Now let’s turn to Luke 14 to see some of the terms of discipleship in more detail. The Lord speaks of at least four conditions here, and then in John’s gospel we’ll get three more. These are what will distinguish a true disciple indeed from one who is only a disciple outwardly.
Luke 14:25-35 says, “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 haply, after he hath 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 ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? 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, he cannot be My disciple. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, 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.”
In this passage the Lord makes it very clear that true discipleship will not be on our terms, but on His terms! This one underlying point pervades His whole message to the multitudes. These are His conditions for His disciples.
Now notice, if a person chooses not to take up with these terms, the Lord says, “ ... he cannot be My disciple” (vss. 26, 33). The Lord doesn’t say, “ ... he cannot be saved,” because the subject here is not the salvation of our souls from the penalty of our sins, but discipleship.
There was a great multitude following Him that day, and they were listening to His teaching. But most of them were following Him because they were intrigued by His miracles, and did not have faith. These terms that the Lord put before the multitude would distinguish those who were true disciples from those who were merely following Him for ulterior reasons. Let’s let them test the reality of our commitment to Him too!
A Supreme Love For Lord That Would Give Him the First Claim in Our Lives
The Lord brings out the first great condition of discipleship in verse 26. “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.” There must be a supreme love and devotion to the Lord that would result in giving Him the first claim in our lives! The point here is that our love for the Lord Jesus must have priority over all other things—even persons who are dear to us. There must be a supreme love for the Master—a love so intense that it transcends all other loves or interests that we may have.
He says that we are to treat all other things and relationships with hatred in comparison to His claims over us! Now the Lord couldn’t possibly be using the word “hate” in the literal sense because His teachings elsewhere plainly state that we are not to hate our fellow man. In fact, we are implored to “love one another” (John 13:34; Rom. 13:8). He was using the word “hate,” here, by way of contrast, to show how, comparatively speaking, He must have priority over everything else in our lives.
Now let me ask you, Is this something that characterizes your life? Do you have a supreme love for the Lord Jesus Christ that transcends everything else? I would do well to ask myself those questions! If you’re going to come after Him in the path as one of His disciples indeed, that’s what is required. Right at the beginning He lays this condition out before the multitude of would be disciples. The point is this—Christ must be first in everything!
He names a number of things that would come pretty close to our hearts—father, mother, wife, children—all of which must give way to His claims. Then He says, “yea, and his own life also.” This refers to the pursuit of our own personal interests in life. Most people have an interest or a hobby in their life, but the Lord is saying that He must come first in regard to those things too! He must have first claim over everything—whether it is persons or things! Hating one’s own life is not referring to hating the sins of our old pre-conversion life (though we certainly need to do that). Our life is to be hated in the sense that all other pursuits and ambitions that we might have, normally, must be put aside on account of the claims of Christ. In essence this is what the Lord implied when He said, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself” (Matt. 16:24). It will take self-denial. Simply put, those who want to retain the right to pursue their own interests in their lives will not make good disciples!
The setting aside of your own life to obtain an object couldn’t be seen more clearly than in the athletes that are training for the Olympic Games. These athletes devote their lives to the goal of obtaining the prize of an Olympic medal. By choice they make enormous sacrifices to reach their goal. What has to be sacrificed is other interests and pursuits in their lives, because they will interfere with their goal. They pretty much have to put everything else on the back burner. Their training regimes demand the cutting off of all extra-curricular activities—even things such as the food they’d normally like to eat have to be sacrificed. They have to, as Matthew 16:25 says, “lose” their lives to reach that goal. The many things that their friends partake in—parties and such—they have to be careful not to indulge in, lest it take the edge off their performance. They basically have to eat, sleep, and train, with that one goal in mind. And as I say, they do all this by choice! It takes years of sacrifice! It’s incredibly sad though, because they do it all for some earthly prize and glory that will fade away, but it does illustrate the idea of what is involved in sacrificing one’s life. For us, the sacrifices we make for the kingdom of God are not for some fleeting glory among men, but for the glory of God!
We are not saying that the Lord doesn’t want us to enjoy life. He’s not saying that you have to give up natural things—recreation, etc.—things that God has given to us richly to enjoy (1 Tim. 6:17). The point is, that in comparison to the claims Christ has over us, these things that might be an interest to us are to be treated with disdain.
Now, are we up to this? Are we prepared to give the Lord priority over all other persons and interests that we might have in our lives? That’s the first of the Lord’s terms for true discipleship.
Willingness to be Identified With Christ In His Rejection
The Lord went on and said, “Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.” The cross is what the world gave to the Lord Jesus. It speaks of ultimate rejection. Now the Lord is not saying that His disciples are to bear His cross, as some hymns put it. No, only He could do that, but each one of us who takes up with following Him will have a cross to bear. In other words, we can expect to get the same treatment from the world that the Lord Jesus got! If we are one of His disciples, there will be rejection for us to bear as there was for Him. He said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18). And again, “If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).
The person that takes up with following Christ must understand this at the outset—we are following a rejected Saviour, and we have to be willing to accept the path of rejection. It is normal Christianity to suffer reproach and rejection (Heb. 13:13; 2 Tim. 2:3). We can’t get away from it—if we are faithful—it’s part of being one of His disciples. For it says, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). What we are saying is that it’s not popular to be a Christian! If anyone has the idea that following Christ is going to be an easy thing or a popular thing, they are clearly mistaken. If you think that you can maintain your connections with the worldly people that you go to school with, or work with, and be well thought of (and we all like to be well thought of!), you need to get this point firmly in your mind—Christ is a rejected Saviour; and if you follow Him, you won’t be popular! You can’t be on good terms with such people and be a faithful and true disciple of the Lord Jesus. It just won’t work.
This needs to be emphasized in the call of the gospel, so that when people get saved, they don’t have some distorted view of the Christian life. Sometimes the gospel is presented like a fire escape from a burning building. A person is glad to take the fire escape from hell by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, but often repentance and the claims of Christ are not pressed upon them. Consequently, many want to go on with their life as they did before they received Him as their Saviour. They have not considered that by getting saved they have identified themselves with a rejected Saviour. It creates difficulties and problems in the path later. Sometimes, such people are quite disillusioned when they encounter rejection. Indeed, some think that by coming to Christ and getting saved, that the Lord is going to rake their lives into a nice bed of roses, so to speak. They think that things will be comfortable and easy thereafter. That seems to have been Mary’s misunderstanding. When the Lord, in resurrection, spoke to her, she mistook Him for “the gardener” (John 20:15). That is, someone Who would fix up everything in her life and make it all pretty and nice. But the Lord is not the gardener; He is our Saviour, our Guide, our Helper, and our Friend, Who will be with us in the difficulties of the way. He has never promised to take away all the troubles in life, but He will help us in them. While the path of following Christ is not an easy path, it is a happy path, if we keep close to Him.
Now friends, what we are saying is that in following Christ we are going to have a “cross” to bear—which speaks of rejection. Are we ready for it? You are not going to be popular. You will get the reproach of the world. If, in some way, you maintain popularity with the world, as a Christian, then I’d say that you’ve compromised the principles of discipleship somewhere.
A Commitment to the Cause of Christ That is Life-long
The next condition of discipleship is found in verses 28-30. It has to do with building “a tower”—and the importance of finishing what was started! Discipleship is a life-long commitment! The point here is that the builder must “count the cost” when undertaking such a task so as to be sure that he will be able to finish it. The Lord uses this as an illustration of the Christian’s personal testimony in this world as one of His disciples. We are all in the process of building our own personal testimony. When we get saved, it’s like laying a foundation, and when we go on for the Lord, it’s like building up the tower. And when we finish our course in this world by having either the Lord come for us, or we’re called home through death, it’s like finishing what we have set out to build.
Likewise, when it comes to being a disciple of the Lord Jesus, we also must “count the cost” of the sacrifice involved, and have a commitment that would go the distance of our lifetime. Otherwise we are going to leave behind us a testimony of failure—and that, ultimately, comes back on the Lord! The Lord does not want us to have our lives turn out to be a monument of failure—like the man who ended up with a half-built tower. It says of him that, “all that behold it begin to mock.” This shows that when God’s people fail, it gives the world an opportunity to point the finger. Another verse says, “The Name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you” (Rom. 2:24). We don’t want to give an occasion for the world to mock the Christian testimony.
But we know that happens to some disciples: They take up with following Christ, and at some point in their lives their commitment falls by the way. They’ll have their excuses, of course, but the bottom line is that they did not sit down and “count the cost” of following a rejected Saviour. And when the going got rough, they capitulated. When they got saved there was a commitment to Christ—and that’s good, but it was not a commitment that would go the distance of their lifetime. I’m not criticizing them; we could all fall by the way. My point is that there needs to be a sober consideration of the difficulties in the path when we make our commitment to follow the Lord. This commitment is not like the Nazarite (Num. 6) who could devote a certain part of his life to the service of God, and then afterward return to his normal life. Our commitment must be for the duration of our lives. A true disciple of the Lord Jesus is in for the long haul!
Now, if you think that it’s too hard to be a disciple, I would say that you haven’t properly considered the power and grace of God. He will supply the power for us to life the Christian life. The same “power” that raised the Lord Jesus from the dead is “to us-ward who believe” (Eph. 1:19).
Grace and discipleship go hand in hand. The desire to be a true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ springs out of what grace has wrought in the heart of the believer. His heart responds to the love and grace shown to him, by what Christ has done on the cross. The logic of our redemption leads us down a one-way street to the ultimate surrender of our lives to the cause of Christ in this world. That is normal Christianity! It doesn’t cost us anything to be a Christian, but it does cost something to be a true disciple. But as I say, it’s the only safe and happy path.
What happens if we don’t count the cost properly, and we leave off building our tower? Those who have watched us take up with the Christian path will mock us (maybe behind our backs)! That’s what the Lord is saying here. They might say, “There he was carrying a Bible around, but now look at him; he’s given it up! I guess it didn’t work for him!” Ultimately, it comes back on the Lord as a bad testimony. That means that we have to be careful when we begin the Christian path that there is a sober commitment to go the distance.
Many start well, but don’t go on. And it’s sad. I’m sure it grieves the Lord. Paul told Timothy, “Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them” (2 Tim. 3:14). The Christian life is a race—an endurance race; it’s not a sprint (Heb. 12:1-3). We must be cast upon the Lord to carry us through all the days of our lives, for without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5).
A True Estimate of the Enemy’s Power
Now let’s look at another condition for discipleship that the Lord laid down in verses 31 and 32. He uses another illustration. He says that if we are going to be one of His disciples, we’ll have to be like a “king, going to make war against another king” who has twice the strength! That king would have to be good and sure that he knew what he was doing—waging a wise battle. The point here is that we need to have a true estimate of the powers of the enemy (the devil) that we are going against. There is a danger of underestimating the power of the enemy, and the deceptiveness of the flesh. We, in ourselves, are no match for this enemy. He is more powerful than we think. It points, again, to the fact that this path is not going to be a cake-walk. If we are full of self-confidence and think that we’re able to face the enemy on our own strength, we’re going to fall. We need to remember that we are in an enemy’s land, and the conflict is greater than we can handle by ourselves. But thankfully, “greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). We have the Lord on our side—Who is stronger than the enemy.
Having a healthy respect for the enemy’s power will cast us on the Lord in dependence, where we’ll be kept. “The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by Him; and the LORD shall cover him all the day long” (Deut. 33:12). “The Name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe” (Prov. 18:10). Dependence is so very important in the path of discipleship. If we keep close to Him, then we’ll be overcomers in our Christian lives.
But I’m afraid that we just don’t realize how powerful the enemy is! Note what happens in verse 32; the king who didn’t properly consider the other king’s power and the conflict that he was getting into, at the moment of truth, had to sue for “conditions of peace.” To make peace with your enemy is to compromise and concede defeat. That’s certainly not something we want to do! Yet there are many Christians who have done just that. In some way or another they have compromised principles and have sold out to the enemy. What a sad thing it is that a Christian would make peace with the enemy of his or her soul!
Too many times I hear the story of some young self-confident Christian, determined to live the Christian life for the glory of God—but not realizing the power and subtlety of the enemy—make some declaration that they’re going to really do the right thing for Christ. They would go into places where Christians ought not to be found to try and show people the love of God. Then later, we hear that they couldn’t stand up to the influences that surrounded them, were overcome, and then ended up compromising. The problem was not with their motives—they really meant to live and testify for Christ—but they underestimated the power of the enemy.
These casualties in battle ought to be a warning to us to never underestimate the power of the enemy, and to keep close to the Lord in dependence. We need to have it set before us at the beginning of our Christian lives—there is a real enemy out there who has had incredible success with unwary Christians. The Lord concludes by saying, “Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33). If we don’t whole-heartedly forsake all other things for the Lord we will not be able to stand in the day of battle. God will give us the grace to overcome, but only if we keep close to the Lord.
Continuing in the Word
Now for another condition of discipleship let’s turn to John’s gospel, chapter eight, and verse 31. “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed.” Here the Lord states that a true disciple continues in His Word. In other words, he is uncompromising in doctrine.
A true disciple of the Lord Jesus has a love for the Word of God. He has an insatiable appetite for it. He submits to its authority and practises what he has learned in it. It’s pure joy to him.
Seven Reasons a True Disciple Reads His Bible
Let me give you seven reasons why a true disciple reads his Bible:
1. The disciple of the Lord reads his Bible to learn more about Christ. “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me.” (John 5:39; Luke 24:25-27, 44). Christ is the theme of all Scripture. When God wrote the Scriptures He had His Son before Him! He has ordained it that if we are going to get the blessing out of the Scriptures, then we need to have that same Person before us when we read! If we have the Lord Jesus Christ before our souls when we read the Scriptures, we are really going to get something out of them!
2. The disciple of the Lord Jesus reads his Bible to get light and guidance in the pathway, whereby he is kept from the paths of the destroyer (Psa. 17:4; Psa. 19:7; Psa. 119:105, 130; 2 Kings 6:8-12; 2 Tim. 3:15).
3. The disciple reads the Scriptures to grow spiritually in the grace of God, whereby the character of Christ is formed in him (1 Peter 2:2; 2 Cor. 3:18).
4. The disciple reads the Bible to learn of his spiritual blessings, which are his in Christ, whereupon he is built up and established in the most holy faith (Acts 20:32; Rom. 16:25-26; Jude 20).
5. The disciple reads the Scriptures to receive comfort, strength and joy in time of trial and sorrow (Rom. 15:4; Psa. 119:28, 49-50; Psa. 1:2-3).
6. He reads to cleanse his soul from defilement and sin by the washing of the water of the Word; and if need be, to produce repentance, confession, and restoration to the Lord. The Scriptures have that way of cleansing the soul in a practical way (Psa. 119:9; Eph. 5:26; Psa. 19:7).
7. He reads to learn of future events, whereby he is instructed in God’s purpose to glorify His Son in two spheres in “the world to come:” in heaven and on earth (2 Pet. 1:19-21; Rev. 1:1-3; Eph. 1:10).
The Word of God truly tests the reality of our profession of being Jesus’ disciples. Many, when put to the test of walking in the truth that has been shown to them, have not answered to it. It could be in simple things having to do with ecclesiastical order (church order), or in practical everyday Christian living. But whatever it may be, if we are not walking in the truth that we know, then we are not continuing in His Word.
As I said, a true disciple of the Lord Jesus is uncompromising in doctrine. Sad to say, many Christians today are not concerned with doctrine. Some think that God is not so concerned about what we believe, but about how we live. They think that if we all love one another and get along together that that is more important. However, we find in Acts 2:42, that doctrine is given pre-eminence over fellowship, in that it comes first in the things that we are to continue in. “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Doctrine is to be the basis of our fellowship. C. H. Brown used to say that God cares about what you believe, because you cannot live right unless you believe right! Doctrine is important because it forms our walk. Why do I not go with the Baptist’s? In a word—doctrine. A true disciple pays attention to doctrine. One who is not grounded in the truth will be “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14). A person who is swept about by the shifting opinions of men—religious or otherwise—will not be much of a disciple of the Lord Jesus.
A Fervent Love For Our Brethren
Now, let’s turn to John 13:34-35. “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.” The point here is that a true disciple loves his brethren. The apostle John said, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.” (1 John 4:7). And again, “Every one that loveth Him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of Him.” (1 John 5:1).
This condition is pretty simple on the surface, but being put to the test, it’s sometimes hard to practise—especially if we have a cantankerous brother or sister to deal with! A true disciple is determined to love his brother regardless of how unloving that brother or sister may be. The word for “love” here, in the Greek, is agapao, which is the love of a settled disposition—the result of a decision. It is not phileo love, which is an affectionate love of intense emotion. To love in the agapao sense, means that we are to love one another as God loves, Who set His love upon us—even when we were quite unlovable. A true disciple of the Lord Jesus will love his brother even if that person does not behave well. If there were more of that kind of love in the Church today, there would not be such a poor testimony rendered to the world.
The tendency with those of us who have been privileged to be gathered to the Lord’s Name, apart from all man-made church order (Matt. 18:20), is that our love can get narrowed in toward only those with whom we walk. A true disciple, however, loves all of his brethren (Eph. 1:15), even though he may not be able to walk with all his brethren.
The Lord said, “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Sad to say, the world doesn’t see very much of this. Much of the divided condition of things in the Christian profession today is the result of people—Christians—not truly loving one another, and consequently, not getting along together. People will leave a certain Christian fellowship for another one because they feel that they were not loved there, and so on. If the church, as a whole, walked in true discipleship—loving one another as Christ has loved us, then there would never be Christ-dishonouring divisions. The three great things that have hindered the Church from walking as it should are: ignorance, in-subjection, and indifference. Note, they all begin with the letter “I.” There has been an incredible ignorance of the principles of the Word, and insubjection to what little is known in the Word, and much indifference to the claims of Christ.
May God give us to love our brethren as Christ loves us.
A Life of Prayer & Communion Which Results in Bearing Fruit For God’s Glory
Let’s turn on to John 15:7-8, “If ye abide in Me, and My words in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.” Here, we find that true disciples of the Lord Jesus live in communion with Him, and it results in bearing fruit in their lives. He says, “If ye abide in Me ... ” That speaks of communion. To “abide” in the Lord Jesus is to live in practical habitual nearness of heart to Him. Then He says, “And My words abide in you ... ” That speaks of intelligence as to the mind of God, because our intelligence is formed through the knowledge of His Word. When there are these two things with us, our prayer requests will be in tune with Him, and those things that we ask for “shall be done” for us.
Now, our communion with the Lord will need maintenance. What I mean by this is that if we get out of communion by allowing some sin in our lives, however small, we need to confess it to the Lord to be restored to communion. This is what is called “keeping short accounts with God.” We don’t want to let sins pile up in our lives, because we could get away off track in a very short time. A true disciple desires to be in communion with his Lord at all times, and if something should interrupt that, he feels out of sorts with Him until he gets it straightened out. He does that by judging whatever it is that has come in that has spoiled his joy in the Lord, and confessing it to Him. First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
There are two results of living in communion with the Lord given here in John 15; firstly, our prayer requests are granted, and also, we bear fruit to the glory of the Father. Fruit-bearing is the reproduction of the moral features of Christ in the believer. However, we will only produce that fruit if we abide in Him. This world has cast Christ out, but it is the intention of God that Christ should still be seen here—in His people! As His disciples manifest the character of Christ before the world, God will be glorified in it. This is quite a thought—we can actually bring glory to God by letting the character of Christ come out in us!
In 2 Corinthians 3:2-3, the apostle Paul tells us that the Spirit of God is seeking to write Christ on our hearts—impressing us with His loveliness. With Christ being in our heart’s affections, His character will come out in our lives. In the measure in which we are occupied with Christ, that moral conformity to Him takes place. “We all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18 – J. N. Darby Translation). What a privilege it is to represent Christ here in this world as His “epistle,” “known and read of all men!”
Summary of Terms of Discipleship
Now to look back over these points having to do with true discipleship, we must be prepared to:
1. Give the Lord the first claim in our lives.
2. Be willing to accept the path of rejection.
3. Make a life-long commitment.
4. Have a true estimate of the powers of the enemy.
5. Continue uncompromisingly in His Word.
6. Love our brethren fervently.
7. Have a life of prayer and communion.
These terms and conditions of discipleship show us that God is looking for faithful men and women, not necessarily gifted or eloquent persons. The Lord said, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much” (Luke 16:10). Paul said, “It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful” (1 Cor. 4:2). And again, in Second Timothy 2:2, “The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men.” In discipleship, the Lord is not asking about our ability, or our inability, but of our availability! The great question is: Will we make ourselves available to the Lord to use as He sees fit? Are we willing to be one of His disciples indeed?