We will now finish up this short section of Scripture with our last point that Jesus spoke about concerning discipleship. We have looked at both the self denial that a Christian will and must have in his or her life and also the concept of taking up the cross which shows to us the commitment to remain faithful in the face of opposition. Now we will move to another aspect that takes us from just denying self or facing difficulties because of our association with Christ to actually following Christ. Remember at the beginning of Luke 9:23 Jesus says If anyone wishes to come after Me, which means if someone desires to follow then they must understand the cost which is what Jesus follows with when He says let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
Many people want to come after Christ but few are willing to really follow. Only those that have the Holy Spirit of God will actually follow. You can not be a Christian and refuse to do these things. These are what makes a Christian a Christian. It is not what gives a person eternal life but it is the proof that one possess eternal life. As we look at this next part please continue to examine yourself to see if you are truly one that is following Jesus. Your eternity is at stake. Let’s look now at our first point.
1.Following Jesus in Discipleship.
Look with me at Luke 9:23 again, And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
I think it is important to note that in this chapter, Jesus shares many times that He will suffer and He will be killed. In fact Matthew places the event of Peter rebuking Jesus for saying that He will die before this passage of Scripture we have been studying in this study. Matthew 16:21-23 is placed right before the words of our text in Luke 9:23-27. It says in Matthew 16:21-23 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. 22 And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
Luke records a similar statement from our Lord later in chapter 9 but notice that the focus is on who it is that is considered to be true disciples. The cost of following Jesus must be known. If we tell people that Jesus will make you rich, prosper you, heal your diseases, make you happy etc., then you will get many superficial followers. All of what Jesus speaks on is to help us all to understand that being a follower of Jesus is not some passive thought or some superficial act of a onetime prayer or baptism.
Remember back in Luke 8 when we studied on the Parable of the Sower or the Soils? There we looked at the 4 soils that represent 4 different responses to the Gospel. The first is indifferent to the Gospel and wants nothing to do with it. The next 2 soils paint a different picture though. Look at what Jesus says concerning these 2 types of people that respond to the Gospel in His explanation in Luke 8:13-14 And those on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, and these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away. 14 And the seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of life, and do not bear ripe fruit.
Did you notice that these 2 types of people receive the word or believe for a while or hear the word? They seem to be somewhat connected to Christ and the Word but never allow Christ to be Lord. They do not change internally and therefore they fall away or produce no good fruit that associates them to Christ. These are the ones that desire to come after Jesus but do not count the cost. They want the benefits of what they think being a Christian is, like having a good life, having joy, being happy, having worldly prosperity, having the best jobs, making a lot of money and on and on, but they do not remain until the end because they did not count the cost of what true discipleship means.
Many people profess to be a Christian but when you examine their life against these 3 points that Jesus makes, they are nowhere to be found in their life. How is it that so many people profess to be a follower of Christ and their life is far from that? Mainly because of the deception of the false Gospel that says all you have to do is believe in Jesus, say a prayer, try your best or do good deeds. This is a deception of the real way of salvation. People say things like, God knows my heart, God knows I’m not perfect or no one is perfect, to justify living how they want to live. The Bible is clear that the true Christian will be different because of this change of status.
Salvation is only by grace, through faith in Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9 says For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not of works, so that no one may boast.
But then the reality of what happens to a recipient of salvation is in Ephesians 2:10 that says For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Then we see in 1 John 3:4-10 Everyone who does sin also does lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He was manifested in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or has come to know Him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. The one who does righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 The one who does sin is of the devil, because the devil sins from the beginning. The Son of God was manifested for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifested: everyone who does not do righteousness is not of God, as well as the one who does not love his brother.
Clearly if you are continuing to live in sin as the practice of your life then you are not a Christian. If you are a Christian and find yourself in seasons of disobedience then there will be obvious discipline from God our Father and Lord. The point is that a Christian will not only deny self, carry their cross in a life of commitment but they will continue to follow no matter what. They will actually be following not just desiring to without ever taking the steps in following. This is something that happens at conversion and is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a person. It can’t be faked and it can’t be done in a superficial way. Your life reveals who you are following and I hope this guides you to examine your life to see if you are truly following.
As this shows up in your life it will be revealed if you are truly following, that’s what we looked at for this point and now we look at what else will be obvious in our next point.
2.Declaring Jesus in Discipleship.
*Look also at Luke 9:26 that says For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
So many people look at this verse and think if they just post something on social media about the fact that they are not ashamed of Jesus then they got this covered. But we must look at this from the standpoint of what Jesus has been saying throughout this passage of Scripture. Every command has had an aspect of action that goes along with it. Here we see that if you are truly following Jesus then that will be obvious because of the fact that you are declaring Jesus to others.* The word ashamed here is the Greek word epaischunomai (ep-ahee-skhoo’-nom-ahee) which means to be ashamed (personally humiliated) or it refers to being disgraced, bringing on “fitting” shame that matches the error of wrongly identifying (aligning) with something. So Jesus says that whoever is disgraced because of identifying with Him will get in return the same action from our Lord when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
This means those that profess to be Christian but do not live it in front of others in fear of persecution, being set as a social outcast, loss of a job, fear of losing friendships are in fact not really Christians. A Christian could leave a situation and realize that they didn’t proclaim Christ like they should have but the implication is really pointed towards a lifestyle. Does your life point to the fact that you are not afraid to live an obedient Christian life in spite of the difficulties that may come with it and will come with it?
To be ashamed is to be disgraced to the point that this does not show up in the way you live or speak. Jesus says similarly again in Luke 12:8-9 And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God, 9 but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.
This time He uses the Greek word homologeó (hom-ol-og-eh’-o) for confess. This word means to speak the same, to agree, assent, agree with, confess, declare or to admit. This is once again another form of how we live. It is that we are living in a way that shows others that Jesus is our Lord. It shows others that we are following Christ in spite of what the culture tells us. We do not do this arrogantly but peaceably and firmly.
If we do not do this then Jesus says He will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. Jesus will not be ashamed of Christians in fact Jesus intercedes for us and advocates for us. Romans 8:33-34 says Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
1 John 2:1 says My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
The fact is that we must be declaring Jesus, not just in word but in every area of our life. This shows us as one that is denying self, taking up their cross and actually following Jesus. That brings us to a verse that is difficult to understand within the context but I hope to lead correctly. Notice in verse 26 that Jesus speaks of His coming in glory. This reference is considered to be the Second Coming of Christ when He will take with Him His elect. He then says in Luke 9:27 But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.
Some people say that this is referring to what happens next in all 3 Synoptic Gospels which is the transfiguration. Some people say that Jesus was speaking of this preview of the kingdom of God in the transfiguration. I would say that this could be a valid point but I just don’t see that contextually from what He just said. I believe that He could be referring to the coming of the kingdom of God initiated by the coming of the New Covenant after Jesus’ resurrection. Now I am not alone in this view but probably in the minority. The reason I believe He is saying this in reference to the beginning of the Church age is because He has been speaking of this very thing throughout this teaching. Back in Luke 9:22 Jesus says “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”
It is then that He goes into this teaching about following Him and ends with telling them that there will be some there that will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God. Jesus’ message was all about the Kingdom of God and it appears that this is another way He shared the immediacy of what was going to happen to Him. The people that want to follow must be ready to follow in times of persecution and even possible death. There were some standing there that would be a part of that as Jesus dies and then resurrects bringing the Kingdom of God to man like never before.
This will bring us to that transfiguration passage that we will look at in our next study.
Disciple's Direction 