"Who are we?" Series
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Called Disciples
Called Disciples
Let me preface this week and this month with a few things before I start.
Pastor Steve has been very generous to allow me preach this month and I appreciate that tremendously. He is your pastor and I am not. With that said, I am not here to passify you until Pastor comes back. I am here to preach what the Lord has laid on me and I have to, I can’t hold it back, it is burning in my bones.
Jesus is calling us to a deeper walk, always, and the conviction He has on me today about us walking with Him in a deeper way is strong.
My prayer is this, that the Lord reveals Himself in ways that cause your walk to grow deeper with Him, that His Glory, His Power, His Majesty be exalted in your hearts and lives and you be forever changed from this day on. Amen!
Just to prepare you for today, I will have a few questions that I will ask you....be ready!
also, the scriptures we will go through will be in the gospels.
the one question I would ask you to ponder, and I will ask you at the end of this message is this.
Is Jesus your Rabbi?
maybe you want to simply answer yes to the question right now, but hear me out and then answer it. I look forward to your answer.
Lets do this.....
When we come to the Lord in relationship to Him, we believe who He is, what He has done for us, and it changes us. It creates a different world view, now a Kingdom of God view since Jesus is here among us.
We are then called believers or Christians, but if we really go to the heart of it, what we are truly called to be is Disciples.
In our world today, we might not understand completely what this means. When we look into scripture, we find out.
Now, depending on where you are with the Lord, will depend on how this sermon affects you. There is a whole spectrum of people who call themselves believers today,
(describe the spectrum)
these are the two extremes, and maybe you fall somewhere in between them? Which ever you are, today and this month should help you see “who are we” in a clearer picture. It should speak to you about your heart and your actions and their connection.
So, disciples, lets go deeper into what that meant in Jesus day and what it is to mean today for us.
So, what is a disciple?
Lets look at Mark 1:16-20
Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets.
And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
What do you see here? We see regular people being called to follow. (actually passed over men from other rabbis, hence they are working men) they up and left their jobs, family, old life to follow Jesus. Is this what it means to be a disciple? Do I have to quit my job?
Let’s get into their culture a little and understand the rabbi/disciple relationship to get a better picture of what is going on here. In the book “Making Disciples Jesus’s Way”
Making Disciples Jesus’ Way: Wisdom We Have Missed The Role of the Rabbi
Every first-century Jew knew that the Scriptures had authority over all aspects of life. God may have been a mystery to them, but behavior was not. Furthermore, it was scrupulous behavior, not the condition of your heart, that defined a “righteous” person. Thus, many Jews had a desire to honor God by doing all the right things. In the world of Pharisaism, rabbis were the teachers who had been given the authoritative role to interpret God’s Word for the living of a righteous life—for defining what behavior would or would not honor God.
For a person to follow a Rabbi then, living with them and it was a teacher/student relationship but even more than that, the student committed to submitting to the Rabbi if he gave a command or said what scripture meant. The students saw everything the Rabbi did.... not just a snippet. (today, we have discipleship class and see the teacher in their gifting)
(Story of what we see in others) also Johari window
The Lords disciples saw Jesus in every situation, and Jesus never sinned so that is what they witnessed! that would be incredible, wouldn’t it? we could watch each others lives for days and see where we could use some help, right?
But lets step back for a minute. When Jesus called the 12, what role was Jesus taking on?
He was taking the role of a Rabbi.
Rabbi’s traditionally came from being a disciple first and then growing in the Word and knowledge where others recognize them as a wise person who could teach others.
Do we ever read where Jesus was a disciple of any earthly Rabbi? When Jesus was 12, He caused the men at the temple to marvel at His understanding.
What was Jesus doing when He said this?
But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.
And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.
What is Jesus saying here? Verse 1 tells us who He is speaking to, His disciples AND the crowd. Jesus is pointing out the religious rulers in His day and He is making a profound change to their way of doing things.
There is only One Teacher, Father, Rabbi, and Instructor.
They have this system or way and Jesus is messing with their religious authoritative structure of that day.
What do you think the Rabbi’s feel about this? I am sure they were not happy. Jesus was taking the glory off them and pointing to the Father to be glorified.
(warning about glorifying a preacher)
So, Jesus wasn’t making the religious rulers happy in His day, how about certain individuals that were seeking validation of their good behavior? How did Jesus deal with them?
Let’s look in scripture and see an example of a person who seems to be looking for spiritual answers from Jesus.
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ”
And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”
And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
at first it looks like a person looking for eternal life, and he wants to know what to do. Remember the Jewish thought of their day, it was all about behaviour and not about the heart.
So, Jesus is going after the heart, but slowly. He allows the man to feel right about his behaviour, and then takes him deeper, to the heart.
So, do we have to sell all we have to become a disciple?
another verse, but we will read it in two different gospels.... it says the same thing yet in two different ways.
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
We are talking hate here? or are we?
lets look at the corresponding verse to get clarity.
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
this hate and love in these verses come down to this. it is an order of love, or do we love other things more than we love Jesus?
A disciple is called to love God first and foremost. If we put anything above God and love that thing more than God, we are not being a disciple of Jesus.
what could we love more than God?
(let people share)
now this is for you privately
(I love you guys story pastor Jeff Tarbox)
Do you love anything more than God?
If you know the answer to that in your heart, allow God to minister to you in that place. May He rewrite the order if things are above Him. May He bring conviction and a renewal to your heart as I speak.
Let me finish with this verse in John...
By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
See, it is about behavior to some degree, but behavior comes after the heart has God in His rightful place. And His rightful place in our hearts is when we love Him the most, everything else has another place, that means church, work, family, friends.... they are all important, yet not first. Not the most loved.
When we live like that, and continue abiding as disciples of Jesus by following what He is leading us to, then we know it because the fruit comes out of our lives.
Pastor taught on the fruit of the Spirit for weeks now. think again about that fruit. Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Self-Control.
When do these fruits need to come out of you?
when you are in relationship with others, and even when someone is treating you wrong.
Seeing these fruits coming out of a person marks them as a disciple of Jesus. the behavior proves the heart change.
Are you a disciple of Jesus?
you know if you are or not. IF you are not, can you be? Will you be?
Remember my question at the beginning?
Is Jesus your Rabbi?