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Those Who Cannot Be a Disciple


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Read Luke 25-35

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.

33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.


Following Christ comes at a cost. The easy, me-centered form of Christianity so popular today is not Biblical. Have we counted the cost? Are we willing to pay the price to be disciples of Christ? Christ counted the cost to provide the means of us becoming His disciples and He gave all. Should He require any less of us? Should we desire to give less?


35 ...He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

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John81,
very thought-provoking, the title though might be better rendered "Those who WILL not be Christ's disciples". also, consider another three verses that deal with discipleship, only in a more positive sense, I suppose (will be His disciples.

All these are in the Book of John:

John 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

John 15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

I cannot find any other verses that deal with discipleship that use the word "disciple" in them.

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I remember hearing an interesting sermon on discipleship when I was in college. The preacher was speaking about John 13:35 (among others, but this has remained in my memory all these years): "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one toanother."

He poined out the fact that the verse doesn't say "for another," it says "TO another." Different prepositions change the meanings of phrases. Let's see:

"between another" "among another" and so forth. If the verse contained "for another," it would actually be passive. But the preposition "to" makes it active. Our love, as disciples, isn't just to be for each other. We show our discipleship to men by our love being active: TO. That family that needs food? Give it TO them as well as pray FOR them. That person who needs to grow in Christ: teach it TO him rather than just pray FOR him, etc.

John - your premise of selfish (me-centered) Christianity would show itself in, rather than an active love toward one another, having a passive love for one another. That is getting to be more and more common, because, truthfully, it is easier to pray for someone than it is to actually help them.

Don't get me wrong!!!! Prayer is vital, and if we aren't praying for them we are sinning. We just need to put legs to our prayers, if at all possible.

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John81,
very thought-provoking, the title though might be better rendered "Those who WILL not be Christ's disciples". also, consider another three verses that deal with discipleship, only in a more positive sense, I suppose (will be His disciples.

All these are in the Book of John:

John 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

John 15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

I cannot find any other verses that deal with discipleship that use the word "disciple" in them.



My beginning focus was upon that one passage in Luke, with the hopes of additional input from others, such as these verses you posted from the book of John.

Those who refuse to abide by the verses from Luke CAN NOT be His disciples, as Jesus said. Those who are willing to abide by the verses from Luke will see their discipleship confirmed by what we see in those verses from John.
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I remember hearing an interesting sermon on discipleship when I was in college. The preacher was speaking about John 13:35 (among others, but this has remained in my memory all these years): "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one toanother."

He poined out the fact that the verse doesn't say "for another," it says "TO another." Different prepositions change the meanings of phrases. Let's see:

"between another" "among another" and so forth. If the verse contained "for another," it would actually be passive. But the preposition "to" makes it active. Our love, as disciples, isn't just to be for each other. We show our discipleship to men by our love being active: TO. That family that needs food? Give it TO them as well as pray FOR them. That person who needs to grow in Christ: teach it TO him rather than just pray FOR him, etc.

John - your premise of selfish (me-centered) Christianity would show itself in, rather than an active love toward one another, having a passive love for one another. That is getting to be more and more common, because, truthfully, it is easier to pray for someone than it is to actually help them.

Don't get me wrong!!!! Prayer is vital, and if we aren't praying for them we are sinning. We just need to put legs to our prayers, if at all possible.


:amen: This all ties into what we learn in James, that faith without works is dead. What good is our profession of faith or love if no godly actions follow from them? We also learn in Scripture that if we know of someone in need and we are able to provide for their need yet we simply wish them well ("I'll say a prayer for you, hope your need gets met, bye!") but refuse to provide for their needs, we have failed to show true Christian love.

You are absolutely right that prayer is vital. You are equally correct that too many today use the "I'll pray for you" statement as a cover for inaction when they could provide tangible help themselves.

Are we truly disciples of Christ, willing to actually sacrifice and do the works we are called to do, or are we simply calling ourselves Christians when we've never actually determined to follow Christ?
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Wow, I didn't expect such a response about "will not" and "cannot". They are nearly the same. They "cannot" be Christ's disciples if they remain in the state they are in, (I think I said something like that), but they will not change, so that they can qualify. It is an act of the will. Those who do not (for whatever reason) conform cannot ever be a disciple, but they can conform, if they will, and thereby be a disciple. That is what I meant in a nutshell.

As I look back at my original post, I did not say that parenthetical statement, but I remember thinking it! I must have gotten ahead of myself!

Edited by irishman
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Read Luke 25-35

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.

33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.


Following Christ comes at a cost. The easy, me-centered form of Christianity so popular today is not Biblical. Have we counted the cost? Are we willing to pay the price to be disciples of Christ? Christ counted the cost to provide the means of us becoming His disciples and He gave all. Should He require any less of us? Should we desire to give less?

35 ...He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.


How many people have actually forsaken "ALL THAT HE HATH"?? Edited by Bro K
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How many people have actually forsaken "ALL THAT HE HATH"??


I would surmise far more than we would think. I've read of many Christians who have certainly done so.

For some of us we might not know for certain if we have set Christ above something particular until we face a moment such as Abraham did with Isaac.

Of course there are some that clearly have not; they place their spouse above Christ, sports, politics, hOBbies, career, money, etc.

Christ doesn't say we have to give up everything, but that nothing holds a higher place in our lives than Him. If such a time were ever to come up that we had to choose between Christ and something or someone else, where will our heart reside?
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I would surmise far more than we would think. I've read of many Christians who have certainly done so.

For some of us we might not know for certain if we have set Christ above something particular until we face a moment such as Abraham did with Isaac.

Of course there are some that clearly have not; they place their spouse above Christ, sports, politics, hOBbies, career, money, etc.

Christ doesn't say we have to give up everything, but that nothing holds a higher place in our lives than Him. If such a time were ever to come up that we had to choose between Christ and something or someone else, where will our heart reside?



Right on target John, Amen!
It's an attitude that the Lord describes, and not merely the doing of it. Just as hating mother and father, etc, --we do not really hate them, but our love for the Lord ought to outshine them to the extent that we will forsake them if necessary, along with anything else that hinders us from Giving our all to the Lord. Many of us may never have to be tested in that area, but some have, and will.

David said "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want", and that is the "forsaking all" attitude. We say this world has nothing for us, but do we really think so? Most don't, I fear. We look to the world for many of our needs and desires, instead of the Lord. Edited by irishman
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Right on target John, Amen!
It's an attitude that the Lord describes, and not merely the doing of it. Just as hating mother and father, etc, --we do not really hate them, but our love for the Lord ought to outshine them to the extent that we will forsake them if necessary, along with anything else that hinders us from Giving our all to the Lord. Many of us may never have to be tested in that area, but some have, and will.

David said "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want", and that is the "forsaking all" attitude. We say this world has nothing for us, but do we really think so? Most don't, I fear. We look to the world for many of our needs and desires, instead of the Lord.


:amen: As I was thinking along these lines I was reminded of what some missionaries shared when they visited our church. One couple works in India, the other in physically dangerous Muslim lands. Both related how often when someone comes to Christ where they are they lose everything. These people know the high cost of accepting Christ up front and they know that high cost will hit them immediately and they determine to follow Christ. Many of these people lose their entire families as soon as they accept Christ. Their families not only disown them, they declare them dead. They no longer have mother or father, siblings, aunts or uncles. They lose any family inheritance, support or protection. They have indeed forsaken all to follow Christ.
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