Discipleship
The Challenge of Discipleship
Sunday, May 09 , 2010 am
Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 ESV
Introduction:
In his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman writes, “I believe I am not mistaken in saying that Christianity is a demanding and serious religion. When it is delivered as easy and amusing, it is another kind of religion altogether.”
“Christianity is a demanding and serious religion.”
To those who were weary of trying to earn their salvation, Jesus said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” But let us not lose sight of the fact that living the Christian life is both demanding and serious.
In many churches across this land the focus of the assembly is not on the message, but the media. They may have bands playing music, or beautiful scenes projected on the walls, all for your enjoyment and entertainment. Everything is planned and coordinated and orchestrated for maximum enjoyment.
Now, I’m not suggesting that worship should be bland and boring if it is to be acceptable to God. What I am saying is that the message we preach and sing and pray is far more important than the entertainment value. Christianity is demanding and serious.
The four Gospels narrate the story of Jesus, and the book of Mark characterizes Him as a servant on an important mission. This mission is so important that in the first eight chapters the word “immediately” appears more than thirty times. There is a sense of urgency to His work, which is both demanding and serious.
Jesus is baptized, and “immediately” He comes up out of the water (1:10); “immediately” afterwards the Holy Spirit leads Him into the wilderness (1:12); then He meets some disciples, and they “immediately” follow Him (1:18, 20); He casts out a demon, and “immediately” the news about Him spreads (1:28); He leaves the synagogue, and “immediately” He comes to someone’s house (1:29).
Mark shows Jesus steadily moving around from place to place fulfilling His mission. But all this is leading up to Mark 8:27-38 ESV And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" (28)And they told him, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets." (29)And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ." (30)And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. (31)And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. (32)And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. (33)But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." (34)And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (35)For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. (36)For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? (37)For what can a man give in return for his soul? (38)For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
The whole context of discipleship in verses 34-38 is intricately tied to the events that are about to unfold, which Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples for. He tells them about persecution and rejection. And when Peter says, “No way! You’re God’s anointed one!” Jesus rebukes him as harshly as could be done. "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."
Today’s lesson is entitled “The Challenge of Discipleship” and it has three points.
* Be Holy.
* Be Faithful.
* Be Unashamed.
Lesson:
I. To be Holy.
A. In the Mark 8:34, Jesus says “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
1. Hebrews 4:15 ESV For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
2. No other man or woman can make that claim.
3. We are all sinners.
a. We have all been tempted.
b. We have all succumbed to temptation.
c. There are no exceptions, but Jesus.
4. Is it possible that we can deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Jesus in absolute holiness?
a. It’s impossible, yet that is our call.
b. That is the goal of discipleship, to be like Jesus.
B. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:3a ESV For this is the will of God, your sanctification. . .
1. That word, sanctification means “to be made holy.”
2. That’s God’s will, for us to be made holy and to be holy.
3. But what is this holiness that God wants us to become and be?
C. It is nothing less than God’s holiness.
1. But I’m afraid that this is beyond our comprehension.
2. Were we, in our present condition, to come face to face with the holiness of God, we would fall apart.
a. Isaiah 6:5 ESV And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"
b. The word of Isaiah translated lost means “to come apart”; “to fall apart.”
c. To come face to face with the holiness of God is to be confronted with our utter failure; our utter sinfulness.
d. Peter felt the same way when he realized that he was in the presence of the holy.
e. Peter had the same response. Luke 5:8 ESV But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."
D. To come face to face with the holiness of God is to realize our own sinfulness.
1. Yet we must not only come face to face with the holiness of God, we must embrace it.
2. We must become it.
3. And while we fully admit that we are not holy, we also confess that by the blood of Christ we have been made holy and are being made holy.
4. 1 Peter 1:14-16 ESV As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, (15)but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, (16)since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."
5. 2 Peter 3:11 ESV Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,
E. But the challenge of discipleship is not only that we be holy, but that we be faithful.
II. To be Faithful.
A. Like in a race, it’s not how you begin, it’s how you finish.
1. And the challenge of discipleship is to be holy today, the next day and the next, for as many days as we have.
2. Luke’s gospel has one word that is not in the other gospel accounts.
3. Luke 9:23 ESV And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
a. That little word is daily.
b. You see, discipleship is an everyday thing, an every moment thing.
B. In many ways, the relationship we, as disciples, have with Jesus, is like a marriage.
1. It is a commitment.
a. It is “not to be entered into lightly.”
b. It should be seriously considered.
c. Becoming a Christian is not only about Jesus forgiving you and saving you.
d. It’s about you making a commitment to follow him wherever he leads you.
e. Just like in marriage, it is for better or worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer.
f. “Till death do us part.”
2. It’s not only a commitment, it’s a lifetime commitment.
3. It’s a commitment to God to be faithful to him.
C. Do you remember these words? Hebrews 13:5b ESV . . . for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
1. Unless we make the same pledge to God and keep it, we have no right to the claim of discipleship.
2. Jesus said that he would be with us always. But will we be with him always?
D. Unlike so many other things, discipleship is not one of those things that you can try to see if you like it.
1. I can remember when Bridget was in Girl Scouts. At Girl Scout camp they had what they called “Try-its.”
a. And the purpose is to have the girls try things that they’ve never tried before.
b. For Bridget, it was lima beans.
c. She didn’t like them and she still doesn’t, but she tried them.
2. In 1971, Alka-Seltzer had a campaign with the slogan, “Try it, you’ll like it.”
3. But you can’t “try” discipleship.
4. Like Yoda said, “Do or do not. There is no try.”
E. The challenge of discipleship is to be faithful throughout your life.
F. Revelation 2:10b ESV . . . Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
1. The crown of life is not for those who try.
2. It is for those who do, and do so faithfully.
III. To be Unashamed.
A. Be all get embarrassed about something.
1. Public speaking is one of the things that most people are embarrassed about.
a. Before God got a hold of me and convinced me he wanted me to be a preacher, I couldn’t have stood up in front of an audience like this.
b. Moses, he had the same problem.
2. Leading singing is another thing that embarrasses people, even more than preaching!
3. One thing that always embarrassed me was when my father took us out to eat.
a. He’d raise his hands and snap his fingers to get the waitresses attention.
b. But children are always embarrassed by their parents.
4. I like to sing.
a. And it doesn’t matter if I’m in the shower, or in church or in the supermarket.
b. And I know that my singing often embarrassed my children.
c. Then I read somewhere that Billy Joel’s kids were embarrassed by his singing sometimes.
B. Listen to these words once more from Mark 8:38 ESV For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
1. Do you see how demanding and serious discipleship is?
a. If we’re ashamed of Jesus, he’ll be ashamed of us when he comes in glory.
b. And that is something I dread.
c. I don’t ever want to be ashamed of Jesus.
2. Listen, Peter, arguably the closest disciple of Jesus, in fear and shame swore and claimed that he didn’t know him.
a. And if Peter could do it, so could I.
b. I don’t want to, but I fear I may, and I know, in the past, that I have.
3. But let me say this, we have nothing to be ashamed about.
a. Some will say that Jesus is just a myth or fairy tale, but I am not ashamed.
b. Some will say it is foolishness to believe that a dead man can rise from the dead, but I am not ashamed.
c. Some will say that the Bible is a hoax, but I am not ashamed.
d. Some will say that we are stupid and ignorant to believe in Jesus, but I am not ashamed.
e. Some will say that the gospel is a fool’s game, but I am not ashamed.
C. Consider these scriptures and the lesson is yours.
1. Romans 1:16-17 ESV For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (17)For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."
2. Philippians 1:19-20 ESV . . . for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, (20)as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
3. 2 Timothy 1:7-10 ESV for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. (8)Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, (9)who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, (10)and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
4. 2 Timothy 1:12 ESV . . . But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.
5. 1 Peter 4:16 ESV Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.
Conclusion:
Be Holy. Be Faithful. Be Unashamed. That is the challenge of discipleship. Are you up to the challenge?
Invitation:
“I’m Not Ashamed to Own my Lord.”
