Characteristics of Christ’s Disciples

Characteristics of Christ's Disciples

(No. 2650)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1899.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JULY
16, 1882.

"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife
and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life, also, he
cannot be My disciple." Luke 14:26.

"Then said Jesus to those Jews who believed Him, If you continue in My
word, you are My disciples indeed."

John 8:31.

"By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for
one another."

John 13:35.

"By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will
be My disciples."

John 15:8.

This morning, [Sermon #1669, Volume 28–Teaching for the Outer andInner
Circles] I preached upon one of the privileges of the disciples of
Christ–"When they were alone, He expounded all things to His
disciples." They formed the inner circle and they had the privilege of
hearing the expositions and explanations which our Lord gave only to
His disciples. As I was speaking, I think the question must have arisen
in the hearts of many of my hearers, "What is a disciple of Chris?" and
also the further enquiry, "Am I one of His disciples?" It is very
important for us who are preachers to know what a disciple is, for we
are bidden to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. What is
involved in the making of a disciple? We cannot fully answer that
question until we know what a disciple is!

In order to help you, dear Friends, to ascertain whether you are truly
disciples of Christ, I am going to call your attention to four texts in
which the Lord Jesus mentions some of the things which are essential to
true discipleship–and without which a man cannot be His disciple. I
pray the Holy Spirit to make those who are disciples to rejoice in
their discipleship and to count it the highest honor of their lives to
have the Son of God for their Teacher and Leader. And I also pray that
those who fear that they are not His disciples may be brought to Him
even while I am speaking. May they, by His Grace, resolve that they,
also, will be His disciples, and may the Divine Spirit conduct them
into the School of Christ, that they may sit at His feet and receive
His Word from this time forth!

I. The first mark of discipleship to which I am going to call your
attention is mentioned in the Gospel according to Luke, the 14th
Chapter, and the 26th verse. "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate
his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes,
and his own life, also, he cannot be My disciple" These words prove
that the first requisite of a disciple of Christ is WHOLEHEARTEDNESS.

The meaning of this passage is that Christ's disciple must so love his
Lord that, in comparison with the love he bears to Christ, all other
love shall burn but dimly and be scarcely worthy of even being named!
This verse has puzzled a great many people because they have supposed
that Christ really wished them to hate their father, mother, wife and
so on. The slightest possible thought ought to have convinced them that
He could never have wished them to do anything of the kind! If you take
Christ's Words without seeking to find their meaning, you can make
mischief out of them, for, sometimes, He speaks very boldly–I might
almost have said, with the utmost reverence, very baldly–in order to
make His point clear. He speaks in a manner which, in others, would be
foolishness. He goes beyond what He means us to understand literally,
because He knows that this is the only way in which He can bring His
teaching home to some minds. There was really no reason why anybody
should have made such a mistake and understood these words just as they
stand in our version. It is not possible for a man to be a disciple of
Christ if he hates anybody, for the religion of Christ is a religion of
love–and hatred must be expelled from the bosom of those who receive
it. It is utterly inconceivable that anybody who hated his father could
be a disciple of Christ–that would be a violation of the First
Commandment with promise, which bids us honor our father and mother.
Certainly Jesus never taught anything contrary to the Commandments of
His Father! He who hated his own mother would be a monster–not a
disciple of the meek and lowly Jesus who cared for His mother amid His
agony on the Cross. Does not nature, itself, teach us that our love
should certainly flow out to those who were the authors of our being
and who so kindly cared for us when we were unable to take care of
ourselves? I am not afraid that any of you, dear Friends, will err in
that respect and then fancy that you have the warrant of Christ for
hating your father and mother!

Then, should not a man love his wife? Yes, that he should, for the
Apostle says, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the
church." I have heard of one who was said to love his wife too much,
but I did not believe it, because the model for a husband's love is,
"even as Christ also loved the church," and who could go beyond that A
man may be excessively submissive or devoted which, in some cases, may
have been carried to such excess as to become folly and idolatry, but
from this evil I hope that we have escaped. But a man could not be a
disciple of Christ if he literally hated his wife. He would be unworthy
of the society even of the moral, much more of the society of the
gracious, if he so acted. Neither can we imagine Christ bidding anybody
hate his own children. Nature itself dictates that we should love them
and we do–we cannot help it, nor do we wish to help it. We should be
traitors to Christ if we tried to expel an affection which He, Himself,
has implanted within us. No man can hate his children and yet be a
Christian! It would be a clear proof that he had nothing of
Christianity about him, just as the Apostle says, of another matter,
"if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own
house, he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel." So, we
are not to hate our children–nor are we to hate our brothers and
sisters. It is only in a comparative sense and not literally, that the
term can possibly be used. And to make this very clear, Christ said
that we are to hate our own life. The next step to that would be
suicide and the Savior could never have meant any of His followers to
commit that terrible sin! What He did mean was that He is to have the
first place in our hearts and all who are dear to us are to be second.
Yes, and we ourselves are to be second, too, and are to be prepared to
break every earthly tie rather than the tie which binds us to Christ
Jesus our Lord.

The teaching of the text is that Christ is to be loved more than all
our relations. It may be that we shall never have to endure the test of
choosing between Christ and our loved ones, but some have had to do
that. You have, perhaps, heard the story of the martyr who was going
out to be burned for Christ. And as his enemies had failed to move him
from his steadfastness, they made one more attempt to do so as the good
man was on his way to the stake. They brought out his wife and his 11
children to meet him and they were all weeping and kneeling down before
him, begging him to recant. His wife pleaded, "My Husband, be not so
willful! Do not go to the stake," and each of the children had been
taught to lay hold of the father and to say to him, "Father, live for
my sake," "and for mine, Father." This was a trial which the good man
had not expected and as he stood there, surrounded by his loved ones,
he said, "God knows how dearly I love you all, and how gladly, for your
sakes, I would do anything that I may do, with a clear conscience, to
make you happy. But, compared with Christ and His Gospel, which I love
with all my heart and soul, I must give you all up and treat you as if
I had no love for you. I must go and yield up my body to be burned for
the Truth of Christ. Therefore, do not weep and break my heart." It was
grandly done on his part and you can probably get a better idea of the
meaning of my text from that incident than I could possibly convey to
you by any words that I might use.

Well, dear Friends, though your faith may never be subjected to that
supreme test, a matter of life or death, yet you may have to be tested
to see whether you love Christ more than you love your relatives. There
was a certain godly bishop who had a brother who came and asked him to
ordain him and to give him a living, for his trade did not prosper as
he wished. The good bishop loved his brother and he would have done
anything that was right to help him. But he said, "My dear Brother, you
are not called of God to undertake such work, so I cannot ordain you,
or give you a living. I will gladly give you money to help you in your
business, but I cannot make use of my position in the church to put you
into a place for which you are not qualified. Had you been a fit and
proper person for this holy service, I would have been delighted to
carry out your wish. But as you are not, I cannot use my influence on
your behalf in this way." I wish that every bishop would act in the
same way–they have not always done so. Yet there was the crucial point
in which the good man felt that he must rather regard the welfare of
the church than the benefit of his relative and he must treat him just
as though he had been a stranger. That is how we should deal with
anyone who comes to us for a similar purpose–if he is a suitable
person, let him be encouraged to enter upon the work for which he is
qualified. But if he is not, let him go back to his forge, or to his
plow, or to his awl, or to his plane, or let him engage in some
business in which he will be earning a livelihood and doing no mischief
to his fellow men, as he would do if he were put to work for which he
is not fitted.

Have not some of you, dear Friends, met with cases in which the same
difficulty has arisen? You must either do a wrong to Christ and to His
people, or else you must appear to be hard and unkind towards some
relative or friend. Well, you cannot be Christ's disciple if you
hesitate a minute about what course you shall adopt! Brothers, sisters,
wife, children, father, mother must never be allowed for a moment to be
put in competition with Christ! I remember one who, when quite a youth,
felt that he must be baptized on profession of his faith in Christ, but
those who were nearest and dearest to him did not agree with him upon
that matter. He had not one relative who thought as he did concerning
it. He laid his case before them and, being so young, he asked that he
might have permission to carry out his conscientious convictions, but,
at the same time, he said, "If the permission does not come, I shall
obey My Lord's command, for, in this case, I acknowledge no father or
mother, but simply do as my Savior bids me." In matters of religion,
Christ alone is our Leader–and our conscience can never obey any
supremacy but that of our Lord Jesus Christ. This decision is to be
announced very gently, without any bitterness of spirit, with much
humility–and prayer for wisdom and guidance–but there must be no
question about your action! You are to put your foot down, and say, "In
everything which concerns Christ and my soul, I call no man, 'father,'
upon earth, but, at all costs, I must follow my Lord wherever He leads
me." I think you can now see the drift of the Savior's Words. The rule
for you who are His disciples must be–Christ first and everybody else
as far down as you like. Everybody treated with kindness and due
consideration, but nobodypermitted to usurp the Throne of the great
King. So, in the first place, we must love Christ more than all our
relatives.

And, next, we must love Christ more than life. You know that there have
been many who have not loved their lives as much as they have loved
their Lord, for they have freely yielded them up for the sake of Him
who laid down His life for them. Christians, in past ages, have known
what was involved in being faithful to Christ. You may have read that
letter which Pliny wrote, concerning the early Christians, in which he
said that he knew not what to do with them, for they were men of good
character, but they had this one peculiarity that they must in
everything follow Christ. They actually came with calm confidence, even
to the Roman judgment seat, well knowing that if they were convicted of
being Christians, they would be put to death–and they seemed as if
they were eager to die–so anxious were they to put their love to
Christ before any thought of freedom from pain or escape from death!
What the torments were, to which they were put, under their many
persecutors, I scarcely dare to tell you. Think of one of them forced
to sit in a red-hot iron chair. And of others dragged at the heels of
wild horses, or tossed to and fro by bulls, or torn in pieces by savage
beasts. Everything that could add ignominy and pain to death was
invented in those times–but did the martyrs flinch or turn back? No.
They stood fast for Christ's sake and threw their lives away as if they
were worth nothing at all, rather than be found traitors to Jesus
Christ their Lord and Savior!

We are to be prepared to do the same as they did, if necessary. Only,
in our case, probably it will never come to that point in this country
where, thank God, we have so much civil and religious liberty. Yet,
often, a similar test may be applied to us in a modified way. There may
be, for instance, some loss of business through doing what we know to
be right! There are some persons who have been in the habit of carrying
on their trade on the Sabbath–but when they have become Christ's
disciples, they have shut up their shop on that day, and people have
said to them, "You will be ruined, you will never earn a living. You
know, we must live." I have often heard that last little sentence, but
I do not believe it. I do not see any necessity for us to live. There
isa necessity for us to be true to Christ, but not for us to continue
to live! It is a great deal better that we should die than that we
should do a wrong thing. And we should be prepared at any time to say,
"If necessary, we will let our trade go and we will be poor. But we
will keep a clear conscience." And he who has that little bird in his
bosom will never lack for music! And though he has scarcely a penny in
his pocket, yet if he wears the flower called heart-sense in his
buttonhole, he need never envy the richest man in the world!

It may happen to you, in your business, that there will be an
opportunity of getting money by being thieves in a respectable kind of
way–there are plenty of such thieves about. But if you are a
Christian, you will say, "No, money gained by dishonesty will carry a
curse with it. I cannot touch it any more than I would handle
blood-money. If it comes by any wrong method, I must leave it alone,
for pelf and wealth shall not come to me if they cannot come honestly.
I must and will serve the Lord Jesus Christ first and foremost."

Sometimes you know that for Christ's sake, our Brothers and Sisters go
as missionaries to India or China, and some go to the Congo or to other
stations in Africa where it is almost certain that, in a short time,
they will be cut down by the fever. But how brave it is on their part!
How truly a disciple of Christ is such a man or such a woman, who,
knowing all that may be expected, nevertheless says, "My Lord calls me
to serve Him in Africa. And if He sends me to a mangrove swamp and to a
fever, I will as readily go there for Him as if He summoned me to sit
upon a throne."

To sum up the teaching of this first text, it means that Christ is to
be loved more than anything. If this were the choice set before us–the
whole world, or Christ–thank God there are many of us who would not
wait a minute for the decision! And if this were the choice–shame in
the eyes of men, or else the far greater shame of deserting the Savior,
oh, I hope we would not hesitate even for an instant! "No," says the
Christian, "Christ is my All-in-All. If I have all things, I will try
to find Him in them and if I have nothing, I will find all things in
Him." So the meaning of this text is that Christ must have wholehearted
servants and if you come to Him to be His disciples, you must bring
your whole being with you. Christ will never be King over a divided
manhood. There was a time when this island was a heptarch and seven
little kings ruled over it. But now we have but one sovereign and in
this united realm we never shall have but one supreme ruler. So should
it be in man's heart. The devil is quite willing to share the kingdom
with Christ. "Oh," he says, "let Christ reign and let mereign, too! We
shall make an excellent pair to rule over men." But Christ will not
have it so. If we are to be His subjects, He will rule over us from the
crown of our head to the soles of our feet, and He will not permit
Satan to have a single stronghold within us that he can call his own.
Out you must go, you vile usurper, for He has come who is King of Kings
and Lord of Lords! The crown sits upon His brow, nor will He allow a
rival even for an hour! Come, then, Beloved, what do you say? Are you
wholehearted for Christ? If not, you are not His disciples. Listen
while I read our first text again, and as I do, you read into it the
true and full meaning of the words and feel their force. "If anyone
comes to Me, and does not hate his father and mother, wife and
children, and brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life, also, he
cannot be My disciple."

II. The second requisite for being a disciple of Christ is found in the
8th Chapter of the Gospel according to John, at the 31st verse–"Then
Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, If you continue in My word,
you are My disciples indeed." So CONTINUANCE is the next trait in the
character of a true disciple of Christ.

There are a great many persons who, like those Jews, profess to believe
in Jesus Christ for a time. When opposition and persecution came, they
deserted Him and so proved that they were not really His disciples. I
do not know much about the merits of the question, which is often
discussed in the papers, with regard to enlistment for a short or a
long term of service in the Queen's army, but I know that my Lord and
Master will not accept any of you unless you enter His army for
life–no, more–for all eternity! In Christ's true Church there is no
profession of faith merely for a time. Once you have made it, you have
made it forever. The very way of confessing Christ, which is by
Baptism, signifies this, for the man who is rightly immersed into the
name of the Sacred Trinity is first buried and then he rises again–and
that burial, having once taken place, can never be cancelled–whatever
happens, it is an accomplished fact. Then, again, the act of immersion
can never cease to be a fact. Marks made in the flesh may be removed,
but when the watermark has been put upon the whole body, it can never
be removed. He who has been buried with Christ may have been a
hypocrite and a deceiver, but, notwithstanding his hypocrisy and
deception, he has passed through the outward form of the ordinance and
he can never clear himself from the responsibility of it. It will be to
his everlasting disgrace if he is a baptized reprobate! At the Day of
Judgment it shall be conclusive evidence of his guilt that he either
tried to deceive himself, or deceived God's people and made a mockery
of the ordinances of Christ. But in the case of a true believer in
Christ, continuance in the right road proves him to be a Christian.

First, we are to continue believing Christ's words. Whatever new
doctrinal errors may spring up, we are to take no notice of them, but
just continue in the faith of Christ. Then shall we be His disciples
indeed! In these evil days, some new heresy appears nearly every week.
There are some people who seem to spend all their time in inventing
lies and these, joined to the old errors that are continually being
vamped up, puzzle those who are not well established in the faith so
that they scarcely know what is orthodox doctrine and what is
heterodox. But he who keeps close to his Master, sits at His feet and
learns of Him–when he is taught of the Spirit–and holds fast what he
has received. Mr. Whitefield used to say that in his day there were
some persons for whom it was impossible to make a creed. He said, "You
might as well try to make a suit of clothes for the moon, for they
change as frequently as she does." And we have many people of the same
sort in our day! They are "everything by starts, and nothing long." But
that is not a characteristic of Christian discipleship! A man is not
Christ's disciple if he is "tossed to and fro, and carried about with
every wind of doctrine," allowing anybody to put an oar into his boat
and turn and twist him wherever the intruder pleases. No, the Master's
message to His followers is, "If you continue in My word, you are My
disciples indeed."

But we must also continue in obedience. It is the part of a true
disciple of Christ to do his Lord's will in the teeth of every
temptation that may assail him. You will not be obedient to Him very
long without being pulled by the coat, first this way, and then that.
But the true disciple of Christ says, "If all the kingdoms of this
world were to be given me on condition that I would fall down and
worship the god of this world, I would not, for an instant, thinkof
doing so, for I am enlisted in the army of the Cross. I serve the Lord
Christ and Him alone."

And we are also to continue in Christ's word when we are in affliction.
There are, alas, some who, if God seems to treat them roughly, grow
mightily offended with Him. A dear child is taken away from their
family circle and they say that they will never forgive God. They have
trouble upon trouble and straightway they complain that God behaves
evilly to them–and they are ready to turn back at the first crossroad
that they come to in their pilgrimage. But this will not do for those
who would be "disciples indeed." We must hold on, come fair or come
foul, and this must be our motto, one that I have often quoted to you
and one that I love to think of myself–"Though He slay me, yet will I
trust in Him." We have committed ourselves to Him as unto a faithful
Creator. We have lifted our hand in token of our allegiance to Him, and
we cannot go back!

Dear Friends who have just lately been converted to Christ, let me
exhort you to be steadfast and immovable! You cannot be Christ's
disciples unless you are firm and decided. A Christian soldier who had
to sleep in a tent with some ungodly comrades, knelt down at night to
pray and every time he did so, he was assailed by all sorts of
missiles. He consulted the chaplain as to what he had better do and
that time-serving individual said he thought, perhaps, it was not
necessary for the soldier to kneel down publicly before he retired to
rest. The soldier tried the cowardly plan for one night, but he was
very unhappy and his conscience was troubled about it. He had failed to
bear testimony for Christ, so, the next night, he knelt down as he had
done before and it pleased God that, by degrees, the opposition ceased
and, more than that, the influence of his brave example and the words
he spoke at different times, brought all the other men in the tentto
kneel down, too, before they went to rest! Whether they were all
converted or not, I cannot tell, but, at any rate, there was at least
the form of prayer in that way. When the soldier saw the chaplain,
again, and told him what had happened, the chaplain commended him, and
then the soldier asked him, "Don't you think it is better for us always
to keep our colors flying?"

That is a good watchword for you, Beloved–Always keep your colors
flying! There are some professors who say, "We can carry our flag
wrapped up in a waterproof case and when there is a favorable
opportunity, we can let it fly in the breeze." No, no! It is best to
keep your colors always flying. There may be danger and difficulty
through flying the flag, but a hundred times worse danger comes from
rolling it up and putting it away out of sight. Never be ashamed of
what there is no reason to be ashamed of! If any man is ashamed of
being a Christian, surely Christ has cause to be ashamed of him! Let it
not be so with you, dear Friend, but rather let each one say–

"Ashamed of Jesus? That dear Friend

On whom my hopes of Heaven depend?

No! When I blush, be this my shame–

That I no more revere His name." But, as to blushing when I acknowledge
that I am His servant, may never such a crimson token of shame come
onto my cheek! So stand fast in the faith, Beloved, for thus shall you
prove that you are, indeed, Christ's disciples.

III. I must now pass on to a third mark of a genuine disciple of
Christ, that is, BROTHERLY LOVE. Kindly look at the 13th Chapter of
John's Gospel, and the 35th verse–"By this all will know that you are
My disciples, if you have love for one another."

This is to be a mark of discipleship which all men can see. Whenever
there is genuine love among Christian people, everybody knows at once
that they are Christ's disciples. Good men and bad men–the most
ignorant and the most foolish men cannot help seeing that love is, as
it were, a sign hung out as a mark of the business done within. That
disciple whom Jesus loved, wrote, "Beloved, let us love one another;
for love is of God; and everyone that loves is born of God, and knows
God. He that loves not knows not God, for God is love."

Now, Brothers and Sisters, how are we to love our brethren so as to let
all men know that we are Christ's disciples? One ready way is by
considering their needs and doing the best that we can to help them out
of their difficulties. If we say to the cold and the hungry, "Be you
warmed and be you filled," and yet do nothing practically to help them,
how dwells the love of God in us? What kind of Christianity is that
which is liberal only in words Dear Friends, there are many poor people
among us who are struggling to get a livelihood and, alas, there are
many others who cannot find any employment at all. And it is incumbent
upon any who are being prospered by God to help their poor brothers as
far as they can. Very often a man can truly help his fellow, even
though he has no money to spare. I read a pretty story of a Cornish
miner who was getting rather old and the captain of the mine said,
"John, I think that I can put you into an easier berth than the one you
now hold. You will get more money and you will have to be an overseer
of others rather than to do much yourself. I know that I can confide in
you, so I will put you into that place next month." The miner said, in
reply, "Captain, do you know our brother Tregony?" "Yes," answered the
captain. "You know that he is older than I am," said the miner. "He
cannot do a day's work, now, and I am afraid that he will have to give
up altogether. I wish you would let him have that berth because, though
I am getting old, I think that I can keep on for another year or two.
So let old Tregony have the overseer's position."

The captain did so and that is true Christian love when a man is
willing to make a sacrifice because he feels that he is not quite as
much in need as another. I remember saying to a poor widow who came one
morning to the Orphanage with her child, "There is another woman
outside. You have been talking to her, have you not, while you were
waiting to come in?" "Yes, Sir," she answered. I said, "She has nine
children and we can only take one. How many have you?" "Three," replied
the woman. "Well, now," I asked, "which of those three shall we take?"
"Oh, Sir!" she said, "there is not a minute needed to deliberate about
it! You take one of that other poor woman's children. I will try to do
the best I can, though it is a hard pinch for me, but that woman has a
heavier burden to carry than I have, poor thing." I was pleased to see
such a spirit of self-sacrifice and I am always glad when Christian
people feel that kind of sympathy and love for one another. How often
might rough roads be made more smooth if all acted like that! This is
just what we must be constantly doing, for we cannot be Christ's
disciples unless we have love for one another.

Beside that, we can show our love to our brethren by bearing their
faults. It is a grand thing to be able to put up with a good deal.
There are some people who seem to think that they have come into the
world that other people may put up with them–and they certainly do
play their part, for they give other people plenty to put up with! And
if anybody should in the least resent it, they say, "So-and-So is out
of temper with me." I was going to say that an angel might be out of
temper with some people, but I do not suppose that he would. Still, I
wish that these people would remember the provocations they often give
as well as the sharp retorts they sometimes get. "Oh," says one, "I do
not believe that there is any love among Christians." Brother, you are
measuring our corn with yourbushel! You see that you have not any love
in your heart, for, if you had, there would be some love in your eyes
and you would perceive some, also, in others. But when it is clean gone
out of your own soul, you suppose it must also have departed from
others.

Of course, you do not admit that it has gone out of you and you imagine
that you see outside of you what is really inside, so, when you say
that there is no love anywhere, it is because you are looking at
yourself in the mirror, that is all. But we who love the Lord can, I
trust, bear with one another. I sometimes try to think which is the
greater wonder– that you, dear Friends, have put up with me so long,
or that I have put up with you! There are some of you who are the best
people in the whole world and there are others of you who are not the
best, but rather the reverse, and some of you do cause us trouble
sometimes. Well, may God give all of us great patience and may we
believe in one another! That is half the battle in all the difficulties
that arise among Christians–that we should not impute wrong motives to
our fellows, and not be ready to bring accusations against one
another–but just believe that each of our fellow members is a child of
God and if there is something which he has done, and which looks wrong,
say, "It must have been misrepresented or misreported. I am sure it
must–he cannot have done such a thing. I will stand up for him. He is
my Brother-in-Christ, so I will defend him."

There is one other point in which some of you may exercise love for one
another and that is, in rejoicing in each other's happiness. This is a
point which is far too often forgotten. You know the tendency among
men–here is a man who is rising in the world, so there are many who
say, "Ah, humph!" They do not say anything more, but they shrug their
shoulders and they look full of unutterable things. Or there is a
Brother who has done well in the Church and he is referred to in terms
of approbation. Then at once somebody begins to try to pull him down
and says, "Ah, yes! I could have done what he has done." Then why did
you not do it? "Oh, but he had such great advantages!" Yes, perhaps he
had, and you also have had opportunities of doing something or other,
but you have not made the best use of them. Now, instead of being
jealous of our Brother's success, ought we not rather to be rejoicing
in one another? If a man is poor, let him rejoice that everybody is not
as poor as he is! If he is troubled about his worldly circumstances and
he meets with a Brother who has no cause for such sorrow, let him say,
"I am glad he is better off than I am. I do not want him to have
anything to worry him as my troubles perplex me. I praise God for his
prosperity, I bless the Lord for his happiness." Then when we see an
especially gracious and gifted man coming into the Church and serving
God, let us welcome him heartily and say to one another, "Here is a
true comrade for us and we are glad that God has sent us such a man to
help us in His work."

I wish that we were all of the mind of that noble Spartan who wished to
be a magistrate, but another man opposed him and received twice as many
votes as he did. What did the Spartan say? "I am grateful that the
country has better men than myself and I am glad to see that it knows
where to find them when it needs them." So, dear Friends, be glad when
God provides better men than you are to do His work. Let the preacher
rejoice when another preacher excels him. That is the point to which we
must all bring ourselves. Let the Sunday school teacher praise the Lord
when she finds another teacher who altogether eclipses her. What a
blessed thing it is for the Bible class teacher who has a large company
around him, to find another Brother raised up who gets a better class
than his has ever been! Bless God when it is so, dear Friends. This is
one of those points that is often difficult, but it ought to be
easy–and it would be easyif we had love for one another! And if we
have not such love, we are not Christ's disciples.

IV. I must close now with just a few remarks about the last
characteristic of a disciple of Christ. It is mentioned in the 15th
Chapter of John's Gospel, at the 8th verse–"By this My Father is
glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples." So
the last mark of a disciple is that of FRUIT-BEARING.

What is bearing fruit in this sense? Well, first, it is doing service
for Christ He said to His disciples, "He that abides in Me, and I in
him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without Me you can do
nothing," plainly implying that the fruit which is to come from abiding
in Him will be seen by our doing something for Him. Christian men and
women, the Lord Jesus Christ does not want to have any followers who
never foil or fight for Him! He does not wish to have with Him
shepherds who never feed His flock–merely nominal Christians who never
do anything for Him. Does this touch any of you? Some of you come in
here, Sunday after Sunday, and you sit and enjoy my ministry, but you
do not help in the Sunday school, you do not distribute tracts, you do
not preach, you do not do anything! How can you be Christ's disciples?
I suppose you are like some officers of whom I have read, who draw
large salaries because they are such distinguished ornaments to the
service. It is a great honor to have these people in the army, though
they never saw a sword drawn except on review days. So, no doubt, it is
a very fine thing to have a number of Church members who are simply
ornamental persons–they swell our numbers when they are counted with
us and people say, "They are so very respectable that they help to make
us all respectable."

Well, now, to tell you the truth, we do not care an atom about your
respectability! We think that the most respectable person in the
world–that is, the person who most deserves to be respected–is the
one who is doing something! He who does nothing deserves to be starved,
even as the Apostle Paul said, "This we commanded you, that if any will
not work, neither shall he eat," which is much the same thing as
letting him starve. Let us try to be fruit-bearing disciples by doing
all that we can for Christ, because, if we do not bear fruit, we cannot
be His disciples.

Next, fruit-bearing will be proved by our prayers. Notice the words of
our Lord–"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask
what you will and it shall be done unto you. By this My Father is
glorified, that you bear much fruit." Prayer, then, is a blessed fruit
of Divine Grace–prayer for others, prayer for Christ's Church, the
prayer that brings down unnumbered blessings from above. Many a sick,
bed-ridden saint who cannot speak and who can scarcely lift her hands,
can lie there and do great things in prayer! Joan of Arc was not half
so mighty as that poor invalid! She is the King's true warrior! While
she lies there apparently helpless, she is commanding the legions of
Heaven by her invincible petitions! See, then, dear Friends, that you
bear much fruit in earnest, prevailing prayer!

Another method of fruit-bearing is by a holy character. O Beloved, I
implore you to be holy men and women! Seek after close conformity to
the likeness of Christ. Nothing does more good for a Church than for
its members to live the Gospel in all their concerns at home and
abroad.

But I think that we shall not bear fruit as we should unless we
endeavor to bring converts to Jesus. Dear mistress, seek to win the
soul of your little maid! Good master, employing so many hands, get
them together, sometimes, and talk to them about your Savior–and pray
that He may be theirSavior, too. Can you do it? There ought not to be
one barren member of this Church. Everyone ought to be able to feel
that when he comes before God at the last, he shall be able to say,
"Here am I and the children You have given me." For this let us live!
For this let us labor! If we do not, we cannot be Christ's disciples.

I remember one who never did anything for Christ and when somebody
spoke to him about his lack of fruit-bearing, he said that he bore
insidefruit. I never heard that idea before, so I turned it over in my
mind and, the next time I met him, I said to him, "Are you still
bearing inside fruit?" He answered, "Yes." "Well," I said, "we shall
never get at it till you are cut down." Fruit is evidently intended to
be an outside thing that is borne for the benefit of others! So, in
this respect, Brothers and Sisters, see to it that you are fruitful by
rendering all possible service to our Lord and Master.

The real application of my four texts is this–Are you, dear Friends,
Christ's disciples? Let that question be passed around and let these
four marks help us to judge ourselves–are we distinguished from those
who are not Christ's disciples by our wholeheartedness, continuance,
brotherly love and fruit-bearing? May all these things be in us and
abound. And if we have none of them, may we apply to Christ for them!
Lie at His feet. Confess your sin and then look up, believe in Him and
live forevermore! The Lord bless you, dear Friends, for Jesus' sake!
Amen.