What Does it Take to be a Disciple?

I would like to start by asking for the indulgence of my readers. I have been spending the last few days studying for a test related to my day job. I have missed my writing. It is amazing how much more difficult it is to learn than to teach! I would also like to thank those folks that have been so loyal to my Monday morning Bible study. I appreciate their dedication. Perhaps some day in the near future, we can start another one that doesn't conflict with work.

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Are you really His disciple? I have been thinking about that a lot lately. A common answer given by most long-time Christians is, as the old song says, "I surrender all". Do you? I have come to the conclusion that there is no way to know if indeed we have surrendered all until God asks for it.

Jesus is pretty straight forward when he makes these statements in Luke 14: verse 26 says , “If anyone 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." Verse 27 states, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple." Lastly verse 33 says, “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions." I know that in an age of easy-believism, that these verses can be pretty disturbing. They are to me.

First, I need to make clear that the term "disciple" is not a synonym for "Apostle". Some might allege that Jesus is talking about a second level of commitment that is only reserved for those chosen few that were to walk with Him on this earth. This is certainly not the case. We can be certain of this, because of the antecedent verse, verse 25, "Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them. . ." It is obvious here that he is speaking to a large nondescript group that includes you and me!

So what is Jesus REALLY asking from us? Does He really want us to hate our relatives? YES, if we compare our COMMITMENT to our loved ones to our COMMITMENT to the Lord Jesus the contrast should be strong enough that it LOOKS LIKE we hate our family vis-à-vis our love for Jesus. In other words, if we are ever put in a position that we have to make a choice between Jesus and our families, we must choose Him. If we don't, we are in danger of being those "Lord, Lord" people described in Matthew 7, to whom God declares, "I never knew you. Depart from me you who practice lawlessness."

What does it mean when Jesus declares that we must carry our "own cross" in order to be His disciple? This is a little more cryptic. The best way to interpret the Bible is to let the Bible interpret itself. Earlier, Dr. Luke recorded another statement from Jesus regarding the cross: Luke 9:23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me." Obviously, taking up one's cross is associated with denial of one's desires. I would go as far as to say that if one truly wishes to be a disciple of Christ, he must use the instrument of death, the cross, to supplant all of his hopes, dreams, ambitions and desires. The question cannot be, "God, would you please endorse the plans I have for my life?" The attitude of a true disciple must be, 2 Corinthians 5:9 "Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him."

The last declaration of Jesus may be the hardest, especially in America in the 21st Century. If you don't give up all of your possessions, you aren't His. I have known many Christians that will say, "It all belongs to the Lord." There have been many business deals made in the name of making more money so that more can be given to ministry. It is a fine line between working "as unto the Lord" and tossing God a bit of the excess profit.

I have come to this conclusion. I do not believe that anyone really knows how they will react when God actually asks them to make a choice between something that they dearly love and Him. Sometimes it will be a choice between a human relationship that is emotionally satisfying and Jesus. Other times it may be a choice between a big salary and Jesus. He doesn't always ask us to make these choices in every situation, but invariably a Christian will end up facing a crossroads.

For me, the biggest decision that I've had to make was whether I should take up my cross and do what HE wanted me to do regarding my career, or to continue to try to do it my way. As I said in my last article, I had to come to the end of myself and make the decision to unseat myself as KING of my life, and understand that the Lord has a different plan for me. I have gone for over ten years working on replacing the seven figure income that I had in my old career. God has gradually and if I may say so, lovingly worn me out. I have finally said, "Jesus, WHATEVER you want me to do, I will do it." I think that for the first time, I actually mean it.

His servant,

D. L. Culiver