Sermon Tone Analysis

How to Be Jesus’ Disciple

John 13:27-38

 

The Worst Failure Ever As a Disciple

 

/Judas …* was a thief*, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it//.

*John 12:6*/

 

/27 //Then after the morsel, Satan entered into him.

Jesus said to him, //“What you are going to do, do quickly.”//

28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him.

29 Some thought that, because Judas had the money box, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast”; or, that he should give something to the poor.

30 So, after receiving the morsel, he immediately went out; and it was night.//

*Verses 27-30*/

 

 

To Follow Jesus Successfully

 

·       You Must Understand Jesus’ *[GLORY]*.

/31 //When he had gone out, Jesus said, //“Now is the Son of man glorified, and in him God is glorified;// 32 //if God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once//.

*Verses 31-32*/

 

/4 //I glorified thee on earth, having accomplished the work which you gave me to do;// 5 //and now, Father, glorify thou me in thy own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was made.

/*/John 17:4-5/*

 

 

·       You Must Develop The Glory Of Jesus’ *[CHARACTER]*.

/33 //Little children, yet a little while I am with you.

You will seek me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.//

*Verse 33*/

 

/23 //And Jesus answered them, //“The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified.//

24 //Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.//

25 //He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.//

26 //If any one serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honor him.//

*John 12:13-26*/

/ /

/ /

·       You Must Obey Jesus’ *[NEW COMMANDMENT]*.

/34 //A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.//

35 //By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”//

*Verses 34-35*/

 

/20 //“I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

22 The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me/./ /

*/John 17:20-23/*

·       You Must *[NEVER GIVE UP]* When You’ve Failed Jesus.

/36 //Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, //“Where I am going you cannot follow me now; but you shall follow afterward.”//

37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why cannot I follow you now?

I will lay down my life for you.”

38 Jesus answered, //“Will you lay down your life for me?

Truly, truly, I say to you, the cock will not crow, till you have denied me three times//.//

*Verses 36-38*/

 

/22 //Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere love of the brethren, love one another earnestly from the heart.

23 You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.

*1 Peter 1:22-23*/

/ /

\\ Good morning.

Are you ready to explore God’s word?

Awesome!

A disciple is someone who follows a teacher and his philosophy.

Until time comes to a stop men will follow those they believe offer them the best meaning to life.

This may seem to be an odd question, but have you ever considered, who is the worst failure ever, as a disciple?

If you are humble you might say, “well, that’s probably me.”

And if you are not so humble you’ve probably thought of some poor Christian who has miserably failed morally or doctrinally.

The New Testament is a source of authority we can all agree upon.

Clearly from its pages, with reasonable certainty, we deduce that Judas Iscariot receives this notable distinction.

Jesus said, “It would have been better if he had not been born.”

Scripture gives him the title “the son of perdition”, or more to the point a child of Satan.

What makes Judas the worst disciple ever is not his betrayal; rather, when confronted with his sin he totally abandons the way of God for his own selfishness.

John says, “/Judas …* was a thief*, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it.”/

Judas is not a big time operator.

He’s not a violent armed robber.

I think he is very much like many of us.

He is a religious person who has a serious addiction to a particular sin.

No one can be 100% sure that Judas was addicted to stealing, but it may help explain the only character quality the New Testament mentions about him.

He repeatedly stole from the other disciples, and you have to ask why?

Why take a chance?

Why does he do it over and over again raising the stakes higher and higher each time.

I don’t think he wanted Jesus dead, and 30 pieces of silver is not that much money.

The small value of the money is attested to by the fact it was used to purchase a bad lot in which to bury indigents.

In the highly charged atmosphere of Jesus’ last Passover; it is simply that Judas’ would not resist the temptation.

When Jesus eats his last meal with his disciples Judas rids himself of Jesus and his teachings.

Here at this meal he begins his abandoned avalanche into Hell’s deepest pits.

Listen to John, “/27 //Then after the morsel, Satan entered into him.

Jesus said to him, //“What you are going to do, do quickly.”//

28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him.

29 Some thought that, because Judas had the money box, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast”; or, that he should give something to the poor.

30 So, after receiving the morsel, he immediately went out; and it was night.”/

It is this precise moment of time that Jesus commands Judas, the worst disciple ever that begins the events which will glorify him and the Father.

Satan enters Judas’ heart and his final break with his teacher is realized.

The temptation is now in control of Judas.

I think there are four reasons why Judas failed.

First he did not understand the glory of Jesus.

Second his character in the two years he closely followed did not develop to be like Jesus.

Third he faulted in loyalty to his brothers.

And most significantly he gave up and killed himself.

It is the events surrounding these failures that make him the worst disciple ever.

His fatal error is not the sin of suicide.

It is the abandonment of his teacher and lord at that last supper.

He simply did not love Jesus anymore, and he abandoned him to the wolves.

It could be argued that the other eleven committed similar errors as Judas.

However they failed; their hearts still loved Jesus.

And that is why Jesus’ in his tender love helps his spiritual children to know how to be successful disciples and not failures like Judas.

In verse 33, after Jesus commanded Judas to leave that evening, he speaks to the eleven as his little children.

There are two Greek words for children used in the N.T.

One the words is teknion and is used to refer to small children in a loving and protective way.

It is this word Jesus chooses to use for his disciples.

For us to get the emotional tone of this setting we need to remember that Jesus himself has set in motion events that will forever change their lives.

He is going away and they must remain.

The best way to feel this is for you to imagine your dad, knowing he is dying, giving you his final legacy on how to be successful in life.

And you, not wanting to contemplate the possibility of separation, have a difficult time understanding what he is trying to do for you.

What Jesus is doing is helping us understand what successful discipleship means.

Jesus is telling us a successful disciple deeply loves and obeys his teacher, applies his teacher’s teachings to his life, and serves those who follow his teacher with personal loyalty till he dies.