Calling Discipleship

Calling

Discipleship

Follow Me

It was not a call to an experience, a onetime event

It was a call to membership

Many of us, when we go on vacation, rent

We rent a hotel for the night or a resort for a week

We pay for the experience and all the benefits that place gives us

  For many this is the way they follow Jesus

But Jesus is requiring more

He requires us to buy in, to become members

Members are not just users, they are committed to preservation and future growth

The word the Bible uses is Discipleship

Jesus’ last command should be our first concern

Matthew 28:17-20

 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Our calling and command is to make disciples

 

Discipleship

In the four Gospels,

 we find the words “Follow me”.

Each time it was a call by Jesus.

But what was the call?

Where and to what was Jesus taking them to?

It was not a call to heaven,

 yet the journey would end up there.

It was not a call to an experience, a onetime event.

It was a call to membership.

Many of us, when we go on vacation, rent.

We rent a hotel for the night

or a resort for a week.

We pay for the experience and

all the benefits that place gives us.

  For many this is the way they follow Jesus.

But Jesus is requiring more.

He requires us to buy in,

to become members.

Members are not just users, they are

committed to preservation and future growth.

The word the Bible uses is Discipleship.

When Jesus calls those to follow Him,

 He was calling them to “discipleship”.

The word “disciple” means learner or pupil.

 I like to call a disciple a “disciplined learner”.

     

Jesus called the ones who

followed Him “disciples”.

It becomes very clear that these disciples had to

make sacrifices and commitments to be a disciple.

Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."

But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." 

Matthew 8:21-22

This man Jesus addresses is more than a believer,

verse 21 says… Another disciple said to him”

Although we do not know the background, we

can see the cost of following Jesus as a disciple.

We see fishermen, a tax collector and others

that left their full time occupation to be disciples.

Jesus makes it clear that being a disciple and

following Him requires laying down your life.

 In Mark 8, we see two groups…

The crowds that followed Jesus.

These would be the users, like renting a resort.

And the disciples who laid down their lives

by taking up their cross and following Jesus.

Mark 8:34-38

Becoming a disciple requires counting the cost,

like a builder or a king going to battle.

Luke 14

In the same way, any of you who does not give

up everything he has cannot be my disciple .
Luke 14:33

Discipleship means sacrifice.

Becoming a disciple means learning.

Disciples learned by teaching and watching the master.

This process was to make the disciple like his teacher.

In Mark 6:7, we see Jesus calling the 12

Disciples to go do what He was doing.

In Luke 10, we see Jesus sending out

72 to do the work He was doing.

Disciples must know the “Gospel”,

the Good News and demonstrate it.

Jesus not only taught His

disciples, He empowered them.

The Call of God is to become a disciple,

a member with full rights and responsibilities.

Jesus said He did only what

He saw the Father in Heaven do.

We, too, are to become disciples

who do what we see Jesus doing.

He preached the Good News and demonstrated

compassion to heal the sick and weak.

Jesus’ last command should be our first concern.

Matthew 28:17-20…

 Then Jesus came to them and said,

 "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, 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 are called to discipleship.

Laying down our lives on a

daily bases to follow Jesus.

What we learn and see as we

follow in the steps of Jesus…

 We are to reproduce in the whole earth.

Being a disciple means you will

be given more than knowledge…

 You will be given the Holy Spirit to teach

and empower you with authority.

Your words of Gospel’s wisdom and truth

will be confirmed with signs and wonders.

Our calling and command is to make disciples.

Scripture Reading

Mark 8:34-38 NIV

34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me . 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels." 

Matthew 28:17-20 NIV

 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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."