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In Scripture, there are three principles that we must know in order to do discipleship God's way: we must know the condition of discipleship, the cost of discipleship, and the command of discipleship.

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DISCIPLESHIP STARTS IN HEAVEN

Means of grace… How many of you guys are familiar with the term “means of grace”? Essentially, a means of grace is what it says: a means by which God manifests His grace in our lives. For believers, the many means of grace that God provides are foundation upon which the Christian life is built. Can you guys think of a few more examples of a “means of grace”?

All of those are great examples. But I want to give you one additional means of grace from Scripture: discipleship in the context of body life in the local church.

How many of you guys have ever struggled to understand what a particular passage in Scripture means? Don’t worry, I’m right there with you. Okay, now how many of you have ever struggled to understand how to handle a conflict with friends or family in a godly way? I feel that. In those situations, and so many others, where can we go for assistance? Where can we go for guidance? Where do we go for help?

One simple answer is the Word, right? But then that brings us back to that first example, doesn’t it? The reality is that each of us, no matter how gifted you might be, are just like the Ethiopian eunuch in - “How could I understand, unless someone guides me?”

If you’re really serious about the Christian life, then you’re gonna get really serious about discipleship. Lord willing, by the end of this study, we’re all going to know not just what discipleship is, but just how necessary it is to the Christian life.

Lord willing, by the end of this study, we’re all going to know not just what discipleship is, but just how necessary it is to the Christian life.

In order to do that, we’re going to look at a bunch of passages during our time together. Our launchpad is going to be from , so go ahead and turn there in your Bibles. If you’re looking for an outline, here it is: In Scripture, there are three principles that we must know in order to do discipleship God's way: we must know the condition of discipleship, the cost of discipleship, and the command of discipleship.

So, if you all could open your Bibles to , we’ll dive right in. Who can read this passage for us?

Matthew 16:13–19 NASB95

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”

Matthew 16:13–18 NASB95

THE CONDITION OF DISCIPLESHIP ()

Here in , we find the condition of discipleship… the condition of discipleship. Notice Jesus’s words here, especially in verses 16-18.

In response to His question, Peter replies, “You are the Christ… the Son of the living God.” This is profound because not everybody recognized Jesus for who He was, did they? The Pharisees denied His identity. The Romans ignored His identity. But the disciples didn’t. Their eyes had been opened by God to see themselves for who they really were and to see Jesus for who He really is. How do we know that though? Notice verse 17.

Did Peter pull a Sherlock Holmes or an Ace Ventura and just figure out who Jesus was all of a sudden? Hardly. Jesus says to Him in verse 17, “flesh and blood did not reveal to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Neither Peter, or Pastor Steve, or Pastor Jim, or me, or you can reveal the truth about Jesus to you. Only God can. But what else does Jesus have to say about this divinely prompted confession? Look at verse 18 now.

“I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church...”

The Roman Catholic Church tries to use this verse to prove that Peter was the first Pope. That’s not even remotely what the passage is saying. The main point here is this: Jesus will build His church, not man. And the foundation of His church is 1) the ministry and doctrine of the apostles, led by Peter and 2), the divinely prompted confession of God’s people upon salvation.

And notice the best part. It’s at the end of verse 18: “and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” Hades is referring to death. It’s the same concept as Sheol in the Old Testament. It’s forces are evil, and wicked, and hate everything that has to do with God. But Jesus is saying here that none of that stuff matters. Why? Because they will not overpower His church! God is sovereign over salvation and He is sovereign over the growth of His church.

Now, why is this important to our discussion today? Because before we even jump into quote-unquote “discipleship”, we have to establish some prerequisites. The first one is this condition of discipleship. What was the main difference between Peter, a true disciple of Christ, and Judas? Peter knew the Lord because the Lord knew Him first. Judas never knew the Lord because the Lord never knew Him.

But, you might ask, how do I know if I’m Peter or Judas? Great question. The answer? What’s your testimony?… What is your testimony? Peter had a testimony.

Luke 5:4–8 NASB95

4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; 7 so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”

Luke 5:4-

Have you had that experience? Has that moment happened in your life? When Peter was confronted about his sin, he fell at the Lord’s feet in repentance because he saw himself rightly and he saw Jesus rightly. Have you had that experience? Has that moment happened in your life? Understand this: if you’ve never seen your sin rightly, then you’ve never known Jesus rightly.

A lot of times we can put the cart before the horse, and I get that sentiment, definitely. We want to encourage those who are curious about the gospel! We want to build up those who are trying to obey the gospel! But if you’ve been trying to understand and trying to obey and you’re just not gaining any traction at all, have you considered that maybe, the problem isn’t about commitment, but conviction? By conviction, I mean conviction over your sin. This is the ultimate condition of discipleship. No one can be a disciple until they know that they’re not a disciple and that they need to be a disciple.

But, in order to get to that point, we do have to understand everything that comes with being a disciple. Which leads us to the second principle we need to know in order to do discipleship God’s way: we must know the cost of discipleship… the cost of discipleship. Turn to , verses 25-35. Can somebody read that for me?

Luke 14:25–35 NASB95

25 Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 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. 27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 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.’ 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.”

THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP ()

For the sake of time, we’re not gonna walk through every facet of this passage, but there are a few aspects that I want to focus on. First, notice what Luke points out from the outset in verse 25: “Large crowds were going along with Him.” At this point in His ministry, Jesus was kind of like a big deal! Back in , Jesus was healing the sick, casting out demons, dunking on Pharisees theologically, and the people loved it! Jesus really was a trending topic. However, He didn’t put much stock in His following. In fact, He wanted to fan out the fake followers from the real ones. Look at what He says in verse 26:

Luke 14:26 NASB95

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.

Yikes! That’s harsh, Jesus! Hate my dad and my mom and my wife and my kids and my brothers and my sisters and myself?!? This is crazy! Well, let’s slow down for just a moment and break it down.

We know for a fact that Jesus isn’t saying to actively hate your family, because that would violate the second greatest commandment, right? “Love your neighbor as yourself.” So, what can we conclude? That here in verse 26, Jesus is saying that if your love for Him doesn’t make your love for your family look like hatred, then you cannot be His disciple.

Verses 27 and 33 also clarify the point that Jesus is driving home here. in verse 27, He says that you cannot be His disciple unless you “carry your own cross.” Then, in verse 33, He says that you cannot be His disciple unless you “give up all of your possessions.” And back in verse 26, what did He say? You cannot be His disciple unless you “hate your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and your own life.”

So if we put all that together, what is Jesus trying to say to the crowds? He’s saying, “I know you’re following Me. I know you’re eager. However - I want you to know something. Following Me has a cost! If you want to follow Me, it’s going to cost you everything. Am I worth it to you?”

Just think about that for a moment. Is Jesus worth it to you? Take away all the hoopla. Take away your believing families. Take away your friends at church. Take away all the benefits you would get as a result of following Christ. Replace that with rejection from your family because you refuse to water down the definition of sin. Replace that with hatred from your friends because you refuse to budge on what Scripture says about gender and God’s design. Replace that with persecution and maybe even death because you refuse to participate in the wicked deeds of the world at large. Is Christ worth it to you?

Does keeping your possessions matter more than possessing saving faith? Does good relationships with family matter more than a good relationship with Christ? Does safety and security on earth matter more than eternal safety and security in heaven? Before we even think through following Him, we must ask ourselves if we really want all that comes with it.

DISCIPLESHIP CONTINUES ON EARTH

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THE COMMAND OF DISCIPLESHIP ()

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FROM THE LORD ()

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FROM THE PULPIT (; )

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FROM OLDER SAINTS (; )

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FROM ME AND YOU ()

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ARE YOU A DISCIPLE?

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