Discipleship — Its Terms, Tests and Rewards: Seven Things That Characterize a Disciple Indeed [Pamphlet]

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May the Lord give us the grace to give the Lord his rightful place in our lives, and prove the blessing of it.

Excerpt: Two Calls of the Lord

My purpose this afternoon is to speak on the subject of discipleship—its terms, its tests, and its rewards. Let’s begin by turning to Matthew 11:28, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Then turn on to chapter 16, and verse 24, “Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

We have in these two verses two calls of our Lord Jesus Christ. One is to come “unto” Him to be saved, and the other is to come “after” Him in the path of discipleship. I put these two verses side by side, because it shows that coming to Christ and following after Him in the path of faith are connected.

It has been often said that all Christians are going to have a happy ending to their life, because their pathway ends in glory. However, while all Christians will have a happy ending, sad to say, not all have a happy life! The cause of this is because they are not willing to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus. They think that it’s enough to respond to the Lord’s first call to come to Him for salvation. They are content to know that their sins are forgiven, and that they’re on their way to heaven, but they neglect to truly come after Him in the path of faith, surrendering their lives to His Lordship. Hence, they lose in not letting the Lord make something beautiful out of their lives—something that will be for His glory, and their own happiness.

The first call that the Lord gave is to “all” (Matt. 11:28), because the Lord wants all (everybody) to come and begin a relationship with Him. He wants to put your sins away and give you peace in your conscience and joy in your heart, and that comes only from knowing that all is right between your soul and God. If you do not know the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, He is calling you right now to come and begin a relationship with Him as your Saviour and your Lord.

The second call is the burden of my address this afternoon—the call that the Lord gave to His disciples to come “after” Him in the path (Matt. 16:24). Notice: it is a call, not to come to Him, but a call to come after Him. Following Christ in the path of faith, which the Word of God marks out, is where lasting joy in the Christian life is experienced. There is an initial joy in coming to the Lord and getting saved, but to have a lasting and sustained joy in one’s life requires following Him in the path of discipleship daily.

Now notice that in this call in Matthew 16, the Lord said, “If any man will come after Me ... .” This shows that discipleship is an individual thing, and also a voluntary thing. I can’t be a disciple of Jesus for you, and you can’t be one for me. Each one of us must have his own exercise about this. In Matthew 16, the Lord tested His disciples by laying out certain conditions that discipleship would involve. And this shows that it is not something that is to be taken up lightly. A true disciple must “deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow” Him.

Contents

1. Discipleship

2. Terms of Discipleship, The

3. Tests of Discipleship, The

4. Rewards of Discipleship, The