Forsaking All 4

Every Christian must forsake all.
Forsaking all is not an entrance test for Christians who want to do more for the Lord, or to become a missionary, for example. Forsaking all is a requirement for every Christian.
God requires every believer to forsake anything that comes between that person and God.
Forsaking all is first a spiritual act, a letting go of anything that obstructs our relationship with God.
Specific items are forsaken not because there is a particular time that Christians should forsake them but because we must not allow anything to come between ourselves and God.
Forsaking all includes, but is by no means limited to, people, secular jobs, possessions, wealth. Forsaking all encompasses anything and everything, all that is within a person’s understanding, except for God Himself.
While forsaking all is primarily a spiritual act, it is manifested in the physical when the believer literally cuts ties with the things he or she is required to forsake.
Forsaking all is not done in obedience to a particular group or church. Forsaking all is done only as we follow Jesus Christ Himself, not any organisation, and it certainly should not be done as a means for admission to a church.
There is no set formula as to the specific things that every Christian should physically forsake. Some will be required to forsake their employment, family and wealth. Others may need to forsake other things. There is no set rule as to when every Christian should forsake a particular thing.
There is no precedent in the Bible for the Family to insist that its members forsake all as a precondition of membership, neither is forsaking all supported in the Bible as a means of income for church administrations.
Christians forsake all as they follow the personal leading of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit leading their life. We forsake all as we follow the personal call of God, not by imitating the way someone else forsook all.

How did the early disciples forsake all?

Peter, Andrew, James and John left their fishing nets and their family to follow Jesus.

Matt 4:18-22

18 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.

19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. And He called them,

22 and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Matthew left his employment.

Matt 9:9 As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.

As we noted in Forsaking All part one, there is a difference between disciples and apostles. Disciples of Jesus are all true Christians. Apostles are those specially chosen by God for a particular purpose. Peter, James, John and the other apostles were specially chosen. Leaving their families and employment was not, of course, a condition for their salvation, but something that Jesus asked them to do in order that they may fulfil their role as apostles.

Does this mean that everyone Jesus calls with a special purpose will have to leave their employment and family? No, of course not! Some may be required to do that, others not. When He called His 12 apostles, Jesus did not lay down the law as to how every Christian or even every apostle from then on should act. Rather, He called them personally, and likewise each Christian is called personally, by the Holy Spirit.

The second point that is important to bring out, especially for churches that require their members to donate their possessions to the organisation itself, is that none of the disciples gave their possessions to Jesus. They did not bring their savings to donate to the other apostles. Rather, they left it all behind. It does not say that Peter sold his boat, and brought the money to the treasurer (Judas). As a matter of fact, there was one instance when Jesus actually gave someone directions to sell his possessions.

The rich young ruler.

Matt 19:20-22

20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”

21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Again, this was a personal instruction to a particular man, not a general law that should govern all who want to follow Jesus. Interestingly, however, the young man was to give the money to the poor, not to the other apostles. Jesus told him to sell all that he had, and then give the money away so that he would come to Jesus with absolutely nothing more than the clothes on his back. In saying this, Jesus pinpointed exactly what this young man had allowed to entice him away from God. Jesus knew what this man had to forsake, not because there is a general rule that all apostles must divest themselves of all their possessions but because this particular man held those possessions in his heart, between himself and God.

After the rich young man had wandered away dejectedly, Peter started boasting about the sacrifice that he and the other apostles had made.

Matt 19:27-30

27 Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?”

28 So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

29 “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.

30 “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Jesus promises a specific role for His twelve apostles, and a general blessing for all who do likewise. He did not, however, institute a rule for everyone to follow in order for them to become missionaries. In fact, it appears that because Jesus said that one of the blessings is ‘eternal life’, that He is talking about our eternal salvation, in the same way that Luke 14 exhorts us to forsake the things that entice us away from Him.

Paul also mentioned his own sacrifice, but he was certainly not boasting about it!

Phil 3:8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ

Anything that prevents us from gaining Christ is but rubbish to be discarded, forsaken. That is how Paul ‘forsook all’. He forsook the external righteousness of the Pharisees that he might gain the indwelling righteousness of Christ.

There is no set formula as to the specific things that every Christian should physically forsake. Some will be required to forsake their employment, family and wealth. Others may need to forsake other things. There is no set rule as to when every Christian should forsake a particular thing.

Giving to the church.

If we decided to use the story of the rich young ruler to legislate the requirements for new missionaries, then we would have to insist that the new members of our church come with absolutely nothing more than what they are wearing. The new members would actually have to be forbidden to give anything to the church at all!

In the book of Acts, many people did sell their possessions upon their conversion. The money was then given to the apostles. What did the apostles do with the money?

Acts 2:44-45

44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common,

45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.

Acts 4:34-35

34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold,

35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.

The apostles did not keep the money, they gave it away to anyone who was in need. They did not set up a central administration to fund the apostle’s work, they immediately passed on any money they received to whoever needed it. The money wasn’t used for the apostles or leadership; it was given to anyone in need. In Acts chapter six, it seems that there was a ‘daily distribution’ of whatever had been donated. It appears that the distribution was made to any believer, whether they had a special calling or not.

Acts 6:1 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.

There is no precedent in the Bible for the Family to insist that its members forsake all as a precondition of membership, neither is forsaking all supported in the Bible as a means of income for church administrations.

When should we forsake all?

Jesus told us to follow Him. He said that we would hear His voice personally and so we would know where to go.

John 10:2-4

2 “But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

3 “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

4 “And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

John 10:27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

We are to follow Jesus, not His other disciples, not the church, not the Family, but we are to follow Jesus. The only time we can follow other disciples is when they themselves are following Christ. In other words we are still responsible to follow Christ.

1 Cor 11:1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

This verse in first Corinthians does not give blanket authority to church leadership to insist on unswerving obedience from their followers. Rather it says that as long as those in leadership are following Christ, they may expect that others will follow Christ together with them. But as soon as the leader no longer follows Christ, they can not demand allegiance from their flock. As Christians, Jesus Christ is our chief Shepherd and He is the One that each of us must follow.

Each of us has been given the Holy Spirit to enable us to discern the will of God for ourselves.

The Holy Spirit dwells with us personally.

John 14:17 “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

He teaches us all things.

John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

The Holy Spirit has been given as a Helper, to teach each of us personally. Specifically, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would teach us personally about right and wrong: righteousness, sin and judgement.

John 16:7-11

7 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

8 “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

9 “of sin, because they do not believe in Me;

10 “of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;

11 “of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

The Holy Spirit will teach us personally how we are to follow Jesus.

John 16:13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

The Holy Spirit has been given so that we could personally know the things of God.

1 Cor 2:11-12

11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

The point is that Jesus leads us personally, He teaches us personally, He came that we may be personally restored to fellowship with God His Father and gave us the Holy Spirit that we may personally follow Him. There are numerous passages in the Bible where God insists that He Himself takes responsibility for our guidance.

Isa 42:16 I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them.

Isa 48:17 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go.

We receive salvation as a personal gift from Jesus Christ; the Holy Spirit is a personal guide to each of us, and the way we are directed to ‘forsake all’ also comes as a personal leading of the Holy Spirit. God alone knows our heart. He alone can see the thoughts and intents that reside deep within us (Heb. 4:12). He alone sees the things that separate us from Him. He insists that we must forsake everything that we have in order to come to Him through Jesus Christ, and He takes responsibility for cleansing our hearts with His Word (John 15:3) and leading us in the path that we are to go.

‘Forsaking all’ cannot be something that is done according to a set formula because it means divesting ourselves of all the things that entice us away from God. Setting down a mini-pattern that ‘forsaking all’ means leaving family, secular employment and personal wealth may even prevent us from hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. If we are convinced that we have already forsaken all that there is to forsake, there may in fact be a great many other things that come between us and God.

God may require us to forsake personal wealth at one point in our life, family relations at another point, or secular employment or our reputation or our own life. Eventually we will be required to forsake everything.

If we forsake our family, secular employment and personal wealth because we are partially imitating the way some people were called in the Bible, we run the risk of exalting the doctrine above the personal leading of the Holy Spirit, or of exalting ourselves above Jesus’ personal call, or of manufacturing a ritual where none existed.

Some churches have excelled in contriving rituals and ceremonies based on biblical events. As an example, the Pharisees tithed the produce of their own gardens based on the Old Testament rules regarding the tithe. They exalted the doctrine to such an extreme that they prevented themselves from receiving the spirit of God.

Matt 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

This easily becomes the powerless display of godliness we are warned about in Timothy.

2 Tim 3:5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

It seems as though the Family has created its own ritual, confining what Jesus said in Luke 14:33 to leaving wealth, employment and relatives in order to join the Family. It becomes a ritual when it is a set pattern, without totally relying on the Holy Spirit to lead us where we should go, what we should forsake, and when we should forsake it.

Christians forsake all as they follow the personal leading of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit leading their life. We forsake all as we follow the personal call of God, not by imitating the way someone else forsook all.

Getting personal…

It’s impossible to study these verses without them ‘kicking back’ in some form or other. We have seen that we will all be required to forsake everything that we have, and that this is by no means limited to our wealth, relatives or employment. Christians cannot have anything between themselves and Jesus Christ, so it becomes prudent to ask ourselves what the Holy Spirit wants of us. Is there something we need to forsake? Is there something we are holding between us and God?

Note that the following questions do not say, ‘Is there something we are holding between us and God’s work?’ but ‘between us and God Himself’, for even God’s work can entice us away from Him.

Is there any person who is enticing me away from the Lord, whether deliberately or unconsciously?
Are any of my possessions blocking my access to God?
Is my work for the Lord interfering with my relationship with Him? How about my pride in my work?
Am I holding to any doctrines that draw me away from the commandments of God as revealed in the Bible? Any doctrines based on misinterpretations of Scripture?
Am I following any person rather than following Jesus Christ? Am I allowing anyone to be the voice of God for me instead of the Holy Spirit?
Am I following any church rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to lead me personally?
Am I equating my church or Family membership with closeness to God? Is this membership itself replacing my personal link with Jesus Christ?
Am I assuming that my good work for the Lord means that I have forsaken all?
Am I limiting my ‘forsaking all’ to the narrow restrictions of secular employment, relatives and money, while remaining determined to hold onto my own life for myself?
Is there any sin that I have not forsaken? Am I allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to me about my sin, or do I rely on others to tell me? Are there secret sins that I don’t want to forsake?
Am I holding onto any bitterness about the past? Are there any failures or disappointments I have not forsaken?
Have I allowed any past accomplishments or successes to come between myself and the Lord? Is my pride of service blocking my access to God?
Am I enticing myself away from Jesus Christ with expectations for the future?
Do I have any habits or hobbies that I am holding between myself and God?
Has the Lord been trying to get through to me about the books I read, the movies I watch, the music I listen to, the company I keep?

Conclusion

‘Forsaking all’ is a requirement for every Christian, not that they may be used in God’s service, but that they may come to Jesus Christ, having forsaken the sins and temptations that obstruct the way. No one can receive salvation without coming to God through Jesus Christ, and in order to do this He asks us to forsake the ‘rubbish’ that obstructs the way.

Once we have forsaken the things or people that tempt us away from the Lord, then it will present no difficulty for us if we are actually called to leave our possessions or money behind in order to give our lives for a special ministry that God calls us to.

Many people are indeed called to forsake ‘houses or brethren’ in order to fulfil a special calling.

However the Bible does not say in Luke 14:33 that those who want to do more for the Lord than other Christians must first quit their jobs and leave their families. Luke 14:33 is for all believers; all Christians must forsake all in order to come to Jesus Christ, but the verse does not legislate what Christians should do in order to serve the Lord in a particular ministry. Neither does the verse indicate that forsaking all must be done at a particular time.

If the Family wishes to retain ‘forsaking all’ as a condition of membership, they would do well to explain that this is a Family requirement, not a Bible requirement.

While the Bible clearly says that we should forsake anything and anyone that comes between us and the Lord, in order that we might gain unobstructed access to God through Jesus Christ, the Bible does not say that any church has the right to insist that its members donate all their possessions to the church itself as a condition of membership.

It is clear that the Lord requires everything that we have. By the time we stand before Him, there will be nothing left that we have not forsaken. Anything that we try to retain will inevitably come between us and God. When Jesus said, ‘all that he has’, He meant all.

Luke 14:33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. (KJV)

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