Who is called to be a disciple?

At "I am the way - and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:6

" 'Stop murmuring among yourselves,' Jesus answered. 'No one can come to me unless the Father
who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.' " - John 6: 43 - 44

And there it is, the great conundrum and startling precondition to being called as both believer and disciple.
The only way to become at one with the Father is to accept and emulate Jesus. While at the same time,
Jesus makes it perfectly clear that not everyone who wants to become a disciple will be allowed
to do so. It's only at God's behest that certain people will be sent Jesus' way.

These two passages have, over the centuries, caused an untold amount of friction between Christians
and non-Christians - with non-Christians complaining loudly about the implied exclusivity of selection
and means to accessing God. John 14:6 has garnered the most notoriety and hostility, especially from
Jews and Muslims. But, it is the second passage that seemingly goes unnoticed by most Christians.
This passage leaves no room for misinterpretation that those who are disciples of Christ have
been allowed to become so only because of the permission and grace of God.

Thus, to put it bluntly, not everyone can unilaterally volunteer to become a disciple of Christ. Disciples are
sent by the Father to Christ and then called by him into servitude when the 'Either/Or' decision
must be confronted, and finally, action.

"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. What good will it be for a man
if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in
exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his
Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each
person according to what he has done." - Matthew 16: 24 - 27

There is the rub for many who profess a longing to become disciples of Christ; they are not willing
to give their life to their Lord, but instead opt to take the path of evasiveness and retain what is worldly.
There is no room for the uncommitted; a decision has to be made if one is to follow Jesus Christ.
We have two parables from Christ that fully illustrate what is at stake when the candidate comes to
that moment when the 'Either/Or' decision has to be made. The first is found in Luke 14: 16 - 24:

"A man prepared a great supper and invited many. And he sent his servant at supper-time to call
those who were invited: Come, for now it is ready. And they all began with one accord to excuse themselves.

"The first said: I have bought a field and must go out and see it; I beg you to excuse me.
And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen and I am going to try them;  I beg you to excuse me.
And another said: I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come.
And the servant came and told his master these things.

"Then the master of the house became angry and said to the servant: Go out quickly into
the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame.
And the servant said: Master, what you commanded is done, and yet there is room.
Then said the master to the servant: Go out into the highways and the hedges and
compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
For I tell you, not one of those men who were invited shall taste of my supper."

In this parable, the follower of Christ - the disciple - is, what appears to be on the surface, invited to a feast.
But there is also a demand underpinning the invitation. The 'feast' is the call to the Kingdom of God.
Those who were first invited - the Jews who refused - were in the end dismissed by God from sharing in His kingdom.
With Jesus telling this parable, the story takes on another dimension of importance: it is a call to the disciple-candidate.
If we are to follow Jesus, we must set aside our cravings, greed, desire for material things, carnal lusts,
and turn to the task of putting the Kingdom of God above all other personal matters and possessions.

And yet, immediately following this parable, Jesus offers another as found In Luke 14: 28 - 32 —

"Who of you when he intends to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he
has enough to complete it? Otherwise when he has laid  a foundation and is not able to
finish, all that see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'

"Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, does not first sit down
and consult whether with ten thousand he is able to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
If not, he sends him an embassy while he is still far away and asks for terms of peace."

A man or woman should think seriously before either decides to have anything to do with this invitation.
Mere words of acceptance will not suffice. What is being asked for here by Jesus is an act of voluntary will on the part of
the believer-disciple. God, acting through Jesus, went and hand-picked his disciples - yet, each one of them had to make
the 'Either/Or' decision as to whether to join the Christ and renounce the world, or to refuse the offer.
Today's believer has to make the same choice when called by Christ. Think hard on it because you cannot afford to make
a rash decision. As a disciple, you will be compelled to make hard choices in your life - as bluntly stated by Jesus:

"If any man comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and
sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple."  (Luke 14: 26)

The word 'hate' is vexing and disturbing for many. Translated from the Greek, mesei (mesei) is 'hate' but in this rare
instance, the Greeks did not have a milder word. For the modern disciple, the command is not to literally
hate our loved ones, but to understand clearly that no earthly loved one can come before Jesus
and our service to him. No one! Christian discipleship is very serious business, friend.
Please make it the most important decision of your life.


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©Copyright 2009 - Donald Neal McKay - The MISSION DISCIPLESHIP