True Discipleship — Richard Langworthy

Jesus Challenges Shallow Discipleship

I want to start with John chapter 6. You can turn there, but I'm not going to be reading a whole pile, but you can actually turn there. John chapter 6 is quite an interesting little chapter if you take the whole chapter together, because it starts with the feeding of the 5 ,000.

And then afterwards, Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee, a lake, and he walks on the water, but he goes across to Capernaum with his disciples. And the next day the people wake up and they say, where is Jesus?

We saw the disciples leave, but where is Jesus? And they say, no, he's gone to Capernaum. And so they all jump on boats, and they sail across. They find out where he is, and they cross the lake, and they cross the lake to where he is.

Okay? Verse 25. And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they came to him saying, Rabbi, when did you come here? And Jesus answered them and said, Most assuredly I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

He is not deceived about their shallow loyalty. They're all around there wanting to be his disciples. He says, guys, wait, wait, wait. I think the real reason that you're here is the grub. Okay? He says, Do not labor for food which perishes, but for food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set this seal on him.

He then starts his little discourse on I am the bread of life. And I am the living bread, and I am come down, and I am the bread of life. And the next part of chapter 6, he speaks of it. Okay? And this bread which comes down from heaven, no one, anyone who eats of it will not die.

And all these guys, these are the same people who crossed the lake, who said we are loyal, who said we are following you, the same people he has challenged, they're all there. And so he starts to speak about the bread of life.

Now, at that point in time, they have no problem. They still think, right, great, this guy is here, he's going to help us, he's talking about him being the bread of life, some new prophet in town, etc., etc.

Then he applies it. And down here in verse 53, he says, Most assuredly I say unto you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day.

For my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed. Okay? Then he finishes in verse 58, this is the bread which came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat the manna and are dead, he who eats this bread will live forever.

Now he moves from just the face of believing, do you believe that I am the bread of life, to identification, where if you do, if you believe, it's more than just giving a mental agreement and saying, uh-huh, uh-huh, you're the bread of life.

He says, if you believe, there comes a place where you need to participate with my life. Now this is a shock to them. It changed all the rules of following Jesus right there. And so most of them, the Bible says that, verse 66,.

And from that time many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more. Meaning all the guys that came from across the sea, they suddenly got in their boats and they left. Okay? Is this little story in John chapter 6 any different to the church today?

In many ways, no. And as we go through our little illustration you will see where I'm going. But I want you first of all to picture an army, a modern army. Everybody, it's a large army, and everyone is dressed in military fatigues, camouflage kit.

Ninety percent of this army is, they love their uniforms, and they are happy to receive their pay that they get at the end of every month, and they're happy to walk around town with their very smart uniforms.

There's only a problem. They are pacifists. None of the soldiers want to carry a rifle. None of them want to fight. None of them want to go to war. They want to wear the uniform and they want to receive the salary and they want to look smart, but please don't ask them to defend their country.

That is the state of the church today. We have Christians, churches are full of Christians, happy to be called Christians, happy to receive the blessings of the Lord, but not happy to stand and be counted in the day of battle.

Not happy to give their lives and not happy to pay the price. We want the blessings and we want the benefits, but we are unwilling to pay the price. I want you to keep that in mind, because I'm going to show you just now the difference between the grace of God and the price of discipleship, and I'm going to make it quite graphic.

The Character and Attributes of God

In order for us to, for me to put together my little picture, there are three things I want to discuss this morning. I want to put before you the character of God. I want to put before you the grace of God, the miracle of God's grace.

And I want to put before you how Jesus views true discipleship and why he does so. The first part I'm going to read a few scriptures and I'll ask you to join me only at particular places. The character of God.

This is something that I feel is largely misunderstood in the church. Not for any fault except that we don't look at it very often. But we have very little idea of the character of God. John Wesley, I believe, stood up in a meeting and he spent one hour preaching to the church on the character of God and the holiness of God and the righteousness of God.

And I went home and I thought, okay. I stood up in my bedroom in my little office and I said, let me think of how much I could think off my head of the character of God. It's about three minutes. I was shocked.

How many scriptures do I know that I could stand in front of the church and actually start to expound? And I realized that we very seldom look at the subject. The character of God. God, first of all, is eternal.

Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts. I am the first, I am the last, and besides me there is no God. God is eternal from beginning to end. He will never change. He was there before and he will be there when we have died.

God will never change. Secondly, God is immutable, meaning that God never changes. This is very important in our theology, because in the modern church we have actually changed God. We have changed, we've lost the fear of God, we've changed the holiness of God, we've recreated a God to suit our modernistic ways.

We're wrong. But, for I am the Lord, says God, and I do not change. He was the same yesterday, today, and forever. Important, because what God said in the Old Testament, his attitudes haven't changed.

We do not have two Gods in the Bible. We don't have Jehovah of the Old Testament and Jesus of the New. Alright? We don't have a holy God in the Old Testament and a teddy bear in the New. It's not like that, but we pretend it is.

God's Omniscience and Omnipresence

God is omniscient. That's a big word. It means that he is all-knowing. Let's go to Jeremiah chapter 23, and I'm going to read from verse 23. And while we're doing that, I want us to look at the next thing.

God is omnipresent, meaning God is everywhere. He's here, and when you go home and fight with your wife, He's there. Amen? And when you switch on the TV and watch those things you shouldn't be watching, He's there.

Jeremiah 23. Am I a God? Near at hand, says the Lord, and not a God, or far off? Jeremiah 23, verse 23. Can anyone hide himself in secret places? Can you hide from God? Can you hide things in your heart from God?

No. Okay? Shall I not see Him, says the Lord, and do I not fill heaven and earth, says the Lord. So the God that we serve is all-knowing. He is in every place, and He never changes. Now, we look at the nature of God.

God's Holiness, Love, Righteousness, and Justice

In 1 John it says, and this is a message which we have heard from Him and declared to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. So there's no compromise in the character of God. There's compromise in our character.

Correct? We will compromise. God cannot. He cannot deny Himself. And God is light, and there's no darkness in Him whatsoever. God is Spirit. He doesn't have a physical form that you can see. God is love, perfect love.

We have known and believe. Okay? The love that God has for us, for God is love and He abides in love, abides in God, and God abides in Him. Now we stop there. We say, oh, we get that warm feeling. God is love.

I love to serve Him. God is love. Beware. God is perfect holiness. Who is like you, O Lord among the gods? Who is like you? Glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, and doing wonders. So God is holiness.

He is light. His character is love. He is also perfect holiness. But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, says the Bible. And God who is holy shall be hallowed or exalted in righteousness. So God's name is exalted in righteousness, and it is hallowed in judgment.

Now, not only is God perfect in holiness, He is perfect in righteousness, which means exactly the same as justice. This is where we start mixing things up. We mix up the love of God and the justice of God.

God is perfect in justice. Okay? I want you to come and perfect in righteousness Romans chapter 2. I'm going to show you something in a moment, but I just need to lay a little foundation on the character of God here.

I'm going to read in Romans chapter 2 from verse 4. Paul writes to the Jewish Christians here, and he says,. Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

Please mark that. We'll come back to that later. But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

So everything we have ever done that is not placed under the blood of Jesus, we'll be held accountable for. Do you agree with me? Right. Who will render to each one according to his deeds eternal life to those who are patient continuance in doing good, seek for glory and honor and immortality, but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish.

On every soul of man there will be a great man who does evil, of the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for there is no partiality with God.

God's Judgment and Consuming Fire

Now come with me to 2 Thessalonians and chapter 1 verse 6. 2 Thessalonians. Here we are. Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, he's right into the church here, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.

In flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. In flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God. Hebrews in chapter 12 says our God is a consuming fire.

Interesting isn't it? Now we're going to demonstrate that. Can I have, I've got these boys here with a little toy and I want to put something up for you. You'll find it quite interesting. I hope it works, because if it doesn't we're going to go woof.

Okay, what happened to my string? There it is. I want you to light that terrible looking thing. Yeah, move it back. Put the carpet in the front. Now I've done this deliberately and we're going to relight this thing in a moment.

It's just that it consumes quite a lot of energy because it burns away there. Joel, you have black faith. Okay, light that machine. Here is a little picture of a human being. Let's hope he floats around in the right way.

There we go. Now our God says the Bible is a flaming fire. That's our, and we've lit this thing up and I chose this. We worked with Mr. Bourne yesterday to get this effect. When you die that's what you're going to see.

That is the holiness of God and the righteousness of God and the justice of God and that is everything that God is. The Bible says how can we explain God compared to humanity? How can we declare God? We have got to demonstrate God in a way that he says he is and one of the things that God describes himself of in the Bible is as fire.

But a fire speaks of his holiness and his purity. Okay, just come across here a little bit. Alright, and this is the future of somebody who doesn't believe that. No flesh can stand in his presence. No one can ever stand and say that I am more righteous than God.

Oops, I'm not supposed to burn my carpet there. Okay, you put it out now. We're coming back. Don't run away too far. Is that a vivid picture for you? It's clear, isn't it? I can say God is a flaming fire and you go, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I put it up there and you see it and you go, oh my goodness. Because if God were to reveal himself to us, that's what we would see. How does God declare his righteousness? How does God show his justice?

How does God show his holiness? In a human terms, when he came down to Mount Sinai and the presence of God came upon the mountain and the mountain shook and the presence of God was there, he said to them, put a fence around this joddy mountain and don't let anyone touch it.

If they touch it, they will die. And yet he'd just taken them out of Egypt. He had loved them and redeemed them and saved them and brought them to Mount Sinai to sign a covenant with them. But that does not change the character of God.

Our redemption doesn't change his character. His favor to us doesn't change the character. Are you there? All right. Now, I want us to look at the miracle of God's grace very quickly. Come with me to Hebrews chapter 1.

The Cross as the Display of God's Grace

I can leave you an impression in your mind today of the seriousness of God and the privilege of the call of God upon our lives we would have got somewhere. Hebrews chapter 1 from verse 8. But to the Son he says, your throne of God is forever and ever.

A scepter of righteousness is a scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions.

The foundation of the throne of God is righteousness. And the scepter is what a king carries in his hand. It's a symbol of his authority. It symbolizes what he represents and the authority that he has.

And it says the scepter of God's throne is righteousness. He hates lawlessness and he loves righteousness. We must understand something, that God will defend his name above your flesh. If it comes to the push where God has to defend his righteousness and his glory and his holiness or deal with our compromising lives, we lose.

And in dealing with mankind and all that goes on, God rules from the platform of justice. He rules from the platform of righteousness. He hates lawlessness. He never lets one act of lawlessness never passes that God does not know and take account of and hold men accountable for.

God cannot be bought. God cannot be persuaded. God cannot be changed. He is who he is and his basis of everything he does is in righteousness and pure holiness and pure godliness. Are we clear on that?

And so with that in mind, how does he show us his love? John 3 .16 is an interesting scripture. Now I'm going to do something. I want you boys to come here and relight that thing. We're going to put the cross here.

We had to adjust the cross from what we did at camp because this is a little more serious than what we had at camp. So I've got a little stick here so the disciple doesn't get consumed. Right. Now we're going to put the cross there.

You can take it, Bradley. Hold it there. Come round. Do you get burnt or do you come across? Alright. That. Keep it there. I want it burnt a little. That is John 3 .16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

Who stands between us and the fire of God? Who stands us between us and the presence of God? For it says he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace was laid on him.

Can you understand what happened at the cross? Jesus stood there with the wrath of God upon his back. He stood there with the justice of God behind him and the mercy of God in front of him. On this side of the cross is mercy.

On this side of the cross is grace. On this side of the cross is long-suffering. On this side of the cross, in the shadow of the cross is the heart of God for every repentant sinner. Can you see that?

The cross is a bridge. It's the only bridge between heaven and earth. There is no other bridge. It's the only bridge that because you must understand something. The holiness of God, the consuming fire of God never changes.

Just because the cross is there, it doesn't mean that God changed. It doesn't mean the fire went away. It doesn't mean the presence of God went away. The fire of God has never changed. Our God is a consuming fire.

The only thing that stands there right now to protect us is the cross. Can you understand that? Amen? I think we could run out of gas. Now I want to show you something. Don't go away. It said speaking of Jesus Christ, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Now, I've got my little figure here. Keep the cross still. I want you to see the shadow of the cross. I want you to see that mankind today lives in the shadow of the cross. Even the sinner lives in the shadow of the cross.

Until he dies. The moment he dies, he steps into the presence of God and he finds the real God there. But even the sinner lives in the shadow of the cross. That's why when men do what they do, they are not burnt instantly.

God's grace comes to us because of the cross. God's mercy is extended to all men because of the cross. We can preach the gospel and give men a chance to repent because of the cross. However, I don't want to stop with just the idea that a sinner in his life lives in the shadow of the cross.

And the moment he dies, the cross is taken away. You can lift it up. And he's left alone facing the wrath of God. As long as a man is alive, he has a chance to repent. His life is in the shadow of that cross.

The moment he dies, he's without the cross. He stands naked before a living and a holy and a righteous God. And our God, the Bible says, is consuming fire. But let's leave the sinner out of it. It's not the sinner I want to talk about.

Salvation for Christ's Glory

I want to speak today about you and I and our lives in the shadow of the cross. Now, you can put that down and you can hold this little guy here for me. There. You can come on the front if you don't. This thing shakes a bit too much.

Hold him there. Now listen to me carefully. The purpose of our salvation is that Christ may receive the reward of His suffering through our lives. Did you get that? The reason you got saved is that Jesus Christ may receive the reward of His sufferings through our lives.

I want you to see Him standing there with the fire of God on His back and all that He did so that we could stand in the shadow and understand the mercy and the grace of God. That's why it says in Colossians, and He is the head of the body of the church who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have preeminence.

Living in the Shadow of the Cross

Now, I want us to look at something. The benefits of standing in the shadow of the cross. The benefits of the cross for you and I. We enjoy God's grace. We enjoy God's goodness. We enjoy God's love. We enjoy God's mercy, God's longsuffering, God's forgiveness.

And this is what's preached in pulpits all over the Christian world Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. In the shadow of this cross, as you can imagine the shadow coming down here, I live, the sufferings of Christ have provided me a column of grace, a place of forgiveness, a place of mercy, a place of longsuffering.

How often do we, are we encouraged as Christians? And it's absolutely true. If you fall, you find grace. If you struggle, you find mercy. If you backslide, you can come back in repentance. All the times, like if I had that fire burning, you'd see it all the time, the fire is burning.

But the cross stands there in the suffering of Jesus Christ and in the shadow of the cross I can find all those things that I need for my life day by day by day. Isn't it wonderful? It is. And it's never going to change, except for one thing.

In the shadow of the cross, I'm never challenged to surrender my life. So I can backslide and come back to Jesus and he'll forgive me. I can come to church and I can be a mess all week and I find the grace of God.

You see, as long as I simply stay in the shadow of the cross, I'm actually living for myself. God becomes a means rather than the end. Did you get that? I serve God because of the benefit I have. And in Christendom today, that is what we are encouraged to do.

We are told that God is a God of love and mercy and all those things are true. All those things are true. And so we have a church where I serve the Lord because I want him to bless my family. I serve God because I'd like to have a good business.

I serve God because I want to have peace in my heart. I serve God because I want a good marriage. I serve God because if I fall, he is there and I know he's so good and I know he's so kind. But it produces in us a mentality of soldiers who wear uniforms who are not prepared to identify with the battle.

All the time, we are weak in our mentality. We are selfish in our approach. It's all about what God can do for me. And does he do it? Yes. Is he willing to do it? Yes. As long as we are alive and the cross is there, if you fall a hundred times, he'll forgive us a hundred times.

Never mistake that. It's not the goodness of God and the mercy of God that I'm talking about. It's our attitude towards it. So, if that is so true and God is so much like that, then why did Jesus say the things that he said?

Jesus' Call to Self-Denial

Because Jesus said this and I want you to turn to some scriptures and I want you to show you in a moment. John chapter 12 from verse 23. And Jesus answered them saying, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. If it dies, it produces much grain. Speaking of his own life, but then ours as well. He who loves his life will lose it.

He who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, let him follow me. And where I am, my servant will be. If anyone serves me, him my father will honor. Now we're changing gear.

He's not coming and saying, I'm going to die and I'm going to offer you a Christianity whereby you can actually live the life that you want on your terms and I'm just there to forgive you and show you grace and mercy and wrap and change your nappies and wrap you in cotton wool and make a fuss of my little baby Christians.

Jesus does not talk like that. But I tell you what he does say. He never says that what he's about to show and give won't happen. He offers us all the love and the grace and the mercy. That never changes.

When he speaks about the cross and our identification with it, he always presents it as an option, not as a command. He never says you will pick up your cross. He says, if anyone desires to be my disciple, if anyone desires to follow me, if anyone desires to walk with me, then he will let him lose his life and come my way, unless a corn of wheat falls to the ground and dies.

He now starts to speak about our response to that grace, our response to that mercy, our response to that grace. He says you, all that comes off the cross, it's not that God has changed in his heart for us, it's how we are going to respond to it.

And this is the struggle. We understand grace, but we so focus on the grace of God for me, we lose sight of our responsibility we have to respond to that grace. And I want to show you now, okay, Luke chapter 9.

Taking Up the Cross Daily

Is my little picture clear? Okay. From verse 23. Then he said to them, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself. How amazingly, what can I say, selfish of him. How can he ask me to deny myself, when he's just promised me all the grace I need, so that I can go and drink socially, the grace of God is with me.

I can go and live a carnal life, the grace of God is with me. I can fall into sin, the grace of God is with me. No, we cannot twist it, do you understand? He said, now, if you want to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.

We're changing the rules now. He says, no longer are you going to stand in the shadow of the cross, I want you to identify your life with the cross. Most Christians I know live in the shadow of the cross.

We haven't yet come to a point we are willing to surrender our lives that he may have the preeminence and identify our lives in such a manner that he is the reason that I live and the purpose that I live and my life is surrendered entirely to his purposes, which is the purpose of the cross.

My cross, yes? Luke 14, now great multitudes went with him, from verse 25, and he turned to them and said, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and his mother and his wife and his children, his brothers and sisters, yes, in his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

He doesn't mean that we have divided families. He means that he has the preeminence above our natural relationships. Are we clear? Okay? And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

So, he's quite happy. We can be living down here. I'm a happy little churchgoer. I see no need to come to church on time because I love my life. I come late for one reason. I'm too lazy to come early.

Yes, there's no passion. There's no seriousness. I don't see the need to pray, to read my Bible, to do all the things that I should do as a Christian. Why should I? Because if I stumble, I just say, Lord Jesus, I'm sorry and he forgives me and he washes me and if I have a bad day, I know his grace is with me.

And it's true, but it's for babies, not disciples. It's for Christians who have made the mistake of keeping their lives, living as soldiers with uniforms, not prepared to engage their lives, living in the shadow of the cross.

But Jesus said, don't stay there. He said, if you want something else, if you want to know true discipleship, if you want to know my presence and know my life, don't stay there. Come here. And by the way, grace is still there.

You understand that? Mercy is still there. His heart is still there. That never changed. What changed was the attitude of my heart to him. Are we getting it? It's tough, isn't it? It's a bit tough, this one.

Counting the Cost of Discipleship

But you know what? I started to go through Scriptures and I haven't written them all out because there's too many. There's more Scriptures where Jesus speaks about the cost of our discipleship than anything else.

And he's absolutely tough. Verse 28, For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it. He's saying, guys, before you say, I want to pick up my cross and follow you, count the cost.

Because to follow me, you lose the right to your life. If you want to surrender your life to Christ, not as a Christian, not to become a believer and say, well, I die. I'm going to go to heaven. That'll happen for those guys down there.

No problem. I'll come back in there and touch about that. But he said, if you want to be my disciple, if you want to give your life, if you want to know what it means to walk with me, you've got to come and you've got to stand with this cross and lay your life on this cross and lose the right to your life so that you are clay in my hands and I can do with your life whatever I desire.

Outside of that, you are not a disciple. You are simply a believer living in the shadow of the cross and living on the benefits of the death of Jesus Christ, but still holding your life. Ouch. Last, he says, after he has laid down the foundation and not able to finish it, others see it, begin to mock him.

Okay? Verse 31, what king going to make war against another king does not sit down first and consider whether he's able with 10 ,000 to meet him that comes against him with 20 ,000? Or else he goes and makes peace.

So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple. You see, folks, God knows no other way to get glory from a human being except through our death. It is my flesh, my pride that stands between me and God getting true glory from my life.

And that is the basis of the gospel of discipleship and true Christianity. Works do not please God. I can do Christian works all day long and still keep my life. The only way that God receives true glory, and when I come to understand one thing, that the purpose of my salvation is that he may receive glory through my life.

God is not there for me. I am there for him. It's the, what can I say? The thing that Christians struggle with all the time, because in one hand, we see God as a God of love and gentleness and kindness and mercy, and it's true.

That's his attitude towards us as children, individually. But don't mix that with my response to it. Don't mix that with, when Jesus looks down and he sees us on the planet here, he says, if you want to follow me, there's only one thing I know.

There's an altar there. It's an altar of surrender. It's an altar of sacrifice. It's an altar of a surrendered life. It's an altar whereby all your dreams, all your pursuits, all your values are laid aside and you live for one thing only, that your life may produce glory for my name.