The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-15
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The Cost of Discipleship

lHe SOSt Ol DlSClpieSnlp "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; whosoever will lose his life for My
 sake shall find ita-Matthew 1925. | It was at the close of the great teach CTS ministry. Multitudes were following
 Him, going up to Jerusalem to the feast l of the passover. at which Jesus fore
 knew He would die as the antitypical
 passover lamb. Occasionally in the jour
 ney He would address some of the null | titude Todays lesson gives us some of | His teachings.
 l The terms of discipleship which Jesus
 set forth it will be noted, are very diff ferent from those proclaimed by some
 who profess to be His mouthpieces. They sometimes proclaim that it is sufficient
 sign of discipleship for people to arise and
 declare that they desire the prayers of
 Gods people, Such are counted as con- ! verts. To get them to take even this step requires the holding out of inducements | greater business prosperity to the mer- | chant. greater favor with the employer | for the clerk, an entrance to society or
 better prospect of political perferment. l If we contrast these with Jesus words
 in this lesson, we shall perceive that the vast number of nominal Christians have
 been, so to speak, inviegled into profess 1 ing something that they never intended
 to profess Many are entrapped into pro
 fessing Christianity who never were l Christians. according to the Masters con
 dtions or dlscipleship, and who never 1 hearken to His Word.
 If any man come unto Me and hate
 not his father, and mother. and wife, and | children, and brethren, and sisters; yea, |
 disciple. And whosoever doth not bear l his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple" Surely there is no excuse l for misunderstanding such plain condi- | tions! The Masters teaching that 1 the whole world is lost, estranged from
 God and without the right to everlasting l life. But He came to die, "the just for the unjust that all the unjust might have the opportunity of returning to di-
 vine favor He did not say that none but
 His followers woul dhave opportunity
 of future life Those who so declare are
 adding to the Word and helping thus, | eventually. to confound themselves.
 A probably parallel statement is found | in Matthew's Gospel Q0:30: He that l loveth father or mother more than Me is 1 not worthy of Me" The word hate is
 apparently used in contrast with love To be disciple of Christ, then, means that
 We must love supremely the Lord and the i principles for which He stands, so that love for others would in comparison be
 hatred.
 This proposition in it's very start slgni- l fies a cutting-off-so far as the man is
 concerned the will, the purpose-of every | other love that would conflict with out love for the Lord and our obedience to 1 His will. We are to be ready to sacrifice at the Lords command every earthly hope, aim, object and to lay down our lives willingly gladly. Such as manifest
 a devotion of this kind can be trusted with anything. Of these the Lord speaks, saying propheticaly, ''they shall be Mine
 in that day when I (come to) make up My jewels. ."-Malachi 3:17.
 | The fact that Jesus was of this char acter Himself, and placed the Fathers
 will above all other considerations, is an
 assurance that all His joint heirs in the Kingdom will have the same mind, the
 same spirit. The kingdom will not be a.
 selfish one. but the very reverse. The
 kings. princes and judges of that king
 dom will be not only irresistible in power,
 but incorruptibe unbribale. With them the divine standard will be first, in the
 absolute sense.
 Such devotion to the Lord necessarily
 means that the followers of Jesus will
 be thought peculiar people; and that
 many will think their course strange,
 unnatural, insane. Hence, as St. Paul
 said, we are counted fools all the day long for Christs sake-because We preach
 the wisdom and the love of God in con trast to the wisdom and love of humanity. Of such St. John writes. saying: "As He was, so are we. in this world"-ostra- cised, misunderstood, reproved, slandered. Only those who can stand such an expe-
 rience can be wfbners of the crown to which Jesus referred, saying. To him that
 overcometh will give a crown of life. and grant him to sit with Me in My throne.
 Definition of Cross-bearing Adding to the severity of the terms, Jesus declare. whatsoever doth not bear his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple It is not enough that we should start out with a courageous in- tention, an acknowledgement of Jesus, and a bold profession of disciplesh'p. After we have taken our stand on the Lords side, we must be proven. Only those who demonstrate their worthiness by their faithfulness, will be finally &C., cepted of the Lord Cross-bearing must be a daily matter. Our crosses are those oppositions of the world, the flesh and
 the devil which cross the divine will as
 laid down for us in the Lords Word. The only proper sentiment is that which the
 Master expressed. saying: Not My will. ! but Thine, be done."
 As an admonition to undertake disciple | ship without mature deliberation, our | Lord gave parable of a man who be- ; gan to build Q tower, but was not able | to complete it, and thus made himself i ridiculous foolish Another illustration was that of going to war without proper preparation, an undertaking which would | result disastrously. All followers of Christ set out to build character and to fight a good fight. Whoever enlists un- der the banner of Jesus takes his stand against Satan and sin. and must expect to have hard battle and not to re- ceive the victors crown. except by faithful perseverance, in well doing
 "SaIt Is Good, But Jesus used salt as a symbol, represent I l. ing His own loyalty to God and the loy- atty which His followers must have had . maintain. If salt lose it's value for sea- soning purposes, 1t Is useless for any \ thing else. So the Christian Aas a specia pur pose in the world-to be preserva-
 tive power, to have antiseptic qualities
 and to draw out all the good qualities of those with whom he Is connected. Thil