Luke 14:25-15:10: “Jesus Teaches Cost Of Discipleship & Two
Parables Which Show How God Seeks Out The Lost”
By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at the first 24 verses of chapter 14.
1.1.1. We saw yet another meal with Jesus that turned into controversy as
Jesus healed a man from dropsy on the Sabbath and then taught several important
principles to His disciples and the Pharisees present at the meal.
1.1.2. We saw at this meal that Jesus stirred the pot of controversy more than
He had at any other meal that He had attended.
1.1.3. Jesus also taught about the importance of not promoting or exalting
yourself before others, but rather being humble in heart.
1.1.4. Jesus taught a parable about a banquet dinner that a man held and then
sent his slave to go and to find others to attend.
1.2.
In this study, we are going
to look at verse 25 of chapter 14 through verse 10 of chapter 15.
1.2.1. We see here in this study that Jesus is teaching His disciples lessons
concerning what discipleship consists of, how to be effective as Christ’s
disciple, and what is the cost of discipleship.
1.2.2. Then, when the Pharisees notice that the sinners and tax gatherers were
coming together to hear Jesus speak they are offended and begin to grumble
against Jesus. This causes Jesus to
begin to teach some parables that describe the kind of attitudes that we as
God’s people ought to have towards those who are lost and do not know the
Lord: we need to be like God and reach
out to them.
2. VS 14:25-27 - “25 Now large crowds were going along
with Him; and He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me,
and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers
and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 “Whoever
does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” - Jesus teaches that no one can
be His disciples who does not carry his own cross and come after Him
2.1.
We have seen in our study that
up until this point in time that Jesus’ ministry has continually grown in
popularity. The multitudes of people
have now begun to come to Jesus and He is now a popular figure in the nation of
2.2.
Jesus on this day actually
seeks to reduce the number of His followers by teaching them the true cost and
importance of discipleship under Him, their teacher and Lord. You see, He was more interested in the states
of people’s hearts than in the number of those who came to Him.
2.3.
We will see soon in droves
that people will quit following Him when their expectations of Him as their
political Messiah are not met, and when He continues to teach the hard lessons
about what being one of His followers involves.
2.4.
Some 264 times Jesus’
followers are referred to as “disciples.” The word ‘disciple’ means “a
learner or pupil who follows a teacher.”
The saving message of the gospel that is preached to all is not only an
invitation to have faith in Jesus and His work upon Calvary’s cross, but it is
also a calling to give complete allegiance to Jesus as Lord and become His ‘disciple’
walking in obedience to His leading and will for your life.
2.5.
Jesus tells the people on
this day that the one who comes to Him and does not do some very specific
things, that person cannot be His ‘disciple.’ I believe that the scripture is very clear
that Jesus came to bring salvation to “disciples,” not those who have
mere intellectual knowledge of Him or give mental assent to His claims and
teachings.
2.6.
The specific things that
Jesus lays out here that a person must do in order to be His disciple are:
2.6.1. ‘Hate his own
father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even
his own life.’
2.6.1.1. The word ‘hate’ used by Jesus here does not refer to the type of
thing we Americans associate with the word ‘hate.’ When we in our culture and language think of
hate we think of “personal repugnance or antagonism towards someone.” However, the ‘hate’ Jesus refers to
here is that which we feel in comparison to something else. Our love for the Lord must be so much greater
than our love for ‘father and mother and wife and children and brothers and
sisters’ that the love that we have for them (and we do love them) is hate
in comparison to the love that we have for Jesus.
2.6.1.2. More than anything in a disciple’s life he must love and seek to please
the Lord Jesus. A disciple will never
allow affection for any material object, fleshly attachment, or fleshly
pleasure to have precedence over the Lord.
Rather, everything in a disciple’s life is to be handed over and
surrendered to the Lord.
2.6.1.3. Let me make it clear, a ‘disciple’ of Jesus is not to hate his
family members in the way that people in our culture and language might hate
someone. Disciples are to love and honor
father and mother for this is in the 10 Commandments, that is, as long as this
is appropriate and as much as is possible.
However their love for God must be so great as to make their love for
family appear as hate.
2.6.2. ‘Carry his
own cross.’
2.6.2.1. In Israel in Jesus’ day, a ‘cross’ symbolized death,
humiliation, shame, and intense suffering.
A disciple of Jesus must be willing to die to himself, share in the
sufferings of Christ that he experiences as a result of following Jesus, be
willing to suffer persecution because of following Jesus, and if it is
necessary and the Lord wills it so, even suffer to the point of death for
Christ.
2.6.2.2. In practical terms, to “carry your own cross” meant complete surrender to
the Lord and His will for your life.
This is something that every disciple must do if He wants to follow
Jesus.
2.6.3. ‘Come after Me.’
2.6.3.1. Jesus is saying here that those who would be His followers on this day
were to renounce everything in their life in order to come and to serve Him.
2.7.
I recently visited the web
site for Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. and coped the
information below about the sentinels that are placed at the tomb of the
Unknown Soldier. The Sentinels who guard
the Tomb must be exemplary in discipline, dress, and bearing; thoroughly
knowlegeable with the history of their unit, the Tomb of the Unknowns,
Arlington National Cemetery (and those interred there), and the
“The Tomb of the Unknowns (also known as
the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier) is guarded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and
in any weather by Tomb Guard sentinels.
Sentinels, all volunteers, are considered to be the best of the elite
3rd U.S. Infantry (The Old Guard), headquartered at Fort Myer, Va.
After members of the 3rd U.S. Infantry
become ceremonially qualified, they are eligible to volunteer for duty as
sentinels at the Tomb. If accepted, they
are assigned to Company E of The Old Guard.
Each soldier must be in superb physical condition, possess an
unblemished military record and be between 5 feet, 10 inches and 6 feet, 4
inches tall, with a proportionate weight and build. An interview and a two-week
trial to determine a volunteer's capability to train as a tomb guard is
required.
During the trial phase, would-be
sentinels memorize seven pages of Arlington National Cemetery history. This information must be recited verbatim in
order to earn a "walk." A walk
occurs between guard changes. A daytime walk is one-half hour in the summer and
one hour in the winter. All night walks
are one hour.
If a soldier passes the first training
phase, "new-soldier" training begins.
New sentinels learn the history of Arlington National Cemetery and the
grave locations of nearly 300 veterans.
They learn the guard-change ceremony and the manual of arms that takes
place during the inspection portion of the Changing of the Guard. Sentinels
learn to keep their uniforms and weapons in immaculate condition.
The sentinels will be tested to earn the
privilege of wearing the silver Tomb Guard Identification Badge after several
months of serving. First, they are
tested on their manual of arms, uniform preparation and their walks. Then, the Badge Test is given. The test is 100 randomly selected questions
of the 300 items memorized during training on the history of Arlington National
Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknowns.
The would-be badge holder must get more than 95 percent correct to
succeed. Only 400 Tomb Guard Badges have
been awarded since it was created in February 1958.
The Tomb Guard Identification Badge is a
temporary award until the badge-holding sentinel has honorably served at the
Tomb of the Unknowns for nine months. At
that time, the award can be made a permanent badge, which may then be worn for
the rest of a military career. The
silver badge is an upside-down, laurel-leaf wreath surrounding a depiction of
the front face of the Tomb. Peace,
Victory and Valor are portrayed as Greek figures. The words "Honor Guard" are shown
below the Tomb on the badge.
There are three reliefs, each having one
relief commander and about six sentinels. The three reliefs are divided by
height so that those in each guard change ceremony look similar. The sentinels rotate walks every hour in the
winter and at night, and every half-hour in the day during the summer.
The Tomb Guard Quarters is staffed using
a rotating Kelly system. Each relief has
the following schedule: first day on,
one day off, second day on, one day off, third day on, four days off. Then,
their schedule repeats.
The Changing of the Guard
The guard is changed every hour on the
hour Oct. 1 to March 31 in an elaborate ritual.
From April 1 through September 30, there are more than double the
opportunities to view the change because another change is added on the half
hour and the cemetery closing time moves from 5 to 7 p.m.
An impeccably uniformed relief commander
appears on the plaza to announce the Changing of the Guard. Soon the new sentinel leaves the Quarters and
unlocks the bolt of his or her M-14 rifle to signal to the relief commander to
start the ceremony. The relief commander walks out to the Tomb and salutes,
then faces the spectators and asks them to stand and stay silent during the
ceremony.
The relief commander conducts a detailed
white-glove inspection of the weapon, checking each part of the rifle
once. Then, the relief commander and the
relieving sentinel meet the retiring sentinel at the center of the matted path
in front of the Tomb. All three salute
the Unknowns who have been symbolically given the Medal of Honor. Then the relief commander orders the relieved
sentinel, "Pass on your orders."
The current sentinel commands, "Post and orders, remain as
directed." The newly posted sentinel replies, "Orders acknowledged,"
and steps into position on the black mat.
When the relief commander passes by, the new sentinel begins walking at
a cadence of 90 steps per minute.
The Tomb Guard marches 21 steps down the
black mat behind the Tomb, turns, faces east for 21 seconds, turns and faces
north for 21 seconds, then takes 21 steps down the mat and repeats the
process. After the turn, the sentinel
executes a sharp "shoulder-arms" movement to place the weapon on the
shoulder closest to the visitors to signify that the sentinel stands between
the Tomb and any possible threat. Twenty-one was chosen because it symbolizes
the highest military honor that can be bestowed -- the 21-gun salute.
Duty time when not "walking"
is spent in the Tomb Guard Quarters below the Memorial Display Room of the
Memorial Amphitheater where they study Cemetery "knowledge," clean
their weapons and help the rest of their relief prepare for the Changing of the
Guard. The guards also train on their days off.
The Guards of Honor at the Tomb of the
Unknowns are highly motivated and are proud to honor all American service
members who are "Known But to God."
Now if men can voluntarily submit
themselves to such discipline and commitment so they can honor our country and
all of those who have fallen in war and remain nameless, then shouldn’t we
Christians who know the One whose Name is above all and whose sacrifice was the
greatest and most selfless of all, seek to live a disciplined and committed
life of discipleship as an act of gratitude for all that our Savior has done
for us? Is there anyone greater that we can
honor and venerate with our lives than the lamb of God who has taken away the
sins of the world?
3. VS 14:28-30 - “28 “For which one of you, when he
wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see
if he has enough to complete it? 29 “Otherwise, when he has laid a
foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,
30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’” - Jesus gives the first of two
illustrations of what it means to count the cost of being His disciple: a man who wants to build a tower
3.1.
It is critical in every
person’s life that before making a decision to be Christ’s disciple that he
first sit down and calculate what is required of him as a disciple, or count
the cost of discipleship. Because many
do not first sit down and count the cost of following Christ it also turns out
that they end up turning back after following Christ for a time and as a result
there is more damage than good done in their life. There is great gain and blessing promised to
Christ’s disciples yet discipleship should only be entered into after careful
thought.
3.2.
This first example of
counting the cost is that of a man who ‘wants to build a tower.’ As with entering into any construction project,
it is important before beginning the project to determine if you have enough
money and resources, material and laborers, to complete the construction in a
reasonable and required timeframe. Many
companies have gone bankrupt because they tried to expand or build a new
building or facility only to run out of cash and then not be able to recoup
their losses. They hadn’t properly counted the cost before beginning.
3.3.
Jesus says here that people
will ‘ridicule’ someone who begins a construction project and ends up
being unable to finish it.
4. VS 14:31-33 - “31 “Or what king, when he sets out
to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he
is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming
against him with twenty thousand? 32 “Or else, while the other is
still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 “So
then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own
possessions.” - Jesus gives the second illustration of what it
means to count the cost of being His disciple:
a king who calculates whether or not he will be able to win before he
initiates a battle
4.1.
The second illustration
showing the importance of counting the cost before you begin something is that
of a king who considers going up in battle against an army. It is essential for any rational general or
king before initiating a battle or war to first calculate whether or not he
will have the power and resources to win.
History has shown time and again the folly of men starting wars that
they cannot win, and war always very costly in terms of lives and numerous
other consequences.
4.2.
Just in the last couple of
years we have seen Saddam Hussein, who used to be the president of Iraq, make the
huge mistake of refusing to submit to the United Nation’s mandates regarding
inspectors looking for the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction, when the
United States and her allies promised that if those mandates were not followed
that war would result. Saddam was so
full of himself that he felt that he was invincible yet his country fell to the
invading U.S. coalition forces in just a couple of weeks. I’ll bet he now wishes he had counted the
cost of his decision.
4.3.
In the same way, Jesus
states here that a person cannot be his disciple unless he first calculates the
cost and is willing to ‘give up all his own possessions.’ Discipleship with Jesus means that a person
must submit himself entirely to the Lord to do the Lord’s will and be the
person that the Lord wants him to be.
Nothing must be allowed to stand in the way of obedience to the Lord.
5. VS 14:34-35 - “34 “Therefore, salt is good; but if
even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? 35 “It
is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who
has ears to hear, let him hear.”” - Jesus teaches another discipleship lesson as
He tells the people that salt must keep its saltiness if it is to be useful at
all
5.1.
Jesus now speaks of His
disciples as being ‘salt.’ In
Jesus’ day, ‘salt’ was a valuable commodity and used for a variety of
purposes including seasoning on food, a preservative for foods, to cleanse and
purify wounds and infections, fertilizer, etc.
Salt though was not as pure as it is today and because of its impurities
it did not last a long time without losing its saltiness. When salt had lost its saltiness it had no
good purpose that it could be used for and would be thrown out on the ground to
be walked upon.
5.2.
A disciple who has lost his
saltiness is one who has allowed compromise to creep into his life thus
gradually resulting in the loss of his effectiveness and usefulness for the
Lord. In order to be useful and
effective for the Lord as an evangelist or in any ministry a disciple must not
allow compromise with sin in his life.
It is a pure heart and devotion to the Lord and a great zeal that is
needed in a disciple that the Lord can and will use mightily.
5.3.
As if to say, “Are you
listening to me?” Jesus says, ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear.’
6. VS 15:1-7 - “1 Now all the tax collectors and
the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. 2 Both the
Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives
sinners and eats with them.” 3 So He told them this parable, saying,
4 “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of
them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one
which is lost until he finds it? 5 “When he has found it, he lays it
on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 “And when he comes home, he calls
together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I
have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 “I tell you that in the same
way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over
ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” - Jesus gives the first of
three parable illustrations that reveal how that the Lord seeks out those who
are lost: the shepherd who leaves the
flock to go out and find the one lost sheep
6.1.
We see in these verses that
at this point those whom the religious leaders labeled as ‘tax collectors’
and ‘sinners’ (most likely Gentiles are referred to here) were coming to
Jesus to listen to Him, and the fact that these type of people were always
coming to Jesus and that Jesus was always found with these types of people
bothered the Pharisees, and on this occasion they were grumbling about Jesus
because of this.
6.2.
To the Jews of Jesus’ day, a
person showed his spirituality by separating himself from anyone who was not
righteous in the tradition of the Pharisees.
The religious leaders had no desire to see those whom they labeled as ‘sinners’
come to salvation. They saw all Gentiles
as being nothing but defiled and detestable to God.
6.3.
It was never God’s will for
the Jews to totally separate themselves from and despise the foreigners that
were among them, rather the Old Testament scriptures told them things like:
6.3.1. Deuteronomy 10:19, “19 “So
show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”
6.3.2. Isaiah 42:6, “6 “I
am the Lord, I have called you in
righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, And I will
appoint you as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations.”
6.3.3. Isaiah 49:6, “6 He
says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the
tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make
You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the
earth.””
6.4.
In contrast to the attitude of the Pharisees of excluding those who are
‘sinners’ and spiritually lost, in this parable and the one that follows
we see that Jesus describes the fact that the Lord is a “seeking God.” The Lord is always seeking after those who do
not know the Lord, trying to bring them to salvation in Him.
6.5.
This first illustration is
that of a shepherd. Each night shepherds
count their sheep before they bed them down, however when a shepherd discovers that
a sheep is missing from his flock he leaves the other sheep under someone’s
care and goes and searches for that sheep until he finds him. Shepherds would have to pay for a sheep under
their care who was not torn by predators but simply came up missing. Therefore, they had motivation to seek out
every sheep under their care whom they might lose.
6.6.
Isaiah wrote, “All of us
like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way…” The scriptures tells us, you see, that the
Lord is the good shepherd and that we are His sheep. The Lord has sought out each one of us who
are redeemed as a lost sheep. This
parable pictures the great love and care that the Lord has for His people. He truly is the good shepherd of the sheep.
6.7.
Sheep are not particularly
smart creatures and thus they are in great need of a shepherd. It has been said by shepherds that without a
shepherd a sheep could starve to death when food is in eyesight or die of
thirst when water is within sight. When
one sheep goes over a cliff, they all go over a cliff. This describes the need that we as people
have for the great shepherd who watches over our souls.
6.8.
Not only does a shepherd go
and look for a lost sheep until he finds it, he also rejoices when he finds
it. In the same way, Jesus tells us that
there is joy in heaven over one ‘sinner who repents.’
7. VS 15:8-10 - “8 “Or what woman, if she has ten
silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and
search carefully until she finds it? 9 “When she has found it, she
calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have
found the coin which I had lost!’ 10 “In the same way, I tell you,
there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”” - Jesus gives the second of
three parable illustrations that reveal how that the Lord seeks out those who
are lost: the woman who loses one coin
searches her house out carefully until she finds it
7.1.
The second illustration here
is that of a woman who has lost a coin.
If a woman lost a coin in her house in Jesus’ day she would ‘light a
lamp’ and begin a search of her house for the lost coin. In that day coins were not round so when
dropped they would not roll far. A woman
would use a broom to sweep under furniture and in the corners in case the coin
had rolled and ended up under a pile of liter.
7.2.
Then, Jesus says that when
the woman would find her lost coin she would ‘call together her friends and
neighors’ so that they could rejoice with her over finding her lost coin.
7.3.
When I was planting the
church in Helena, MT I worked as a printer repair technician. One day I got called to go downtown to a coin
dealer’s business who sold rare and expensive coins to fix a dot matrix
printer. What I discovered was that the
printer’s problem was that a very expensive old coin had fallen down inside of
it. When I found the problem and
returned the coin to the owner of the business he was very happy both to have
found his lost coin and to have his printer fixed.
7.4.
Again we see that this
parable pictures the fact that there is great joy in heaven and among God’s
angels whenever one sinner repents and turns his life over to the Lord. God seeks and seeks for the lost and rejoices
greatly over each one He finds.
7.5.
The following is a work of fiction that was penned by Elizabeth Silance
Ballard in 1976 and published that year in Home Life magazine.
Pastor
Mike Macintosh included the story in one of his
books as an illustration of how we as Christians ought to reach out with the
love of God towards those who are lost:
The Story Of Teddy Stoddard:
Her name was Mrs. Thompson.
As she stood
in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the
children a lie. Like most teachers, she looked
at her students and said that she loved them all the same. But that was impossible, because there in the
front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.
Mrs.
Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he didn't play well
with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly
needed a bath. And Teddy could be unpleasant.
It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in
marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big
"F" at the top of his papers.
At the
school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past
records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his
file, she was in for a surprise. Teddy's
first grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a ready
laugh. He does his work neatly and has
good manners...he is a joy to be around."
His second grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student,
well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a
terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle." His third grade
teacher wrote, "His mother's death had been hard on him. He tries to do
his best, but his father doesn't show much interest and his home life will soon
affect him if some steps aren't taken."
Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't
show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes
sleeps in class".
By now, Mrs.
Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even
worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful
ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present was clumsily wrapped
in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took
pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when
she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle
that was one quarter full of perfume.
But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty
the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her
wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after
school that day just long enough to say, "Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled
just like my Mom used to." After
the children left she got down on her knees and asked the Lord to forgive her
and she cried for at least an hour. On
that very day, she became more than just a teacher of reading, writing, and
arithmetic. She became a vessel through
whom the Lord could work, an agent of God.
After this,
Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to
come alive. The more she encouraged him,
the faster he responded. By the end of
the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and,
despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one
of her "teacher's pets." A
year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she
was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.
Six years
went by before she got another note from Teddy.
He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and
she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.
Four years
after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at
times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from
college with the highest of honors. He
assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever
had in his whole life.
Then four
more years passed and yet another letter came.
This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he
decided to go a little further. The
letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever
had. But now his name was a little
longer - the letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.
The story
doesn't end there. You see, there was
yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he'd met this girl and was going to
be married. He explained that his father
had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might
agree to sit in the place at the wedding that was usually reserved for the
mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several
rhinestones missing. And she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy
remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together. They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard
whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, "Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing
in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I
could make a difference." Mrs.
Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, "Teddy, you have it all
wrong. You were the one who taught me
that I could make a difference and what it means to reach out to others with
the love of Christ."
8. CONCLUSIONS:
8.1.
As you consider this message
and see how that you ought to apply it to yourself, you first of all need to
ask yourself some questions if you would like to be Jesus’ disciple:
8.1.1. Have you calculated what it will really cost you to lay your life at
your Master’s feet as His disciple?
8.1.2. Have you determined that all of your possessions, all of your family
and friend relationships, and your entire life are now completely at the
disposal of Jesus to do with as He chooses and wills?
8.1.3. Have you determined to be as salty for Jesus as you can be, and not
allow worldly compromises to make you less effective and fruitful for the Lord
as His disciple and witness?
8.2.
When you consider the life
that you live to please God, does your heart match that of your Lord who loves
those who are spiritually lost and is always seeking to find ways to bring them
into God’s kingdom?