"Are You Healthy?"

What I want to talk about today is discipleship and what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. I think there's some confusion, so let me define what it means to be a disciple.

"Discipleship is the process of devoting oneself to a teacher to learn from and become more like them." For Christians, discipleship can only take place in community.

There is no discipleship with you off by yourself. That's not how this works. This is the process of learning the teachings of Jesus.

This is the process of following the examples of Jesus in obedience through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Discipleship not only involves the process of becoming a disciple but of making other disciples through teaching and evangelism.

Here is why I am leaning into this conversation today. I think it’s very important for one, and there seems to be a misunderstanding of what it means to believe in Jesus.

Somewhere in the last few years the idea that seems to be playing out, and believed, is you can believe in Jesus but not follow him.

A lot of people are able to say, "I believe in Jesus." What they're saying is they believe in some historic facts. They believe in Jesus like you would believe in Abraham Lincoln.

"I know he was a man. It seems like he did some good things. I kind of like what he has brought about."

But to believe in Jesus is not like believing in Abraham Lincoln. To believe in Jesus requires we follow Jesus, or we do not believe.

To say you believe in Jesus but do not follow him empties belief of its meaning.

You cannot say, "Jesus is the only begotten Son of God who has come to take away the sins of the world and to reconcile us and all that’s broken in the world to the Father, however…”

See, that is where the problem is friends, right there. “However, even though I believe those things, I have no intention of surrendering to or following him. I just believe he was."

Your declaration of Jesus and lack in following Him reveals you actually don't believe He is who He says He is. Your lack of following Him reveals your lack of belief.

To be a disciple of Jesus Christ does not mean we just believe some things intellectually, but that we've surrendered our lives over to His lordship, and we are following after Him.

Anything less than that is not biblical Christianity; it is something of your imagination. In fact, the early church was just known as the Way. It was Acts 11 that they're first called Christians. \

What do they mean by the Way? Well, they lived the way of Jesus. That's what they did. They lived life like Jesus would have them live life.

To be a disciple of Jesus, who is learning the way of Jesus and following in obedience, empowered by the Holy Spirit, is to have charged to you the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

There is no swagger in the kingdom. You have no boast but the cross of Christ. That's it! Literally, you have nothing to brag about, point to, celebrate, or pat yourself on the back about.

This is hard for us. It's hard for me! It's hard for us to believe what gives us access to our heavenly Father is just the free gift of God's grace extended to us.

Yet there is no one following Jesus, believing in Jesus, who does not lean on and live by this given righteousness.

Again, a disciple is in the process of learning the teachings of Jesus in the Scripture and following after his example in obedience to the power of the Holy Spirit.

My guess is many of us kind of heard the good news, grabbed onto it, and started just saying yes and following after Jesus.

If we're really, really honest, a lot of times what Jesus asks of us is easy to give. Then there are those times where it's not as easy at all, right? Most of us have these little areas.

We're just like, "Umm, Jesus, You can have everything. Just don't touch this."

What happens is we have this relationship, this fear, or this anxiety, and we don't want to lay it down. We want to control it, manage it, and hold it on to ourselves.

So Jesus knows this will be our experience. He tells this parable in Matthew 13 to kind of help us pay attention to the dangers that can befall us as we follow Him. Let’s dive into this text. Read: Matthew 13:1-9

Matthew 13:1–9 ESV

1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.”

Now what happens next in this parable is super encouraging to me. He tells this parable to the crowd and says, "He who has ears, let him hear."

Then what happens is his disciples come up to him and go, "We don't know what you're talking about. We don't.

I don't know how you're expecting them to understand because, man, we're with you 24/7, Boss, and we don't know what you're talking about."

What's encouraging is, without just laying in to his disciples, Jesus then explains the parable. Look at what He says. Read: Matthew 13:18-23

Matthew 13:18–23 ESV

18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

You have in this parable four types of soil. The first hears the Word but does not understand it.

I think what's happening in this part of this text is this category for people who are just not spiritually open. They're not interested in spiritual conversations.

Our role in that place is to simply pray God would soften the ground, pray God would give them understanding. We don't write people off. We pray God would create a sensitivity.

Then what we see happen in the second soil is where, as followers of Jesus, I think we just need to be aware this is a possibility.

The first illustration he uses this idea of someone who hears the Word and receives it with joy. Then the sun comes out, scorches it, and kills it.

The first danger as followers of Jesus Christ, as disciples, is having no real root. That gets exposed in persecution and tribulation.

Now whether we're taught it or not, there is in almost every one of us this insidious prosperity gospel belief that we have lived in such a way that we deserve the blessings of God.

If anything, Christians should never be surprised by tribulation and difficulty. The Bible is full of it!

Who gets out without bleeding, without loss, without mourning, without hurting? Who? You guys want to just walk through the Bible? Moses? Jeremiah? Paul? Joseph? Jesus? Nope.

We live in a broken world. Tribulation, persecution, should never surprise us. I don't know where we're getting the idea that giving your life to Jesus Christ means a life of ease without suffering.

It's certainly not our Bible. Now although it shouldn't surprise us, what we see in the Bible is it can and it's okay for it to shake us. It's okay to get shook by it. Illus: Jonah in his disease.

Remember when we were talking about Paul? You know, he was shipwrecked, beaten, all that. If you think about his testimony, it's a pretty amazing testimony.

Here's what he says about the sorrows of a broken world: perplexed but not crushed. Perplexed but not crushed!

Look at me. I get it. I get that on this broken planet right now, really difficult, painful, awful, evil, deplorable, despicable, horrific things can happen. I get it!

What the Bible says, what the Bible grants in our not being surprised by those things, is that it's still okay to be shook by them.

I know a lot of people who sprung up quickly. "I love Jesus. I'm going to follow Jesus." Then the hurts of this world began to make it difficult for them to believe God is trustworthy and good.

One of the things that can rob us of following after Jesus Christ is being theologically thin. Are you tracking with me when I say that? Being theologically thin?

Theology and the study of who God is and what God is like should lead to an understanding of His goodness and grace that brings vibrancy, purpose, and meaning to the Christian life.

To see Him for who He is, and to know His purposes is to have a type of rootedness that although we're perplexed, although we mourn, although we hurt, we can lean in and trust.

We can lean in with hope. We can, with our brothers and sisters and in community, hang on to the words of God as being true, right, and good.

But this isn't the only warning he gives us. Not only is there this category of having no root, being thin, but then he goes on and tells us the second thing we need to be mindful of.

He talks about the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches. He describes the process not as immediately they fall away but rather, they are choked out.

I don't know if you've ever been choked out. Let me describe the experience. Getting choked out is not like getting knocked out. Are you tracking with me?

When you get knocked out, that's kind of like instantaneous. When you get choked out, it takes a little while. Being choked out is to have the air cut off from getting to your brain.

It's not instantaneous. It takes a little bit. Illus: The only time I went out for wrestling

When he talks about the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches, he is not talking about where it can happen in an instant, but rather over a period of time.

We can be subdued. We can be rendered spiritually unconscious without even knowing it.

What does it? Here is the mantra of someone who is being choked out by the cares of the world: "How do I control this? How do I manage this? How do I manipulate this to my will?"

What happens is you feel the pressure of the world, your own fears, and insecurities. Rather than trusting in God and leaning in God, you leap to action.

You manage, you control, and you manipulate. You become the sovereign over your world in the false pretense of being able to control the world around you.

Look at me. It's a trap. The more anxiety you feel, the more you act in controlling ways, the more anxiety you feel. Downward it spirals.

What might just lift the weight of anxiety is trusting in someone Who actually has some power to do things.

You can't control other people. You can't manage them. You can't manipulate them to the point where you flourish and are filled with joy, and they flourish and are filled with joy.

What you can do, trusting in the planted righteousness of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit of God, is lean into the sovereign reign of our King and trust Him.

Follow Him in obedience, His grace, and His kindness. Then He ties this kind of controlling, managing, manipulating thing to the deceitfulness of wealth and riches.

I'm not saying wealth is a bad thing. I'm not saying you should feel ashamed or guilty if you have money and a lot of it. In fact, I would never want you to feel that.

I think you've been blessed by the Lord. You just need to make sure your money doesn't own you. See, what Jesus teaches is no man can have two masters.

No one can put their trust fully in God who has their trust fully in money. You will neglect one. Your security in tomorrow is either in God or in your ability to save and invest enough.

I'm not one of those guys who thinks you shouldn't be saving and investing. In fact, I would say wisdom says you should save, and you should invest.

Yet your future is not secure because of that nest egg. Your future is secure because you belong to the sovereign King of Glory. Do you see how it could choke you out?

Our world is out of control. There is a lot of fear right now. But guess what? God is on his throne. God is not panicked. God isn't anxious.

The Trinity is not huddled up to figure out the government. These things have not happened. God is on His throne. God is working His sovereign plan and calling His followers to follow Him.

Let me conclude like this. To simply state it again, there is no category of, "I believe in Jesus" that doesn't follow Him. That cannot, does not, exist.

I want to simply state it. There is no belief without following. We have been called to be disciples, followers, learners who apply what we've learned in obedience.

That's the call of the Christian life. Righteousness imputed. Illumination given. Divinely empowered to obey. Given some instruction on some things to look out for.

Look out for being thin spiritually, not having root. Look out for the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches.

I end with this appeal. If you're in here and you have just suffered some horrific things and those things have led to you questioning the goodness of God.

If you wonder how to reconcile His goodness with your sorrow, I just want to say, I get it. As a minister, I have just had to sit in some heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, horrific, terrible rooms.

I understand it. I want to invite you into the light with that. You don't need to feel any shame around that.

If you've ever wondered why Christians sing, why we rejoice, and why we get glad about Jesus, it's because in the light of our shame, it's always met with grace.

He does not heap condemnation upon those who have confessed their condemnation. He meets it with mercy. That's why we keep running to Him.

That's why we keep getting back up. Because mercies abound anew every morning for all of us who are in Christ. Let's pray.

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