Sermon Tone Analysis

DISCIPLESHIP STARTS IN HEAVEN

Means of grace… How many of you guys are familiar with the term “means of grace”?

Essentially, a means of grace is what it says: a means by which God manifests His grace in our lives.

For believers, the many means of grace that God provides are foundation upon which the Christian life is built.

Can you guys think of a few more examples of a “means of grace”?

All of those are great examples.

But I want to give you one additional means of grace from Scripture: discipleship in the context of body life in the local church.

How many of you guys have ever struggled to understand what a particular passage in Scripture means?

Don’t worry, I’m right there with you.

Okay, now how many of you have ever struggled to understand how to handle a conflict with friends or family in a godly way?

I feel that.

In those situations, and so many others, where can we go for assistance?

Where can we go for guidance?

Where do we go for help?

One simple answer is the Word, right?

But then that brings us back to that first example, doesn’t it?

The reality is that each of us, no matter how gifted you might be, are just like the Ethiopian eunuch in - “How could I understand, unless someone guides me?”

If you’re really serious about the Christian life, then you’re gonna get really serious about discipleship.

Lord willing, by the end of this study, we’re all going to know not just what discipleship is, but just how necessary it is to the Christian life.

Lord willing, by the end of this study, we’re all going to know not just what discipleship is, but just how necessary it is to the Christian life.

In order to do that, we’re going to look at a bunch of passages during our time together.

Our launchpad is going to be from , so go ahead and turn there in your Bibles.

If you’re looking for an outline, here it is: In Scripture, there are three principles that we must know in order to do discipleship God's way: we must know the condition of discipleship, the cost of discipleship, and the command of discipleship.

So, if you all could open your Bibles to , we’ll dive right in.

Who can read this passage for us?

THE CONDITION OF DISCIPLESHIP ()

Here in , we find the condition of discipleship… the condition of discipleship.

Notice Jesus’s words here, especially in verses 16-18.

In response to His question, Peter replies, “You are the Christ… the Son of the living God.”

This is profound because not everybody recognized Jesus for who He was, did they?

The Pharisees denied His identity.

The Romans ignored His identity.

But the disciples didn’t.

Their eyes had been opened by God to see themselves for who they really were and to see Jesus for who He really is.

How do we know that though?

Notice verse 17.

Did Peter pull a Sherlock Holmes or an Ace Ventura and just figure out who Jesus was all of a sudden?

Hardly.

Jesus says to Him in verse 17, “flesh and blood did not reveal to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”

Neither Peter, or Pastor Steve, or Pastor Jim, or me, or you can reveal the truth about Jesus to you.

Only God can.

But what else does Jesus have to say about this divinely prompted confession?

Look at verse 18 now.

“I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church...”

The Roman Catholic Church tries to use this verse to prove that Peter was the first Pope.

That’s not even remotely what the passage is saying.

The main point here is this: Jesus will build His church, not man.

And the foundation of His church is 1) the ministry and doctrine of the apostles, led by Peter and 2), the divinely prompted confession of God’s people upon salvation.

And notice the best part.

It’s at the end of verse 18: “and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

Hades is referring to death.

It’s the same concept as Sheol in the Old Testament.

It’s forces are evil, and wicked, and hate everything that has to do with God.

But Jesus is saying here that none of that stuff matters.

Why?

Because they will not overpower His church!

God is sovereign over salvation and He is sovereign over the growth of His church.

Now, why is this important to our discussion today?

Because before we even jump into quote-unquote “discipleship”, we have to establish some prerequisites.

The first one is this condition of discipleship.

What was the main difference between Peter, a true disciple of Christ, and Judas?

Peter knew the Lord because the Lord knew Him first.

Judas never knew the Lord because the Lord never knew Him.

But, you might ask, how do I know if I’m Peter or Judas?

Great question.

The answer?

What’s your testimony?…

What is your testimony?

Peter had a testimony.

Luke 5:4-

Have you had that experience?

Has that moment happened in your life?

When Peter was confronted about his sin, he fell at the Lord’s feet in repentance because he saw himself rightly and he saw Jesus rightly.

Have you had that experience?

Has that moment happened in your life?

Understand this: if you’ve never seen your sin rightly, then you’ve never known Jesus rightly.

A lot of times we can put the cart before the horse, and I get that sentiment, definitely.

We want to encourage those who are curious about the gospel!

We want to build up those who are trying to obey the gospel!

But if you’ve been trying to understand and trying to obey and you’re just not gaining any traction at all, have you considered that maybe, the problem isn’t about commitment, but conviction?

By conviction, I mean conviction over your sin.

This is the ultimate condition of discipleship.

No one can be a disciple until they know that they’re not a disciple and that they need to be a disciple.

But, in order to get to that point, we do have to understand everything that comes with being a disciple.

Which leads us to the second principle we need to know in order to do discipleship God’s way: we must know the cost of discipleship… the cost of discipleship.

Turn to , verses 25-35.

Can somebody read that for me?

THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP ()

For the sake of time, we’re not gonna walk through every facet of this passage, but there are a few aspects that I want to focus on.

First, notice what Luke points out from the outset in verse 25: “Large crowds were going along with Him.”

At this point in His ministry, Jesus was kind of like a big deal!

Back in , Jesus was healing the sick, casting out demons, dunking on Pharisees theologically, and the people loved it!

Jesus really was a trending topic.

However, He didn’t put much stock in His following.

In fact, He wanted to fan out the fake followers from the real ones.

Look at what He says in verse 26:

Yikes!

That’s harsh, Jesus!

Hate my dad and my mom and my wife and my kids and my brothers and my sisters and myself?!?

This is crazy!