Conditions of Discipleship

by William Nagenda

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"Christ knows some things are not easy to give up."

When we come to such a conference as this and the Lord begins to speak to us about things which concern us, things which we value, and we face a crisis, the thought comes that God may be calling us to renounce and surrender certain things to Jesus.

It's never easy for any one of us to give up things, which we have grown to love so much in our life. And when God begins to speak He knows how difficult it is. He always shows us those things, which He knows should not be in our lives, and then as He is at our side, He tells us His great love. Then we have to look at the truth without being under pressure from any man, without anyone telling us by force to do it. Instead, just because of our glimpse of the love of God we must decide which way to go. And then sometimes you find that it is not costly.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride.

There's nothing that will ever bring a man down to the point where he will pour contempt on all his pride except looking up and seeing the Son of God on the cross of Calvary. It is only as we see all that Jesus went through, not meant for anyone else but for you and for me, and then we see those things which seem to be so attractive that they somehow seem to lose their value. Then we say to the Lord Jesus, "Lord Jesus, I love Thee." And those things are taken out of our lives and we have great peace. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these other things shall be added unto you."

There are many many conditions of discipleship, but God has been telling me that the most important condition in our lives for us to be disciples (those who are taught by the Lord Jesus Christ), is to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Seek Christ's righteousness as you walk about in your Christian life. The Lord God is telling us that one thing. Before you seek anything else, before you seek to work for God, before you seek to become a missionary, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things shall be added unto you.

I believe that when Jesus said this, He meant "seek this first, and all that you need as missionaries, all that you need as Christians, all that you need for your victorious living, all that you need for your sanctification, all that you need for your salvation, for everything: all these other things shall be added unto you."

"Seek me," Jesus says, and I believe it is true that that is the condition. Whether we know Jesus Christ as our personal Savior or whether we don't know Him, if we want to find Him, there's no other way. The condition is "This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him." And if we are going to be saved by God there is no other way than for sinners to come and know that there's no salvation in any man, method or thing, but only in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I think this is the most important thing. When God gave us Jesus Christ, there was nothing left in His Hand. God gave all that He had when He gave Jesus Christ to be my Savior. But God was pleased that not only was salvation found in Jesus Christ, but that all fullness dwells in Him. When we talk about the fullness, what do we know about the fullness of God? Can any man use up that fullness and come to the end of it? No. Since the world began no one has ever come to the end of finding the fullness of God.

And the more we see of the Lord God, the more we marvel that we haven't exhausted it. That fullness is in Jesus Christ for each one of us. Jesus says, "I want to give you wisdom; if you want to find all that you need, seek me first." There are so many good things in the world today, things which are not sinful. Jesus was talking about food. It's not a sin to eat. He was talking about water. He was talking about clothes. There is nothing wrong in these things. There are certain things that seem to be quite right, and when we ask other people, they say, "They're quite all right - they're good things." And yet you know the saying that "the good is the enemy of the best." Although many things are good, there is something that is better.

It's a good thing, a nice thing to have a friendship. There is nothing wrong with having a friend, but every day when you are with that friend, somehow something seems to come in to take away the place of the Lord Jesus. Or you may have a habit. It's not a very bad habit, but somehow you realize that Jesus is not happy. It may be something which you love so much - Jesus talked about children, about a wife, about a husband.

There is nothing wrong with all those things. We must love our children (I have six of them); we must love our wife; we may like our clothes; we may enjoy our food. But Jesus says, "These good things may erect a barrier between us." Jesus says, "Whenever you come to these good things, seek ye first the kingdom of God." And the Lord Jesus Christ is here tonight and He knows some things are not easy to give up.

When Jesus talks about "hating" one's wife, "hating" one's children, He doesn't mean that you would detest those you love. Of course He wants you to love them, but He says, "You must always love me more than those. I must take that first place in your life. I want to be your Lord, your Savior. I must have that first place." I believe today that's our trouble.

In St. John 15, Jesus was talking to His disciples and telling them what they must do, what the conditions were. Jesus said in v.4 "Abide in me and I in you; as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more except ye abide in me." Abiding in Christ: that's the first condition for anyone who wants to be His disciple. We cannot be the Lord's disciples unless we abide in Jesus. There's no one who knows Jesus but the Holy Spirit.

If we are going to be His disciples, we need the Holy Spirit to teach us. And we are to abide in Him. Abiding means depending on the Lord Jesus. We tell Him how weak we are, realizing that we can't get on without Him. Some people think that we need Jesus Christ as our Personal Savior, but from that day, they think, we don't need the Lord Jesus Christ, but we need to do more, preach more. They forget that Christians need to abide in Jesus Christ, if they are going to be His disciples. "Abide in Me, depend on me, because without me ye can do nothing."

We are here in these days waiting on God. The world's mission fields are calling for us. People are perishing in sin. Great missionaries who have left this country in order to preach the gospel to others: When we think of those great men I find myself wondering how I can ever be like such men.

When I look at men, I begin to admire men and I forget that in those men is One who abides. I remember those meetings in London of Billy Graham. In my heart I was praising God for him, and suddenly I began to feel very small. Why is it that not so many people are coming to the Lord through my preaching? Then I began to lose my joy and the Lord Jesus said, "You are turning your eyes from me to men."

When I looked at Jesus I realized there is no man that can do anything without Jesus Christ. Then I found that even those meetings in London were great because Jesus was there to do the work. And then as I looked to Jesus Christ, instead of feeling jealous, I just praised Him, for I know that He is as much mine as He is any other's.

Many, many times we have prayed for fruit. The other day I was in a church. The preacher gave a wonderful word and at the end of the sermon, he tried to get people to come forward. I couldn't help feeling in my heart that there was something of man in that service. He was urging people almost by force to come to accept the Lord Jesus Christ. The result is that we may get what we call "fruit" but it isn't the fruit which comes from the Holy Spirit.

We are getting more and more people who come up and sign cards that they're saved, but when they go away there is no separation from the world, they lead the same lives they led before, and you find that these who should go on in the Christian life are only leading a superficial Christian life. In this country which God is calling for a great work, there is something lacking in the way that they are trying to produce fruit - and such fruit does not come from the Holy Spirit.

I remember when I went to a brother of mine in the Lord. As we talked he said, "We've got many, many American missionaries here, but they are very shallow. They have come to preach Christ, but they are very shallow." That is something we can't understand about them. They seem to love the Lord Jesus (I'm not here to judge or blame you).

But we are all seeking to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we cannot be His disciples unless we are honest with each other. I'm not talking to anyone personally. As I talk to you, the Lord is speaking to me just as much.

I remember years ago when I went to work as a missionary in Rwanda, a country about 400 miles from me, that a dear man of God had died a few months before, a man who had done a great work. It was at a time when we thought the work was just beginning. He was full of zeal and full of the Holy Spirit. He died so quickly and God called me to go and take his place.

As I prepared to go my thoughts were full as I thought of what I was going to do. I was keen to go. I wanted to see souls saved, but deep down in me there was the feeling that I wanted to be a wonderful missionary. I wanted to do something greater than what that man had done. I was preparing myself with that spirit. "I'm going to become somebody; I'm going to be a great evangelist; people are going to talk about me." That was the spirit.

You could say that it was ambition, but deep down in me was pride. I was looking for my own glory. There is such a thing as walking and tearing one's clothes every day, but really it is done so that we may become better known and more popular. There are times when we think we are suffering for the Lord, but really deep down we are trying to build up our own name and become a great man.

I remember seeing a brother of mine in the Lord, and he said, "As you are going to this mission field, don't look for anything but the kingdom of God and His righteousness. When you are tempted do not try to hide sin. Whenever there are temptations, deal with them, and repent. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." I remember going to this field feeling that even if there should be no human soul saved, I wanted to walk in righteousness and holiness with God.

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Conditions of Discipleship

God's Word

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December 27-31, 2009