What Is A Disciple? Series

The Discipleship of All Believers – What is a Disciple? (Week One of Series) 11/02/2003

Mark 1:16-18

Introduction: Have you ever wondered what was different about the disciples? What was expected of them by Jesus as He called them to follow Him? Today, we are going to look at what a disciple is supposed to be.

I. Disciples are called to follow Christ and be fishers of men – Mark 1:16-18

And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

A. Jesus called Simon Peter and Andrew to “Follow Him.” What did that involve?

1. To leave behind their livelihood…their job. A career that they had probably been doing since their years as a young teenager. It was quite possibly the family business.

2. To invest their future in Jesus. They were investing their future in someone that they had possibly only heard a small amount about. They did not know where He would lead them.

B. Notice, Jesus called common men doing a common job to be followers of Him.

1. Fishing was a common job along the Sea of Galilee.

2. Hard work casting the net into the sea – common laborers.

3. God is still calling the common person to be followers of Him.

C. Jesus not only called them to “follow Him” but He made them a promise, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

1. Jesus did not say, “I’ll give you a job” but He said “I will make you.”

2. Andrew and Peter knew that they were not equipped to be fishers of men but they were willing to be “made men.”

3. Disciples are willing and available for Jesus to make them the person that He wants them to be.

D. Jesus did not say that He would make them just “anything.” He told them that He would make them “fishers of men.”

1. Disciples have a desire to “fish for men.”

2. When we make our commitment to follow Jesus, we may not have that desire yet, but Jesus said that He would make them to become “fishers of men.”

3. We grow the desire to “fish for men” when we begin to share the heart of God. We develop the heart of God when we begin to live by the words of Matthew 22:37: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

a. Heart: Original Greek = Bowels. Gut reaction, gut wrenching, gut feeling.

Life lived in reaction to Christ’s leadership

b. Soul: Original Greek = Seat of will and purpose (Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary). What controls our actions and willingness

c. Mind: Original Greek = The faculty of knowing, understanding, or moral reflection (Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary). Our intellect dedicated to the leadership and knowledge of God.

d. When we share the heart of Jesus, it leads us to love the unlovable who need Christ. When we love Jesus with our soul, our willingness and desire is there to be shaped by Him. When we love Jesus with our mind, we will seek to know all that there is to know and understand about Him and this desire will be used by Him to shape our life.

E. Notice the reaction of Simon and Andrew. “They immediately left their nets and followed Him”

1. Disciples are ones who immediately react to the call of God.

2. Notice, they didn’t think about it or measure the cost. They just answered His call to follow Him.

F. Disciples are ones who have answered Jesus’ call to “follow Him” and have a desire to become “fishers of men.”

II. Disciples are called to be a growing person, maturing in Christ – Ephesians 4:13-14

…till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,

A. Disciples are not spiritual “babies.” They are ones that have grown into a more complete fullness in Jesus.

B. Disciples should not be “blown off” their faith by the storms of life.

C. Disciples should not be “blown off” their foundation of faith every time that some new doctrine appears or when an unkind word is spoken to them.

III. Disciples are Christian leaders called out to lead others in a new way.