Unveiling the Heart: Exploring the Motives of Discipleship

Welcome to Equipped for Purpose. I'm your host, Vincent Reign, and this is the podcast

where discipleship meets impactful leadership. Whether you're new to faith or a seasoned

follower of Christ, this podcast is designed to help you deepen your relationship with

Jesus, grow as a leader, and make a difference in every area of your life. Together we'll

explore practical tools, biblical insights, and real-life strategies to equip you for

the purpose God has called you to. Let's dive in.

Welcome back to another episode of Equipped for Purpose. I want to

get into a topic that could be looked at as very subjective today, and that's the topic of motives.

And exploring the motives behind being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Everybody's going to have some

different motives, but I want to explore those and really look at why those matter. You know,

our motives as disciples of Christ, they shape our actions. They reveal our hearts and influence

our journey with Jesus. And so that's why I think it's important to have a conversation about motives

and ensure that we are aligning our motives with our calling and our identity as sons and daughters

of God. So what does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? We've talked about this before.

At the beginning of the year, I gave some definitions of a disciple and discipleship

that I developed and am currently using. But generally it just boils down to a follower who

seeks to live out Jesus's teachings, who loves as he loves and surrenders to his will.

That's the basics of it. I do want to give that definition again. And again, this is one that

I developed and am currently using. And I explained before, I say currently because

I hold these things open-handed. If Holy Spirit comes in and shapes what it is I'm doing in the

future, I want to be malleable to what it is that he is doing in my life. I don't want to be rigid

and fixed in my mindsets and not be willing or able to change. And so that definition is

one who has faith to intentionally place believing trust and loyalty in Jesus Christ as the Messiah.

One who is taking intentional and focused daily action to see the fruit of transformation

to be more like Christ. And one who is taking intentional and purposeful action to share the

gospel of Jesus Christ. So there is some intentionality in there, some action to

being a disciple. And so I just wanted to make sure that we have some kind of working definition

that we can go through in this episode. And so that's where it starts off is what are we defining

as a disciple? And so here for the purposes of this show, that is the definition that I'm working

from. So let's understand some motives. Let's look at that. So there are some what I would call

primary motives for following Jesus. And the first one, and this is top of mind for me,

especially right now with some of the conversations that we've been having in some of the classes

that I'm taking. And the first primary motive is a response to what has been done for you on the

cross. This is a huge one. This is where when I see the word works or hear the word works,

this is what I think about. I don't think about doing stuff for Jesus to earn anything.

It absolutely earns me nothing in the way of favor or grace or salvation to go out and do

works on behalf of the kingdom of God. I go out and do works on behalf of the kingdom of God in

response to what he has done for me on the cross. His death and resurrection allowed me to be pulled

back into the family. This is what puts me in right standing, not my works. I do my works

because of what's been done for me. So for me, that is the biggest and primary motivator

in discipleship, in being a disciple. This is one of those things that drives me day in and day out

is not that I need to earn acceptance or anything like that or try to

make God happy with me by doing good works. No, it's just a hard response to what he's done for

me, which leads into the next motivator, which is a love for him and a love for others. We can't look

at people as the enemy, even if they present themselves to us as enemies. They're still fellow

image bearers, whether or not they are choosing to believe or not, whether or not they are choosing

to follow God or not, they were still created in his image. Their choice to live that out is

their choice. My choice as a disciple of Christ is to love them. I love God and others. So that's

another primary motive in following Christ. This third one is similar to the first, but it's not

a response in what was done for me on the cross. It's just simply gratitude for that sacrifice.

I'm thankful for that. In all of these things, I'm very thankful. And so I know that could be

looked at as the same thing. I have a response to him to go out and do good works for what he's done

for me on the cross. But at the same time, I carry tremendous gratitude for his sacrifice,

being willing to come down as the creator and live as one of his creatures, to

be tempted in every way that we are, to suffer as we do, to be wrongly accused,

beaten, spit upon, humiliated, and to die for us. I just can't help but be absolutely grateful

for that. And in all of that sacrifice was an outcome of me being pulled into the family,

of you being pulled into the family. So I can't help but be grateful.

And the fourth in this list of primary motives is just a desire to glorify him. I want to see

Jesus glorified. And that's through my actions, through my worship, through my time in prayer,

through sharing him, through conversations in community. Everything I do, I want to

have him be glorified in. Does that always work itself out great in my life? No. We all have

things that we struggle with. I get angry every time I'm in the car. My anger in the car doesn't

glorify him, but I understand that that's one of my problems. And I'm working to correct that

because again, I have a desire to glorify him in every situation, in every action I take.

And the fifth of these primary motives is just hope. We should be carrying a hope for what is

coming. Yes, we know that as Christians, death has been defeated. Ultimately, evil has been defeated.

That has already happened in the work of Jesus Christ here on earth. It just hasn't fully

manifested yet. So it's an already but not yet. So we carry hope with us. This is another motivating

thing in following Jesus is that I can have hope. I can absolutely hope in what is coming and what

he says the future earth is going to be like. So those are some primary motivations for following

Jesus. We also need to look at alignment with his teachings. We know that pure motives reflect

his call to selflessness and devotion. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus at the beginning of this chapter

is talking about giving. And it says, beware of practicing your righteousness before other people

in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven.

Thus when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues

and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly I say to you, they have received

their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand

is doing so that your giving may be in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you.

This is a motivation of the heart. Where is your heart at? Is your heart to glorify God

or glorify yourself? This is one of those reflections of motives here.

And another place in scripture that I go to often on this podcast, and I think it's important

because this verse really extracts a lot of meaning to the Christian life and to discipleship

and will really cause you to count the cost of what it is you're doing. And we're going to get

into this in a future episode, but it's Luke 9 23. It's Jesus talking and it goes, he said to all,

if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Nothing is going to reveal your motives more than daily taking up your cross and dying to self.

There is a selflessness that has to be involved if you're going to fulfill what Jesus is calling

his disciples to do in that verse. And yes, there are going to be some challenges that come up,

and we're going to talk more about those in a minute, but there will be things that challenge

pure motives. It doesn't mean that you're out of God's will. It doesn't mean you're out of alignment

with him. It may mean you're in perfect step with him in that moment because something is coming

against you to challenge you or stop you from what it is you're doing. When we think about motives,

we can look at Peter's journey. He went from impulsive declarations when Jesus is talking

about his imminent death and Peter's like, no, may it never happen. Or when Jesus is washing

the disciples' feet and Peter tries to stop him and Jesus is saying to him, no, we have to do this.

This has to be done. And then at Jesus' trial, Peter denies him. But ultimately we see in the

book of Acts, his humble leadership. We see him out teaching what Jesus taught. We see him out

bringing more people into the family. Peter went from impulsive declarations to denial and ultimately

to humble leadership. So this shows you how motivations can evolve over time. Peter had

one understanding of Christ initially and you can see how that progressed in the gospels.

You can see even after his declaration of you are the Christ, the son of the living God,

to still making impulsive declarations and denials. But his motivation was changing over time.

His motivation to see seeing the overthrow of Rome went from that to wanting to see the kingdom

of God spread throughout the earth. This was something bigger than just overthrowing the

current oppressors. So motives, they do evolve over time. So I mentioned challenges that can

come up against your motivations. When you have these pure motivations, there are going to be

obstacles that come up. You can think about pride, seeking recognition. You get a glimpse of

what it is that you could garner in the way of attention. There could even be a fear

that comes up that maybe you'll be rejected or possibly fail. And failing publicly is not

any fun. If you have the right mindset though of failing forward, it'll be okay. It may sting a

little bit, but it'll be okay. What do you learn from it? How do you move forward? As a follower

of Christ, there is going to be rejection. He makes that very clear to us in scripture. There

will be rejection and it will be because of him. It will be because you are a follower of Christ

that you will have rejection. Do you have a fear of that? I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I'm

not saying you're wrong for having that fear. It's something that's going to come up, but how are

you going to deal with that? There's also those worldly pressures, you know, chasing status

or chasing comfort over your faith. Comfort is something we're all drawn to because nobody wants

difficulty, but the fact of the matter is that following Christ is not always going to be

comfortable. There just has to be an acceptance of that reality. I'm not saying it's 24-7 oppression,

but there is going to be discomfort over time. What are you doing with that? I say these are

common obstacles because they're common for everybody. Everybody is going to go through

these in some form or fashion. How they present is going to be a little bit different for each

of us, but they're all pretty common. I mean, in the parable of the sower in Mark 4, Jesus points

out some very common challenges that come up against people. When hearing the gospel and

taking action on that, he says in Mark 4 verses 3-9, Listen, behold, a sower went out to sow,

and as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up,

since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root,

it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it and yielded

no grain. And other seed fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing

and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. And he said, He who has ears to

hear, let him hear. So they go on there. Jesus is with the twelve disciples, and they're asking

him about the parables, and he tells them that the sower sows the word, and these are the ones along

the path where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word

that is sown to them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground, the ones who, when they hear the

word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while.

Then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the

world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the

word. And it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear

the word and accept it and bear fruit. Thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. So then in verses

14 to 20 that I just read to you, Jesus lays out what this means, and he's telling you there are

some common challenges that come up against the word. There is the common challenge where it comes

and it's just snatched away. There's the other one where people turn away because of persecution.

Maybe they're concerned about their reputation or the status that they want. And when that

persecution, that challenge comes, they turn away. It's too much for them. And others are really

chasing riches or other things of the world. The word gets choked out. The message gets choked out.

They don't have the gospel in them. Those with pure motives are going to be the ones that bear

fruit. They're going to be the ones that hear it, take action, and they're going to bear fruit.

And like I said a minute ago, these challenges aren't anything bad. They don't represent anything

negative about you or your walk with Jesus. They could just be challenges that are coming up against

you to derail you from your walk with him to keep you from bearing fruit. But these struggles,

you can't look at them as necessarily a bad thing. Yes, there could be some difficult

outcomes to deal with in these, and I don't want to diminish that at all.

But again, going back to mindsets, how is it that you're looking at these things?

How are you looking at these struggles? If you're looking at them only as a negative,

it's going to be difficult to continue because that persecution comes and you could fall away.

If that's the mindset you have is that it's just persecution for persecution's sake, it's not.

If you look at these struggles as a test and a strengthening of our motives,

that's going to have the alternate outcome of drawing us closer to Christ and drawing us closer

to Christ-like character. So challenges aren't something that should be breaking you. They

should be refining you. Work with Holy Spirit. This is where you are starting to grow in faith.

Holy Spirit has a big role in this. When your motivations are tested, it can reveal something

that might be hidden in there. And maybe you hadn't identified yet. And that has the ultimate

effect of empowering you to align yourself with God's will even further. Again, so many times,

people won't stop to really interrogate their thoughts and feelings and emotions that are going

on and assume that when trouble comes, it is God saying that you're out of will. You're out of my

will right now. When in reality, you could be in God's will and this could be the enemy's attempt

to throw you off. But if we don't take the time to really do an investigation and interrogate what

this situation is bringing up in you, you could just fall away. You have to remember the Holy

Spirit's role in all of this and be able to have the conversations with him to understand what's

going on. Let him reveal your motives. Let him reveal what's going on and allow that to empower

you. Don't let that bring you down if something is revealed that needs to be corrected. If Holy

Spirit's bringing that up in you, that should be a good thing. He's wanting to work on you. He's

trying to work with you here to grow, to come more into alignment with God's will.

Some practical things that you can do to align your motives is just be in prayer. Be seeking

guidance and be honest before God. If you are having a struggle with something, talk to him

in prayer about it. Don't just suppress it. Don't pretend like something isn't going on

because then that's going to fester and that's going to be a back door in for the enemy to come

in and try and derail you. Honesty with God. Let him know what your true feelings are.

Let him refine those motivations that you have. Seek guidance in prayer. Be honest

and reflect on what it is that you're hearing. Write those things down. I say this a lot.

Journaling is a big deal because it can allow you to remember the path that you've been on.

It allows you to see your progression of growth. This is where I was at a year ago, a month ago,

a week ago, and here's where I'm at today. But at the same time, in that moment, it allows you to

get some thoughts out, create some space for more, and really examine what it is that's going on in

your heart. But you've got to be willing to quiet the noise of life and everything going on around

you. Put the phone down, take the earbuds out, maybe leave the phone in your car,

go into a coffee shop, sit down with a journal, and write. Reflection is going to take a little

bit of effort, but it is an invaluable time for you to really look at what's going on and the

conversations you're having with Holy Spirit and the ones you want to have. And then like I've

talked about over and over again, another practical step you can take is just getting into a community.

Get into a community of other believers. You're going to find accountability there, where when

you are bold enough to share what is happening in your discipleship walk, you're going to be

able to find people that will hold you accountable to what it is that you're doing, to what it is

that you're being called for. And this isn't something where they're looking to point fingers

at you and say, oh, you did this bad. Accountability isn't about that. Yeah,

that's a component of it, sure. But accountability also involves encouragement and it also involves

some uplifting. Accountability is not a one-way street where everything's coming at you. It's

a two-way street there of asking others to pray with you. This is what I'm praying for right now.

Will you come alongside me and pray with me? There's accountability there. There's going to

be encouragement there. I cannot stress enough the importance of community, in particular,

in-person community. There is something different when you are physically in connection with other

believers that takes place. Online community is great. I don't knock it. There is much that can be

done there. There is a lot of connection that happens there. There is

accountability that can happen there. There's encouragement that can happen there. All of

these things can happen in an online community as well. And for many people, that is the primary

means of community in the moment. Long-term, though, find physical community, local people

that you can connect with. Whether it's one or two or a large congregation of believers,

get connected with people. There are some questions that you can be asking yourself

when you're thinking about growing in faith. And the first being, why do you follow Jesus?

It could be very simple. If your answer gets incredibly complicated, take a look at what

your motivations are. Second question, where do your actions not match your faith? If you say

you believe something, do your actions actually follow that out? So where do your actions not

match your faith? And the third, what's pulling you away from a wholehearted devotion? When you

think about that parable in Mark 4 and those common challenges, what are those things that are

pulling you away from being all in, in following Jesus? One of those things that pulls me away is

wanting to be known. I live in relative anonymity. Not a lot of people know me. Not a lot of people

know who I am. And that's okay. Yeah, there is a want to be known. There's a want to be

looked at as a go-to person. I think we all have a desire to be known.

But I'm careful with that as a motivation. Over time, that wanting to be known has changed from

a prideful egotistical thing into a wanting to be known in community.

I want to be known as someone who loves others and who can be someone to help with accountability,

someone to go to for prayer or direction or guidance, and not as an egotistical thing,

but in the motivation of going back to what I talked about at the beginning,

going back to the motivation and the primary motivation of simply doing good works in response

to what's been done on my behalf. I was freely given the gift of sonship and I want to see more

people receive that as well. And I want to see more people walking in that sonship each and every

day. And so wanting to be known, that's how my motivation has changed over time from one of ego

to one of desiring to help and overcoming of selfish ambition. Again, going back through that

whole reflection and allowing Holy Spirit to do his work in me, this is the journey that I've come

through with that big challenge right there. And that was my big challenge. And wanting to be known

hasn't gone away, but it has shifted into something different. So it's not the same as it was.

I don't tell you all of these practical steps to just throw things out there. This is

a process that I have personally gone through myself and I want to share that with you.

I've seen the fruits of it in my life and I see the fruits of it in other people's lives as well.

So I'm really hoping that this helps in looking at your own motivations and evaluating those and

being able to say, yes, I have pure motives and that when challenges come up, I'm going to be

able to overcome them. I am going to be one that bears fruit 30, 60, a hundredfold.

Okay, just a quick recap. We have talked about discipleship beginning in your heart with your

motives, understanding what those are, understanding that our motives evolve as we grow in our faith.

We need to remember that challenges are not going to bring us down. They're going to refine

and strengthen us. And that is a process that we are going through, but we're going through

with a guide. We have Holy Spirit to lead us. We can't forget that. You are not alone in the

process. There also needs to be some regular self-checks to keep us on track, that accountability,

that journaling practice, going back through those things, looking at your own progression.

We need to have those regular checkups. And finally, remembering it's a lifelong journey

and it is worth embracing this lifelong journey. If at any point you feel like you've gotten to a

place where you have arrived and there is nothing else to work on, you need to work on pride.

There is never a moment of, I have reached the pinnacle of discipleship

and there is nothing else for me to learn. I have no more growth that can take place

than you need to probably start over. This is a lifelong journey. We are all on it.

We are at different points along the path, but we are all on the same journey of discipleship.

And it is a journey worth embracing. So I just want to invite you, approach your discipleship

with honesty, grace, and hope. Let that be an encouragement to you. And my challenge to you

this week is to take some time to pray and examine your motives, seek God's guidance,

understand fully what your motivations are for being a disciple of Christ,

and then lead those around you in the same conversation so they can understand their motives

as well. All right. I hope this has been helpful for you. Thanks for listening. And if you know

somebody that could benefit from this, please share it with them.

Thank you for tuning into equipped for purpose. I hope today's episode gave you

tools and inspiration to deepen your discipleship and strengthen your leadership.

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website. And remember, you are being equipped for a purpose. Go make an impact.