Discipled, Week 4: Become Like Me
Luke 9-10
2 Timothy 2:2
Good morning! Go ahead and take your Bibles and open them to Luke 9. This is page 814 if you are using one of the pew Bibles.
Today we wrap up our series called Discipled. Next week, we are going to begin a series that will take us up to Easter called “What’s in a Name?” [talk briefly about the I Am statements]
So it is going to be a great series. But this morning, I want to finish up talking about how Jesus led His disciples to be disciple makers. We’ve been talking this month about how Jesus made disciples. First, there was the invitation: Follow me. We talked about how those first disciples—four fishermen and a tax collector, left everything and followed Jesus.
Then, for the next three years there was a period of education: Learn From me. Jesus taught his disciples, using both words and actions. They listened to Him teach. They watched Him perform miracles. It was basically a time of internship and training.
But now think about what happens next. All of us have experienced the training period for a job, right? It might be a day or two, or a week or two, depending on the job. But when training is over, what happens next? That’s right. There is an expectation that they do the job they were hired for.
So how long does it take before we are ready to do the job Jesus expects us to do? And what is that job?
And what is the job?
The job is to make disciples. It is the Great Commission—go and make disciples. If you want to make it rhyme like these other points, the process is to move from invitation to education to expectation, to duplication—being disciples who make disciples.
So how long before you are ready to do that?
Many years ago, I was leading a Bible study about spiritual maturity. I asked the people in the class (and these were mostly senior adults), what are the marks of spiritual maturity? The answers to the first question were along the lines of developing the Fruit of the Spirit, developing hunger for God’s word, practicing spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible study and so forth.
Then I asked them whether they considered themselves spiritually mature. Very few adults were willing to say, “Yes, I am spiritually mature." It was more like “Well, its an ongoing process. One said, "Christians are always arriving, never arrived."
These answers were not wrong. Paul consistently writes about God perfecting the work he began in us (Philippians 1:6); not having already been made perfect (Philippians 3:12-13); and attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13-14).
All of these are true statements. None of us have arrived. We are always pressing on toward the upward call.
But what if instead of a group of Christians, I was teaching a group of zoologists? And instead of asking how long it took to be spiritually mature, I asked them when an animal was biologically mature? What would be on the list?”
This time, the list was pretty short:
1. Able to feed itself
2. Capable of reproducing
As far as biology is concerned, if you are doing those things, you are mature. If not, you aren’t.
Just for grins and giggles, I Googled the phrase “fastest animal to maturity,” I learned about the African Annual Fish. These little guys spend their entire lives in rain puddles left behind after the rainy season in East Africa. They hatch from eggs that have been dormant in the mud since last season. Within seventeen days, they are capable of laying and fertilizing eggs of their own. And when the puddle dries up, they are gone.
On the other end of the spectrum is the Olm salamander, which is found in the secure, isolated caves of Eastern Europe. And by the way, if there was an award for cutest salamander, I would have to give it to the Olm salamander. Just look at how happy he looks. I never thought I would want to cuddle a salamander,
The Olm salamander can live for as long as 100 years. But get this: they don’t begin reproducing until around 16 years of age.
The lesson? When time is short, we get busy. But when we are in a secure environment, we lose a sense of urgency.
The Bible is clear on two things: First, God intends for us to reproduce spiritually. He told us in the Great Commission that we are to make disciples.
Second, there is only a finite amount of time we have to do that. We may act like we are in a safe secure environment, just like out happy salamander here.
And that’s what a lot of our churches have become-- a secure, protected, cool, comfortable, environment and separated from the rest of the world. However, the Bible describes the world and our place in it much more like a rain puddle. Consider these verses:
• “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. (Eph. 5:15)
• “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity” (Col. 4:5)
• “Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom (Ps. 90:12)
• “You are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” (James 4:13)
Expectation plus urgency is the heart of the gospel. And this morning, I want us to talk about the point in the gospel where expectation and urgency finally connected for the disciples. This is Luke 9:1-6.
If you are physically able, please stand to honor the reading of God’s word:
9 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.[a] 4 And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” 6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
May God bless the reading of His Word. Let’s pray.
When I was in South Asia a couple of months ago, I sat in on a training session that our of our missionaries was leading about how they are to complete the missionary task. He wrote the word MAWL on the whiteboard.
And I thought, “Oh—that’s how they do it. They just MAWL ‘em with the gospel.
But then Willie unpacked it.
The M stood for Model. Jesus spent a lot of time modeling for the disciples what he expected them to do when he was gone. Basically, he was saying “I do, you watch. Matthew 4 tells us that
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them.
[missionaries do this with their translators, new converts, young believers, etc).
After that, Jesus led the disciples to Assist Jesus in what he did: This is the phase where Jesus said “I do, you help”In Matthew 14, we have the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. [read story, emphasize Jesus first saying “You give them something to eat]
See how the disciples helped. Jesus broke the bread, the disciples served the people.
Bit by bit Jesus is teaching the disciples to do what He did. Missionaries do this with their translators…
Now we come to our passage for this morning: Phase three of Jesus’ training plan was “You do, I watch.”Now, please turn one page and look at the beginning of Luke 10:
10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’
Three-Bucket Fountain
Conclusion: I was at Goodwill the other day and I saw this fountain. It was $5, and I thought it would be a great visual for what the whole process of disciple making is all about. But before I bought it, I actually asked the person behind the counter if I could get my money back if I took it home and it didn’t work.
Remember, I was at Goodwill, asking for a money back guarantee on my $5 fountain. That’s pretty pathetic.
But I didn’t have to worry about it, because it works just fine. You turn it on, and water flows from the top bucket, then spills into the middle bucket, and then from the overflow of the middle bucket, it fills the bottom bucket.
It also leaks, so I’m gonna turn it off, and maybe ask for my money back after all.
But what makes this such a great illustration for disciplemaking is that this is exactly how Paul described the process to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2:
“What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses…” that’s where we are right now. That’s the first bucket. When you come to worship, or watch the Rick Burgess video at man church, or listen to Olivia teaching in women’s Bible study, you are hearing from a teacher who is trying to teaching out have what has been taught to him or her. Someone along the way filled us up, and now we are pouring into you.
Now you—you are the middle bucket. Look at the next line of the verse: What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men… The Greek word is anthropoi, which can mean either men or women or both. But that’s you. You are faithful men and women. You show up for church. You come to man church. You are involved in women’s. ministry. You have multiple opportunities throughout the week to get your bucket filled up.
But unfortunately, for too many of you, that’s where it stops. You come to church, you get filled up… and then what? Maybe it seeps into your marriage and how you raise your kids, and praise God for that. Maybe you absorb it and it changes the way you work, or tweet, or vote. You are becoming more Christlike in your daily interactions with people. Again, all good things.
But there’s a third bucket. What you have heard from me… entrust to faithful men and women… WHO WILL BE ABLE TO TEACH OTHERS ALSO. Church, don’t forget there’s a third bucket. There is someone—maybe a whole group of someones—who need you to pour into them.
I’m gonna say something to you that you may have never heard a preacher say before: I want you to stop listening to sermons. I need you to stop doing Bible study. If all you are doing is taking in without pouring in to someone else, you aren’t being obedient to God. James says to be DOERS only, not merely HEARERS who delude themselves. How do you delude yourself? By thinking you are being an obedient Christian just because you are learning a lot.
Discipleship isn’t complete until the disciple become the disciple maker.
Robby Gallaty says in Growing Up: How to Be a Disciple Who Makes Disciples:
“When the church becomes an end in itself, it ends. When Sunday school, as great as it is, becomes an end in itself, it ends. When small groups ministry becomes an end in itself, it ends. When the worship service becomes an end in itself, it ends. What we need is for discipleship to become the goal, and then the process never ends. The process is fluid. It is moving. It is active. It is a living thing. It must continue to go on. Every disciple must make disciples.”
Remember, discipleship is not just about conversion; it's about transformation. It's about helping people become more like Christ in their thoughts, words, and actions. This process takes time, and it can be frustrating. This is why it’s so important to remember that we have Jesus with us every step of the way. We NEED Him… As Jesus said in John 15:5, "Apart from me you can do nothing" There’s no lasting reproduction without Christ and without the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us.
Making disciples is not just about increasing the number of believers; it's about producing genuine followers of Christ who are committed to living out His teachings in their daily lives. It's about helping people experience the life-changing power of the Gospel and become agents of change in their communities and the world.
