The Goal of Discipleship
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2013 · 6 January 2013
Let us begin in 2013 by listening to what our Lord says to His disciples beginning in Matthew 10:24, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household!”
This section of Scripture is the beginning of the most crucial and the most definitive passage ever uttered by our Lord on the subject of discipleship. This is the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ on what the cost is, and what it involves. And because of this it demands our greatest attention.
Now discipleship is extremely important here at our church. Our task is as stated by the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 28, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
In Matthew 10 our Lord is making disciples. He is building up disciples. He has the group of twelve and He is building them to maturity to send them out to reproduce and advance the Kingdom. And that is the same process He has called all of us to be engaged in as well.
And this means much more than leading people to Jesus Christ. That is not the end of our task that is just the beginning. To put it in the terms of what Paul told us in Ephesians 4:12, our task is "equipping the saints for the work of ministry." We are to produce mature disciples who minister and who in turn can reproduce themselves.
Now that's what our Lord was after. He wanted people who would come and learn from Him. He said in Matthew 11:29, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” That is the essence of what conversion is. Conversion is the willingness to learn from Jesus Christ all things, whatever He has commanded.
And my commitment is to do that although I often struggle with my weakness and ignorance and my flesh to accomplish that end, but I know what the task is and I know that I'm committed to that task. But what I don't know is whether you are committed to the task of learning and that's the issue.
The Lord knew what His task was. He knew what the truth is and He knew how to communicate the truth but what He was looking for was open hearts to receive it, the ready mind and ready heart. And all our goal should be a transformed life like that.
When Jesus called disciples to Himself, He carefully instructed them in what they would be facing. And consequently it kept out those half-hearted people who weren't willing to make the commitment. Jesus did the same thing when He talked about a narrow gate and a narrow way. He kept out the people that were not willing to make the commitment, to pay the price.
Now that is true discipleship. That is how it is to be when you become a follower of Jesus Christ. And this passage is going to force you to face that reality. The Lord really reduces discipleship down to some clear basic issues. We'll cover a little tonight and some more next time and then finish it out later.
And if you have ever wondered what the real stuff of commitment is, and what it really means to be set apart or sanctified, you'll find the answer right here. This text is so filled with truth regarding discipleship that it has been the focus of Christians through the centuries in learning Jesus' perspective on dedication to Himself.
When you became a Christian, you did not just buy fire insurance, you did not just jump down the escape hatch from hell, you affirmed the Lordship of Christ and that means that you affirmed a response of obedience. You said - You are the teacher, I am the learner. And you will learn all things whatever He has commanded you. If you came in on any other term, it's questionable whether you are saved at all.
Now, the people who have responded to the truths of Matthew 10:24-42 have been the kind of people who change the world. We're talking about total dedication, total commitment, the real stuff, nothing held back. And those are the kinds of people who in deep self examination came to a dedication level that set them a cut above everybody else and made them the kind that God could use to change the course of history.
Jim Elliot, the Auca Indian martyr wrote in his diary this: "God, I pray toYou, light these idle sticks of my life that I may burn for You. Consume my life, my God, for it is Yours. I seek not a long life but a full one like You Lord Jesus." That's exactly what he got. In the very flower of his youth a native Indian threw a spear killing him.
It's this kind of dedication that we're talking about. This is to put it in a contemporary mode so you don't think it's just something way back when. If you know anything about the history of revival in the United States, you've heard the name Jonathan Edwards, a great preacher. God used him mightily. There was a reason. The reason was he was willing to pay the price. The reason was he gave everything.
And this is what he wrote: "I claim no right to myself, no right to this understanding, this will, these affections that are in me. Neither do I have any right to this body, no right to this tongue, to these hands, feet, ears or eyes. I have given myself clear away and not retained anything of my own. I have been to God this morning and told Him I have given myself wholly to Him, I have given every power so that for the future I claim no right to myself in any respect. I've expressly promised Him, for by His grace I will not fail. His law is the constant rule of my obedience. I will fight with all my might against the world, the flesh and the devil to the end of my life.”
Now that is consecration. And God used that man beyond his imagination. Now, we too are called to that kind of commitment. And I am forewarning you that that's what you are going to face in this chapter. And as we continue to read Jesus’ words you are going to be put against the wall repeatedly to evaluate and self-examine your commitment level.
Now, let's examine Matthew 10:24-25 this evening. Jesus has named the twelve; the priority focus initially in the chapter is on the twelve. But as you go through the chapter you can see clearly that it extends beyond them. In fact, in verse 25 it talks about the people who minister till the Son of Man returns at the second coming.
We see first the twelve and then we see all those who follow Christ. First, their initial mission, and then we see their later mission after the Holy Spirit empowers them. And then we see the mission of all who ever serve Christ as we flow through this marvelous chapter.
Now, as we have studied Matthew 10:23 we have covered everything till the second coming, till the Son of Man comes back. So that now He has taken us to that wide level, and in that context He talks about every disciple He'll ever have throughout all of that period and gives the definition of their discipleship from verse 24 to 42.
Now our Lord is going to say this - For those people who truly want to come and be My disciple, here's what I ask. This is what I require. This is the stuff of real discipleship. Note how honest Jesus is right up front. He doesn't hold back anything.
He tells them the cost. You don't do anyone a favor by trying to get them to accept Christ without letting them know what is really involved in such acceptance. You see, it will cost you your family, it will cost you your inheritance and it will cost you your comfort and those are the terms.
The disciples might be thinking - Wow, in verse 16, we're going to be sheep among wolves. Verse 17, we're going to get scourged in the synagogue and we're going to be dragged before pagan courts. Verse 21, our own family is going to put us to death. Verse 22, we're going to be hated by all kinds of people for His sake. Verse 23, we're going to be persecuted so we have to keep running from city to city.
So now in verse 24, Jesus begins His general teaching on discipleship. And the Lord says – “The disciple is not above his teacher, nor the servant above his lord.” In other words Jesus says, “Why should you expect to get any different treatment than what I received?” Do you hear that, do you understand that?
This statement is obvious. The disciple is always below his teacher. If I'm your teacher then you are going to learn what I teach you. But Jesus uses another metaphor, the servant and his lord. In the first case we assume the disciple chooses his teacher, in the second case - the lord buys and owns his servant.
But in either case, there is the role of subservience, we are under Him. The disciple is a learner. The teacher is the one who knows. The lord is the master, the slave is the doulos. And by its definition he is the one who does what the master tells him. So, the Lord is saying: The basic principle of discipleship is that you submit yourselves to Me.
We choose to be a disciple to learn at the feet of Jesus but He chooses us as His servant - sovereignly. When you become a Christian and you affirm that you will follow Jesus Christ, you are saying - I submit to the truth and wisdom You will teach me. I will follow Your orders and I will carry them out.
Well there is both a positive and a negative in this. Let me talk about the positive for a minute. Jesus also uses that phrase in Luke 6:40, "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone after he has been fully trained will be like his teacher."
Some day the disciple will be like his teacher. What does it mean to be a disciple then? It means to pursue being like Christ, that is the basic element of discipleship. From the positive side the Lord is saying - when you're fully trained you're going to be like Christ.
This is the goal of all discipleship as stated clearly in the Great Commission - Go into all the world and make disciples. What does that involve? Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. In other words, a disciple is one who knows the Word and obeys the Word and teaches others.
The goal of the Christian life then is to grow toward Christ likeness. According to 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” That's the goal even though it isn't fully consummated.
On the other hand, Jesus is also saying the disciple is not above his teacher, and the servant is not above his lord in the sense of persecution. In other words Jesus says, don't expect to have it any different than I did. And the more like Me you are the more they will treat you like they have treated Me.
You can gauge your own Christian life that way, right? The more like Christ you are the more the world will treat you like they treated Christ. Could it be that you don't get much persecution because there is not much similarity between your life and Christ’s life?
The context in this world is persecution, hostility and death. And we have to be ready to accept that. This is an amazing call to discipleship. I want you to come and be My disciples and be like Me and get ready to pay the supreme price. That's what He is saying. And if you are not willing to come on those terms then you are not going to come.
Now, go to verse 25 and see how Jesus adds an insightful phrase - "It is enough, for the disciple that he be like his teacher and the servant like his lord." A true disciple is content to be like his teacher and a true servant is content to be faithful to his lord. That’s enough.
Paul was like that and in his great prayer in Philippians 3:10 he said, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” I don't ask to be loved by the world, I don't ask to be accepted, just let me know the fellowship of His persecution even in death.
And you want to know how they were treated? In verse 25, the Lord gives an illustration. "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?" And here He uses the word - The master of the house, and it's the idea of the Lord of the house. And if they call Jesus the devil and you are under Him what do you expect they will call you?
And, did people call Jesus the devil? Yes, that's right. They called Him Satan, because Beelzebub is a reference to Satan. Go back to Matthew 9: 34 when Jesus had healed the blind men, and healed the one with the demon, the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.” In other words, He is working for the devil - the prince of demons.
They were so self righteous and they thought they knew God, but they actually were so far from the truth, that they saw the holy Son of God living in human flesh in the world and they watched and heard Him and they still said - He's demon possessed.
Go over to Matthew 12:24, “Now when the Pharisees heard it,” and here again Jesus is healing, and casting out demons, they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” There again they said He's demon possessed.
Now look at Matthew 10:25 again. Here Jesus says - They will call Me Beelzebub. They will not say He works for Beelzebub or He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub, they will now say He is Beelzebub. He is Satan. This is the ultimate blasphemy. And Jesus says if they say that about Me what do you think they are going to say about you?
Now what is the point of all this? You have to be willing to pay the price. The more you move to be like Christ, which is the goal of all discipleship, the more the world is going to treat you the way they treated Him and they are going to treat you evil because that's the way they perceived Him.
Some of us became Christians because we saw something in the life of someone else that we wanted. There's something attractive; joy, freedom from guilt, a sense of forgiveness, a hope of eternal life, peace in the heart, and so while we're becoming more like Christ we will become more attractive to those whom God is calling to Himself.
But we will become more distasteful to the system that hated Christ. That is the price of discipleship, more attractive to those who are called and more hated to those who do not believe. It goes together. And this is just the introduction now. We will learn more the next time about the five marks of true disciples. Let's pray.