The Making of a Disciple
Acts 14:19-28
Intro: One of the last things Jesus told His followers is found in Matthew 28:19-20: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
-Well, we know that after the Day of Pentecost came, the disciples started doing just that- sharing the good news about Jesus and making disciples (learners) of all who believed. As the book of Acts progresses, so does the influence of the good news. More and more disciples are made. What does it take to make a disciple? How does a person go from not believing in Jesus to following Him wholeheartedly? Well, discipleship has a high cost involved. Jesus said that the cost of being a disciple and making more disciples may include family, friends, possessions, and even one’s own life.
-As we follow Paul and Barnabas in our text, we can see how committed to discipleship they were. We can learn a lot from watching their lives unfold in the pages of Acts. We feel like our church mission statement describes what a disciple of Jesus is to be about: Experiencing God, developing people, and transforming lives. What is discipleship all about? Well, we know it requires people being together with people, getting to know God better. The main thought of the sermon today seems to sum it up:
Prop: God uses transformed people to transform people. Restated, it takes a disciple to make a disciple. If we ever hope to make disciples who love and obey Jesus, then we must become disciples who love and obey Jesus.
Interrogative: So, how do we keep focused on being and making disciples, like Jesus commanded us to do?
TS: Let’s look at some thoughts about discipleship from our text.
I. The Price of Making Disciples (Acts 14:19)
19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.
-Paul and Barnabas had recently ministered to the people in Pisidian Antioch and Iconium, and were ousted by Jews who rejected Jesus. Those Jews decided to track them down and give them as much trouble as possible in order to protect their own territory from being won over to Christ.
-There is a price to pay when someone chooses to follow Jesus wholeheartedly. This is all about a whole-hearted commitment to following Jesus. This is about laying it all on the line in order to make a difference in the lives of others. It is about the willingness to suffer and face abuse from those who reject God. There is a price to pay for all who would be true disciples of Jesus.
-Some bad things happen to us because this life is filled with pain. Some bad things happen because we just get stupid sometimes. But there are times when bad things happen to us because we are doing all we can to reach others for Jesus. Is it worth it? Is the price of suffering worth the reward? I could tell you it is, but I’m speaking during a time when things seem to be going fairly well. I haven’t had any stones thrown at me lately. Jesus said to count the cost before committing to follow Him. We would be wise to do the same. Jesus, show us the value of making disciples! High value=high priority.
II. The Priority of Making Disciples (Acts 14:20-21b)
20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe. 21 They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples.
-Even after being knocked out (perhaps nearly killed) by rocks, Paul got up and continued doing what God had called him to do. Making disciples was such a high priority to him that he could not be kept from it for very long. The question of value had been settled in Paul’s mind. He wrote these words in 1 Corinthians 9:16: “When I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”
-We don’t know how much time lapsed here, but it appears that they left for Derbe the next day and started sharing the good news about Jesus right away. Most of us would be ready for sick leave and look into hazard pay. But Paul was on a mission and would not be deterred.
-Now, most of us can easily excuse ourselves from living up to Paul’s standard. After all, he was the apostle Paul. However, I think we should at least ask ourselves a simple question here. “How easily am I persuaded to abandon my mission?” “What would it take to keep me from doing what God wants me to do?” Maybe nobody will ever throw stones at you, but they may launch a few unkind words in your direction or threaten you. Is that going to stop you from obeying God?
-A true disciple of Jesus will keep following Him and doing what He has commanded until it there is no breath left to do it with. Paul’s ministry didn’t end when he went to prison. Instead, he started a prison ministry.
-TS: There is a price. It must become our priority. Now, how do we go about it?
III. The Pattern for Making Disciples (Acts 14:21c-23)
Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said. 23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.
-Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Church in Chicago has a saying that has stayed with me ever since I read one of his books a few years ago. He states, “The local church is the hope of the world.” It is through the local church that disciples are made. It is through the local church that disciples are strengthened and encouraged to remain true to the faith. It should be in the safety and support of a healthy church family that we face the many hardships that await us. However, good health does not come automatically for churches. In fact, some churches are described as toxic, because they seem to do people more harm than good.
-Paul and Barnabas were following something that was both cultural and spiritual when they appointed elders in each of the churches they had helped establish. Synagogues typically had a council of elders (usually 12 were required to form a synagogue). These men provided leadership and religious oversight. The first century church likely continued this pattern. Elders were basically pastors or overseers (like a shepherd watches over and leads his flock).
-The Greek word for appoint actually means to approve by a show of hands in a congregational meeting. As the entire church prayed and fasted, asking God for His guidance, they essentially nominated leaders, whom the apostles confirmed.
-The pattern for disciple-making will include strengthening others, and encouraging them to remain true to their faith in Jesus. It also includes helping them understand that hard times will come, but they will make it, with the help of God and one another.
-According to Paul in Ephesians 4, the purpose of church leaders is to develop people into strong disciples who will minister to others. Ephesians 4:11-12 11”It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”
-As you may have noticed in our mission statement, we believe that part of our mission here at CLC is to develop people. We want people to grow and become all that God wants them to be! We want people to discover their God-given gifts and talents and begin to use them to help others. As your pastor, I am going to do all I can to help you realize your God-given potential and become all you can be for God! With His help, we will see people begin to develop into strong disciples and we will begin to see how the good news about Jesus can transform lives.
IV. The Pause in Making Disciples (Acts 14:24-28)
24 After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia, 25 and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. 26 From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. 27 On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.
-Discipleship did not cease during this time, but there was a sense in which the apostles took a breather to recuperate from the challenges and demands of their missionary journey. Missionaries do that even today.
-All disciples need to recognize the value of the pause. In fact, God has built pauses into our lives for our benefit. There is a reason He hides the sun for several hours. He wants us to pause and rest up for a fresh start- His mercies are new every morning. He also built in a day of rest each week. In the OT and in Jewish culture that day of rest was called Sabbath, and most likely occurred on what we know as Saturday of each week. He set an example of resting on the 7th day way back at the time of Creation. Jesus said the Sabbath was created for man. Man was not created for the Sabbath.
-If we fail to recognize the value of pausing and resting from our labors, it will begin to take a toll on our physical and mental health. Furthermore, it may rob us of the ability to be still and know that the LORD is God. One idea behind taking a Sabbath is that God wants us to trust Him for the strength and ability to get all of the essential tasks of life done in the 6 days of work He has given to us. The 7th day (or 1 out of 7) is a day that we share with our Creator, resting in Him taking time to think more about Him.
-Beyond the weekly Sabbath, there were other Jewish holidays during which a special day of rest was called for. That tells me that days off are healthy and ordained by God. They can help us re-evaluate our lives and see what is really important.
-Most Christians consider Sunday as their day of rest. However, if you are involved in giving out all day through teaching and ministering to others, then maybe you should consider a different day of rest. Those who labored in the Jewish temple on the Sabbath typically used the first day of the week as their day of rest.
-Evidence from Scripture and history indicates that the early Christian church kept the Sabbath as their day of rest. They attended Synagogue to hear the Scriptures read and to hear someone talk about the goodness and faithfulness of God. Then they rested from their normal labors. It is my theory that early on, their meetings that took place on the first day of the week actually took place on Saturday evening (which for them was the start of the next day). The church was still very Jewish, and the Jews had a gathering called a havdallah, where family and friends got together for a celebration at the conclusion of Sabbath day. The purpose of havdallah was to usher in the new week. They would thank God for His provision and faithfulness during the previous week and ask His blessing on their lives in the coming week. By the way, some scholars believe that it was around this time (6 PM on Saturday evening) that Jesus rose from the dead. It was the next morning that the women and then the disciples discovered the empty tomb and encountered the risen Lord.
-Some of the church fathers write that the Christian day for worship became Sunday in honor of day that the Lord rose from the grave. Well, if He rose from the grave Saturday evening at 6PM, that was the start of the first day of the Jewish week. Later the church moved away from anything that looked Jewish to avoid persecution from Rome and because many of the Jews were so hostile to followers of Jesus. So, instead of continuing the Jewish tradition of the havdallah, the Christian church at some point began to meet during the morning or day of the first day of the week (probably either late in the 1st century or sometime in the 2nd).
-My point in sharing this is not to force us to return to keeping a Saturday Sabbath, but simply to point out that God’s principle of rest was intended to last. We are God’s people and He wants to bless His people with rest and help them remember that He is the Giver of all good things: life, material provision, and true success. If you don’t have reminders built into your life that help you remember your need for God’s help, you may begin to think that you can do it all yourself (and you will use all 7 days of the week to try and make it happen). Giving one day each week to God and resting from your own efforts to make things happen can result in greater energy, strength, and productivity the other 6 days of the week.
Conclusion: In summary, discipleship has a price, it must take priority, it follows a process, and it requires a periodic pause. God wants us to become disciples who love and obey Jesus, and then make disciples who love and obey Jesus. Before we close, I’d like to revisit the reality of facing hard times. To illustrate God’s care for us, I’d like to show a clip from Rob Bell, entitled Rain. Let this video speak to you about how much God loves you and wants to help you through the storms.
-Maybe you needed to hear that today! God has a hold on you and He loves you so much! You are going to make it! Maybe you need to talk to the Lord and tell Him how you’ve been feeling and let Him pull you close to His heart to find the comfort and healing you need. If I can help you make that connection by praying with you, please come and make that known.
