Discipleship
Follow to the Extent Jesus Says – Part Two
Discipleship demands taking the words of inspiration and making them your life now so that you might have life forever. The Master says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (Jn. 6:63). We tend to identify ourselves by…
Read MoreFollow to the Extent Jesus Says – Part One
A number of Old Testament passages provide the subtext for the entire discussion between Jesus and His would-be followers. After Jesus already had fed the five thousand miraculously, the crowds reminded Jesus of how the LORD fed the Israelites in the wilderness, attempting to goad Him into continuing to provide them food. Paraphrasing Psalm 78:24, they…
Read MoreFollowing When It Is Difficult – Part Two
Jesus’ question, “Does this offend you?” deserves another, more specific consideration. When we take offense to the more taxing demands of following Jesus, discipleship will indeed be difficult. Nevertheless, those requirements do not go away. They do not fade into oblivion given enough time. They stand strong through the centuries, calling on all people to…
Read MoreFollowing When It is Difficult – Part One
Nowhere will you find in the Bible that following Christ is going to be easy. In fact, the apostle Paul told Timothy, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2:3). Yet people seem to make that assumption on their own–and to their own detriment. They see all the…
Read MoreFollowing All the Way
The sixth chapter of John begins with Jesus performing miracles and feeding the five thousand (John 6:1-13). This miracle caused them to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, but only in the sense of an earthly king (John 6:14-15). They wanted a leader, but only if he could fulfill what they wanted. Therefore, He left them…
Read MoreNothing Held Back – Part Three
God did not give the best of heaven for His people to focus on the things of earth, whether worldly goods or worldly praise (Mt. 6:19-21). Our Savior calls us to follow—no matter what and with everything we have and are—because He loves us, just as He loved this young man (Mk. 10:21). But for…
Read MoreNothing Held Back – Part One
In response to Jesus’ citation of various commandments from the Law, The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have…
Read MoreNo Escape Clause – Part Two
The Lord requires obedience to ALL of what He says. When Jesus responded to the man’s question, He implied yet another essential aspect of a disciple’s obedience that we often neglect. When the man replied to Jesus’ simple call for obeying God’s commands, “He said to Him, ‘Which ones?’ Jesus said, ‘”You shall not murder,”…
Read MoreNo Single Act – Part Two
People set an artificial limit for what they must do for Christ—how much they must attend (Heb. 10:24-25), how much they must give (2 Cor. 9:6-7), how much they must be involved (1 Cor. 15:58), or how much they must change (Acts 17:30). This attitude betrays us. On the night of His betrayal, Jesus walked…
Read MoreNo Single Act – Part One
We seem to have a tendency to make things as easy on ourselves as we possibly can, and that certainly appears to be the case spiritually. In regard to salvation, many people act as if God has provided some one-time act on our part that automatically causes Him to ignore the rest of our lives.…
Read More