Christian Discipleship — Luke 9

0:00 Most of you will notice that I'm wearing a tie. However, you may also notice that my top button isn't done and it's slightly hanging down. And the reason for that is some of my dress shirts are a little bit old. I got them between the edges of 16 and 19, and I've gained some weight. So I can't actually top button the top button.

0:26 So that's why it's a little bit loose. Okay. So as Jacob shared, it is important to accept the gift of God. And some of what I am going to talk about for the next few minutes is the difference between being a believer and being a disciple. What I am going to be recapping for you is a session called Christian Discipleship by a gentleman named Neil Paul who was here on Friday and spent some time with the college and career group.

1:04 So we are going to talk about Christian Discipleship. Why is it important that we be disciples versus a believer? Why is it important? I have three points. One, it's his instruction that we be disciples.

1:22 Two, it is his desire that we be disciples and three, he expects it of us. It is his expectation of us as a believer to go from being a believer to a disciple. James four:eight, you can turn there if you want, you don't have to and I am going to read half of the verse, it says this, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. This is a promise, if we draw near to God, he will draw near to us. However this is a promise, it is a conditional promise.

2:04 We need to draw near to God and He will draw near to us. The word draw here is important. Let's move to Luke nine fifty seven. Luke nine fifty seven through 62. I'll just read through 62.

2:26 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Verse 59, To another he said, follow me but he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. And Jesus said to him, leave the dead to bury their own dead but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Yet another said, I will follow you Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.

3:08 Jesus said to him, no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. I'm also going to read John one thirty five and thirty nine. The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, behold the lamb of God. The two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, what are you seeking?

3:44 And they said to him, Rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? 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. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon, I'm sorry, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, we have found the Messiah.

4:11 He brought him to Jesus, Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon, the son of John. You shall be called Cephas, means Peter. These two portions have one word in common. There's an important prominent word and that is follow. So in Luke, Jesus was speaking to three different people and either the the first man volunteered to follow, the last two were commanded to follow but had some issues, they wanted to go take care of a couple of things first.

5:40 The large crowds that we read about in the gospels also followed Jesus but at a distance. So we can see that there were large crowds, they may not have been believers but the point of them following was to become a believer but they also had the disciples. So there's a difference between being a believer and being disciples. So the way that doctor Neil Paul put it is being in the outer circle versus the inner circle. To be a disciple, we need to make the journey from being a believer to being a disciple, to the inner circle.

6:16 When we become disciples, all earthly things will become dim. John John one forty and forty one, I'm going read that again. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which means Christ. So we see here an example of Andrew and Peter getting closer to Jesus.

6:51 They saw something in him that they desired. Who were the closest followers of Jesus? So who were there were three people that he took specific interest in those were Peter, James and John. Out of the 12, these three were, I don't want to say special, but, they were set aside, if you will. They knew knew him very well.

7:20 They were in the inner circle. They had a desire to be there and there are a couple of instances where the three of them are with Jesus specifically and I think Neil... Doctor Neil Paul said there were three but I only heard two so I didn't... I only have two, there's probably more. One is in the Garden Of Gethsemane as they were praying and another time was the Mount Of Trans Transfiguration when God's glory was displayed to these three these three men.

7:58 Let's go back to Luke nine fifty seven. So we are looking at three different people. The first person initiated the following. He said, I will follow you wherever you go. So he was already willing and ready to go.

8:14 The second and third persons are told or commanded if you will to follow Jesus. The second person... Wait hold on. So they had the right... The second person wanted to go and first bury his father.

8:32 That's not a bad thing but he he wanted... He he was ready to become... Know, to follow the Jesus but he didn't want to give up everything. The third person said, I will follow you Lord but first let me say farewell to those at my home. So he wanted to look back, say some goodbyes and then I'll come and follow you.

8:52 So I'll follow you on my own time. Let me take care of a couple things first. The second two people that he was talking to as Doctor. Neal said had one foot in the inner circle and one foot out of the inner circle they were separated, wanted to be in this part but they also had earthly desires as well. Luke nine sixty two, And Jesus said to him, no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

10:39 So the plow in this example the word of God. To follow him closely and become disciples, we need to focus on the word. We need to put away the things around us. If we're following the word but we're distracted, we're not we're not on the way to becoming a disciple, we we will begin to fall. Like I said earlier, the lord's expectation for the believer is to become a disciple.

11:13 We can either follow him or follow the path of destruction. You can't have a foot on both paths. You also can't follow inertia, you can't just let yourself go and kind of ride on other people's faith if you will. To move forward, we have... We have to put effort in.

11:39 It takes it takes effort, it takes time to become a disciple. I've got no minutes left. So I'm going to take the next few minutes that I don't have and go over three more points really quick. What are some of the characteristics of disciples? I've got three, mindset of a disciple, modeling the Lord Jesus as the disciple and mentoring by the Holy Spirit.

12:06 To have the mindset of a disciple is to have... Is to live a separated life, a sanctified life and a sacrificial life. A separated life means a life separated from the world. We are in the world but not of the world. We need to be sanctified with the word.

12:25 We need to constantly remind ourselves and move forward. We need to be sanctified with the word, I'm sorry, with the word and a sacrificial life. How much are we willing to sacrifice? He gave himself for us. I mean, how much how much are we willing to give?

12:48 Modeling the lord Jesus as his disciples, in John 13, I don't have time to read it but this is a wonderful demonstration of Jesus' humbleness and service. This is if you guys want to turn there, welcome to do so but this is when Jesus is washing the disciples' feet at the supper. Part of what Doctor Paul said was perhaps the host in this instance didn't do the traditional washing of the guest's feet so it hadn't been done yet, and Jesus took the job of the lowliest person to wash the feet. He did so with humbleness, humility and purity. He laid aside his garments, he took away sin and death.

13:32 When we are serving, we need be authentic when we are serving with humility. He is looking for authentic, transparent believers to serve Him. He wants us to go out and serve others because He did. As we serve, it should not be an act of ulterior motives, we shouldn't be trying to serve so that we get recognition, we should not be sarcastic but of pure intention to serve his disciples. If I want to model Christ, I need to be humble, authentic and pure.

14:49 The holy spirit points us towards Christ. So he is our helper to help us become disciples to get closer to Christ. A character... Another characteristic of a disciple is to be mentored by the spirit. We need to be able...

15:05 We need to accept mentoring by the holy spirit. We can't expect to grow closer on our own. The spirit in in the passage talks about the lord Jesus as the truth. He's he's not just a person but the truth. We need to purpose to follow the master on a daily basis.

15:26 Purpose to follow the master on a daily basis. We need to move from being an observer to being in the inner circle. It's the difference between being a believer and a disciple.