The Way To Growth In Christlikeness - Part 2 — Zac Poonen

Jesus Preaches Discipleship to the Crowds

Let's turn again to Matthew chapter 5. We were looking at that verse, at the couple of verses there, and the earlier verses in the Sermon on the Mount some time ago, a couple of weeks ago actually. And I want you to notice something here in the way Jesus reacted to crowds.

If you turn to Matthew chapter 4 and verse 25, we read, large crowds followed him. And the very next verse is, when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up to the mountain, and then he began to teach this long sermon on discipleship.

In fact, the longest sermons of Jesus here in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, and also in John 14, 15, 16, 17, and the Last Supper, were all on discipleship, on following him wholeheartedly, not on evangelism. And whenever he saw a large crowd, you notice that he preached discipleship.

Some of the hardest words you can ever hear is what he spoke here in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. And even though it was primarily spoken to the disciples, it says here in Matthew 5, 1, he went up to the mountain and his disciples came to him, and he opened his mouth and began to teach them, that is the disciples.

But the crowd was still there listening as we read at the end of Matthew 7, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, we read the crowds, verse 28, Matthew 7, 28, the crowds were amazed at his teaching. So even though Jesus was primarily speaking to his disciples, the crowds were there beyond the disciples listening.

So what we notice here is whenever Jesus saw a crowd, he knew that 90 of them were not serious about becoming disciples, just like you go to preach in a church today. 90 are not really interested in being disciples or paying the price for it, but he preached discipleship.

Counting the Cost of Discipleship in Luke 14

You see another example in Luke chapter 14, very similar, there's another situation, Luke 14, 25, large crowds were going along with him and he turned and said to them, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, he cannot be my disciple.

Now imagine saying that to a crowd of Jewish people who were taught to respect their parents and love their children, to say that you've got to hate them in comparison of your love for me. And he does this big crowd, if you are not willing to, verse 27, Luke 14, 27, if you're not willing to carry your cross and come after me, you cannot be my disciple.

And then even more in verse 33, none of you can be my disciple if you don't give up all your possessions, your possessive attitude towards the things you own. Now that's not the type of thing you find preachers preaching today when they see a large crowd.

When preachers say, see a large crowd today, their first thought is, let's take an offering. And after that, let's preach to them some nice words, how Jesus loves you and God loves you and he forgives you and he always wants the best for you.

And God's plan is the best for you and how he loves you so much that he gave his son and all that, which is all true. And nothing too hard, nothing too difficult, so that they'll come back again next Sunday, you can collect another offering.

This is the tragedy of Christendom. Jesus was exactly the opposite. We saw that in Matthew 4 and 5. We saw that in Luke 14. Now turn with me to a third example in John's Gospel, chapter 6. I'm just showing you these three passages to see how Jesus was consistent in the way he preached discipleship every time he saw a crowd.

Jesus Tests the Crowd in John 6

We got to learn something from that because Jesus could see through these large number of people who came to listen to him. It's not only because he healed the sick. He wasn't always healing the sick.

He fed the multitude here. He gave them food and he told them, you people are coming because you ate the loaves. This is John chapter 6. It was another big crowd we read in verse 24. John 6, 24. He just finished feeding the multitude and they crossed the sea and came to Capernaum.

And there he saw this big crowd and Jesus said to them, you come to see me because you ate the loaves and the fishes. And then what did he preach to them, to this big crowd? He said to them that my flesh is true meat, true food, verse 55, and my blood is true drink.

If you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you abide in me and otherwise you'll have no part with me. And only he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will live forever. Now, we know he was referring to there to taking up the cross, his flesh and his blood speak of his dying on the cross.

And behind those words, the meaning was, you must be willing to die to yourself too. But he just said that and left it. And it says here that many of his disciples, verse 60, John 6, verse 60, heard this and said, this is a difficult statement.

I mean, if you hadn't heard the explanation, you'd say the same thing too. You'd think Jesus is preaching cannibalism. Eat his flesh and drink his blood. Who can listen to it? Now, these are not the Jews.

The Jews are also there. It says here that Jesus spoke to the Jews, but here he's speaking to his disciples. As you see, in verse 41, we see the Jews were grumbling. But in verse 60, it is his disciples who were grumbling.

Those are not the Jews. The Jews grumbled in verse 41. The disciples grumbled in verse 60. You're not talking about the 12 apostles now. There were many other disciples. You know, Jesus had concentric circles of people he ministered to.

One was a huge crowd, the outer circle. Within that was a circle of 70 disciples. You read in Luke chapter 10, verse 1. Disciples, they were good enough to be sent out to preach the gospel. And within that was a group of 12, a smaller circle.

And within that group of 12 was a smaller group of 11, because one was a crook. And then within that was a smaller group of three, Peter, James, and John. There was three and 11. And then there was the 70 and the multitude.

The True Church Is Made Up of Wholehearted Disciples

So in every church, you find it's like that. This is a big crowd that comes and sits in a church, call it a mega church, or even if your church is about three, 400 people. But within that, there's a smaller group, maybe 70, a little more serious.

But within that is a still smaller group of 11, who are really willing to follow the Lord wholeheartedly. But even within that, there'll be a small group of people who are really committed to go all out for the Lord and willing to sacrifice anything.

So among these disciples, Jesus was always trying to reduce the number to get this small number who were wholehearted. He was never interested in multitudes. If he was interested in the crowd, he would not preach the type of things we see here.

We saw in Matthew four, as soon as he saw the crowd, he preached the Son on the Mount, some of the hardest words found in all the Gospels. And when he saw the crowd in Luke 14, again, he said some of the hardest words found in the Gospels about discipleship.

And here in John six, when he sees the crowd, he speaks about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, causing them to stumble. And finally, we read there were only 12 people left. You read that finally in John chapter six and verse 66, many of his disciples withdrew.

The effect of Jesus' message was not gathering more people. As we see today, oh, your church is expanding. Is that a good sign? If it's expanding in the number of disciples, good. If your church is expanding with more disciples, more radical, wholehearted people joining your church, praise the Lord.

But if it's just increasing in size, brother, because people say, oh, this is a nice church. There are nice people here. They never take an offering here. That's the place I've always liked to go to a place where they never ask you for your money.

So I can spend all my money on myself. And I like to go to this place because my children are small. I want my children to grow up in a good place with other good children. And these are all well behaved children in this church.

And the young girls are modestly dressed and God fearing. I'd like my grown up, my son to find a bride from this church. All types of worldly, selfish reasons with which people join a church. And if you're an elder of a church, you can't see through these people.

You're not fit to be an elder. You need to have discernment to see why have these people come here to this church? Is it to become disciples? Or is it for some other favor? Or some friend of mine is here.

My brother goes to this church. My sister goes to this church. So I'll go here. That's not good enough, brother, sister. That's not the way to join a church. The true church of Jesus Christ consists of disciples.

For whom Christ is supreme. So you finally see that Jesus turned around. There were only 12 people left in John 6 verse 67. Only 12. From that great crowd of 10 ,000 people when they were fed, 5 ,000 men plus women and children, men, 10 ,000 people.

Can you imagine a message that reduces 10 ,000 people to 12? That is the way Jesus preached. And a true servant of God will preach like that. Where he reduces the numbers. Or even if they sit there in this church, it will be made clear to them that you're not the fellows who are committed.

You can sit and listen to the messages, but I'm going to work with a small group within this 400 people sitting here. I'm going to work with about 20 of them. They are the committed ones. That's the church within the church.

That's the only way we can do God's work. The rest come along for the Sunday school or to find brides and bride rooms and all the silly reasons why people did. It's like it's a club for them. It's not the church of Jesus Christ.

So don't be deceived by the numbers in your church. And remember these three chapters, Matthew 4 and 5, the first, Luke chapter 14, the second, and John chapter 6. And now there were 12 left. And now when the multitude is reduced to 12, one would think Jesus would say, Oh, I hope you fellows won't leave.

At least you will stick by me. No. What does he say to them? Do you want to also go away? He was so secure in his father and the power of the message he preached. And he knew what his father had sent him down to earth to proclaim that he was not disturbed if a whole lot of people left, that he could turn around even when 12 are left and say, do you also want to go away?

And Simon Peter says, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Now there's some time around this time that you read in Matthew 16, when Jesus explained to them about the, he's going to the cross and where's 23, 24 onwards that Simon Peter had turned around Jesus and rebuked him.

It says in Matthew 16, Lord, you're not going to go to the cross. And Jesus turned around and said to Simon Peter at that time, get behind me, Satan. The last time he said that was in Matthew four, when he confronted Satan himself in Matthew four, nine, 10 onwards.

But here he uses those words that Peter get behind me, Satan. You are interested in the things that men are interested in, not in the things of God. Can you imagine getting a rebuke like that? How would you feel brother?

Sister, if Jesus turned around to you and said, get behind me, Satan, you're only interested in earthly things, in the things that other men are interested in, not in the things of God. How would you feel at the end of that?

Maybe some of you would get so offended. I said, well, I don't want to follow this rabbi. I better find another one. But you know what Peter called that? Get behind me, Satan. You're interested in the things of men and not the things of God.

You know what Peter called it? Lord, these are the words of eternal life. That rebuke you gave me. That's the thing that's going to save me from wasting my life on this earth and doing something useful with my life on earth.

I'm sorry. I thought the cross is something we avoided, but you've shown me that is seeking earthly things. That's seeking the ways of men. And that's the way of Satan. Satan tried to prevent Jesus from going to the cross in the wilderness.

When he said, you don't have to go to the cross to get the world. Bow down to me. I'll give you the world. And Jesus said, get behind me, Satan. A voice that tells you to avoid the cross is always the voice of Satan.

Avoid the cross, Satan said. You want the world? I'll give it to you. You bow down to me. Don't go to the cross. Get behind me, Satan. Years later, Peter comes to Jesus and says, don't go to the cross.

Get behind me, Satan. Let me give you a little recommendation. Every time somebody suggests to you, take the easy way. Don't go the way of death to self. Don't go the way of dying to yourself. Don't go the way of dying to your reputation.

Don't go the way of loving Jesus supremely so that everyone else on earth knows that they don't have a place in your heart above Christ. Put Christ first above your possessions, above your own self. Crucify yourself.

Put it to death at every opportunity. That's the voice of God. Any voice that tells you to avoid that is the voice of Satan. If you recognize that, you're blessed. And Peter said, Lord, you have the words of eternal life.

And even then, Jesus said, I'm not excited there are 12 of you here because I know one of you is a devil. How direct Jesus was. Boy, I want to preach like him. Lord, I know that I'll build your church only if I learn to preach like you.

And I want to say to all of you who are leading churches, you will never build a church in Jesus Christ that lasts for into the time when Christ comes again. If you don't learn to preach like Jesus Christ, of course, he preached with encouraging words very frequently.

Come to me, you who labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest and many wonderful words. It's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. That's true. We need to preach that too. But to whom did he preach that?

He preached that to people to whom he had spoken directly. You've got to love father and mother less than me. You've got to love me more than father, mother, wife, children. So die to yourself, pick up the cross, forsake your possessions.

You're willing for that. Okay. Then it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Come to me, I'll give you rest first and I'll fill you with the Holy Spirit. So many people are seeking for these blessings who are not willing to pay the price.

And that is why we find today thousands and thousands and thousands of Christians who are getting fake experiences of being filled with the Holy Spirit and who are frustrated and seeking for the power of the Holy Spirit because most preachers tell them, just seek, just seek and pray, fast and pray and cry out to God.

I say, brother, before you do all that, make sure you put Christ first in your life and love him supremely above father, mother, brother, everyone on earth and make sure you love him more than all possessions of earth, that you love him and you don't love money and make sure that you're willing to die to yourself every single day of your life.

Take up your cross. Then ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit and you won't have to wait long. He'll do it immediately. So remember that that's how the summon on the mountain begins to whom he speaks.

When he sees the crowd, he preaches this message and we have to proclaim it. I remember when we started CFC way back 45 years ago, we first took a number of weeks on Luke 14 and then a number of weeks on Matthew five, six and seven.

These are very, very important. And that, what did it do? It reduced the numbers. Sure. We need to keep preaching that again and again because a new generation is growing up. The children of those who were with us then who have not heard these messages and new people coming in because those days CFC was rejected and despised of men.

Unfortunately, it's becoming a little popular now in different places. So people come and join it because it's popular. It's a nice place to go to. It was a nice church to join. There are good sermons there.

There are good people there, but these people who join very often are not fervent disciples of Jesus Christ. I've seen that in every single CFC church. Very often the elders don't have discernment, but I can see through the people who come in many, many of our CFC churches today are not disciples.

And they're not serious about being disciples either. They've become almost deaf to the strong messages they hear. Think of many people who hear our messages on the internet. They listen and they're excited.

Oh, this is a wonderful message and not like all these other preachers who are preaching prosperity and all that. Do you think that by itself makes them disciples? No, they're not willing to pay the price.

So we have to keep on preaching the standards Jesus proclaimed in Luke 14 and here in Matthew five as well. So that's why we turn to Matthew five again and again. We looked at verse three, blessed are the poor in spirit.

Those who are always aware of their need, like a poor homeless man, every day aware of his need. Poor in spirit means every single day aware of my spiritual need. I can do nothing without abiding in Christ today.

Even though I've known him for 50, 60 years, I cannot do anything. That's poor in spirit. And depending on the father all the time, depending on the Lord. And we saw also blessed are those who mourn, not those who mourn for their earthly sorrows and problems and lack of anything on the search, but who mourn because they're not overcoming sin.

Oh Lord, I'm defeated again. Again, that dirty thought came to mind. I want total purity in my thoughts, Lord. I'm defeated. And they weep at night because they had a dirty thought during the day. When was the last time you did that?

Or do you just say, Oh Lord, I'm sorry. I had a dirty thought. Please forgive me. Praise God. He's forgiven me. He doesn't remember my sins anymore. I'm justified in the blood of Christ. You'll never become a disciple that way.

Blessed are those who mourn. They will be strengthened by the comfort. The Holy spirit is called the comforter. If you want the comforter to comfort you, when we filled with the comforter mourn, blessed are those who mourn.

They will be comforted by the comforter. Jesus called the Holy spirit, the comforter in John chapter 14. So link that with this verse. Then we go on to verse five. Blessed are the meek. King James version says meek.

Here it says in the NASB gentle, but they shall inherit the earth. This is a very difficult word. Knee, gentle, to try and understand what exactly it means. But this is the one thing Jesus told us to learn from him.

Learning Meekness from Jesus

One of the two things he's told us to learn from him. I often like to quote Matthew chapter 11 and verse 29. It's a word spoken to disciples. Take my yoke upon you. It's something we have to do. The picture is of two bullocks plowing a field.

The senior bullock, Jesus Christ teaching the junior bullock, who doesn't know head or tail about plowing, how to plow a straight furrow without any crookedness. They say, Lord, I don't know. I want to learn from you.

Teach me. The Lord says, take my yoke upon you. Move at the same pace I'm moving. Don't lag behind. When I tell you to move forward, move. When I tell you to stop, stop. That's what a senior bullock tells a junior bullock.

I'll teach you how to plow a straight furrow. And don't weave to the left or right. Just stick with me. Submit to me. Be under the yoke. 100%. Then you will plow a straight furrow. You live an overcoming life.

Take my yoke upon you. Matthew 11, 29. And learn from me. For I am meek and humble. So meekness is different from humility. It was not a repetition. It's probably a close connection there. But I am meek and humble.

I'm gentle and humble. And when you think of gentleness, you know, we think we must speak kindly. And yeah, there is a place to speak kindly like Jesus did. Has no man condemned you woman? Neither do I condemn you.

Go and sin no more. Putting your arms around the leper and say, I want to heal you. But was Jesus meek and gentle when he took the whip and chased the money changers out? Sure. His character didn't change.

He was just as meek and gentle when he whipped the sheep out of the temple and chased the money changers and threw their coins on the ground. Humanly speaking, that doesn't look like gentleness. That's because we don't understand what Jesus meant when he said gentle.

Meekness Means Not Fighting for Personal Rights

What does it mean to be meek? It means to have, I think we got to understand it from Matthew 5 and verse 5. They shall inherit the earth. The meek are those who have no possessive nature, who won't fight for their rights, who won't fight for anything earthly.

They don't fight for their rights. You know, when Paul was slapped in Acts 23, when he was standing before the high priest, Paul got upset. He got angry. And he turned around to the judge and said, how dare you toss this man to spite me when you're violating the law yourself.

But when they slapped Jesus, he didn't retort like that. He said gently, I've spoken the truth. Why do you slap me? So the meek are those who don't fight for their rights. They don't want to possess. This is my right.

I have a right to get this. They don't fight even for a doctrine. They're not the argumentative type. You know, we read in Acts 28. I'll give you an example. Some people say we must argue and defend doctrine.

Well, we read in Acts 28 that Paul, when he was in Rome, and he spent a long time in Acts 28, verse 23, solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God, trying to persuade them from morning till evening about Jesus, from the law of Moses, the prophet.

Some were persuaded, but most of them turned away. And when this argument went on, Paul got fed up and he said, okay, let it be known to you. Verse 28, I'm leaving you Jews. I'm going to the Gentiles.

And that's what he did. But towards the end of his life, when Paul writes to Timothy, you know, he says the servant of God, 2 Timothy 2, must not argue. No, the Lord's one servant, that is 2 Timothy 2, and verse 24, the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome.

That's meekness. You're not the quarreling type, but be kind and able to teach patient when wronged with gentleness, correcting those who are in opposition. If perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth, not argumentative, not quarrelsome.

That's a pretty good definition of a meek person. It's not trying to force his view across. And if somebody doesn't accept it, wants to get in an argument, say, well, brother, I'm sorry, I don't want to get in an argument.

I've had numerous cases like that of people who come to my home and want to argue about some doctrine. And I say, listen, if you want me to show you the truths from scripture, I don't mind spending any amount of time showing you.

And I've spent some time, two, three hours with people, showing them something from scripture. But when I see the guy is just interested in arguing and trying to force his view, not willing to listen to reason.

You know what I tell them? I say, brother, let's stop this discussion. Let's talk about something that you and I are agreed on. I don't mind talking about the weather. Or if you're in India cricket, something like that on which we will not have an argument.

And I say, I'm not interested. I want to hate argument. Like I hate COVID -19. I'm not interested in that. I want to hate a quarrelsome attitude. A meek person is one who does not quarrel for any, to stand up for some right of his, or to claim something.

For example, there are a lot of people who feel they've been cheated out of their family inheritance. A lot of Christians who think they're disciples, when it comes to division of family property, they suddenly discovered they're not disciples at all.

They love money like anything, far more than they love Christ. And sometimes the person's mind is so much on this. You see the classic example of that in Luke chapter 12, where Jesus is speaking about Luke 12, verse eight, about confessing him before men.

When they are persecuting you, it says they may try to kill you. Luke 12, verse four, and harm you in some way. And if you confess me before men, Luke 12, verse eight, I will confess you before the angels of God.

But if you deny me, I will deny you. And don't be ashamed of me. Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. If you speak against the Holy Spirit, it won't be forgiven. So he says about this very serious thing, when they bring you, Luke 12, 11 in front of the synagogues and the rulers and authorities, don't worry about how you speak.

The Holy Spirit will teach you in that hour what to say. Now, if you were hearing that message and you say, I have a question. What will your question be? Something related to that message, right? Or would the Holy Spirit really give me strength to stand up at that time?

But here's a man who raises his hand and says, teacher, I have a question. What is it? My brother is not dividing the family inheritance with me. Luke 12, 13. Tell him to divide the family inheritance with me.

He's completely off track. And he's one who's come to listen to Jesus. There are so many people like that today who sit in churches. They can listen to powerful messages, but their mind is on my family inheritance.

How am I going to get that? Can I get the elder to come and speak to my brother about dividing the family inheritance equally so that I get my share? They are the quarrelsome types. A meek person, a gentle person, is one who will not quarrel and say, if you want to take it, take it.

Can you have that attitude? Can you believe that God Almighty will make sure that you get exactly what you're supposed to get because you don't want to covet anybody's property? We must have a testimony.

It is like that. I remember when before I married my wife, her father had given her a house in her name, because in her name. And after we got married, we returned it and said, it never must have been said that Zach Poonam got a dowry of anything from his father to his wife.

We never wanted to possess it. We don't want anything. We're glad to let somebody else take it. Have that attitude, dear brother. Even when people take away your rights, don't fight there. Don't fight with people.

People are taking me to court. I don't fight with them. No. Those who are gentle, those who are, who will not assert their rights. You lose some property, the Lord says in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 5, the meek will one day inherit the whole earth.

Not only that property your brother stole from you, but the whole earth. Don't fight for these things. God will give you the very best. I want to give you an example from the Old Testament. You read there about a man called Moses.

Moses as an Example of Meekness

There's one thing said about Moses, which is very unique. The first five books of the Bible, the Old Testament, were written by Moses. Moses wrote numbers. I want you to turn to Numbers in chapter 12.

Numbers chapter 12. Now in this chapter, Numbers 12, you find that there's a sentence that's inserted in brackets. Moses didn't write that. I believe Joshua or somebody added it. Because it's impossible that Moses would have written that about himself.

Inserted in verse 3 in brackets is, the man Moses was very humble. More than, or meek it says in the KJV, more than any man on the face of the earth. He was the meekest, humblest man on the face of the earth.

And what do we learn about meekness from Moses? Whenever people came to argue with him, sometimes his relatives who were jealous that he was a leader, he would not fight back. He'd fall on his face and say, I'm not going to say anything.

Let the Lord prove who is his prophet. I'm not here to say that I'm the prophet of God and you guys are not, for I'm the leader. He would not assert himself. He would not stand up for his rights. And he's called the meekest man on the face of the earth.

It was like that with Jesus. He never fought for his rights. If they slapped him, he wouldn't yell at them saying, why did you slap me? And how does the Lord treat this meek Moses? Listen to this. In Numbers 12, the man Moses, the meekest man on the face of the earth and his own sister and brother had come to accuse him in Numbers 12 verse 1, saying, why did you marry a non-Israelite woman?

Moses did not marry an Israelite woman. He married a Kushite. Read in Numbers 12 verse 1. And they began to say to him, is it only you, Numbers 12, is it only you through whom the Lord speaks? Who do you think you are?

Amazing. Listen to these words. And the Lord heard it. See a meek man stands back and is quiet when people accuse him because he knows that the Lord hears it and the Lord will answer for him. He does not have to vindicate himself.

He does not have to fight for his rights. That's a meek man. Learn from Numbers chapter 12. They accuse him for marrying the wrong person, not Israelite. And they question him, who do you think you are?

You think God only speaks through you, Numbers 12 too? And the Lord heard it. Please remember this verse. Next time you're accused by somebody about anything, keep your mouth shut. Be meek. One day you'll inherit the earth.

The whole earth will be yours. The man Moses was meek above all the face on the earth and the Lord dealt with those people. The Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, who had accused him, you three come here.

I want to say something to you. And it says in Numbers 12, this is a wonderful passage. I want you to see it. The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood there. And then he told Aaron and Miriam, you guys are criticizing my servant, Moses.

Okay. You think you're equal to him. You don't realize how much he has been broken before me, how much I've prepared him for 80 years to be my servant. And you think all of a sudden you're equal to him.

Well, let me teach you something. He said, listen to my words. Numbers 12, verse six. If there is a prophet among you who thinks he's the Lord's spokesman. Yes. I will make myself known to him in a vision or in a dream.

But my servant, Moses is more than a prophet. With him, I don't speak in dreams and visions. No. I speak to him face to face, mouth to mouth. Numbers 12, eight. Because he's been faithful in all my household.

There's nobody like him who has been faithful. I speak to him face to face, even openly and not with visions and dreams. I believe this is a very important numbers 12, verse six, seven, and eight. It's a very important passage for us to remember in these days.