Being Disciples

Over the last few weeks at Quarterlife, we have been looking at the time between Jesus’s resurrection and ascension. During this forty day period Jesus appeared many times to over 500 people. His appearances served as proof that he was indeed risen from the dead. There were not many things recorded in the scriptures that he taught us during this time. The majority he taught to the disciples during his three years of ministry prior to his crucifixion. However, there is one notable exception. In Matt. 28 we read one final command that Jesus gives to his followers. This is what we call the great commission. Let’s read it:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” - Matt. 28:16

“Go and make disciples” This is the mission of every disciple of Jesus. Everyone who is a follower of Jesus is a part of this mission. This is Jesus’s command to us. 

But, what is a disciple? To be a disciple of Jesus means to follow him. It means to do what he said to do. I am afraid that there are many people today who consider themselves Christians, but have no intention of being disciples. At some point, what we are doing and what Jesus is doing part ways. We have to make a decision, are going to follow God or are we going to do it our way. God is asking for all of us. He wants our hearts, he wants our lives, he wants everything... because he is giving himself completely to us. Imagine going to a wedding, and the couple wrote their own vows, and they went something like this:

I take thee to be my lawfully wedded wife, in sickness and in health, unless you ask too much of me, then I’m out. I promise to love and cherish you, unless I have something better to do. I vow to give you 50% of my heart, which is pretty good, so you better be grateful. I promise to give you my life, until death do us part, unless you get in the way of my plans.

Do you think that the bride would like to hear that? Is that love? Of course not. Time and time again, the scripture uses the image of the church as the bride of Christ. The idea that God wants us to get a hold of is that this is a relationship of love. It is not all about religion. This is about a relationship with Jesus. He said, if you love me, you will keep my commands. [John 14:15] It is love that motivates us to follow him. 
I want to show you a story of some people who wanted to be disciples of Jesus: Matthew 8:14-22

 "When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
“He took up our infirmities
    and bore our diseases."
When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”  Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”  Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Jesus avoided the crowd. This was his standard mode of operation. He sees them gather and decides it’s time to leave.  It seems backwards.  Isn’t Jesus trying to get a following? Look at what Jesus own family said: “So Jesus’ brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go to Judea, so that Your disciples there may see the works You are doing. For no one who wants to be known publicly acts in secret. Since You are doing these things, show Yourself to the world.”5 For even His own brothers did not believe in Him.” John 7:4

I feel like a lot of what we do in church is try to generate a crowd.  Send out invitations. We have parties. It’s the great commission, right? Get people in church. And all that stuff is good, it’s fine. But crowds are not the goal.  Jesus has a higher goal. He wants disciples.  His leaving prompts his followers to choose to follow him or not. 
Two “disciples”say they will come with him, but Jesus lays their heart bare. He exposes their true motives.

I will follow you wherever you go.  This guy was a scribe.  The amplified version calls him highly respected. Jesus reply cuts right to the heart of the matter.  We are given no indication that the scribe does follow him.  Jesus reply indicates that the scribes desire was for earthly status or comfort.  He no doubt saw the miracles or heard about them,  and now he wants to get on board.  Association with Jesus would increase his stature,  he supposed, we are led to believe.  Jesus answers always cut to the root of the matter.  Jesus doesn't even have a home. He has no earthly possessions. The scribe must decide what is truly important to him. Is it really about following Jesus, or is there another motive? It almost sounds like Jesus is turning his away. But he never says don’t follow me. He just makes it clear what the cost is. 

The next man heard this exchange.  He is not turned away by Jesus low estate. Or by his not having a home. I will follow you,  he says. But first…  there can be no but after the words “I will follow”.  If we come to Jesus with conditions, we simply cannot follow him. That goes for everything.  We must obey his whole word.  We cannot say,  I will follow you but I am going to still do this.  Anything we hold back from him,  hold us back. The man wants bury his father. At first glance,  it seems honorable. Honor thy Father and mother. He has a responsibility to his family, it seems. Who could blame him? So Jesus’s answer comes as a surprise. “Follow me, let the dead bury their own dead.” He says no. Some insight to this passage comes when we understand that burying that father likely meant that there was an inheritance involved. The amplified version states this. The man is concerned about earthly things and he needs to be concerned about eternal things. He is afraid that is he just gets in the boat and follows Jesus, then he will lose out on his inheritance, but that inheritance will pass away, he gave up an eternal inheritance. There is a cost to discipleship. It is going to cost you something. Maybe not the same thing as someone else. But God does not allow rivals for his affection. It is costly following Jesus, but it is worth it. 

A similar story goes like this: Mark 10: “As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”  And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments, ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.” Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”  But at these words [a]he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who 
owned much property.

The thing that was holding the man back was his attachment to earthly things. It is not that Jesus is teaching everyone to sell everything, and a Christian cannot own anything. But for this man, his possessions owned him.

Now, back to the two disciples that came to Jesus. We really don’t know if these men followed Jesus and gave up these things, or if they turned away disappointed. The scripture doesn’t say. And it does matter. The next verse clears it up. 

Matt. 8:23: Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 

Who followed him? The disciples. Who were the disciples? The ones who got in the boat. This is discipleship in a nutshell. Jesus is getting into the boat, are you in or out? That is what determines whether you are a disciple or not. Did you get into the boat? Are you going where Jesus is going? Are you doing what Jesus is doing? Or are you doing your own thing? Because if you come to God and say, I will follow you, but… I’ve got something else going on. You are going to be left behind. I'm sorry if that is harsh, but we have got to get real with God. 

Let give you another verse: "So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven." Matt. 10:32-33

"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. 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. 10:37-39

Whoever finds his life will lose it. What do you think that means? Have you ever heard someone say that they are trying to find themselves? That is a typical college student statement. We try to find our place in the world. What are we good at? What career should we have? What defines us? What is important to us? Who am I going to hang out with? 

It is really easy to lose yourself in this search. Your life is not about you. You were made for a purpose. You were made to know and love and serve and enjoy God. You were made for his pleasure. Finding your life apart from God is to lose the life you were created for. It is to trade your true life for a fake. A hollow empty life that will end in futility. 

It is important for us to take an eternal perspective. Everything in this life will fade. All accomplishments, all riches. When we die we don’t take anything with us. Jesus said, Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” So what does life consist of? 

One thing that is eternal are relationships. So if life does not consist of the abundance of possessions, then it consist of relationships. The relationships we have with God and other believers will still be there in eternity. The measure of a life is its relationships. First of all, its relationship with God, and then relationships with others. Does anyone know what the most important law in the bible is?
Jesus said that it was love the Lord your God with all your heart, all you mind, all your soul and all your strength. And the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. These two laws deal with relationships. Possessions will pass away, but relationships will last into eternity. So we need to take an eternal perspective. Consider this, will anything I am doing in my life right now matter in a thousand years? What are you living for? 

So many times, we get our priorities all out of order. We spend all our time and energy trying to get things that will pass away and not matter. This attitude is especially prevalent in college. The point of college is to get into a good career, and your professors, advisers, and classmates, can make you think that there is nothing more important than your education and career.  You have to make sacrifices to succeed. It is really easy to buy into this attitude. Your future is all about your career and church falls to the wayside. This can happen in high school too. If you are an athlete, maybe you have heard your coach tell you that there is nothing more important than basketball, or football, or whatever. There is nothing wrong with pursuing a career, or being an athlete, but we need to keep things in order. When earthly things become more important that spiritual things, our lives become unbalanced. You will come to the end of your life and realize that everything you have built is stubble, ready to be burned up in the fire. You could be the greatest in your field, the best there ever was, and you will still be empty. 

Humans are like sheep. We tend to follow the herd. What people around you consider important, you will likely too. That is why you have to choose who you spend time with so carefully. The bible says, do not forsake the gathering of the saints, as some are in the habit of doing. (heb 10:25). It is so easy to make that a habit, forsaking the gathering of the saints. I am not saying that if you ever miss a Sunday you are going to hell. That’s not what this is about. But if you are consistently giving other things a higher place than God in your life, who are you living for? 

Before we can make disciples, we have to be disciples, and disciples are those people who follow Jesus. 
If you want to truly be a disciple, you’ve got to get into the boat. You got to follow him, you’ve got to keep him commands, you got to make him a priority.