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Author: Stephen Weller
651 words, 3 minutes read time

Three Conditions for Discipleship

Scripture: Matthew 10:37-38; Luke 14:25-27, 33

With the previous lesson we finished the section about the parable of the great banquet. With this lesson we will continue in Luke and include Matthew and consider the cost of discipleship.

^{Lk 14:25} “Now great crowds accompanied 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. ^{Mt 10:37} Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me [and] ^{Lk 14:27} cannot be my disciple.”

As Jesus travels from place to place there are many who accompany him and others who join him at particular locations, but at any given time the crowds are described as great. At a particular location, Jesus turns to them and begins to teach about the cost of being one of his disciples and lays out three conditions.

The first condition is given in verse 26: we are to love family less that we love Jesus Christ. For Jesus to say we are to “hate” family members does not mean hate as we define it but a much lesser degree of love. That relationship of love also includes self. The love for self and our family is to be less that our love for Jesus Christ and if it is not then we are not able to be his disciples.

The second condition is found in verse 27: we are to bear the cross and follow Jesus Christ. Jesus spoke of this in Luke 9:23 – 24 ESV: ²³ “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”’ In one of the videos of the video series that accompanied the film “Tortured for Christ” the question was asked about how we were praying, asking for what cross God wanted us to carry each day and if we were willing to suffer for our faith, even to give our lives. Jesus leaves no option here. We are to determine what our cross is to be and take it up and carry it.

The third condition is found in Luke 14:33 ESV: “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” It involves renouncing all. Jesus was an example of this by spending his time teaching and healing those in need. No matter how tired he was, he had compassion when people came to him and met their needs. For us, he tells us to give to the poor and follow him (Luke 18:22). We must be careful not to gather up possessions, but to use our resources to help others. We are to “provide [ourselves] with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys” (Luke 12:33 ESV).

Conclusion

In all honesty, do you see the three conditions being lived out in the western church today? Maybe that is why the western church looks so much like the world and maybe why it is not being persecuted. Might this mean that there are few disciples of Jesus Christ in our churches? Might this imply that many are found in the category of those in Matthew 7:21 – 23 who Jesus said to them “I never knew you; depart from me?”