying that we must first love Jesus Christ. Every other relationship must be subservient to that. And it may appear that we hate those around us because of decisions we have to make out of our love for our Lord.

Now he interprets this principle, I think, in verse 27 when he says, "Whoever does not bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple."

In order to understand what he meant by "cross," we have to think in terms of the disciples' understanding of the word. If they saw a man dragging a cross up a hill, they would know that the man was going off to die; his life was at an end. This is what the Lord is saying.

In order to be a disciple our life must end. All things precious to us and our program must be waived out of regard for his program. This was the cross that the Lord himself endured. Philippians says that the Lord did not think it a thing to be grasped after to be equal with God, but he set this equation aside and became obedient unto death, even the death of a cross. He poured out his life for all men, out of obedience to his Father.

He set aside his prerogatives as God; he came to earth, identified himself with men, set aside all the glory that was his, for us.

And a cross always has a vicarious aspect to it. It is on behalf of others. If we are to follow Christ, we are to live no longer to please ourselves and indulge ourselves but to live on behalf of others.

Paul writes in Romans 15:

"We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves; let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to edify him. For Christ did not please himself..."

Jesus did not seek his own selfish motives; he came to seek and to save the lost. And Jesus says if we are going to be disciples, that must be our program as well: not to live for self, but to live for the highest good of others. If we are going to enter Christ's enterprise, we are going to have to do it his way.

Then third, in verse 33, he says we must renounce all that we have; our possessions. Now granted, possessions in themselves are not wrong. It is not the things that we own; it is the things that own us that God is talking about. He is not talking about possessions per se, but the things that we have that possess our heart, that come before our allegiance to Jesus Christ. Every possession must be brought under his authority and rule.

Now these are the terms of discipleship. They have to do with the most personal ambitions and goals, and with our dearest possessions. God may not necessarily take anything away from us. But if we are going to be disciples, we must be willing to yield all to him. What if God does take our family, or dash our fondest dreams, or take our prized possessions? How will we react? With bitterness, with anger against God, with rebellion in our heart? Then it is an indication that we love them more than we love him.

Corrie Ten Boom once commented that she learned to hold everything loosely in her hand, because she knew she would grasp them tightly and the Lord would have to pry her fingers away, and it would hurt.

If we are going to be true disciples, we must hold things loosely, counting nothing as our own. Everything is a gift given to us by God to be used for him, to be enjoyed, yes, but most of all to be placed under his authority. Only thus can we be a disciple.

Now, having declared the terms (in no uncertain terms), he gives the reason for the stringency for these terms. He uses two parables. One, a man who builds a tower.

"For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him saying, 'This man began to build, and was not able to finish.'"

And secondly, he uses the parable of a king, going to encounter another king in war.

"Will he not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy and asks terms of peace."

In the Old Testament there is the story of Nehemiah, who went back to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls that had been destroyed by the Babylonian invaders. When he got there he discovered that there was a great deal of opposition to the rebuilding, and so it was necessary for Nehemiah to arm his men with a trowel and with a sword.

The Lord emphasizes this principle again by another analogy in the last two verses in this chapter, when he talks about salt and its properties.

"Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored?"

Jesus had told the disciples earlier that they were the salt of the earth. They understood that he spoke of them. They were of no use to him unless they had the true quality of salt, the bite, the aseptic quality of salt, with its ability to arrest the spread of corruption. Today the Lord is still looking for disciples who have this salty quality that he can spread throughout the world.

Now I sense that each of us has a hunger to be put to use. We want to be a part of this enterprise; we want to be men and women of quality that the Lord can use. I feel that these words are for us. At first sight they do appear harsh, but I think that these are like the words of a surgeon who tells his patient that he is forced to engage in radical surgery to heal his body. The surgeon knows he must cut deeply into the flesh, or the cure will be superficial and the man will never be whole again. The patient's response is to yield himself to the surgeon's hands. The surgeon insists on this right if he is to do his work properly.

God wants to heal, and put to use. An unyielded spirit will keep us from wholeness and excitement of cooperation with God. We will be caught in some eddy and we will watch the mainstream of God's purposes pass us right by. But, as Paul says, if we present our bodies a living sacrifice, if we will make ourselves available to him--our family, our time, our possessions, all that we have-- God will fill and use us.

Finally, in the first two verses of chapter 15, we note the response of the people who were gathered. In chapter 14 he closed with these words, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." And Luke says,

"Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him."

There is a significant connection here. It was the sinners and publicans who heard him, and wanted to be a part of this operation. They were willing to allow Jesus Christ to move into their lives and correct and to do whatever needed to be done, to qualify them.

"And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, 'This man receives sinners and eats with them.'"

The Pharisees and scribes were repelled because there was too much to give up. Jesus delights to take sinners and turn them into soldiers, if they will turn to him.

The Making of a Disciple Part 3 - Colossians 1:24-29

There have been some very difficult things to be said, because they are things that the Lord said. But I hope you understand that I am as much the target as you. These are truths that I want God to make real in my own life. I certainly am not standing in judgment on anyone, but I am convinced of the validity of these principles. I am anxious to see them working in my life, and in the Body of Christ at large.

A disciple must say no to all that he is and has if he is to follow Christ. I know we struggle continually with that, but what counts, of course, is the attitude in the struggle. Are we willing to follow and are we willing to be made willing to set everything aside? That is the key question. God never rebukes that attitude, although at times we may fall short in the performance of it.

There is a story having to do with Alexander the Great (I'm not sure about the historical accuracy of it), but the story is told about a young soldier who was called before Alexander for disciplinary action. The soldier appeared in careless, slovenly dress. Alexander asked, "Soldier, what is your name?" He replied, "My name is Alexander." Whereupon Alexander sprang to his feet, struck the soldier in the face, and knocked him down. And as the soldier was rising Alexander said, "Young man, either change your name, or change your profession."

Impressive, I thought, but how unlike the Lord, who never strikes us down because we fail to uphold the name of Christ in our behavior at times. How unlike him. His desire is to move in and to support and to supply the strength, the grace, the resources to conform us to his concept of a disciple. As we saw last week, he will turn a sinner into a soldier, if we are willing to make ourselves available to him.

C. S. Lewis said, "We are all men under construction." There may be bits of unfinished lumber showing here and there, and a few protruding nails and unsightly scaffolding, but you can see that a work is in progress, that the builder has committed himself to bringing the building into conformity with the blueprinter.

Though we are unfinished, he is at work, and we can rely on that. As the Lord promised, every man who hungers and thirsts after righteousness will be filled. God's heart hungers to put us to use. He just wants us to be available to him.

Now we want to look at the third and fourth aspects of discipleship: the goal of discipleship, and the method by which this goal is to be achieved.

Colossians 1:24-29.

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the divine office which was given to me for you [Paul's office was that of an apostle and teacher], to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom [there is the method: warning and teaching that the word of God may be made fully known], that we may present every man mature in Christ [and that is the goal: to present every man mature in Christ]. For this I toil, striving with all the energy which he mightily inspires within me.

You may question the use of the Apostle Paul as our example, because he did have a unique ministry. Not many of us are called to an apostolic office, that of church planning. It was Paul's ministry to go into unreached, pagan areas to plant the gospel. But even though his ministry was unique, the goal and the method of a man's ministry is the same, no matter what his office may be.

Now let us look first at the goal of our ministry. That is where we should always begin because as someone has said, "If you aim at nothing, that's exactly what you'll hit." We need to ask ourselves the question, "What are we doing to these people?"

What is the goal, what are we after? Paul states the goal in verse 28--to present every saint mature in Christ.

That's it! To produce maturity in every believer. The word that is translated "present" in this verse is the same word that we find in Romans 12:1 where Paul calls upon believers to present their bodies a living sacrifice. He uses it again in Romans 6 where Paul says we are not to yield our members as instruments of unrighteousness, but to yield ourselves to God, and our members as instruments of righteousness.

It is a military term that means, essentially, to stand at attention. In the army we learned that before you can give or receive orders in close order drill. you must call your men to attention. And so Paul says that his goal is to stand every man before God, ready to take orders, ready to move in whatever direction he desires.

We need also to define what this word " maturity" means. I think the simplest explanation is this: it involves understanding and acting on the principle that Christ is our life. It is discovering that, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

It is continually walking according to that principle that Jesus Christ is my life: depending, acting, thinking, working, living, responding, to that wonderful truth: Jesus Christ within, the hope of glory. A person who understands that principle and acts upon it is a mature man. The immature man acts and operates on the basis of the Law. He has an external code that coerces him into obedience. He is doing things for Christ, and living for Christ, and obedient to Christ out of a sense of duty. Paul says the Law is for the immature. It is necessary for the person that does not understand that Christ is our life.

But the mature man does not need the Law; he operates on the basis of grace. Not that he is lawless, but that Jesus Christ himself lives out through his life the righteous requirements of the Law. The mature man allows a living Lord to meet the demands of righteousness in his life.

Maturity is described oftentimes in scripture in terms of its effects, or results, as the ability to discern between good and evil, or to understand the deep things of the Scriptures. That is what a mature man does, but basically a mature man is one who understands and acts upon this principle: Jesus Christ, our life. Not dependent upon a law, not dependent upon a church, not dependent upon other Christians (except as we need them for fellowship in the Body), but dependent upon Jesus Christ and on him alone--no other basis for action. That is what maturity is: being independently dependent upon Christ.

Let us look at an illustration out of Paul's experience. Paul established a church in Ephesus, appointed leaders, then left them for a while. On a return trip, in Acts 20, we have recorded the words that he addressed to those elders that constitute his farewell to them. He told them he would not be back but he was leaving them with responsibility for spiritual leadership of the church. He assumed that these were mature men, capable of fulfilling the charge which he had given them.

His final words to them were, "And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified."

This was all they needed, the Lord of the Word, and the Word of the Lord. They needed nothing else. They did not need Paul; they did not need the apostles; they could move on their own. Now that is what maturity is, and that is what God is after in your life and in mine and in the lives of the people God will put us in contact with.

In Philippians 3 there is another statement that corroborates this principle. Verse 9 indicates his desire to be

"...found in him [and then, parenthetically, he explains what it means to be found in him], not having a righteousness of my own, based on the law [the law would be for the immature man, who needs it], but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith [activity that grows out of resting upon Jesus Christ]; that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."

Three attitudes, he says, that he carries about in his thinking as a result of his being found in Jesus Christ through faith: he wants to know him, intimately; and he wants to know the power of his resurrection life (to be able to face every circumstance with the mighty resurrection power of Jesus Christ); and he wants to share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. He identified with him in his death on the cross to the extent that he will set aside his rights, his goals, his ambition, his self, in order to allow Christ to live through him. Paul does this (verse 11) "that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."

Notice in verse 12, he says,

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfected, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature be thus minded.

Do you see what he is saying? If you are a mature man, this will be your mind'; "I want to know Christ. I want him living through me; and I want self to be reckoned dead, on the basis of the cross." This is our goal. Paul says, "My goal, the focus of everything I am doing in my ministry, is to present men as mature in Christ." It is not to build buildings, not to perpetuate programs, but to present people mature in Christ. This, Paul says, determines his message.

In Colossians 1:27 we read:

To them [his saints] God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

In Ephesians he talks about "Christ in you" in terms of the Church; in Colossians he talks about "Christ in you" in terms of the individual. It is the theme that runs all the way through the book. Christ is our life, the source of every activity. Paul says because his goal is to enable you to see that Christ is your life, his message is, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." The content of our message is Christ. The burden of our teaching is Christ. As the song writer said, "Beyond the sacred page we see thee, Lord." And as the Lord said to the Pharisees, who were perhaps biblically the best-taught people of their time, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. But they are they which testify of me."

We miss the whole point of the Scriptures when we teach them merely to understand the argument of the book, or the geography, or the history, or even just to know the book, as good as that may be. The purpose of all biblical teachings is to present Jesus Christ as the One who is adequate for living, and thus to present men as mature in Christ.

And our goal is not only maturity in terms of the individual, but maturity in community. As Paul points out in Ephesians 4, his goal is not only to see individuals mature, but to see them maturing in relationship to other believers so that they understand their place in the Body. They know what their place is, and they function in their place and altogether, as one Body. Every member functions together with the other members, each one drawing on the strength of the head--interrelated and ministering to one another. That is our goal, to present all men mature in Christ.

Now, the method. In verse 25 Paul says that he became a minister in order to make the word of God fully known. That is the method in general. He wants to declare the whole counsel of God. Going back to the mandate that we discussed during our first study together, the Lord said that we are to teach men all things that he has commanded. We must teach those mighty principles by which God operates. His method is two-pronged.

In verse 28 he says,

Him we proclaim, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom...

Warning and teaching. Teaching--instruction concerning specific biblical principles. Warning means to draw a man's life out to a fine point. You link specific need with specific biblical principle. There is no other way to bring a man into maturity than to teach him the truth of the Word of God, because it is the word of truth that relates men to Christ. Paul says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect [mature]; fully equipped for every good work."

The goal: to present every man in Christ. The method: by teaching.

Conclusion

Three military recruiters were to address a high school class to tell them about options in America's armed forces. There was a rigid 45-minute time limit for the assembly, and each recruiter would have no more than fifteen minutes for his pitch. The Army recruiter went first and became so absorbed in his task that he talked for over twenty minutes. Not to be outdone, the Navy recruiter spoke for twenty minutes too.

The Marine Corps recruiter, realizing that his speaking time had been cut to five minutes, walked up to the podium and spent the first 60 seconds in silence. Wordlessly, he gazed over the group of high school seniors. They knew he was sizing them up. After what seemed to be an eternity, the recruiter said, "I doubt whether there are two or three of you in this room who could cut it as Marines. I want to see those three men as soon as this assembly is dismissed." He then turned on his heel and sat down. Predictably, he was mobbed by a herd of young men when he arrived in the cafeteria.[2]

Jesus hasn't issued a call for "consumers of religion" or "inspiration junkies." Discipleship isn't something to be "talked into"; it is the divine challenge that makes everything about life on Planet Earth meaningful.

Jesus has called for a few devoted men and women who will join him in the difficult task of building his church. They must be willing to be misunderstood by unbelievers always and by fellow-believers at times. They will always be under attack from an invisible-yet-powerful enemy.

They may see no fruit from their labors, and their full reward will never come in this life. It may cost them everything and everybody they once held dear.

Crosses aren't "user friendly." They kill people! And until we are ready to die with him, it is sacrilege to claim we are following the Christ of the cross. My Father in Heaven has taught me that there are no free lunches in his kingdom.

[1]Donald G. Bloesch, "Theological Notebook I," Christianity Today (Vol. 40, No. 2).
[2]Steve Farrar, Point Man (Portland: Multnomah Press, 1990), p. 47.

 (Plantation is a suburb of Fort Lauderdale...just 10 minutes from Miami-Dade County, in the middle of college and pro football country and 20 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean).  Last modified: April 18, 2006