Discipleship Defined

Voltaire, an immensely popular writer during the Enlightenment period, spent the bulk of his adult life and career as an atheistic philosopher castigating and attacking Christianity. It is, in fact, reported that he vowed that by his pen Christianity would find its death. Around 50 years after that proclamation, Voltaire was already dead and the home in which he used his might weapon, the pen, was a new home to a new group - The Geneva Bible Society. So, much for Volatire's assault upon the church.


This story reminds me of the great truth that it is God and God alone who will sustain His church and conquer His foes. He promises us that though the gates of Hell will assault His church, they will not prevail against her! While it is true that God's church has, does, and will always remain, it is also true that the testimony of His church has gone forth and expanded through the ages because God has always called out disicples who were willing to give their all for His church, even to the point of death. I don't think you could find a century since the advent of His Church when the assault upon her did not require of God's people complete and total sacrifice, even to the point of martydom. In our own times we hear constantly of Christians being attacked worldwide and willingly giving their life up for the cause of Christ. Yes, Christ is in charge. Yes, Christ is the Head of His Church. Yes, Christ will restore His Church one day as His Bride at the greatest wedding feast of all time.


Until that time, until that amazing day of restoration, God's people, His Church, will always be challenged and called to give all we have and follow Him. There is a word for this that is woven throughout the Gospels, discipleship. To be His disciple means to (variously) leave our nets (livelihood) behind and follow Him, pick up our cross (sacrifice) and follow Him, leave our family (prioritize Him above all others) and follow Him, to name only a few. In our text this week Christ defines discipleship once again through the illustration of a poverty-stricken and destitute woman. This woman, in Luke 21, gives a free will offering to the temple that, by our standards and measurements, would literally amount to nothing. Her gift was the smallest possible gift of the day. Standing around her, in fact, were those who had given considerably more and provided great wealth to the temple. Yet Christ praises this woman's gift above their own. In his own words, "For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”


And there you have it - discipleship defined. It is in this moment when Christ tells us that He is not interested in our money nearly as much as He is interested in our lives! Christ wants an undivided, whole-hearted disciple who is willing to give up everything, all we have, for Him and His Kingdom work. It is this type of follower that recognizes that all we have is really a gift from Him anyhow. Yes, it all belongs to Him. This is, I believe, why giving is at the heart of the Gospel, because a giving heart is a heart that is owned by Christ already!

Christ will always sustain His Church. The way Christ sustains the witness of the church in any time or place, is through His people. It is through His people who are willing to give all, go anywhere and follow Him, no matter the cost. You and I have grown too complacent, haven't we?!? We have sought out, identified, and formed a safe place we like to call church. Funny, out of all the descriptions God provides for His church, that is not ever among them. Christ is protecting His church and, as He does He is looking for radical disciples willing to follow Him into a great unknown and trust Him with our very lives! Will we be that disciple, Westside? I, for one, can say (with no small amount of caution) sign me up.


Follow Him!


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