February 12 Sermon - The Way of Jesus # 6
‘I am helping someone and someone is helping me to be a reproducing follower of Jesus.
We’ve been walking through the markers of the Way of Jesus as a general introduction to some of the concepts within the Way of Jesus.
This past Wednesday many of us gathered along with guests from elsewhere to share a meal and to experience an introductory session of the actual Way of Jesus platform.
It took what we have been looking at over these past weeks and introduced us to the Way of Jesus Sessions which begin one Saturday a month starting on April 8.
At those Saturday sessions we will look at the Way of Jesus platform at a much deeper level, bringing these concepts into a sense of community to work them out.
We were never called to work the Christian life out on our own, but rather within the body of Christ. The Way of Jesus is an amazing opportunity for spiritual growth. I need it. I hope you will join us.
Here are the markers we have looked at over the past number of weeks:
1. I have begun following Jesus and I am depending on the Spirit of Jesus for my journey”
2. I Am Being Sent by Jesus to Bless Others and Invite Them to Follow Him”.
3. I am Becoming Like Jesus in My Attitudes, Behaviour and Character”
4. I am learning to love God and love others
5. I am learning the teachings of Jesus
Today, the Way of Jesus marker we will look at is: “I am helping someone and someone is helping me to be a reproducing follower of Jesus”.
You might ask, how is this, why is this a part of the Way of Jesus. And you may wonder about the word “reproducing”.
Well, let me explain. Jesus gave the church, which is all believers, the Great Commission:
In Matthew 28, after His crucifixion and His resurrection, Jesus is talking to his disciples and he says: 19 Therefore 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.”
We’re called to “go”. We’re called to “make disciples”. What’s a disciple? A student of Jesus, a follower of Jesus.
The New Testament uses the word disciple not only of Jesus’ followers but also those who followed Moses (John 9:28), the Pharisees (Mark 2:18), John the Baptist (Mark 11:2) and of Paul (Acts 9:25).
A Disciple is one who has a desire to learn from His Master.
A Disciple is a learner - One that attaches himself to a given teacher. The original word was used first of those that learned a trade under a master teacher.
If you wanted to become a craftsman in a certain trade in biblical times you would apprentice yourself under the discipline and instruction of a master craftsman of that trade.
There can be a difference between being a student and being a disciple.
A student may learn things from his teacher, but not fully believe those teachings. Whereas a disciple fully believes and acts upon those teachings.
The teacher and writer Soren Kierkegaard once said “To become an ‘admirer of Jesus’ is much easier than to become a follower.”
A Christian leader told the story of what happened while he was driving in a rural area in Russia. He saw on the road ahead of him two shepherds who came together in the middle of the road with their herds of sheep.
They had 300 sheep between them that all became one group. He had to wait as the shepherds talked.
Finally, he wondered how would they ever separate all those sheep? But as the one shepherd was leaving, in a low voice he bade his sheep come. The two groups separated instantly and went their ways.
There’s an ancient saying: “The dust of your rabbi is all over you”.
And Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. (John 10:27)
In the movie Karate Kid, young Daniel asks Mister Miagi (Mee-A-GEE) to teach him karate.
Miagi agrees under one condition: Daniel must submit totally to his instruction and never question his methods. Daniel shows up the next day eager to learn.
To Daniel’s chagrin, Mister Miagi has him paint a fence. Miagi demonstrates the precise motion for the job: up and down, up and down. Daniel takes days to finish the job.
Next, Miagi has him scrub the deck using a prescribed stroke. Again the job takes days. Daniel wonders, What does this have to do with karate? but he says nothing.
Next, Miagi tells Daniel to wash and wax three weather-beaten cars and again prescribes the motion.
Finally, Daniel reaches his limit: "I thought you were going to teach me karate, but all you have done is have me do your unwanted chores!"
Daniel has broken Miagi’s one condition, and the old man’s face pulses with anger.
"I have been teaching you karate! Defend yourself!" Miagi thrusts his arm at Daniel, who instinctively defends himself with an arm motion exactly like that used in one of his chores.
Miagi unleashes a vicious kick, and again Daniel averts the blow with a motion used in his chores.
After Daniel successfully defends himself from several more blows, Miagi simply walks away, leaving Daniel to discover what the master had known all along: skill comes from repeating the correct but seemingly mundane actions.
It was at this point Daniel ceased being a student and became a disciple of Mr. Miagi.
A disciple eagerly learns all the lessons he needs to know and puts them into practice.
A Disciple is one who has surrendered all to follow his Master.
Discipleship goes beyond accepting Christ as Savior. Discipleship means giving all to move our personal, intimate relationship with God into an ever deeper Christian maturity.
A disciple is someone who lives in day-by-day submission to the loving leadership of Jesus by His grace and for His glory.
So, we are not only called to be disciples. We’re called to “go”. We’re called to “make disciples”. We’re called to “go!”
Who is called to “go!”? Look to your right. Look to your left. It’s us. We are called to go.
The person to your left and the person to your right has this calling. The person in between the person on your left and the person on your right has this calling, if you have received Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.
When I first read this passage (Matthew 28) many years ago as a young Christian it didn’t dawn on me that it applied to me.
I thought, or maybe I hoped that this applied either to some who were ‘special’, or maybe just to pastors, or perhaps every other Christian but me.
But then as I reflected on this passage and listened to messages on it, it struck me that not only did this apply to me as an average, everyday Christ-follower, it is intended to be a vital part of my personal spiritual growth.
How, you may ask?
Well, at the same time I was hoping this didn’t apply to me, I was feeling some frustration about my own walk with God.
Private prayer, private Scripture reading, attending public worship services were all great in themselves, but I guess I began to feel that there has to be more.
What was I missing? My personal walk with Christ was sincere, it was happening...it was also quite uneven at times when I would get in my head and become depressed or when I would struggle with sin. (Pause)
What was I missing? I was missing obeying and applying this teaching of Jesus in my life.
When you think about it, there is a reason for the fact that you are here, participating in a worship service, for the fact that you are a Christian.
That you are a Christ-follower, which is another name for a Christian, then most likely SOMEONE had an influence.
SOMEONE encouraged you to consider Jesus, or someone behaved in a way that you found very appealing and you discovered that the “WHY” was that they followed Jesus.
Or perhaps you were raised in the church and a family member had an influence on your decision to stick with Jesus, to continue to follow Him.
But what is it that makes us disciples? How does it begin? It begins with trusting in Jesus for our salvation.
Trusting that his suffering on the cross was for us; trusting Him and receiving Him as our Lord and Saviour.
I am Helping Someone to be a Reproducing Follower of Jesus
This marker, to which we return in the Way of Jesus platform on a regular basis, is a challenge.
It’s a challenge to remember that what we need to be about, if we’re to live in obedience to Jesus teaching in the Great Commission and if we’re to keep growing in our faith; what we need to be about is helping another person to become a follower of Jesus.
How do we do that? What if our response to this whole thing is to feel like we have absolutely no clue how to proceed. What if it scares us? Makes us want to crawl into a hole in the ground?
How Do We Do This?
Well, here’s a place to start: start by asking yourself a question. How was Jesus formed in you? Was it by being invited and included in someone’s life? Was it in your own family?
Think about your own story. How was Jesus formed in you.
Think of how you came to Jesus. Think of how Christ was and is being formed in you.
That will help you to understand how to be a part of another person coming to Jesus so that Jesus can be formed in them.
Jesus, The Centre of Everything.
And here are 3 insights for how to do this. The first is this: be sure to make Jesus the centre of everything in your life.
If you want an abundant life, if you want a joyful life, if you want a life free of bondages, if you want true freedom in your life, if you want a life full of purpose, then make Jesus the centre of everything in your life.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces behold the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
As we behold Jesus, as we contemplate and worship God and simply behold His goodness and beauty, we are being made like Him.
We spend a lot of time each Sunday worshipping God in song, in prayer, in repentance, in hearing the Word.
Ever wonder why? It’s because as we worship Jesus, as we behold Him in worship, we are transformed.
And the more time we spend alone with Jesus during the week doing these same things in private, the more we are transformed to be like Him.
This is what we choose to do ourselves to more dearly love and adore the living God. As we do this, we become more like Jesus.
It all begins with loving God making Jesus the centre of everything in our lives. Jesus isn’t a ‘value-added’ part of life.
He isn’t a way to improve the landscape of our lives. He is Everything.
He is God and as God is worthy of all of our worship, praise, adoration, service, focus, attention.
Prayer and The Person of Peace
We might ask, how can I know who I am suppose to be discipling? How can can I possibly figure out who among everyone I know I am suppose to lead to Jesus and disciple?
Here’s something else that’s very important: Look for the person of peace:
5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you.
Who is the person of peace? The person of peace is the person who will welcome you, who will see who you are, who is open to you.
Open to what you have to say about Jesus, open to the life that you live because you love Jesus.
So the first question is: who are your people of peace. Who is in your life who is a person of peace? If there's nobody, that's a sign perhaps you need to get out more.
But ask God to reveal to you who the person or the people of peace are in your life. As God reveals that, then being a disciple becomes about being connected to the lives of these people of peace. It might be brief moments with some, more in depth with others.
And then we pray. Put up your hand if you can pray for another person? That’s not that hard, is it?
It might seem simple, because we don’t have to step outside of our comfort zone to pray, but we ABSOLUTELY need to pray for that person, or those people.
Pray that the eyes of their hearts might become open to the gospel
Pray for opportunities to encourage them, for the chance to share your story of how God is active in your life.
Pray that your life will be a loving and bold witness to the grace and mercy you’ve received at the hand of Jesus.
Someone is Helping Me To Be a Reproducing Follower of Jesus
Being a disciple-maker, being a reproducing follower of Jesus isn't a level that you arrive at. It isn’t a state of being.
The truth is, Christ is still being formed in me.
As He is in you.
Ephesians 4:14 says that Christ gives leaders to the church to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
So who is sowing into your life right now that is helping you to be reproducing follower of Jesus. I have many people in my life who help me in this area.
[[Most of them don’t even know it. Rick Tobias, who is healing from a very serious medical struggle, has for years been a great encourager to me who has helped me stay on track. Bill Ryan is another. Mike Krause is another.
Pastor Lee is someone I find incredibly encouraging in his passion to love people to Jesus. Same with Pastor Jan. There are others in this congregation who inspire me.]]
There are people who I am discipling who are also helping me to be better at being a disciple-maker.
Today’s marker, that we look at regularly in the Way of Jesus, is a reminder that your life has a great purpose that includes honouring Jesus as the Everything in your life, and it includes discipleship.
And that reminder includes the fact that nothing happens on your own in isolation from others.
You are helping some to be a disciple and one who disciples.
You are being helped by someone else as well to be a disciple and one who disciples.
May each of us embrace our calling to be disciple-makers.
May each of us behold the beauty of Jesus in ever increasing depth and so be inspired to reflect His great love and to connect with others who Jesus loves, so that they too may have the joy of coming to know Jesus, to follow Him as the Everything in their lives, and to then become a person who makes disciples, who leads others to become followers of Jesus, our Redeemer, Saviour and King. Amen.
