Disciples of Jesus Christ - Luke 14:25-33
At the North Carolina Zoo it includes free admission to the zoo for twelve consecutive months; a subscription to the zoo’s quarterly magazine, Alive; free or half-price admission to assorted zoos and aquariums around the country; a ten percent discount on purchase in the zoo’s gift shop; a membership decal; access to a member’s only picnic deck; and, invitations to special events and previews.
At the YMCA it includes access to: five gymnasiums, an indoor swimming pool, five racquetball courts, an indoor walking/running track, the Cardio Theatre, free weight training, the nautilus room, exercise and fitness classes, lockers, towel services, and child care for a small fee.
At BJ’s it includes an extra household card; in-club and online shopping deals; special in-club values; access to discounted services; and a 100% money-back guarantee.
With these and other clubs and organizations, from the country club to the Boy Scouts to the Book-of-the-Month Club and others we have an understanding that membership has its privileges. If we join, we expect to get something out of it…if we do not get something out of it, we stop paying our dues, drop out, or look elsewhere.
We are now in week three of series searching out the biblical principles of our congregations new purpose statement, “To make ALL disciples of Jesus Christ through love and service.” We have come to understand the importance of having a purpose…so that we do not just wander aimlessly, so that we know where we are going, and so we can discern what we need to be doing or not doing. Last week we discussed the simple word “ALL” and learned that it is not simply folks oversees that we are to make disciples of, but also folks in our nation, in our community, in our homes, in our church, and of ourselves. During the course of last week’s message I suggested that being a member of the church does not necessarily make one a disciple, and promised that we would come back to it…and today we return.
I will say it again, being a member of the church does not make one a disciple of Jesus Christ. Years ago, rather, decades ago, the two terms might have been close to being synonymous. However, in our contemporary society, where we have come to understanding of membership having its privileges, membership and discipleship have become almost opposites. Since we have come to believe that membership has its privileges, many of us have come to think that as members of the church we are owed something from the church and, possibly, from God.
How many times have we heard someone say, “I didn’t get anything out of church today,” or, even worse, “I wasn’t getting anything out of that church, so I started looking elsewhere.” Privilege-based understandings of membership are what have led to church-hopping or church-shopping where folks look for a place where they can get the most for themselves while putting in the least amount of commitment. Maybe they want a church membership that will provide them with a ready-made youth program, maybe they want to put their membership in a church that will provide them with a place to bury their dead (including themselves), maybe they want a membership that will give them a connection to leaders in the community. And, all too often, many of us think that our church membership guarantees us a spot in heaven someday.
The problem is, it is this kind of thinking that caused John the Baptizer to heavily criticize those who had gathered around him at the river to be baptized: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children from Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Unfortunately, many of our churches have bought into this membership ought to have privileges type of mentality and willing to do whatever it takes to increase the number of members in its congregation, doing whatever it takes to keep members in place, many afraid to place expectations on its members, or demand some kind of accountability. A way of thinking that would have made John the Baptizer, Paul, and even Jesus flinch.
So why have we done this…why have we as the church come to put such a focus on having lots of members and doing whatever it takes to get them and to keep them? Because we think we are supposed to? The truth of the matter is, my brothers and sisters, that Jesus never once commanded His followers to make church members...not even once. Jesus didn’t ask for church members or tell folks to make church members. Jesus told his followers in the Gospel of Matthew to go and make disciples.
What is the difference? Whereas our modern day understanding of membership denotes being owed something, Jesus turns and confronts this member mentality by telling them that if they want to follow Him they must become disciples and if they want to become disciples, then they have to be ready to make sacrifices.
Jesus had many people who were members of the crowd following him from place to place…and occasionally Jesus confronts them with having a membership mentality, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”[i] Jesus is saying, you aren’t following me because you believe that I am truly the Messiah, the Son of God, but cause I fed you, and you think you can get more out of me.”
Jesus makes it very clear that His understanding of discipleship means that it will cost us something: “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple…So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”
Wow…there are no low expectations here…no low membership bar…Jesus says you have to be willing to give it all up to follow him…it is not about getting, it is about sacrifice and allegiance, and Jesus says that we need to take all of that into account if we want to be His disciple. Consider the cost Jesus says, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it?” Which of us, intending to build a new home, does not sit down and decide whether or not we will have enough funds to complete it.
I remember seeing a home back east. I never knew the owners, so I do not know their original plans. I watched them dig out and lay the foundation for the home. I watched as they began putting up the frame of the home. I watched then, as for almost nine months, nothing else happened. Not a single nail was hammered, not a single shingle placed, not a single roll of insulation rolled out, for almost nine months. It was as if they had started building the house and had run out of money…and eventually, I found out, that is exactly what had happened.
The question before us then is, are we ready to be disciples of Jesus Christ? Are we ready to hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself? What did Jesus mean by this…does Jesus literally mean for us to dislike and have animosity toward our parents, our spouse, our children, and our siblings? No…Jesus constantly preached about loving God and others. The problem is that in translating from Greek to English, we end up with the word “hate.” What Jesus is telling the crowd is that if any want to call themselves a disciple, then they have to be willing to place Him as the number one thing in their lives…that when decisions are being made, a disciple will choose Jesus over everything else.
This means when a person is has to choose between a day of “veging” out on the couch or a call to visit the sick in the hospital, a disciple will know the nurses by name.
This means when a person has to figure out whether to respond to a call to enter the ministry where some places of ministry leave the minister hoping the left-overs will last until there is money to go to the grocery store or to keep a job making over enough money where eating out six out of seven days a week is the norm, a disciple will be the master of the microwave.
This means when a person heading to the mission field hears family members telling them that they must be out of their mind, they follow the One who ignored those same complaints by his mother and siblings.
This means when a person is has to decide between worshipping God or preparing a meal for visiting family, Jesus says a disciple will be in worship.
It means choir practice trumps American Idol…Bible Study trumps the basketball game…it means that feeding the hungry and clothing the naked trump a trip to the Angus Barn or a new Armani suit…
Jesus does not say that any of those things are bad…He does not say that parents, spouses, children, siblings, and life are bad things, but, He says, if you want to follow Me, if you want to be My disciples, that we have to be willing to lay them all on the line.
And, if we are willing to lay it all on the line, we need to hear Jesus’ promise from the Gospel of Mark: “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”[ii]
“So, Preacher, You are saying that membership is not important…there is no need to join the church.” Well, honestly, if we are looking to join for the simple reason that we are hoping to “get something out of it” or because “it makes clear what’s waiting for me on the other side of the grave,” then, yes, that is exactly what I am saying.
However, if we are at the point of saying, “Jesus, I give You my life…I thank You for laying Your life down for me, and now I lay my life before You...” If we are at the point of saying, “God, what You have given me, what You have blessed me with, from my possessions, to my family, to my very life itself, I wholeheartedly turn over to You and trust to You,” then we will find ourselves compelled to stand before one another and declare our allegiance to God…for being a member does not make us a disciple, but as a disciple, God makes us members of the Body of Christ, members of one another, and members of His Church.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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