I AM A DISCIPLE OF JESUS

           

What does it take to be a Christian?  Are we considered Christian because we confessed our sins and prayed the sinner’s prayer? Christianity has a cost, and that is letting God work mightily in our lives.  It is God’s desire for us to become His Disciple.  A Christian life is not only about accepting Christ as His Savior, but making Christ as His Lord, and consequently becoming His Disciple. Discipleship is costly but to not follow Christ is even more costly.

Many of us today do not understand what it means to be a genuine Christian. There are multitudes that often follow Jesus or claim to be a Christian but we do so on our terms and not His. We do not truly comprehend the biblical definition of discipleship. 

In Luke 9:23, Jesus told His people: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  This implies that being a Christian does not just end in going to church, praying and reading the bible. There are conditions that we need to adhere to.

Just like the environmental slogan: Reduceà Reuseà Recycle = LostàSavedàDisciple—we, as God’s followers should abide with the commitment that once we live in Christ, should bear in mind the kind of commitment involved is seen further when we consider the "high cost" of discipleship demanded by Jesus in 2 Corinthian 5:17.

THE COURSE: “If anyone would come after me,…” Come after me means, if we are going to be a Disciple of Jesus then we need to follow His course and not our course. We will submit to His terms and not on our terms. We will praise and worship Him in His terms and not our terms. 

THE CONDITION: Deny. There are two things we need to know about the word “Deny”. Deny means IMMEDIATELY, no Buts and Ifs. Remember:  Delayed obedience is disobedience. God does not tolerate excuses to follow His instructions. He wants us to respond instantly no matter what. Deny also means COMPLETELY. It means entirely and not just to cut off.

Jesus has in mind that as His people, His followers, we are to forsake anything that would stand in the way of embracing Christ with our full allegiance.  We are to forsake, possessions, power, favor of men, and human glory.  We must deny our natural bent toward earthly treasures and strive to make Christ our treasure.  Also, in this, we must deny our self-reliance.  We must forsake relying on our abilities and logic.  We must forsake relying on our human sense of righteousness and totally cling to Christ for righteousness, we must live lives that continually accept grace and glorify Christ.

THE COMMAND: “….follow me.”  ( Luke 9:23a) Follow me is not a suggestion. It is imperative, required, necessary. He is calling people out of the crowd to become His follower. His disciples; someone who has such a vital union with Christ that they routinely do what Jesus taught. He’s calling people to step out of the crowd to become one of those extraordinary individuals.

Daniel, as an example was firmed in his faith in Christ, when they (with Meshach, Meshach and Abednego) were ordered by King Nebuchadnezzar to worship the golden image. But they refused and faced the threat of death. Despite the sentence placed upon them by King Nebuchadnezzar, they have yielded their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.

Discipleship is a daily discipline and true Christianity is a life that walks under the guidance of the Holy Spirit of Christ (Matthew 28:19-20). The cost of being a disciple of Jesus is extreme; it may cost us everything we have. But it may surely be rewarding on the latter part. It does not assure us a comfortable lives but a task to bear much fruit and ready to be reaped in due time. Christianity is a responsibility and our ultimate responsibility as Christians is not just to preach the gospel, but to live Christ because how we act is how we perceive God in our lives.