Five Marks Of A Real Disciple

Five Marks of a Real Disciple

Luke 14:25-14:35

• One of the jobs Jesus left us to do was to make disciples.

• There is a difference between a believer and a disciple.

In this passage of scripture, Jesus provided five vivid images, and used each one to teach a lesson about discipleship. Let’s number them as we read the text:

Luke 14:25-35 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: [26] (1) "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple. [27] (2) And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. [28] (3) "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? [29] For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, [30] saying, ’This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ [31] (4) "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? [32] If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. [33] In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. [34] (5) “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? [35] It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

People interacted to Jesus on several different levels. It’s like a set of concentric circles.

• On the outside you have the crowd. The mob following Jesus knew who He was, but they would soon be gone

• A deeper level of commitment is the congregation. These are people who attend church on a fairly regular basis. In other words, they “congregate” with other people to worship, but are not an active member of any local church. They never really committing themselves to serve Jesus.

• A deeper level of commitment is the church. This circle represents those who have affiliated with a local church and have a deeper level of intimacy with Christ and His body.

• But there is a level deeper than that which we could call the committed. These are the ones within the church who are real disciples–they are radical Christians–sold out to Jesus. Like in many organizations, in our church about 20% of the people do 80% of the work and give 80% of the financial support of the church. That’s the committed core.

I. A FAMILY: LOVE JESUS SUPREMELY

a. Are you surprised Jesus said that to be a disciple you must hate your family?

I read about one pastor who entitled his message on this text, “How to hate your wife.”

b. You may be asking yourself, “Doesn’t He talk elsewhere about loving everyone, including our enemies?”

c. Hyperbole is an intentional exaggeration to emphasize a point.

My wife uses hyperbole all the time when she says something like, “I’ve told you a million times to put the seat down.” I know it isn’t a million times (only half a million).

d. the Greek word is “sane”, which means “to prefer above.”

e. To be a disciple, you must love Jesus more than you love anyone else–even family members.

f. It is also true that sometimes your love for Jesus will alienate you from others, even your family.

A few years ago, a former Muslim, Ergon Canner, came to know Christ and joined a Baptist church. It was a tough decision for him because he knew the moment he became a Christian, his family back in Iran would not just disown him, they would have a funeral for him and consider him to be dead. He had to make the hard choice, but he followed Jesus–even though His family opposed it.

g. If you truly follow the Lord, you won’t have to look for people to ridicule you

h. Matthew 10:22,37 “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved…Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”

Heather Mercer and Dana Curry were arrested by the Taliban and held prisoner for 128 days in Afghanistan. They both attended Baylor, and surrendered their lives to be fully devoted followers of Jesus. A couple of weeks ago, Dateline interviewed Heather Mercer’s mother. It was the kind of story the media likes because they discovered Heather’s mother was totally opposed to Heather’s decision to work in Afghanistan. The media really tried to play up the story to show Heather’s commitment to Christ had divided her family. They wanted to keep asking her how she could do something her mother opposed. In her new book, Prisoners of Hope, Heather wrote: “We answered hard questions posed by our families and friends. Extraordinary are the parents who don’t balk at the idea of their child moving to a third-world, war-ravaged, drought-stricken country–and, in this case, a country serving as a hub for international terrorist activity. That we had decided to go as Christian aid workers to a country where a harsh, unpredictable regime severely curtailed religious freedom gave most of our loved ones pause at best, and otherwise prompted serious alarm. We were asked: ‘Aren’t you being foolish? Why would you jeopardize your own safety?’”