Discipleship
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
“When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”
So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon. John 1:38-39
I find this passage very powerful and insightful into our life of following Jesus. The context of this passage is found in John 1 where John the Baptist’s disciples were hearing John talk about the coming Messiah. John goes on to point out Jesus as the Messiah. Then that brings us to the passage we are looking at now, they began to follow after Jesus.
I find this question posed by Jesus deeply purposeful and enlightening. These two disciples heard John the Baptist speak about Jesus, and declared that he was “the Lamb of God”. So they began to follow him.
But Jesus questioned their motives and reason for following right away. In that day, when you took a Rabbi, you adopted not only his teaching, but his lifestyle. So when they asked where he was staying, their intention was that they intended to take on his life.
So this morning I want to look at what the Bible tells us about who is a disciple, what a disciple does, and what that means for us.
What is a Disciple?
What is a Disciple?
The first thing I want us to ask is what does it mean to be a disciple? What does being a disciple entail. We often tend to think that being a disciple is simply acknowledging and believing the right things about Jesus. This is true to an extent, but I don’t think it captures the whole picture of what a disciple is mean to be.
The Greek word for disciple does mean learner, but it also means apprentice or pupil. I like the word apprentice or pupil because it goes far beyond just learning, but goes into forming a life that also repeats the way of the master.
Think of a apprentice or pupil at a contruction job, or plumbing, or really any trade job. It is essential that the apprenticing knows the rules of the trade. That he understands how to use the tools. And to know what soultions are available to any given issue that may arise. But at some point, every master or teacher expects their apprenctice to be able to do the work themself. Every apprentice must take up the way of the teacher.
This principle is what the Bible pulls on when it talks about a disciple. We can’t just be commited to the words and teachings of Jesus, but we also must be commited to the way of Jesus. We are apprenticing under Jesus. We are not only intellectually agreeing with Jesus, but we are conforming our way of life to the way that Jesus is leading us to.
“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” John 13:13-17
What does a disciple do?
What does a disciple do?
We follow Jesus (Learn, Obey and make Disciples)
So what does a disciple do? Well let’s go back to our apprentice analogy. When you are apprentice you attach yourself to the hip of your master or teacher. I’ve had a few plumbers work on my house, and the older more experienced worker often has a younger man that is learning and assisting him. This apprentice followers the tradesman everywhere, and as they work the tradesman is explaining and showing the young man how to do this.
We see this play out in the life of the disciples all throughout the Gospels. Jesus spent a lot of time with these men. He spent three years teaching the disciples, traveling with them, having meals with the disciples, going to the temple with the disciples. Jesus was constantly with His disciples and never missed an opportunity to teach His disciples the way of the Kingdom of God.
Robert Coleman in his book “Master Plan of Evangelism” uses a helpful model when describing discipleship
- Demonstration (I do, you watch, anytime Jesus is doing ministry),
We see this anytime in the Gospel when Jesus was doing anything. The disciples are watching Jesus do ministry to learn the way he does thing.
- Delegation (I do, you help, Jesus has the disciples sit the crowds down to eat),
We see Jesus delegating small tasks to the disciples throughout his time with the disciples. For example, Jesus gave them the tasks of dividing the 5000 into groups to be fed, or having the disciples pull the boats out when he was teaching.
- Supervision (You do, I help, sending out of the 12 or 72, evaluating their work),
He also sent them out to do the work themselves. In Matthew 10 and Luke 12 we see Jesus sending out disciples to preach to towns, to heal the sick, and spread the news of the Kingdom. He sent the out to do the work that He was doing, not just be spectators. He also would debrief and evaluate with them of what happened when they went out.
- Reproduction (You do, and I watch, Great Commission).
Then the last step, was reproduction. Go out and make more disciples just like he had taught them.
But could you imagine if this apprenctice never learned to do the work of the tradesman? He just watched and learned, but never learned to do. That would be silly right? The line of plumber would eventually end. That tradesman master is training that apprentice so that he one day could not only do the work, but also MAKE MORE APPRENTICES TO DO THE SAME THING.
This is also true of discipleship in the Kingdom of God. We can’t just be content to learn from Jesus. We can’t be content with just even knowing how to make disciples. The Gospel advances through faithful discipleship.
Discipleship is the strategy that Jesus commissions His church with:
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
This is a call to everyone who calls themself a Christian. The mission of every disciple is to worship God, and to make disciples everywhere we go.
But discipleship is not just coming to church. Discipleship is not just switching over to Christian radio or putting a bumper sticker on our car. Discipleship is about obedience to the word of God, following in the footsteps of Jesus, both his truth and his way.
If we aren’t commited to making disciples we aren’t commited to the way of Jesus. We are absoutely called to live in obedience to God’s word and the teaching of Jesus. However, God’s word and Jesus teaching always lead us to discipleship.
Our Response
Our Response
We make more disciples
We started in John 1, let’s read John 1:40-42 to lead us into our conclusion:
“40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.”
Do you see that? After Andrew came to the knowledge of finding Jesus, the first thing he did was go get his brother Simon (who Jesus named Peter). Andrew saw the need to bring more than just himself to Jesus, but he saw that he needed to bring others to know Jesus.
Our life with Jesus is so important and life changing that we should be doing anything and everything we can to bring people to Jesus. Genuinine encounters with Jesus always lead us to make disciples.
It amazes me that as you read this, Peter may have never known Jesus unless Andrew brought him to Jesus. Peter was a central character in the Gospels, Peter was the face of the church, and we have two books in the Bible written by him. We know little about Andrew. But we wouldn’t have Peter without Andrews bringing him to Jesus.
Jesus poured into his disciples, who then went and poured into more people, and those people went and poured into more, and the cycle has continued for 2000 years. Paul picks up on this in 2 Timothy:
“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” 2 Timothy 2:2
Jesus strategy was not to build a big building. It wasn’t to have trendy sermons or relevant music or programs. Jesus wasn’t concerned with reaching the masses, he reached the few. Jesus certainly taught to the masses and invited the masses, but Jesus discipled 12. Jesus’ plan to reach the world is pouring into few who will pour into more.
Some curriculum that we used in XA does the math and if we made one disciple every year and taught those disciples to do the same we could reach the population of the whole word in 30-40 years.
“We can do it, if we will.”
“After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Luke 10:1-2
I have read this verse many, many times since starting down the road to ministry, and I always thought it just meant that we need more people to go into the ministry. I have heard many sermons and read many books that say just that.
And that may be true. I do think we need more people to step into the ministry. There is a major concern in the American Church as a whole because there are not many younger Christians rising up behind the current church staff. We do need more ministers.
But I think this verse also tells us that we need more people who are making disciples. The harvest is plentiful. There are people all around who don’t know Jesus. There are young Christians in our churches and neighborhoods who are starving to truly know God. There are older Christians with precious wisdom and experience with Jesus to share with us. We need more disciple-makers. And that is a call that we all get to take up.
Our world desperately needs Christians who will disciple. Jesus already gave us the strategy and blueprints. If we want to impact the world, if we want to change the state of our nation, if we want to save the future of the Church, the answer is raise up resilient disciples who love Jesus with all their hearts, they love people like they love themselves, and they will make more disciples.
The Moravians 1700’s really birthed the modern-day mission movement. They sold themselves into slavery in order to reach the African slaves that were held in the West Indies. The Moravian Slaves, a popular story about Christian Missions concerning Johann Leonhard Dober and David Nitschmann, describes how these two young Moravian Brethren from Herrnhut, Germany, were called in 1732 to minister to the African slaves on the islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix in the Danish West Indies. Allegedly, when they were told that they would not be allowed to do such a thing, Dober and Nitschmann sold themselves to a slave owner and boarded a ship bound for the West Indies. As the ship pulled away from the docks, it is said that they called out to their loved ones on shore, "May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering!"
Why do we make disciples? So the Lamb that was slain may receive the reward of His suffering. What is his reward? The people lead into His kingdom. The disciples that are made.
If discipleship turned the world upside down 2000 years ago, why can’t it change the world now?