The Way of Discipleship Matthew 16:24-25, NIV Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. Hallelujah! I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “The Way of Discipleship,” which is based on Matthew 16:24-25. Please repeat after me: The Way of Discipleship, The Way of Discipleship. The final commandment that Jesus gave to His disciples before He was taken up to heaven is called “the Great Commission.” It is written in Matthew 28:19-20. The Scripture says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” The Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. Disciples are those who learn from their teacher and closely follow his teachings. After believing in Jesus, we must live as disciples of the Lord. We must go a step further from being a believer to becoming a disciple. Many Christians still remain at the level of a believer, unable to become mature enough to be a disciple. Consequently, they live self-centeredly, insisting on their own ways, which causes various problems and hardships. “Heavenly Father, make us into the disciples of Jesus so that we will be Your servants who are pleasing to You.” When we become disciples of Jesus, we will become God’s workers who will achieve marvelous things for God. One can be a believer instantly the moment one believes in Jesus. On the other hand, one cannot be a disciple unless one is properly disciplined or trained. Therefore, we must keep training ourselves to be broken and humble before the Lord. We must become disciples of the Lord Jesus. What should we do to become disciples of Jesus? First, we must follow Jesus. The life of a disciple is to follow Jesus. Matthew 16:24 says, “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me,’ ” Disciples of Jesus are the ones who believe in Jesus, trusting in Him and following Him. To follow Jesus means that we put the goal of our lives only on Jesus, pondering about His teachings, doing what He did, and living a life that is pleasing to Him. As His disciples, we must be willing to go through any kind of sacrifice or suffering for Jesus, living for the glory of God. All people set goals and work hard to achieve them. Businessmen, wanting to make as much profit as possible, want to expand their business. Students work hard to go to a good college. Cooks research recipes in order to cook more delicious plates. These should not be their ultimate goals. They are only processes. The question is: What comes after achieving these goals? What will I do with the money after making a fortune? What am I going to do with the doctorate degree that I worked so hard to acquire? What should I do after developing a good recipe? What is important is that we should do all things for one purpose only - for the glory of God. We study for the glory of the Lord. We do business for the glory of the Lord. We work in our workplaces for the glory of the Lord. We cook for the glory of the Lord. The purpose of keeping our family always peaceful, happy, and loving is also for the glory of the Lord. Our life will be meaningful only when we do all things for the glory of the Lord. I pray that you will give glory to God in all things you do and in all the areas of your life. Then God will receive glory from you and will pour His grace upon you abundantly. You will be blessed in your spirits and in your bodies. Everything will also go well with you. In whatever we do, wherever we are, in times of sorrow or joy, when we are poor or rich, when we are sick or healthy, our goal should be for the glory of God. For the glory of God - The glory of God! “I pray that God will be the only one who receives glory. I want to follow the Lord with joy and thanksgiving.” In Matthew chapter 4, Jesus called His disciples. Matthew 4:19 says, “‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ ” When Jesus told them to follow Him, they did not hesitate. As soon as they heard Jesus’ calling, they put down all things and followed Him. Peter was a fisherman when he was called by Jesus. When Jesus told him to follow Him, he followed Jesus, leaving all he had-his boat and nets. So he confessed to Him in Mark. Mark 10:28 says, “Peter said to him, ‘We have left everything to follow you!’ ” If you really want to follow Jesus, you must leave the things that you have loved and cherished more than Jesus. To some people, it could be their honor. To some, it could be their high positions. To others, it could be their material wealth. Regardless, we have to be willing to put down all the things that we have cherished or boasted about. For the glory of God, we must put all things down and march forward with faith. Then the Lord will have all things work together for our good. When we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness all things will be given to us. The Lord tells us to put down all things that hinder us from following Him. We may have dearly cherished these “all things,” but if they hinder us from serving the Lord; we must give them up. I pray that you will put them down and march forward with faith. What do you love more than Jesus? Put that down now! When we put down the things that we have cherished, God will pour greater grace and blessings upon us. Juan Carlos Ortiz wrote a book called Disciple. He is a famous minister in discipleship training. When he became the senior pastor of a church in Buenos Aires, the membership of the church was only at 184. He worked hard, preaching the gospel in and out of the church. Two years later, the membership reached 600. He was excited. “I acquired 600 members in two years.” One day, while he was praying, he heard the voice of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit said, “Your church is not growing. Do you think it is growth to achieve 600 from 200? It is not true. Your church is only getting fat.” Ortiz was shocked at this declaration from the Holy Spirit. He began to think. Firstly he trained his church members to make them disciples of Jesus. He then began to preach the gospel on the streets. He began to realize that at some point he started to focus on growing numbers instead of on Jesus. This was why Jesus reprimanded him, saying, “You are not concentrating on Me. You are looking at people and on the number. Your church is not growing but rather getting fat.” He repented and started disciple-training in his church. Thereafter His church enjoyed a great revival. Sometimes we say that we are working for the Lord but actually we are drifting away from the Lord. At times we fail by doing things our own way, according to our own plans. At one time, Apostle Paul wanted to go to Asia Minor even though the Spirit wanted him to go to Europe. He was frustrated with what to do until God gave him a night vision of a Macedonian. As a disciple of the Lord, we must put the will of the Lord ahead of our own will. We must put His work and the thoughts of Our Lord ahead of ours. In following Jesus we must not stop in the middle, saying, “It is enough.” Instead we must keep marching on with faith until our Lord calls us home. Now that you believe in Jesus, I pray that you will be mature in your Christian faith. After five or ten years of being a believer, if you are still at a beginner’s level in your Christian faith, unable to be a disciple; it is time for you to look at yourself in retrospect and to come out of the beginner’s level. You need to grow. Check yourself against the following list: * Are you stubborn? * Are you hot-tempered? * Do you easily offend or get wounded? * Do problems follow you wherever you go? These are some typical traits of beginners. If you show such traits, you are still at the beginner’s level, far from a disciple. We must put down such traits. We must look unto the Lord alone, giving glory to Him and marching forward with faith. Philippians 3:12 says, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Apostle Paul knew that he was walking the path of a disciple in his life. He said that he had not obtained all mature things, nor had he already been made perfect, but he was pressing on. Therefore, throughout our lives, let us focus on Jesus, running forward with faith. We must focus on Jesus and follow Him to become His disciples. Second, we must deny ourselves Matthew 16:24 says, “…he must deny himself.” Please repeat after me, “Deny ourselves. Deny ourselves.” To deny one-self means to take off one’s old self. It means that we must completely put ourselves under the Cross. Our old self has to be broken. We must commit ourselves to the Lord. We must focus on the thoughts of Jesus not on our thoughts. Throughout our Christian life we are in a continuous battle with self. Our ego is very strong. When we are blessed by the Lord; we may make a resolution, with teardrops, not to live by our old ways. But the moment we come out of church, we go back to our old life. Where does our fundamental problem lie? It lies in that we are not mature enough to be His disciples. Although we need to be broken and humbled, we insist on being the master of our life. Therefore whenever we come to the Lord, we must confess, “Lord, I am nothing.” Please repeat after me. “I am nothing.” Even though we say it, when people do not seem to respect us, we may think, “What? I am something! Why do people ignore me?” Those who are used to other’s praises and respect are likely to be covered with pride. They are happy when they are praised. They are in high spirits when people respect them. On the other hand, when people do not care about them, they get frustrated. In order to be a true disciple of our Lord, we need to also put down this trait. We must both put down our good features and bad features. We must exalt the Lord alone. When we live for the glory of God, we will experience the grace of God in our lives. Right from the beginning, our human nature is arrogant. Wanting to become like God, Adam and Eve sinned by eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So their offspring were born in sin. Everybody is born with pride. How could a man become like God? Adam and Eve moved away from the boundaries set for them by God. They went way off limits. Being tempted by the devil, they thought they could become like God. Consequently, they were judged by God and had to live with their punishment. Thus man by nature is self-centered. Think about little kids. They grab things and will not let them go, saying, “It is mine. Mine. All is mine.” When they grow up, they will learn to give. They will know how to share things with others. While they are little, however, they do not want to let go of what they have. Not only little children but also some immature Christians show this tendency. They cannot experience the great grace of God because they fail to let things go, holding on to what they have. After meeting with Jesus, through a life of brokenness and humility; we must give glory to Jesus Christ. Even though we may have been Christians for a very long time; if we have not changed but still have problems with others in our homes, cell groups, workplaces, and church activities, we must thoroughly reflect on ourselves. We must repent of our sins and be broken. We need to change. “Heavenly Father, I want to change. I do not want to live like the old self any more in this New Year. I used to get easily offended over small things. I often yell at others for nothing. I get easily dismayed and frustrated, feeling hopeless. I do not want to live that way anymore.” I want you to grow in faith. Parents would be worried if their child did not grow. If a child does not stand up or walk a year or two after birth, the parents would be extremely worried and agonize over the lack of change in their child. When our church was in Seodaemun, my Sunday school teacher had a son. He was two years old but could not stand up. My teacher was very much in agony. His baby had congenital spinal damage. The parents took their baby to many doctors and hospitals but the doctors said, “He will not survive long. Be prepared.” They said that he would only live a few months, but their baby endured his disease for over two years. My teacher was a pastor’s son. He did not want to be a pastor so he wrestled with God to avoid his calling. He gave up when his son became afflicted and made a vow to God, “Father, I will be a pastor.” Soon after that God took the baby to heaven and gave them a healthy son. God breaks us when we hold on to ourselves. When we are broken and humble, saying, “I am nothing. Jesus is everything to me,” God will pour His enormous grace upon us. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Our old self does not exist anymore. It has been crucified with Jesus Christ. We are now newly created. As you may well know, the late Rev. Ik-Doo Kim was very rowdy when he was young. Although he became a new person by believing in Jesus, nobody believed him, saying: “What? That rowdy Ik-Doo became a Christian? It must be a lie.” Since no one believed him, he wrote an obituary notice and sent copies to people, saying: “Ik-Doo Kim died.” People read it and said, “Good for him.” Guess what! A few days later, Ik-Doo Kim showed up with a black Bible in his hand. They said amongst themselves: “Ik-Doo is putting a show to screw us over. Let’s see whether he has really changed or not.” Then they splashed waste water over him. With waste water dripping from him, he said the following words that he would be famous for: “Sirs, if the old Ik-Doo had not died, you would now be dead. However, the old Ik-Doo is dead. Remember I am a new Ik-Doo Kim. I urge you to believe in Jesus.” Ik-Doo Kim was greatly used by God during the era of Japanese control. He led many souls to the Lord, healed many diseases, and gave glory to God. Our old self must be put to death. In order for us to be born again as true disciples of the Lord, our old self should be thoroughly dead. If our old self is still alive, it torments us. It provokes us to get angry and get into fights. It drives us to yell and slander and lie. Such things belong to our old self. Why should we hold on to this horrible old self? It will not do us any good. Our old self always deceives us. It drives us to lie. It provokes us to lose our temper. It torments us so much that we are unable to sleep. We must crucify our old self. Paul made the following statement. Philippians 1:21 says, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” To die is gain! Even if we are sacrificed for the Lord, it will be for the glory of God. It will also be for the glory of God if our old self dies. Hallelujah! When we are dead, there is freedom because a dead body does not respond to anything such as pinching or scratching. When we hear some malicious gossip about us, we often lose our temper and get angry without verifying it. We do that because we are alive. A dead person would not respond to anything. Even if someone yells at a dead person, “You are a wicked guy,” nothing happens. I want our old self to be dead. There would be nothing unfair or irritating because we have died. There is no reason to hate someone because we are dead; but we feel very irritated because we are very much alive. Things look unfair and depressing. When we are dead in the Lord, we will live in the grace of God. We will live as new creations. This is the life of a disciple of the Lord. Romans 6:4 says: “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” When our old self is dead, we will live as new creations. Then why does our old self come back to life and torment us from time to time? There are two reasons. One reason is because we are living in the flesh. As long as we live in the flesh, we have no choice but to constantly fight our old self. The second reason is because we are not filled with the Holy Spirit. If we are truly filled with the Holy Spirit, we do not think about anything but Jesus Christ. When we are not completely filled with the Holy Spirit, we think about worldly things, we lose our temper, we hate other people, and we dismay in frustration over small things. Therefore we must be filled with the Holy Spirit. “Heavenly Father, fill us with the Holy Spirit.” Do you remember Samson? He grabbed the fresh jawbone of a donkey and struck down a thousand Philistine men. He was a great judge in Israel. The angel of the Lord appeared and prophesied his birth. Who else in the Old Testament had his birth foretold by an angel? In the New Testament, angels foretold the birth of John the Baptist and the birth of Jesus. Samson was exceptional. He was set apart to be a Nasserite but he fell on the lap of Delilah, a pagan woman. He lost in his battle against himself. He was found sleeping on Delilah’s lap and consequently failed. The Philistines shaved off his hair and gouged out his eyes. We may laugh at him but we are not very much different. When we lie down in a wrong place, our enemy could shave off our hair and gouge out our eyes. We will be constantly challenged spiritually. This is why we need to fight our old self. We must win in our spiritual warfare. We must defeat our enemy. When we give glory to God, being broken and humble, God will use us for His great work. Denying oneself means being broken before the Lord. Mark 10:43 says: “Not so with you. Instead whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.” True discipleship lies in the service for others. It lies in sacrifice and self- denial. Even if we are ignored or insulted, we should commit our lives to the Lord, saying, “I am nothing. Glory be to the Lord only. May the Lord work His great work through my life!” Discipleship means following Jesus and denying oneself. Third, discipleship means taking up one’s cross. Matthew 16:24 says, “…take up his cross and follow me.” The Cross the Lord Jesus carried was the Cross of His great mission on which He accomplished His work. Likewise, He tells us to carry our own cross by giving us missions. We will accomplish our missions by taking our cross. Some are called as cell group leaders, senior cell group leaders, senior deaconesses, others as ordained deacons, elders, Sunday school teachers, choir singers, women’s, or men’s mission group members. Accomplishing our mission requires sacrifice and suffering. Most people come to church and worship the Lord quite comfortably. However every Sunday women’s and men’s mission group members come to church before 5 a.m. and work through the day, staying in church until late in the evening. It is their cross and sacrifice. Since they dedicate themselves to the Lord by sacrificing their time and labor, God takes care of their lives, pouring His enormous grace upon them. Can anybody be a cell group leader? No. Only the one who is willing to sacrifice can be a cell group leader. Cell group leaders should give their time and money. They sacrifice themselves and work hard to bring people to church and to encourage them. It takes great sacrifice to be a mother. How much does a mother sacrifice for her children? We cannot accomplish anything without sacrifice. True discipleship requires sacrifice. When we sacrifice ourselves, giving our time, money, and labor; God will delight in it and pour His grace upon us. This is why Jesus told us to take up our cross. In the early church, while the Apostle Pater was called for the salvation of the Jews; the Apostle Paul was called to save the Gentiles. To accomplish their mission of salvation, Peter and Paul had to both suffer a great deal. They had to take their cross. Everybody has his own cross of mission to take. What is a cross? In his book Self Denial, Walter J. Chantry said: “A cross is death.” A cross was a device of capital punishment. Indeed, a cross does mean death. To bear the cross means to die. People are not willing to say, “Amen,” when death is mentioned. Here I mean death to self. Spiritually speaking, our old self needs to die. Our old self is stubborn, arrogant, proud, and self-centered. When our old self dies; the Lord Jesus comes to life in us, performing His marvelous work of grace, miracles, and blessings. We have to take our cross. It leads us to sufferings because we need to deny ourselves every day. It will be very hard to crucify ourselves. Nonetheless, many people of faith before us, took up their cross and crucified themselves every day. They were neither afraid of suffering nor of death. Listen to the confession of Apostle Paul. Acts 20:24 says: “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me ? the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” Whenever I think of the way of discipleship, I think of the cows going toward Beth Shemesh. 1 Samuel 6:12 says, “Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh, keeping on the road and lowing all the way; they did not turn to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.” The background of this story is the following. Israel was at war with the Philistines. Israel lost and the ark of God was captured. The Philistines were thrilled to capture the ark, cheering for their victory. However, the ark of God brought disasters to the camp of the Philistines. Two times they set the Ark beside their god Dagon; and each time Dagon fell to the ground on his face before the ark of the Lord. They moved the ark to another city and God afflicted the people of that city with an outbreak of tumors. They moved the ark to another place and God afflicted and killed those people. Deciding that God’s hand was very heavily upon their panic-stricken and death-encamped cities; they decided to send the ark back to Israel. However they wanted to test one more time whether the LORD had brought these great disasters upon them. They said: “Let us get a new cart ready, with two cows that have calved and have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart and pen them up. Send it on its way. If it goes up toward Beth Shemesh, then the LORD has brought this great disaster on us. But if it does not, then we will know that it happened to us by chance.” So they did this. They took two such cows and hitched them to the cart and penned up their calves. They placed the ark of the LORD on the cart. Their calves were lowing for their moms. The cows had to nurse their calves but they went straight toward Beth Shemesh, keeping on the road and lowing all the way; they neither turned to the right nor to the left. The people of Beth Shemesh took the cart, chopped up the wood of the cart, and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD. The cows that went toward Beth Shemesh symbolize Jesus Christ who took the sin of humankind, who took His Cross, and died on it. From a certain perspective, we are not as good as the cows of Beth Shemesh. The cows went straight to their point of destination; keeping on the road and lowing all the way. And when they arrived at Beth Shemesh, they were killed. We are more prone to become distracted even with little things, and turn back, or at least turn to the right or to the left. We are easily discouraged, tempted, and disappointed, saying in hopelessness: “Nobody cares about me. I am all alone.” I urge you to take your assigned way unyieldingly, like the cows that went toward Beth Shemesh. Never turn back. Never turn to the right or to the left. I pray that you will march forward with faith, focusing on the Lord. The way of discipleship requires sacrifice. In the days of Jesus, crucifixion was the cruelest form of capital punishment. A sentenced criminal took his cross to the place of execution and was then hung on it. Jesus did the same. He carried His own Cross and was hung on it at Calvary. We cannot serve the Lord without sacrificing ourselves. Robert Jermain Thomas was the first martyred missionary to Korea. He was born on September 4, 1840 in Wales, England. In 1863, when he was only 23, he was ordained as a pastor. He wanted to go to China as a missionary. He married at 24 and he and his wife went to China; but shortly thereafter his wife died of a disease in China. In deep grief, he sought the will of the Lord and asked what he could do for the glory of God. He met two Korean traders and heard that Koreans had not yet heard the gospel for lack of contact with outsiders. Thomas decided to go to Korea to preach the gospel. In September of 1865, he came to Korea with many Chinese Scriptures in hand and passed them out to the people on the islands of the West coast. Again in 1866, he came to Korea on an American merchant-marine schooner called the General Sherman. He preached and handed out hundreds of bibles to Koreans from the ship. The ship sailed up the Tae dong River to Pyongyang; but the Koreans did not want them. They started firing. By this time, as the tide was going out, the ship struck a sandbank. Fire Korean rafts were sent out towards the ship. The ship set fire so those on the ship jumped off to avoid the fire. Angry soldiers and mobs knifed and killed those from the ship. Missionary Thomas opened his case of Bibles and started to throw them to those who lined the shore, shouting “Jesus, Jesus,” until he was martyred. He was only 26 years old. At such a tender young age, on September 2, 1866, Thomas came to Korea and shed his blood of martyrdom for God. He certainly was a true disciple of the Lord and a great servant of God. Thomas was not martyred in vain as those who received the bibles from him later became leaders of the Korean Church. Shin-Kil Hong founded Kang-Seo Church. Chi-Ryang Choi founded Pyungyang Church. Young-Sik Park took a Bible home and used the sheets of the Bible as wallpaper. While he was looking at the wallpaper, he was converted and his house later became a church. Choon-Kwon Park, who had executed Thomas, later became an elder of Pyungyang Church and dedicated his life for God. The cross means sacrifice and suffering. However, great blessings of God are prepared after the suffering. When we die, the Lord lives. When we die, God’s glory will be revealed. I pray that you will take up your cross and die in the Lord every day in your homes, workplaces, business sites, and in your community. Then the glory of our Lord Jesus will be manifested through your sacrifice. I pray that you will take the cross of suffering, and sacrifice for the Lord. I pray that you will march forward with faith, taking your cross for our Lord. The disciples of Jesus were not afraid of their crosses. They did not avoid them. Peter was crucified -- upside down! Jesus’ disciples, including Mark, Philip, Thomas, and Matthew were all martyred, giving their lives with enthusiasm and thanksgiving for the Lord. It is true. We may have to encounter problems from time to time when we serve the Lord. We may be in trouble. We may face sufferings. Sometimes, we could be deeply wounded. Regardless of this suffering, Paul declared as follows. Galatians 6:17 says, “Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” What kind of marks of Jesus do you bear? What kind of marks of His love do you bear? Are you taking the way of true discipleship? I hope you will offer your firm resolutions of dedication to the Lord, saying: “I will give my entire life for the Lord. I want to die in You!” The Lord is calling all of us: “Whom do I send and who will do my work?” He is looking for His servants and disciples. “Lord, send me. I want to be your true disciple and I want to take the cross. I am willing to sacrifice myself for You, Lord. Take me.” When we die in the Lord, the Lord will live and receive glory from us. I pray that the Holy Communion we partake of every month will not be just a habit or a formality but rather a ceremony in which we make dedications for the Lord as His true disciples. Let us contemplate the lyrics of the hymn we sang earlier today. “Are ye able”, said the Master, “To be crucified with Me?” “Yes,” the sturdy dreamers answered “To the death we follow Thee.” “Lord, make us able,” our spirits are Thine, Remold them, make us like Thee, divine: Thy guiding radiance above us shall be A beacon to God, To love and royalty. Let us pray. Our Father of infinite love, grace, and mercy, we want to be true disciples of Jesus. We want to trust in and follow Jesus all the time. We want to deny ourselves and take up our cross. We have lived for ourselves so far but we want to live for the rest of our lives only for the Lord. Be with us, help us, and guide our lives. I pray in the Name of Jesus. Amen. 12