12 MARKS OF A TRUE DISCIPLE
Notes
Transcript
INTRO
INTRO
15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
15 Ya no os llamaré siervos, porque el siervo no sabe lo que hace su señor; pero os he llamado amigos, porque todas las cosas que oí de mi Padre os las he dado a conocer.
Which kind of God calls His servants “friends”?? Not even the invented ones! You never heard of Zeus coming and doing anything for mankind… Only the One and true God is capable of dying for us and calling us friends!
Today we will study the 15th chapter of John, and evaluate the basis of the true discipleship, of this friendship with our Saviour, according to Jesus Himself.
NOTE: I will project the slides in English, and read in Spanish
TODAY’S THEME:
WHO DOES JESUS CALL “FRIENDS”?
WHO DOES JESUS CALL “FRIENDS”?
THE 12 MARKS OF A TRUE DISCIPLE
THE 12 MARKS OF A TRUE DISCIPLE
Please keep your Bible open in the 15th Chapter of JOHN, as we navigate it verse by verse;
EVERYBODY wants to be friends with someone, especially friends with kings!
But the relationship with Jesus produces marks, marks of authenticity, marks of a genuine relationship;
The apostle Paul speaks of these marks in one of his epistles:
17 From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
17 De aquí en adelante nadie me cause molestias, porque yo llevo en mi cuerpo las marcas del Señor Jesús.
During His ministry, Jesus explained a lot about discipleship, and in this chapter He does it again.
During His ministry, Jesus explained a lot about discipleship, and in this chapter He does it again.
So, according to Jesus, what is the evidence that we are truly His followers? What are the marks of a true disciple??
So, according to Jesus, what is the evidence that we are truly His followers? What are the marks of a true disciple??
(We will have those answers reading the chapter)
1. AWARENESS OF ACCOUNTABILITY
1. AWARENESS OF ACCOUNTABILITY
Verses 2,6
2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
2 Todo pámpano que en mí no lleva fruto, lo quitará; y todo aquel que lleva fruto, lo limpiará, para que lleve más fruto.
6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
6 El que en mí no permanece, será echado fuera como pámpano, y se secará; y los recogen, los echan en el fuego y arden.
What we see here is a warning of Jesus that everything we do and the choices we elect have consequences;
The result of not being connected with Jesus is to be cast into fire; it’s a hard message, but it is the truth.
Jesus starts with this warning because nothing else matters if we don’t understand that. There is accountability in being a disciple!
Pruning is an act of love, and not only of discipline.
2. CLEANSED BY THE WORD OF GOD
2. CLEANSED BY THE WORD OF GOD
Verse 3
3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
3 Ya vosotros estáis limpios por la palabra que os he hablado.
When we come to Jesus, we are NOT immediately free, we start a process, and our MINDS have to be continually renewed by the Word of God.
The words of Jesus are truth and life, and those who live by it, are cleansed everyday.
3. ABIDING IN JESUS
3. ABIDING IN JESUS
Verse 5
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
5 »Yo soy la vid, vosotros los pámpanos; el que permanece en mí y yo en él, este lleva mucho fruto, porque separados de mí nada podéis hacer.
“ABIDING” - The word appears 10 times in 10 verses!
C. S. Lewis developed several ideas on abiding in his book “Mere Christianity”;
Abide means “to remain stable or fixed in a state”
True believers are “stuck” and grounded in Christ, they do not keep floating around or unstable as the waves of the sea, they ABIDE!
Nowadays, everything is a reason to NOT ABIDE.
4. BEARS MUCH FRUIT
4. BEARS MUCH FRUIT
Verses 5,16
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
5 »Yo soy la vid, vosotros los pámpanos; el que permanece en mí y yo en él, este lleva mucho fruto, porque separados de mí nada podéis hacer.
16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
16 No me elegisteis vosotros a mí, sino que yo os elegí a vosotros y os he puesto para que vayáis y llevéis fruto, y vuestro fruto permanezca; para que todo lo que pidáis al Padre en mi nombre, él os lo dé.
The truth is: God EXPECTS fruit. This is clear in the episode of the fig tree cursed, and also in the parable of the fig tree that was unfruitful.
He also talks about the Parable of the Seed, where the good soil produces 30, 60 and 100 fold. There has to be fruit!
Also in the Parable of the Talents, (1, 2, 5), He expects FRUIT!
But which fruit is Jesus talking about? Fruits worthy of repentance.
NOTE: Jesus taught us that we cannot judge people, but we can know them by their FRUIT!
16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
16 Por sus frutos los conoceréis. ¿Acaso se recogen uvas de los espinos o higos de los abrojos?
So, evaluating if someone produces fruit it’s not about judgement, it’s about PERCEPTION, it’s about seeing the fruits.
And the fruits are observed in
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
22 Pero el fruto del Espíritu es amor, gozo, paz, paciencia, benignidad, bondad, fe,
23 mansedumbre, templanza; contra tales cosas no hay ley.
5. TOTAL DEPENDANCE
5. TOTAL DEPENDANCE
Verse 5
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
We do not OWN anything, and we cannot DO anything without the Lord, we cannot CONTROL anything! We cannot even breathe if not by His mercy. We depend on Him for everything!
That’s why philosophies like “My body, my choice” are absolutely corrupt and poisoning, and leads people astray.
The Bible affirms that there is nothing we have that was not given to us:
7 For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
We have to humbly accept this truth: we can do nothing, we are nothing apart from the Lord.
Even to be a disciple, we need the Lord.
6. KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORD
6. KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORD
Verses 7 & 10
7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
7 Si permanecéis en mí y mis palabras permanecen en vosotros, pedid todo lo que queráis y os será hecho.
10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
10 Si guardáis mis mandamientos, permaneceréis en mi amor; así como yo he guardado los mandamientos de mi Padre y permanezco en su amor.
Abiding in Jesus passes through knowing His Word, and consequently His will.
As Pr. Marcos said last week, we cannot obey what we don’t know.
The most weakest and more vulnerable Christians are the ones who cannot give reason of their faith.
7. OBEDIENCE
7. OBEDIENCE
Verse 14
14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.
14 Vosotros sois mis amigos si hacéis lo que yo os mando.
This verse is a simple, plain, direct and challenging statement of our Lord!!
We can disguise all we want, but Jesus Himself was very clear regarding obedience
Now, let’s take a look on something interesting on verse 15:
15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
Verse 15 shows a pattern of how God reveals His secrets to His friends, the same way He did with Abraham, when He revealed to him His plans about Sodom and Gomorrah.
In other words, the only way to get INTIMACY AND TO KNOW THE SECRETS OF THE LORD’S MIND is through obedience.
8. LOVE
8. LOVE
verse 17
17 These things I command you, that you love one another.
17 Esto os mando: Que os améis unos a otros.
The apostle John talks a lot about love in his Letters.
Love also implies in COMMUNION (to be together!)
It’s very important to understand that when the Bible speaks of love, it is ALWAYS IN A PRACTICAL WAY. LOVE IS NOT A FEELING, IT’S ACTION!
9. EXTRATERRESTRIAL MINDSET
9. EXTRATERRESTRIAL MINDSET
verse 19
19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
19 Si fuerais del mundo, el mundo amaría lo suyo; pero porque no sois del mundo, antes yo os elegí del mundo, por eso el mundo os odia.
OH, how I love this concept! We are NOT from this world!
We are pastors, but we are ambassadors, we are farmers, but we are ambassadors, we are drivers, but we are ambassadors. Our country is not USA, Mexico or Brazil, our country is in Heaven!!
10. PERSECUTION
10. PERSECUTION
verse 20
20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
20 Acordaos de la palabra que yo os he dicho: “El siervo no es mayor que su señor”. Si a mí me han perseguido, también a vosotros os perseguirán; si han guardado mi palabra, también guardarán la vuestra.
When Jesus said “take up your cross”, they knew what it meant! They saw people carrying their crosses every day!
We have no answers as to “why” persecution happens, but it is indeed part of being a disciple of Jesus. Indeed, He said:
11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
11 Bienaventurados seréis cuando por mi causa os insulten, os persigan y digan toda clase de mal contra vosotros, mintiendo.
12 »Gozaos y alegraos, porque vuestra recompensa es grande en los cielos, pues así persiguieron a los profetas que vivieron antes de vosotros.
29 So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s,
30 who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.
29 Respondió Jesús y dijo: —De cierto os digo que no hay nadie que haya dejado casa, o hermanos, o hermanas, o padre, o madre, o mujer, o hijos, o tierras, por causa de mí y del evangelio,
30 que no reciba cien veces más ahora en este tiempo: casas, hermanos, hermanas, madres, hijos y tierras, aunque con persecuciones, y en el siglo venidero la vida eterna.
11. HOLY SPIRIT-FILLED
11. HOLY SPIRIT-FILLED
verse 26
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.
26 »Pero cuando venga el Consolador, a quien yo os enviaré del Padre, el Espíritu de verdad, el cual procede del Padre, él dará testimonio acerca de mí.
The reason the Holy Spirit is the “Parakletos”, the One Who goes side by side, is because we couldn’t take this journey by ourselves.
Only the Holy Spirit can help us to carry on with all the responsibilities of being a disciple
12. WITNESSES
12. WITNESSES
verse 27
27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
27 Y vosotros daréis testimonio también, porque habéis estado conmigo desde el principio.
This is in agreement with the order of Jesus before going to Heaven:
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
19 Por tanto, id y haced discípulos a todas las naciones, bautizándolos en el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo,
20 y enseñándoles que guarden todas las cosas que os he mandado. Y yo estoy con vosotros todos los días, hasta el fin del mundo». Amén.
FINAL APPLICATIONS
FINAL APPLICATIONS
What is the result of being a true disciple?
What is the result of being a true disciple?
Desire fulfilled! That is a WONDERFUL PROMISE!!
We can see that on verses 7 & 16:
7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
7 Si permanecéis en mí y mis palabras permanecen en vosotros, pedid todo lo que queráis y os será hecho.
16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
16 No me elegisteis vosotros a mí, sino que yo os elegí a vosotros y os he puesto para que vayáis y llevéis fruto, y vuestro fruto permanezca; para que todo lo que pidáis al Padre en mi nombre, él os lo dé.
So, we have seen the 12 marks of a true disciple...
Now, coming back to the beginning, this pronouncement - verse 14, doesn't leave room for an “almost-a-friend” approach. Jesus is calling us into a beautiful privilege of being His friends, but there is a great level of obedient commitment involved. What Jesus is saying is, no matter what we say or profess, our efforts will be completely inefficient to conquer His friendship, unless the fruits of obedience are evident in our lives. Simply put, If we do not obey Him, we are not His friends.
There are so many privileges and honor involved in this precious promise of Jesus, Who wants to be friends with us! The invitation is for all of us, it’s for everyone who desires a relationship with the Son of God!
What a friend we have in Jesus! There is no one more precious, more desirable and more important than a friend Who decided to leave all His glory to find us and die for us, so He could call us friends!
More than a blessing in this earthly life, on the last day, believe me, we want to be known by Him as friends, so it will not be the case where He looks at us and says: “I never met you.”
It’s time to evaluate our lives and make a “spiritual inventory” of our lives as disciples of the Lord Jesus, and the only way we can do that is crossing our behavior with the guidelines that Jesus Himself gives us.
It’s time to evaluate our lives and make a “spiritual inventory” of our lives as disciples of the Lord Jesus, and the only way we can do that is crossing our behavior with the guidelines that Jesus Himself gives us.
Are you a true disciple?
Are you a friend of Jesus?