To Be A Disciple?
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Martin Luther the father of the Reformation , described discipleship this way.
A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing.
M. Luther.
Seems rather harsh, but he is absolutely correct. Today’s western religious viewpoint is that to be a disciple is to come to church on Sunday morning, throw a fiver in the offering plate, hug the people we like, and then go on with your life as nothing has changed! We have changed the very Words of God to fit our narrative of our lives. And a lot of the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the people in the pulpit preaching the Word of God.
The Word became flesh--and then through theologians it became words again.
Karl Barth
We have changed the living and breathing Word of God, the very Words that became flesh through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and made them just words that demand no change. And if there is no change there is no discipleship.
The word disciple literally means a learner or student. Vine’s dictionary of new testament words describes it as "one who follows another’s teachings". Not only is a disciple one who is a learner or student, but one who follows or adheres to someone’s teachings. That is why in the early church the disciples were called Christians or more literally imitators of Christ. The word disciple implies discipline.
For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
Paul said Gods goal for redeeming or saving mankind was that they were to be conformed into the image of his son. When we today look at the early Christians, we might consider them radicals with a radical form of Christianity, but from their view point theirs was normal Christianity and what we have is a watered down form of Christianity. Now I ask you, are you striving to be a learner or student of Christ. Are you trying to be like Him; if not, are you truly a disciple of Christ?
Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 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, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
This statement was made by Jesus to his apostles shortly before he ascended to Heaven. This is what is commonly called the great commission. This verse has been used and abused by the church to get people to go and get people to church. Which is not a bad thing, but this verse has so much more meaning than just that. If you will notice the emphasis here is on making disciples, not just making converts. It says go and make disciples, not go make converts, now don’t get me wrong, first you must be saved to be a disciple, but just because you are a believer doesn’t automatically make you a disciple.
How can we expect to fulfill the "great commission" if we don’t have a clear understanding of what a disciple is? According to Gods word, the Bible, disciples will have certain characteristics.
Characteristics of a Disciple
Faith
Trust
Hope
We will explore each of these at length in the coming months. Today, I want to give you and overview of each one, so you can prepare yourself. These messages are meant challenge you. To be a disciple of Jesus Christ is not a Sunday Morning pew warmer.
Me and the family have enjoyed watching “The Chosen”. Now that can be a very polarizing statement. Some people love it, and some are very much in the camp that they think it is heresy. Personally, I don’t care which way you think about it. In my opinion (and take that as you will) Dallas Jenkins has brought the Gospels to life and presented it to a generation of church goers that 90% of them do not read their Bible. I had the privilege to officiate the wedding of the daughter of the sound engineer of “The Chosen”.
I say all this because the show brings to light what these men and women had to go through to be disciples of Jesus Christ. In our western viewpoint, we give up what we want and that is should be good enough. These people gave up everything to follow Jesus Christ. Even today, we hear of Christians in third world countries, giving up their lives and the lives of their families, to spread the name Jesus to those who would reject Him.
It begs the question What does it take to be a disciple?
Well, let’s start with the first one on the list
Faith
Majority of us are familiar with the following verse. Probably, if I asked you what is your definition of faith, you would repeat this verse.
Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.
As your pastor, and as a scholar of the Bible, I will have to say, this is the best definition of faith their is. It is the definition that the Holy Spirit gave to us. The inquisitive side of me starts to ask questions.
What is being hoped for?
Where is this proof?
Why is it not seen?
Now I said earlier, that I was a scholar of the Bible, and in saying this I know that the best tool to interpret the Bible is the Bible itself. It answers the very questions we have. So I searched the Bible to answer my questions and I came back to the story of Thomas. Most of you know him as doubting Thomas.
Thomas was the disciple that questioned if Jesus really came back from the dead. He said I will not believe until I can see the holes in His hands. feet and side. Then I will have my proof. Thomas’ faith was based on his hope for a conquering King, in reality, his proof was brought to light in a risen Saviour. And Jesus gives us what our faith is based on.
Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
We explore more of this as we start looking at the Heroes of the Faith in Hebrews 11. Right just know, to be a disciple you must have faith.
You must also have
Trust
To be a disciple is to be someone who trust in the Word of God and know that the voice you hear is the Voice of God. But how do we do this.
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples.
A disciple of Christ is one who continues in Jesus’ words. According to strong’s dictionary of Hebrew and Greek the word used here for “continue”, means “to stay” and could also be translated - abide, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, or tarry. It speaks of someone who not only studies the Bible, but also applies or lives by it.
Now we must realize, a disciple is one who wants to become like his teacher. Was Jesus willing to sacrifice time and effort to teach his fellow believers? Yes. We should make every effort to get to know our Christ, to be encouraged and built up by the Words he spoke. Does this sound like you so far? Or do you struggle to hear God’s voice?
Before refrigerators, people used icehouses to preserve their food. Icehouses had thick walls, no windows and a tightly fitted door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the icehouses and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer.
One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn't find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile. A small boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the icehouse during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch.
Amazed, the men asked him how he found it.
"I closed the door," the boy replied, "lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking."
Often the question is not whether God is speaking, but whether we are still enough and quiet enough to hear. Yes, Jesus assures us that our heavenly Father always listens to us, but do we really listen to Him? Do we follow the instructions of Psalm 46:10
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
We will go further into details on this when we get to the series “Trusting God’s Voice”
Just know today that to be a disciple, we must have faith and we must trust.
Finally to be a disciple we must have
Hope
As Vice President, George Bush represented the U.S. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev's widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband's chest.
There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband.
As a disciple of Christ, we have the eternal hope found in Him.
Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
“For the believer there is hope beyond the grave, because Jesus Christ has opened the door to heaven for us by His death and resurrection.” -Billy Graham
For the Bible says "to be in the world but not of the world". To be a disciple, Jesus must not only be saviour of our eternal soul, but He also needs to be Lord of our lives in the here and now. That means He needs to be in control and have total reign over every area of our lives. Why? Because He is where our hope lies.
We must keep our hope in Him.
Does anyone remember when you were growing up and you would mark your height on the wall or a chart? That way you could tell how much you were growing. Physical growth takes time and so does Spiritual growth, it won’t happen overnight. You may not be where you want to be in your spiritual growth, but you should be bigger spiritually than you were a year ago. If we don’t follow Christ as his disciples we will wander through a mediocre Christian life rather than living the Christian life that God intends us to live. We will be like the farmer who was teaching his son to plow. He told his son “I want you to plow a straight furrow from one end of this field to the other.” The son asked, “How will I know when I am plowing it straight?” “Do you see that cow over in the next field?” The father replied. “Just keep your eyes on that cow and plow straight for him.” The father came back later to find the furrows going every which way. He said, “son what in the world happened, didn’t I tell you to keep your eyes on the cow so you could plow a straight furrow?” The son said, “I did dad but he kept moving!” If you focus on the wrong object, your spiritual life will is going to wander all over the place, you’ll be up one day and down the next. But if you keep your eyes focused on Jesus you’ll plow a straight line every time, he’s not going anywhere. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
I would like to close by saying, Give up, because you can’t do it. Stop trying to live the perfect Christian life...……… and start letting Jesus live it through you. That what it means to be a disciple. If you could have lived the perfect Christian life, then Jesus would not have had to come and live the perfect Christian life for 33 years, and then die to pay for your sins.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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