I Surrender All

Juston Davidson

Disciples Making Disciples • Sermon • Submitted 4 months ago • Presented 4 months ago

Discipleship

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What was a "disciple" in Jesus' day and what does that look like lived out in our time?

Notes

Transcript

Introduction

Good morning church and thank you for being here to participate with us in worship as we celebrate the great hope we have because of Jesus. Because of the cross and the Lord who did not shy his face from the sins of men, but instead chose to sacrifice his only son in our place, those of us who have heard the call, repented of our sin, and clung to the redemption provided by Christ are no longer under the curse of sin and the law.

Isn’t that something worth singing about?

Because of Jesus we have freedom from our sin nature, awakened to it for the first time, but freed so that we can pursue holiness, something we never could have done on our own.

Isn’t that worth praising Him for?

Because of Christ you have gone from enemy to friend of God, sinner to saint, blasphemer to joint heir with Christ, doomed to filled with hope and promise, broken to whole, weak to strong, lost to found, poor in spirit to rich through Christ.

Isn’t that something worth declaring over and over.

Because of Christ, his provision and his sacrifice, the path to salvation is open wide to any who would repent and turn to him. Any man, any woman, any child, that would come will find God ready willing and able to save them no matter the stains of their past. God’s grace is open and available to all.

Isn’t that something worth sharing?

In short, yes. Yes it is. We are a people blessed above all of what we could ever hope to deserve. Yet Christ loves us and that is why we come each week to re-remind ourselves of the greatness of our God and the joy that he give, the hope he bestows, and the mission the begs us come and see and go and tell that he is good. Amen?

Tension

This morning we are going to kick into our discussion on discipleship and what in the world one is. The bible has much to show us and we are going to be traveling everywhere today so we can get the picture clearly. Disciple and discipleship are two Bible words that we rarely bump into in our world. So today we are going to make the Biblical case for what a disciple is and does. And later we are going to extrapolate those concepts into some application for you and I as we become and make disciples today. Let’s pray and Get started.

Pray

Truth

Dr. John Marshall put it this way a couple months back, and I think he’s onto something.

‪I know we cannot do this but sometimes I want to replace the word “discipleship” with the word “training”, which by definition entails hand-change caused by head-change and heart-change. Training entails learning to be and do based on desire and knowledge. Just a passing thought.

Coaching, mentoring, training, these are all words that we have context for. We get them and they get us. In fact, oftentimes, we find that some of the most influential people in kids lives by the time they graduate high school is a coach or a teacher to inspired them to do something they thought they couldn’t. Who guided them in the right way and they found success. Ironically and frustratingly enough, moms and dads are usually cheering, teaching, preaching, and guiding in the same ways its just now all of the sudden more real, more true, and more possible because “coach said so.”

This process involves a couple of things:

A learner who is devoted to not only the lessons but actively using them in their lives.

A teacher who not only teaches the lessons but invests their own life into the learner.

Lessons: taught, learned, applied.

Now, I’ll admit, that is pretty easy to explain and pretty easy to understand. We get this. However, we are going to let those base ideas simmer for a minute and let the scriptures expand and develop them.

Disciples don’t just follow their teacher, they emulate them.

Rocky, The Karate Kid, Star Wars: They all share a common theme and one that resonates with us on purpose. Someone with more experience in the world guides someone with less through a process of training to achieve a goal. I would suggest to you that without the training montage Rocky isn’t a good movie anymore. The beauty of these stories and movies is that they tap a thing within us that desires to grow. Desires to achieve and overcome obstacles. Its and itch that God put there to be scratched. 3 passages I want to share with you.

Romans 8:29 (ESV)

29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV)

18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

1 John 3:2 (ESV)

2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

The common theme you’ll find here is that we are being conformed, transformed and made like him. Like him. For those that follow Jesus we don’t just want to learn about what he said or did so that we can ace some test or say that we know. Our goal is to become like Christ. That we would be make over into a self that isn’t devoted to self and flesh and my desires but that is like my teacher. I want to be Christ-like which is where we get the name of Christian in the first place. It was used as a slur for the early church. It literally means “little Christs” and the church was like, “Yeah, that sounds great, we’ll take it.”

Disciples don’t just learn for learning’s sake, our desire is to let the word and will of Christ marinate so deeply into us that we end up taking on his flavor in the world around us. Imagine if you will dropping a tea bag into a large glass jar of water. Over time it will change the entire jar from the inside out. The flavor has taken over an converted all if the water into something new. Such is the goal of the disciple, not to just follow but become like our teacher: Jesus Christ.

Disciples live in obedience to Jesus’ word, fleeing from sin.

John 8:31–38 (ESV)

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,

32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.

36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.

38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

We spoke last week of a goal for our lives to not simply be hearers of the word but those that practice it. That do what it says. That live out its instruction. Jesus clearly sets that as an expectation for his followers. “If you abide in my word”. That means live in, dwell in, set up your home in my word— then you are a disciple.

this is not saying that you are perfect or that you never struggle with sin ever again. It’s not saying that you do nothing else in your life other than Bible study and that you have to go to some sort of seminary or become a Bible Scholar of some kind.

At its core, this means that you make a conscious choice to lean into the truth of the word rather than living according to your old life. Your old life, the life that the bible calls “of the flesh” was centered on your desires, your self, and your plans. That life was, as this passage tells us, a life setting us up as a “slave to sin.” We may have thought we were calling the shots but in all reality our sin, our flesh, our rebellious nature was calling the shots. We were slaves to those desires and Christ has set us free from them to pursue truth. Set free from sin to pursue holiness. And that holiness, that righteousness, those desires that Christ has for us are outlined in his Word. So this command to “abide in his word” is ultimately one that has our best at heart. We don’t just want to run from our sin, or learn alot of Bible stuff, we want to actively participate in what the word teaches us to think, believe, act upon, share, and teach. We don’t just want to visit the word in our lives we want to literally build a dwelling so we can live there.

Disciples leave their old lives behind to pursue his will for them.

Matthew 4:18–20 (ESV)

18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

Famously, Peter and Andrew set a bit tone that we still live in the shadow of today. Jesus asked them to follow, and they left the nets and followed, immediately and without hesitation. I usually point out here that this didn’t mean they had all their questions answered. They didn’t have it fully explained to them what he meant for them when he asked them to come. They didn’t know what all it would cost or how it would change their lives. It also didn’t mean that they weren’t scared or questioning. It didn’t mean they had planned on following Christ for the rest of their lives— perhaps the goal in their head was to walk for a little bit and just see what all this was about. We don’t know much past the fact that they dropped the nets and followed him in the moment.

I think its worth saying and worthy us considering that Jesus’ offer to them was simply and required a simple response of obedience. It is definitely not the case brothers and sisters that when you choose to follow Jesus that he will lay out on for you a grand map, a grand plan, or the timeline of your life. He simply says “come and follow.”

I find it of note to remember how much the world has changed on some things we used to consider normal to now things we demand as essential.

For some people in here you can remember family members who didn’t have indoor plumbing.

For some in this roof you wouldn’t know what a rotary-dial-telephone was, let alone how to use it. We used to have phones attached to our houses by cords and early on, you didn’t even have your own phone number. You shared with people on a party line and you had to pick up and hope the person was calling for you.

We used to go on trips with a map and a plan and now we wouldn’t dare leave without a gps.

There was a time not long ago that you weren’t reachable 24/7 and somehow we survived. It wasn’t expected that you could have instant access to your family at any moment and now a kid can get grounded if you text or call them and they didn’t respond right away. I’ll admit to setting up this expectation with Amanda, who should answer my phone call instantly but sometimes feel that it’s unreasonable when she expects this of me.

You used to be able to go into the bank and shake a guys hand and walk out with the money you need based on your honor and your word and now, in order to start up a small business loan of $10k you need $80k in assets and a perfect proposal of all the variable laid out for 5 years.

These guys weren’t given the whole plan. They didn’t know what next may would look like or what would happen at home while they were gone. They didn’t get all the answers and neither will we. I don’t know what it looks like for your teenager. Maybe you get to keep your career path or maybe God moves you to start a church plant, or to an entirely different career path than you ever thought of. Church I don’t know if your retirement goals will be left or if God speaks to you about selling everything you have and investing in budding churches in the Congo. I don’t know what following Jesus’ plan for your life will look like but the offer is the same as it was for Peter and Andew and the expectation is still the same too. That you will leave your old life, your old goals, your old nature, and follow where he’s leading.

Luke 9:23–24 (ESV)

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Following Jesus will cost us and we need to be prepared to pay those costs. We need to count them and weigh them and be ready to go where he leads. The disciples life is one of self-denial and Christ pursuit. A life that calls us to pick up our cross and die to our own self-interests each day in order to follow what he would have us do and be.

Philippians 1:21–24 (ESV)

21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.

23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.

Paul is a man whose realization that Jesus was the Christ changed the entire trajectory of his life. Here we find him confiding to the church in Philipi that his life has now only become about Christ. Whether by life or death he will live as Christ has commanded or die as he’s ordained but he’s already decided that whatever it cost him its worth it.

A couple of things:

You won’t get all the answers at once but faith is following Christ, trusting him to reveal what you need when you need it.

You need to be okay not calling the shots, realizing that his plan is paramount.

Whatever you lose is not worth comparing to what is gained. Philippians 3:8

Philippians 3:8 (ESV)

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

Disciples live to see His mission completed.

Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Romans 10:14–17 (ESV)

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

2 Timothy 2:1–2 (ESV)

1 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus,

2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

Simply put, a primary goal for disciples it to keep making more disciples. To show the lost the gospel of Jesus Christ. When he convicts them of their sin, show them how to repent and put their faith and trust in him. When they’ve been saved get ready to be the one who helps them declare through baptism that Christ is their Lord now. Show up in their life as a teacher/coach/mentor as you teach them the way to live this new life. Show them how to be a disciple, how to dwell in the word, how to pray, how to serve and find their place in the mission of Jesus. Then teach them how to live a life as a devoted disciple who makes more disciples.

Disciples don’t just learn from their teacher, they seek to emulate him.

Disciples abide in his word and flee from their sin

Disciples abandon their old lives and follow him.

Disciples live to see His mission completed.

“So Juston, how do I do this today in 2024. I can’t just abandon my job, my family, my responsibilities to head to Mesopotamia if that’s what you’re saying.”

A couple thoughts about how you and I should see these commands and live them out today.

Are you actively taking steps to not just learn God’s word but become like Jesus? Are you leaning in? Are you confessing sin, secret or otherwise to trusted friends and counselors who care about your holiness? Are you praying? I mean really praying, asking God to open your eyes, break your heart, show you truth, convict you of sin, to strengthen your resolve to live for him. Is WWJD a tagline on a bracelet or evidenced in your life as a way you choose to live.

Are you winning victory over your sin and living in his word? Are you a different person when no one is watching? Are you involved in studying God’s word? Privately? Corporately? Are you taking active steps to understanding what it says and put it into practice? Who is speaking into your life as a coach/teacher/model of Christian life and holiness?

Are your remnants of the old you that more than just remnants? Is your sin still driving decision making in your life? Are you experiencing victory over sin or diving head first into it? Do you embrace Godly accountability with others or do you hide away from it?

Are you making disciples? Are you sharing the hope of the gospel with anyone? Have you ever? According to a 2021 survey by Lifeway Research 29% of unchurched people have ever had anyone share the gospel with them. Only 29% of people who don’t go to any kind of church have every had anyone even share with them. Get this: 47% of American unchurched people say “they would be open to discussing freely if someone wanted to talk about their religious beliefs. Another 31% say they would listen even if they didn’t contribute anything to the conversation. Its starts with just saying yes to the opportunities right in front of us to sharing with our friends, coworkers, family, neighbors. We then walk with people all the way from conversion to discple. Disciples are easy to spot because they make other disciples. Who are you meeting with regularly talking through the scriptures and how to live them out? Are you open to that kind of relationship? What’s holding you back from starting it?

Landing.

Church discipleship isn’t hard. Its not rocket science it just discipline. Its just choosing. Choosing to become like Christ. Leaning into his design and desires for us. Putting that desire into action and sharing the hope with have with others.