Skip to content 17. Radical Discipleship Sep 7 · 27 min ...more
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Rev. Paul Jeyachandran leads the Intentional Disciple Making Church (IDMC) Movement, which is all about calling churches back to its disciplemaking roots. Visit us at idmcmovement.com
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0:09 Shall we give the Lord a Clap Offering Church? It is a joy and a privilege to study the word of God together. Today, I wanna talk about radical discipleship. You know, God has given us grace to study0:21 throughout this year. And in this lesson, we wanna touch on Mark chapter 10, verses 17 to 31. Radical discipleship. And as he was setting out on0:33 his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And0:45 Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No 1 is good except God alone. You know the commandments, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do0:57 not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother. And he said to him, teacher, all these I have kept from1:08 my youth. And Jesus looking at him, loved him and said to him, you lack 1 thing, go sell all that you have and give to the poor,1:21 and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me. Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great1:32 possessions. And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. And the disciples1:44 were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them, children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye1:56 of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. And they were exceedingly astonished and said to him, then who can be saved?2:09 Jesus looked at them and said, with man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God. Peter began to say to him,2:21 see, we have left everything and followed you. And Jesus said, truly I say to you, there is no 1 who has left house, or2:32 brothers, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or lands for My sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a2:44 hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers and children and lands with persecutions,2:56 and in the age to come, eternal life. Verse 31, But many who are first will be last, and the last first. This is a3:08 long passage of scripture, but I wanted to take time to read it for you so that you understand the entire context. Now let's unpack this. There are 23:19 errors that we need to avoid when trying to interpret this text. 1, don't universalize this command. The second 1, don't3:31 trivialize the content. Let me say that. The reason why we shouldn't universalize the command. We can't take this passage of scripture3:43 and create a doctrine that anyone who follows Christ should sell everything they have and come and follow him wholeheartedly. Like that.3:55 Or in other words, we shouldn't say that Christ will ask everyone to do the same thing he asked this person. On the other hand, we cannot go to the other extreme4:07 to trivialize the content. We cannot trivialize by saying Christ will never say this to anyone. Can you see the 2 extremes? 1 is Christ will say this to everyone. The other4:19 extreme is Christ will never say this to anyone. I want you to listen to me carefully. It is not about selling the possessions, giving to the poor, coming follow him. That's4:30 not the whole point of this text. The point of this text is, does Christ really have the right to tell us,4:42 the right to ask us to give up everything and follow him? I'm absolutely sure he has. And I'm sure you will agree with me. So this text is about the4:53 allegiance of one's heart. And this is the radical discipleship that we want to cultivate in our lives. Authentic discipleship to Jesus.5:05 And this is the radical discipleship we are also calling others to come on that journey. Where Christ Jesus is King, Master, Lord over their lives. And he has5:16 access to every aspect of one's life. Hallelujah. I want us to pay attention to 9 key things that I find in this text. Number 1, a5:28 radical approach. Look at verse 21 once again. It says, looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, you lack 1 thing, go sell all that you have, give5:40 to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow me. There was something about the call of Jesus to salvation. See, many5:52 times when you hear the salvation altar call, it usually is, just come. Jesus will make your dreams come true. Are you living with no hope? Come to Jesus. He will give you6:04 hope and he will fulfill all the dreams in your life. It is very man centered and very carnal in its orientation. Whereas when Jesus calls someone to salvation,6:15 Jesus' call to salvation demands total surrender. See, you and I, we need to understand, salvation cannot be earned. Salvation is never6:27 a matter of just external reformation. Salvation is always a matter of internal transformation. What do I mean by that? Listen,6:39 even if you sell everything you have, even if you give away all your wealth to feed the poverty, the poor in the world, I want you to listen to me carefully. Yet,6:51 with your good works, you cannot buy salvation. So then why would Jesus say this to this man? In another context of scripture, the man is described as the rich,7:03 young ruler, celebrated among the community. He's a noble man. Everybody loves him. Everybody knows him. And this is the key. Jesus says to this man, sell everything and come follow me. And7:14 yet, the Bible says, this man is unwilling, isn't it? So what was the issue? The issue is not go sell everything. The issue was a matter of the heart.7:26 Jesus wanted to ask him whether he's willing to come and submit his will to Jesus as Lord and Master over his life. So7:38 the issue here is not about money, the issue is about the heart. See many times when people come to faith in Christ, they want to consult7:49 Jesus. You know, people would say, I want Jesus to be the co captain of my life. See, Jesus doesn't want to be the co captain. He doesn't want to be the co8:01 pilot. He doesn't want to be the advisor. He actually wants to be the Lord over your life. He wants to take over every aspect of your life. So in this passage of scripture, this young8:13 man comes to Jesus acknowledging Jesus as a good teacher. In other words, he acknowledges Jesus as a respectable teacher. But Jesus is not merely a respectable teacher.8:25 Jesus is the sovereign Lord. Jesus doesn't just want to be your financial advisor. Jesus wants to be your financial Lord. Jesus doesn't want just to be your marriage8:36 counselor. He wants to be the Lord of your marriage. Listen carefully. What Jesus is calling us to, it's an absolute surrender. And the surrender is all about the allegiance8:48 of our heart. See, if you have been watching the series that we are on right now, in this LifeGroup lessons, you would understand that we place a lot of9:00 importance on repentance and turning to God. Repenting of our ways and turning to God. And can I give you 4 things to write down? It's not in my notes, but take this down. Repentance is seen9:11 in 4 areas. 1, it is seen in the change of attitude. It is seen in the change of actions. It is seen in the change of our affections.9:23 And it's also seen in the change of our allegiance. All 4 A's so that you can remember. It is a change of our attitude. It's a change of our actions. It is a change of our heart's9:35 affection. What we love. And then whom we call as Lord and Master. Allegiance. So I want you to listen to me. In this context, there is a9:47 beautiful context here actually, in Mark chapter 10, where we find this scripture. In verses 17 to verse 31, that's what we read, but the context in verse 13 to verse 16, I want you to read.9:59 Look at this. And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, let the children come to me. Do not hinder them,10:11 for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Jesus says, do not hinder the children from coming to me, because the children will inherit the kingdom of God. And he says, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a10:22 child shall not enter it. And he took them in his arms and blessed them and laying his hands on them. I love this picture of Jesus taking all the children in his arms and blessing10:34 them. And he says, if you want to really walk in the kingdom of God, you should be childlike. What does it mean to be childlike? You know, I have 2 boys,10:46 when they were young toddlers, I used to play with them a lot. And 1 of the games I play with them is they will stand in the bed and I'll stretch forth my hand and say jump. And they would jump to me.10:59 They used to do it when they were children. But as they were growing up, they started to think. And they said, nope. I want you to listen to me carefully. For a young child, jumping into11:11 the arms of the father is this, he's my hero, he will catch me. There's no doubt in their heart that the father will not catch them. There's no doubt. He is able, he's capable, he will do it. But as they grow older, they11:23 start to reason and now there's doubts, there's questions. So they don't have the absolute trust. Listen, what was Jesus highlighting in the scripture is, you are like11:34 children, God is like father. Wouldn't you come to the father? And if the father asks you to sell everything and come into the kingdom and follow him, wouldn't you do it? A child would do it,11:46 but if you don't, it's because you're not childlike in your faith. See, a father can provide much more than what we have right now. That's what this young man didn't understand. So it's11:58 a radical approach to salvation because Jesus' call to salvation demands total surrender. He doesn't want to be just your merely a respectable teacher. He wants to be the12:10 sovereign Lord. Secondly, it's a radical affection. The Bible says in verse 21, Jesus looking at him loved him. I want you to circle that. What Jesus is demanding from this12:22 man is a demand placed upon him because of love. I want you to catch this. Jesus calls us to a life of absolute surrender because he loves us.12:34 It is not because he wants to hurt us, harm us. It is actually he wants to give us the joy and the privilege and the pleasure of knowing him intimately.12:46 See, there is a pleasure in surrendering to God. Only if you have surrendered to him areas of your life, you will know it. There is a pleasure in sacrificing for God. When you12:58 truly come and empty your lives before him. When you empty whatever he asks you to place in his hands, and you're willingly willingly give it to him. That's when you recognize there's a pleasure of God.13:10 Look in another context in Luke chapter 12. Jesus said it like this in verse 32. Fear not little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. And then in verse 33, he says, sell13:22 your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with money backs that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. I want you13:34 to catch this. Sell all you have, give to the poor, so that you can store treasure in heaven. Who will be willing to do that? We will not be13:46 willing to do that because our hearts are gripped with fear. What if I don't have any provision? What if I don't have any need? What if I have if I have many needs and I can't meet it? Can I humbly say this?13:58 Verse 32 comes as a promise right there. What's the promise? The promise in verse 32 is fear not little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 3 pictures of God. You are a14:09 flock, he's a shepherd. You are a child, he's a father. You are the subject, you are the citizen, he's the king. He's the 1 who owns the kingdom. And the Bible says,14:21 God is our shepherd who protects us. God is our father who delights in us. And God is our king who14:33 provides for us. A king provides for his people. A father delights in protecting and nurturing and developing their children and giving good gifts to their children. And the Bible says your shepherd protects14:45 you. So a king provides, a father delights, and a shepherd provides and protects. So I want you to listen to me carefully. The reason why he's inviting this young man is because there is14:57 a radical affection. He loves him. Thirdly, there's a radical command. The Bible says in verse 21, you lack 1 thing. And then he goes on to list 5 key15:09 verbs here. 5 key action statements. I want you to catch this. 1, go, sell, give, come, follow. Go,15:20 sell, give, come, follow in 1 verse. 5 commands. See, Jesus gives commands, not considerations.15:33 It was a very direct command. There's no doubt about what Jesus was saying. See, many times people when they read this, they may think Jesus maybe was checking15:45 if this man was willing. You know, the Old Testament, God said to Abraham, Abraham, sacrifice your son. But God really did not want Isaac to die, or Abraham to kill Isaac,15:57 sacrifice Isaac. He was just testing him. So in this case, maybe God was just testing him whether he was willing. No, no, no, no, no. The Bible is very clear here. It was a command.16:08 It was a direct command. Go do this and come follow me. As followers of Christ, we do not consider options. As followers of Christ, we16:20 obey. 1 of the things that you and I, we need to wrestle with is, is this a literal command? If it is a literal command, would Jesus ask you to do this? Sometimes16:32 we struggle. We want a Jesus that blesses us, not a Jesus that asks us to empty our bank accounts or to give our lives in total surrender, or areas of our lives where we put it at the16:43 altar. But you know what? Jesus claims that. The reason why he demands this is because your life and my life belongs to him. 1 of the things that has16:55 been a practice of mine now for many, many decades is this. I go before the Lord each and every year. Lord, here is my life. It is a blank17:07 check. Whatever is in my plate that is not meant to be, I want you to remove it. Because sometimes we may put things in our plate that he never earmarked for us.17:19 Or sometimes we are asked to put certain things on our plate and we don't want because our plate are so full. So I go before the Lord and I say, Lord, what is it in the season ahead? What do you want me to remove,17:31 and what do you want me to put back? What do you want me to put it into my plate? I don't want to be driven by a carnal ambition, or my own perceived vision for my life. I want you17:43 to speak and direct my life. So a blank check. And when you do this, God is delighted. He speaks and he directs your steps. The Bible says he delights17:55 in directing his children. Hallelujah. So the fourth thing here is a radical reward. Verse 21, you will have treasure in heaven. I want you to catch this18:07 picture. Jesus doesn't just want to strip us of our pleasure, Jesus wants to satisfy us with his treasure. You and I, we need to understand Jesus is not a18:18 killjoy. He's not there to try and see, okay, let me take take take whatever I can from you. But what Jesus is asking us to do is to live life in a radical18:30 manner, by accumulating treasures in heaven. I want you to ask yourself this question. Why would someone sacrifice everything for18:42 the kingdom of God? Because the people of God are called to live a life of stewardship, called to live a life of sacrifice for his kingdom's sake. But why would you do that? You would do that because you lay18:54 hold of something that others don't see. Look at this in Matthew chapter 13 and verse 44. The Bible says the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up. Then in19:06 his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, and he buys that field. Why would he sell everything he has and buy that19:17 field? The Bible says because he saw something that others fail to see. Want you to listen to me carefully. When you and I see something,19:29 you can't unsee it. When you have seen the treasure that is in heaven, when you have seen the joy and what God has prepared for you, this world won't be the19:41 1 that you would fall in love with. Listen carefully. You learn to live things with with loosely, holding things loosely. Whether you have much, whether you have little, you hold things loosely.19:53 Why? Because you want accumulate treasures in heaven. That's the key. Here he says, in his joy, he sells everything. In his joy. That joy is unspeakable. Maybe his friends call him20:05 foolish. Do you know if you sell a property in Sydney right now, you can't buy back? Why? Because prices are increasing. What a fool. Why would you sell? Why would you do this? Can I humbly say this? He20:17 sees something beyond. And therefore, he lays hold of that which cannot be taken from him. So, want you to ask yourself this question. Do you have a secular thinking or a kingdom thinking?20:29 Secular thinking says, all that the world has to offer, these are my trinkets. These are my treasures. I have to lay hold of them and hold them tight. But a kingdom person says, no, my20:40 treasures are in heaven. And heaven, only 1 thing is valuable, the souls of men. Hallelujah. So what philosophy do you embrace? Do you embrace a short term treasures20:52 we can't keep? Because 1 day we're gonna leave behind everything. Or a long term treasures we can't lose. What are you embracing? So I pray in the name of21:04 Jesus that we will always be kingdom people who store treasures in heaven. There are only 4 things that are celebrated in heaven. The word of God, the kingdom of God,21:15 God himself, and the souls of men. So I pray that we will lay hold of things that are eternal and celebrated in heaven. Hallelujah. The fifth 1 I learned from here is the radical21:27 loss. In Mark chapter 10 and verse 22, after Jesus gave him that 5 commands, look at how this man responds. The Bible says disheartened by the saying, he went away21:39 sorrowful for he had great possessions. Or great possessions had him. He was disheartened. He went away sorrowful.21:51 This is why I want you to learn this principle, the love of possessions will rob us of the joy in God. You know, the moment you compare your life with somebody else,22:03 you lose the joy of God. The moment you compare yourself with someone who has more than what you have, you will lose your joy in life. In other words, the moment you love22:14 possessions, you will be robbed of the joy in God. Now this is the key. The reason why this man walked away22:25 disheartened, walked away sorrowful. I want you to capture this picture. His eyes were blind. His face was sad and his hands were22:37 full. The reason his eyes were blind and his face was sad is because his hands were full. And whatever was filling his hand was 1 that was22:49 occupying his heart. Listen to me carefully. By the grace of God, I enjoy a good Indian meal like biryani. Now, if23:01 someone had cooked a feast for me and put in front of me a wonderful Indian dish, and all this Indian dishes. Now imagine,23:13 I had already eaten McDonald's and KFC and filled my stomach. And I come in here and there's a precious banquet.23:25 No matter how good the food is, how delicious it is, how rich it is, I'll still not be hungry enough to eat it. That's the truth. You and I, God is inviting us into23:37 his banquet, and yet we can't enjoy it. Why? Because we have already enjoyed the junk food. The junk is in our heart, in our hands. That's what the Bible says here. He doesn't23:49 hunger for the things of God. He doesn't hunger for God himself. He doesn't hunger what God can provide for him because his hands are full. Therefore his eyes are blind and his face24:00 is sad. Number 6, there is a radical warning here. Verse 25 says, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.24:12 3 times in this text Jesus says, it is difficult for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. It is difficult for a wealthy person to enter the kingdom of God. Now you might sit there and think, oh,24:24 I don't thank God I'm not rich, I'm not wealthy. But according to United Nations, everyone who lives in a western world, you are considered rich. If you24:36 have a roof over your head and food on your table and you're not worried about where you will sleep tonight and where you will eat tomorrow, you are rich. You are24:48 wealthy. And the Bible says here, a wealthy person, it'll be so difficult for them to enter into the kingdom of God. Why? I want you to25:00 catch this principle. We desperately need to realize the deadly nature of our possessions. In other words, we can't allow the possessions to possess us. The moment the possessions25:11 occupy the allegiance of our heart, we may be wandering away. See, in Jesus' picture, possessions are not25:23 blessings. Possessions are actually barriers. See, the world looks at someone who's blessed and say, oh, this person is blessed because he bought a house. This person is blessed because he's got upgrade in his life.25:35 This person is blessed because he's got a promotion and an income pay rise and all that. He's he's got multiple possessions. Listen, possessions are not really blessings. Possessions could be barriers. That's the25:47 picture Jesus wants you to catch. Why? Because if you allow these possessions to possess your heart, they're gonna take you away from the things of God. What is the New25:59 Testament's stance on prosperity? I want you to go with me to First Timothy chapter 6 and verse 17 to verse 19. Let's read it together. 3, 2, 1. As for the rich in this present age, charge them not26:10 to be haughty. Circle that word, not to be haughty. In other words, when you have possessions, possessions produce pride. Not to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches,26:23 but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. See our God is not a killjoy. He actually provides for you to enjoy. But at the same time, what He26:35 has given for you to enjoy, He also gives it to you for to employ. To employ for His glory. Look at this. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to26:46 share. Thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. Love that scripture. It says if you really wanna26:58 be rich, be rich in God. Be rich to
Paul Jeyachandran
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