Being a Disciple

What is the cost of being a disciple?

think about it, and what do you think most people would say?

I would think to most people it would seem to be

a burden to be a disciple of Christ, for it comes down

really to one simple thing, and that's giving up everything.

You make Christ first in everything you do,

you live and breathe to let his light shine through you.

That doesn't sound so bad, does it?

I suppose for most people the cost

would be not conforming, not following the pattern of this

world and doing what everyone else does, and not

putting your selfish needs and desires first.

We all have our moments and are not perfect,

so don't get it twisted, I'm not saying i'm perfect...

but in reality I don't find it to be a burden to be a follower of Christ..

in fact I find it freeing. If we put him first, if we know through him all things

are possible and he has our best interests at heart, then

what do we have to worry or stress about?

even when we are brought down low, even when it seems

everything around us is falling apart, even if we

are living on the streets, if we put God first

there is nothing we need to worry about.

It sounds simple and thats probably because it is..

people tend to make God and his word more complicated then

they're. In Luke 14:25 Jesus spoke to a crowd of people

who were following him and he said:

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father

and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-

yes, even his own life- he cannot be my disciple. And

anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot

be my disciple."

Hold up wait a minute...rewind..did Christ just say hate?

So Christ wants us to hate ourselves and our family, and

essentially everyone? and only then we can follow him?

No...what Christ was and is saying is.. He should be first..

not you or your wife or family and what YOU want...

Christ should be first above everyone and everything,

and you shouldn't let your family or anyone for that matter..

get in your way of your personal relationship with Christ.

If you would let someone dictate to you how your own

personal walk should be with Christ, if you would let

someone change your mind or hold their opinions

above what God says, then obviously you can't

be a disciple of Christ..it's that simple.

Obviously we are not suppose to hate anyone...

I mean we're suppose to love our own enemies.

I think to many people have this misconception

of what a follower/disciple of Christ should be,

people think you are suppose to be some kind of monk

and they take Romans 12:2 totally out of context..

which states:

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world any longer,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind"

They take that to mean that we are suppose to

totally shut ourselves off to the world, that

we are suppose to hide in our little churches and

condemn anyone who doesn't follow our little clique,

condemn everyone who doesn't follow the word of God, and

how we interpret the word of God to be.

Is that a disciple of Christ? we ourselves don't

follow his word to a T in our own life..how can

we judge someone else who doesn't?

Romans 12:2 is like Luke 14:25..

where I already stated Jesus wasn't telling us

to "hate" as we think he meant, and in Romans

Paul wasn't saying lock yourselves away from the world

and hide from it..NO what Paul was saying is..

Don't let the world dictate your walk with Christ,

don't put the things in this world above Christ,

don't follow what everyone else is doing and saying

about Christ. We ourselves are suppose to line

everything up with his word, if something obviously

goes against Gods word, then it is wrong.

For example going back to luke 14:25,

now if Christ told us to Love...

even told us the greatest commandment was to Love,

then why would he be then telling us to hate? obviously

he wasn't talking about actually hating our family or friends..

but hating anything that comes out of their mouth

if it goes against Gods word or if they are

trying to keep us from following God.

"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness,

how can it be made salty again?"

Luke 14:34

believe it or not but that verse goes hand and hand with Romans 12:2,

and what I was talking about. What is Jesus talking about? salt?

who's salt? what salt? ok I'm confused..yeah I know,

thats one of those verses people glance over and are like:

"Ok Jesus..whatever you say there buddy"

and then they move right along.. not taking the time to understand

what he is saying. Jesus is still talking about being a Disciple..

and what it takes to be one. Essentially what jesus is saying is..

"Being a Disciple is good, but if you lose touch

with those you are trying to disciple to,

then how can you be a disciple?"

it's a thinker...but let it soak in. You see if we as disciples..

choose to hide from the world and shut it out like

a lot of people think we are suppose to, then how

exactly are we going to be disciples?

If you can't take the time to understand this generation...

to accept them for who and what they are...to

try and somehow relate and understand, then how are you

going to disciple to them?

how are you going to share the love of Christ?

if you are going to come at them with condemnation?

If you are going to judge them,

turn your nose up in the air at them..

how is that being a disciple?

how is that showing the love of Christ?

"Oh that screaming rock music...

Oh those tatts and piercing..

Oh those clothes, video games and movies

Oh that rap music and bling...

those diamonds and ear rings..

and ect ect.."

if that's going to be your attitude,

then I beg and I plead with you

to please stay hiding and don't come out

Don't try to "save" anyone..

because you won't save anyone with that attitude.

you will only totally turn these kids off to God.

God works through all things...

God will use any and everything to get a persons attention on him.

If you are going to judge someone before you even talk with them..

then that is not of Christ at all. The underlining factor is simple...

"Disciples involve themselves

in all parts of society to give it a righteous flavor."

I wish I could say I came up with that...but it's actually

in the footnotes of my N.I.V bible for Luke 14:34-35

Sin is Slavery...not Freedom

So I'm reading Galatians chapter 5 again,

the title of that chapter being 'Freedom in Christ'

Now Paul is talking to everyone about

the law, and how some of them have

got things twisted and confused.

Some of the people seemed to be to heavily

influenced by the "old-way" and having to

do things in a set way, and trying to work

their way into Gods good graces,

which we know it doesn't work that way.

I'm reading the "notes" for chapter five verse one through twenty one,

and at the very end it says "Sin is slavery, not freedom"

Reading that now, i'm like "yeah I can see that"

however there was a time where I thought the complete opposite.

Do you see where I am going with this?

I use to think "being of Christ" a "Christian"

a "believer" whatever you want to call it,

I use to think that was slavery, and I use to think sinning

was "freedom". When I was on the outside looking in,

when I was looking at the word of God and

at "Followers of Christ" I was thinking..

"what a bunch of sheep" why would

I ever want to become a "believer" and be

chained down from doing whatever I want.

I use to think, hell I don't have to read the bible..

I already can tell you what it's all about,

it's a book of rules, it's a book of don't do this and don't do that

live this way and not that way ect ect.

Everything that feels good is a sin, everything that you want to do

you can't do.

Now obviously I could make an argument with those things,

I could of kept on believing that way, but thanks be to God

for opening my eyes and removing the scales.

Sure when you are gratifying your flesh and sinful nature

it seems "freeing" because you are doing

what you want and selfishly giving into your human nature which is to sin.

However in the end what does it do for you?

when you are done doing whatever YOU desired,

when you are alone by yourself at some point in time

you're going to wonder what is it all for? what is the point?

guilt and shame are going to come into play, and maybe

you just drink more to make it go away or whatever

the guilty pleasure is. You're going to come to find

that nothing you do is going to satisfy you,

no amount of drinking or drugs or sex or whatever

is ever going to make you feel whole...

the only person that can do that is Jesus Christ.

Sure sinning and doing whatever you want

will make you feel good for a moment or two,

the key words would be "feel good for a moment"

it will never "satisfy" you, you will never be fulfilled following

your sinful ways, something will always be missing.

Just like what was stated last week..

"money can't by you happiness"

neither can being in the darkness

and following your sinful nature.

Why do you think there is so much depression and suicide?

To many people are forced to believe one thing or another

is going to make them happy, to many people are led

to believe that this is all there is, and when they

follow their desires...when they get what the world

tells them will make them happy and it turns out

that it actually doesn't, they figure.. what's the point?

obviously there are other reasons for depression/suicide

and I won't get into all that. The point I'm trying to make is,

who is actually the person in slavery?

is it the "believer in Christ" like the world would like you to believe

or is it the "non-believer" who gratifies his sinful nature...

Before I tell you why It's the latter let me just clarify

something real quick. Now obviously

the believer and non believer are both sinners..

the only difference is one side recognizes his faults and doesn't

willfully give into sin, and knows Jesus came and sacrificed himself

for his sinful nature, and the other side obviously doesn't believe that.

So why is a person living in sin not free?

why is sin slavery and not freedom?

First of all a price was paid for our sins

so that in itself should explain why it's not "free".

Second as stated above you don't feel at peace

gratifying your sinful nature, the more you seek for

happiness in your sins the more you will be weighed down by them...

I.E the more you put money first in your life the more

it's going to become a burden to you.

you'll constantly be working and striving to find fulfillment

but you'll never find it, never will you be complete

or at peace because something will always be missing.

We become burdened when we are far from Christ...

constantly seeking something to fulfill ourselves...

because we all want happiness.

In the end we will all face judgement,

God will either welcome us with open arms

or turn away and say he never knew us.

and again every single one of us sins,

and we will never be perfect...

but accepting Christ's sacrifice lifts the burden of sin,

Christ took all of our sins on his shoulders and he barred them all for us.

willfully giving into sin and denying your Lord and savior

is not freedom at all because you yourself are picking

those chains Christ already broke and you are putting

them right back on yourself. You are shackling

yourself to your own demise and a price will be paid.

As a follower of Christ I am free from the bonds of sins

not because I'm better then you...

not because I deserve to be...

But because Christ died for me,

because he knew I couldn't be perfect...

because he knows I am a failure, and I can't do this alone.

Where is the freedom in selfishness?

In the end we all have a choice..

it's choose life or choose death..

choose freedom or choose slavery..

we can choose to be that slave to sin,

ignore that voice inside telling us when something isn't right

and do whatever we desire

but going down that road only leads to pain and sorrow...

maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow...

but someday you are going to wonder

what is this life all for?

I followed all that my heart desired

only to find that it was all pointless and meaningless...

It is freedom that Christ has set us

free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves

be burdened again by as yoke of slavery.

Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let

yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value

to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself

be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.

You who are trying to be justified by the law have been

alienated from Christ; you have fallen

away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through

the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor un-circumcision

has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing

itself through love.

Galatians 5:1-6

So I say, live by the spirit, and you will not gratify

the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature

desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit

what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict

with eachother, so that you do not do what you want.

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious:

sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;

idolatry and witchcraft; hatred,discord,jealousy,

fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions

and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

I warn you, as I did before, that those who live

like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:16-21

Ecclesiastes 2:1

In these times of struggle

with the economy and people losing jobs

depression and suicide rates increase

that may be a given to most of us,

obviously when we are struggling with bills,

and just living in general, then depression and suicide will

rear their heads. However even in times of plenty

they will appear as well.

I'm sure everyone has heard the expression

"Money doesn't buy you happiness"

and to be honest when I hear that

I just think:" I dunno...I think it would make me pretty happy

if I were to get a million bucks"

but you see that is not the point,

sure you would be happy with a big paycheck

or if you just won millions of dollars

but the thing is, life isn't about things

you'll only be happy for so long.

Once you become so use to having a lot of money

you'll only want more and more and for what?

a bigger house? bigger tv? bigger boat? new cars?

they're just things...things we can't take with us

The problem is in todays media

and just the worlds mindset in general

we are raised to think life is about money...

it's about you and what makes YOU happy.

Don't get me wrong...i'm not saying if I won the lotto

or a crap load of money fell into my lap

I wouldn't be happy, what I am saying

is if I let it consume me and I put money above God..

it's only going to become a burden to me.

Lets take someone like Kurt Cobain for an example,

people look at him and wonder why he killed himself,

I mean he had it all right? he had people

eating up anything he said...he had money...he had fame..

and while there was obviously drugs and others things involved

the main thing is... money couldn't buy him happiness,

and neither could fame. The fact is Kurt Cobain

didn't even want the fame in the end or so he claimed,

Cobain reached the top he crafted something new in music.

Cobain was searching for the point of it all,

what is life about? Once he made the top. he probably thought

is this all there is? I'm suppose to be happy right?

but he wasn't happy. because what does a man gain

from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?

as it says in Ecclesiastes.

When people make there life about wealth and success..

what happens when they reach that goal of theirs? what happens

when they become so huge it was beyond

what they even thought they could be?

When they truly ask "Is this all there is? and what's the point"

all you've earned all you work hard for it's all just going

to get passed down as you are forgotten.

If we don't put God first nothing and I mean nothing

in this world will ever make us happy.

Am I saying people who don't put God first

can never smile or feel happiness?

no..I'm saying they will never be truly happy

they will never be fulfilled.

They will just keep searching for the next big thing.

We were created in Gods image right?

and what is Gods image?

who is God?

what is he like?

Will to be short and sweet about it God is LOVE,

God wants to give love freely but at the same time

also receive love. Don't all of us in the end

want love? Can you love money?

sure you can but can it love you back?

Who or what is the only thing that can Love

you more then you could ever imagine,

more then the sand on the sea shore?

I believe thats God right?

God is the one in the end who allows happiness right?

money..pleasure happiness it's all meaningless

unless we know the giver.

Through trusting God and putting your faith in him

all things are possible.

God will never let you down...never leave you...never forsake you

never say "I don't even want to talk to you"

God is always there for YOU!

us as... human nature screw up...

we let each-other down we fight with eachother

but God is always just plain and simple...

LOVE

Take a look at what Ecclesiastes says about

wealth and accomplishments and putting

them above God...

I thought in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with

pleasure to find out what is good." but that also

proved to be meaningless. "laughter," I said, "is

foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?"

I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly

my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to

see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven

during the few days of their lives.

I undertook great projects: I built houses

for myself and planted vineyards. I made

gardens and parks and planted all kinds

of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs

to water groves of flourishing trees.

I bought male and female slaves

and had other slaves who were born in my house.

I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone

in jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold

for myself. and the treasure of kings and

provinces. I acquired men and women singers,

and a harem as well-the delights of the heart of man.

I became greater by far than anyone in jerusalem

before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;

I refused my heart no pleasure.

My heart took delight in all my work,

and this was the reward for all my labor.

Yet when I surveyed all that my hands

had done and what I had toiled to achieve,

everything was meaningless, a chasing

after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11