Several weeks ago, we began this study on the marks of a disciple, a follower of Jesus Christ. At that time, looking at the Bible we saw that,
A disciple of Jesus Christ is someone who:
1. Has a changed life
> 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.
2. Loves Jesus more than anyone else in the world
- Luke 14:26 If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.
3. Loves Jesus more than anything else in the world
- Luke 14:33 In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not say good-bye to all his possessions cannot be My disciple.
4. Loves Jesus more than comfort and security
- Luke 14:27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
5. Continues in His walk
> John 8:31 If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples
6. Loves God’s people.
> John 13:34-35 I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Since then we have started looking at some disciplines the Bible shows, and you may use, to help you grow and mature as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
This morning, we are going to take a momentary pause in this series, because I have a fear. I am afraid that what I have been teaching, and the other disciplines I am going to be teaching for growing disciples, might be misunderstood or misconstrued as things you must have in your life, or things you must do in order to make God love you.
Let me say right off, that God loves you and there is nothing you can do to change that situation. God loves you and there is nothing you can do to make God love you more, and there is nothing you can do to that will cause God to love you less.
Tell somebody, “God loves you, and you can’t change that.”
I. GOD LOVES YOU, AND YOU CAN’T CHANGE THAT
Every once in a while you will hear a child in a broken home, a child in a divorce situation, or an unloved child, talk about how disappointed they are that they couldn’t get their parents to stay together. Or, they talk about how they wish they could have done the right thing or acted the right way, so that they could get their parents to love them. How do you feel when you hear a child say something like that? Doesn’t it break your heart?
It breaks my heart when I hear a child say something like that. It also breaks my heart when I hear people who seem to believe that God doesn’t love them because of the bad things they have done, or when they talk about things they do in order to get God to love them.
My friend, God loves you and you can’t change that. First, I want you to understand, without a doubt, that there is nothing you can do that will cause God to love you less.
> Jeremiah 31:3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. …
1. Nothing you do will cause God to love you less.
> John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Not when the world was good. Back before anyone could do anything to earn God’s love, God sent His Son. …
> Romans 5:8 But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us!
When did God prove His love? When did Christ die for us? While we were still sinners!
2. Nothing you do will cause God to love you more.
- Ephesians 2:1-10
It is God’s love, it is God’s grace that has allowed you to be saved, not anything you have done, and nothing you do will cause God to love you more. …
God loves you, and you can’t change that.
II. CHRISTIANITY IS ABOUT A RELATIONSHIP, NOT RULES
Tell somebody, Christianity is about a relationship, not rules.
1. Religion is about rules.
Let’s face it, religion is hard work.
* A good Muslim has to pray 5 times a day. He or she will also fast for a whole month every year.
* An orthodox Jew has to use separate sinks for preparing dairy and non-dairy foods.
* A Sikh is supposed to get up 3 hours before dawn every day to wash and pray.
* A Hindu will make an offering at the household shrine 3 times every day.
* Mormon men are supposed to wear special underclothes. When a Mormon couple have children, they begin saving for those children, because when they become young adults, they are supposed to spend 2 years serving as Mormon Missionaries. I saw some just a week ago, in their white shirts and black ties, riding their bikes in Orange City.
* Jehovah’s Witnesses are supposed to spend x amount of time each month, going door-to-door, sharing their literature and signing people up for their Bible studies.
Rules. Things were no different in Jesus’ day. The religious leaders in His day had developed a religious system with 613 laws. They chose the number 613 because that was how many separate letters were in the text containing the 10 Commandments. They found 613 commandments in the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Old Testament). They divided the list into affirmative commands (do this) and negative commands (don’t do this).
There were 248 affirmative commands, one for every part of the human body, as they understood it. There were 365 negative commands, one for each day of the year. They further divided the list into binding commands and nonbonding commands. Then they spent their days debating whether the divisions were accurate and ranking the commands within each division. [John MacArther, Matthew 19-23 (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1988), 337-38.]
We see the same trend happening in Christianity today. There are people who try to add rules to Christianity that are not there. Things like, not eating meat on Fridays, or doing without something for 40 days during Lent; are religious rules. Some folks measure their religious zeal by how short their skirts are, or how long their hair is. Even things like having a quiet time can become a legalistic, religious rule, if you let it.
Jesus isn’t into all of that measuring, one-up-man-ship, and rules. When someone came and tried to get Jesus’ opinion on what the great commandment was, He answered, “Love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Jesus says, “Yall go around measuring and comparing and think you’re doing well. All of godly living comes out of these two simple commands.
- Matthew 11:28-30
No wonder Jesus said His yoke was easy and His burden was light. You see, religion is about rules.
2. Christianity is about a relationship.
> Revelation 3:20 Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me.
This is Jesus speaking in the book of Revelation. Let me ask you, “What did Jesus say, in this verse, was necessary in order to have a relationship with Him”? You hear, and open the door. You hear His voice, and you invite Him into your life.
> John 10:10 … I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance.
My friends, disciples are people who have a relationship with Jesus Christ. The disciplines they have in their lives flow out of the relationship they have with, and their love for Jesus Christ.
Nothing you do will make God love you any more. Nothing you do will make God love you any less.
The disciplines we practice, the disciplines I will continue to teach on next week, we practice because we want to become more like our Savior. We practice them as a joy, not an obligation.
If your Christianity is a burden, I invite you tell Jesus this morning, that you want the relationship …
