Disciples of Christ are called to be in the world but not of the world. That calls for self-denial. This is the first devotion looking at what disciples of Christ are called to forsake.
Nuggets
- Disciples have to look different than worldview people.
- We are called to be reformed sinners.
- Switching to a life of self-denial does not make up for all the sins we have committed.
- God doesn’t call us to works-based salvation
Devotions in the Forsaking All for Jesus series
Luke 14: 33 is a verse that can trip up some disciples. “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Lk. 14: 33 ESV).
We generally don’t really want to give up anything. The all scares us.
Alexander had a sermon that addresses this. He gave us the headings in purple.
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Note: This devotion ran long, so I had to divide it into two.
Let's Put It into Context
Forsake, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, means “to renounce or turn away from entirely.”
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So, what are disciples of Christ called to forsake?
Disciples Are Called to Forsake the World
“If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you” (Jn. 15: 19 CSB)
In Jesus’ prayer after the Lord’s Supper, He prayed that His disciples be in the world but not of the world. That can be confusing to new disciples — and difficult to carry out at times for even seasoned disciples. Let’s look at the contrast through the lens of what disciples of Christ are expected to give up.
Thomas described the world in the following way.
- Worldview people do not possess God’s character, so they do not live by His laws and commandments.
- Worldview people don’t acknowledge a higher being in control of the universe.
- Because worldview people place their selfish interests above all other things, they worship things that do not give God His due.
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Manning reminded us that God created this world to be sinless and pure. It was man’s choice to be disobedient to God express command.
Think about something else Manning pointed out. The church was not formed in the Garden of Eden. It was only formed after the Garden of Gethsemane and Calvary.
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Mankind’s disobedience let sin into this world. Sin is actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
We are told there are aspects of this world that God hates. “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers” (Prov. 6: 16-19 ESV). In other words, God hates sin.
Calvary provided the only way to beat sin. It brought regeneration.
Regeneration is the change in us that God brings about when we go from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive. Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin. The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
Disciples have to look different than worldview people. Yeah, that is difficult in society right now, which tries to browbeat us into thinking their way.
We have to stand strong on the principles that God says His disciples need to possess. That means disciples of Christ are not supposed to compromise with the world.
I got a chuckle out of Spurgeon’s sermon. He said if Moses would have compromised, he would have been an Egypto-Israelite or an Israelito-Egyptian.
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But isn’t that what the worldview is pushing? I know we are adding a lot of different words in front of American.
Yes, God knows we are complex individuals. But He wants us to be one thing — His.
We can’t put a qualifier in front of the word disciple. We can’t be a liar-disciple. We can’t be a thief-disciple. We can’t be a lesbian-disciple.
We are called to be reformed sinners — reformed liars, reformed thieves, reformed lesbians, etc. That is what repentance is about. Repentance is acknowledging our separation from God, expressing sorrow for breaking God’s laws and commandments by making the commitment to changing ourselves through obedience so that we no longer do the wrong things.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Disciples Are Called to Exercise Self-Denial
“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Lk. 9: 23 ESV).
Jesus said there were three things that disciples needed to do after asking Him to be our Savior and Redeemer: deny ourselves, live for Him, and be like Him. Denying ourselves is our self-sacrifice. Let’s look what part of self we are to give to imitate Jesus.
We talked before that denying ourselves was talking about disassociating ourselves from our sinful nature and from self-interest. It is becoming self-controlled.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Aitken wrote that self-denial is “… when we begin to yearn for the likeness of Christ, and long to be conformed to His image — when we begin to see clearly that the path which the Master trod was one of humiliation and reproach, and that there are plenty of sorrows to be borne, and plenty of difficulties to be battled with …” Self-denial is about putting the focus on God instead of ourselves.
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Two words in that quote might give us pause. It really isn’t talking about shame and foolishness. It is talking humility, the character trait that diminishes pride and places dependence on God while holding a modest view of our importance with respect to others.
It really is talking about disproval. We have to stop thinking sin is okay. We have to call wrong that which God calls wrong. We have to strive to do what call calls right.
One thing we have to remember is that switching to a life of self-denial does not make up for all the sins we have committed. We can’t just stop doing what we are doing and expect that to be good enough.
We have to ABCD. We have to submit to God as our Sovereign Lord. Then we are called to turn away from sin.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
God doesn’t call us to works-based salvation. He calls us to accepting the gift of a relationship with our Creator.
Self-denial isn’t about giving up what is pleasurable, either. He calls us to turn away from sin, but He fills us with His joy. We may give up the joy of sin. We gain the joy of holiness.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
What I think the law of self-sacrifice is saying is that we need to look elsewhere than at self. We have to take the focus off us and put it on God.
Harris described this as “Christianity, therefore, as a fact, as a doctrine, and as a life, is a sacrificial religion. Thus the law of self-renunciation is grounded in the essential character of Christianity.” He gave us a list of four selfs from which we need to sacrifice.
- Self-sufficiency
- Self-will
- Self-seeking
- Self-righteousness
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Ouch. Those are the big areas of self. “I’ll do it myself.” “I want what I want.” “I can do anything I put my mind to.” “Being an ethical person is good enough.”
The self-denial/self-sacrifice is accomplished through love. We will only be successful when God is the one changing us. We’ve said all year that we can’t discipline ourselves without God.
That is the focus. It is not that we are able to make ourselves better people. It is we gave this up because God called us to do so.
Making the Connections
What Jesus was getting at here was disciples need to look different than worldview people. We do that by forsaking what the world values.
We need to look like Him.
This is God’s Plan of Salvation. When we forsake the world, we gain God.
If we do not forsake the world and do not ABCD, we lose.
How Do We Apply This?
• Surrender to God
• Seek God
• Develop God’s character
• Grow our faith
• Be self-disciplined to grow self-control
• In all ways obey God
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Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
In the next devotion, we will finish our discussion on what disciples of Christ are called to forsake.
Father God. Many of the worldview people see a long list of things disciples must give up. They miss the long list of benefits that outweigh the things given up. Lord, we look to You to help us build our characters to be like You. Amen.
What do you think?
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