Episode 56 - The Great Commitment

With this episode I am starting a series of episodes to look at what it means to walk with our Master.  In this episode I explore what a disciple is and what it means to be commited in our walk with our Master.

I invite you to follow our podcast and share it with others as together we walk with our Master.

Please contact me if you have questions or you wish to share with me something about your walk with the Master. My email is walkingwithourmaster@gmail.com

The Prattville family meets at 344 East Main Street, Prattville, AL. Our web site is: https://prattvillechurch.org.

And please, leave feedback using the "Send us a text" link above.

Transcript

Hello friends, I'm your host Dave Laton and welcome to the podcast, Walking With Our Master, an outreach of the Prattville Church of Christ designed to inform, encourage, and teach as we daily walk with our Master. 

 Today I’m staring a series of podcast episodes where we will look at discipleship.  Now, I know, yet more lessons on discipleship.  Well, yes, but I hope that these will be a bid different for you and help you learn what discipleship is all about.

Let’s begin by looking at the title of this series, Applied Discipleship ~ More Than You Know.  There are three areas related to discipleship that are more than we know as we begin our service to the Master.   First, the cost of discipleship is more than we know or originally knew. We might have an idea by looking at others, and we intellectually understand what Jesus says when he tells us to give up everything to follow Him.  But most of us didn’t fully understand the cost until we grew as a disciple.  

 We also influence more than we know.  This is part of our role as disciples both intentionally and unintentionally. Influence is one of the ways we teach and lead others to also become disciples. 

And the third thing we learn more about is that the rewards offered by the Master are far more than we can comprehend. As part of this, we learn that our focus is not on self-gain but obeying the Master out of our growing love for Him.  That becomes the most important reward.  We grow to love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:36-40).

By applied discipleship we know that we must not only understand the concept of discipleship, but we must also put it into practice.  Our Lord speaks to this clearly in Matthew 7:24-27 as He teaches the well-known parable of the wise and foolish builders.  He concludes that we are wise if we apply what He teaches and foolish if we don’t.

With that basic understanding of the title for these series, let’s begin now to look at what all of that means.  

Some of the most popular shows on television are home improvement shows.  Something that often happens on these shows is that they come across unexpected issues that threaten to exceed the budget.  Sometimes more funds are available and sometimes planned elements of the remodel must be eliminated or altered to make funds available.  This usually leads to stress on everyone involved.  We can't help but wonder if, in their planning, they must have known the possibility of problems and planned extra funds into the budget.  In short, did they not count the cost?

 Or perhaps you've traveled by airline and have had to put a lot of serious thought into what and how you are packing.  You might have to decide that you can't carry something you want to because it puts you over the weight limit.  You know you will be charged extra, sometimes a lot extra if your travel bag is too heavy. In other words, as you pack you are counting the cost. Not only are you counting the cost, but you may also be making a values choice.  That is another way of counting the cost.

Jesus teaches us about this in Luke 14:25-33.  He warns us to count the cost of becoming His disciple.  He makes a very important point in verse 28-30.

"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.’"

He finishes this passage by telling us that we must be willing to consider the cost and to renounce everything to be His disciple.  This is a clear application to the entire passage.

It’s important as we count the cost of discipleship that we understand what discipleship involves.

Discipleship involves a relationship.  We cannot be a disciple of something by itself.  It involves establishing a relationship with the one we are following.  In the context of this study, it involves establishing a relationship with our Lord.  As we become His disciples, we are made a part of His body, the body of Christ through our submission to Him and our baptism.  As such, we have a relationship with Him and with others that are part of his body, also known as disciples.  We simply cannot be a disciple by ourselves.  We are added to the body of Christ and to a community of believers.

This is how the first century Christians were described in Acts 2:44 and Acts 5:14. In these passages he explains that believers were together and shared their life as they formed a community of believers. 

Like those in the first century, as our Lord continued in His ministry and later as the Church began to grow, we recognize our Lord as our Savior and Master. We become willing servants in the body of Christ, seeking to use our knowledge and skills granted to us by God for His purpose and glory. We seek to obey the Master no matter the cost, direction, or anything else.  This relationship is not something we fully appreciate upon our declaration of discipleship; rather, we grow in it as we mature spiritually.  And as we do so, we become increasingly like Christ in every aspect of our life.

A disciple is a follower.  Being a true follower means more than someone who just states they follow or go along with someone.  It expresses a level of devotion to a particular person.  Our Lord describes this as abiding with him (John 8:31-32).  He states that to truly be His disciple, we must abide in His word.  This means to live in and become what He teaches.

As Jesus began His ministry, He invited others to become His disciples.  He said, “follow me” many times in His ministry as He offered the invitation.  Sometimes it was a personal or one-on-one invitation.   For example, He invited Matthew the tax collector to follow Him.  Matthew reacted immediately by leaving his tax booth and began to physically as well as spiritually follow our Lord (Matthew 9:9-13).  Matthew would spend the rest of his life as a faithful disciple.  

 Another example of a personal invitation was when He invited Peter and Andrew to become disciples (Matthew 4:18-20).  Jesus approached them as they were working as fishermen and invited them to follow Him.  Like Matthew, they immediately left what they were doing and became life-long followers of Jesus.  

But more often, the invitation to follow Christ was a general invitation made to the multitudes that would come to listen to him.  The same happens to us today.  

A disciple is a learner.  Being a learner is perhaps the most common description of a disciple.  Jesus asks us to become learners of what He taught while on earth and then to put it into practice in our life (Matthew 7:24-27; Matthew 11:28-30).

Learning is more than simply acquiring information.  We are going to look at learning in more detail in another episode.  But for now, learning is a relatively permanent and observable change in knowledge, belief, and actions.  

The change involved in learning must be seen.  If it is not seen, how can we know learning has taken place?  Our Lord clearly teaches this in Matthew 7:24-27 as He taught what many know as the parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders.  He draws the distinction of a wise man, and a foolish man based on whether he "hears these words of mine and does them."

 As disciples, putting what we learn into practice means we demonstrate change in the way we think and how we act.  This is very similar to the concept of repentance.  Repentance can be described as changing the way we think and behave.  We think differently about who and what our Lord is and change our understanding and behavior to follow His teachings in our life.  Note that we do not stop learning and changing as we grow spiritually. It is a lifetime activity.  Even the apostles continued to learn as they taught and put into practice the teachings of Jesus during their ministry.  

One of the most well-known changes we experience is in the way we express the critical characteristic of love.  Jesus gave us a new understanding and identity as He said others will recognize us as His disciples if we love one another (John 13:34-35).  He said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).  The love He speaks of is known as "agape" love.  A form of love that puts others before self.  He not only taught this but showed it through His life and death. He put us before Himself by coming to earth to teach us God’s will and to die for our sins.  This gave us the opportunity for forgiveness of our sins and to be reunited through Him with God (John 14:6).  Later, His apostle John would teach this to us.  He says in 1 John 3:23 – “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” 

 A disciple is an imitator.  This characteristic of a disciple flows out of being a learner.  We imitate or practice what the Master, our Lord Jesus, teaches us and shows us.  Imitation is the lowest form of learning but is very important as we begin to grow in our discipleship.  It is not a blind imitation where we act as robots without understanding.  Rather, we grow in understanding as we continue to imitate our Master.  This leads to our being characterized as Christ like as we grow in understanding and practice.  In short, when others see us, we want them to see our Master.  

 Jesus stated in Luke 6:40: “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.”  In this passage, as in Matthew 7:1, Jesus was teaching about making true judgements. He was teaching that we must consider our own spiritual condition when we make judgements.  At the heart of this teaching were some of the key characteristics of Jesus:  humility, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness.  The teaching here that Jesus wants us to follow is we, too, must be like Him and demonstrate these characteristics in our life.

 Later the Apostle Paul would teach us in Romans 8:29 that we must conform to the image of God’s Son, Jesus.  Paul is teaching us that God had a plan from the very beginning to offer salvation to those willing to accept it.  He tells us about wonderful concepts like reward, hope, and eternal life.   We focus on living as our Lord wishes of us and then receive the promise of salvation from God.  An interesting transformation happens, though, as we grow more like our Lord.  Perhaps we begin with the idea of escaping punishment and gaining reward.  But as we grow spiritually closer to our Lord, we focus less on punishment or reward and more on acting in love as we seek to serve our Lord.  (Again, John 14:15 – If you love me, keep my commandments.)

 Paul specifically used the expression “imitate me” in 1 Corinthians 11:1. He says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”  This statement does not mean to simply imitate Paul, but to do so as he imitates Christ.  Our Lord is the standard.  What we do as Christians is to grow to be like Christ or to imitate those attributes and characteristics we learn of Christ.  The more we do so, the more they become who we are.  It begins by becoming a disciple of Jesus and continues as we grow spiritually as faithful disciples.

 Being a disciple for Jesus involves an additional characteristic not often thought about yet is a critical characteristic that becomes more of who we are as disciples as we grow spiritually.   

 A disciple is a champion. Being a champion can be understood in two ways.  The first is to be the best at something.  For example, a champion in sports spends years, perhaps a lifetime, striving to be the best at what he or she does.  

 Another way to understand the term champion is to represent something or someone.  The event of David and Goliath is a good example.  We read in 1 Samuel 17:4 that Goliath was a champion of the Philistine camp.  David became the champion of the army of King Saul of Israel.  They battled between themselves rather than the two armies.  We know the outcome of course, David defeated Goliath and the Philistines were defeated.

Our Lord teaches this in Luke 9:26. He states, "For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels."

 As disciples, we can apply the concept of being a champion both ways.  First, as champions for our Lord we seek to be the best servant we can using what God has given us in knowledge, skills, and abilities.  And we daily take up the cause of Christ to help others become disciples for Him.

Being a champion is not easy.  Just like a champion in sports, it involves total commitment and dedication.  As a champion for Christ, we too must give total commitment to becoming more Christlike and using our influence as we compel others to become disciples.          

From our discussion so far, it should be obvious that being a disciple is not easy.  It has a great cost.  Jesus spoke directly to this on several occasions.  One direct reference is found in Luke 14:25-33.  We’ll look at it later.  He clearly teaches that we must put everything aside and take on the cause of being faithful.  Yet again, it is more than we know.  Let's look more at the great commitment Jesus asks of us.

Discipleship Involves Total Commitment – This is perhaps the most difficult element of being a disciple for Jesus.  Jesus wants us to clearly understand that discipleship means total commitment.  In Luke 14:25-33, He uses the word “hate” to show that following Him must come first.  Hate is not a word usually associated with our Lord.  To hate something is understood as an intense feeling of dislike.  That is not what our Lord necessarily means, but it shows that He must come first.  Paradoxically, when we put Him first, we grow in love, not hate.  We rejoice in our relationship with Him.   We demonstrate our growing commitment as we guide others to our master through our love.  

Sadly, not everyone Jesus invited to become a disciple was willing to make the commitment.  Once, Jesus’ teachings became very difficult for some to understand and follow, so they turned away from Him (John 6:66-69).  Jesus used this event as a teachable moment for His apostles.  He asked them if they, too, would leave Him.  Peter replies, “Lord, to whom shall we go?”  Peter was communicating that no one else had the teachings for them to follow.  That is a truth we must adopt in our discipleship.  Only Jesus has the words of eternal life.  Others spoke of eternal life, but always with the understanding that it was only through being a disciple of Jesus.

Discipleship involves rewards - When we think of rewards, we often picture something given to us for our service, effort, or achievement (Dictionary.com).  It can be tangible such as a monetary reward or some certificate of achievement.  Quite often, a reward is intangible, something internal or personal to us. As disciples of our Lord, we also receive rewards in this life and in the promise of eternal life to come.  

 The rewards promised by our Lord include freedom from fear of condemnation (Romans 8:1), the Holy Spirit to help us (Romans 8:27), strength to help us overcome hardships and struggles in this life (Romans 8:37), and, as mentioned, eternal life (John 6:47).  Not to be discounted is the reward of fellowship with other disciples as we grow closer to each other and our Lord and are there to encourage, comfort, and nurture each other. 

When we become disciples, we are added to the family of God, the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:27-28).  Even though we might have a level of understanding of these, and other rewards, we don't fully understand their depth or scope in this life.  Part of the joy we experience is seeing growth in our relationship with the Lord as we grow spiritually as His disciples.

As mentioned in the introduction, another element of rewards for discipleship is that as we grow spiritually, our focus on rewards changes.  We understand that our Lord has promised these and other rewards so our focus on receiving rewards diminishes as our focus on serving the Master increases.  That opportunity to serve becomes a reward greater than we knew as we began our journey to Christlikeness.

 Becoming a disciple of our Lord is the most important decision we make in this life.  It affects all other decisions.  As such, it requires the highest level of commitment if we are to be successful.  It costs us everything, just as it cost Jesus everything to allow us to become His disciples.  

Discipleship begins with our relationship with our Lord. From there we commit to following, learning, imitating, and championing Him and His teachings in every area of our lives.  This is something we don't fully understand as we become disciples, but as we remain faithful and grow spiritually, our understanding of these characteristics grows.  Just as being a disciple costs more than we know, so are the rewards.  We will not realize fully the rewards as we live on this earth.  

 This life of a disciple is not for the faint of heart.  We must count the cost.  We cannot enter this relationship with a “try before you buy” mindset. We must be totally committed.  It also should not be entered into with a sense of desperation or fatalism.  It is impossible to fulfil our role of discipleship by ourselves.  But we are not by ourselves as we make the journey.  We have God, His Son, the Holy Spirit, and each other.

 Always remember, we can stand strong in our discipleship because of our faithfulness to our Lord.  As Paul stated in Romans 8:31, “If God is for us who can be against us?”

 As I begin to wrap up this episode.  I want to offer some questions to think about that will help us grow in our understanding of what a disciple is and the commitment involved.

State in your own words what total commitment as a disciple means to you.

 What makes total commitment to Jesus difficult?

 What does Jesus mean by hate as He makes the statement in Luke 14:26?

 What are some activities we can engage in as champions for our Lord?

 Read Matthew 28:18-21 and explain how accomplishing this command from Jesus relates to our level of commitment to Him?

 What does Jesus mean by His statement in Luke 9:24-26?

In our next episode we will look at who our Master, Jesus Christ is and does.

 I'm your host Dave Laton.  Thank you for joining me in this podcast.  I hope you will continue to do so. If you wish to share with me something from your walk with our Master or you would like to learn more, please email me at: walkingwithourmaster@gmail.com.

 I invite you to follow our podcast and share it with others as together we walk with our Master.  And until next time, remember, we give all glory to God the Father.