The Requirements of Discipleship

February 27, 2009 Leave a comment

So, you say you have an interest in becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ. Let’s see how much interest you really have. First, in Luke 14:26, Jesus says, “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.” Tell me, are you willing to put Jesus Christ above every other person in your life? It’s not that He wants you to literally hate your family members. There are scores of other Bible passages that teach us to love our families. The point is that your love for Jesus should be so much greater than your love for your family members that, by comparison, it is almost as if you hate those family members. How are you doing on that?

Second, in Luke 14:27, Jesus says, “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” In those days, a cross was an instrument of death. Nowadays, we would say, “And whoever does not extend his arm for the lethal injection (volunteer to enter the gas chamber, place himself in the electric chair) and come after Me cannot be my disciple.” Here again, Jesus isn’t speaking of a literal physical death. How could He be when He follows it up by talking about coming after Him? The point is that you must die to self (self interests, self desires, self motivations, self opinions, self agendas, self goals) before you can qualify as a disciple. How are you doing on that?

Third, in Luke 14:33, Jesus says, “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” Again, we mustn’t run off too far with the literalness. Jesus isn’t demanding that you quit your job, sell your house, and give away all your possessions just so you can be His disciple. The point is that, just as no other person should come between you and Jesus, no other thing should either. How are you doing on that?

You see, there is a very good reason why Jesus has so few true disciples. The requirements are HARD!! The average person just isn’t willing to make the necessary commitment. But are you? Please think carefully before you answer. Business doesn’t get more serious than this. Jesus asks for nothing less than a full scale, all out, no holds barred devotion from you. He demands to be given priority over everyone and everything in your life. And if you shy away from meeting this standard, then I’m sorry, but you cannot be His disciple.

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The Divine Link Between Growing & Learning

February 27, 2009 Leave a comment

There was a preacher who had been in the ministry for twenty years. In a conversation he had with one of his church members, he said with pride, “I have averaged preaching three times a week for the past twenty years. This means that I have preached over 3,000 sermons over the course of my ministry.” The church member, who had endured one too many of the preacher’s dull, plodding, predictable attempts at preaching, replied, “No, you have preached one sermon over 3,000 times!” 

I like this illustration because it reminds me, as a preacher, of my need to grow. While I must never attempt to change the unalterable word of God, I do have a responsibility to preach what the apostle Paul called “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) and not just a handful of my cherry-picked topics. It’s also not a bad idea for me to use different styles (expository, topical, verse by verse, outlined, not outlined) in my preaching. This keeps not only the preaching but also the preacher fresh.

Now let me relate all of this to being a Christian. Remember that the word “disciple” translates the Greek word for “learner.” Well, the truth is that it’s impossible to be a “grower” without being a “learner.” Just as a child grows up by learning to talk, walk, put on clothes, brush his teeth, etc., the Christian must grow by learning more of the Bible, learning to pray more effectively, learning to live a holy life in an unholy world, learning to give, learning to witness, and learning to spiritually discern.

But, sadly, many Christians aren’t learners. Instead, they are like children who reached a certain stage of growth and stopped growing. Why do surveys consistently tell us that the bulk of our churches are either plateaued (at best) or in outright decline (at worst)? It’s because most of the Christians who make up these churches are either plateaued or declining. When you stop learning, you stop growing. Perhaps they were once disciples of Christ, but they aren’t now. They’ve dropped out of class. They’ve turned in their textbooks. They’ve left school. Don’t misunderstand me, I don’t mean that they aren’t legitimately born-again Christians. But there is a vast difference between sleepwalking through the routine of a casually Christian lifestyle and getting up each day, taking your seat in Christ’s classroom, and letting the master teacher take you through your lessons for the day. 

Wouldn’t it have been absurd for Jesus to look at the chosen twelve one morning and find only a chosen eight? “Where are James and John today?” “Lord, they went home to help their dad, Zebedee, with his fishing business.” “And where is Matthew?” “He decided to return to his job as a tax collector so that he could start saving for retirement.” “And what about Peter?” “He went back to his house last night because his mother-in-law wasn’t feeling well.”  

You say, “Oh, come on, Russell. The chosen twelve wouldn’t have done such things. That’s crazy talk.” Maybe, but is it any crazier than when Christians today refuse to move up from the level of “Christian” to the level of “disciple”? Is it any crazier than Christians who peaked at the spiritual state of toddler? Is it any crazier than Christians who have been saved for years, even decades, who still act downright infantile when it comes to spiritual matters? Think about it.

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Who In the World Is Russell Mckinney?

February 24, 2009 Leave a comment

My name is Russell Mckinney and I am the pastor of Disciples Road Church, a non-denominational church located in Spruce Pine, a small town in the mountains of western North Carolina. Yes, believe it or not, Christianity does exist, even thrive, in places other than sprawling cities and megachurches (not that there’s anything wrong with sprawling cities and megachurches). The population of our entire county is approximately 15,000. For those 15,000, we have somewhere in the ballpark of one hundred churches. Needless to say, we are “churched to death” in these parts.

But the sad thing that I’ve noticed since I became the pastor of my first church back in 1993 is that, even with all of our churches, there seems to be a lack of fully committed, zealous, all out followers of Christ. Oh, we’ve got Bibles, buildings, budgets, and baptistries. We’ve got pews, parsonages, and people. We’ve got: Sunday Schools, prayer meetings, Vacation Bible Schools, revivals, Easter sunrise services, Senior rallies, Fall Festival Hallelujah parties, evangelistic crusades, missions conferences, fellowship meals, Christmas Eve services, youth pizza parties, fundraisers, and special singings. But I’ve looked around so many times over the years and thought, “I can find the casual Christians, but where are the actual disciples?” This isn’t a sinful judging of others. It’s just a reasonable question that naturally arises from an assessment of the state of things.

As evidence of how passionate I am about this subject, I will point you to the name of the church I pastor. At the Lord’s prompting, I stepped out in faith on the first Sunday of January, 2007 and started a new church. God had me name the church Disciples Road Church because the church was begun with the goal of producing disciples, not just church members. I left behind the comfort of my lifelong denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, and labeled the church non-denominational. The whole undertaking was both exciting and scary, but it showed where my heart is on the subject of discipleship.

It’s one thing to be a Christian, but it is something else to be a true disciple. It takes one life-changing decision to become a Christian, but it takes a never-ending series of decisions every day and night to be a disciple of Christ. The word “disciple” translates the Greek word mathetes, which means “learner.” Following Jesus Christ should be about learning. Hopefully, and prayerfully, this blog will be a tool to help Christians with that learning.

I’m not against blogs that report the news, confront the culture, or serve as web diaries. But my desire is that this blog will be a tool that will aid in the building of Christian disciples. I don’t have a master plan for what I’ll be writing. I’m just going to let the Lord lead as I go. I don’t mind saying that I feel a bit like Moses after God had commanded him to lead the Israelites from Mount Sinai into the land of Canaan. He said to God, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here” (Exodus 33:15). I’m saying to God, “Lord, if You aren’t going with me into this blog, then I don’t want to go myself.” But He has assured me that this is His will and that He is going with me into this. That’s all I need to get me started. So, I launch out now, not knowing exactly where I’m headed with this, but fully trusting that God sure knows where He’s taking me.         

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