The Rock of Discipleship

 

Luke 14 :26,27  26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

The Holy Bible : King James Version.

Let me give you a little "back light" on today's reading. A good first century Jew would have to memorize all The Law and The prophets by the age of 13. The better you did in the "Basic" schooling, the better Rabbinical school you could get into. The best and the brightest Received the very best Rabbi as teacher. It is much easier to get into Harvard or Yale, than to be taught by the very best Rabbi. You would spend all your days following him around listening and writing down everything he said. To insure that there was no mistake in what you would hear, you would follow as closely as possible, so closely in fact, that by the end of the day a student would be covered with the dust from his teacher’s feet.

That is the picture Christ had in mind when he said "Follow Me". Disciples must love each other. (John 13:34,35) By doing so, the world will know who our "Rabbi" is. It is never a life of extravagance, more likely it will be one typified by basic needs being met.(Mat. 8:18 to 20) It is a life, if lived according to the scripture, will run opposite of and very often it will clash with the world we must forsake, yet serve others in. This is best seen in the life of Paul. It is a life of service to both friend and foe, as typified by Christ. It is a life of evangelizing, sharing Jesus with a world that is blind to its very own needs. (Mat 4:19)

It is the greatest job I have ever known. A job like no other calling, that is the most rewarding roll I have ever had because We Serve Jesus, the Lord of all. He will always have work for you and true disciples are in short supply. It is a key link in the triangle of Discipleship, Lordship and Loyalty. Chiefly it is a mandate from Jesus himself.( Mat. 28:19 ) Go into ALL the World, make Disciples of all nations. It is a Rock of the King and Kingdom we serve. Let us Pray:

Father thank you for always being there. Help us to realize that we need to let go of all the things and people around us and place you first and foremost in our lives. We want the dust from your feet to cover us as we follow you and then go out to teach those in the world about you. We want to be the best disciples that we can be for you. Help us be that for you. We ask this in your holy name. Amen.