In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be My disciples.(Luke 14:33, ESV)
In the 2001 animated film Shrek, we meet Lord Farquaad, the pompous, proud, and vertically challenged villain. In one of the best lines from the movie, Farquaad sends out his knights on a high-risk mission to rescue a princess from a dragon.
With great feeling, he tells them, “Some of you may die. But that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”
The life Jesus Christ calls us to is radically different. Instead of expecting some kind of faux sacrifice akin to Lord Farquaad, Jesus demands a sacrifice that is personal and total. We’re called to surrender ourselves to Him and give our full allegiance to Him as the King who conquered death.
Jesus Himself came to slay the dragon and purchase His bride (the church) with His own blood. Almost every fairytale is just a dim reflection of the greatest story ever told.
Knowing Jesus made that ultimate sacrifice puts His demand on your life in perspective. In a world where you are encouraged to put yourself first, follow your heart, and live your truth, Jesus demands you deny yourself and follow Him. In fact, Jesus even said, “Unless you give up everything you have, you cannot be My disciple.”
Notice that Jesus doesn’t tolerate the easy-believism so prevalent today that thinks of Jesus as a ticket to Heaven, but not as the Lord of our lives. Jesus asked that searching question, “Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, yet don’t do what I say?” (Luke 6:46). As the risen Lord, Jesus calls us to give up everything for Him, to lay it all down at His feet and say, “Okay, Lord. It’s all yours.”
This means that we choose to find our identity in Christ, first and foremost. How you understand your identity is so important, because if you know who you are (or better yet, know whose you are), you can know what you should do. To give up everything for Jesus means that every aspect of your day should fit your identity in Christ. How you view your relationships, your career, your church, your money, and where you turn for rest, should all be shaped by Jesus.
If you’ve never thought of your relationship to Jesus as something that requires sacrifice, that should raise a red flag. Jesus emphasized repeatedly that there is a cost to following Him. Yes, there are rich rewards, both in this life and the next, and we certainly don’t want to minimize that. But if you’ve never felt like you had to give something up for Jesus, then you’ve missed something essential.
When Jesus called four fishermen to follow Him, we’re told that “they left everything and followed him” (Luke 5:11, ESV). While Jesus won’t necessarily call you to leave your career, He does call you to surrender it over to Him. In the same way, Jesus called Levi (also known as Matthew the tax collector) to follow Him as a disciple. This meant leaving behind his tax booth, which represented his livelihood and opulent lifestyle. But Luke tells us: “And leaving everything, he rose and followed him” (v. 28).
To reiterate the cost of following Him, Jesus gives two examples: a building project and a battlefield.
He says to the crowds:
“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 out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate 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 a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:28-33, ESV)
How foolish, Jesus says, to start constructing something you aren’t committed to finish. And who would engage in a war without considering what it will take to win?
Have you counted the cost? Are you willing to put everything on the line for Jesus–even your own life?
It’s important to ask yourself some honest, gut-level questions:
Is there anything I’m not willing to give up for Jesus?
Is there anything in my life that I’m prizing more than Jesus?
Is there a sin I’m unwilling to repent of?
Am I giving Jesus time for communion with Him?
To live as His follower is to enter into His joy. Following Him will cost you everything, but the reward for following Jesus is beyond compare.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, following You is the greatest joy of my life. It’s an adventure of faith, and it’s exciting to see all the ways You are at work in my life and the lives of those around me. If there is anything in my life standing in the way of deeper intimacy with You or faithfulness to You, please reveal that to me by Your Holy Spirit. In Your Glorious Name. Amen.
Have thoughts on this post? I’d love to hear from you!
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:24-27)
Who are you following? Although many cultural analysts have pointed out that the younger generations (Gen Z and Millennials, like me) have a low view of authority, I always feel the need to question that (please note the irony). Jokes aside, it’s largely true that our culture has a suspicion of institutions and authoritative figures. On the other hand, as congenital sinners, we all come into this world with a rebellious aversion to authority–namely God’s (see Romans 1:18-25)!
However, it’s also true that everyone still has an authority they look to for guidance. It may be a parent, a professor, a coach, a mental health professional, or whomever you’re following right now on X or YouTube.
While Christians generally speak of discipleship to Jesus, everyone is a disciple because everyone is inheriting a worldview and way of life from others. To be a disciple is to be a learner or student who sits under the teaching of another. Jesus said, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40, ESV).
A disciple adopts the thinking and way of life of his or her teacher. Whether it’s subconscious or not, everyone is being discipled by someone. Some people are discipled by their phones or by Google. Some people are discipled by their peer group. Others by their favorite author.
We are all being guided and formed by those to whom we listen and receive instruction. Usually, our discipleship is informal and hardly acknowledged. A teenage boy who constantly listens to music that is degrading to women is being discipled to think a certain way that will lead to certain attitudes and behaviors.
It’s unavoidable, because it’s part of our wiring as image bearers of God. We were made to live under authority. Contrary to popular thinking, there’s no such thing as a totally autonomous individual. Those who think they are most liberated from all authoritative constraints are generally the most blind to the ways their peers and their culture have formed their life and thinking.
Enter Jesus. When the Son of God visited this planet, He knew how you are wired and that you need instruction for living. He didn’t merely come to heal us (but thank God, Jesus is a humble and gracious Savior). Jesus came to teach us the truth.
While standing before Pontius Pilate, He gave the good confession:
“For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37, ESV)
Jesus came to open our eyes to the reality of God as a holy and loving Father. He proclaimed an authority that transcended this world: the kingdom of God. He called people to deny any claims to autonomy, take up their cross, and follow Him unconditionally. Most importantly, He was crucified for our sins and rose again, demonstrating He truly is King and the way to eternal life. And He gave His Holy Spirit to all who trust in Him, to unite His people as the church, and empower us to follow Him together as His witnesses.
Jesus said that to hear His words and put them into practice is to build your life on a solid rock (Matthew 7:24). No other foundation for life will do.
So, are you living as a disciple of Jesus Christ? Have you repented of sin and wrong thinking? Have you yielded your life to Him, received His forgiveness, and embraced His call on your life?
If you don’t follow Jesus, you will follow someone.
Have thoughts on this post? I’d love to hear from you!
“For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20, CSB)
Prayer is powerful. I don’t say that to be cliché; I say that because Jesus taught us this. Time and time again, He called us to pray boldly and passionately in His Name.
I also cannot deny the ways my wife Whitney and I have been wowed by God’s grace and perfect timing in answering our prayers in incredibly specific ways. There are too many to count but let me just give a few examples.
Before we met, my wife Whitney prayed for the wisdom to find the right man to marry and that this fellow would arrive at her church’s college group with several others so that she wouldn’t know immediately who that man would be. A short time later, I visited that college group with a handful of others, because I was invited by the pastor who led that group while I was working at Applebee’s. The rest, as they say, is history.
Another time, I was in a Bible study, and one man shared that his very young grandson had a brain tumor the size of a golf ball. For several weeks in a row, we prayed for healing each time we met. One morning, he came to our study with amazing news. The tumor had not only shrunk—it was completely gone. Not a trace of it. In fact, I know of numerous cases where someone plagued with life-threatening cancer has been totally healed. Just yesterday, I heard of another answer to prayer of a dear woman who received the glorious news that the latest scan revealed she is cancer free.
I can think of another time when Whitney and I were raising money for a short-term mission trip to Guatemala, and we were a little short on the green stuff. We prayed passionately and specifically that God would supply the money we needed for the trip in whatever way He saw fit. He came through in various ways to provide us with exactly what we needed. I remember my heart swelling with joy as I thought about how God had so lovingly answered our sincere requests so that we could go on this mission trip together as a young married couple before we had any kids.
These are just the tip of the iceberg. I really could go on and on with examples of how God has provided answers to prayers—often in ways we never saw coming.
As these come to mind, I sometimes wonder why I don’t pray more often or more passionately. It’s not as though God has ignored me in the past. Lately, He’s been really challenging me to lead from deep, heartfelt prayer, as opposed to only praying with passion when something goes wrong. The Lord wants me to admit my shortcomings and acknowledge my great need for His power in every aspect of my life.
Jonathan Edwards said that when we ignore prayer, we “live like atheists or like brute creatures,” and “live as if there were no God.” Why would we ignore our direct line to the One who reigns over all?
If anything is worth doing, it must come by God’s power, not my own strength. Therefore, I need to be drawing power from the Lord in everything I do if I want to have an eternal impact. The Bible reminds us, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16, ESV). Our prayers have “great power” because they are directed to a God who is known for doing what is humanly impossible (Luke 1:37).
I’m reminded of the story of Elijah. He prayed fervently for God to send the rain when Israel was enduring a drought while the wicked King Ahab was on the throne. In 1 Kings 18, we read:
And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees. And he said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” And he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go again,” seven times. And at the seventh time he said, “Behold, a little cloud like a man's hand is rising from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.’” (1 Kings 18:42-44, ESV)
Elijah didn’t just pray once, see there was nothing, and then give up. No, the text emphasizes how he prayed fervently seven more times for the rainclouds to show up. He understood that God wants us to pray with passion, expectancy, and repetition. At the very first tiny sign that God had answered his prayers (after all, a hand-sized cloud seems like a bit of a letdown), Elijah confidently sent word to Ahab, “Get in your buggy and go, because the rain is a-comin’!” God answered his prayers in such a way that no one in Israel could chalk up the sudden change in weather to mere happenstance.
Imagine an Israelite saying, “Finally! We’re getting rain after three-and-a-half years. How lucky are we!”
Elijah’s prayers made the difference.
Through this prophet’s prayers, God turned the rain off and then back on 42 months later, raised a widow’s son to life, and shot down fire to engulf a thrice-soaked altar to vindicate Elijah’s claims about Yahweh, not Baal, being the one true God of the world. Clearly, we’re meant to see that Elijah’s prayers were powerful. God can change the weather conditions whenever and however He wants. He’s sovereign over this world. But, as in our lives, He chose to change the circumstances in response to the prayer of one of His faithful followers.
When we read about Elijah’s ministry, we are rightly in awe of how the Lord worked through him. However, before we lionize Elijah as a biblical superhero and assume we could never pray like him or see God work wonders before our eyes, we should consider what James says about this.
“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.” (James 5:17-18, ESV)
James is reminding us that the situation is not so different for us today. At the end of the day, Elijah was just a man; he had a nature like ours. And God Himself hasn’t changed, because He never changes (Malachi 3:6). If Elijah prayed to the same God we pray to today, why should we expect our prayers to be less effective? The whole reason James brings up Elijah as an example is to say, “You too can pray with power.”
So go to the Lord today and pray with passion, boldness, and expectancy like Elijah did. There is no telling what massive changes God will bring about through your prayers. After all, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.”
I pray this encourages you. If you have any thoughts or questions about this, I would love to hear from you!
Throughout my life, I can think of several dates when the plans for my day were totally upended. The death of a relative. An unexpected phone call. 9/11. A co-worker tragedy. In most of these examples, when the plan for the day was totally canceled, someone died. Death has a way of intruding into our life, changing plans, and unexpectedly causing shock and grief.
In ancient Israel—as is true for many Jewish people today—the first thing the faithful do is recite the Shema, the confession found in the Torah: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, ESV). The one exception that put all prayers on hold is when your parent died. In that case, burying your father or mother takes precedence over everything, out of reverence for the one who raised you.
This helps us understand a passage in the Gospel of Matthew when a man pledges to follow Jesus after he first buries his father. We expect Jesus to say, “Of course, you must first give your father a proper burial. But then come follow Me!” Instead, Jesus gives this jarring response: “Follow Me, and leave the dead to bury the dead.”[1]
For those who have derived their image of Jesus from the culture, this statement is always puzzling. They picture Jesus as a nice guy who walks around with a lamb on His shoulders and a nice smile, hugging everyone He meets simply because He is so full of niceness (trust me, that’s a word).
Now, don’t get me wrong. Jesus was and is the most loving person to ever grace the planet. But quite often Jesus showed tough love—which is the kind of love that says things we don’t think we need to hear, but desperately do. In the words of 1 Corinthians 13:6, it’s a love that “rejoices in the truth.”
Jesus didn’t always say what sounds “nice” and affirming, but He did always tell us what we need to hear. And in this instance, He was teaching about the danger of delayed discipleship. His point was that no matter what else we may think is urgent and essential, nothing can take priority over following Him. In light of the Bible’s strong emphasis on caring for one’s family, Jesus’ statement here is all the more surprising.
Jesus knows that sometimes people will look for excuses for why they can’t follow Him today. Sometimes, people will use family as an excuse.
To such people, Jesus says:
“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”[2]
Stop and consider for a moment how insanely self-centered this would sound on the lips of anyone else. Do you still think Jesus was merely a good teacher of moral ideals?
Offensive? Maybe. But necessary for each of us to hear.
At another time, Jesus gave a parable (which is a story meant to illustrate the kingdom of God) about a man who decided to host a great banquet at his house. He sent out invitations to all his close family and friends. “But they all alike began to make excuses.”[3]
Some claimed they were too busy. They had purchased fields or oxen that demanded their care and attention. Another said, “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.”[4] Each person seemed to have a good and reasonable excuse. It’s not as though they were all at home playing video games or binge watching Netflix. But they were excuses nonetheless.
Jesus said the master of the house became angry when people rejected his generous offer. After all, he was providing a sumptuous feast, free of charge. Because those who were supposedly closest to him rejected his offer, the master sent his servant to go and “bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.”[5] After all, those who had less in life would recognize the generosity of this invitation.
After his dining hall is filled with everyone from “the highways and hedges” far and wide, the great banquet can finally begin. Then, somewhat disdainfully, the master of the house says of those who turned down his invitation, “I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.”[6]
The message is pretty clear. Those who put off Jesus and His invitation into life in the kingdom of God are missing out on the joy He is offering.
To say it again: Nothing is more urgent or important in your life right now than discipleship to Jesus.
We might imagine that while we can’t follow Jesus today, we will certainly square things up with Him later. We might even think it’s better to live for ourselves today so that we will better appreciate grace later. But here’s where people need to take care. Sin has a way of hardening the heart that puts Jesus off. How do you know you aren’t hardening your heart against Jesus today? If you don’t have time for Jesus today, what makes you think you will suddenly have time later in life?
The spiritual sage J. C. Ryle offered this warning:
“Habits of good or evil are daily strengthening in your heart. Every day you are either getting nearer to God, or further off. Every year that you continue unrepentant, the wall of division between you and heaven becomes higher and thicker, and the gulf to be crossed deeper and broader. Oh, dread the hardening effect of constant lingering sin! Now is the accepted time. See that your decision not be put off until the winter of your days.”[7]
In reality, no matter what excuse we might come up with for why we are delaying discipleship to Jesus, that very excuse might be the roadblock that keeps us from ever coming to the party. Beware of excuses in your own heart. Take warning from Jesus’ parable. What a tragedy it would be to miss out on the very thing that gives our lives meaning not only for this life, but for all eternity.
In the words of Jesus, “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”[8]
If you have any questions about any of this, I would love to hear from you!
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:18, ESV)
Every major company in the world today has a mission statement. Mission statements tell us the company’s purpose, the reason they exist in the world, and what they seek to accomplish. For example, Amazon’s mission statement is “to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”
When the Lord Jesus gave those first disciples the Great Commission, He was giving them a mission statement for the church. That mission is to multiply: to go and make disciples.
Just like every corporation has a CEO at the top calling the shots, King Jesus gets to call the shots for the church. He purchased her with His own precious blood. He is not just a shareholder; He has every right and authority over every aspect of the church’s life and mission.
And lest we forget the obvious: Jesus is alive! He’s not merely the founder from ages past. He is the alive and active Owner, Lord, and King of His church. You didn’t get to decide what the church’s mission is when you became a Christian, and neither did I. We receive our marching orders from our Lord. He tells us what the church is to be about. But the first thing we must recognize is that Jesus is reigning at the right hand of the Father and actively leading His church, even as you read this sentence.
Let’s consider the full context of Christ’s Great Commission.
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped 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 Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20, ESV)
It’s essential for us to understand that this is the mission He gave to His whole church throughout history, not just a select few in the first century. We can know this because the mission is comprehensive. The command was to make disciples of “all nations” or people groups,[1] not just those in the Mediterranean world. This is the mission that every disciple of Jesus is called to and has been called to for the last 2,000 years.
This last week, I had the privilege of getting to know a missionary couple with three kids serving in Africa. It was encouraging to hear about their passion for reaching those who don’t yet know Christ, particularly among the Muslim population where they live. It is right for us to praise God for the miraculous work He is doing through them. At the same time, they reminded us that we are all called to this mission.
This calling will take different shapes and forms and require a variety of gifts, but the mission remains the same. As a follower of Jesus Christ, your mission is to go and make more followers of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the Risen Lord of the Universe
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18, ESV)
The resurrection gives Jesus the authority to make every demand of us that He wishes.[2] If You have just conquered death itself, then it’s only right that people sit up and listen to you. And here Jesus is speaking not only as the risen Messiah, but as the eternal Son of God. And God the Father has bestowed on Him all authority. Look at how comprehensive this claim is: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.”
Who talks like that? Think of this from the perspective of someone who is investigating the claims of Christ for the first time. Wouldn’t this sound like the most egocentric claim you can possibly make? “All authority in the entire universe belongs to Me! I rule the entire cosmos! I am the resurrected King of all reality!” Wow. If you were one of the disciples, wouldn’t you be trembling before Him at this point? Wouldn’t you be in awe of Him? The only other option is to wholesale reject Him.
This is why C. S. Lewis made the case that no one intellectually honest can really conclude that the biblical Christ is just a good moral teacher. Why? Because “good moral teachers” don’t make claims like this. Socrates didn’t make a claim like this. Buddha never made a claim like this. Jesus says everything belongs to Him. We can either utterly reject Him and His claim, or we can fall on our faces and worship Him. Those are the only options for us.
This is the same Jesus who said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matt. 24:35). The great irony with Jesus is that He makes claims that are so audacious that if uttered by anyone else would sound ridiculous. “All authority in heaven and on earth belongs to Me.” Have you ever heard your boss talk like that? What about a United States president? No, because in anyone else’s mouth, it sounds ridiculous. If Napoleon or Genghis Khan had said “All authority in the universe has been given to me,” we would immediately know they have a bloated sense of self-importance.
Yet, with Jesus, when He makes these claims, somehow we believe Him. Scripture says that’s because the Holy Spirit has opened our eyes to the truth that we would otherwise think ridiculous.[3] The great paradox with Jesus is that while His claims were immeasurably lofty, His character was equally humble and compassionate. This is what makes the truth that God has become a man so powerful.
One day every politician, religious leader, CEO, dictator, and citizen will have to give an account of their lives to Jesus. He will be their judge, and they will bow before Him (Philippians 2:9-11). As the risen Lord, Jesus has been given all authority to judge the world (John 5:22; Acts 17:31)
The Mission is to Make Disciples
“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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20a, ESV)
Now that we know who is giving the mission, we come to the mission itself. Jesus says that this is what His church is to be about. This is the purpose for our existence, and this is how we bring glory to God the Father. It’s all about disciples making disciples. It’s about Spirit-empowered multiplication.
The original Greek can be translated, “Disciple as you go.” In other words, as you are going where God calls you—school, family, workplace, another country, etc.—disciple those you meet. But it’s implied that we will be going into the world, not hiding from it. It’s easy for us to want people to come to us. I sometimes think of how nice it would be if that person I’ve been wanting to share the gospel with came up to me and said, “Hey, can you tell me how to have a relationship with Jesus Christ?” Wouldn’t that be great if it worked that way? But here’s the thing. It usually doesn’t work like that. We must be willing to go.
The moment we surrender our lives to Him, Jesus recruits us for this Great Commission to reach the world for His name. We start where we are, but we’re always to be looking beyond where we are. This is a global mission that includes “all nations.”
Elsewhere Jesus tells His disciples, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).
Jesus is saying something like this: “This good news of great joy that I’ve been telling you about… this news that there is forgiveness of sins in My name… you are going to proclaim this to the whole world, you and believers who come after you. Together, we are going to reach every dark corner of the world with the brilliant light of hope. Before I come back and bring a final end to Satan’s rule, I’m going to see to it that this good news of a Savior reaches every nation.”
This is how Christ’s kingdom will advance. Not by mighty armies that leave a trail of blood, but by mighty, Spirit-empowered proclaimers that leave a trail of love. Jesus said that the Kingdom would grow, not like a tank that levels everything in its path, but like a little mustard seed eventually blossoming into a beautiful and vibrant tree. It’s a kingdom that will grow out of love, sacrifice, and hope. And it’s a kingdom that will eventually outgrow every kingdom and empire that came before it.
Jesus said we are commissioned for a worldwide discipleship program. Again, we are to start where we are, but we are always to be looking beyond our tiny sphere, because God is up to something much bigger in the world than just what He’s doing in your hometown.
What Is a Disciple of Jesus Christ?
Jesus said to go and make disciples, but just what is a disciple of Jesus Christ? It’s a very Christian word, and by that I mean it’s not often used in other contexts outside of Christian circles. But it’s an important word, used over 260 times in the New Testament. The basic definition of the Greek term disciple (mathetes) is “learner.” A disciple is one who learns, but not just for the sake of learning but to follow in the steps of the master they are learning from.
And we can see this when Jesus says things like, “It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master” (Matt. 10:25a).
So, the idea is that a disciple of Jesus is one who both learns from and follows after Jesus with the goal of becoming like Jesus. Therefore, when we talk about growing in discipleship, we’re talking about growing more and more like Jesus in your character, attitudes, and actions. And that’s the goal of the Christian life: to be molded and shaped by the Holy Spirit at work within you to become more and more like Jesus. To love like Him. To think like Him. To be pure like Him. To care about the things that Jesus cares about. This is all contained in that idea of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
And Jesus says we disciples are to go and make disciples. We don’t just sit on our hands and wait for God to bring people to our doorstep. We are to go. Remember, Jesus didn’t stay in the comfort of heaven and wait for us to climb up to Him. He came down to us. And His going down to us set a pattern for us. We are to go out and engage with the lost world around us. We aren’t to shut them out, ignore them, and pretend they aren’t there. We aren’t called to be a holy huddle cloistered off from the big bad world. Jesus tells us we are to go and make disciples.
To become a follower of Jesus Christ is a spiritual transformation. It can only happen as one puts his faith in Jesus, asking Him to forgive him of all his sin. It’s at that point of conversion—or radical inward renewal—that one first becomes a disciple. From that point a life is transformed, but it’s not automatic. That’s just the beginning point.
“…baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” (Matthew 28:19)
Baptism is meant to be a public declaration that you have begun a life of following Jesus. You’re saying to the world, “I’m His. I belong to Him, and my new aim in life is to live for my Lord and Savior.”
Does baptism save? Going into the water is not what gives spiritual life, since there’s nothing we can do to save ourselves. Salvation is all by God’s grace through faith—not good works (Ephesians 2:8-9). It’s a gift we receive, not a reward we earn. But baptism is often used as a synecdoche—a term for our union with Christ and the public confession that accompanies faith. At a wedding, the bride may say, “With this ring, I thee wed,” but everyone understands the ring to be a symbol of the commitment to love “till death do us part.” If the ring slips off later that day, the marriage is not thereby annulled because the ring was always a symbol of the marriage itself.
Baptism is that first act of obedience where you affirm on the outside what has already taken place on the inside.
When an athlete is first signed by a team, it’s official when the contract is signed. He’s a member of the team from that point on, but to celebrate that, the athlete puts on the jersey and announces to the world, “I’m with this team now.” That’s what baptism is. What God has done with you in the private of your own heart, you are taking public. You’re telling the world what has already happened, “I’m with Jesus now.”
And we are baptized in the name of the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—because all three persons of the one God had a part in our salvation. The Father elects and draws you. The Son redeems you with His blood. And the Holy Spirit gives you new life in Christ, sealing you as one of His own.
“…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…” (Matthew 28:20)
Since a disciple is a learner, the follower of Jesus needs to be taught. They need hear the words of God from Scripture. They need to be in the Word regularly so that they are encountering God on a consistent basis, knowing what God envisions them to be.
A follower of Jesus Christ is not a lone ranger. The best way to grow is by becoming a part of a community that lives together under the authority of the risen Lord. When Christ is confessed as the Head, the church functions as His body. That’s why it’s so important for Christians to read Scripture together, study it together, sing its truths together, and be shaped by Scripture in personal devotions. We need the Word of God to cleanse our mind of wrong thinking. We need God to speak into our situation and give us direction. This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
The Mission is Accomplished through the Power of Christ
This is such an important point. We need to see that the risen and reigning Lord of the universe has called us to be world changers. He has called us to make a difference in the lives around us. He wants us to engage the lost, love the unlovable, and be about a higher purpose than our own self-centered desires.
Jesus wants us to have a kingdom mindset, where we look at the world as something that needs to come under Christ’s reign and authority. To be merely concerned with our own personal welfare is to live in disobedience. But—and this is essential—all of this can only be accomplished through the power of Christ.
We can only accomplish the mission that God has given us as disciples of Jesus Christ if we are living in dependence on the Holy Spirit. That’s why I love the way Jesus ends the Gospel of Matthew. He says, “And behold [i.e., nowdon’t forget this] I am with you always, to the end of the age” (v. 20).
Let’s be honest. We need this reminder that Jesus is with us. We can’t see Him today. We don’t have Him physically on earth. He’s in Heaven right now. But at the same time, He is truly with us. In fact, He’s closer to us now than He ever was with those twelve disciples on earth.
Jesus told His disciples in the upper room, “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7).
If I’m one of those disciples, I’d be thinking, “What? Jesus, how can it possibly be better that You go away? We want You here. We want You to stay with us. Don’t leave us.” Have you ever wondered why Jesus ascended into Heaven? Didn’t it seem kind of strange that just as His church was just about to really take off, Jesus, quite literally, takes off?
I can’t explain it all, but Scripture teaches us that in God’s plan, the Holy Spirit could only indwell us if Jesus first ascends to Heaven from where He could send Him. So how is Jesus with us to the end of the age? He’s with us through the Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes inside, Jesus comes inside through Him. He’s present by the power of the Spirit. That’s why to depend on the Holy Spirit is to depend on Jesus. The two work in tandem.
As long as we are left on earth, our mission is to multiply. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to go and make disciples of Jesus Christ, and we can only do this through the power of the Spirit at work in us. That’s why we need to plead with Him to do a mighty work in us and through us. We need to plead for God to send out harvesters into the fields. So who is God calling you to pour into today? What part do you have to play in God’s global and local mission?
Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!
[1] The Greek term is best translated as “ethnicities” or “people groups,” but also generally means “Gentiles” (non-Jewish peoples).
[2] In the book of Acts, Peter says, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:38).
[3] See 1 Corinthians 12:3 and 2 Corinthians 4:4-6.
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ (Matthew 25:31, NIV)
I don’t know what comes to mind when you hear the word faithfulness, but for me the word conjures up the image of faithful men and women I have known personally who have proven themselves trustworthy and loyal for many years. With such people I can share my burdens without fear of betrayal or rejection.
I know I’m biased, but I think of people like my dad, who has remained true to his convictions throughout his many years as a pastor and has held the course morally. I think of my mom, too, who has been faithfully by his side through thick and thin times in ministry. I also think of people I know who right now are overseas and have literally given their lives to the mission of reaching people across the world with the saving message of the gospel.
I also think of people who have been doggedly committed to Jesus Christ throughout church history. Men like Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards, and Charles Spurgeon. And women like Hannah More, Susanna Wesley, and Corrie Ten Boom. And many, many others who were mocked, maligned, and sometimes murdered for their unashamed commitment to Christ above all else.
I wonder who comes to mind for you when you think of those you consider to be outstanding examples of faithfulness. There’s something about these people that we just can’t help but admire.
A Rare Quality
Faithfulness is a word I don’t hear all that often outside of Christian circles. In fact, it’s listed as a fruit of the Spirit, meaning it’s something that God the Holy Spirit produces in us (Galatians 5:22). If I was to boil faithfulness down to one definition, I’d say this: Faithfulness describes you if you are consistently loyal to the persons, principles, and plans to which you have committed yourself.
While “faithfulness” might sound like a religious word, even secular people are drawn to this type of person. People may use words like “reliable” and “dependable,” but even better than that is one who is “faithful.” And you know something? While people can’t help admiring the genuinely faithful person, the reality is that such people are somewhat rare.
“Many claim to have unfailing love, but a faithful person who can find?” (Proverbs 20:6, NIV)
Hypocrisy doesn’t look good on anyone. But for the Christian, our integrity matters even more so, because we aren’t merely representing ourselves. We are ambassadors of Christ, representing His Name wherever we go.
That reminds me of the young man who came to his boss and asked for the day off to attend his grandmother’s funeral. His boss said, “Of course, you can.” The next day, the young man walked into the office, and his boss said, “Say, do you believe in resurrection from the dead?” The young man said, “Yes, in fact, I do.” His boss replied, “Interesting. Because after you left work yesterday, your grandmother came to visit you!”
Not Flashy nor Fickle
Faithfulness can be a powerful testimony of the Lord’s work in our lives, but we should be clear about something. Faithfulness is not about making a huge impact in the world. It’s not about getting your name in the paper or winning some Pulitzer Prize. Our motivation for faithfulness is Christ, and the fuel of our faithfulness is the faithfulness of God. God is supremely faithful to us. This is essential to get right, because we live in a world that values convenience much more than faithfulness.
Many people are motivated by the approval of others. It can be tempting for us to think, What others don’t know about me can’t hurt me. But the truly faithful person aspires to follow Christ even when no one is looking. Or even when obeying Him might earn us the disapproval or mockery of others. When you begin to hunger for the world’s approval, remember this exhortation:
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Hebrews 12:3-4, ESV)
Others may have abandoned you, but God has promised to never leave you nor forsake you. Others may have deceived you, but God has never lied to you and never will.
Despite our best efforts, we will never master faithfulness in this life. I know that might not sound super encouraging, but the point is that this is something we always need to grow in. So, if you’re looking for the perfect example of faithfulness, don’t look at Billy Graham—though he was a great example of faithfulness—but instead look to Jesus Christ, the only One who was perfectly faithful.
People have all kinds of motives for wanting to do what is right. Maybe it’s that they don’t want to get in trouble. Maybe they want to look good in front of others. But for Christians, we have a much higher motivation. We should want to do what is right out of faithfulness to Christ. He’s our motivation! We are not our own; He has bought us with a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Wherever He Has You
So, even though we want to love a lost and hurting world, we really shouldn’t be seeking the world’s recognition. If your motivation is the approval of others, your faithfulness will only extend as far as people are willing to applaud you. Seeking the world’s acceptance has led many Christians down the dangerous road of compromise. Certainly, we should care about our testimony, but ultimately we live for an Audience of One. And we are called to be faithful to Him wherever He has us.
The story is told of a man taking a long walk down at the beach when he noticed a young man picking up a starfish and hurling it into the ocean waves. The older man was a little amused, so he asked, “Son, why are you doing that?” The youth told him that the stranded starfish would die if left on the beach in the morning sun. The man smiled and said, “But the beach goes on for miles, and there are millions of starfish. How can your efforts make any difference?” The young man looked at the starfish in his hands and then threw it into the safety of the waves. “It makes a difference to that one,” he said.
We are called to make a difference where we are. Wherever you live, work, and have your being, God has sovereignly orchestrated the circumstances so that you can be a light in a dark world. That’s why God uses the entire church in His kingdom work on earth. The failure or success of the kingdom does not ride on the shoulders of any one of us. Christ promised, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18, ESV). But if we are faithful in the place that God has called us, it will make a difference that will find its echo in eternity.
Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!
From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He went around healing, teaching, and calling people to follow Him. When people followed Jesus, they began a life of transformational discipleship. In other words, people did not have to meet certain criteria before becoming His followers. They only had to leave their life of sin. Jesus didn’t call people to clean themselves up. He simply said, “In whatever place you find yourself, come to Me. Come to Me and begin a new life following Me as Lord, Teacher, and Savior.”
Interestingly, in the call to follow Him, Jesus included a call to reach others. Jesus told those rugged fishermen on the Galilean shore, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19). He tells them that part of following Him is calling others to follow Him, too. Multiplication is at the core of what it means to be a follower (disciple) of Jesus.
Jesus was teaching these fishermen about discipleship using language they were familiar with: “Look, you guys know how to catch greasy fish in a net. I’m appointing you to catch greasy sinners in the net of grace.”
In other words, you don’t see any indication in the Gospels that it’s possible to faithfully follow Jesus while pursuing a monastic life of perpetual solitude or taking a “just Jesus and me” approach to spirituality. If you truly want to follow Jesus, then you should be concerned about helping others follow Jesus, too. Put another way: True disciples make more disciples (see Matthew 28:18-20).
This was true for those fishermen, and it’s true for everyone since then.
The “Grace First” Approach
Jesus called people with what I call the “Grace First” approach. In other words, Jesus called people to follow Him and forsake their life of sin, but He didn’t say, “Let me take a look at your track record and see how you’ve spent your life so far. Let me see if you check all the boxes of true righteousness.”
For goodness’ sake, just look at the kind of people that Jesus picked, and you’ll know they weren’t exactly on the honor roll for holiness. You’ve got Peter, a man with no verbal filter. Then you’ve got John and James, brash brothers who seem bent on incinerating those who look or think differently from them (Luke 9:52-55). Somehow, these three were considered His closest friends! All twelve came with lots of baggage, terrible habits, and troubling issues. They came with checkered backgrounds. Yet, Jesus didn’t say, “Go back and get your life straight, and then come follow Me.”
He showed grace first. He came to them with the clear mindset that He wanted them, even if they were woefully unworthy of Him. And you know something? Followers of Jesus can forget this, but this is how we all came to Jesus. Here is every Christian’s testimony in a nutshell:
“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” (Titus 3:3-5a, NIV)
We didn’t become Christians “because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.” It wasn’t by our holy records. It wasn’t by our outstanding moral achievements. It was by His blood shed on the cross. It was by His call to trust in His sacrifice for sins. It was always grace first.
And so, because He welcomed us with grace first, He expects us to do the same to others.
Matthew the Tax Collector
Matthew was a disreputable tax collector, and his own people hated him for it.
Today in America, our stomach tightens when someone mentions “taxes” or “the IRS.” But this is nothing compared to the way first century Jews viewed tax collectors. They were seen as vile, corrupt, and loathsome. The scum of the earth. Jewish tax collectors were commissioned by the occupying Roman Empire to tax their own countrymen, and they were notorious for overtaxing their own people in order to skim off the top an extra portion for themselves. In other words, in the eyes of their fellow Jews, tax collectors were not only turncoats who had betrayed their nation, but also greedy cheats who had become wealthy by extorting their own people.
More respectable and religious Jews were probably saying, “You know what’s wrong with our country? You know why God isn’t blessing us like He used to? It’s because we have guys like that tax collector over there running around!” They were utterly despised.
That was Matthew. Just imagine how seared your conscience must be for it to be your daily practice to cheat your own people in order to pad your wallet! Nearly everyone hated Matthew. Nearly.
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. (Matthew 9:9, NIV)
The account is simple and straightforward, but to watch this scene unfold would have left every upstanding citizen scratching their head. The other disciples might have been thinking, Oh no, Jesus. Not Matthew. Anyone but him.
Changed by Grace
It’s not just Jesus’ choice of Matthew that’s shocking. Equally surprising is Matthew’s sudden willingness to go with this Jewish rabbi. Could it be that Matthew, hardened though he was, sensed a love from Jesus that he had never experienced before?
At the beginning of Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables, Jean Valjean is a recently released criminal. 19 years in a French prison have left Valjean bitter and hard-hearted. After being turned away at every inn and tavern, he stumbles upon the house of a bishop, Monseigneur Myriel. When Valjean tells Myriel who he is, he expects to be turned away once again. But instead, the bishop says, “You need not tell me who you were.” He tells Valjean, “This is not my house – it is the house of Jesus Christ.” After feeding Valjean, the bishop invites the ex-convict to stay the night. In the middle of the night, Valjean’s old habits get the better of him. He stuffs the bishop’s silverware in his knapsack and slips away while the bishop sleeps.
Before long, some policemen catch him with the silverware and force him to take the walk of shame back to the bishop’s house. Valjean knows that he is done for – he had blown his only chance and would likely be imprisoned for the rest of his life.
But then something astonishing happens. Before the officer can explain the crime, the bishop marches right up to Valjean. “Oh! Here you are! I’m so glad to see you. I can’t believe it. You forgot the candlesticks. They are made of pure silver as well… Please take them with the forks and spoons I gave you.” Valjean is stunned. So are the policemen. After dismissing the officers, the bishop says, “Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. I have bought your soul from you. I take it back from evil thoughts and deeds and the spirit of Hell, and I give it to God.” From that moment on, Valjean is a changed man… changed by grace.
In an even more profound picture of grace, Jesus sought out Matthew, even while he sat in the tax booth, and called him to Himself. Jesus Himself says in Luke 19:10 that “the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
“He Left Everything and Followed Him”
Like Valjean, Matthew was utterly lost. He was a man without a lick of spiritual potential. And yet, Luke tells us that when Jesus called Matthew, he “left everything and followed him” (Luke 5:28, NIV). That’s significant. Matthew was forsaking his old way of doing life and embracing the call to follow Jesus in the new way.
Interestingly, we learn that Matthew invited Jesus over for a dinner party at his house, and many of his old pals were there. This created quite the scandal. After all, these people were the gangsters, thugs, and prostitutes of this time. For a Jewish rabbi to associate with that ilk was unheard of, because by eating with someone, you are in some sense identifying with them. The religious leaders grumbled about Jesus eating with “sinners and tax collectors.”
Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31-32, NIV)
Notice that Jesus had no problem identifying Matthew and his friends as the sick and sinful, those in need of repentance. But He showed astonishing love to them by eating with them and expressing a genuine concern for them. His call to repentance was adorned with grace.
If Jesus called others to repent with a grace first approach, then as His disciples who are called to make more disciples, we should do the same.
Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!
Lamp and Light 