Are you ready to be "called" by God?

Called Into a Discipleship Process?

— Disciples in that day literally “followed” or walked behind the one they had chosen as their teacher.

--In John’s Gospel, however, the term gradually moves from this literal to a more figurative sense to denote a “following” of Jesus’ teaching.

— Our passage today is John 1:35–51. Please stand if you can for the reading of God’s Word..

Scripture

John 1:35–51 ESV

35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter). 43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Christ’s First Five Followers

Andrew

—The New Testament states that Andrew was the brother of Simon Peter,

— The first striking characteristic of Andrew is his name: it is not a Hebrew name,

— Jesus is less concerned about pedigree than commitment.

John “The Apostle”

— This passage introduces us to a character who is going to flit across the pages of this gospel several times.

— There were two disciples of John the Baptist who heard him pointing to Jesus as God’s lamb.

--Only one is named: Andrew, who then finds Simon Peter his brother.

Who was the other Apostle?

— All sorts of answers have been given, and none of them is without difficulty.

Peter

John 1:40–42 ESV

40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

—Peter has quite the story...

— Simon Peter is one of Jesus’ first disciples and later becomes the spokesman of the Twelve.

— Although Jesus gives Simon the name “Peter” which means “rock.”

— Peter is not without his doubts about Jesus, his work, and his message.

Here are some examples:

— Peter’s rebuke of the Lord,

— His falling asleep in the garden,

— His attack on Malchus

— His denial of Jesus 1,2,3 times

— However, Jesus’ being God knows the “ins” and “outs of his disciples. In the same way that he knows the “ins” and “outs” of us.

— In Jesus perfect knowledge of Peter, Jesus picks him to start the “early church.”

— Jesus gives Peter a “test.”

— Jesus asks him in John 21 to spend the rest of his life loving the “lambs” of God.

John 21:17 ESV

17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

— Peter is brought from relative obscurity to Christ’s man up front for the “new” church that was being birthed at that very time.

Philip

John 1:43 ESV

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”

— Some disciples of course we know more about and some that we know less.

— Philip is an example of an Apostle that was chosen based on his eye witness record of Christ.

— Philip plays a much larger role in the Gospel of John than in the Synoptic Gospels.

— Following his own call to follow Jesus, Philip is instrumental in the calling of Nathanael .

Nathanael

— He came from Cana in Galilee and is sought out by Philip, who has already been called by Jesus, and who tells him, “We have found the Messiah … Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”

— At their first meeting, Jesus describes Nathanael as “an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

— Nathanael declares,

“Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

Introduced to Jesus by Philip, he acknowledges Jesus as the Son of God and King of Israel

— Jesus calls him “truly an Israelite in whom is no deceit”

Here are the first five Apostles...:

Andrew

John “The Apostle”

Peter

Philip

Nathanael

These are the first five disciples… What can we learn from them?

— You see, when we are asked about our journey with Christ, it is really personal, individual experience.

— So where do we learn what it is to be a disciple of Jesus.

— As we have seen, Jesus is NOT after perfection

— It would appear that he picks some who are “skeptical” at best.

— But Jesus wins them over and allows them to be the group that brings the Kingdom of God to the earth.

— If you are here today and you are a follower of Jesus, as such Jesus has called on you… sometimes by name, to win the world for Christ Jesus!

What can we learn from them?

— The love of God in the form of Jesus came to earth to seek and save the lost.

— Jesus knows that he will only be on earth for a short 3 years.

— Jesus knows that he is going to need a group of committed men and women to carry on.

— He does this by setting them up to learn, from the best teacher possible… Jesus

— Here is a really good definition of Discipleship

Discipleship -- For the Christian, this refers to the process of learning the teachings of Jesus and following after his example in obedience through the power of the Holy Spirit.

[Lexham Theological Wordbook.]

Practical Discipleship

— In the NT, the concept of discipleship frequently involves being disciples of a particular person.

— The term for disciple describes someone who is devoted to a particular teacher.

— The New Testament is clearly more focused on describing the disciples of Jesus, who give up everything to follow him and devote themselves to his teachings.

— Jesus also uses the term “to make a disciple” in his final mandate to go and make more disciples from all nations when he said this

Matthew 28:19 (ESV)

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

— In this way, both being a disciple as well as making disciples is an integral part of what it means to be a Christian.

— Paul uses the term to describe being trained to renounce ungodliness (Titus 2:12),

Titus 2:12 ESV

12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

How do you become a Disciple? or How do you disciple someone?

— For as many people who become disciples of Jesus there at least that many different ways to become a follower.

But we can learn some things from our Titus passage.

“Training” - anything that good as a relationship with God through Jesus takes training.

— In order to be a Holy Spirit filled “trainer” we must first be sold out to God, Jesus and the Spirit.

— And be involved in some way in a discipling process.

“Renounce ungodliness” - We need to have our “spiritual” radar on at all times.

— We may be clipping right along with life and we see or hear something that you just can’t let go.

— If it’s wrong, it wrong and it’s our responsibility to live Holy lives.

— That may mean calling out or following up with a person or two.

“Renounce Worldly Passions” - All of us know that sin, feels good… at least for a moment.

— Our world is PASSIONATE about sex, multiple types of relationships with men and women, In the United States we are passionate about MONEY, POWER and SUCCESS.

— The key word is “PASSIONS.” You can look towards, work towards any goal that you want… BUT your passion should be about a relationship with Jesus.

“live self-controlled, upright, and godly” - So these three virtues, are really great self checks.

— If I’m anything like you I tend to be a bit critical of myself.

— to say that we have met the demands of this verse might be looked as a bit of blowhard! So let me ask the question this way...

— Gather those around you that mean the most… enter into a discipling relationship with them.

— During that process that should go on for a lifetime, you may learn all there is to learn about God, Jesus and The Bible.

But if your life is not self-controlled, upright and Godly you have missed the mark!!

We will return to these values, these ethics throughout the Book of John.

Please be with us won’t you.

If you’re missing the mark… Fix it!

Get your life inline with what God wants

Confess your sin to God, and be new every morning.

We are going to transition to communion now… if the servers would come forward..

Matthew 26:26–29 ESV

26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Communion