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January 8, 2006
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Discipleship
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Pastor Brian Shimer
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"Who can be a Disciple?"
Luke 9: 18-27
- Who can be a disciple? Can anyone?
As Jesus walked along through Israel 2000 years ago, he had many, many people following him. They were groupies. But then he called many also to specifically "follow" him. And some of these he later named his apostles, his "sent out" ones who then took the message to other villages.
Here in Luke 9 after Peter had identified him as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Jesus announces to all his followers who can become a disciple.
It is upon this passage, our year's memory verses that we will focus for the next couple weeks.
As we begin this year on discipleship we need to understand what a disciple is, who can become one and how.
But before we get that far, first the question is, "do you consider yourself a disciple of Jesus Christ?"
I know of a lecturer who, before he began, asked of his listeners:
"How many of you claim to be Christian believers?"
Many, many hands went up.
Then he asked, "Who claims to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?"
Many of the previous hands went down leaving only a few hands raised.
What happened? Today, in this culture especially, there is an unbiblical view of faith prevalent. There is the idea that a Christian is a person who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and a disciple is someone who has received him as Lord. Or, said another way, people seem to imagine there are "two" types of Christian commitment.
Like the newly converted NBC vice president when asked how his new faith would affect the moral standards of programming at NBC, who responded: "All it does is give me peace of mind in my personal life. But whether it will affect my programming, it doesn't."
(quoted by Greg Ogden in Transforming Discipleship, Downers Grove, IL: ivpress, c.'03, p. 29, ubp).
For him there is a divide between faith and action, so his "discipleship" need not affect his work.
This is a totally false idea. Jesus called "followers" and those "followers" were his disciples, who left work and family to travel with him, whose commitment to Jesus changed all their lives. In his call to discipleship there was no category of half-hearted, or half-committed follower. After all a disciple is someone whose personal attachment to Jesus shapes all of life.
Even in this passage of Scripture after this section on becoming a disciple, Jesus has a series of encounters (see v. 57 ff) which illustrate that being his disciple is a commitment to Jesus, a no turning back kind of deal. Jesus says there, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God" (9:62).
- So then as discipleship demands our whole lives, who can be a disciple?
Even with all this, Jesus says "anyone" can become his disciple. He says, "If anyone would come after me," so, It is a matter of decision to follow the Lord. Yes, anyone can decide to turn from their way to His.
But there is no believing in him, no salvation, without a life that follows Jesus. There must be both belief and life. It is not a matter of just an ascent to what God has done and then you can live any old way you please. But rather that your ascent to the saving work of Jesus Christ on your behalf changes your life.
Further Jesus specified that those who do choose to come after him must do three things, they must deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow Him. Becoming a disciple of Jesus changes everything - just as it did for the first disciples. Their outlook on life, on how to live, on what was important, on what it meant to serve and worship God, all this was transformed because when Jesus said, "Come, follow me," they did.
So it is for us. Christian Faith means that your faith is affecting your life.
- So I just want us to look at this first "condition" of discipleship today, that "you must deny yourself…". What does it mean to deny myself?
Some have said that it means to deny things - luxuries or necessities. And following Jesus may involve denying ourselves some things, but that is not what Jesus is getting at here.
Others say that it means to deny our self worth - to have a lowly attitude, a "woe is me" kind of demeanor. I have a problem with that for such a demeanor would not make us look much like Jesus, and the Apostle John wrote that the follower of Jesus must "walk like Jesus walked" (1 John 2:6). In addition Jesus was "anointed with the oil of joy above his companions" (Hebrews 1:9), and you cannot have a "woe is me" attitude and walk in joy.
Others have said that it means to deny our feelings, to become like the Buddhist, a stoic in the face of suffering, denying the sorrows and joys, always claiming everything is fine when nothing is fine at all.
Others say it means to deny our happiness. Indeed, these folks would claim that if you are happy, something is wrong with your obedience to Jesus. To follow Jesus means to be miserable, that the only place God would call you would be to your last option.
Finally others have said it means to deny your brains - you cannot be a thinking person to accept Jesus, it is a leap of blind faith, it is irrational to believe in miracles, the virgin birth, the great resurrection, the ascension of Jesus. It is a denial of mental faculty.
Does denying myself mean all these things?
Imagine with me for a moment a room full of people who believed that to deny yourself meant all that I have listed thus far. Can you imagine any more miserable, woeful, self focused, motley group? Is that to walk like Jesus walked?
All these then must be barking up the wrong tree. What does it mean to deny self?
Our memory verse translates the phrase as denial of selfish ambitions. It is the career-stalking young executive who sees the effect his pursuit of the name plaque and the bigger income is having upon his young family who says "no" to the next promotion, perhaps even choose a demotion and lives on lower pay in order to be available to his family. To have followed his ambitions to the sacrifice of others God has placed in his life would be to serve a different god, a god of self, a lord-me.
So when Jesus is saying "Sally, deny yourself" or "Ellen, deny yourself" he is not saying to deny brains, happiness, feelings, self-worth or necessarily things, but to deny following that part of yourself that wants to be god
We must say a decisive "no" to "Lord me".
We know that when Peter denied the Lord, he denied ever having known Jesus, so for us to deny ourselves is to treat our selfish desires as if we do not know them.
To deny "lord me" does not mean I have to leave the world entirely and go into seclusion. Jesus demonstrated how he wanted us to live and that was in the context of this sinful world. He retreated to time alone with the Father regularly, but his life was lived in relationship to ordinary people, he ate and drank with tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners.
In fact, we have seen in church history again and again that just to live in a monastery or convent does not mean we have died to our "self serving" tendencies. The Roman Catholic Church of the 1500s was rife with corruption and wickedness, which sparked the Reformation reaction against it. Likewise today people can take on the roles of church - even become a pastor and wear a fancy robe week after week, but be just as self serving in the process.
- So how do we truly deny ourselves? How can we refuse to fulfill our selfish desires to get the applause, to be liked, to be our own gods?
First we have to become aware of the places where we are being "self serving" and then turn from them. This awareness comes as we are willing to truly meet with God and listen. It also comes as we are willing to have people in our lives who will be boldly honest with us. Do you have people like this in your life?
Listen to the questions asked in the Wesleyan Band meetings of the 1700s in England. These were the small groups which helped people to deny self. The adherents met weekly and as often as the occasion offered, asked these questions. First, Have you the forgiveness of your sins? Have you peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ? Have you the witness of God's Spirit with your spirit, that you are a child of God? Is the love of God shed abroad in your heart? Has no sin, inward or outward, dominion over you?"
And then, "Do you desire to be told of your faults? Do you desire to be told of all your faults, and that plain and home? Do you desire that every one of us should tell you, from time to time, whatsoever is in his heart concerning you? Consider! Do you desire we should tell you whatsoever we hear, concerning you? Do you desire that, in doing this, we should come as close as possible, that we should cut to the quick, and search your heart to the bottom? Is it your desire and design to be on this, and all other occasions, entirely open, so as to speak everything that is in your heart without exception, without disguise, and without reserve?"
Then at every meeting they were asked:
1. What known sins have you committed since our last meeting?
2. What temptations have you met with?
3. How were you delivered?
4. What have you thought, said, or done, of which you doubt whether it be sin or not?
(John Wesley, Jackson's Works, v. VIII, pp. 272-273, ubp)
Not enough married couples are even so honest with one another, but need to be. You see being a disciple of Jesus Christ is about the whole of life, but we all tend to put disguises over ourselves, we hide behind whatever gives us the veneer of importance, we act a certain way to be accepted. But Jesus says, "deny self" in order to follow me.
- A small group is essential to be able to do this. It may be something you and your spouse can do together - if you are willing. But a small same gender group will help you grow in honesty, build connection with others, build trust, and be able to hear the truth about your life. So this year, I am encouraging everyone to get into a small group.
To "deny ourselves" we need deepening relationships with others. We cannot do this alone, we cannot just live in the pretence of Christian faith without the honesty of sharing our hearts with others.
My accountability partners and Karen and my kids to a great extent keep me honest with the faith I am living. They will tell me when I am living for my own ends rather than living for God's glory.
Anyone can become a disciple of Jesus, and the first thing that accompanies that faith is a turn from self, a desire to glorify God.
The result of such living is tremendous-it is so freeing. The fruit of God's Holy Spirit is able to spread more abroad in our hearts. The fullness of God's power is more manifest. There is a deeper experience of God's love and God's presence. All this because we say "No" to the desires that are so rampant within, and "yes" more fully to Jesus.
Do you have such people to help you deny yourself, to deny that part of you that wants to be lord?
This is the beginning of discipleship, it is the beginning of being a follower of Jesus Christ.
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