Sermon preached on 2/3/02
PARKVIEW CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE
J. Richard Lord, Jr.
BEING A DISCIPLE OF JESUS
Matthew 4:12-25
What drew you to church today? What was it that caused you to get out of bed on your day off, go to the trouble of getting dressed and coming to church this morning when you could be at the Waffle House having a pecan waffle with bacon and eggs, coffee and orange juice?
I hope when you drove up to the church to the church today, you came because down somewhere in your heart and mind you have heard the call of Jesus to “Come, follow me.”
I hope that just as Jesus called Peter and Andrew from their nets, you are following the Savior wherever He leads you.
I hope you have left your former lives because Jesus beckoned you from a life of sin and your motivation for coming this morning was a desire to worship the Savior who means so much to you and you wanted to praise His name with other saints who also love the Lord. You have heard the call, “Come, follow me.”
This call to follow Jesus is not passive following. His call for us to follow was not a call for us to be “Jesus groupies.” It was not His intention for us to just to follow Him around to just sit at His feet and eat from His hand. His call for us to follow Him was so we could learn how to be what He was, to do what He did. Jesus knew that He had a limited time on this earth. If the good news was to be perpetuated from generation to generation and to grow in scope, He had to pass on who He was and His purpose on this earth and send each of His disciples to the “ends of earth” to do the same.
My question for you this morning is this: Are you a disciple or a “Jesus groupie?” Do you come to church because you want to worship the Savior, to receive encouragement and instruction and increase your learning so that you can be a better servant of Jesus Christ during the week? Or do you come because you like the music or the preaching or the fellowship; or out of sense of duty or habit or guilt when it would be just as easy to have slept in or gone to the Waffle House this morning?
If you are the latter, you come to church because it makes you feel better, you enjoy the benefits of church attendance, or just out of sense of duty, and you don’t have any real mission in life, you are not involved in an active ministry and reaches out and touches the lives of others, then I’m afraid you are a “Jesus” or “church groupie.”
But if you came this morning with joy in your heart, with praise on your lips, with the intention of restocking your “spiritual weapons and ammunition,” to share victory and battle plans with other soldiers of the cross, to kneel and praise our Lord and Savior and Master and thank Him for His sustenance and power in our lives and the privilege of serving Him, then you might just be a disciple.
My prayer for you this morning is that you are a disciple. If you search your heart and discover that you are just a “Jesus groupie,“ I hope before you leave today that you will have a transformation of heart and mind and decide to follow Jesus as a disciple.
Are you a disciple? What is a disciple? A disciple is one who follows Jesus and learns how to duplicate the life, spirit and work that Jesus came to do. We are to become Jesus to the world around us.
A disciple is anyone who follows Jesus. It is not about whether you are a laymen or a pastor. It is not about whether you have a formal education. Everyone who claims the name of Jesus, if they expect to get to heaven, must be a disciple.
As we follow Jesus, we see a pattern of His ministry and work. This passage of scripture shows the basic pattern that we are to follow as His disciples.
This was His pattern. Jesus went. . .
I. TEACHING
Jesus taught in the synagogues. He went to the church of that day and instructed others on the word of God. Luke 4:13-20 gives us a sample of how Jesus taught. “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’ All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “
When Jesus taught, he was teaching from the Word of God, but applied fresh meaning to it. He applied to the day and to their lives. He gave them something that they could find hope in: freedom, recovery and release.
He also taught His disciples. Everywhere He went, part of His purpose was to increase believers awareness and knowledge of God, to draw them closer to the loving Father.
If we are disciples, this is our pattern. Every day of our lives, wherever we go, we are to be about the business of looking for an opportunity to increase the awareness and knowledge of God of the believers.
This means we must stay close to Jesus ourselves. We must be constantly learning and studying and praying. Being a disciple is a constant learning process, as well as a constant teaching process, passing on what we have learned.
II. PREACHING
Jesus preached “the good news.” Most people seem to have a problem here. I’ve heard numerous people tell me, “I’m no preacher, God didn’t call me to preach!”
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I’m here to tell you, ‘Yes, He did!” Now, God may not of have called you to a official public preaching ministry, but any disciple of Jesus is called to preach. You may not have the occupation of preacher, but you have the mission of a preacher.
The actual root meaning of “to preach” is, “to speak of,” to “make known,” to “mention publicly,” to “spread a story.”
Now everybody who has ever opened their mouth other than to put food in it, has “spoken” of something, “made something known,” and even, “spread stories.” In other words, you’ve preached! The question is: What have you preached?
Our mission is share the “good news.” To put it simply, we are beggars who are telling other beggars where to find bread.
Just as you would share your good fortune with your friends and family, we share the “good news” of Jesus with others.
III. HEALING
It’s important to notice that not only did Jesus teach and preach but he did something else. He healed. He not only taught and proclaimed, he demonstrated. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not complete until there is a physical, personal and practical demonstration of this “good news.”
There is a Peanuts cartoon that shows Snoopy sitting outside in the middle of a snowstorm. He is shivering from the cold. Linus and Charlie Brown happen by and see Snoopy and his condition. They say, “There is Snoopy, let’s go cheer him up.” They go up to Snoopy and say, “Be of good cheer, Snoopy!” The next panel shows them walking off, leaving Snoopy in the same condition they found him, satisfied that they have “cheered” him up.
Somehow, we have gotten the idea that evangelism is only about teaching and preaching. But Jesus shows us that evangelism is much more than that. By healing people, Jesus reached out and demonstrated his compassion by actual works. He had actions that backed up His words.
Now you and I may not have the gift of physically touching someone and healing them of their physical diseases, although I believe that God does give that gift from time to time, but we can heal just the same. Healing can take many forms in many ways, but it has the same three characteristics.
1) Physical. Jesus came down to our level. He went about actually physically touching the lives of those he came in contact with. Being a disciple of Jesus means action. It is doing physical acts. Charlie Brown and Linus did not succeed in cheering up Snoopy because they didn’t do anything about his condition. They
could have healed Snoopy’s condition by doing something to provide warmth. Being a disciple is doing physical acts.
2) Personal. Jesus did it himself. Even though there were times He sent the disciples out to do ministry, He did it after He had done it Himself. You cannot be a disciple by proxy. You can’t pay or send someone to do it for you. It requires your personal effort and attention. You have to personally get involved in the lives of those you meet.
I used to do all my own mechanic work on my vehicles. I enjoyed it. But I don’t really have the time or the inclination to do my own work anymore. I would rather pay someone else to do it.
There are a lot of Christians who do the same thing. They would rather pay someone, or let someone else do the work of a disciple. They claim they don’t have time. But I’m afraid that there is only one way to be a disciple, and that is to get personally involved.
In Luke chapter ten, Jesus had an expert in the law ask him how to get to heaven, and Jesus said, ”`Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, `Love your neighbor as yourself.’ " The man ask Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” And in reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. `Look after him,’ he said, `and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise." (Luke 10:25-37)
Jesus’ description of a “neighbor” is the same a disciple. We have to personally get involved in the lives of others.
3) Practical. Jesus met people at their point of need. The doctors of that day could do little to alleviate human suffering. They did not have not have the scientific knowledge we have today. One of the greatest problems of ancient times was pain and suffering due to illness. Of course, we haven’t solved all the problems today, but in comparison, we can do a lot more than those doctors.
The one single thing that Jesus could do to get His message across was to heal people. He was being extremely practical. There are times that God will heal people directly today, but God will always use us to meet people at their point of need. The application of the gospel is always practical.
That’s been the goal of some of our missions. We have discovered that people are more likely to listen to what we have to say if we bring a healing touch in their lives. That’s the reason we have medical missions in many areas of the world.
If, by providing food, clothing, encouragement, loving support meets people at their point of need, then aren’t we healing them in the same manner that Jesus did?
If we are going to be disciples, then one of the most important questions we should ask is, “What do you need?”
I’m afraid much of our evangelism today is saying to the community, “Come help us,” when we should be saying, “Can we help you?” We make statements like, “How can we get people to come to church?” when we should be asking, “How can we help people?” We are looking inward when we should be looking outward.
Being a disciple is ultimately about being a servant. It is placing ourselves at the service of humanity. It’s physical, personal and practical.
CONCLUSION:
Do you know what a groupie is? You’ve read about them and seen them on TV. They hang around waiting to see the hottest celebrities. They want to be with them, know everything about them. They follow them around. As long as the celebrity is “hot,” at the top of his/her game, lives an exciting life and is constantly in the news, you will see the groupies.
But just soon as the celebrities star fades, as soon as their popularity ends, so do the groupies. They disappear. They traipse off to find another celebrity they can hang around with.
We also see “church” groupies. If there is something exciting going on at a church, there’s a lot of activities, they have exciting music, or a charismatic preacher, you will see them at church. They might even get involved for a while. They are there for the excitement, the “glory.” But as soon as the excitement fades, or they take a disliking to the preacher, or the church changes it’s music style, or there’s not as much activities as there used to be, they disappear. They traipse off to find another church where “things are happening’ they can hang around.
But, there are also true disciples, who by the direction of God, find a place of service, who put their feet to the plow, who teach and share the good news and invest themselves in the lives of others so that the gospel may be perpetuated to the next generation and men and women and boys and girls may stopped on their journey to hell and led into the kingdom of God.
What are you?
