[Biblemat] S) DISCIPLE OR DABBLER?

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  Here is a study from my
recent files.  Use to the glory of God.

DISCIPLE OR DABBLER?

     In his book, Basic Christianity, John Stott wrote, "The 
Christian landscape is strewn with the wreckage of derelict
half-built towers.  The ruins of those who began to build and
were unable to finish.  For thousands of people still ignore
Christ's warning and undertake to follow Him without first
pausing to reflect on the cost of doing so.  The result is the
great scandal of Christendom today, so called nominal Christ-
ianity.  In countries to which Christian civilization has spread,
large numbers of people have covered themselves with a dec-
ent but thin veneer of Christianity.  They have allowed them-
selves to become somewhat involved, enough to be respect-
able.  Their religion is a great soft cushion.  It protects them
from the hard unpleasantness of life while changing its place
and shape to suit their convenience.  No wonder the cynics
speak of hypocrites in the church and dismiss religion as 
escapism."

     These observations are based upon Jesus' teaching about
what it takes to be His disciple, especially Lk. 14:25-33.  He
told of a builder who brought ridicule on himself by beginning
a tower without first having the funds to finish it.  Jesus rein-
forced His point about counting the cost by saying that a king
would surely negotiate terms of peace rather than go into bat-
tle badly outnumbered.  His purpose is to discourage half-
hearted disciples; they must count the cost before committ-
ing to Him.  If they begin and then quit, they will disgrace 
themselves and harm His cause.

     Read these astonishing words in which Jesus makes this
demand:

     "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and
     mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and
     his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever
     does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My
     disciple" (vss, 26,27).

     "So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he
     has cannot be My disciple" (vs. 33).

     Obviously, Jesus wants total commitment in His disciples;
He does not want them to be merely dabblers.  Merriam Web-
ster defines a dabbler as "one not deeply engaged in or con-
cerned with something."  It's impossible to square superficial-
ity with the "first and great commandment":  "You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and
with all your mind" (Matt. 22:37,38).  Consider the Lord's de-
mands on discipleship in some other passages:

     "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself,
     and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  For whoever
     desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his
     life for My sake will save it."  (Lk. 9:23,24).

     "Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that 
     someone said to Him, 'Lord, I will follow You wherever
     You go.'  And Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have holes and
     birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no-
     where to lay His head.'  Then He said to another, 'Follow
     Me.' But he said, 'Lord, let me first go and bury my father.'
     Jesus said to him, 'Let the dead bury their own dead, but
     you go and preach the kingdom of God.'  And another also
     said, 'Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid
     them farewell who are at my house.'  But Jesus said to 
     him, 'No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking
     back, is fit for the kingdom of God.'"  (Lk. 9:57-62).

     Jesus' purpose in all these passages from Luke is to drive
away dabblers, those who are not willing to follow Him any-
where in any circumstances, no matter how demanding, emot-
ional, or dangerous.  Let's review the startling Words of Jesus; He said that 
one who follows Him:

     Must hate his family.
     Must hate his own life.
     Must forsake all he has.
     Must deny himself.
     Must take up his cross daily.
     Must be willing to lose his life.
     Must be willing to be homeless, even though foxes and 
     birds have shelter.
     Must be willing to follow Jesus even before seeing to his
     father's burial.
     Must be willing to follow Jesus even without bidding fare-
     well to his family.

     That's quite a list, isn't it?  But we should understand that
Jesus is utterly serious; He will not tolerate uncommitted fol-
lowers.

     One example of this is found in Mk. 10:17-22, where Jesus
told the rich, young ruler, "One thing you lack: Go your way,
sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in 
heaven; and come, take up the cross, and 
follow Me."  The young man walked away sadly, and Jesus 
let him go.  He would not lower His demands, even though He
loved this man (vs. 21).

     The apostles provide another example.  When the young
ruler walked away, Jesus spoke of how difficult it is for the
rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.  That stirred Peter to 
ask Him, "See, we have left all and followed You.  Therefore
what shall we have?" (Matt. 19:27).  And Peter was not exagg-
erating.  We don't know the details of every apostles' calling,
but we do know that at least Peter, Andrew, James, John, and
Matthew left their lives and livelihoods in order to follow Jesus (Matt. 
4:18-22; 5:27,28).

     Now, the point of all this is not to beat us up or weigh us
down with guilt over our commitment failures.  We are imper-
fect human beings.  So were the early disciples.  Yes, Peter,
for example, "left all" to follow Jesus, but that's not the end
of the story.  He boasted that he would never deny Jesus, but he did -- three 
times!  Years later, he acted so hypocritically
that Paul had to rebuke him publicly (Gal. 2:11-14).  In both
cases, he fell victim to peer pressure.

     Jesus and the apostles were "beyond the Jordan," when
they heard that Lazarus was ill.  Jesus determined to return
to Bethany, but the others reminded Him of how the Jews had
sought to stone Him.  After a while, Thomas said to the other
apostles, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him" (Jno. 11:
16).  He showed great courage, but it did not last.  During the
trial and crucifixion of Jesus, Thomas fled, along with the 
others.  All of them wavered in their resolve.  But they all came back.  
(Judas, of course, is no longer in the picture.)

     Our purpose is to get us to count the cost and commit
ourselves to Jesus with our eyes wide open.  A cross is a
heavy thing to bear, and, yes, we will falter, but God's grace
will help us to rise again.  He will dry our tears and calm our
fears and cleanse us of our bitter self-hatred.  He will forgive.

     Jesus is very clear: He intends for His disciples to be will-
ing to die for Him.  But in understanding that, we mustn't for-
get that we must also be willing to live for Him.  We can ment-
ion briefly only a few of the ways we might do this:

     Disciples know and obey the Word of Jesus.  "Then Jesus
     said to those Jews who believed Him, 'If you abide in My
     Word, you are My disciples indeed'" (Jno. 8:31).

     Disciples love and help each other.  "A new commandment
     I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved
     you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know
     that you are My disciples, if you have love for one anoth-
     er" (Jno. 13:34,35).

     Disciples bear much fruit, both inner growth and souls.
     "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit;
     so you will be My disciples" (Jno. 15:8).

     Disciples guard agains false teachers.  "Beware lest any-
     one cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, 
     according to the tradition of men, according to the basic
     principles of the world, and not according to Christ" (Col.
     2:8).

     So, back to our title: Disciple or Dabbler?  Which is it for
you?  Which is it for me?  To answer, we must face two other
questions:  Am I living for Jesus?  Am I willing to die for Him?
If we cannot answer yes, we are contributing to what Stott
called the "scandal of Christendom today, so called nominal
Christianity."  We have added our own rubble to that land-
scape "strewn with the wreckage of derelict half-built towers"
---------- Jim Ward in Lost River Bulletin, Vol. 57, No. 3, October 2007.   </HTML>
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