2 Stages of Followship

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2 Stages of Followship

 

Stage 1: Apprenticeship

 

Follow – How would Jesus define a follower?

 

Mark 2:13-17

 

The Student – wants to know what the teacher knows

The Disciple – wants to be what the teacher is

 

ἀκολουθέω [akoloutheo /ak·ol·oo·theh·o/] v. 1 to follow one who precedes, join him as his attendant, accompany him. 2 to join one as a disciple, become or be his disciple. 2a side with his party.

The demand ἀκολούθει μοι in Mk. 2:14 and par. is a Messianic demand (→ συνακολουθέω).

  • Because it signifies following the Messiah, this discipleship is essentially a religious gift. ἀκολουθεῖν means participation in the salvation offered in Jesus

Illustration: There is today an evangelical rationalism which says that the truth is in the Word and if you want to know truth, go learn the Word.

·         If you get the Word, you have the truth.

That is the evangelical rationalism that we have in fundamentalist circles: "If you learn the text you've got the truth."

This evangelical rationalist wears our uniform.

·         He comes in wearing our uniform and says what the Pharisees ... said: "Well, truth is truth and if you believe the truth you've got it."

·         Such see no beyond and no mystic depth, no mysterious or divine.

·         They see only, "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord."

They have the text and the code and the creed, and to them that is the truth.

·         So they pass it on to others.

·         The result is we are dying spiritually.

·         To know the Truth, we must "know" the Son.  A. W. Tozer in Power for Living

Our faith should be driving us ever closer to being like Jesus

Our zeal should be, “I want to be like Jesus deep down in my heart.”

Unfortunately some of us are stumped with “The Kid” dilemma:  

Illustration: Reevaluating

The Kid is the story of a successful, high-powered image consultant named Russ (Bruce Willis). Russ lives an empty life. One day, Rusty (Spencer Breslin) shows up at his home. Over time Russ comes to realize that this kid is actually Russ himself when he was eight-years-old.

While Russ struggles to figure out what is going on, Rusty begins to explore the house.

"Chester, Chester. Come here boy," Rusty calls excitedly.

"Stop that yelling,"says Russ.

"Where's Chester?" Rusty asks.

"Who is Chester?"

"My dog," Rusty replies. "The dog I'm going to get when I grow up. He's the world's greatest dog."

"Sorry, no dog here," answers Russ.

"No dog! I grow up to be a guy with no dog. Why?" the boy says in disgust.

"I don't have time to take care of a dog. I travel all the time for work."

"I knew it," says Rusty with renewed zeal. "I grow up to fly jets!"

"No, I'm not a pilot," Russ answers sadly.

"Then what do you do?"

"I'm an image consultant."

"Shouldn't there be a lady here," asks Rusty.

"You mean my wife? No, I'm not married," replies Russ.

"So, you're almost 40, and you have no dog, you don't fly jets, and you're not married." The kid flops down on the couch, concluding, "I grow up to be a loser."

Although there are many points that can be made about this illustration, I will make two:

  1. As young Christians maybe we had spiritual dreams that we thought for sure God grant us
    • Ministry
    • Certain roles within the congregation
    • Friends and Family members becoming disciples
    • Success
      • And now we deal with spiritual disappointment forgetting that there was only one thing that God truly promised us:
        • To be like His son Jesus
  2. If we were to meet our young Christian selves: How would they evaluate us?
    • In our devotion of the word
    • In our devotion to the fellowship
    • In our devotion to the breaking of bread
    • In our devotion to prayer

Apprenticeship is a necessary vital period in which there is a one over another mentorship meant to last a relatively short period until… John 15:15

 

Stage 2: Partnership

John 15:15 (HCSB) I do not call you slaves anymore, because a slave doesn’t know what his master  is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from My Father.  

A. The Reality of “I am with you always…” Matthew 28:20

Think about the shift:

  • They left everything
  • Argued over who might be the greatest for Him
  • Thomas even said “Come let us follow Him to our death.”
  • They pursued Him with passion
  • And it broke their hearts when in the moment of great trail they failed to keep that commitment
    • To… Now I Will Be With You!

Examples:

  • Elders
  • Marriage dynamics

B. The Reality of “Jesus Himself came near and began to walk along with them.” Luke 24:15 b

Jesus is with us always but how does He pull us back in continued personal transformation?

  • Back to what we already know – Luke 24:17-24
  • Back to the Bible – Luke 24:25-27
  • Back to into the fellowship – Luke 24:28-35

Danger to Growth: Not settling for spiritual boundary stones

  • We like boundaries
    • We need them and they protect us
  • But sometimes we can come to a point in our faith when we decide to just conform to boundary makers rather than strive for authentic transformation.

Pastor John Ortberg reflects:

Conforming to boundary markers too often substitutes for authentic transformation.

The church I grew up in had its boundary markers. A prideful or resentful pastor could have kept his job, but if ever the pastor was caught smoking a cigarette, he would've been fired. Not because anyone in the church actually thought smoking a worse sin than pride or resentment, but because smoking defined who was in our subculture and who wasn't; it was a boundary marker.

As I was growing up, having a "quiet time" became a boundary marker, a measure of spiritual growth. If someone had asked me about my spiritual life, I would immediately think, Have I been having regular and lengthy quiet time? My initial thought was not, Am I growing more loving toward God and toward people?

Boundary markers change from culture to culture, but the dynamic remains the same. If people do not experience authentic transformation, then their faith will deteriorate into a search for the boundary markers that masquerade as evidence of a changed life.

John Ortberg, "True (and False) Transformation," Leadership (Summer 2002), p. 102


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v v: verb

par. parallel.

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