Discipleship (III)

LUKE 9^1-62

For any sinner to love God it must mean dependency on the cross for removal of sin and death by the gift of the Spirit. This in turn means having true knowledge of God from hearing and doing of the Word.

So, as a disciple becomes knowledgeable in the Word and is thus instructed, this instruction develops into discipleship. Discipleship therefore is the reception of God’s love which is Christ; such a disciples’ whole life is described by:

1) Dependence

2) Self denial

3) Spiritual Strength

1) Dependence

With the lessons the disciples had learnt in the previous session, they seemed to be ready to preach the good news of the arrival of the Messiah. After his baptism, Jesus preached for the first time in the synagogue in Nazareth his home town (Chapter 4) which set out the purpose for his coming into the world as follows:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor, heal the broken hearted…..” He told the masses of people that gathered, he came to:

• Preach deliverance to the captive
• Recover the sight of the blind
• To set at liberty the bruised;

All of these concerned the gift of the spirit and the removal of sin and death for every soul of men. Jesus states in chapter 6: blessed are they that hunger, weep and experience hatred; meaning denial of oneself as a result of the sinful condition of our existence. They are the light shining in darkness – as revealed:

i) Chapter 7; the debt of sin.

ii) Chapter 8; turning the bad soil into good soil.

Having equipped his disciples in this manner, it was now time to do a trial run. Jesus sent them out to preach to the broken hearted.

The whole life of discipleship is and must be dependence on God with Christ as the Master (the Word). Out to preach the kingdom of God with the Word they are equipped with power and authority to cure diseases as the sign of the divine power of the Kingdom having come.

Dependence:

Take nothing for your journey, no script, no bread, no money, no clothing etc. So they went through the towns preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

A testimony of disciples depending on God. They departed and went through towns preaching and healing everywhere. People heard reports about Jesus.

No specific incidence is reported. Nor does Jesus comment on that success; instead, more lessons and instructions on dependence were needed. No comment is made by Luke either.

The next incidence when the day begun to wear away, the twelve said to Jesus “send the multitude away”, fearing they had no provisions to feed them. The fear expressing the disciple’s lack of dependence on their master, Christ.

To the multitude who had gathered the whole day, the disciples could not see how the 5 loaves and 2 fishes could ever feed the multitude. However, we see the multitude ate to their satisfaction and the twelve baskets of fragments remained for each disciple to pick up.

The burden of sin in this case, is the lack of dependence on God. Despite all they had gone through, this was still a mystery to the disciples as it is to us. It took them quite a bit of time to understand what sin and death meant; that is; our dependence on Christ for sins’ removal and our salvation.

To this day many do not understand God’s purpose for creation and also salvation through his Son, Christ. To save the world from sin and total dependence on Him. Jesus two questions were most appropriate:

1) Whom say the people that I am?

2) and whom say ye that I am?

Herod referred to Jesus as John having returned from the dead; Herod being far removed from the knowledge of God, and a life of dependency. Others said, Elijah had re-appeared. Yet others, that one of the prophets of old, had risen. None referred to him as the Savior, to enlist our reliance on Him for life.

Without the debt of sin and misery of eternal death, humanity cannot see and feel the need for dependence on God the Father.

For that reason Jesus restates the supreme purpose for his coming.

“The son of man must suffer many things”. All people rejected him, the rulers of Israel including the Apostles themselves and more specifically Peter. They lacked the knowledge of their own sinfulness and the salvation through Christ.

He would be slain and be raised on the third day for the sins of the world. This knowledge was still very far removed from the Apostles’ minds. It required a new understanding of the Apostleship. The cost of sin is God’s love for the world, in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

2) Self Denial

Humanity is born of flesh, an ally of the earthly world and cannot be brought to the obedience of faith which is God’s spiritual law. A completely new life is required; figuratively referred to as opening the eyes of the blind.

Jesus states, if any man would come after me, let him deny himself and follow me.

Denial is an act of self will knowing the sinful condition of having been born of flesh (not of spirit as our Lord Christ); and turning to Christ as the only Savior. in denial of flesh. It is coming to the knowledge of sin and turning to Christ with his gift of the Spirit through faith.

Self-denial is acknowledgement of our sinfulness and unworthiness as the Centurion did and turned to Christ the divine spiritual gift which overcomes sin and death. The Centurion realized the earthly unworthiness and turned to God through faith in Christ.

He turned from the traditions and the wisdom of the world which always rejects the divine power and imprisons a sinner into his blindness of rejecting God. The verdict of death should reinforce the burden of sin; and should compel every disciple to daily lay his repentant soul at Jesus’ feet. In this manner of denial and taking up his cross a disciple will save his soul.

But who so ever loves the world as the ultimate joy of his life, he will lose his soul. For what advantage if a man gains the whole world and loses his soul and be cast away? In the end, all that is earthly will be ultimately lost.

“Some standing here shall not taste death, till they see the kingdom”. Jesus spoke and meant the destruction of Jerusalem, the end of the kingdom of Israel. All the Jews who rejected Jesus were subjected to a terrible judgment. The war of destroying all Jews begun in AD 66 and ended AD 70 with the destruction of the temple and the sale of 90,000 Jews into slavery.  This was the end of the Jewish kingdom. Our earthly world awaits the same fate, because of having rejected God the creator and Jesus the Savior.

The disciples could not understand what Jesus was talking about.

On another day he took Peter, John, and James to pray. While there, Jesus was talking with the two men, Moses and Elijah who appeared in glory. They talked about what Jesus was about to accomplish in Jerusalem, Peter and the other two disciples were in a deep sleep.

Hearing and doing the Word produces a condition of dependency on God, Self-denial and finally spiritual strength.

3) Spiritual Strength

A man with a demonic son reveals some of the weakness of the mission the twelve had just completed, a while back. Jesus disciples lacked the power of dependency and hence couldn’t drive the demon out of the demoniac son. “I besought thy disciples to cast him out and they could not” the man said.

See Jesus’ answer to our lack of strength:

“Faithless and perverse generation… Not for long shall I continue to be with you.” Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the child.

Our weakness is due to lack of knowledge of God, his supreme gift of the Spirit through Christ’s sacrifice and his purpose to save the world. This is what leads to trust in Jesus. Jesus tells us all;

“Let these sayings sink down into your ears; for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.” He told his disciples referring to the sin of the world (rejection of the Word) with its terrible rejection of his sacrificial death. This death translates into spiritual power of a believer, received through faith.

Still the disciples did not understand these things which were still hidden from them because of their human reasoning (the flesh). Instead they were preoccupied with who is the greatest among them, ie., positions and authority.

Discipleship requires tender spiritual care by receiving each other as one despite one’s weakness as one would receive a baby. Jesus overlooked all their spiritual weaknesses and continued with his great mission of the cross.

The disciples still lacked the full spiritual life of faith to be reflected in receiving one another in Jesus’ name which is receiving Jesus himself and his Father who commissioned him; the subsequent sanctifying reception. First the justifying faith on repentance then the subsequent faith with its works of receiving one another. So Jesus bids disciples to strive to receive one another as Jesus received them with their sinfulness.

The development of a disciple with the justifying faith and subsequent works of receiving one another would be visible. Not their wickedness as revealed below;

• To John’s spirit against those casting out devils in Jesus’ name. Jesus told him “Forbid him not, for he that is not against us is for us”

To James and John, Jesus rebuked, for their spirit of judgment calling down fire from heaven against the Samaritan town; “For the son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them”.

Here revealed is the strength of a disciple. Acceptance of one another. A certain man said to Jesus – I will follow thee where so ever thou goest, that is, without repentance – (he lacked the burden of sin)

For those looking for material earthly things, Jesus said; “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head”. For those after customary issues such as burying their father; ie., relatives”:

Jesus said, “Let the dead bury their dead”; but to the true disciples; “go thou and preach the kingdom of God”. He who loves the father or mother more than me is not worthy of me…. etc.

For the one asking to first bid farewell to the friendship of this world, Jesus said: “No man having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God”. With such weaknesses there is no discipleship.