Are You In Danger?
"Who me? In danger? I hope not!" -- but, what IF you should be?
Being a true, hard core, follower of Christ could be (should be) DANGEROUS. To the enemy, for sure, but yes, also to you -- or at least your flesh... Read on:
Authentic discipleship MUST be more than a church program.
It must be more than a bullet list of required Bible verses, prayer routines and outreach events.
It can't be contained in a book, classroom or church building.
Behavior modification is not enough…
It's messy, difficult, painful, time consuming, demanding, lonely and thankless.
You'll want to quit discipleship at some point. Most do in fact.
An authentic disciple of Christ is a soldier in active duty in a war against the greatest enemy of all time.
History records a time when Jesus clearly set the standard for discipleship excruciatingly high and many ran. It was right after Jesus had fed 5,000+ people and walked on water, pretty epic right?! No doubt this man is the Messiah! So, Jesus sits down with a large group of people who considered themselves to be disciples. He talked about how He was the bread of life -- at this point you can almost hear the "amen's" but He goes on to say that you can't really be His disciple unless you eat his flesh and drink his blood. What?? Was He advocating cannibalism? Of course not! Jesus was saying that to be His follower, you must be willing to pay the same price that He was about to pay: LIFE.
We must be completely expendable for God's purpose and will. We must understand that it's God who makes all things possible. Jesus laid it out there, He honestly made the cost clear and... "At this point many of His disciples turned away and deserted Him" (John 6:66).
They bailed... deserted... QUIT!
When Jesus served His disciples the "Last Supper," He was laying it ALL on the line. He would become our sacrifice and Savior. But, His death was also an invitation for us to lay down our lives as well. He knew, then, how to defeat the devil and would lead the way: "And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die" (Revelation 12:11).
Authentic discipleship is saying, "I intend to train you and prepare you to stand against the enemy in a world that he controls. Yes, I intend to put you in harms way." A disciple is a frontline soldier, an end times warrior and a fearless fighter.
Discipleship is not teaching others to play church, sing songs, give offerings and volunteer for stuff. Those things aren't wrong, but they are not discipleship. Furthermore, the church is not a hotel, retreat center or safe house -- it's MASH unit on the battlefield and an armory for God's infantry.
We put people in danger when we call them "disciples." Especially, when all they did was pass a course or two OR jump through some church leadership hoops. Yikes!
Jesus specifically and personally raised disciples, and then before He ascended back to Heaven, He instructed His disciples to "Go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19). Only a disciple can make a disciple who makes disciples. Jesus disciples understood and gave their lives for this cause. They understood that discipleship came with the requirement that they must be willing to pay the ultimate price.
IF you're not a soldier, you won't make soldiers. And, IF you don't think we're in a spiritual war where the stakes are life & death, you're naive and need to be discipled yourself.
I'm committed to authentic discipleship. I understand the battle, the cost and the reward.
I'm ALL IN!
making disciples,
Chilly
Q: Are you an authentic disciple
Q: Are you making disciples? (If not, than you’re probably NOT an authentic disciple…)
