PATH OF DISCIPLESHIP

Introduction

-I read a story about virtuoso violinist Jascha Heifetz who, after a distinguished career in performance, accepted an appointment as professor of music at UCLA. Asked what had prompted his change of career, Heifetz replied: “Violin playing is a perishable art. It must be passed on [to others] as a personal skill; otherwise it is lost.”

What he says about his art I believe has something to speak to us about discipleship. Living the Christian life is a highly personal experience. We can’t pull it off merely by watching skilled veterans “perform.” We need hands-on instruction. And that is what discipleship is—learning to live for Jesus while living like Jesus, being taught and trained by those who have traversed that road before us.

-We know that the Great Commission calls us to more than merely eking out a Christian existence, but is a call to multiply ourselves. We are told to GO FORTH AND MAKE DISCIPLES—not converts or church members, but DISCIPLES. But that really seems to have become a lost art.

-Being a disciple is more than learning facts, following rules, and filling our heads with knowledge upon knowledge. Although there are those aspects of it, there is much more than that.

I read something that might help us see the difference between what discipleship is from a biblical standpoint versus what we are used to calling learning in our culture today. It said:

Whereas a student today studies a subject (law, architecture, or whatever) through reading and classroom discussion, a disciple in olden days learned from the life of a teacher. Attachment to a specific teacher was the essence of discipleship. The Pharisees and John the Baptist had disciples (Mark 2:18). The Jews saw themselves as disciples of Moses (John 9:28). The term is used often in the Gospels and Acts of the followers of Jesus. They learned from him while living life with him and attached themselves wholeheartedly to him. It meant putting Christ before family and possessions. It meant taking up the cross (Luke 14:26-33). Today, as well, to be a disciple of Jesus means total commitment and a hands-on training in a lifestyle.

-Today, we see that after John the Baptist bore witness to who He was, Jesus then called to Himself His first disciples to learn from Him and do ministry with Him. And I believe it demonstrates a simple, yet profound, path of discipleship that we would do well to consider for ourselves and our church.

-What I want to lead us to do is for us to reflect if we ourselves are following the path of discipleship as described in Scripture, and if we then are leading others to do the same.

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.”

-This version of the call of the disciples is quite different from what we find in the other 3 gospels. More than likely, the events that are described here came prior to those described in the other gospels.

-Here, Jesus had not yet begun His ministry in full swing, but was preparing to make His ministry public. Thus, these disciples meet Jesus for the first time, after which they temporarily return to their normal routine.

-Not long afterward, however, Jesus finds them again and gives the call for them to leave their old life to begin the ministry. It is then that Peter, Andrew, James, and John leave their fishing business to completely follow Jesus.

-Yet, even in this early stage of the call of the disciples, we see a path that Jesus laid out for them to become a follower and then grow as His followers. This same path is for us today, and for those whom we would call to believe upon Him.

-The first part of the path I call:

I) Come and see

-The first part of the path to discipleship is to personally investigate the claims made by Christ to who He is and what He came to accomplish for the Heavenly Father.

-We see in our passage that John the Baptist pointed his own disciples to Jesus Christ. Two of these disciples decided to check Jesus out for themselves to see if what John was saying about Him was accurate. Jesus notices them following and asks what they want. They ask Him where He is staying, which seems like a strange first question for someone you are curious about, but in essence they were inviting themselves to spend time with Him to get to know Him better.

-And how does Jesus respond to them? He says: “COME AND YOU WILL SEE”----Jesus invites them to spend time getting to know Him so they could see for themselves who exactly He is. We know that out of this meeting came a form of faith, because Andrew came to His brother claiming to have found the Messiah.

-So here is an invitation from Jesus Himself to come and check on the claims that He makes—look at His life, look at His teachings, and (from our perspectives) look at the Scriptures to see if He is all that the Bible claims for Him.

-But this is not the only instance. Later in the passage Jesus called Philip, and Philip went to find Nathanael to see Jesus for himself. Although skeptical, Philip tells Nathanael to COME AND SEE. He is saying, come and see for yourself if this Jesus is or is not who and what He claims to be.

-And now that same call has been given to all the world. You and I and everybody are invited to COME AND SEE that Jesus Christ is not only the Messiah, but is the Son of God, and the Creator of the Universe.

-People everywhere are invited to COME AND SEE that Jesus Christ is the perfect sacrifice for the salvation of sinners, He is the Risen Lord, and He is the King of kings and Lord of lords that is now seated in the heavenly position of power where He rules and reigns from on high until the day of His return when He will rule and reign in a New Heaven and New Earth.

-Jesus Christ has made the claim to be God, to be the only forgiver of sins, to be the breaker of chains, to be the healer of nations, and to be the only way to heaven.

-Jesus has made very bold claims, and it is the imperative for everyone who has heard these claims to COME AND SEE if they are true—and since they are true, then a decision needs to be made.

-I read the story of Peter Waldo who was a rich merchant of Lyons, France many centuries ago. He was converted to faith through the death of a friend who had previously invited him to COME AND SEE. Peter was so gloriously saved that he then had the Scriptures translated into his own tongue and thereafter gave up all his wealth and followed his Lord. Everywhere he went he preached the claims of Christ, using these words `Look to Jesus! Listen to Jesus! Learn of Jesus!' These are the prerequisites of discipleship.

-The Call to COME AND SEE is the call to look to Jesus, listen to Jesus, and learn of Jesus. This is where the path begins. You cannot even begin the path if you have not centered your search on the person of Jesus Christ.

-Then the second step we see is:

II) Follow Me

-Although we are quite used to the biblical notion of believing in Jesus, there is a related notion of following Jesus. One requires an acceptance. After you COME AND SEE who Jesus is, you accept Him, but then this results in an action of commitment that is described as following Him.

-To believe in Jesus is to trust Him that He is who the Bible says He is, and He did what the Bible said He did in dying on the cross for sins and being raised from the dead. We accept that as truth and we accept that as personal.

-But Jesus called people beyond mere belief to a place of complete commitment that results in the action of following Him in a biblical notion.

-You see this in our passage. It says in v. 37 that John’s disciples FOLLOWED Jesus. In v. 40 Andrew is described as having FOLLOWED Jesus. In v. 43 Jesus says to Philip: FOLLOW Me.

-In biblical times, those who would learn from a teacher in order to live according to their teachings would not merely sit in a pew or at a desk and learn principles and ideas. These followers (these disciples) would commit themselves to a life of following the teacher around to not only learn lessons from them, but to see the example of their lifestyle (to see how the lessons that were taught lived out practically) and they would in turn imitate what they saw in their master.

-To COME AND SEE who Jesus is and what He did, and to believe by accepting it, is merely the beginning. We are called to be so committed to Christ that we follow Him to learn how to live out that which we are taught through His Bible so that we do the same.

-But this takes a devotion and commitment where we give up our own agendas and desires and plans, and instead take up the calling of Christ for our life, however that may play out.

-Elsewhere in Scripture, the concept of FOLLOW ME is pictured as a yoke. Jesus said:

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

(Matt. 11:28-30 ESV)

-The yoke was a piece of wood that was fitted between two oxen by which they would pull the plow or cart. Often a young ox would be yoked together with an older ox so that the older ox would teach and train the younger ox the way things go.

-Jesus is saying that He wants us to be fitted with Him in His yoke so that He can teach and train us what it means to live for Him—what it truly means to be a Christian.

-But there is another picture that is often given in our following Jesus in discipleship. Jesus said:

34 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

36 And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.

37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matt. 10:34-39 ESV)

-Jesus said that whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. The cross is not some mere symbol that we wear on jewelry, the cross is an instrument of death.

-To follow Jesus, to be His disciple, is to die to your self-centeredness, to die to your self-absorption, to die to your self-promotion, to die to your self-made ambitions and plans.

-If you want to find out what following Jesus truly means, then you lose your life for His sake. To lose your life is to die—but it doesn’t mean to die physically, but to die to self and instead FOLLOW CHRIST.

-One pastor wrote:

The yoke and the cross are twin symbols of Christian experience. The cross speaks of leaving the world for Christ; the yoke speaks of learning in the world from Christ. The one speaks of sacrifice; the other service. The disciple must bear both; he cannot choose to take one and leave the other.

-And you know what happens when you FOLLOW CHRIST by taking up the yoke and the cross? The more people look at you, the more they see Jesus. The yoke and the cross will train you and discipline you to look just like the Savior.

-There is a story about a father and son who arrived in a small western town looking for an uncle whom they had never seen. Suddenly, the father, pointing across the square to a man who was walking away from them, exclaimed, “There goes my uncle!”

His son asked, “How do you know when you have never seen him before?”

“Son, I know him because he walks exactly like my father.”

-When we FOLLOW JESUS by taking up the yoke and the cross, people will be able to look at us and say: I KNOW THAT PERSON. THEY ARE A DISCIPLE OF JESUS BECAUSE THEY WALK JUST LIKE HIM. (That is, their life reflects being a disciple.)

-We are called to COME AND SEE, and when we accept it, there is a call to FOLLOW ME, and then thirdly there is the call to:

III) Go and find

-Jesus clearly said in the gospels that He came to seek and save the lost. He came to find people in need of deliverance from sin (which is everyone) and call them to be disciples.

-If following Jesus and being a disciple means that we follow Jesus’ example, that means there is also a call on our lives to seek and save the lost; to go and find and train new disciples.

-We see in our passage that after Andrew spent some time with Jesus, one of his first actions was to go and find his brother Peter so that he could bring Peter to Jesus.

-Later in the passage, after Jesus called Philip to follow Him, Philip goes off to find his friend Nathanael and bring him to Jesus.

-In the synoptic gospels, once Jesus is ready to begin His ministry and He calls these men again to come with Him, He tells them that He would make them fishers of men. That is the natural progression.

-And yet, too many churches hunker down in their buildings and create for themselves nice little country clubs.

Author Paul W. Powell, in his book entitled The Complete Disciple, described this condition: "Many churches today remind me of a laboring crew trying to gather in a harvest while they sit in the tool shed. They go to the tool shed every Sunday and they study bigger and better methods of agriculture, sharpen their hoes, grease their tractors, and then get up and go home. Then they come back that night, study bigger and better methods of agriculture, sharpen their hoes, grease their tractors, and go home again. They comeback Wednesday night, and again study bigger and better methods of agriculture, sharpen their hoes, grease their tractors, and get up and go home. They do this week in and week out, year in and year out, and nobody ever goes out into the fields to gather in the harvest.

-Many will say that they don’t go out because the church does not have an organized outreach program (which will be rectified in due time). Yet nowhere in the Bible does it say that disciples wait for a church outreach program for them to go out personally to find other people to be disciples.

-The Christian church did not have a formal outreach program as we know it for over 2000 years and still grew. How? Because it followed the biblical version of an outreach program which is for the disciple of Jesus Christ to go out and find someone else to train as a disciple.

-If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ you don’t have to wait on the pastor or the church to come up with an outreach program. You yourself are the outreach program, and you have been commissioned to Go and Find others.

Conclusion

-I’ll close with this:

Picture a large manufacturing plant in your town or city that produces shoes. The management has invested great sums of money and many man-hours into the plant to produce the finest shoes possible. Money has been spent on salaries for the employees, machinery for shoe making, and materials from which the shoes are to be made. The plant is now in operation with hundreds of workers scurrying to and fro. Machines are running full blast, and activity is at a maximum.

One day the president asks the production manager, "How many shoes have we produced so far?"

"None," the manager answers.

"None?" the president exclaims. "How long have we been in operation?"

"Two years."

"Two years? And still no shoes?"

"That's right," the manager says, "No shoes, but we are really busy. In fact, we have been so busy that we are all nearly tired out. We've been very active at our jobs."

The management would probably be very concerned, fire somebody, try to find out what the problem was.

Now, if we now put a cross on top of that building and transform it into a typical American church, we find much activity going on. Men and women are working hard. The budget is higher this year than ever before. The objective, however, is to produce disciples. Are we like the shoeless shoe factory? Are we a disciple-less disciple factory?

-If you are a Christian, come to the altar and ask God to give you a divine appointment of somebody that you can call to COME AND SEE, and to Jesus say FOLLOW ME, so that they too can GO AND FIND

-But maybe you aren’t Jesus’ disciple…[GOSPEL]