Be with Jesus: Discipleship 1

Introducction

In our world today, a person's worth is largely measured by the number of "followers" they have in social media. It's also interesting to see how people are proud to follow celebrities on social media. By 2024, soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo has 643 million followers on his IG account. On TikTok, Khaby Lame has more than 162.6 million followers. And well, for the most adults, on Facebook the account with the most followers has 170 million. This is just a sign that human beings were designed to follow someone or something.

“Who are you following? Everybody is following somebody—or at least something. Put another way, we’re all disciples. The question isn’t, Am I a disciple? It’s, Who or what am I a disciple of?”

Whether we are aware of it or not, you and I are following someone or something. Someone or something is our teacher. You are already being formed by something or someone, whether they are conscious or not.

Today I want to share with you the sermon under the title: Be with Jesus: Discipleship Part 1

Before Jesus went to heaven, he left his followers with a task. It is known as the Great Commission. Making disciples. However, this has become the great omission.

Let me give you an example. We are used to call ourselves Christians and not disciples. Perhaps worse, we have given ourselves Baptist, Methodist, Adventist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Evangelical and other surnames. But no one calls himself or herself a disciple.

In the New Testament the word Christian only appears 3x. Acts 11:26, Acts 26:28, and 1 Peter 4:16.

In the book of Acts, it is the non-followers of Jesus who use that name. And the Apostle Peter uses it in one of his letters. By the way, most scholars agree that the formation of this term is Latin in origin. That's all.

The word disciple appears 268x. This already tells us something.

Forgetting this fundamental point has caused there to be a great disparity between what we say we are and what we really are. We see people with a lot of time in a church, call themselves “Christians” yet their characters have not been transformed.

It is easy to believe in the mind a set of beliefs, it is easy to obey externally. But to be a disciple, an apprentice of Jesus is something quite different.

Being formed in the style of Jesus is another business.

What is it to be a disciple of Jesus?

Jesus' model of teaching is very different from how we do it today. Here in the West, we move according to the Greek way of education. We follow the ideas.

In Bible perspective learning wasn’t so much about retaining data as it was about gaining essential wisdom for living, absorbing it from those around us. This was…the ancient method whereby rabbis trained their talmidim, or disciples. To follow Jesus, then, meant to walk alongside him in a posture of listening, learning, observation, obedience, and imitation. For Jesus’ first apprentices, the goal wasn’t to pass a test, get a degree, or receive a certificate to frame on your office wall; it was to master the art of living in God’s good world by learning from Jesus how to make steady progress into the kingdom of God.”

For Jesus, it is not learning information to finish lessons but learning the art of living for God in the way of Jesus. This takes time. It's a daily process. That is why it is common to see that the most informed are not the wisest. Someone can be a good scholar and a bad parent.

Discipleship in the first century

Being a disciple in Jesus' time was the highest degree of study at the time. Jesus did not invent it. Before Jesus, there were already other teachers who had disciples. Hillel was a very famous one, although it is not in the Bible. But you will remember John the Baptist who also had disciples before Jesus (Lk 7:18-22). But... if being a disciple was the highest, how did you achieve it?

It all began at the age of five when the children were taken to the study center called bet zefer which means "the house of the book". This is like elementary school. There the children were taught the TORAH. The first five books of the Bible. It is surprising that by the age of 12 or 13 most children learned the Pentateuch letter by letter. This is where most children finished their education, then they went to work in the family businesses.

But, the best, the most intelligent continued to study a second level called bet midrash which means "the house of learning". Here they studied the rest of the Old Testament and memorized it. I assure you that there was no distraction from IG, TikTok, Netflix, Hulu. The boys finished this second level at the age of 17 or 18. Most went to work, get married, and go on with life. But... The best, of the best, of the best. Only those who were really, really good continued to study, but this time under a Rabbi... That is, a teacher.

It was not easy to find a teacher and if you found one you had to beg him to accept you. The teacher gave him a strong test to see if he deserved to be his student. ONLY boys, NO GIRLS. And, if they passed the test, the teacher would tell him, follow me. That was the most exciting thing for a student, to hear a teacher tell him to come and follow me. It was the greatest privilege. Now he became a disciple. His whole life changed, and he dedicated himself to following that master. There were three basic things. Three things about how the disciple should live.

1. Being with your teacher

2. Becoming like Your Teacher

3. Do as your teacher did

This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

1. Being with Jesus (we'll only look at this one today)

2. Becoming Like Him

3. Do as he did

What does it mean to be with Jesus? How do I do it?

Called to be with Jesus

Do You remember that only the best enjoyed the privileges of a master. Now a Master appears, he is a young man from Nazareth of Galilee. He proclaims himself te be a rabbi, a teacher and He says:

Mark 8:34 “And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

Yes, all are called to follow Him. Even women, tax collectors, simple fishermen, even those marginalized sinners, are all called to follow Jesus. Wow!

What happen after a Teacher call you to follow him?

“May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.” —first-century Jewish blessing”

Come with me to the gospel of

Mark 3:13–15 “And He went up on the mountain and summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, and to have authority to cast out the demons.”

The context is the choice of the twelve. The first task Jesus assigned them was to be with him. Yes, the first task of disciple of Christ is to be with Jesus. Before going to preach, before going to cast out demons, before having a position in the church, before leading the department, before preaching or singing in the church the disciple must spend time with Jesus. Jesus' invitation to follow him first of all is to be in relationship with him and then the other things.

God wants you to be transformed in somebody before you do something.

On another occasion a woman named Mary put everything aside to sit attentively at Jesus' feet and listen to him. The text says,

Luke 10:38–40 “Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.”

Mary's sister Martha was so distracted by the things of life that she paid no attention to Jesus and was stressed. Jesus had to correct Martha on the contrary he said something nice about Mary.

Luke 10:42 “but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.””

Praise be to the Lord.

I LOVE THIS ONE:

“The night before his death, Jesus made a puzzling promise to his apprentices:

John 14:16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Adocate, that He may be with you forever;”

Short exegesis: The phrase “another advocate” is hard to translate into English. The Greek word for “another” is allos, and it literally means “another of the same kind” or “another one of me.” The word for “advocate” is paraklētos, and it can be translated “helper” or “intercessor.”

A few sentences later, Jesus named this mysterious “another one of me” as “the Holy Spirit.”

The way Jesus’ apprentices are to “be with him” is via the Holy Spirit.

Now, short theology sidebar: In the library of Scripture, the Holy Spirit is not a vague force like in Star Wars, an eternal sea of nonbeing as in Eastern mysticism, or a nice feeling one gets in prayer. In Jesus’ teachings, the Spirit is a he, not an it. That doesn’t mean the Spirit is male; it means that the Spirit is a person.”

“Now Let’s return to the story: Goal #1 of apprenticeship to Jesus is to live in that moment-by-moment flow of love within the Trinity. Again, if there’s a starting line, this is it.”

In Jesus' last teaching to his disciples, this is his tutorial. he said:

John 15:4–5 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

The original word for abide is menō and can be translated as: to inhabit, to live, to stay. Throughout this passage the command of Jesus is this: Live with me...

“Jesus uses this word menō not once but ten times in this short teaching. Go read it. He’s driving to a singular point: Make your home in my presence by the Spirit, and never leave.”

Jesus could not have been clearer. Many times, when we think about following Jesus, we understand that we must do many things for him. We think that the first thing is to obey and behave well. But here Jesus teaches that the first thing is to abide.

It all begins in the day-to-day relationship with Jesus. Why is this so?

The reason is that as human beings we have weaknesses and flaws. We are selfish, proud and more. Simply we are sinners. Being with Jesus is the divine method of transforming us and becoming in his image. That's what God did with the twelve.

From the son of thunder to beloved disciple, that was John. Peter, from a man full of anger to the pastor of the Church. Thomas from being a lacking in faith to being a great preacher.

Can You imagine Peter with authority without being transformed.

What it means to follow Jesus

Following Jesus requires that I be willing to lay down my life for him. Not just physical life, but my time, money, pride, etc.

To follow Jesus is to organize my life in a worldview different from the world. My whole life goes around my teacher, Jesus.

This does not mean that I lose my personality, on the contrary, Jesus uses me with my talents and experiences for his glory.

Believing that Jesus is real (information), coming to church, giving offerings and tithing, eating healthy, knowing prophecies, being baptized does not make me a true disciple.

To be a disciple is: to deny myself: pride, selfishness, bad desires and passions, greed, resentment, criticism, hatred, quarrels. Only the Holy Spirit can do this. It is taking up my cross and surrendering my entire life to Jesus and his kingdom.

To be a disciple I must be willing to learn. I need to have a heart willing to change my mind. With the willingness to be taught.

How do I know if I am growing as a follower of Jesus? If every day I am becoming a person of love, starting in my home, then I am on the right path. The only way to see if we are disciples of Jesus is if we love each other. That's what Jesus said. This love is only possible if I learn to live each day in Christ.

CONCLUSION AND CALL

Today I want to invite you to make Jesus your priority and every day take time to learn from him. You don't have to be a Bible expert, what you have to do is make intentional time to pray, meditate on Jesus, read the gospels, tell others about Jesus. God will speak to you and you will grow. Don't forget that a disciple's first goal is to be with his teacher. Our teacher is Jesus, make time for him and align your life to be with Jesus.