Discipleship
The Importance of Discipleship
Sunday, April 18, 2010 am
Reading: Acts 4:1-13
Introduction:
When I was a child, the question I would ask most frequently was, “Why?” And I would venture to say that that is true of all of us. It didn’t really matter what the subject was, the question was always the same, “Why?”
“Why is the sky blue?” “Why do I have to take a nap now?” “Why do I have to eat my vegetables?” “Why? Why? Why?”
And the answer was always the same, “Because.” I don’t really remember if there was anything after the “because”; I think the answer was most often, “Because,” and nothing else. As a child, nothing more was required because if the actual explanation was given, I couldn’t understand it. Why? Because.
But as we grow up, “because” just doesn’t cut it anymore. We want to know why. We want to be able to understand. We want reasons, not just, “Because.” We want real explanations.
Jesus called his followers to be his disciples. Why? I’m sure Jesus had his reasons. But the question before us this morning is, “Why should I become a disciple of Jesus? Why is discipleship so important?”
Lesson:
I. Discipleship is important because it gives us purpose.
A. The instruction from God to fathers is Ephesians 6:4 ESV Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
1. We’re not talking about discipline for the sake of discipline.
2. We’re talking about “the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
3. And Paul tells us that if we fail to bring our children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord it will lead to a life of anger and frustration.
4. And if we, even as adults, are frustrated in life, perhaps we should pause and see if this is the cause of our frustration.
B. Life can be very frustrating.
1. One of the reasons that the suicide rate is so high is that people are frustrated with life.
2. Sometimes it seems that no matter what you do, you’re doomed to failure.
3. But the problem is not that we fail and have setbacks.
a. The problem is that we don’t learn anything from our failures.
b. The problem is that we keep making the same mistakes over and over again.
C. As the people of Israel were about to enter the Promised Land, God gave them instruction.
1. If they obeyed the voice of God they would be blessed (Deuteronomy 28:1-14).
2. But if they did not keep his commands they would be frustrated (Deuteronomy 28:15-68).
3. Look at Deuteronomy 28:20 ESV The LORD will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me.
D. One of the things that we must understand is that this is God’s world.
1. And when we live in this world with an understanding and respect for God, then he blesses us.
2. And when we live like we own this world and as if we called the shots, then he frustrates us.
3. And he will continue to frustrate us until we accept the reality of the situation and accept the fact that this is his world.
E. To live our lives, not being a disciple of Jesus, is like trying to go up the down escalator.
1. We’re walking and climbing, but getting nowhere.
2. We take one step forward, but two steps back.
3. And the problem is, we’re on the wrong escalator.
4. And what would any sane person do, if they realized they were on the wrong escalator?
a. Climb twice as fast?
b. Get on the right escalator?
c. But pride prevents many of us from making the change that is necessary.
F. Turn to Romans 8:28-39 ESV And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (29)For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (30)And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (31)What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (32)He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (33)Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. (34)Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (35)Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? (36)As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." (37)No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (38)For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, (39)nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1. Disciples of Jesus Christ are called according to the purpose of God.
2. As disciples of Jesus Christ we are destined to be conformed to the image of the Son of God.
3. And in this discipleship, God is for us, no matter who may be against us.
4. And as disciples of Christ, we are more than conquerors.
5. That is a life and a purpose which nothing can take away.
II. Discipleship is important because it is difficult.
A. But didn’t Jesus say that his yoke was easy and his burden was light?
1. Yes he did, in Matthew 11:30.
2. But in context, Jesus was saying that the burden of discipleship was far lighter than the burden of judgment.
3. And that it is.
B. But what I mean is that discipleship is a challenge.
1. Not an impossible challenge, but a genuine challenge.
2. And challenges are what make life interesting.
3. So I guess the point that I am making is that discipleship is important because it makes life interesting.
C. Every day in the newspaper they print a sudoku puzzle and a crossword puzzle and a Jumble.
1. Why?
2. Because they are mentally challenging.
3. And because people like a challenge.
D. Why is it that some people enjoy such things as basketball and football?
1. Because to excel at anything is a challenge and people like a challenge.
2. Oh there are some who want to bypass the challenge for the glory and take short cuts.
a. But who are they cheating?
b. More than anyone they are cheating themselves.
3. Consider these words form 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 ESV Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. (25)Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. (26)So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. (27)But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
E. Discipleship may be difficult but the prize at the end of the race is worth the discipline and training, the suffering and the hardship that we may have to endure.
III. Discipleship is important because it is life changing.
A. Consider the disciples of Jesus.
1. Who were they?
2. Were they educated at the most prestigious schools of the day? No.
3. Where they brought up in the elite classes of society? No.
4. They were fishermen, tax gatherers, ordinary people.
5. Look again at the last verse of the text that was read before the lesson, (13)Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
a. Only one thing made the difference, they had been with Jesus.
b. They had not attended the university but they had been with Jesus.
c. They were common men, but there was nothing common about them because they had been with Jesus.
B. When Jesus commissioned his disciples, he didn’t send them out in search of the best and brightest, the most promising candidates.
1. He sent them to proclaim the gospel to everyone.
2. He sent us to proclaim the gospel to everyone.
3. Discipleship is about change—molding and making us into what God wants us to be.
C. Listen to what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 ESV For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. (27)But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; (28)God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, (29)so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (30)And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, (31)so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
1. God calls you where you are.
2. But he doesn’t expect you to stay in the same place.
3. And if you find yourself in pretty much the same place as you were when he called you, then perhaps it is because you haven’t spent much time with Jesus in the school of discipleship.
IV. Discipleship is important because it empowers us.
A. Discipleship is about putting on the whole armor of God.
1. Ephesians 6:12-13 ESV For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (13)Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
2. And consider the armor.
a. The belt of Truth.
b. The breastplate of Righteousness.
c. The protective footwear of the Gospel.
d. The shield of Faith.
e. The helmet of Salvation.
f. The sword of the Spirit.
3. There is lots of protection, but only one weapon—the Word of God; the sword of the Spirit.
4. But that is the only weapon we need.
B. Be not impressed by the miraculous! Be impressed with God.
1. Because our God is a God of miracles.
2. And there is a power at work in his disciples that far exceeds even the miraculous.
a. It is the power to soften hearts of stone.
b. It is the power to influence the enemies of God and bring them to their knees.
c. It is the power to resist the temptations of the devil.
d. It is the power to right regardless of the situation.
e. It is the power to overcome sin.
f. It is the power to rise from death to life!
C. The task of making disciples is a ministry of equipping the people of God.
1. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (17)that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
2. Ephesians 4:11-13 ESV And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, (12)to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, (13)until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
a. The apostles and prophets are great men from the past, without whom we would not have the revelation of God.
b. But today the evangelists, shepherds and teachers have been charged with the task of equipping the people of God.
c. And, if I may speak for our shepherds and teachers, we take that task seriously.
d. And we take that task seriously because. . .
V. Discipleship is important because it connects us to God.
A. In fact, discipleship, in many ways, defines our relationship to God.
1. The primary description of our relationship to God is “child”.
a. He is our father and we are his children.
b. We are adopted into the family of God.
c. These ideas are found throughout the scriptures.
2. But an important part of parenting is discipline.
3. Hebrews 12:5-11 ESV And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. (6)For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." (7)It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? (8)If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. (9)Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? (10)For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. (11)For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
a. This is just a side note, parents, but did you notice what the writer to the Hebrews wrote?
1.) If you don’t discipline your children, you don’t love your children.
2.) If you don’t disciple your children, you’re treating them as if they weren’t yours.
b. The motive for discipline is love.
1.) God disciplines or disciples us because he loves us.
2.) He has our good in mind, that we might share in his holiness (verse 10).
3.) It leads to the peaceful fruit of righteousness (verse 11).
B. Listen to these words of Jesus, just before he returned to his Father, Matthew 28:19-20 ESV Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20)teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
1. The initial step in making disciples is baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
a. In baptism we are united with Christ (Romans 6:4-5).
b. That defines the beginning of this wonderful relationship.
c. That defines the beginning of our discipleship.
2. Step two, we are to teach these new disciples to do what Jesus commanded.
3. Step three is to repeat steps one and two and remember that Jesus is with us.
Invitation:
Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he atoned for your sins through his death, burial and resurrection?
Would you be united with him and become his disciple by turning away from sin, being joined to Christ in baptism, to be raised to live always for Christ?
God will forgive your sins. He will make you his child. He will add you to his church.
Do you seem to have lost your way? You began well. Will you return to God? May we pray with you and for you? May we help to equip you for the challenges you face?
Come!
