PURSUING CHRIST

Table of Contents
Built-in Discipline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Pursuing a Person. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Demands of Discipleship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Putting Jesus First . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

A Trancending Relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Counting the Cost of Discipleship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

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PURSUING CHRIST

Following Jesus Christ and His kingdom agenda not

only brings you into a new abundant life; it brings you
into a new program of discipline.

But this takes discipline. It means saying yes to what is

right and no to what may be a distraction. But people
say, I tried that, and it didnt work, or I am not a
disciplined person, or I want to, but I dont know
how to do it.

There is a discipline to discipleship if you want to receive

the full benefits of the kingdom. Paul advised Timothy:
Have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for
old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for
the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only
of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things,
since it holds promise for the present life and also for
the life to come (1 Timothy 4:78).
Its obvious that if you are not exercising yourself
spiritually, youre not going to be in great spiritual
shape. Many of us will give an hour a day to exercise
and sweat for our bodies, but we arent willing to sweat
for the kingdom.
The first time kingdom work puts a little bead of sweat
on our foreheads, we say, Christianity is too hard. Of
course it is hard. It wasnt supposed to be easy.
But let me tell you, if you sweat long enough and
regularly enough, youll have spiritual energy you didnt
have before. Youll be in better shape than you have ever
been before. Youre going to look better spiritually than
you ever have looked because exerting energy burns off
fat and builds muscle.
But this does not come about by osmosis. It comes
by discipline that transforms both this life and the
life to come. Its more important for men to read
their Bibles than to read the sports pages. Its more
important to hit our knees than to hit a golf ball. Its
more important for women to be in the presence of
the Savior than to be in the mall.

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Built-in Discipline

See how it works? With Gods grace, He also supplies

whatever you lack in order to get you where He wants
If youve ever said any of those things, I can help you you to go. God has already taken your limitations
right now! Look at Titus 2:1113: For the grace of and humanity into account in supplying you with
God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, His grace. He knows your weakness and has already
instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires calculated that in.
and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present
age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of So when you say, I cant, God says, I have graced
you with a supply of spiritual energy to say no to sin
the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.
and unrighteousness and yes to righteousness. So we
cant ever say we cant, because we have grace. It is the
Holy Spirits job to mediate to us the measure of grace
we need to move us along toward spiritual maturity
as we live in dependence on God. The Holy Spirit is
a built-in power pack who enables and empowers
us to become what God saved us to become. The
Spirits very presence within us is another provision
and expression of grace.

Pursuing a Person
Now if youre still wondering why so many Christians
are still saying yes to sin even when God has supplied
I want to share a spiritual principle here that people abundant grace, let me suggest an answer. The reason
in my church told me was transforming once they got so many Christians are struggling with spiritual
hold of it. Here it is: Spiritual discipline is built into the discipline is that they are doing a program rather than
grace of God.
pursuing a Person.
The basic definition of Gods grace is His undeserved
favor to us. It is God doing for us what we could never
do for ourselves.

When you read your Bible and pray because thats

what good Christians ought to do, you are just
fulfilling the program. But Jesus didnt die for a
Now Paul said the grace of God has appeared. That program, and neither is a program your Savior.
means its here. So you say, I am not a disciplined Look back at Titus 2:13. What we should be looking
person. Thats all right; grace has taken care of that. forward to is the appearing of Jesus Christ, not the
completion of a program.
Grace will supply the discipline you need.

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Not long ago, I ran into a young woman in our church

who had been on a perpetual diet. A lot of us know
what thats like. She had tried one program after
another. Something would work for a while, and then
she would lose her discipline and her enthusiasm.

be a part of the kingdom and carry out the kingdom

agenda, you have to meet the demands.
The story is told of a farmer who put an advertisement
in the classified section of the newspaper. It read,
Farmer with 160 irrigated acres wants to marry a
beautiful woman with a tractor. When replying, please
show a picture of the tractor. This farmer didnt want a
wife to love, just one to use.

But the last time I saw her, she had lost a lot of weight.
She looked great. I said, What happened to you? You
must have found the right program.
She said, No, I found the right man. We started dating
and fell in love. And in love he said to me, I think you
need to lose some weight.

That describes the relationship a lot of Christians have

with Christ. They dont really want to deal with the
Savior. They just want Him to bring the goodies along.
Some Christians only love Christ because of what He
can supply.

I found energy I never had before! It didnt matter

what program I was using, because there was someone
in my life I wanted to please. I can pass up any food
now. Burger King can offer to do it my way, but I dont
want it no way! I want to look good for my man.

The Demands of
Discipleship
When you have a passion for a person, you wont
have a problem with the program. You wont read the
Bible because a verse a day keeps the Devil away but
because you want to meet the Author. You wont get on
your knees because good Christians pray but because
you want to talk to your divine Lover.

But Jesus said in Revelation 3:20 that He is standing

outside our door, knocking so we will open up and
let Him come in and have fellowship with us. Jesus
wants you to want Him because you want to be
married to Him.

Pursue Christ as a Person you are in love with, and you

will find the grace of God giving you power to pull off
the program of God.
That leads us to the final area of discipleship I want to
look at in this ebook: the demands. If you are going to

Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, to seek first His kingdom

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and His righteousness; and all these things shall be when they have time. If they have a few extra hours
added to you. The risen Christ warned the church in on Sunday or a little money at the end of the month
Ephesus, But I have this against you, that you have or whatever, theyll give Him some.
left your first love (Revelation 2:4).
But if Christ is not first, you lose Him in terms of
intimate fellowship. You cannot have the victory He
Putting Jesus First
supplies, the power He offers, unless He is first.
If this is the kind of intimate fellowship and
relationship Christ wants to have with us, we need to
ask what it will take to make that a reality.

A Trancending Relationship
In Luke 14, Jesus made a difficult statement. He
turned to the large crowd that was following Him
and said, If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate
his own father and mother and wife and children and
brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he
cannot be My disciple (v. 26).

Paul answered that question in Colossians 1:18 when

he said of Jesus, He is also head of the body, the
church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from
the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first
place in everything.

I think that means Jesus wants to be first! Now when

He talked about hating people, He was not talking
about your affections. He was talking about your
decisions. Let me show you what I mean.
Jesus must be so important to you that He transcends
your most intimate relationships. He wants to be
more important to you even than you are to yourself.
The idea is that when you put your love for Jesus next
to your love for anyone else, there should be such a
big difference that the other love looks like hate. Jesus
wants to know that when you have to choose between
Him and everyone else, everyone else loses. This is a
What does God demand of you if you would be His serious demand.
kingdom disciple? He demands that He be first in Jesus also wants to be more important to you than your
everything. Not second, not a close third, but first.
own comforts. Look at Luke 14:27, Whoever does not
Many of Gods people are spiritually anemic because carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My
Christ is not first in their lives. They will fit Him in disciple. You must carry your cross, not Jesus cross.

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PURSUING CHRIST

He took care of His own. You need to carry your cross.

He also must be more important than your possessions.

No one of you can be My disciple who does not give
up all his own possessions, Jesus said (Luke 14:33).

We have some messed-up ideas about what it means

to carry our crosses. A physical problem, bad in-laws,
or noisy neighborsnone of those things is a cross.
So what does it mean to carry your cross?

This always upsets people. You mean I have to give

up my car, my house, my money? Yes.

The Romans invented crucifixion. When the Romans

wanted to put a condemned criminal on public
display to humiliate him, they paraded him down the
street carrying the crossbeam of his cross. Carrying
your cross to the place of execution was a public
display that you were guilty of the crime you were
condemned for.

Did you expect me to say no? I say yes, we must

give up these things if they become possessions. The
problem is not in having something. The problem is
in possessing it. To possess it means that I hold on to

To carry your cross means to bear the reproach of

Jesus Christ. It is to be so identified with Him that
when they accuse you of being a Christian, you say, I
am guilty. When someone accuses you of being His
disciple, you say, You got me.
To carry your own cross is to admit publicly that you
are guilty of the crime of being committed to Christ,
guilty of placing Him first. Carrying your cross is
when a girl tells her boyfriend, I cant sleep with you
because I am a Christian.
Its when a businessman says, I cant do that unethical
thing, because I am Christs disciple. I am living by
a different agenda. Carrying your cross is dying to
yourself and what you want and putting Jesus first.

it so tightly even God cant pry it loose from me.

Some people would gladly give up certain family
members. They might even say, Ill go along with
the idea of carrying my cross. But dont be touching
my stuff.

Its not comfortable to carry a cross. When you admit

to the crime of being a committed Christian, people
may want to punish you. They may want to take out
their anger against you. Thats not comfortablebut
Jesus must be more important than your comfort.

A boy once got his hand caught in a vase. His parents

kept trying to get it out, but they couldnt pull his
hand out of the vase. They told him, Son, were

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going to have to break this vase to get your hand out.

making us His disciples, not our counting the cost of

following Him.

The boy replied, Mom, would it help if I let go of the

penny Im holding on to?

In other words, this is the King deciding whether we

meet the standard to be in His army. This is the Kings
measurement of our commitment. Are we the kind of
people He can put into the battle and get benefit from?

You cannot possess your possessions and expect to

possess Christ too. Its okay to have things, but you
cant let them become possessions, because then they
possess you.
A teacher who wanted to teach her class a lesson got a
big vase and put some rocks in it. Then she poured in
gravel to fill in around the rocks.

Then this teacher asked her class, You saw that I put in
rocks, then gravel, and then she said, Do you know
why I did it this way? The lesson is if you dont put the
rocks in first, youll never be able to get them in later.
Its the same way in the spiritual realm. If you dont
take care of spiritual things first but instead fill your life
with gravel and sand, when you need the rock of Jesus
Christ youll have too much junk in your life to fit Him
in anymore.
So we need to take out all the gravel and sand and
put the Rock in first. Then we can enjoy whatever else
God sends to fill in the crevices. Living by a kingdom
agenda demands that we put Jesus first and follow Him
as His disciples.

Counting The Cost

Of Discipleship
In Luke 14:3132, Jesus said, in essence, Count the
cost of being a kingdom disciple. He then told about
a king who sat down to count the cost of going into
battle. Now let me throw you a little twist here. I think
weve been preaching and teaching this verse wrong.

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This is usually presented as the disciple counting the

cost to see whether he or she has what it takes to be a
disciple. But the king is the one counting the cost here,
not the army. I believe this is God counting the cost of

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