Jesus is recruiting disciples. As Christians we know that after His death on the cross all His disciples left Him. After His resurrection, He started recruiting them back. He showed up to all His disciples and in John 21:15-17, He specifically instructed Peter to shepherd His sheep. He showed up to Paul on the way to the Damascus and recruited Paul to be the missionary to the Gentiles. Jesus has not changed direction, He is still recruiting disciples to tend His sheep. See the great commission to be mentioned later.

If we want to be Jesus disciple, there are requirements or qualifications that we need to meet. Like any recruiter, He made that plain to us through His book.

Here are the verses that mention the discipleship of Jesus from the 4 Gospels:

I. Matthew 16:24-27

II. Mark 8: 34-38

III.1- Luke 9:24-26, III.2- Luke 14:26-35, and III.3- Luke 18:28-30

IV. John 10:1-18

The great commission

V. Matthew 28:18-20

VI. Conclusion and my Testimony

Let’s analyze these verses one by one:

I. Matthew 16:24-27

Matthew 16: 24 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
...”if anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”
The words to discuss here is deny himself and take up his cross…

deny himself means denying oneself of the evil desires of his heart which will defile him.

             Mark 7:20-23 (NASB) list to us the evil desires from a man’s heart said by Jesus:

            20And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the

                  man.
21″For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications,  

                 thefts, murders, adulteries,

22deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander,

                pride and foolishness.

            23″All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.

(If you don’t understand any of the bad words above, please look up the meaning of it in the dictionary.  If you use the internet, type up dictionary .com in the web.  Please don’t take those words lightly, they will rob you of your rewards in heaven if not avoided seriously.) 

Take up his cross means doing the assignment that God and Jesus told us to do. (Although Jesus is a healer and He healed many while on earth; although He is a teacher and He taught many while here on earth; Jesus main assignment is to die on the cross. This is His passion. He gave up His life for that assignment that He got from the Father.

What about us? What is our main assignment? Our assignment is to do the commandment of Jesus and then be His disciple. What is the difference between the assignment to do the commandment and being a disciple of Jesus?

The assignment to do His commandment is expected to change us and prepare us to do His great commission. What is the commandment that Jesus told us to follow with the help of the Holy Spirit. This is the commandment of love of God and love of our neighbors as ourselves.

• Matthew 22:37-39 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
37And He said to him, “(A)   ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’
38″This is the great and foremost commandment.
39″The second is like it, ‘(B)  YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’

• Mark 12:29-31 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
29Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘(A)  HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD;
30 AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’
31″The second is this, ‘(B)   YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

• Luke 10:26-28 New International Version, ©2011 (NIV)
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

What is the best test to know if we love God? We love God because we love our neighbors who we see. What happens to our offerings or prayers when our brother has something against us?

Matthew 5:23-25
23“Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.
25″ Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.

What happens if we don’t get reconciled with our brother? Our prayers will be not answered. We are not going to be fully changed to be a disciple of Jesus. Jesus said, “Make friends quickly with your opponent..”..Please note the word “quickly” I believe He means no dilly dalying, no postponing, no delaying.  In short, He means now.

(continued) Matthew 16:25-27 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

25″For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
26″For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
27″For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.

I believe verse 25 is related to verse 26. It will be easy to understand verse 25 if we relate it to how we save our life on this earth. We work for food, clothing, and shelter and some luxuries. Either we have not enough or we have more than enough, the result is the same, we want more. Some people seem to gain the whole world at the expense of their soul. Jesus said, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”

But if we lose our life for Jesus sake we will find it. Why? because He is going to repay us according to the work or deeds we do for Him. What is this work or deeds we do for Jesus? Getting people saved by spreading the good news about Jesus Christ. (the great commission, see below). How do we get people saved? By having people accept Jesus as their personal Savior and having them pray the prayer of salvation explained by Paul in Romans 10:9-10, 9 “If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. 10 for it is with heart that you believe unto righteousness, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.”

II. Mark 8:34-38 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

34 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
This is a repeat of Mathew 24. See explanation above.
35“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.

“…the gospel’s will save it.” The gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ; that He died on the cross for our sins, that He rose again after 3 days to be with the Father in heaven, that He sent the Holy Spirit to be with us and in us, to comfort us, protect us, and to lead us to the path where Jesus wants us to be, to be His disciple (again this is the great commission). We proclaim the gospel, the gospel will save our life.

36″For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?
37″For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
38″For (C)whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, (D)the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He (E)comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

III.1- Luke 9: 24-26 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
24“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
“…he is the one who will save it.” The “he” here is us; “he is the one who will save it” means that the decision belongs to us. Giving our free will to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior saves us. To be a disciple of Jesus will be the next step to be blessed here on earth and after that eternal life.
25“For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?
26″ For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

III.2 Luke 14:26-35 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
26“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.

This shows how focus Jesus wants us to be, to become His disciple. Some of our father, mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters will distract us in performing our desire and duty as disciple of Jesus. Does this contradict the commandment of loving others? No way, our first responsibility is to them. We work so that we can provide for our family. A man who does not provide for his family is worse than an infidel (unbeliever). This means that before we become disciples of Jesus, we must know how to provide for our relatives and for our family.

1 Timothy 5:8 New International Version, ©2011 (NIV)
8 Anyone household, who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
There are Pastors and missionaries who are misled that their calling is to leave their families to do the work for the gospel. The truth is if they cannot support their families, they cannot perform the great commission.

(Continued)- Luke 14:27-35

27“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
“..his own cross here..” can be interpreted as his assignment to support his family and do his duty to the community.
28“For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?
29“Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,
30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

Jesus wants us to plan for the mission we need to do. Calculate the cost see if we have enough to complete it. What is the talent we want to build on? If we don’t have them, do we have the leadership capability to attract the talent?

Our foundation is Jesus. Our enemy is Satan who is a defeated foe. Yet, we still have to make sure that our desires are clean. Talents that we lack we can buy it.

Revelation 3:8 New American Standard Bible (NASB) Jesus speaking
18I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich…,
31“Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
32″Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
33″So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
34″Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned?
35″It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

III.3- Luke 18:28-30 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
28Peter said, “Behold, we have left our own homes and followed You.”
29And He said to them, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,
30who will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life.”

(Jesus promised many blessing in this life and in the life to come “eternal life”.  When you left your home to follow Jesus, this means that the home did not have any hold on you.  It is not your idol, you will “receive many times as much at this time”.)

IV. John 10:1-18

Parable of the Good Shepherd
1“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.
2″But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.
3″To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4″When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
5″A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
6This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.
7So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
8″All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
9″I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
10″The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
11″I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
12″He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
13″He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.
14″I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,
15even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
16″I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
17″For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.
18″No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  He has sheep to be called into His fold.  He has sheep to be taken cared of.  To be a disciple of Jesus therefore is  to gather the sheep called by Jesus and to protect His sheep,

The Great Commission

V. Matthew 28:18- 20 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

18And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

 All authority has been given to Jesus.  There are no more authority left for our enemy to attack us. Our enemy is a defeated foe.  We are sure of success.  Just do it.

19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to
the end of the age.”

We are commanded to make disciples of all nations. Jesus will be with us  always even to the end of the age

VI. Conclusion and My Testimony

I consider myself successful when I was in my real estate business in the U.S.. I made sure that God was my partner. I prayed every morning so that He will lead me to the right people. I made sure that I minister to those people by asking them to pray the prayer of salvation with me before I even work with them. If they reject Jesus, I will, in a nice way, tell them to find other real estate agents or brokers who can serve them better.

God allowed me to run a Bible Study with a group of believers. All of us grow in the knowledge of the “Word” and was blessed beyond measure in all the aspects of our life.

I am giving this testimony for others to know that the great commission could be our main priority while working the job that we need to do to support our family. We are all commissioned to spread the gospel to all nations. We need to practice it where we are what ever we do and wait for God’s promotion to assign us to the different parts of the world.

Amen

Comments are closed.