DISCIPLESHIP: Don’t Overcomplicate It
Pastor Steven Osborne
Transcribed by PulpitAI (with edits)
So I've got to be honest with you this morning. I don't—well, let me say this. Throughout this week, I had several things that I just feel like the Holy Spirit is ministering to me and where he’s challenging me as I think about this area of discipleship. And I don’t have—I’m a little maybe frustrated because I don’t have it all clear. That picture isn’t clear for me, exactly what the Lord is all sharing with me, and just as I’m wrestling with some of these things. But I’ll do my best to share with you some of the things that I do have.
We Should Look Different
But so this week, as I think about discipleship, a couple of things that came to mind for me. I was actually listening to a message. I’ve never heard from this pastor. I’ve never—just online, it popped up on YouTube, an African American pastor, and he kind of asked the question about why does the church not look different than the world? Why does the church not look different than the world? Now, in some aspects, we can maybe say it does look different, right? There is some aspects. But I’m wondering, in the context of discipleship and what God’s intent is for the church, are we really looking different than the world? And I’m not sure. I’m kind of wrestling with that question and just wrestling with some things that’s in my heart and what the Lord is kind of sharing with me this week and as I’m reading his Word.
And all I know, when I look at scripture—and I did a little bit of a word study. I’m not gonna throw all of these Greek words, and I got to do a little bit more research and some studies. But there’s several Greek words in the New Testament that talks about a transformation and different aspects on, when we encounter the Holy Spirit, when we become disciples, when God’s Word is living inside of us, then there’s all of these transformation experiences that should be happening in our lives.
And hopefully this morning, when you look at your own life and kind of when you gave your life to Christ, hopefully you can look back at the last ten or fifteen years and you can say, “Yes, I look differently. There has been a transformation that has happened in my life.” If not, if there’s not a transformation, then we have to pause this morning and we got to just say, “Whoa, why am I not changing? Why is there not a transformation?” Because again, God’s Word tells us that you become a new creation. Amen? A new creation in him, a new identity in him. And so we cannot look the same. Something is missing if there’s not a transformation in the church, in God’s people.
And so what I do know and what I do believe, when we think about the church, that yes, everyone is welcome in church. This morning, we will not say no to anybody that wants to come through these doors. Right? And so hear me clearly. It’s like, yes, everyone is welcome. We want them to experience the love and the grace of God.
But I do believe with all of my heart, right, when the Holy Spirit is working, when the church is living out God’s Word, then yes, you might come with different brokenness, with different sin, but then when you’re sitting here in the presence of God, and when you’re allowing God’s Word to bring change, that your life will change, right? That the Holy Spirit will deal with some sin, and that you’re gonna experience a freedom, that you’re gonna experience a deliverance, that you’re gonna experience a wholeness.
So there’s no way, when we look at the life of Jesus and his ministry and the ministry of the disciples, that people just stayed the same. When people encountered Jesus, when there was conversation with Jesus, their life changed. There was a transformation. And I don’t know about you, but there’s still a lot of areas in my life where I want to see transformation. I have not arrived.
The Ongoing Process of Sanctification
Last week, we looked at some words from Paul and he shared with us. First of all, he said, “Hey, I have not arrived.” Right? None of us will just arrive on this earth. Right? It’s an ongoing process. Discipleship is not, “You just go through confirmation, you get baptized, and then you you’ve arrived. Then you get your wings.” No, it’s ongoing. The sanctification work of the Holy Spirit is ongoing. And that work will continue until we meet with Jesus face-to-face.
And then Paul tells us, in this process of discipleship, he tells us, say, “Hey, I’m laying down some of my past. I’m laying down the old life and I’m pressing in towards what is ahead into the future.” Right? And to say, hey, there’s a lot of things that want to hold us back in this journey to discipleship. There’s things—your past, there’s some skeletons, there’s guilt and things like that—that wants to tell you that you are not worthy to become a follower of Jesus Christ. And Paul had some of that as well, although Paul was a great disciple, right, but he had some issues in his life. And yet he’s saying, he’s like, “I have not arrived. I don’t know everything, and that I got to press in. I can’t allow my past to just hold me back.”
And so for us as well to kind of lean into that, to say, you and I have to kind of fight that mentally constantly, because Satan will constantly tell you, “Oh, you’re not a disciple. You’ve done that, and look at your past,” right? But then for us to kind of press in and to say, “No, I’m leaning towards the good things, the promises that God has for us.” And I believe through all of that—not just, “here’s the two or three steps,” but through all of that—there’s a transformation that can happen.
And so I’m just very honest with you this morning. When we think about discipleship, and when we think about transformation, it has to be the Spirit of God that brings it. We cannot do this in the flesh. It has to be the work of the Holy Spirit. And Paul tells us, last week as we were looking at his word, he says for us to desire it. Do we still desire a transformation? Right? And so it needs to start there with a desire for transformation, a desire to know God more and more and more.
Definition of Discipleship
Now, when we look at this topic of discipleship, it is easy—you know, it’s a common word. If you’ve been in the church long enough, you’ve heard this word over and over and over and over. But it’s an important word, right?
And so discipleship, really, when you just kind of look at the core Greek word for it, it means to be a learner or a student. To be a learner or a student. And then it goes a little bit further. It’s like, yes, so you learn, but then you also have to apply. You’ve got to live it out, right? And so it doesn’t help for all of us to just—you know, it didn’t help for you to just go to school or go to college and you just take in all of this information but then you don’t apply it. Then you don’t live it out. If you go to college, you learn a lot of information so that you can actually go and apply that into the workplace.
And the same way, when it comes to discipleship, Jesus is telling us to say, “Okay,” he called his disciples and he said, “Come, you’re gonna do life and ministry with me. I’m gonna teach you, but it’s not just all of this information. Now you actually have to go and live this out. You’ve got to apply that in your life.”
And so last week I gave you just a quick definition.
Discipleship is the process of growing as a follower of Christ, rooted in the teaching and life of Jesus. It involves moving from spiritual infancy to maturity, becoming more like Christ in character and mission.
And so again, when we think about discipleship, it’s not just—don’t fall into the trap to think, “Oh,” when we hear that word discipleship, “Oh, I think of Peter.” You know, “I think of Matthew. I think of…” whatever comes to mind, because then you kind of just place discipleship out there, and you don’t apply it into your life. All of us are called to discipleship. It is for all of us. It is not just for a chosen few. It’s not just for a gifted handful of people or for some pastors. If you are a believer, if you have given your life to Christ, if the Holy Spirit is working in your life, then you are called to discipleship, and it will be ongoing, and it’s so that you can grow from a spiritual baby, infant, to maturity, where the Lord is doing a transformation in your life and is developing your gifts and your talents so that you actually can make an impact in the kingdom of God.
A Global Call
And so this morning, my title for the whole sermon is this, it’s “Don’t Overcomplicate It.” I think, in a sense, we have overcomplicated discipleship. And yet I also think that there is some challenging pieces to it.
So, let’s just look at two passages this morning. The first one, you know it well. It is the Great Commission, Matthew 28. If you have your Bible with you, I want you to highlight these passages as well, starting in verse 19. So let’s actually start there in verse 18.
Then Jesus came to them…
So this is at the end of his ministry, life here on earth.
Then Jesus came to them and said…
So he’s speaking to his disciples.
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
This is a profound, profound, profound, profound passage for every believer. These are important words that Jesus shared with his disciples, but these words are true and ring true and has application for us today as well. I want you to know this, that it’s a direct instruction from Jesus to his followers, to you and me.
And he says to go into all of the world, right? It is a global call. It’s a global call for us here in West Duluth. It is a global call for those in South Africa. It’s a global call for those in Southern Minnesota. It’s a global call to us in Northern Minnesota. It’s a global call to those in India. It’s a global call to those in Israel. It is a call to every believer, to say, “Go and make disciples.” To go. We have to go.
And it has to be something that we get really passionate and excited about, to say, “God, you have called me to a great work.” You and I get to be part of this global call to go and make disciples, to share the good news, to be his disciple.
To be a disciple means to go. It means to learn. It means to be transformed. It means to go and share, then to say, “I’ve learned all of these things from Jesus, but now I’ve got to go and take it.” There’s a transformation. “I’m so excited about what the Holy Spirit is doing in my life that I just can’t help myself. I want to take hands, I want to call other people out, and I want to make them disciples. I want to teach them about God’s goodness, about God’s compassion and who he is and the promises and the new identity that we have in him.” But it is a global call for all of us to go.
And it’s a call for us maybe in the workplace. It’s a call for us in the school, and for some of us, it’s just in our business here in Duluth, right, and for others it might be that call to the nations. But it’s a call, and we can’t ignore it.
And somehow in our own lives we’ve got to get passionate about it, because this is at the heart of discipleship. This is the call that Jesus tells us, to say, “Go. If you want to be my disciple, then you’ve got to go and do it.” It’s not an option. It’s not just when you feel good and there’s great worship music. It’s something that needs to happen every day in our lives.
And I know sometimes it is scary, but guess what? We’re missing the boat if we don’t get out and actually go and do it. Because this is what discipleship is all about.
And then here’s the beauty of it all. It’s just, at the end of that passage God is saying, “Hey, my Holy Spirit. I’m giving my Holy Spirit, and I’m gonna be with you. You are not gonna do this in your own power and your own wisdom. I will be with you until the end of the age.” We have the Holy Spirit that is going with us, church. We can be bold. We need to be bold. If we want to look different than the world, if the church—I’m not just talking Salem; I’m talking about the universal church. If there’s a transformation that needs to happen, and if we want to see that transformation, I believe that the church will need to get bold again, and we will have to trust God and we’ll have to trust the Holy Spirit in ways that we haven’t trusted Him in a long time.
But I think for too long we have become very, very comfortable when God has been saying, “Go.”
And we say, “No, I’m just gonna sit.” There’s no going.
Jesus is saying, “Go. Go.” For all of us. There’s no age limitation on this. You’re not too young; you’re not too old. It is for every follower of Jesus Christ.
Pitfalls of Discipleship
So again, this morning, I just want to say, don’t overcomplicate discipleship, right? And we have done it. We too often confuse discipleship with church membership. Coming to church is great, amen? It’s awesome. It is such a blessing. Thank you for being here. But this is not where it stops. Discipleship is not just Sunday morning from 9 till 12 or from 9 till 10:30 and Wednesday night. It’s a lifestyle.
We too often make it about rules and programs and not relationship. When we look at the life of Jesus and the disciples, it was all about relationship. It is not about programs. It is not about rules. We have so many different church conferences—and I love church conferences. I think we can constantly learn some new things. I love it. It is a great thing. It’s encouraging, right? But a lot of times we’ve kind of made, like, “Okay, this works for one church,” and so now we’re gonna say, “Hey, this is a one-size-fits-all approach to everything.” And it doesn’t work that way.
What Jesus Says About Discipleship
Let’s look at Luke 14 as we look at this topic of discipleship. It’s kind of the main passage for this morning for us.
Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
Now, when it comes to not overcomplicating discipleship, then it’s important for us to hear from the words of Jesus Himself. This is not a Steven thing; this is not a Christo thing; this is not a Covenant thing; this is a Jesus thing. He’s telling us exactly what it means to be a disciple. Right? And so let’s pay attention. Let’s look at what Jesus is teaching us what it means to be a disciple of Him.
Love Jesus First
First of all, he says,
Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.”
Now, that might seem harsh when you read that in the English, right? But it doesn’t mean what we think it means with this word “hate.” Don’t worry too much about the Greek, but what I want you to understand, at the heart of what He’s saying is to us to say, “Yes, love your wife, love your family, but love them less. Love them less.” This is what the Greek word means to us, what Jesus is trying to communicate to them.
And we got to understand—I mean, first of all, let me ask you this. Who loves their family? Okay, who loves their wife? We love our spouses. Do you love your kids? Most of the time, right? No, we love our kids. We love our family. They’re a gift. But even more so, you have to go back to Jewish culture to understand that there was even a different appreciation for families.
It was interesting, going back to Israel a year or two years ago, walking in the West Bank, and it’s poor. I mean, it’s a hard town. But I didn’t see one homeless person. There’s nobody on the street. And so I asked my friend there, and I—you know, maybe this was the first time that I went over—and I said… I mean, there’s a lot of poverty. You see the buildings, like there’s not a lot of money. I said, “But I don’t see homeless people.”
And he told me this. He said, “We take care of our family.” He said, “Why do you want your grandpa, why do you want your brother to be on the streets homeless?” Right? And so there’s a different appreciation, there’s a different value that they place on family. If you think you are tight, the Jewish culture was tighter.
And so these are then profound words from Jesus to say, “Yes, you love your family, but if you want to follow me, you have to love them less. You have to love them less.” Not hate them, but love them less. And so the concept for us then, in a sense, to say, how many other things do we love more than Jesus? We want to be a disciple. I want to be a disciple, but guess what? Just like you, I fail in many areas of my life where there’s a thousand other things that I love more. And Jesus is telling us to say, “If you want to live this life, if you want to live this thing out, if you want to be my disciple, you’ve got to love everything less. I’ve got to be a priority in your life.”
And I don’t know about you, but I get frustrated with my own life because I have not arrived at this place. But there’s a desire. I do have a desire. I want more of Jesus. I want him to be the most important thing in my life. And so it’s got to be God and then family. It’s got to be God and then family and everything else underneath that.
But do you love God more than anything else in your life? Do you love him more than pizza? Do you love him more than sports? Do you love him more than… whatever, you fill in the blank. But at the heart of it is, if we want to be an effective church, if we want to be a church that loves God, then this is the place and the transformation that needs to happen in our lives.
It’s like, “Man, didn’t sign up for that this morning, Pastor Steven.”
Carry Your Cross
Let’s continue as Jesus is telling us what it looks like to be a disciple.
And whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
We have to carry our cross. Discipleship is the road of self-denial, and we must be willing to endure suffering for the sake of Christ. I get concerned for my own life; I get concerned about our culture and the next generation when I see how easily we get distracted, how easy it is for us to throw in the towel.
Last night I was—a lot of our women this morning are at Bible Camp, Covenant Park Bible Camp, and it sounds like they’re having a great time. And so Venessa was there, and so Hailey and I went for dinner, and then we went to see the new God’s Not Dead movie. It’s okay. It’s good to see. Maybe wait for it till you can watch it online. Not bad. You know, good, clean. I’m grateful for good, clean movies. And it’s about this pastor that is kind of sensing that God is calling him into politics. And so he’s saying yes to God, and then suddenly all hell breaks loose. He’s being attacked on different areas in his life. And for him to kind of stay the course, to keep the faith in that moment.
Now I got to tell you, over the last several years, right, in different things, hard things that happened in my life, and then I’m scared because there were so many moments if I didn’t have the right people and the right voices in my life, I might have easily said, “God, you don’t care. This is too hard. I give up. I give up!”
But Jesus is telling us to say, “Hey, you will deal with hard things and trials and persecution in your life.” But guess what? It is about self-denial. It is about taking up your cross. We don’t preach this anymore. We don’t like to hear it anymore, right? But I wonder if this is why our churches are in the state that they are and why we don’t see a transformation in our lives anymore.
But Christianity is not just about, oh, easy, and good feelings, and praying and asking God for all of the things that we want in our lives, to be rich, and to be blessed, and blah blah blah, right? That list goes on. Actually, it’s just the opposite. If we want a deeper relationship and grow in our faith, then it’s gonna mean that we take up our cross, that we are willing to suffer for the sake of Christ, to stand, to be a voice, not to just go along with this world.
And I don’t know if you’re paying attention and you’re seeing maybe some of the stuff that is going on, but it is gonna become really important for us to study God’s Word, to understand actually what is important for God. Because it seems like everything that is important to God, the world is teaching the exact opposite. And so a lot of this stuff is unfortunately coming into the church as well. And so we got to say, “No, no, no. This is what is important to God. This is His heart. This is what it means to be a disciple. So I cannot go that route.”
I’m not mad or angry. I’m just passionate. I’m trying to figure it out with you because I want to get it right.
Count the Cost
Verse 28 says, “count the cost.” Count the cost. You don’t have to be a disciple. You don’t have to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Nobody is putting a weapon to your head this morning and saying, “Follow Jesus.” It’s a decision that all of us get to make. At some point in our lives, we get to decide to say, “Yes, I’m gonna be a follower of Jesus Christ. I have a desire. The Holy Spirit is working. The Holy Spirit is drawing me in. I’m reading His Word. This is what it means.” But at that moment still, we don’t do it just blindly. We have to count the cost.
Giving you two illustrations, the kind of illustration that kind of came to my mind this morning. I was driving. I actually, after our prayer time, I drove out to another building. But as you think about Chick-fil-A—anybody excited about Chick-fil-A? Okay. Mmm, just smell that chicken. Okay, who’s hungry now?
But, yeah, it’s dangerous. I’m gonna probably have to move again. My house is way too close to Chick-fil-A. Or I’m gonna have to get another raise.
And so every time that I’m driving by Chick-fil-A, I’m amazed at how quickly things are developing. Those guys are moving, right? There’s a plan. There was one day I was popping into Barnes & Noble, and there was a group of people, they were cranking up some music, and they were, you know, just… I mean, they had a system. These guys were going with the bricks and just building it. It’s like, “Whoa, this is gonna be done quickly.” And so there’s not one day that you drive past there that it looks the same anymore. Every day it looks different. You see some new development in them. They have a plan. Chick-fil-A has a plan. They have a date. They’re gonna open up at some point. Soon you and I will be able to get that chicken burger. It’s coming. It’s not a rumor anymore. We see the sign. We see the building. Exciting!
On the other hand, on Superior Street, there’s this building. I don’t have the history of this building. You’ve maybe seen kind of in the, where all the breweries are, near Dovetail and 190, there’s this building. And they’ve been trying to build this thing forever. I’ve heard that they ran out of money. I don’t know if that is true or not true, whatever is going on. I have no idea. All I know is for years now, I’ve been driving past this thing, and there’s no changes. Somebody did not count the cost. I don’t know if this building is ever gonna get done.
And the same way with Chick-fil-A kind of planning and saying “Here’s the plan, and here are some other surprises,” I want you to know this morning, and Jesus is telling us, he says, “Count the cost.” Make sure you can finish this building, because discipleship and being a follower of Jesus Christ is not easy. There’s a price that you and I will have to pay. We will have to love everything less, and if you’re not ready for it, you’re not ready for it. Don’t do it. But if he calls you, and you feel that drawing, and you say, “I am in,” then be in. Let us be in.
Total Surrender
But I want you to know again, when we look at verse 33, it talks about total surrender. It says, “Give up everything.” The Greek word here means “to renounce or to say farewell to” everything.
So God is just calling us to follow Him, to listen to His teachings, but then to apply it and to act it out.
I kind of just did a list on different things. I just Googled. I said, “Okay, just what are all of the things that Jesus tells us to do?” Right? And then I got all of these different verses. And so but this is what it means. It’s like to say okay, Jesus, there’s a whole—we have the gospel readings: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, right, and then you have all of the other letters that is telling us what is expected of us to be a disciple. Here are the things that you and I have to do. Be a peacemaker. Love your neighbor. Love yourself. Love your enemy. Right? And that list can go on and on and on and on. But it’s actually now to go and say, “Hey, I’ve seen Jesus. I’m following him. Now I’m just gonna do it.” Now let’s do it. Let us be the church. Let us be the disciples that God is calling us to be.
Stay Salty
And lastly he’s saying, “Hey, stay salty. Stay salty.” Not “salty” in the way that we use “salty” today, right?
I think the church has lost its saltiness because of compromise, because of conformity. And again, when we read Romans chapter 12, it says, “Do not conform to this world and to the patterns of this world,” right? I think it’s because of unresolved sin in our lives. And all of these things will cause the church, will cause his disciples, to lose its saltiness. And Jesus said, “I want you to be salty. I want you to make an impact in this world.”
And so just the opposite is like, how do we develop that saltiness in our lives? Stay connected to Jesus. Go and read John 15. And I think this is the key piece. We have to stay connected to Jesus.
Embrace holiness. That’s a swear word today. We do whatever. We watch whatever. We listen to whatever. There’s not a desire for holiness. There’s not a desire for holiness in our lives. There’s not a desire for holiness in the church.
And don’t compromise.
Take Your First Step
So this morning, I want to encourage you to take that first step to discipleship. I don’t know—there’s probably several steps. Don’t overcomplicate it, but just start to take that first step. You go and figure out that this morning, what it means for you. If the Holy Spirit is calling you this morning to discipleship, take that first step. Maybe that first step this morning is just to actually go and say, “Okay, Jesus, what are you teaching me? What are some things that I need to go and apply now in my life?” But don’t ignore this book.
Discipleship Pathway
Last week, I shared with you, we’re starting brand new, different small groups, Discipleship Pathway. And there’s four courses. And there’s signs up. Maybe this is kind of your step one, to say, “I want to be in a small group. I want to learn with fellow believers. I’m gonna commit to learning what Jesus tells me about discipleship.” And so I want to encourage you to sign up. Go to our website; you can see some of the photos. They all look way better than me right now. They all have hair. Okay?
But I shared with you last week some goals. I want to share it again. Why do we have this new program?
Because we believe in discipleship. We want you to be an effective disciple of Jesus.
And then last week, we talked about language. We want to speak the same language of faith. It creates unity and clarity. We want everyone to understand when we talk about words like “sanctification,” “righteousness,” that everyone knows what it means. Some of the basic pieces of verbiage about Christianity.
And then community. We want to create community. We don’t know everybody here. You don’t know everybody here, and it’s gonna take some effort on your end to say, “I’m gonna be part of something.” Even if you’re an introvert, I know that’s hard to walk into a home and you don’t know anybody. But guess what? At the end of the day, we all want to be known, right? And we all want to be seen. And there’s different stories. And so get into a group. It’s not just about all of the information, but it’s about get to know new people. Get to know about their stories. Get to know about the good things and the hard things that is happening in their lives, because you can be a blessing.
And then leadership. We just said, hey, we want to create healthy leaders. Our church is full of great, wonderful people and potential leaders. None of us are just born leaders. We all have to learn, and all of us have to be developed. And God wants to use your gifts and your talents. And so that’s the heart of discipleship.
