Discipleship

Discipleship

The worst that can be known about eternity and about the Christian life is to be found in the Word of God. When one has seen all that is forbidding in the Scriptures, there is nothing left hidden that can come forth as a surprise. Every new thing which we shall ever learn in this life or the next to come will be a delight. The worst has been told us.

Men often wonder about eternity and about death, and hesitate even before the struggles of life, though our Lord has said, "If it were not so, I would have told you" (John 14:2). The implications of this verse are amazing. He has been careful to underline anything in His service that is cold or forbidding. All that might reflect unfavorably upon Him or the life He calls us to lead has been scrupulously written down. He has held back no accounts of disappointments; He would have told us if there had been anything more to fear than that which has been revealed.

Whenever the disciples were tempted to dream dreams of future grandeur, Christ immediately brought them back to reality. Their discipleship was not the preface to coronation, but to crucifixion. When they talked among themselves concerning places of honor, He told them that they must deny themselves, take up their crosses daily, and follow Him.

Christ was constantly showing men what it would cost to follow Him, but at the same time He invited the whole world to come to Him. It was as though He was saying to them, "I have told you the worst, and the best is not possible to describe. The path through time and eternity will be thus and so," He implied. "If it were not so, I would have told you. The worst has been told; the best we cannot know now. One of the verses of one of our great hymns says:

But what to those who find? Ah this
Nor tongue, nor pen can show,
The love of Jesus, what it is,
None but His loved ones know.

We knew the worst before we came to Christ. We are now learning the best.

1. What is the cost of discipleship? Reflect and think if you are willing to make that commitment.
2. How are Disciples of Christ suppose to conduct themselves? How do we share that conduct with the world?
3. How do we now make disciples? What are we told in the great commission is the duty of disciple making?