61. Following Is Discipleship
Following Is Discipleship
Perhaps some of you say, “Well, I am following Him as best I can, according to my own ideas, my own plans,” and perhaps some of you are following Him just as far as you want to; but that is not following the Lamb. Following the Lamb is not following Him according to my ideas and my ways; it is not following Him just as far as I want to. Following the Lamb means letting the Lamb have the control of every department and detail of your life.
Let us make no mistake about the cross that we have to take up. The cross is not that old temper of yours, that is a cross to some other body, the one who has to live with you. The cross is not some undesirable circumstance that you cannot get away from. What is the cross? The cross is what identifies us with Jesus Christ and marks out our discipleship. The cross is what separates us from the world in its worldliness and its Christ-rejection and separates our lives unto Him. The cross is what stands between us and every temptation to be disloyal to Christ and to His scheme of redemption and to His blessed Book. The cross is what we died by to the manifested forms of self life. The cross is what takes us into union with the Lord Jesus Christ and keeps us in definite union with Him. “If any man doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27).
Christ and the cross, and Christian witness, are inseparable. In one word, discipleship is just making Christ first in life, and last, and all the way through; it is making Christ in life what the cross has made Him in heaven, and what the cross will yet make Him in His Father’s universe, supreme and pre-eminent. Does that describe our attitude to Christ? Is that a true picture of our discipleship? The hour calls for an unambiguous answer to the question:Where have I put Christ in my life? A Christian does not reject Christ as Savior from sin, but he may reject Christ as the master of his life. A Christian does not refuse the gift of Christ’s life, but he may refuse Christ the gift of his life. A Christian accepts the salvation of Jesus Christ, but he may refuse or deny the supremacy of Jesus Christ; and the question of all questions is this: Where and what is Christ in my life? Is He first? Is He supreme? Is He the acknowledged, crowned Lord of my life? That is the condition of discipleship. You may object to it, but it is there. You may say the standard is impossible, but it is there. You may answer that the terms of Christ are far too high, but there they are. And the Lord Jesus Christ will not lower His standard or lessen His claims to get anyone of us. He has laid down His conditions, “I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last. If anyone will come after me let him take up the cross and followMe” (Luke 9:23,Revelation 22:13) And the emphasis that you put upon the “ME” will decide the strength or the weakness of your discipleship.