Born to Follow

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This is a sermon that was preached at Wayside Community Church on Palm Sunday, March 20, 2016. The theme of the message was discipleship and following Jesus.

Written Excerpts:

Matthew 10:38 (NKJV) ³⁸ And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

Introduction: Today is Palm Sunday and we’ve been singing songs and reading Scripture that speaks about praising God. On Palm Sunday over 20 centuries ago, people spontaneously began singing and shouting praise to the Lord as He rode toward Jerusalem. I want to use that thought to transition into the theme I planned to speak about last week.

As Jesus rode toward Jerusalem, I imagine it could be possible that Jesus thought, “How great it would be if all these people would not only praise me, but also become dedicated followers and disciples for the rest of their lives.”

I’m sure you’ve heard some parents or grandparents speaking about their little “Johnny” or “Mary” and they will say something like this, “He was just born to lead! (She was just born to lead!) Look at the way he/she gets all the other kids to do things.”

Sometimes we can just watch a child or a young person and we say, “He/she was just born to be a leader.” Sometimes we say that about someone that is an adult and has demonstrated unusual leadership skills.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone describe someone in a positive way by saying, “You know, I can just tell that he/she was just born to follow!” Usually if the matter of “following” is being discussed, we might hear someone say, “He better be very careful, because he’s a follower and always does what everyone else is doing, or goes where everyone else is going.”

A couple of weeks ago we talked about the call of Christ for people to respond to different aspects of His call. The call to listen and understand; the call to humility; the call for healing; the specific call to apostleship; and the general call to be His disciple or follower.

I want to take us a little deeper today into the discussion about following Jesus Christ as a true disciple.

Question: “Why did Jesus save you/me?”

Answer: Because He loves us and He wants to take us to heaven. - Yes, that is certainly true.

Because He wants to have a relationship with us. - True.

But also – To carry out His mission of expanding the Kingdom of God on earth.

Jesus is not merely interested in “handing out tickets to heaven.” He is seeking followers. He is seeking people who will not only believe in Him and trust Him for their salvation, but pledge to be a learner and follower. He is seeking people who will be the agents of transformation in the world so that His kingdom comes and His will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

God could miraculously save everyone in the whole world. He could forgive the sins of every person and say He’s just taking us all going to heaven. But, that isn’t good enough. There already was an event similar to that centuries ago – the Exodus. God miraculously delivered a couple of million people from Egypt. But, the problem that was quickly revealed was this: Egypt hadn’t been delivered out of the hearts of the people.

Proposition: I believe that God not only wants to save us and forgive our sins, but He wants to transform us and make us agents who will effectively transform our world by doing what He would do. That can only be accomplished if we become committed and dedicated followers of Him to the extent that we become like Him and then show others how to become like Him.

One of the verses we looked at briefly at the end of the sermon last week was…

Mark 8:34 (NKJV) When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me….”

Today, I want to talk to you about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

I. What is a disciple?

To discuss what it means to be a disciple, we first need to describe or define what a disciple is.

Dr. Richard Peace, professor of evangelism at Fuller Theological Seminary, wrote an article on discipleship in a book titled, The Complete Book of Everyday Christianity: An A-To-Z Guide To Following Christ in Every Aspect of Life.

He said, In the New Testament there is abundant discussion of what it means to be a disciple. This is not surprising since discipleship was a common phenomenon in the first-century world. Greek philosophers had disciples, as did the Pharisees (Matthew 22:15-16), not to mention John the Baptist (Mark 2:18; John 1:35). The Jews, on occasion, referred to themselves as disciples of Moses (John 9:27-28).

In these relationships, disciples were understood to be individuals committed to a particular person so as to learn that person’s teaching or way of life and then to follow a particular pattern of life, whether by living in a certain way, passing on the teaching to others or engaging in political or religious activities.

Jesus and his disciples shared this common understanding of the relationship between teacher and disciple. Thus to follow Jesus meant to do what Jesus did (to reproduce or replicate his ministry; for example, Mark 6:7-13, 30; Luke 10:1-20) and to believe what Jesus taught (obey his word; for example, John 8:31-32; John 17:6).

The same two characteristics hold true today for those of us who would be Jesus’ disciples.

First, to be a disciple of Jesus is to be involved in ministry [i.e. do what Jesus did].

[In other words, we follow Him by emulating Him.]

The nature and character of that ministry varies greatly: from voluntary ministry to tent-making ministry to ordained ministry. The important point is not what we do but that we understand our task in life to be one of ministry. This will mean that we engage in that task with a consciousness that we are called to it by God, that we seek to honor and serve God in this task and that we exhibit the characteristics of a disciple of Jesus while engaged in our task.

Being a disciple is much more than accepting and believing in a set of propositions about Jesus. It is much more than going to church to cheer for Jesus, or even “cheer” for those who are involved in various aspects of Kingdom work. A true disciple cannot sit on the sidelines and leave the work of the kingdom to others that we may think are more talented and gifted than us. Every true follower of Jesus is involved in some kind of ministry. And, while involved in that ministry, he/she strives to exhibit the same character that Jesus has.

(Dr. Peace goes on) Secondly, to be a disciple of Jesus is to engage in ongoing examination, analysis and application of Scripture.

[That is, to be a student / learner. There should be a desire in the heart of every true follower of Christ to keep learning more about Him and more about His will for us.]

I want to be a follower and learner of Jesus; not just because I am a pastor/preacher, but because He has forgiven me and changed my heart. I love Him and I am grateful for the salvation He has provided. He deserves my allegiance and service.

II. What is the cost of discipleship?

The second thing we need to talk about as we discuss the meaning of the word disciple is the cost of discipleship.

There are plenty of Scripture passages that describe what the cost of discipleship is, but Jesus summed it all up in…

Mark 8:34 (KJV) And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

“Whosoever will…” – Some of the more recent translations use the words “whoever desires,” but the inherent meaning of the word indicates the exercise of will or a volitional choice.

If you deliberately choose to be a disciple of Jesus there are 3 things required:

A. “deny himself” - (Lenski New Testament Commentary)    … to turn someone off, to refuse association and companionship with him, to disown. And the one to be disowned and denied is ἑαυτός, SELF, and that means self altogether, not merely some portion, some special habit or desire, some outward practice. … As Peter afterward denied Jesus by saying, "I know not the man!" so must you say to this your self: "I disown you completely!"

For example, Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane – “Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.”

Essentially, it is the same thing as “de-throning” self and “en-throning” Christ. (Quote from Tozer in last week’s bulletin. In every Christian's heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne till he puts himself on the cross; if he refuses the cross, he remains on the throne…. We want to be saved, but we insist that Christ do all the dying. No cross for us, no dethronement, no dying. We remain king within the little kingdom of Man-soul and wear our tinsel crown with all the pride of a Caesar; but we doom ourselves to shadows and weakness and spiritual sterility. – A. W. Tozer )

B. “take up his cross” 

(Lenski New Testament Commentary) Jesus undoubtedly chose this figure because he himself was to be crucified. Although this was a Roman mode of execution it was known universally. Jesus will bear his cross, one which he alone can bear. Of his disciples he says that each is to bear his cross, i.e., the particular one allotted to him.

This word has grown too familiar by constant use. It is a mistake to call all our suffering a cross. [The Bible says that] the wicked have many sorrows (Ps. 32:10) but no crosses. The cross is that suffering alone which results from our faithful connection with Christ. And the [suggestion] is that each disciple will have his share of such suffering.

In reality, the cross was not only a symbol of suffering, but it ultimately was an instrument of death.

(Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship) “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

(A.W. Tozer, The Divine Conquest) “The cross where Jesus died became also the cross where His apostle died. The loss, the rejection, the shame, belong both to Christ and to all who in very truth are His. The cross that saves them also slays them, and anything short of this is a pseudo-faith and not true faith at all.”

Dear friends, this matter of being a disciple is not a game. Jesus does not attempt to attract followers by telling us how fun it will be, or how easy it will be, or how popular it will be. No! He calls us to suffer for Him if necessary. He calls us to die to self and possibly even literally die for His cause.

He calls people to accept the cross; not avoid it.

C. “Follow Me” – present tense, i.e. continuously.

(R. Alan Cole, Tyndale Commentaries) The thought is plain to every child playing the game of ‘follow my leader’, in which there is only one rule, that no follower shirks going to any place where the leader has first gone.

Everywhere Jesus goes and everything Jesus does, His disciple goes and does also.

(Cole continues) Ultimately, to the Christian, this following of Jesus becomes the hope of heaven, since our leader has already gone there (Heb. 6:19-20): but first comes the cross. ‘No cross, no crown’ is a [concise] piece of theology which must have been ever-present in the minds of the early Christians at Rome and other centers of persecution.

Conclusion:

Let me emphasize once again, dear friends, Jesus calls all of us to be His disciples. Everyone one of us were BORN TO FOLLOW! Our earthly purpose is to follow Jesus Christ every step of our lives. That was never intended to be an easy road – a road that you can travel with very little effort and very little thought.

I recognize that my responsibility and role as Pastor and spiritual leader is to challenge you and motivate you and equip you to become a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

(Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life) “Those who are not true leaders will just affirm people at their own immature level.”

It is not easy for me to “shake” people out of their comfort zone and positions of stagnation. But that happens to be my responsibility as a pastor and spiritual leader.

So I challenge you today. Don’t be satisfied to be an observer. Don’t be satisfied to just follow Jesus “at a distance.” Let’s make a decision today to go all out for Jesus!