True Disciples
Pastor Larry Sarver
New Life in Christ
1633 SW 34th St. Palm City, FL 34990
561-283-9426 pastorsarver@yahoo.com
www.palmcitynewlife.org
Illustration: In 1999 John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren, had a wedding to attend. Since John had his pilot’s license, they decided to fly home. Now John didn’t have a lot of solo time piloting the small plane they boarded for the flight in the conditions that were present that day, but I suppose he must have believed he could handle it. That plane never made it to it’s destination and unfortunately all were killed.
Many have asked, "What possibly could have gone wrong?" According to the National Transportation Safety Board, three simple letters resulted in the tragic death of such an influential young man, VFR-Visual Flight Rules. In essence, John Kennedy was flying that evening only by what he saw visually. For all he knew, it was a picture perfect flight. But he made one very fatal mistake; he failed to fly by IFR-Instrument Flight Rules. If he would have read his instruments and relied on them to guide his flight, he probably would have known that he was headed in the wrong direction and could have made the necessary corrections land his airplane safely.
The instrument panel is what identifies the truth. A pilot can not depend on their feelings, eyesight, or the opinion of others. Those instrument gauges of the only reliable source for determining one’s true position. If you do not pay attention to them as a pilot you’ll most likely crash.
Now most of us are not claiming to be pilot’s and therefore we do not need to know about airplane instruments but most of us do claim to be disciples or followers of Jesus. We claim and think our lives are headed in the right direction bur are they really? How would we know? What identifies true disciples who are going in the right direction? Can we depend on our feelings, ideas or the opinions of others to guide us to the right answers and in the right direction? No! Like a plane has instruments to indicate it’s true position there are also the spiritual indicators or gauges that we can look at so that we can know our true position as true followers or false followers of Jesus. We must know what these indicators are and we must pay attention to them so that our lives do not end in disaster. What indicators identify true disciples? The answer to that question is found in Luke 6:43-49.
Read Luke 6:43-49
What identifies true disciples? In one sentence this passage can be summarized as saying that: "True disciples are those who have the character of Jesus and are totally committed to Jesus." True disciples are those who have the fruit (character) and the foundation (commitment.) These two spiritual indicators act as our instrument panel so that we can be assured that we are true disciples of Jesus or so that we can be warned that when our lives are going in the wrong direction.
Before we look at the two spiritual indicators of true disciples we need to understand why Jesus spoke these words why the Holy Spirit used Luke to place them at this particular point in his account of Jesus. Remember that Jesus had just finished teaching some very difficult things such as: the blessedness of being humble and hated, the need to love your enemies, he commanded us to speak well of those as the evil against us, Jesus said that we were to do to others what we would want them to do to us, he told us not to judge but rather to show mercy, and he instructed us to focus on our own faults first.
Some of Jesus’ listeners, even some of those who considered themselves to be his disciples would have considered these things too hard and too radical to be practiced in their own lives. They probably would have listened approvingly but not really applied or acted on what they had learned. In essence they would have had the appearance of being disciples while at the same time rejecting certain aspects of Jesus teaching that were not to their liking.
Illustration: It is popular at many restaurants in our area to have an extensive salad bar. That I personally like salad bars a great deal. The reason I like salad bars is because I can pick and choose to place on my plate those things that I like best. For instance I like lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, peaches, etc. and so I placed those on my plate but I do not like raw broccoli or cauliflower so I simply leave them there.
Many who claim to follow Jesus approach his teachings like they would a salad bar. They have an attitude of taking what they like while ignoring the rest. For instance many people approve and accept Jesus teaching on God forgiveness, God love, and God provision for their life while at the same time they either ignore or refuse to practice what Jesus taught about money, forgiving our enemies, a faithful prayer life, etc. This is salad bar type discipleship and it is not authentic Christianity. Those who follow Jesus in this manner are false followers who are most likely self deceived because they consider themselves to be authentic true disciples. In many ways they are like a pilot who ignores the instrument panel and believes that they are going in the right direction while in reality their going in the wrong. To avoid this serious dilemma Jesus in his great mercy tells them and tells us what the spiritual indicators are of true disciples.
True Disciples Are Those Who Have The Character Of Jesus And Are Totally Committed To Jesus.
Read Verses 43-44
"No good tree (true disciples) bears bad fruit." A true disciple like a good tree will bear good fruit. Fruit is a common biblical metaphor for godly character and conduct. For example this symbolic use of the word fruit can be found in Galatians 5:22 which says, "…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." This is clearly referring to character and conduct and we also see this symbolic use of the word "fruit" in Luke 3:17 were John the Baptist said to "produce fruit (godly character and conduct) in keeping with repentance."
Jesus is saying that one indicator of true disciples is their character. True disciples like good trees will generally produce good fruit or good character. "Good" meaning character and conduct that is generally consistent with the teachings of the Bible and the example of Jesus. If you or someone else is claiming to be a follower of Jesus but it’s not striving to be like Jesus in character and growing in that direction then something is wrong! Good trees produce good fruit! A life that is generally kind, pure, loving, merciful, forgiving, truthful, humble, etc. Many other scriptures also speak of this very simple and yet important principle. For instance in 1John 3:9-10 it says "No one who is born of God will continue to sin (as a practice), because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the Devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother."
True Disciples Are Those Who Have The Character Of Jesus And A Total Commitment To Jesus
In verse 44 Jesus says that each tree or disciple is recognized by his fruit or his character. This is the gauge or the indicator that we need to look at! Jesus did not say that a true disciple would be recognized by their knowledge of the Bible or by their church attendance or by the expressiveness of the worship or by the accuracy of their creed or by the fact that they may have spoken the "sinners prayer."
Illustration: In the NFL the quarterback is not recognized by his presence in the huddle, his knowledge of the play book or his emotional fire. It is his ability to play game after the huddle breaks that identifies his position. The same is true of disciples. It is not our presence in the huddle (church attendance), or knowledge of the play book (Bible) that identifies us a true disciples. It is how we live, our character and conduct, when we leave the huddle (church) and get onto the playing field of life.
It is being and becoming like Jesus that separates the true disciple from the false disciple. One can have the appearance of being a true disciple but those appearances are only superficial, it is the substance of one’s everyday character and conduct which does or does not demonstrate the authenticity of one’s discipleship.
Are you what you seem to be? Are you who you say you are - a true disciple? Do not evaluate your life by superficial appearances but rather look and be honest about the character of your life. Do you have the fruit? Good trees bear good fruit!
True Disciples Are Those Who Have The Character Of Jesus And A Total Commitment To Jesus
Read Verse 45
Here’s Jesus makes it clear that he is talking about people and not trees. A person who is a good and a true disciple is only that way because they have a good heart. They have a good heart because of the transforming work that took place by the Holy Spirit when they truly gave their entire lives to Jesus. They are "born again", made into brand new people as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone the new has come!"
When a person is made new both inwardly and outwardly their hearts are changed and automatically produce an overflow of good fruit or good character. The opposite is true for false followers because on the inside their hearts are unchanged and are still evil and eventually what is in the heart cannot be contained and it will overflow in evil character such as: a critical spirit, bitterness, a forgiveness, etc. This overflow of what is truly in someone’s heart is seen especially in a person’s words as it says in verse 45 "out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." What do your words say about your heart? Think about.
True Disciples Are Those Who Have The Character Of Jesus And A Total Commitment To Jesus
It is important to note that a person is not saved or made right with God by having good character. We are made right with God only by his grace and mercy as we turn from a life of sin and trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Salvation is 100 percent a free gift. Godly character is not a means of salvation rather it is only an indicator of true discipleship. Like the instruments on a plane do not make it fly but only indicate that is going in the right direction so godly character does not make us right with God but it does indicate that are hearts had been changed, that we are true disciples, and that we are going in the right direction.
Does that overall character and conduct of your life on a daily basis indicate that your heart is a good heart and that you are true disciple going in the right direction? That is an extremely important question! I urge you to be honest about your own life and if your life is not indicative of true discipleship then I urge you that it is time to do something. These verses were given to us by Jesus not to condemn us but to act as a healthy warning for when our lives may not be where they should be so that we could respond and take the necessary action.
Illustration: Your car has all kinds of lights and gauges to warn you if something is beginning to malfunction. Your car has an engine that runs on oil. Yet many of us will neglect to check the oil regularly. That eventually will cause unnecessary wear and tear on the motor if for some reason it gets low on oil. Suddenly you are driving home from work and the oil light comes on. You now have an option. You can check to see what is wrong or take it to someone who can fix it. Or you might keep driving it. If you neglect the light then you are in for an automobile disaster.
If you neglect the indicators of true or wayward discipleship you are in for a spiritual disaster.
True Disciples Are Those Who Have The Character Of Jesus And A Total Commitment To Jesus
Conclusion: We have looked at the first indicator of true discipleship which is character, next week we will look at the second indicator of true discipleship which is total commitment to Jesus which we see in verses 46-49.
