The First Condition of Discipleship
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The First Condition of Discipleship
Zac Poonen | 8th September?2024
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Last week, we began considering what it means to fulfil the Great Commission fully: not just reaching unreached people but making disciples who are careful to do all that Jesus commanded. We saw that when Jesus saw a great multitude of people coming along with Him, He turned and said some of the hardest words that He ever spoke to anyone.? Most preachers and pastors, if they see a great crowd coming to listen to them, would never dream of speaking words like this, and this shows us how Jesus was different. He was not interested in numbers. There are very few Christian preachers today who are not interested in numbers; but what we see through the end of Luke 14 is Jesus emphasizing quality.
“The first condition of discipleship is a supreme love for Christ”
He wanted disciples, and so He turns around and tells them, "If any of you come to Me and you don't hate your father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters and even your own life, you cannot be My disciple." It's not that you can be a second level of disciple; you cannot be a disciple, period. Here we see the first condition of discipleship. The Bible says that we've got to honour our father and mother. What then did Jesus mean when He said we must "hate"? It's a relative statement. Jesus used some strong language sometimes - for example: “If your right eye offends you, pluck it out.” (Matt.5:29) “If your right hand offends you, cut it off.” (Matt.5:30) “It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter God's kingdom.” (Matt.19:24) “If you don't eat My flesh and blood, you don't have eternal life.” (John 6:53) He spoke many strong words. But the words that He spoke were spirit and life. So, what He actually meant here was that, in comparison with our love for Him, our love for our earthly relatives should be like darkness compared to light. To use an illustration, if your love for your parents, wife, children, brothers, and sisters is like the light of the stars, then your love for Christ must be like the light of the sun. When the sun comes up, the stars seem to become dark. They are still there, but you can't see them in the light of the sun. So, the word "hate" here means that your love for your father and mother is almost invisible: you still love them, but in the light of your love for Christ, which is like the bright-shining sun, this love is like darkness by comparison.? Love for our family members is like hatred when compared with our love for Christ. It also means that we should not allow any family member to hinder us from following whatever the Lord may call us to do. So, the first condition of discipleship is a supreme love for Christ, where we love Christ more than our parents, more than our wives, more than our children, more than every brother and sister in our blood relationship or within the church, and more than our own life. Would you say that missionary work and evangelism has brought Christians to this place?? Has every person who claims to be a born-again Christian come to this place? Have you yourself, if you claim to be a born-again Christian, come to this place? Can you honestly say that you love Christ supremely more than anyone on this earth? In my observation of believers in many lands in the last half-century, I don't find that to be true. Many have accepted Christ and sing, "my sins are all forgiven and I'm on my way to heaven," but they haven't become disciples. Next week, we will consider the second condition of discipleship.