A very short word:

 On sonship

WHAT I DIDN’T KNOW THAT I DIDN’T KNOW, ABOUT disciples

 

Wake up, beloved. Wake up. ‘Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.’ (Ephesians 5:14). Have you not seen & heard what’s occurring in The Church at large? Do you not know what’s stirring, what’s happening, what’s coming? Are you deaf? Are you dumb? Are you blind? Just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past 70 or so years, it turns out that The lord is taking the anointings of past moves of The Spirit, putting them all together & rolling out the greatest, biggest, hugest mushroom cloud making revival event ever known to man! This stuff will be so overwhelming that it will probably be viewable from space …or so it has been said. Yes, I may be exaggerating, a little, but those of you who are familiar with my particular peculiarities will know that what I say is tinged with seriousness. For many a false apostle, prophet, preacher & teacher, this is a last roll of the dice, Why? Because their father the devil knows that he has but a short time. In the face of this onslaught, what are the faithful  going to do? Are we going to lay back in the comfortable softness of compromised western Christianity? We are in an hour when The Lord expects those whom He has made sons (John 1:12), to act like sons. I don’t mean walking around as if we owned the place. We can leave that to the false apostles & prophets of the word-of-faith movement & the new apostolic reformation. I mean living as loyal, faithful & loving sons of God, taking our chief example from The Son of God Himself. It can’t be any clearer than that! If you are simply warming a bench in your fellowship, you need to repent. Unless…well no, but…unless you’re just a mere churchgoer.

The charismatic mega church model has a lot to answer for in this regard, because when there are large numbers of people attending church gatherings consistently, it’s considered a success! Everyone wants the big numbers. The people roll in.  False teachers roll in. The money rolls in. False doctrine rolls in. The world rolls in. False brethren roll in. Beyond the bright lights, loud music, fluff & candy floss, there is little or no substance. As long as the crowd turns up, everyone is happy. However, if these crowds are not drawn by a love of the truth, which ought to be taught systematically, they are no different to the vermin that are attracted by piles of putrid, festering rubbish. There is no discipleship in these gatherings. There is only membership. The two are not synonymous.

Membership is easy. You may make promises. You may shake someone’s hand. You may get a pat on the back. You may sit in the same seat every week, trying not to fall asleep during services. Members attend meetings. Members are present in body, if not in mind. But they go no further. They do very little, if anything at all. There is a distinct lack of prayer & God’s Word in their lives. You don’t have to continue in The Word to be a member; you just have to continue coming. You arrive. You say hi. You leave. You say bye. Moreover, a church member will hear their Pastor preach or teach sound doctrine & immediately upon leaving the service they will promptly go & listen to a heretic, with no distinct ability to tell the difference between the two. I kid you not.

The Lord wants us to move into a real discipleship, which means an engagement with Him & with His Word. You & I are less likely to drift away or into error, if we are discipled & more likely to be useful to The Kingdom of God & of His Christ.

³¹ Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; ³² And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.  ³³ They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? ³⁴ Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. ³⁵ And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. ³⁶ If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed (John 8:31-36).

Discipleship brings us into a knowledge of the truth of God’s Word. That truth makes us free. This is more than membership. The disciple is one who has not only believed in Christ, but also one who continues in Hs word. The disciple is disciplined to The Lord Jesus Christ & no one else.

²⁴ Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner. ²⁵ He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. ²⁶ Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? ²⁷ He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples? ²⁸ Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples.’ (John 9:28).

Whose disciple are you? Who are you following? Whose words are you listening to? Paul says, ‘If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings. Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.’ (1^st Timothy 6:3-5).

‘This is the sort of thing you should teach, and if anyone tries to teach some doctrinal novelty which is not compatible with sound teaching (which we base on Christ’s own words and which leads to Christ-like living), then he is a conceited idiot! His mind is a morbid jumble of disputation and argument, things which lead to nothing but jealousy, quarrelling, insults and malicious innuendoes—continual wrangling, in fact, among men of warped minds who have lost their real hold on the truth but hope to make some profit out of the Christian religion.’ (1st Timothy 6:3-5 J. B. Phillips Translation).

Sitting in front of your television, watching TBN, Daystar or doomscrolling YouTube shorts & trawling the internet, is no substitute for proper systematic teaching. At the risk of upsetting some & angering others, I will say this; significant portions of so called Christian broadcasting, are not fit for purpose. This is not discipleship. This is not The Gospel we hear preached today.

²⁴ The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. ²⁵ It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? (Matthew 10:24-25).

Whose disciple are you? Who are you following? Whose words are you listening to? I am not saying that we shouldn’t listen to ministers who instruct us in God’s Word. God has set teachers in the body (1^st Corinthians 12:28). But can that person disciple you? Can they lead you? Can they guide you? More importantly, will they give an account for you? The answer is no.

It frustrates me that many will pay more attention to strangers than they will to their own Pastors. Moreover, they will donate huge sums of money to charlatans & heretics, while neglecting the needs of the fellowship that they belong to. Too many Christians follow the path of least resistance. They do not consider counting the cost. Even as I write these words, I am conscious that I have some repenting to do.

²⁵ And there went great multitudes with him and he turned and said unto them, ²⁶ If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. ²⁸ For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? ²⁹ Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, ³⁰ Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. ³¹ Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? ³² Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. ³³ So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. ³⁴ Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? ³⁵ It is neither fit for the land nor yet for the dunghill but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear let him hear (Luke 14:25-35). 

Whose disciple are you? Who are you following? Whose words are you listening to? The charismatic mega church model doesn’t have time for discipleship, so it promotes membership. More people. More money. Confess. Believe. Declare. Decree. Rinse. Repeat. There is no sitting down in order to count the cost. There is no forsaking all to follow Him.

You will become the disciple of those watch; those whose books you buy; those whose teachings you follow. You will become faithful to them. Whose disciple are you? Who are you following? Whose words are you listening to?

When they say jump, you ask how high. When they say give, you ask how much. This is not a joke. This is a symptom of a direct dereliction of duty by ministers & negligence on the part of believers. There is no excuse.

¹⁸ And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. ¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen (Matthew 28:18-20).  

The Church needs to get back to basics, because the faulty foundation of cuteness, politeness, neatness & niceness isn’t cutting it. Christ’s example of commitment to The Father is the disciple’s standard of allegiance. ‘Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.’ (John 20:21). These men were not walking in membership. They were walking in discipleship. They believed in Him. They continued in His word. As they preached The Gospel, they made disciples, not members (Acts 2:42).

The mistake made by many in The Church at large is this: they forget that it is both the example of Christ’s life & the manner of His death that we are to observe. We hear about His birth & we celebrate it. We hear about His death & we remember it. But for the most part we ignore the masterclass of His life as an example of discipleship. This is why we as believers are told explicitly about the manner of lives we are to live. The real difference between membership & discipleship is the difference between actively going to church & actually being The Church. Forget what the false apostles, prophets, preachers & teachers are saying. Keep your money. Burn their books. Turn them off. Listen to your Pastor teach sound doctrine. Follow Christ & Christ alone. When we embrace biblical discipleship, this will truly be one of the greatest, biggest, hugest mushroom cloud making revival events ever known to man!