The true disciples of Jesus
“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.” (Luke 14:26-27)
Are you a disciple of Jesus?
All Christians who accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord are the disciples of Jesus. And the disciples of Jesus are learners and followers of Jesus. What should we Christians learn from Jesus and how should we follow Him? We must follow Jesus in right way by learning true discipleship from Jesus. How do the true disciples of Jesus follow Him?
First, the true disciples of Jesus hate not only their own life the but also their family members’ lives in following Jesus.
Look at Luke 14:26: “"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.” When we apply this word to ourselves, we should consider whether we can really say that we are the true disciples of Jesus as we love ourselves and our family more than Jesus. We, who are called by the Lord Jesus to follow Him, must be fishermen. But if we refrain the Jesus’ calling because of our beloved family members (cf.: vv. 18-20), then the Bible says that we can't be His disciples (v. 26). We cannot obey Jesus' call unless we love Him so much that we hate ourselves and our family members. And if we are disobedient to Jesus' calling because we love ourselves and our family members, then we cannot be His disciples. In order for us to be the true disciples of Jesus, we must hate our family members and our lives in following our beloved Jesus. In order for us to be the true disciples of Jesus, we must dedicate our beloved family members and even our lives to the Lord. We should not love our family and our lives more than Jesus.
Second, the true disciples of Jesus take their own cross and follow Him.
Look at Luke 14:27 – “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” When we apply this word to ourselves, we should consider whether we can really say that we are the true disciples of Jesus as we refuse to bear our own cross and follow Him. If we know that Jesus took the cross for us, walked the way of Golgotha, and suffered all kinds of sufferings, then should we not suffer all kinds of sufferings as we take our own cross and walk on the narrow path for our beloved Jesus? But we are more use to comfortable live than suffering. And we see a wider road better than a narrow road. And we like to wear cross ornaments rather than to bear the cross of suffering. So even though we look like Jesus 'disciples outwardly, inwardly we are not living like Jesus' disciples. Although Jesus was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered (Heb. 5:8), we aren’t willing to learn obedience from what we suffer. We, as children of God, are living in disobedience to God's will because we do not really love Jesus and His cross. We must hate our disobedience. And we must mourn with repent and turn to God. We must take our own cross, and walk the way of our own “Golgotha.”
Third, the true disciples of Jesus follow Jesus with a firm budget.
Look at Luke 14:28-32: “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’” When we apply this word to ourselves, we should consider whether we can really say that we are the true disciples of Jesus as we follow Him with any budget. Think about it. For example, if we start build a church in order to dedicate it to the Lord without having enough budget, then we will not be able to build the all the way but maybe just its foundation. Many churches have begun to build the church buildings, but they couldn’t because they are going the financial difficulties. Likewise, if we don't have enough budgets and devote ourselves to walk the path of the Lord with our passionate hearts, then we won’t be faithful to follow Jesus to the end. Another example is suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. He will first sit down and consider the number of his army against the number of another king’s army (v.3 1). But if another king’s army has 20,000 soldiers and he has only 10,000, then he will send a delegation while another king is still a long way off because he knows that he cannot (vv. 31-32). If the king believes in the Gideon's 300 soldiers story, and wages war with his enemy even though his military number is only half the number of its counterpart, then we can say that the king’s courage came out of his ignorance rather than his courage from faith. Jesus wants us to see first whether we can oppose those who come against us. In other words, the Lord Jesus wants us to follow Him with a firm budget. In the life of faith, budget means to make certain sacrifices for certain hope (Park). Are we determined firmly to sacrifice ourselves in following Jesus? Are we willing to forsake all our possessions in following Jesus? (v. 33) Since we have obtained Jesus by God's grace and are already enjoying all the spiritual blessings with salvation in Jesus Christ, shouldn’t we decide to give up all our lives and our possessions in following Jesus?
The true disciples of Jesus hate their own lives and their own family in following Jesus. The true disciples of Jesus take their own cross and follow Jesus. And the true disciples of Jesus follow Jesus with the firm budget, that is willing to sacrifice for certain hope. Hopefully we will be established as the true disciples of Jesus who follow Jesus correctly.