Are you a true disciple of Jesus? I believe you can find out by asking yourself a simple question: “Am I obeying the conditions for discipleship set down by Jesus Christ Himself?”
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Are You A True Disciple of Jesus?
Luke 9:23
I want to ask you an extremely important question this morning. Are you a true disciple of Jesus Christ? Now, please don’t misunderstand my question. As soon as some people hear the word “disciple” they think of a super committed Christian. In their minds there are “believers” and then there are “disciples”. To them, a disciple is kind of the spiritual Marines. These are those believers who really live out their faith in daily life. They renounce their old lives, and live their lives wholly for God and His glory. Many Christian leaders teach that you can be a believer and not a disciple. In other words, you can have Jesus as your Savior, but never surrender to Him as your Lord, and you are still genuinely saved and on your way to heaven! My friends, that is sheer nonsense. The Bible teaches that every Christian is a disciple, and every disciple is a Christian. The word “Christian” is just a nickname for the disciples of Jesus. In Acts 11:26 the Bible says, “The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” Before that time, there was no nickname. They were just called “Jesus’ disciples.” When Jesus gave the Great Commission, He didn’t tell them to make believers of all the nations. No, He told them to make disciples of all the nations. When He told them to make disciples of all the nations, He was telling them the same thing that we have recorded in Mark 16 when Jesus said, “preach the gospel to all creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved.”
So, when I ask you, “Are you a true disciple of Jesus?” I’m really asking you, “Are you a true Christian?” “Are you saved?” “Are you on your way to eternal glory?” I believe this passage will answer that question for you, if you will let it.
Remember, that Jesus has just asked His disciples who they say that He is. Peter, speaking for the rest, said “You are the Christ of God.” And Peter was exactly right. Jesus is the Christ of God, the Messiah, the Promised Deliverer, the Prophet, Priest, and King that God would send into the world to save His people from their sins. However, because Jesus knew that the people of His day had a skewed understanding of what the Messiah would do, He told them not to tell this to anyone. The prevailing opinion of Jesus’ day was that the Messiah would be a great Conqueror. He would be a great General and King, like David. He would throw off the Roman yoke, and free Israel from any political or military oppression. However, Jesus didn’t come to be a political or military deliverer. He came to be a spiritual deliverer. His mission was to serve and lay down His life a ransom for many. That’s why He told them in verse 22, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.” They expected the Messiah to reign on the throne of David with pomp and royal splendor. Instead, Jesus said He would face suffering, rejection, and death. Then in the very next breath He tells them that if they come after Him, they must face suffering, rejection and death as well. Not only does Jesus have a cross, every one of His followers has a cross as well. Notice the two “musts” of verse 22 and 23. Jesus “must” suffer many things, and be rejected and be killed. Moreover, if anyone wishes to come after Him, they “must” deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him. Like Master, like servant.
1. A True Disciple Denies Himself
Now, Jesus is not telling them they must practice self-denial. Many different religions practice self-denial. Many people will give up sweets, or cigarettes, or liquor for Lent. That’s not what Jesus is talking about. Jesus is not talking about self-denial. He is talking about denying “self”. There is a huge difference between the two. The word Jesus used for “deny” was the very same word that was used to describe Peter denying the Lord three times. What did it mean when Peter denied Christ. It mean that he disowned Christ, he repudiated Christ, he turned his back on Christ. Jesus is teaching that when a person comes after Him, they must disown themselves, repudiate themselves, and turn their back on themselves. When a man denies himself, he stops living for self, and starts living for Christ. He recognizes that “self” has no rights. A man who denies “self” recognizes that he has no authority over himself. Self gets off the throne, and Christ takes the throne. A man who denies himself is a man who has completely submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ. He has given Jesus the right to tell Him whatever He wants, and He is committed to following Him and obeying His teaching. He recognizes Christ is the Master, and he is His slave.
Now, who does this apply to? Is it only to those who are super-committed, while the rest of the church can live pretty much how they like? Luke 9:23 says, “And He was saying to them all.” Mark 8:34 says, “And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them…” Notice what Jesus says, “If anyone wishes to come after Me…” This is for every child of God. If you expect to be in heaven, these words are for you.
Notice, also that Jesus isn’t talking about those who are willing to do these things. Jesus doesn’t say, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must be willing to deny himself…” No, He says, “he must deny himself.” He must not just be willing, he must actually do it. He must actually submit himself entirely to Jesus as his Lord and Master.
Now, this teaching of Jesus is so counter-cultural to 21st century Americans! We have all been brought up to believe that the Bible teaches we must love ourselves before we can love anyone else. We are all taught that “self-esteem” is a Biblical concept. We believe intuitively that we should live for self-fulfillment, self-interest, and self-love. However, nothing could be further from the truth! In one of Paul’s lists of sins, in 2 Timothy 3, he lists “lovers of self” as the first sin in the list! Later in his list he speaks of those who are “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” Folks, we are like the frog in the kettle. We have heard so much worldly psycho-babble for so long, even in the church, that when we hear people talk of self-love, self-esteem, self-interest, and self-fulfillment, we think they are speaking from Scripture. However, the Bible nowhere teaches these concepts! That is not Biblical Christianity. In the Christian life, self must die, and Christ must reign in the life. We even have a magazine that graces the stands in our grocery stores – “Self” magazine! Instead of focusing on “self” we must forget about self, and focus on Christ, and His kingdom, and His glory!
This was brought out so forcefully recently, when Victoria Osteen, the co-pastor of the largest church in America recently told the congregation, “I just want to encourage every one of us to realize when we obey God, we’re not doing it for God—I mean, that’s one way to look at it—we’re doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we’re happy. That’s the thing that gives Him the greatest joy… So, I want you to know this morning: Just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy. When you come to church, when you worship Him, you’re not doing it for God really. You’re doing it for yourself, because that’s what makes God happy. Amen?”
That just about says it all. Here we have just the epitome of the teaching on self-esteem, self-love, and self-fulfillment taken into the church, right out of the world. What I want to know is “Where in Scripture does it say ‘God takes pleasure when we’re happy… that’s the thing that gives Him the greatest joy.’ Do you see what we have done? The church has taken the thinking of the world, without any Biblical support, and baptized it, and called it Christian. Now, the church talks just like the world. We just insert God into the equation. The really crazy thing is most professing Christians really believe the stuff that Victoria Osteen says and accept it without question. They see nothing wrong with it.
When I was pastoring Milpitas Bible Fellowship in the 90’s, I remember Debbie and I counseling a woman who was married but was considering leaving her husband in order to marry this new guy she had met online. You want to know her reason for doing this? She said, “God wants me to be happy. I’m not happy with my husband, and I am happy with this new man, so obviously it must be God’s will for me to divorce my husband and remarry this new guy.” And no matter how hard I tried to reason with her, she wouldn’t listen to it. Her mind was made up. It wasn’t God’s will for her to stay married, because God wanted her to be happy. Never mind the fact that her leaving her husband was not going to make her husband and children happy! It’s the very same teaching that Victoria Osteen espoused. God wants me to be happy. Therefore I will only pursue those decisions that will lead to my happiness. Well, folks, do you suppose it makes a person happy to deny themselves and take up a cross? That’s exactly what Jesus requires of every person who would come after Him.
Now, this was almost 20 years ago, but even then, this insidious lie had disseminated all over the church, and people were being duped by it. There are several times in the Scriptures where it tells us what God’s will is. “This is the will of God, your sanctification.” “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” “Let those who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.” I have searched the Scripture and I can’t find a single place where we are told that it is God’s will that we are happy. Now the Bible does say that it is God’s will that we are holy, but it doesn’t say that it is God’s will that we are happy. You see, God is far more interested in your holiness than your happiness.
Do you know what this teaching does? It puts man at the center of the universe. According to this teaching, God really exists for us. He exists to make us happy! In 1991, I came to the conclusion that the Bible teaches there is a big God, and a little man. However, much Christian teaching I hear on the radio and television teaches there is a big man and a little God. Of course, they would never put it that way, but if God exists to make man happy, then man’s happiness is ultimate. But what does the Bible say is the reason God does all things? Is it for man’s happiness? No, it is for His own glory. When the apostle Paul got done writing the first eleven chapters in Romans, he capped it off by saying, “For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” That’s why God does everything He does. He created you for His glory. He chose you for His glory. He saved you for His glory. And He will receive you into His eternal kingdom for His glory. God is uppermost in His own affections, not you and me! Now, don’t get me wrong. God loves us. But His magnificent saving love comes to us because we are in Christ. You and I are not the center of God’s universe. God is the center of God’s universe. That’s why all this emphasis on self-love and self-fulfillment botches God’s truth so badly, and turns His Word on its head. Indeed, John Piper has written, “The love of God is not God’s making much of us, but God’s saving us from self-centered sin so that we can enjoy making much of Him forever.”
So, the first condition of coming after Christ is that we must deny our self.
2. A True Disciple Takes Up His Cross Daily
Now, what does that mean? Well, in the first century, when a man took up his cross, he was being led away to execution. He was going out to die. He was taking a one way trip, and he wasn’t coming back. So, to take up our cross is to recognize, “that was my life, but it is only a past life. I will never come back to it. I used to live it, but I will never live it again. My old life is over forever.” The man with a cross on his back was saying good-bye permanently to everything he had known before. So too, we must choose a complete and entire refusal to live like we used to live. We have died to the old life. We used to live how we liked. We did what we wanted, without any regard to God. We spent our money the way we wanted. We spent our time the way we wanted. We went where we wanted. Jesus is telling us here that if you want to be a Christian, all of that changes forever. You may never again be your own Master or Boss. If He saves you, He has the right to govern your life. Jesus says in Luke 14:27, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” You can’t even be a disciple if you don’t take up your cross. That means, you can’t be a Christian, and you can’t be saved without taking up your cross. Friends, unless you are willing to die to the old life where you lived for self, and did whatever you wanted to do, when you wanted to do it, you can’t come after Jesus. Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 6:20, “You are not your own. For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his famous book, The Cost of Discipleship said, “When Jesus calls a man, He bids him come and die.” Folks, the call to salvation is a call to come and die. If you are not willing to embrace death to your self and your old life, you’re not ready to be saved from your sins.
This is one of the ways you can tell whether you are a true Christian, or just kidding yourself. You can’t tell whether you have been saved simply by pointing to a decision you have made in your past. Jesus doesn’t teach that here. He doesn’t say, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, just make your decision of faith.” No, Jesus points to a lifestyle that has a starting point, but never ends. Jesus speaks of a daily taking up your cross. This speaks about surrendering to the lordship of Christ every day. One of the great problems in American evangelicalism has been the idea that a person is saved because they raised their hand at a church or evangelistic crusade, or went forward at an altar call. The Bible never directs us to look to a decision at some point in time to see whether our faith is genuine. Rather, it directs us to look at our whole lives. Instead of asking yourself whether you ever went forward at an altar call, you should be asking yourself, “Am I daily denying self, taking up my cross, and following Jesus?” According to the Lord Jesus Christ, if you aren’t doing that, it doesn’t matter how many times you were “saved”, or answered an altar call. You’re still lost in your sins. The evidence of real faith, is denying self, taking up the cross, and following Jesus.
Not only is this the way we can determine whether we have become Christians, it’s also the way we can tell whether we are making progress in our Christian faith. If the very essence of the Christian life is submission to Christ, then growth in the Christian life must be measured by increasing submission to Christ. The more submissive and obedient you are to Christ, the more you can be said to be growing in the Christian life. Christian growth can’t be measured solely in terms of what you know. It has much more to do with what you do with what you know. We sometimes make the mistake of thinking that we are growing in the faith, simply because we are reading the Bible, or studying Biblical doctrine. No, the real test is whether you are becoming more and more obedient to Jesus Christ. The more you are obeying the Word of God, the more you are making progress in the faith.
So, the true disciple not only denies self, but he takes up his cross daily.
3. A True Disciple Follows Christ
1 Peter 2:21 tells us, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.” Ephesians 5:1 instructs us, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
So, not only are we to deny self, and take up our cross daily, but we are to follow Christ.
We are to follow Christ’s beliefs. If Jesus believed something, we believe it too. So, what did Jesus believe? He believed the Bible. He believed that Adam and Eve existed. He believed in the Fall. He believed in the Flood. He believed in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. He believed that Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights. He believed in heaven and He believed in hell. He believed men were evil. He believed all people needed to be born again.
We are to follow Christ’s lifestyle. We must imitate Him. We must follow in His steps. We must go the same way Jesus went. Well, which way did Jesus go? He went the way of obedience to His Father. He went the way of communion with His Father. He went the way of unselfish service to others. He went the way of humility. He went the way of meekness and patience when being treated unjustly. He went the way of kindness to others. He went the way of zeal. He went the way of holiness. Jesus didn’t flatter people, but told them the truth. He couldn’t be bought by their money or their favors. He spoke truthfully and uncompromisingly. He knelt down and took the dirty feet of His disciples into His own hands, and washed them. He was filled with holy anger when His Father’s house was desecrated by crooks getting rich on the poor man’s money. He prayed for those who murdered Him. He told the Pharisees they were white-washed tombs, and snakes. He loved prostitutes, tax-collectors, and sinners.
Here’s another question you might ask yourself to determine if you are making progress in your Christian faith: “Does my life look like Jesus’ life?” Do I believe the same things He believed? Do I teach the same things He taught? Are my interests His interests? Are my aspirations the same as His? Are my priorities His priorities? Do you love the things He loves, and hate the things He hates?
My friends, those are the conditions of being a true disciple: deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Him. In other words, entire and unreserved surrender to Christ as Lord and diligently seeking to imitate His example in your life. So, how are you doing? Are you a true disciple of Jesus?
Conclusion
George Whitefield in one of his sermons once spoke of a group of criminals that were being loaded onto a cart and taken to the gallows where they would be hanged. When the criminals got into the cart, they began arguing about who would get the best seats in the cart. They were just like children who argue about who gets to sit in the front seat of the car. Here they were being hauled off to their death, and they don’t have any higher concern than who got to sit where! Yet, that is just like so many people today. We are all going to die. Our lives are so fleeting and uncertain. Yet there are millions of people who devote their lives to gaining position and riches in this world, and don’t give a thought to eternity and the world to come.
Richard Baxter, the famous Puritan, wrote in his book, The Saints Everlasting Rest, “Lord, what a strange madness is this, that men, who know they must presently enter upon unchangeable joy or pain, should yet live as uncertain what shall be their doom, as if they never heard of any such state; yea, and live as quietly and merrily in this uncertainty, as if all were made sure, and there
were no danger! Are they awake or asleep? What do they think on? Where are their hearts? If they have but a weighty suit at law, how careful are they to know whether it will go for or against them! If they were to be tried for their lives at an earthly bar, how careful would they be to know whether they should be saved or condemned, especially, if their care might surely save them! If they be dangerously sick, they will inquire of the physician, What think you, sir, shall I escape, or not? But in the business of their salvation, they are content to be uncertain.”
Let me ask you, “Are you uncertain as to whether you are a true disciple or not?” You don’t need to be. It’s not difficult to find out. Just ask yourself, “Is Jesus Christ truly the One who I submit my life to and follow, OR do I do what I like?” In other words, “Is Christ on the throne, or is self on the throne?” Don’t look at a point in time, like a Billy Graham Crusade to try to decide if you are saved or not. Many people raise their hands or walk an aisle, and are never converted. They never deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Jesus. It has been reported that 95% of the people that are “converted” at mass evangelistic rallies, never join a church and take up the path of discipleship. Don’t deceive yourself, if all you’ve got is a distant memory of making some decision at some point in your past! Where are you now? What is your life like now? Where is your heart now? What is your passion now? What are your priorities now? If we will be honest with ourselves, we can determine pretty well, whether we are disciples or not. Are you?
If you are not a disciple, why not surrender your life to Jesus Christ today? What’s keeping you back? Why are you fighting Him? I know you don’t want to give up control to anyone, but my friend, if you don’t you are going to lose your soul! “He who saves his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for My sake will save it.” Oh, my friend, surrender! Begin today to deny self, take up your cross, and follow Jesus wherever He leads you. Let’s pray.
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