Follow Me: Moving from Spectator to Living the Story of Jesus

Introduction

Personal Introduction

Quickly, I just want to introduce myself:

I am married to Lauren for 9 years. We have three kids: Luke, Rylie, and James. I am privileged to serve as one of the pastors at First Methodist Conroe. I won’t bore you with all the other technical bio stuff. But I believe I am here before you today because my passion and commitment in ministry is discipleship. And you might immediately think, well that should be all of ours. Yes. But I think you will see why there is something aggressive in my passion today because of what God has done in my life.

The Stories we tell: Let’s begin with the story I can tell best, my story.

I grew up in a Christian home. We were definitely more than Christmas and Easter goers. My dad grew up in a devout Christian home. His parents taught kids and adult Sunday school for 50 years. So me and my two younger brothers were there most Sundays for most of my childhood. We were Christians, or at least that is what I thought.

When I got to high school there was more coming and going with soccer on the weekends but I was the kid who gave my life to Christ every summer at Lakeview church camp. Went on mission trips. I did all the things. We did all the things.

In late high school, I began to experience life a little and that continued into college. By the time I was a sophomore in college everything fell apart individually and collectively. Personally, I quit my soccer team, almost got kicked out of school for cheating on a test, came home and got a DWI, and was as far from Christ as imaginable.

The middle brother, the same year, was discovered to be deep in an addiction to Meth and deep into a life of crime. This road led to him being sentence to prison and he is in year 10 of incarceration at this point. My parent’s marriage fell apart, and really the only one that seemingly got out unscathed was the youngest brother who got as far away from home as possible by joining the Navy. This would begin a chapter in the McMann household of wondering in the wilderness.

How did this happen?

I have had plenty of time since God saved me to reflect on this story, my story.

See for all of the church activity in our life, there was not anything powerful enough to face addiction, depression, betrayal, and pain.

It is like we had spent so much time sitting in the room with Jesus…and yet, collectively and individually, ....

We knew the basics: The gospel. We saw first hand the life, death, and resurrection. We were encouraged by what this meant for us. Enough to keep coming back. But we hadnt learned the reality of a God who is in the middle of suffering. We had not internalized the present promise of resurrection. We knew nothing of the Lordship of a holy King, and nothing of the gentle love of the lamb.

We had an active faith and dormant lives.

We had fooled ourselves that we were awake

John Wesley....

John Wesley wrote, “I am more and more convinced that the devil himself desires nothing more than this, that the people of any place should be half-awakened and then left to themselves to fall asleep again.”

What is the Problem?

Back to the basics

Wesleyan Discipleship

Follow Me

Disciple

Definition of Discipleship

Sanctification and Holiness

Ask: What does it mean to be a disciple?

What is a Jesus person to you? We call them Christians, disciples, followers. Christians is a phrase we are most familiar with and one we probably use the most, but it is hardly used in the NT....3 times and usually in a derogatory way.

There is a pattern that emerges as we look at the calling of the disciples to follow Jesus and the ways in which the NT refers to those that are with Jesus.

Mark 1:16–20 NIV

16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him. 19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

Mark 2:13–14 NIV

13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

Mark 3:13–19 NIV

13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons. 16 These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Mark 8:34–37 NIV

34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

Do you see the patter that emerges. Jesus calls his disciples to follow me.

Story after to story the invitation was not to believe in me. Come and make a decision that you think I am what I claim to be.

Follow me. Be my disciple.

The word for follow and disciple really go hand in hand.

Follow could mean any one of three things in english:

To follow someone going in same general direction. Following someone you dont know on the road

To follow someone generally connected to. Like a tour guide

To follow someone and you are shaped because of the following.

Disciple: Mathetes

This word could mean student. But it is more than how I was as a college student.

Many think a better word here would be apprentice...

In other words, what makes you a disciple is not turning up from time to time. Discipleship may literally mean ‘being a student’, in the strict Greek sense of the word, but it doesn’t mean turning up once a week for a course (or even a sermon). It’s not an intermittent state; it’s a relationship that continues. The truth is that, in the ancient world, being a ‘student’ was rather more like that than it is these days. If you said to a modern prospective student that the essence of being a student was to hang on your teacher’s every word, to follow in his or her steps, to sleep outside their door in order not to miss any pearls of wisdom falling from their lips, to watch how they conduct themselves at the table, how they conduct themselves in the street, you might not get a very warm response. But in the ancient world, it was rather more like that. To be the student of a teacher was to commit yourself to living in the same atmosphere and breathing the same air; there was nothing intermittent about it. -Rowan Williams

Williams, Rowan. Being Disciples (p. 2). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.

To be the student of a teacher was to commit yourself to living in the same atmosphere and breathing the same air; there was nothing intermittent about it. -Rowan Williams

Apprenticeship.

So let’s bring this all together:

Now to be an apprentice in Jesus’ day was more than some intellectual belief. It was about leaving behind this other life and following the rabbi teacher. It was about staying with them non-stop, every moment. To listen and learn, to orient and reorient. And in the being with the rabbi, you would become like the rabbi. Taking on characteristics. Eventually you would be released to go and do what the rabbi did in the world.

Which side note you can see this very thing in the gospels....look at it next time you sit down to read Mark.

Translate that to today....

Short:

Life as Jesus' disciple will always be devotional, transformational, and missional.

Discipleship to Jesus is a way of living a holistic pursuit of a relationship with Jesus through the Spirit that undergirds all aspects of life. As such, this lifestyle will look different in different contexts, but will always be guided by three underlying principles. The life of a disciple is devotional: Through the means of grace, disciples devote their hearts, minds, and bodies to Jesus. The life of a disciple is transformational: Though it often takes long periods of time, disciples will encounter the Holy Spirit of God and come through those encounters changed. Finally, the life of a disciple is missional: To follow Christ is to go where he goes and do what he does—this will lead disciples into spaces of self-sacrifice to love and serve the world, making more disciples as they go.

Devotional

Means of Grace

"The first and most basic thing we can and must do is to keep God before our minds. This is the fundamental secret of caring for our souls. Our part in thus practicing the presence of God is to direct and redirect our minds constantly to Him. In the early time of our "practicing" we may well be challenged by our burdensome habits of dwelling on things less than God. But these are habits — not the law of gravity — and can be broken. A new, grace-filled habit will replace the former ones as we take intentional steps toward keeping God before us. Soon our minds will return to God as the needle of a compass constantly returns to the north. If God is the great longing of our souls, He will become the pole star of our inward beings." -Dallas Willard

Transformational

Now as you follow the teacher around, hopefully you become like them. You develop the skills and vision that they do. Except as Christians, we believe this is not just a metaphorical expression, but that we can actually become like Christ. That as we are joined to him:

Philippians 2:5 NIV

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

1 Corinthians 11:1 NIV

1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

1 Peter 2:21 NIV

21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

Romans 8:29 NIV

29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Galatians 2:20 NIV

20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

This is possible, this is sanctification. Spiritual Formation. Being formed into the image of the son.

This is not behavior modification, this is transformation. I dont think we fully grasp this all the time. We think we are just supposed to try harder and be better.

Discipleship has been equated with bible study and service and some other things along the way. Those are included. But discipleship is supposed to be helping us to live the way of Jesus. It isnt just learning stuff.

You are being spiritually transformed.

John Wesley, or Ken Collins

Missional

As we become like him, then we are able to do his work in the world.

Look at Mark again....

Mark 3:14–15 NIV

14 He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons.

He appointed them, that they would be with him and that as an outpouring of that very reality....they would go out and preach and to have authority to drive out demons.

Later on in Mark 6:6-7, he sends them out giving them authority over evil. In Matthew, they have authority to heal every kind of disease and illness.

And of course Matthew 28:18-20

Matthew 28:18–20 NIV

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Go and make disciples: Mathetes .... go and call people to follow him. To learn to be with him.

Wesleyan Class Meetings and Bands

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Living the truth

Starting Classes

Q&A