#10 We Believe In Discipleship Series

Start message with the video: "JESUS FOLLOWER" (1:14) found at Sermon Central

Who or what are you following? As the video said, we all follow something, we pattern our lives after someone or something. What is it? Here today in church, the Sunday School answer is “we follow Jesus.” Do we really? Today we are looking at Discipleship.

Discipleship is church-word we use instead of saying I follow Jesus. Often we are quick to respond, “Yes I’m disciple of Jesus,” just like we say, “Yes, I’ a Christian.” But do we really understand what it means to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus?

Laster year, I preached a series of sermons about Discipleship. I was inspired by the book “The Cost of Discipleship” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (considered by many a modern classic). Bonhoeffer was one of the leaders of what was referred to as the “Confessing Church” in Germany during WW2. He martyred/executed by the German Gestapo less than a month before Germany surrendered. I couple of statements by Bonhoeffer is worth noting:

"Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ."

"Salvation is free, ... but discipleship will cost you your life."

True Discipleship is costly. Jesus said:

Mark 8:35 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.

In the early church, to be a believer in the Gospel message meant that you became a disciple. Today we are looking at just what it means to be a disciple, a true follower of Jesus.

When we were in Indonesia, the Alkitab, or the Indonesian Bible, did not have a word for “disciple,” they just used the word “murid.” Murid, directly translated from Indonesian means a student. But the word “Student” dosed not adequately describe a disciple. A disciple is not one who just sits in a classroom and learns the facts about a given subject, and in our case, facts about Christianity and about the Bible. Discipleship is so much more than Sunday School and Bible study. Those are important, but Discipleship involves the living out what is learned, daily. Discipleship, being a disciple is a whole way of life.

One great writer on discipleship put it this way: "Discipleship is the process of becoming who Jesus would be if He were you."[1]

Today, I’m taking a little different approach to Discipleship. I’m asking the question, “How can you tell if you are truly a disciple, a follower of Jesus.

1 John 2:3–6

I want to take a moment to look at our passage today as a whole before we go in and look closer at the parts. We will see that there is a definite link between obedience and our knowledge of God. The objective of a disciple is know the Master in order to be like the Master. Key words for us to understand are the words “to know,” “to keep His commandments,” “abiding in Him,” and “walk as He walked.” Are we doing those things? These verses are describing one who is a disciple.

1 John 2:3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.

Just what does it mean “to know Him,” to truly know Jesus? The word here in the Greek is the word “ginosko.” This word, or forms of this word is used 25 times in this little letter and 56 times in the Gospel of John. To know, to understand, to grasp intellectually and experientially is important in the writings of John. It means so much more than mere book knowledge.

Real knowledge of God contains an intellectual, moral, and spiritual component that cannot be separated. The “knowledge” of God described throughout the text of Scripture is not only intellectual but also experiential and dynamic. This knowledge is not gained through abstract speculation but through living life in a spiritual relationship with the one true God [2]

It is all about knowing Jesus, knowing Him personally and intimately. Jesus even defined eternal life as knowing Him.

John 17:3 This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

So how can we say we truly know our master as a disciple? We can say it: “if we keep His commandments.” (1 John 2:3) We learn and we experience by doing. One of the best methods of learning a task is “on the Job Training.” We learn by doing. By doing those tasks, by following the orders, we begin to learn, we begin to see, we begin to understand. This also is a common theme in the writings of John. To hear, to perceive, to know intimately, is to obey.

1 John 3:22–24 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. 24 The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.