Discipleship

But I want to read part of two verses, first of all, in Matthew chapter 10. I guess I should put my glasses on. I need glasses to be able to read, but I don't need them to see you.

I guess I'm not old enough. Matthew chapter 10 and verse 1. And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples. Now verse 2, please.

Now the names of the twelve apostles are these. I want you to notice in verse 1, it's the twelve disciples. In verse 2, it's the twelve apostles.

Word apostle means a sent one. They were disciples before they were sent ones. Luke chapter 14, please.

And verse 16. I'm sorry, not verse 16, verse 25. And there went great multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them, if any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest happily, after he have laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it, begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build, and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth, whether he be able with 10,000, to meet him that cometh against him with 20,000? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.

So likewise, whosoever he be of you, that forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be my disciple. Salt is good. But if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill.

But men cast it out, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. There's no prize to those who guess what I'm going to speak about this afternoon. I want to speak about the subject of discipleship.

I want you to notice, as I mentioned, that the disciples were called disciples before they were sent ones. They had to learn before they were sent. Interesting that the Greek word comes from a verb that means to learn.

And that Greek word is the roots of our English word mathematics, which actually means disposed to learn. I was interested to discover that recently. The word doesn't appear in the New Testament after Acts chapter 21.

In other words, you never read the word disciple in the epistles. And some have presumed from that that the name disciple was displaced by the name Christian. But you'll notice, please, that it was way back in Acts chapter 11 that we read the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

The reason I say that is, obviously, the word disciple was still used after Acts chapter 11, because it appears in chapter 21. So even though the term disciple doesn't appear in the epistles, yet the truth of discipleship appears throughout the New Testament. And by the way, the term Christian only appears once in the epistles.

If I remember rightly, it's twice in the gospels, or rather twice in the Acts, and once in the epistles. But other than that, it doesn't appear. So it isn't displaced by the term Christian.

Both of them actually have a very similar idea as far as what they represent. They are both terms of reproach. Now, I don't know what you feel when you read these verses that we've read here this afternoon.

I'm reminded of the parable the Lord Jesus told of the talents back in Matthew chapter 25. I'm not going to go into that. Just to say this much, the man that was given one talent, he said to his master, I know that thou art an austere man.

So he had a misconception of the master. And as you read the verses that we've read together, and especially when three times over we read the expression, cannot be my disciple. On the surface of it, it seems that the Lord is being very harsh.

But what I want us to understand is this. If you and I are going to be something for God in a world that is hostile, then these words become very appropriate to each one of us. The Lord Jesus does not say he can be a lesser disciple.

He says he cannot be my disciple. Now, I'll outline the verses just in case I don't have time to cover them all. First of all, in verse 25, we have uncommitted multitudes.

Verse 26, we have unrivaled loyalty. Verse 27, unavoidable suffering and reproach. Verses 28 to 32, unthinking commitment.

That divides up into two parts because the Lord uses two illustrations. Verses 28 to 30, we have an unfinished project. Verses 31 and 32, we have an unchallenged foe.

Then verse 33, we have unhesitating renunciation. And verses 34 and 35, unsavory followers. Now, it breaks down a little bit more than that, but if I have time to deal with it, we'll get there.

I want us to think, first of all, of verse 25. There we read, and there went great multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them. Now, we know what he said to them.

What I want us to see in that connection is what the Lord Jesus had to say to this multitude of people was not conducive to getting the multitude to follow him. You know, we're living in the days of the super churches. There are some churches that boast of having 20,000 members.

And it seems that in the day in which we live, you're not successful unless you can build up a small congregation of people into a huge congregation of people. But what the Lord Jesus said to the multitude certainly would not encourage the multitude to follow him. Our job as servants of Christ is not to suit our messages to the audience in the sense of giving them what they want.

Our responsibility is to give them what they need. So we have here the uncommitted multitudes, and no doubt amongst the multitudes that were following the Lord Jesus at that point in time, there would be those who later cried, away with him, crucify him. We don't need the big crowds.

I go over to Russia every year. Sometimes I'm sitting down with two people, teaching them the word of God. I tell you this much, brethren and sisters, I would rather sit down with two people who really want to learn than a vast crowd of people who just really are not interested.

Far more can be accomplished with a few that are dedicated than with a huge number of people that are not interested. The Lord started out with 12. Okay, so you've got the uncommitted multitude.

Then I want us to see, please, in verse 26, unrivaled loyalty. If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Now I don't have time to elaborate on this, only to say this much, that what we have here is a comparative term.

Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Do you and I think that God hated Esau? I don't think so. I think what we have here there is a comparison.

By comparison with his love for Jacob, his attitude to Esau was one of hatred. The Lord Jesus tells us quite clearly, he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Parents are told to love their children.

Husbands are told to love their wives. So you can hardly read into this verse the literal statement that we should hate father and mother and wife and children. It's a comparative term.

In other words, if you're going to become anything for God, Christ must come first. Not your father, not your mother, not your wife, not your children, and most of all, not yourself. It's Christ that must come first.

So if God is calling you to service for him, you'll listen to him, won't you? Now, don't get me wrong. I do believe that if I'm going to serve the Lord in any capacity in the work of God, I have to take my wife into account. When I first started going to Russia, I had to consider my wife.

I'm thankful to God that I have a wife who was not only willing to go for me to go, but who was willing to come with me. But it could have been otherwise. But if you're going to be anything for God, Christ must come first.

I remember when my wife and I first started going together, we didn't go together as husband and wife. We went together as boyfriend and girlfriend. But when we first started going together, I can remember sitting on a park bench in Cardiff in South Wales and talking about the work of God.

And I told her at that time what I believe God had in mind for me for the future. It was going to be quite a number of years after that before the Lord opened the door for me to go into the work of God. But I wanted her to know right from the beginning what I believe the Lord had in mind for me.

And we discussed other issues, too, to do with the assembly and so on. I wanted to know where I stood. And I made the statement that when we're married, whether you go on with God or not, I'm going on with God.

Christ must come first. That's all I'll have to say on that verse. Come with me, please, to verse 27.

And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me. Cannot be my disciple. I'll tell you what the cross isn't.

It's not my three herniated discs in my lower spine. It's not your poor mother that you have to look after. This is a cross that is deliberately taken up.

And it's not the cross of Christ either, by the way, because when the Lord Jesus said this, he hadn't been to the cross yet. The disciples would very easily understand what the Lord meant by taking up a cross. Death by crucifixion was not only an extremely cruel and painful way to die.

It was the worst form of death that any Jew could ever imagine. Because the scripture says, cursed is every man that hangeth on a tree. This is unavoidable reproach and suffering.

If you're going to be anything for God, if you're going to become not just a disciple, but an apostle, I don't mean that in the technical sense, but in the sense of being one whom God will send. You must be prepared to pay a price. I'm glad that the work in Mexico was put over in such a way today to indicate to us all that it's not all roses, that it isn't all fun.

Because I'm convinced of this, some have gone into the work of God, whether in foreign lands or in the homeland, with expectations far beyond what they should have expected. And the end result has been disaster. Are you prepared to live a life of reproach and suffering? Are you prepared to discover that people don't all agree with what you have to say? I remember one time in Kamloops, we were having gospel meetings.

This was one of the early series of gospel meetings after the assembly was formed. And the Christians had never known what it is to knock on doors, so I decided that what we would do, we would go to a door, just so people could get used to the idea of knocking on doors. And one brother came with me.

He's not in the assembly now, he's moved away elsewhere. And the first couple of doors, we had a really nice reception. People were friendly.

I don't say they came to the meetings, but they were friendly and they were polite. But then when we came to the third door, the person was abusive. You know, it's amazing.

All of a sudden, knocking on doors to invite people to a gospel meeting became an outdated mode of expecting people to come. In other words, this brother from this moment on, had no interest in knocking on doors. They're not all friendly.

And especially when you go to foreign countries. People are not taught politeness like they are in European-based countries. I say European-based because basically North America is a European-based country, although that's changing, we know.

They're not all taught to be polite. Are you prepared to serve God in situations where you will find yourself exposed to all sorts of abuse? Okay, let's move on please. Time's rapidly running away.

We're supposed to be finished by quarter after. I'll try. Verses 28 to 32, we have two illustrations of unthinking commitment.

Verses 28 to 30, we have an unfinished project. Verses 31 and 32, we have an unchallenged foe. Why two illustrations? Well, I do believe it does give us two sides of discipleship.

First of all, what's the purpose of a tower in Bible days? Well, they would put a tower in a garden, for example. And the purpose of the tower in the garden was to look out for enemies, for creatures that would come and, for example, would take the grapes from the garden. Or you could have a tower in relation to a city.

And the purpose of the tower was to watch out for the enemy that were going to come and seek to destroy. So in relation to the building of a tower, it reminds me of the importance of watchfulness, of being on the tower, looking out for enemies. Because there are enemies, we are going to find ourselves faced with all sorts of situations that are not desirable situations as far as we are concerned.

There's a need to be watchful. On the other hand, you've also got the story of the man going against his enemy. He's only got 10,000 and the enemy's got 20,000.

Well, there, of course, we learn that discipleship involves warfare, right? Paul says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickednesses in the heavenlies. I won't elaborate on that for the sake of time. First of all, go back please with me to verse 28.

Verse 28, we have an unforeseen cost. It says, for which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it. So if you're going to be a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, you must sit down and count the cost.

To be a follower of the Lord Jesus involves a price that must be paid. Sit down and count the cost. Then please, verses 29 and 30, we have unnecessary derision.

He says, lest happily after he have laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish. We'll see when we come to the end of the chapter that the world, although they don't particularly love Christians, what they love even less than Christians are hypocrites. People who make great claims but don't follow through with it.

So here's a man and without giving much thought about it, he decides he's going to build a tower and he runs out of material and the tower remains unfinished. I remember one time when we had not long been in Canada, we were in Abbotsford and my wife and I went out for a walk and we went into the area of, well it was Clearbrook at that time, we went into this area and here was a whole stretch of homes, street after street after street, where the homes had not been finished. Now, whether they were all one project or not, probably they were, I don't know, but there had been a change in the economy and here were all these homes left unfinished.

Sometimes, you know, Christian life can be like that. We have a good start but don't have a good finish. We have to sit down.

We have to analyze what it costs to be a follower of the Lord Jesus. We'll see what conclusion we should draw shortly. Okay, now come with me to the next illustration, please.

Verse 31. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? So in both of these illustrations, the individual must sit down first and count the cost. Okay, now then, please, verse 32.

Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambushage and desireth conditions of peace. So, before ever you decide you're going to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus, sit down and count the cost. Listen, it won't cost you anything to become a Christian.

It will cost you a great deal to live the Christian life. That's the point, isn't it? So you really need to sit down and determine, are you really willing to go through with this? Young Christian, maybe someone here, you've only recently been saved. Sit down and realize that for you to be a follower, a disciple of the Lord Jesus is going to cost you something.

Sit down and analyze what the cost will be to be a follower of the Lord Jesus. We heard, didn't we, of a man who wasn't when he got baptized, the suitcase was placed outside the door. I heard of a young woman who decided she was going to be baptized.

Her father said to her, if you go through with this, you're going to have to leave the home. She struggled with it. She decided she was going to go through with it.

She got up in the morning, dressed, packed her things, and just before she went out the door, she decided she was going to sit down at the piano. I can't remember offhand the piece that she played, but her father was hiding behind the drape. And before she left the house, he said, stop.

I didn't know he meant so much to you. She didn't have to go through with it, but many a Christian has. I have a book at home.

It's only a thin book. It's called The Costly Calling. It's about people in Muslim lands who trusted Christ as their Savior.

One was just, I think, a teenage boy. He had just got saved, and he went home, and he told his dad. His dad beat him to death, literally beat him to death.

Listen, we don't have to pay too much of a price yet in North America, but who knows what 10 years will produce. It's not as easy today as it was 10 years ago. Sit down and count the cost.

But what is the conclusion that we're supposed to draw? When we sit down and count the cost, whether it be for the building of a tower or going against the enemy, what conclusion are we supposed to draw? Are we supposed to decide, well, I really can't afford the price? No. Look at the next verse, please. Verse 33.

So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my disciple. That's the only conclusion you can draw. The important thing is you must understand that there is a price in following Christ.

But the conclusion that you must draw is not only that there is a price to pay. But by the grace of God, you're going to be willing to pay the price. Here we have then unhesitating renunciation.

Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath. That word forsaketh not literally means to say goodbye to. Whosoever he be of you that doesn't say goodbye to everything that he hath cannot be my disciple.

Does that mean that we have to give up everything that we've got? No, it doesn't mean that we have to give up everything that we've got. But it does mean that we're willing to give up everything we've got if that's the will of God. I mentioned yesterday, didn't I, Paul in Philippians chapter two, chapter three, what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

Yea, rather. And I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. Now, isn't it easy to be able to make a statement like that? It is to just say it, but to say it and really mean it.

Sometimes we make statements and we think we mean it until God puts us to the test. Paul says, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but refuse that I might gain Christ. Christ meant so much to him that everything else, everything material lost its attractiveness to him.

So that for Paul, even though he lost everything, he really didn't feel as though he paid any price at all because what he got was far exceedingly above anything that he had ever lost. That's why Paul could say this light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Paul, are you beside yourself? This light affliction? Think of all that Paul went through as a Christian.

Ah, but he says, I'm comparing this light affliction with a weight of glory. On the other hand, he could say, which is but for a moment, Paul, you went through it for years. Yes, but he says, I'm comparing it with an eternal weight of glory.

So it to Paul, I think if you were to talk to Paul about the things that he suffered for the purpose of Christ, he might say to you, what things? I don't remember suffering anything because what he had in compensation far exceeded anything he'd lost. Listen, you and I can go in for short term gain and long term loss, or we can go in for short term loss and long term gain. I'll let you work out which is the wiser to go for.

Do you want short term gain and long term loss, or do you want short term loss and long term gain? Unhesitating pronunciation. Verses 34 and 35 have gone over the time. Unsavory followers.

I'll just refer to it. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost his savor, wherewith, wherewith shall it be a season? It is neither fit for the land nor yet for the dunghill, but men or they cast it out. He that have ears to hear, let him hear.

Listen, the world doesn't love a hypocrite. The world doesn't love a Christian who has lost his saltness. May you and I make up our minds that we're going to be something for God.

The Lord bless his word.