The making of disciples (11/19/17 The Book of John #10)

Last week, Pastor Eldie preached a great sermon about our identity being in Jesus and not in pedigree, our abilities, our achievements. John the Baptist had no problem pointing to Jesus and have even his own disciples follow after Jesus because he knew his purpose. His purpose was to point to Jesus and not the one to be pointed at. He knew who he was. He wasn’t the bridegroom. He was a groomsman.

Isn’t that so different from what the world tells us what life is all about? The life is all about… you! You are the center. How many phone apps are there so that we can upload our selfies and have people worship us with their comments? We are a society driven by FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and YOLO (You Only Live Once). It’s all about what we experience and what we get out of this life. We want to maximize our potential and become gods ourselves. “Look at me. Look what I can do. Look how pretty I am. Look how smart I am. Come, worship me! I’m worth it!” That’s cute when you are 5, but not when you are 25!

Jesus tells us to come and die. After John the Baptist pointed to Jesus, his disciples ditched him to follow after Jesus and then he was imprisoned, and eventually was beheaded. He made it about Jesus and he died. Literally. Anyone else wants to follow Jesus?? Yup, following Jesus is not for the faint of heart. It may cost you your life. But it’s worth it. Because in the end, what we get is not the world, but we get the Creator of the world – Jesus. C.S. Lewis: “Aim at heaven and you will get Earth thrown in; Aim at earth and you will get neither.”

Today, the passage talks about how to start the process of becoming this kind of man or woman, who is Jesus focused and not self-focused. What our pastors and leaders do at As One is to help people see and become like Jesus. That process is called the discipleship. Our role is to help you become disciples or good followers of Jesus – not simply to become saved and make it heaven. But to learn to love Jesus and follow Jesus and become like Him. Jesus’ main goal was to die for the sins of the world. Yes. But if that was the only goal, then he could’ve come as a fully grown adult and died on the cross. But He came as a baby, stayed on earth for 33 years, the last 3, he spent everyday with the same 12 people. The disciples. Making disciples was of utmost priority to Jesus.

ILL: The decisive war against the enemy was won when the nuclear bomb was dropped in the enemy headquarters – that’s him dying on the cross. But the ground troop still need to go in and secure every block – that is the making of disciples. The war has been won. The enemy has unconditionally surrendered. Now, how do we get the news out to the people so that they will no longer live in fear and hiding? And then how do we teach the people who lived in tyranny and slavery for so long to live in freedom and joy? That is the process called the discipleship.

And at least three phases to this discipleship are introduced in this passage: 1) Come and see, 2) Stay and grow, 3) Go and tell

 

1. Come and see.

In John 1:35, “35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, ithe Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, j“What are you seeking?” And they said to him, k“Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.”

So, John the Baptist’s disciples are directed to Jesus and now they want to follow Jesus. What does Jesus say to them? “Come and see.” This is an invitation from Jesus to them to come and experience it for themselves. Rather than explaining to them in one sitting what He is about, rather than giving them a book to read about him, He invites them in to see for themselves what He is about. “Come and see for yourself if I am not the Savior of the world and the Lord of the universe.” He’s not pressuring them to make their allegiance to Him until death do them apart, He’s not telling them to deny themselves, take up the cross and follow Him yet. He will do that later. But for now, in this introductory stage, He simply tells them to come and spend time with Him.

APP: This is the first step in becoming a disciple ourselves – Coming and Seeing – and also the first step in helping potential disciples become eventual disciples. And notice that this was done in a relational context. John the Baptist pointed his disciples, whom he had a relationship with, to Jesus. It wasn’t a street evangelist that they listened to that made them follow Jesus. Also, Nathanael started following Jesus because his friend, Philip, has invited him to come and see. Now, I think all sort of evangelism is to be encouraged, but the most effective ones are done by people whom we already have a relationship with.

ILL: When I was in college, I used to go to a conference in New York city called the Vision Conference. It was sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ. And toward the end of the conference, all 2000 or so students that attended the conference would be sent out to the streets of New york City to share the gospel. So, we would be in a pair, and approach a perfect stranger waiting for a bus and strike up a conversation. “So, have you heard of the 4 spiritual laws? No? Would you give me 3 minutes to share with you about it while you wait for your bus?” Now, do you know how frightening and awkward it is for an introverted person like me to go up to a stranger and strike a conversation about Jesus, knowing that he will likely say “no” and if per chance he says “yes,” I have to present the memorized gospel presentation to him and try to make it sound as natural as possible? Now, please know that I’m not deriding it or disparaging it at all. I pray that we have the boldness to do something like that more often. But that rarely works. Especially, here in the Northwest, they won’t even say, “No.” They will just ignore that you are even there.

But to those we know at work, neighbors, students – those we already have a relationship with –  we can say, “Come and see.” A simple, non-threatening invitation to see for themselves if Jesus isn’t someone they would like to follow the rest of their lives. Think about your circle of influence. Many of you have already invited someone from your circle to come and see, and I’m very thankful. But many of you have not yet. Think about your own circle. Who could you invite to come and see?

 

1. stay and grow (or become)

Jesus’ invitation to these potential disciples to come and see would lead them to stay and grow. Not everyone who will come and see will stay. “Many are invited but few are chosen.” Matt. 22:14 But for those who would not be satisfied by simply coming and seeing, their next step is to stay and grow. In v. 35, after Jesus tells them “Come and you will see,” this is what it says: v. 39 “So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.”

The tenth hour is 4 pm our time and that’s the end of the work day where they would go home. So, Jesus is inviting them to come and stay with Him that night. I would love to have been there that night. Just to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to him talk to these young bucks from small villages who are dreaming of big things. What did they talk about? What questions did He answer? How did He open up the Scriptures to these young men?

Well, what we know is that they stayed and grew. At first, probably going back and forth between their job, family and Jesus. But later, completely, full-time with Jesus. And they stayed with Jesus for 3 years until He was crucified, resurrected, and then ascended. What was Jesus doing with these disciples? What was His purpose? What was His goal in stringing along these young men with Him? He was helping them become. Become what? Become like Himself. Become “little Jesus” themselves.

But here is how Jesus did it that is very opposite of how the world does it. The world makes you work for the position and only when you have earned it, you are given the position. For example, if you are a manager of a company, you weren’t just given that position. You had to go to school, work for so many years in the industry and then when you have displayed competency, you are given the position. But Jesus does it backwards. He gives you the position first that you didn’t earn and then expects you grow into the role. The world is merit based. God is grace based. The world says you must prove your worth before you are given the position that you have earned. God say, I give you the position you didn’t deserve and you become worthy of it through the help of the Holy Spirit.

Well, what is the position that Jesus gives to us? Rom 8:16-18 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

So, the world’s way won’t work for this position. Becoming a child of God and having the earth given to us inheritance, how do you work for it? How do you work to become, say, Jeff Bezos’s heir? I read that he just took out a $1 Billion out of his Amazon stock to fund his spaceship business. Can you work hard enough to become his heir? But we are talking about a mere human being who will soon get sick and die. How do you become the heir of God through our own effort? Can we ever work hard enough to earn the position? No. We only become it when we are given the position. And that glorious position of being children of God is given to all who receive Him – “As man as received Him, to those who believe in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12

We see this exact principle working in the calling of Peter. 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas”(which means Peter). Both Cephas in greek and Peter in Aramaic means the rock. Like a solid rock. So, Jesus takes one look at Peter and says, “You are a solid rock.” Maybe Jesus should’ve gotten to know Peter a little better. Because he was anything but solid! He flipflops. He’s constantly going back on his word. This is not a solid dude. He’s impulsive. He speaks before he thinks. He denied Jesus at the most critical moment of his life – 3 times. This is not a man that I would like to hire as one of our pastors. But Jesus looks at this man and calls him by not what he has been, but what he will be. God calls you by whom you would become in the future.

The world sees you by whom you have been the past. They say, “past performance is the best predictor of future success!” That’s why the job applications want to look at your previous experiences and references, so that they can determine how you would perform in the future for their company. But that’s not how God works. If Jesus was going by that mantra, he should’ve never picked Peter as his disciple. His past and even his present did not attest to his reliability. But God calls you to a role you didn’t deserve first and then molds you and shapes you to fit that role eventually. That is just how He works. He calls Gideon a mighty warrior when he was shaking in his boots! He calls Abraham the father of many when he and his wife Sarah were barren! He calls David a man after his own heart after he has committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murder to cover it up. Are you joking? It’s like finding the scrawniest little boy and saying, “Hey, future hall of fame linebacker.”

But that is how God disciplines and disciples. He calls us by what we ought to be and will be. And then he molds and shapes us into that future image. So, discipleship, in a sense is becoming who we already are. Discipleship – becoming in reality what you already are in position.We are striving with the help of the Holy Spirit to think, act, speak in a way that is fitting for sons and daughters of the Most High.

Stay and grow. Stay with Jesus, stay with us His local church, and grow. Especially when things get hard, and if you are doing it right, things will get hard – God disciplines those whom He loves – stay with it and grow from it. You stay, you grow. You ditch when things get hard, you will forever be stunted.

 

3. Go and Tell

This phase does not have to or should not wait until the 2nd phase of “Stay and grow” is done. You see Philip, who decided to follow after Jesus just moments ago says to another potential disciple, “come and see.” v. 45, “45 Philip found  Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

So, Philip is a good disciple. He’s already learned from Jesus how to invite someone to become a disciple of Jesus. A simple invitation, “come and see.” Again, he didn’t push down his theology and told him 5 essentials beliefs about God to become a Christian. It’s just a simple invitation to get to know Jesus, interact with Him and decide for yourself if He really is who He says He is. This is what a disciple does. He makes other disciples. How? By simply telling them where to get food – one beggar telling another beggar where he got food. We can’t save anyone. Jesus does. We can’t open anyone’s eyes to spiritual reality. Only Jesus can. So, we bring people to Jesus and we encourage them to stay and grow. And we continue to go and tell.

 

CONC: As I was reading the bible about a month ago, a phrase came to my mind, and I think that is what God wants us to focus on next year. And the phrase is: Striving together for the gospel. I want us to strive together as a body and as individuals for the gospel. The gospel to be enjoyed by us first and that gospel to spread so that more people will be freed by the good News of jesus Christ. This will require efforts, Holy Spirited aided efforts, on our part. It will require for us to say to a friend, “Come and See.” And then “Stay and grow” as we encourage newcomers. And then continuing to go and tell so that this message will spread to everyone we know.