Marks of a Disciple
The question I would like for us to consider today from this passage is what makes a true disciple of Jesus Christ? What are the marks of a disciple
-This morning we continue to look at the Jesus' Prayer in John 17
-This is the True Lords prayer, the passage we commonly call the Lords prayer was a model prayer that Jesus gave his disciples when they asked him to teach them how to pray
-This prayer is unique because we have all our Lords words recorded
-Its broken down into three parts, First he prayed for the Fathers Glory, then he prays for the 11 disciples and then he prays for all of us
Today we are going to look at the Jesus' pray for his disciples. Even though he most likely was praying this for the 11 that were there at the time the principles that we are going to look at today apply to all of us who are followers of Jesus Christ today and from this we can clearly see the marks of a true disciple.
-It is my hope and prayer that you examine yourself today to see if you are a true disciple or a person who is need of salvation
you see with God its either on or off, saved or lost. And if your life doesn't show the marks of being a true disciple the simple conclusion drawn from the evidence would be that you are in need of being saved.
The word disciple used in scripture, is student, a learner. As disciple we should always be learner more about Jesus and growing in the knowledge of Christ
2Pe 3:18 But grow in grace, and [in] the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him [be] glory both now and for ever. Amen.
Lets look this morning at some of the things that Jesus says in this prayer that identify his disciples
Different than the world
In verse 6, Jesus says, “Whom you gave me out of the world.” then again in verse 9, “I am praying for them, I am not praying for the world.”
verse 14, “the world has hated them” verse 16, “they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world
-There was a very clear difference between the the disciples and the people of the world
The Bible declares that if any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things have past away and behold all things have become new. In 2 Cor. 5:17
If a person truly gets saved it changes the way they live! It changes who they are, it even changed the way they talk and act
Paul said that old things are gone and ALL things have become new
One of the important marks of a disciple is that of a changed life
When the nation of Israel was marching through the wilderness on their way to the promise land God gave them laws to follow so that they might live up to a high moral standard and not act like the pagan nations around them and so they wouldn't act like the Egyptian nation that they were held as slaves in for 400 years
Even though they existed within Egypt they were still a separate nation, the chosen people of God. Some of the Israelites allowed Egypt to get in them. You remember the ones they were the people who wanted to keep going back, the ones who weren't happy with the manna, and the living conditions in the wilderness.
As Christians we live in this world but true disciples do not let the world get into them. We have no need to get ourselves all tangled up with this world trying to keep up with the possessions of this world, the politics of this world, the fashions of this world, the language of this world.
Because we are not of this world
1Jo 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Paul writing to Timothy warned him about becoming entangled with this world and he compared it to the life of a soldier
2Ti 2:4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of [this] life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
In Sunday school we have been studying through the book of 1 Peter. Within that short book Peter wrote to encourage the Christians that were exiled during a time of severe persecution. And in that letter he called them to live up to a high moral standard that the rumors about them and the speculation might be silenced by their livestyle
Quoting from the Old Testament he wrote and said
1Pe 1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
1Pe 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
If you look at your life today and compare it to the past and you still gossip like you use to, curse like you use to, lie like you use to, abuse alcohol like you use to, steal like you use to, live sexually immoral like you use to
Then its easy to say that there is not the mark of being a disciple in your life, a disciple is known by their fruits, by their actions. If there was a true inward change than its going to show on the outside.
If you are not a person of love, a person of compassion, a person concerned about the souls of the lost I plead with today to come to Christ repenting of your sin and be saved
But you say I've been baptized and I joined the church but if you didn't repent the only change that took place was you got wet
in 1 Corinthians 6 Paul goes through a whole list of sin and than he makes a distinction between the disciples and those who commit those sins
1Cr 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
1Cr 6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
1Cr 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
The key in that passage to the Corinthians is in verse 11, “Such were some you”
They weren't like that anymore because a change took place when they came to Christ
The song of the church use to be “This world is not my home, I'm just a passing through my treasure is laid up somewhere beyond the blue.”
but as we get more and more entangled with the things of this world, and start laying up treasures here on the earth the song of the church has changed to “This is my Fathers world.” and the preaching that use to require repentance now is more about God sending riches and good health
True disciples, students of Jesus our known because they stand out from this world as being different, peculiar people. Pilgrims and strangers in a foreign land
Jesus said we are the light and the salt of the earth. The world is in darkness and we are to shed some light upon our world instead of allowing that darkness to come into our hearts
If the world is still in your heart and mind- Repent and turn to Christ today before it is too late
The second mark of a true disciple is they are
Called by God
One of the theological debates concerning salvation is whether or not salvation is a work of God or a work of man.
Look at what Jesus says in this prayer in verse 6, “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were and you gave them to me.”
Verse 11, “keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one.
Verse 12, “which you have given me I guarded them.
I am in the middle of this theological debate. There is the Calvinist who following the teaching of John Calvin who believe that salvation is solely a work of God and he has elected some to be saved and no matter what those who are elected will be saved.
Personally I believe that God calls all men to be saved and has chosen all in Christ. I believe that God has done all the work necessary for salvation and not it is up to man to respond.
But man cannot respond until the spirit calls that individual. That's one of the reasons I don't do high pressure altar calls during the invitation. It is up to the spirit to call people to save, but we can't force them to respond.
Jesus really upset some people that were following him with this teaching
Jhn 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
Jhn 6:66 From that [time] many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
So if your here today and the spirit it calling you to be saved and you say I'll just put it off for another time, it really isn't up to you, time is not in your hands because no where does God promise that he will call more than once
The disciples were just going about their lives fishing and doing the daily task when Jesus came by and called them to follow him and be his students. He called them and they had to respond,
a true disciple is a person who is God called and who responds to that calling
Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few [are] chosen
Called by God to be saved
and Called by God to do His work
Rom 9:23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
Rom 9:24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
Eph 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
Eph 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
the mark of a true disciple is a person who is called by God to be saved and they drop the world and follow him.
You can't have one foot in the world and one foot in the church and pretend to be fooling God
it is the father that Draws people to Christ through the Holy Spirit and he also places another call on our life some to be pastors, some teachers, some elders, some evanglist
he calls some to the front lines in Christian ministry and he calls others to support those on the front lines
it's just like when a nation goes to war some go to the front line in the foreign land and others stay home supporting those who went
Keepers of the Word
look there in verse 6, Jesus in this prayer says, “they have kept your word.” then in verse 8, “For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you.”
then again in verse 17, “Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth. And in verse 19, “that they also may be sanctified in truth.”
True disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ are men and women who are keepers of the word of God. People who carry their Bibles, Know their Bibles, and have a desire to live by it
regardless of what is popular or fashionable followers of Jesus Christ want to please the Lord by doing the things that he has laid out in His Word
Rev 3:8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
Keeping the word means that when the world is saying that all roads to heaven, a disciples who keeps the word says, It is written, “Jesus is the way the truth and life no man comes to the father but by him.
When the world says if it feels good do it the disciple says, it is written,”know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.”
When the enemy says the temptation is too strong give in the disciple says, I it is written that God will not allow me to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it].
When the world says that you just evolved from a single cell and that your life has no more value than that of an animal. A disciple says it is written, “in the image of God created he them male and female created he them
A true follower of Christ is not ashamed of the gospel, the Word of God because he or she knows that the word is going to stand for all of eternity. The earth and Heavens are going to pass away but Gods Word is going with us into the judgment
Praise God for that!
Especially since the word of God is a contract between man and God concerning our salvation
how do you know that you are saved?
Not because you are a good person, not because you try your best to follow the example of Christ, but you know that you are saved because the Bible tells us that those who put their faith and trust in Christ. Those who believe in their heart and confess with their mouth are saved and have passed from death unto life
Kept by God
In this prayer Jesus also acknowledges the way in which true disciples are kept saved
verse 11, “Holy Father keep them in your name...”
verse 12, “while I was with them I kept them in your name which you have given me. I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost.
This is a very important doctrine in the Christian faith because it distinguishes us from all other religions in the world
you see we are saved by the grace of God and we are kept by the grace of God, the only part that a person plays in their own salvation is responding to Gods grace
some people get it all mixed up and they tend to to think that we are saved by Gods grace and then kept saved by the works that we do, but the only way that we are able to endure and preserve to the end is by the Grace of God. He is the one who keeps us held safely in his hand to the end of time.
And the reason for that is quite simple, it is so that God gets all the glory!
Lets take a look at a couple of passages of scripture that very clear y teach this truth
Peter writing to the persecuted church says
1Pe 1:4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Jude, the brother of our Lord wrote
Jud 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
and then the Apostle Paul reminds the believers that the work that is being performed in them is a work of God and He will continue to perform that work until the day of his coming
Phl 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ:
We did not have the power to save ourselves nor do we have the power to keep ourselves saved, it is all a work of God
and one of the marks of a true disciple is someone who has come to know this truth and they have ceased from all the work in trying to earn merit with God and they are able to rest assured that their souls are safe in the hands of a loving eternal father
That's the only way that perfect love can cast out fear and that is the only way that we can rest in Christ , when he said come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest
Hbr 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Hbr 4:10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God [did] from his.
The disciples did not run around worried that they weren't the children of God, they were secure in who they were in Christ . If our time and energy is spent worrying about whether or not we are saved or trying to earn merit with God all of our prayers would be self centered and all of our thoughts would be self centered but God has made a way by saving us with his grace and keeping us by his grace so that we might focus on the lost world around us and begin to look outward and upward instead of inward all the time.
Protected by God
If God is going to save us and keep us, than he is also going to protect us. Look in verse 15, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.”
God also does the work of protecting us from evil and even from Satan
Paul said
2Th 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep [you] from evil.
Remember the account of Job and how Satan mentioned a hedge that God had placed around him
Job 1:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that [there is] none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
Job 1:9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Job 1:10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
God is able to place that same protection around us today that was around Job so that we will have nothing to fear
During World War II, a US marine was separated from his unit on a Pacific island. The fighting had been intense, and in the smoke and the crossfire he had lost touch with his comrades. Alone in the jungle, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his direction. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one of the caves. Although safe for the moment, he realized that once the enemy soldiers looking for him swept up the ridge, they would quickly search all the caves and he would be killed. As he waited, he prayed, "Lord, if it be your will, please protect me. Whatever your will though, I love you and trust you. Amen." After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to draw close. He thought, "Well, I guess the Lord isn’t going to help me out of this one." Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his cave. As he watched, listening to the enemy searching for him all the while, the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening of the cave. “Hah, he thought. "What I need is a brick wall and what the Lord has sent me is a spider web. God does have a sense of humor." As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout and could see them searching one cave after another. As they came to his, he got ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however, after glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on. Suddenly, he realized that with the spider web over the entrance, his cave looked as if no one had entered for quite a while
God is able to protect us from Evil
Remember the story of Elisha in 2 kings 6? let's turn there and see
God may protect us with a hedge around us, he may protect us with his angels standing guard or even a simple spider making a web
but never forget that a true disciple bears the mark of Gods protection upon his life.
Set apart by God
The Lord also prayed for his disciples to be sanctified or set apart. In verse 17, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. And then again in verse 19 that they also may be sanctified in truth.
The word sanctified simply means set apart
You could say that this building is sanctified as a place of worship, It is set apart as a place of worship. You could also say that the walmart building is sanctified as a place of business, it is set apart to be a place of business
so there is nothing really holy about the word Sanctified” its the reason that someone or something is sanctified that makes it holy.
And we have been set apart by the word of God. This goes along with the first point we looked at this morning about how we are different than the world and what really makes us different is the Word, we have been sanctified by the truth of Gods Word
but again please notice that even the work of us being sanctified is a work that is done by the father. Setting us apart from everything and everyone else is a work of God that he does through his spirit and Word.
I use to preach in a community church that in its past had been a Wesleyan church, so many of the people there came from that background. As much as I admire the work and live that John Wesley did many of his followers after they are saved seek to be sanctified as what they call a second definite work of Grace. At the beginning of my ministry there I wasn't real familiar with the doctrine., I was a young preacher and people were always coming to the altar to pray even during my preaching so I thought it was great, but then I noticed that it was always the same people coming. And they were attempting to pray and plead with God enough to receive the second work, which was what they claimed being sanctified.
Yet look at what the Bible says in the book of Hebrews:
Hbr 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once [for all].
Hbr 10:11 ΒΆ And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
Hbr 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
Hbr 10:13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
Hbr 10:14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
We have been sanctified, or set apart by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, who is the Word of God, and he has perfected us for ever through his offering
our being set apart and declared righteous by God is all a work of Christ. We stand in the finish work of the cross of calvary. Which means there is nothing more to seek except more knowledge of Christ and all that he has done for us.
Even during the tribulation period God is going to set apart the people who put their trust in him and he is going to mark them from the rest of the world
Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Rev 9:4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
The mark of a true disciple is one that has been set apart by God, sanctified by God and not attempting to do that work by himself.
Filled With Joy
In verse 13 Jesus prayed and said, “I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
A true disciple of Christ will live in Joy. Jesus said that we will be known by our fruit and the Apostle Paul said that the fruit of the spirit is Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Someone once said that a good acronym for the word Joy is Jesus First, Others second and yourself last
Isn't it strange that the people who are the most unpleasant to be around are those who live for themselves
the love themselves but it doesn't make them happy, its an endless pursuit. But the follower of Christ who deny themselves and pick up the cross putting Jesus first and preferring one another above themselves are the people who find the greatest Joy in this life
Jesus said, those who lose their life are the ones who find it. And it it is more blessed to give than to receive
Paul in his last days, only asked for two possessions to be brought to him, his books and his coat yet Paul was able in the dungeon of a prison to find Joy
Jesus, was able to find joy in going to the cross knowing that it was going to bring eternal salvation to the multitudes who put their faith in Him
Joy doesn't mean a life with no problems, it doesn't mean that you walk around laughing all the time, but it means that you have learned to be content with your lot in this life and trust that God knows better than you know what you need.
Strive for Unity
The last mark of a disciple I would like for you to see in this prayer is that of unity. Which are we are going to look at next Sunday morning
In closing,
In this prayer as Jesus prayed for his disciples we see the marks of a true disciple
they are: different than the world, called by God, keepers of the Word, Kept by God, protected by God, Set apart by God, Filled with joy, and always striving for unity
