Study 13 of 13 on Discipleship
“The cost of discipleship? Sometimes it isn’t the persecution from an outside force but the giving up of our preconceived ideas. Oswald Chambers writes “People pour themselves into their own doctrines, and God has to blast them out of their preconceived ideas before they can become devoted to Jesus Christ.” That blasting out of our preconceived ideas…or our wrongly inherited ones…is like God setting our broken spiritual bones right…it hurts…it’s hard to move initially…but when it heals….and we clearly recognize Jesus as our Saviour and friend…we are able to continue our power walk with Him.” –Falvo Fowler
Scriptural Basis: Luke 12:49–53; Deut. 21:15; 1Cor. 9:24–27; Matt. 18:8, 9; John 14:1–3; Heb. 11:32–12: Key Text: “Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:7, ESV).
1. What’s the seeming fixation with Christians and suffering? If you don’t suffer…does that mean you’re not “disciple” yet? Matthew16:21-25; Luke 21:12-19 2. How does that compare with the promise to Abraham? Luke 18:28-30; John 14:1-3; 3. What then is the true cost of following God? 4. Is our focus on the cost overshadowing the joy of the gospel? 5. Luke 12:49-53 and Luke 14:25,26: What is Jesus telling us here? 6. How do we, on a daily basis practical basis, put Christ before everyone, including family? 7. Then in John13:35 “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (NKJV) How do you feel about this radical call in comparison to what was in Luke? 8. Discipleship comes from spiritual discipline. What can a local church do to encourage that? Paolo Benini (Italy) contributed questions for this study