As You Go, Make Disciples — Paul Washer

It is a great privilege for me to be in a church where a historical and more importantly, a biblical gospel is preached. A church that believes the great doctrines. Of the New Testament. Of the Reformation.

Of the great preachers down through the ages, such as Spurgeon and others. Of great missionaries down through the ages, such as William Carey, the father of modern missions. Because ultimately, the work of the Great Commission.

Is the transmission of truth, the transmission of a true gospel. A dear brother that I know was once asked because of his theological position. Are you against evangelism? He said, yes. And no. I am against evangelism the way it is primarily done in America, but I am not against biblical evangelism or missions.

I have given my life to that. So much is done today in the name of the gospel. And yet, if you question those who preach that message, you find quickly that their gospel is contemporary. It is watered down.

It is far away from the New Testament. And so I praise God that I'm. Among a group of believers who have set themselves down on a New Testament gospel, no matter the scandal it might create in the community and in everywhere else, their voice is heard.

Because never forget this, when our gospel seeks to ceases to offend men and ceases to be a scandal, it is no longer the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, let's go, Matthew 28, verse 16. But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had designated when they saw him, they worshiped him.

But some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.

And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. This is known as the Great Commission. Let me give you Webster's definition of a commission, a formal warrant or authority granting certain powers or privileges and authorizing or commanding the performance of certain acts or duties, a warrant conferring authority to raise and command a body of troops.

The Church of Jesus Christ has been given authority by Jesus Christ. To carry out the Great Commission, to preach the gospel to the whole world and to use whatever biblical means necessary to carry out that commission, I want to state four things at the very beginning of this sermon.

First of all, the church has been placed under a solemn and irrevocable obligation to make disciples of all nations. Now, listen to that solemn and irrevocable. In our vernacular, you had better if you identify yourself with the person of Jesus Christ, you had better take this commission seriously.

And then I will follow by saying this, if this commission has cost you nothing, I don't care who you are or how much you talk, you have not taken this commission seriously. And furthermore, I will say this.

There are people hearing me right now who have not taken this commission seriously, though they claim the salvation of Christ. Let's not mince words. This is true. What has the Great Commission cost you?

Secondly, the church has the warrant or authority to raise whatever size army of gospel preachers that might be necessary for the completion of her obligation. We have the obligation and the right. To use all our resources to raise up an army of gospel preachers.

Not untrained, unbiblical, theological persons who just want to get involved in some activity that sounds like missions. No, we need to raise up an army of men who know the scriptures. And see it as their primary task to go over into the nations and preach those scriptures either until the nations are converted or the preacher is killed.

Thirdly, the church has the authority to send her preachers to every and any nation upon the earth without limitation of jurisdiction or restriction of number. I remember when the emperor of France and one of one of Spurgeon's sermons, the emperor of France, had made some decree that he would no longer allow evangelical preachers as such to come over and and preach in France.

And Spurgeon stood in the pulpit and said, the daughter of Zion wags her head at thee. Who are you, little king, to tell the king of kings where he will send his men? We will flood your country with preachers.

Fourthly, the church will always be the church militant on earth until she is the church victorious in heaven. There is a ease in Zion, but it is in our hearts, because if we are truly doing the work of Zion, we will be surrounded by turmoil and conflict and war.

That is why true men of the gospel age rapidly. Because it is not their desire to sit at ease in Zion while the nations perish. Let's go on with the Great Commission, I want us to look in verses 16 and 17, it says, but the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had designated.

When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some were doubtful. Now, I want to look at the men of the Great Commission. And in order to do that, we need to look at them from three different angles. We need to look at them prior to the resurrection, after the resurrection and after the day of Pentecost.

First of all, prior to the resurrection, let me just read some text to you. They were often rebuked for their hardness of heart and unbelief. Jesus referred to them as men of little faith. In Matthew 16, in Mark 9, they argued about who among them was the greatest.

In Luke 9, their self-righteousness and prejudice caused them to want to call down fire from heaven to destroy their enemies. In Matthew 16, Jesus said they were a stumbling block to him because they did not put their interests in God, but in the things of men.

At the crucifixion, they abandoned him. And Peter, the supposed head of them, even denied Christ before a little servant girl. If you look at these men, they were not men of great virtue or men of great merit or courage.

They were foolish men, slow to believe all that the prophets had written about the Christ. Now, after the resurrection, what do we say? Well, this is the point I want you to understand that you must grasp after the resurrection.

We can see a definite change. The resurrection had an impact upon these men. But still, even after the resurrection, they were a mixture of obedience. Reverence and great doubting, first of all, obedience, look at verse 16, but the 11 proceeded to Galilee.

You say, well, what's so great about that? Well, prior to the resurrection of Christ, where do we find them huddled together, terrified? Not wanting to even venture out of the room, but they are filled with something of a boldness after coming to a certainty about the resurrection of Jesus Christ so that they proceed to follow him.

One of the greatest evidences of conversion, one of the greatest evidences of the working of sanctification in the life of a person is not that at that moment in their life, they are perfect, but that they are proceeding.

They are advancing, they continue following Christ. Some of you good people. Who truly believe. There is a sense in which many years ago you stopped following, you're in a rut. You read the word, it's no longer challenging you.

It's no longer calling you to go further, to follow him harder, to live in greater sacrifice. If you remember your Christianity when it began, it was so much more radical then than it is now, but it should be just the reverse.

The more you know him, the more radical your Christianity should be now, also, we see worship says when they saw him, they worship. This comes from the Greek word proskuneo now in the Septuagint, which is the Greek version of the Old Testament.

This word is used with regard to reverence to God and reverence to men. But when we come to the New Testament, we see that it is only applied to God, the father and to Jesus Christ, the son, and it's great evidence of his deity.

Now, it is appropriate, very appropriate that the Great Commission begins with worship because it is a vision of God, a vision of Christ that leads us to worship, which leads us to missions. There is a way in which we can say that worship and missions is part of an ever repeating, ever increasing cycle of God's providence.

In what way? We, as believers through the gospel of Jesus Christ, receive a revelation from God and that revelation of God in Christ leads us to worship and worship, leads us to missions, which causes us to carry a manifestation of this glory through the preaching of the gospel to a nation that has not heard.

And when they hear and God is revealed to them, they join in the worship and then the worship moves them to missions and then they carry the gospel to another people that has not yet heard. In a sense, the purpose of the Great Commission has always been.

To simply expand the worship service that began with the first man who ever called upon the name of the Lord until that worship service embarks the entire planet. That is the purpose. Let me share with you something.

We should not have a doomsday eschatology. But a victorious one, it may get darker on one side, but I can most assure you it will get brighter on the other. Christ will not has not lost this battle. We will see.

Nations worship him. I go on, what can we learn from this? First of all, what kind of missionaries can we be if we are first, not if we are not first worshipers of God? You see, it takes a heavenly vision, not of streets of gold, but of the glory of God in the face of Christ to propel us into missions.

This is so important. A missionary's greatest need, your greatest need, my greatest need is a clearer vision of Christ. Then no one will have to prod us, implore us or make us go. They will have to hold us.

I go on. It says also in verse 17, and when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some were doubtful. Now, this comes from the Greek word disposal, this meaning double stasis, meaning standing. It is a double standing.

Those who even witnessed the resurrection and are here at this moment, they still some of them are doubtful and have a double standing. Vine defines it as this. It denotes an uncertainty or wavering regard which regarding which way our road to take.

It is used of Peter when he was walking upon the sea. And he began to doubt. Now, this is what I love about the New Testament. We have to ask ourselves, why did Matthew include this? Matthew is seeking to demonstrate the reality of the resurrection to people who had not been eyewitnesses to the resurrection.

So why does he say that even those who were eyewitnesses to the resurrection, that they were doubting? I'll tell you why I said it, because it's true. The New Testament writers were dedicated to recording historical fact.

They were not writing cleverly devised tales in order to sell some religion. They were writing what was true. And it's one of the reasons that's one of the proofs or evidences that stand behind the New Testament.

I mean, if someone was going to invent a religion that everyone would embrace, they would have done it in a different manner. They would have surely left things out and cleared up some great questions.

Now, what does that teach us? Something very important, first of all, that the apostles were not gullible men who simply accepted the resurrection without an examination of the facts. Listen to what Broadus writes.

The accounts all go to show that the apostles were by no means swift to accept the great and amazing fact of their master's resurrection and that they became all fully convinced at last, only because of multitude and varied evidence, the fact which which makes their final conviction and testimony all the more valuable to us.

Jerome said this, their doubting increases our faith. Because we realize they were not gullible, they examined it, they touched him, they held him, they heard him, and then with joy, they proclaimed the message of the resurrection to us.

What else does it teach us? First of all, the certainty of the success of the Great Commission does not depend upon the strength of even the strongest men. It depends upon the one who sustains all the universe with a mere word.

You see, I am involved in an occupation in which success is absolutely guaranteed. Because it does not rest upon the power of the speaker, nor the whim or the right heartedness of the hearer, but it depends upon a sovereign God who has determined to get glory for himself by bringing out a people from all the nations and giving them to his son.

Now, also tells us that the frailest and I love this part and weakest among us in this room can be useful servants in the Great Commission, the men that God has used down through the ages. I believe that they have been sincere.

I believe that they have been striving, but they are by no means were by no means great. Sometimes we think that God uses these very, very special individuals that just seem to walk above everyone else.

If you think that about a man, just go talk to his wife, just go visit him at home. No, you will not find a hypocrite. No, you will not find a man with hidden sins and seeking to hide things from men of greater integrity.

No, you will find a man following hard after God, but you will see weakness and frailty everywhere. And if it causes you to have somewhat of a disgust toward that individual, well, that individual will be glad as long as you take your eyes off of that individual and put them on Christ.

Also. This teaches us something extremely important, folks. The resurrection and the certainty of it was not enough to propel and empower these men to go out into all the nations. They needed Pentecost.

They needed Pentecost. Now, when we arrive at Pentecost, we see these men are transformed. They are transformed. It is noticeable that they are transformed. There is no doubt in anyone's mind after studying the lives of these men prior to Pentecost and looking at the lives of these men after Pentecost, that something really happened to these men.

I'll tell you what happened. Exactly what Jesus said would happen. Listen, Luke 24, 49. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of my father upon you. But you are to stay in the capital city until you are clothed with power from on high.

Acts one eight. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even the remotest parts of the earth.

Now, back in Luke 24, 49, he says, I am sending forth the promise, he says, you are to stay until you are clothed with power. This word clothed comes from the Greek word in dual, which means to be clothed in, to be dressed in, to be arrayed until you are arrayed, clothed, appear as those walking, living, ministering in a power that is not your own.

Now, I know there is a great controversy with regard to the Holy Spirit. And I know that I would have to say at least on the airwaves that probably at least 85 percent of everything preached there about the Holy Spirit is wrong.

Yet at the same time, let me ask you some questions just to get you thinking a bit. Would you describe your life and ministry? Now, be honest, as endued with power, clothed with power. Arrayed in power.

Well, then, can you say with the Apostle Paul, my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in a demonstration of the spirit and of power. Well, then, do you have a boldness to you?

Even though God may make you somewhat of a meek person, a tender person, a person full of mercy so that any sort of rudeness is beyond you, but even then, is there something of boldness manifested in your life?

If not. Then I would suggest to you, we need to take a new consideration. Of our study of the person and the work of the Holy Spirit. One of the books that has been greatly influential in my life, and I just it is just balanced and I recommend it to every young preacher, to every old preacher.

It's Pentecost today by Ian Murray, because he holds soundly to the fundamental teachings of the Holy Spirit, of the believer receiving the Holy Spirit at regeneration. It is a sound and good work theologically, and yet it is a book that demonstrates that the men and women of God down through history that have been used of God were constantly crying out for greater and greater infusions and manifestations, outpourings of the spirit of God in their life.

Let me give you a few helpful quotes from respected Puritans and Baptists. George Smeaton, no more mischievous and misleading theory could be propounded nor any more dishonoring to the Holy Spirit than the principle that because the spirit was poured out at Pentecost, the church has no need and no warrant to pray for effusions of the spirit of God.

On the contrary, the more the church asks for the spirit and waits for his communications, the more she receives Jonathan Edwards. The scriptures do not only direct and encourage us in general to pray for the Holy Spirit above all things else, but it is the expressly revealed will of God that his church should be very much in prayer for that glorious outpouring of the spirit, which is to be in latter days.

And for what shall be accomplished by it, Thomas Boston writes. Wherefore, breathe pants and long for the spirit of Christ and then Charles Spurgeon, did we not hear some time ago from certain wise brethren that we were never to pray for the spirit?

I think it heard said often by them, we have the Holy Spirit and therefore we are not to pray for him like that other declaration from certain men of the same brotherhood that we have pardoned for sin and are not to pray for it, just as if we were to never to pray for what we have.

If we have life, we are to pray that we have it more abundantly. If we have pardon in one respect, we are to ask for a fuller sense of it. And if we have the Holy Spirit so that we are quickened and saved, we do not ask him for we do to ask for him in that capacity, but we ask for his power in other directions and for his grace in other forms.

I do not go before God now and say, Lord, I am a dead sinner. Quicken me by thy spirit, for I trust I am quickened of his spirit. But being quickened, I now cry, Lord, let not the life thou has given me down till it becomes very feeble, but give me of thy spirit that the life within me may become strong and mighty and may subdue all the power of death within my members, that I may put forth the vigor and energy which comes from thyself through the spirit.

Oh, you that have the spirit, you are the very men to pray that you may have that you may experience more of his matchless operations and gracious influences and in all the benign sanctity of his indwelling may ask that yet more and more you may know him.

You have this as your encouragement, that God will give the Holy Spirit to them that asks, oh, dear brothers, do not allow. A heretical group to steal from you. Your inheritance and your heritage, I've often said that if a Jehovah Jehovah witness walks, it knocks on my door and say and they present themselves, they say we're Jehovah witnesses.

I say, well, so am I. Come on in. And then after they talk for about five minutes, I say you are no witness of Jehovah. You have lied. Now I will open up the Bible and witness for Jehovah. They will not steal my inheritance.

Now, let's take a look for a moment at the Christ of the Great Commission. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, I love this part, were they afraid, were they doubting? Probably all those things.

But he does not stand back from them, aloof, he's not ashamed to call them brothers. And he comes to them and he speaks to them, saying all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Possibly all authority.

This may be one of the most remarkable statements that Christ ever made. All authority, every type and measure of authority in any and every jurisdiction without limitation or exception, universal cosmic authority.

Christ has received unlimited, unhindered, uncensored, unending authority over all. Now, does that make that clear? Of just who we're dealing with. He has been given all authority in heaven and on earth.

The Jews came to him and they sought to take him by force and make him king, but he overcame victoriously that temptation. The devil laid at his feet every empire on the planet, and yet he overcame victoriously that temptation.

And he waited for the one, the only one who truly had authority to grant him the kingdoms of this world and the next, his father in heaven. And this is what the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians, one twenty through twenty two.

He raised him the Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

And he put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him his head over all things to the church. It is not possible that any creature in any realm can rail against him. For if all creatures suddenly rebelled, those that are those that have been and those that will be, they all came together in a mighty force against Christ.

It would be nothing more than a tiny gnat beating its head against a world of granite. John Knox said this, he was given heaven and earth to do what he liked with them. I like what Abraham Kuyper said when Jesus Christ, this is not not a direct quote, but he said this in a sense, when Jesus Christ comes back, he will stretch forth his hand over this world and he will say mine, mine, mine, mine.

It's all his. And the father delighted to give it to him, it is all his. Now, I want us to go for just a moment, if you please go with me to the book of Daniel, chapter seven. What does it mean when Christ says all authority has been given unto him in heaven and on earth?

Look at verses 13 of chapter seven and 14. I kept looking in the night visions and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming and he came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him and to him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. I believe for Daniel that was a future event, I believe for us in the New Testament, it is a completed reality.

I believe this is what Christ is referring to when he says, listen to me, all authority has now been given unto me in heaven and on earth. I think if you read the book of Daniel, rightly, you can honestly say.

That there no longer truly and really exists any government in the world today. For there is only one and it is Christ's kingdom, there is only one true king and it is Jesus Christ. Now, how that manifests itself in the future, I will tell you, I am not expert enough in the scriptures to tell you, but I will tell you this, there is a king and he is on a throne and his name is Jesus Christ.

Now, first of all, it talks about one like the son of man in the Aramaic of Daniel's time that referred to a man, a human being. You know, Christ used this terminology 69 times in the Synoptic Gospels and 12 times in the Gospel of John, and even theologians have now commented that if there was ever a phrase that Jesus applied to himself that we misunderstood, it is this one.

Oftentimes you will hear Jesus referred to himself as the son of man to demonstrate his humility. But I would think it would be better to interpret it this way. He used the terminology son of man to show us, despite my present humility, this is who I really am.

I am the son of man of the book of Daniel, one who comes in the clouds and the wind is at my feet using designations that belong only to God. And for this reason, the Jews, when they heard it, they sought to stone him.

In Psalms 104, God says this, that he makes the clouds his chariots and he walks on the wings of the wind. But here we see a son of man coming in the clouds of heaven. Now, I want to compare just for a moment something that I think is more than a coincidence.

There is a sense in which Joseph was a type of Christ. I believe that I think there are parallels running all throughout his life. Just listen to this in Genesis 41, 14, then Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph and they hurriedly brought him out of the dungeon.

And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came to Pharaoh in the same way. Christ was brought forth out of the dungeon of death. In his resurrection from the dead and presented before the father, Pharaoh said to Joseph in Genesis 41, 44, with now listen to this without your permission, no one shall raise his hand or his foot in all of Egypt.

And when Christ received all authority from the father, the father said to him, no one shall raise hand or foot in all the universe, heaven, earth or hell without your permission. My son, he was given all authority.

Trapp writes this Christ hath manifold right to the kingdom. It is his by inheritance. He is the only son of God, the unique son of God. It was given to him by conquest. He is the lion of the tribe of Judah.

He is the one greater than David, who fought the battles of the Lord. And it was given to him by donation, his father's present to his son so often. And it is true. But so often Christians speak of Christ as being the father's gift to them.

That is true. But the primary truth is this. The church is God's gift to Christ, God, the father loves his son above all things, and God, the father, does all that he does for his beloved. And if God has saved you, he did it primarily for his son.

It says Dominion sovereignty was given to him. It says that glory was given to him. Barnes writes the glory or honor appropriate to one at the head of such an empire. You think that kings and presidents have glory?

Here is the king of kings, the lord of lords who sets over not just this earth. But the entire universe and reigns with power says that all the people's nations and men of every language might serve him.

Matthew Henry writes, all will be under his jurisdiction, either as his willing subjects or as his conquered captives to be either ruled or overruled by him. I do not. I never admonish people to make Jesus their lord.

The only thing men can make is an idol. I tell them Jesus is their lord and they ought to acknowledge it. He is Lord. So when I'm going toe to toe with an atheist, I'm not talking to him as some man who in intellectual integrity has come to the assumption there is no God.

I'm talking to a rebel. Who knows there is a God and knows there is a king and is denied that knowledge because he does not want to submit to him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.

My dear friend, listen to me. This is good news for the Christian. But if you are not in Christ, know this. There will never be another administration come and take his place. He will never be voted out of office.

There will never be a changing of the guard. Christ will always be the God with whom you must deal. And if you do not think that appropriate. Have no hope in your heart. That someone else more to your liking will take his place one day.

John Trapp writes, Christ's kingdom is first universal, secondly, perpetual, as was none of the former. What is he saying? There is no kingdom. That is perpetual, never has been, never will be, except Christ's.

You ask the question, will the United States be destroyed? That's not the question. The question is, when will the United States be destroyed? There is no kingdom. Perpetual except for Christ, that's why you do not put your hope in government or politics, but in Christ.

Matthew Henry writes, his dominion shall not pass away to any successor, much less to any invader. And his kingdom is that which shall not be destroyed. Even the gates of hell or the infernal powers and policies shall not prevail against it.

And for the missionary. John Calvin, who has probably inspired more biblical missionaries than any other person on the face of the earth. John Calvin writes, and thus we receive no common consolation when we see the church tossed about amidst various fluctuations and almost buried and devoured by continual shipwrecks.

Yet Christ is ever stretching forth his hand to preserve it and to save it from every sorrow and every horrible species of destruction. The church will prevail, the church will grow. The only question is this, will you be part of this great endeavor to which you have been invited?

Now, what does this authority mean to the missionary, to a church like yours that has shown me you have great concern for missions? What does it mean for us? First of all, it means the earth will be full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea.

It does mean that the name of God will be great among the nations from the rising to the setting of the sun. And it does mean that the cry of the Moravian will be answered. Shall not the lamb have the full reward of his suffering?

Yes. Why? Because the lamb who died is sovereign and you lose that sovereignty, you lose the hope of missions. It means also that he who goes to and fro, weeping, carrying his bag of seed. Shall indeed come again with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

Just just encased my mind this weekend, the missionary here among the Muslims, the missionary here desires for the Chinese just to have a few books. And I am sure there are times when our brother has finished preaching and he just walks out weeping, thinking there's just no hope, there's just no hope.

He needs to understand. He needs to be told what he already believes. It needs to be affirmed in his heart. You will come forth with joy and you will bring your sheaves with you. The brother who just wants to see a few good books get into China to help them theologically needs to know.

Your tears do not fall to the floor unseen to the master that precious. And do not think that you're believing too much. Although his answer delays, realize this, you're believing too little, he will do the work, he will accomplish it.

Now, let's look for a moment at the Great Commission itself. First of all, look at the foundation of it. Turn with me back to Matthew 28, verse 19. Go, therefore. Go, therefore, what is the foundation of missions?

The authority of Jesus Christ, Gingrich and Donker writes that therefore tells us that what it introduces is the result of what precedes it. What is introduced, go. What precedes it, all authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth, therefore, go.

But Lord, I am so small, all authority has been given unto me. But Lord, I am afraid all authority has been given unto me. But Lord, in their sight, I'm nothing more than a grasshopper. All authority has been given unto me in my sight.

Their very nation is like a drop. Go, go now, we need to understand the structure of the text. He says, go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit.

We need to understand that there is a a command here, a controlling verb. And then it is accompanied by three participles that modify or tell us how that command is to be carried out. Now, the great controlling verb, our command is make disciples.

And the participles that modify are going. Baptizing. Teaching, so what we need to understand. That the great evidence. Of a successful missionary endeavor and the goal to which we ought to be running is the making of disciples.

Now, the word, the phrase make disciples is translated from the Greek word method to which means to instruct, teach, make disciples. The idea here that you need to understand is that disciples are made primarily through teaching, instructing.

It is the transmission of truth. That is why, my dear friends, when the great majority of our missionary endeavors has nothing to do with doctrinal teaching, it is flawed and futile. We are to train men and women and boys and girls in the truth.

In the truth, now, what is a disciple, Matthew 10, 24, 25, a disciple is not above his teacher nor slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he becomes like his teacher and the slave like his master.

If they have called the head of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they malign the members of his household? And I want to give you a basic definition that I've written here and then an expanded definition.

The basic definition is someone who becomes like his teacher. That's a disciple. A Christian disciple is someone who has entered into a saving relationship with Christ through faith and is now actively seeking to become like Christ through the study and assimilation of his teaching.

Now, let me give you an expanded definition. A disciple is someone who so identifies himself with Christ. Now, listen to this. And so reflects him in character, word and deed that he shares in Christ's fame or infamy.

The disciples identity in society will be determined by society's view of his master. Those who esteem, love and admire Christ will show the same affections toward his disciple. Those who hate Christ and are hostile to his cause will hate his disciple, despise his lifestyle, oppose his proclamation and seek to alienate him from society.

This definition reflects not only the meaning of a disciple, but that of a Christian. Do not think I'm speaking of two different categories or that you can somehow be a disciple without being a Christian or somehow be a Christian without being a disciple.

Does this look like your life or is Christianity something you just tacked on to an already wonderful life? If Jesus Christ is not your life, then you have no part with Christianity. There's no room for making Christianity a social religion, a culturally favored thing in certain societies.

You do not become a Christian because it's the right thing to do. You become a Christian because of Christ and he becomes your life, though all of society, even religious society, turn its back on you and hate you.

You follow him and your lifestyle is so radically different from the culture around you that they immediately identify you as a fanatic. There are three primary characteristics of a disciple, and I'm just going to blow through them quickly.