Giving Up All Our Possessions
True discipleship involves a radical change of attitude towards our relatives, self-life, and possessions, giving up everything to God.
Zac Poonen emphasizes the third condition of discipleship, which is giving up all our possessions as stated by Jesus in Luke 14:33. He illustrates this with Abraham's willingness to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, showing that true surrender means considering everything we have as belonging to God. Poonen challenges believers to lay all their possessions on the altar, including bank accounts, property, relationships, and talents, in order to love God with all their hearts and attain a pure heart as mentioned in Matthew 5:8.
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The third condition of discipleship is that we must give up all our own possessions. Jesus said, "No one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions" (Lk. 14:33).
Our possessions are what we possess as our own. To give them all up means that we no longer consider anything as our own.
We see an illustration of this in the life of Abraham. Isaac was his own son - his possession. One day God asked him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. And Abraham laid Isaac on the altar and was ready to slay him. But God intervened and told him that the sacrifice was not necessary, because he had proved his willingness to obey (Gen.22). After that, Abraham recognised that even though he had Isaac in his house, he no longer possessed him as his own. Isaac now belonged to God.
This is what it means to give up all our possessions. All that we have must be laid on the altar and given up to God.
God may allow us to use some of those things. But we can't think of them as our own any more. Even if we are living in our own house, we must think of the house as God's; and that He has allowed us to stay in it rent-free ! This is true discipleship.
Have we done that with all our possessions? Our possessions include our bank-account, property, job, qualifications, gifts and talents, wife and children and everything else that we value on this earth. We have to lay them all on the altar if we want to be true disciples.
God wants us to love Him with all our heart. That's the meaning of `the pure heart' mentioned in Matthew 5:8. It's not enough to have a clean conscience. A clean conscience only means that we have given up sin. A pure heart is one that has given up everything!
And so we see that true discipleship involves a radical change of attitude towards: (a) our relatives and loved ones; (b) our self-life; and (c) our possessions. Unless we face these issues squarely right at the beginning of our Christian life, it will be impossible to lay a good foundation.
Sermon Outline
- I. The Third Condition of Discipleship
- A. Giving up all our own possessions
- B. Jesus' requirement for discipleship (Lk. 14:33)
- II. What it means to give up all our possessions
- A. No longer considering anything as our own
- B. Laying all on the altar and giving up to God
- III. Examples and Illustrations
- A. Abraham's willingness to obey God (Gen. 22)
- IV. True Discipleship
- A. Laying all possessions on the altar
- B. Recognizing God's ownership of all things
Key Quotes
“No one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.” — Zac Poonen
“It's not enough to have a clean conscience. A clean conscience only means that we have given up sin. A pure heart is one that has given up everything!” — Zac Poonen
“Even if we are living in our own house, we must think of the house as God's; and that He has allowed us to stay in it rent-free !” — Zac Poonen
Application Points
- We must be willing to give up all our possessions, including our bank-account, property, job, qualifications, gifts and talents, wife and children, and everything else that we value on this earth.
- We must recognize God's ownership of all things and lay all on the altar, giving up to Him.
- A pure heart is one that has given up everything, not just sin, and is a requirement for true discipleship.