Jesus listed one more requirement of discipleship to the multitudes that day:
So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all His own possessions (Luke 14:33).
Again, it would seem logical to conclude that Jesus was using hyperbole. We don't need to give up all of our possessions in the sense that we are left without shelter, clothing and food. We must, however, certainly give up all of our possessions in the sense of turning their ownership over to God, and to the degree that we are no longer serving mammon, but serving God with our mammon. The result could certainly mean giving up many unnecessary possessions and living a simple life of godly stewardship and sharing, as did the early Christians we read about in the book of Acts. Being Christ's disciple means obeying His commandments, and He commanded His followers to not lay up treasures on earth, but to lay them up in heaven.
In summary, according to Jesus, if I am to be His disciple, I must bear fruit. I must love Him supremely, much more than even my own family members. I must be willing to face the inevitable hardships that will arise as a result of my decision to follow Him. And I must do what He says with my income and possessions. (And many of His commandments have something to say in this regard, so I must not fool myself, as so many do, saying, "If the Lord told me to do something with all my possessions, I would do whatever He said.")
And these are the kinds of committed followers of Christ that we as ministers are supposed to be making! That is our God-ordained goal! We are called to be disciple-making ministers!
That is a foundational truth that many ministers around the world are completely missing. If they evaluate their ministries, as I did, they will have to conclude, as I did, that they are falling far short of God's desire and expectation. When I considered the level of commitment to Christ demonstrated by the people of my congregation, I had little doubt that there were many who could not be classified as true disciples.
Pastors, take a look at your congregation. How many of your people does Jesus consider to be His disciples according to His criteria in Luke 14:26-33? Evangelists, is the message you preach producing people who are committing themselves to obey all of Christ's commandments?
Now is the time to evaluate our ministries, before we stand before Jesus at the final evaluation. If I'm falling short of His goal, I'd rather discover it now than then. Wouldn't you?
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David Servant ( - )
David Servant is the Founder of Heavens Family, helping the least of these world-wide. David Servant has been serving in ministry since 1979 as a church-planter, pastor, teacher and missionary. When David Servant read the results of his high-school vocational aptitude test, he laughed. The results told him that he was best suited for a career in ministry or in entertainment. At the time, David's future goal was to live in a log cabin in the wilderness and live off the land for the rest of his life. The Lord, however, had different plans for David Servant. God didn't intend for him to run away from the world, but rather to play a part in changing the world by building God's kingdom. David received his call to ministry during his (reluctant) freshman year at Penn State, and one year later was enrolled in Bible School.David Servant is the author of eight books, including Forever Rich, and the The Disciple-Making Minister, a 500-page equipping manual that has been translated into more than 20 languages and is being distributed to tens of thousands of pastors.