DAY 2 PRINCIPLES OF DISCIPLESHIP – COME FOLLOW ME

REVISION
 5 ATTRIBUTES OF A DISCIPLE, FAITHFUL, ACCOUNTABLE,
TEACHABLE, OBEDIENT ,
 3 EVIDENCES : IMITATE TEACHER, IMBIBE THEIR VALUES ,
PROMULATE THEIR TEACHING
 3 PROCESSES OF MATHETOU (MAKE DISCIPLES):
CONVERSION, BAPTIZE , TEACH/TRAIN
DISCIPLESHIP AS A CALL TO FOLLOW JESUS
 Discipleship is a call to be with, know and enjoy the Master.

 It begins with the call to “Follow Him”. Jesus focus was always
the relationship not just the transaction of believing Him. In
fact the process of believing in Him and continuously doing so
is made complete by following:

 Lets look at the 12 HE called to follow Him:

John 1 v 35 -51
Again the next day John was standing [z]with two of his disciples, 36 and
he looked at Jesus as He walked, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of
God!” 37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed
Jesus. 38 And Jesus turned and saw them following, and *said to
them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi (which translated
means Teacher), where are You staying?” 39 He *said to them, “Come,
and you will see.” So they came and saw where He was staying; and
they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the [aa]tenth hour. 40 One
of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew,
Simon Peter’s brother.41 He *found first his own brother Simon and
*said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated
means [ab]Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and
said, “You are Simon the son of [ac]John; you shall be
called Cephas” (which is translated [ad]Peter).
43
The next day He purposed to go into Galilee, and He *found Philip.
And Jesus *said to him, “Follow Me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida,
of the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip *found Nathanael and *said to
him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and alsothe
Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael
said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip *said
to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and
*said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no
deceit!” 48 Nathanael *said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus
answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were
under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You
are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” 50 Jesus answered and
said to him, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do
you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And He *said to
him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the
angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

 Jesus understood that following is a key part to believing:

Believing is made complete by following and obedience – We
know what you believe by who/ what follow and that
determines what you do: If you follow the tradition of man you
will practice the traditions of man:

 The language of social media is very deliberate – following, like

to follow (simply means believe to follow), Friends ( Jesus
called His followers his friends). This is discipleship language –
they are making disciples of man!

 There is a responsibility of following that calls others in our

spheres of influence to follow Him as well. Andrew found His
brother Peter, (v41) Phillip found Nathaniel (v 45)
Being Led of the Spirit precedes the call to Discipleship:

What made Jesus so confident to call the disciples to Himself ?

 Jesus was full of the Spirit, had prayed 40 days and overcome
the temptation of devil. In Matthew 4 it says after John had
been taken He withdrew to himself – then we went out to call
the disciples. John 1 v 43 says he purposed to go to Galilee
where He found Philip.

 Discipleship summons the believer to follow Jesus and this is,

at times, no easy matter. He demands exclusive, complete, and
unflinching obedience to Himself. This is where his summons
to discipleship is so radically different from Plato who stressed
the freedom of the student from the teacher or even the Jewish
religious leaders who focused more on the Torah and steered
their disciples away from themselves. Jesus, on the other hand,
pointed people to himself (and still does) and calls them to
radical commitment to him. Jesus’ call to discipleship is a call to
Christlikeness which includes at least three related facts: (1)
the demand; (2) the added promise; and (3) the grace.

THE DEMAND
 Jesus’ call to discipleship is an all-or-nothing summons,
reaching into every area of our lives. It involves giving him
preeminence over the closest of our human relationships and
over the desires we have for our lives.

 In short, it involves becoming his servant in the world and

giving your life to that end. Paradoxically we give up that which
we cannot keep to gain that which we cannot lose. If we don’t,
we lose all in the end (cf. Matt 16:25).
Luke 5 v 1 – 11

Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and
listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of
Gennesaret; 2 and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but
the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their
nets. 3 And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked
him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down
and began teaching the [a]people from the boat. 4 When He had finished
speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down
your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked
hard all night and caught nothing, but [b]I will do as You say and let
down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they enclosed a great
quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; 7 so they signaled to
their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And
they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But
when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ [c]feet, saying, “Go
away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For amazement had
seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which
they had taken; 10 and so also were[d]James and John, sons of Zebedee,
who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear,
from now on you will be catching men.” 11 When they had brought
their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

 When Jesus comes your boat is no longer yours, Its his to use
for His purposes – A call to discipleship means we are owners
of nothing but custodians/ stewards. All we have is His use and
purposes – they can be demanded at any time!

 Peter and the other fishermen gave up all, and followed, they
left that which was temporary (fishing for fish and food) to
inherit that which was eternal – fishing for men as they
followed Jesus
  The cross was an instrument of death and well known to the
Jews. The suffering was intolerable. But Jesus says we are to
take it up and follow him. This will, in the nature of the case,
involve self-denial. The one who picked up the cross-beam of
his cross was headed down a one-way street, never to return.

Luke 9:23-24
9:23 Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to become my
follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily,
and follow me. 9:24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Luke 14:25-35
14:25 Now large crowds were accompanying Jesus, and turning to
them he said, 14:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own
father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters,
and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 14:27 Whoever does
not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my
disciple. 14:28 For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t sit
down first and compute the cost to see if he has enough money to
complete it? 14:29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is
not able to finish the tower, all who see it will begin to make fun of
him. 14:30 They will say, ‘This man began to build and was not able to
finish!’ 14:31 Or what king, going out to confront another king in
battle, will not sit down first and determine whether he is able with
ten thousand to face the one coming against him with twenty
thousand? 14:32 If he cannot succeed, he will send a representative
while the other is still a long way off and ask for terms of
peace. 14:33 In the same way therefore not one of you can be my
disciple if he does not renounce all his own possessions. 14:34 “Salt is
good, but if salt loses its flavor, how can its flavor be
restored? 14:35 It is of no value for the soil or for the manure pile; it is
to be thrown out. The one who has ears to hear had better listen!”
THE GRACE

Mark 10:17-45

As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt

before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No
one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments, ‘Do not
murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false
witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said
to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth
up.” 21 Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One
thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and
you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But at these
words [g]he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one
who owned much property.
23
And Jesus, looking around, *said to His disciples, “How hard it will be
for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 The
disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus *answered again and
*said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of
God!25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for
a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 They were even more
astonished and said to Him, “[h]Then who can be saved?” 27 Looking at
them, Jesus *said, “With people it is impossible, but not with God; for
all things are possible with God.”
28
Peter began to say to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and
followed You.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has
left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or
farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, 30 [i]but that he will receive
a hundred times as much now in [j]the present age, houses and
brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with
persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.31 But many who
are first will be last, and the last, first.”
They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking
on ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed
were fearful. And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell
them what was going to happen to Him, 33 saying, “Behold, we are
going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be [k]delivered to the
chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and
will [l]hand Him over to the Gentiles. 34 They will mock Him and spit on
Him, and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise
again.”
James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, *came up to Jesus, saying,
35 [m]

“Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.” 36 And He

said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” 37 They said to
Him, “[n]Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left,
in Your glory.” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you
are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized
with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 They said to Him, “We
are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you shall drink;
and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am
baptized. 40 But to sit on My right or on My left, this is not Mine to
give; but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
41
Hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant with [o]James and
John. 42 Calling them to Himself, Jesus *said to them, “You know that
those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them;
and their great men exercise authority over them. 43 But it is not this
way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall
be your servant;44 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be
slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to
serve, and to give His [p]life a ransom for many.”

 It is going to cost you everything to follow Jesus – The rich

young ruler could not do it
  The disciples were astonished by Jesus remarks and the cost of
the call to discipleship to follow Him

 But they probably didn't understand the cup and the baptism
that Jesus was talking about in verse What was he talking
about?

 What is this cup? In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus pleaded

with his Father, if there was another way besides the horror of
crucifixion and abandonment, would he please take that way.
But these were the words he used,

Abba! Father! All things are possible for you; remove this cup from me;
yet not what I will, but what you will. (Mark 14:36)

 The cup was the death he was about to endure. So he was

saying to James and John: if you want to rule with me in my
glory the way you are asking, then you must die with me—you
must drink the same cup.

 And did they understand the baptism? "Are you able to . . . be

baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" In Luke
12:50 Jesus said, "I have a baptism to undergo, and how
constrained I am until it is accomplished!" Jesus saw his death
not only as a bitter cup to drink but an immersion—a
baptism—in suffering. He said, in effect, my pathway to glory
and to kingship is through suffering and death. If you want the
kind of honor you are asking for, you must follow me in my
suffering and death.
  So what he has done is take their desire for glory and show
them that the path to glory is a pathway through suffering and
death.

The Same Response to the Other Disciples

 What happens, then, is that the other disciples get bent out of
shape because of James and John's aggressive claim on the
places of honor in the kingdom. They were upset because they
wanted them too! – we also want to be vice President!!

 What will Jesus say to them? He says basically the same thing
he said to James and John, only with different words. Watch
how he does it. Verse 41 says they are indignant with James
and John. So Jesus calls them all around and says (in verse 42),

You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord
it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. 43)
But it is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great
among you shall be your servant; 44) and whoever wishes to be first
among you shall be slave of all.

 Now that is the same as saying to James and John: if you want
to be great with me in my glory, you must drink the cup of my
suffering. If you disciples want to get in on the greatness, you
must be a servant, and if you want to be first, the way James
and John asked about the first places, you must be slave of all.
But what does slave of all mean?

What It Means to Become Slaves of All

 In the next verse, (10:45) he gives an example of what he
means, namely, himself. "For even the Son of Man did not come
to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for
many." Notice the point here is serving that results in dying—a
 giving up of his life. So in verse 38, when he showed James and
John the way to glory, he said that they would need to drink his
cup and share his baptism, namely, death. And here in verse 45,
when he shows the rest of the disciples the way to greatness,
he gives his own death as an example: "the Son of Man came to
give his life as a ransom for many." In both cases he is giving
his death as an example of the kind of suffering and service
that the disciples are called to.

 That's the context of verse 45. It is part of a very radical call to

discipleship. If you want to follow me and seek the glory of the
kingdom, be prepared to suffer. That is the way I go, and those
who follow me go the same way.

 He says in effect in verse 45 that this radical call to

discipleship—this call to come and drink the cup of suffering
and service—this is not just a call to serve Jesus, but a call to
be served by Jesus as we serve others and to be ransomed by
him from death. Let me say this again, to be sure you hear it
correctly: the good is that the radical call to Christian
discipleship is NOT a call to serve Jesus, but to be served by Jesus
as we serve others, and to be ransomed by him from death

 But then you ponder for a few moments and it hits you. Wait a
minute! This is not just an example for me to follow. He is not
just saying, "Serve the way I serve." This is the Son of Man
serving me! Ransoming me from my sin and my death!
Refusing to be served by me. Insisting on being the Servant and
the Savior in my life.

 Jesus Just before Passover as he was preparing to face His

death demonstrated this in the most loving way – He washed
the feet of the disciples and when Peter said no never let me
serve you – he said if I do not do this you have no part in me,
  I must serve you, you must allow me – it’s the privilege of my
disciples – Peter then says therefore wash the whole body –
jesus says no just the feet

 Feet carry the gospel of peace – that which shows you have
been serving me that which carries you to do my will and work

 It was an Jewish tradition to wash the feet , make them clean

and refresh a guest. They walked in sadals so the feet got dirty

 IN the same way we are to allow Jesus to serve us and partake

of his grace thereof, so we do for one another here on earth –
as you serve in this house also allow yourself to partake of the
grace Christ put on your Pastors – to dishonor and shun it is
refuse refresh – there is a grace to give and also one to receive
– that’s what makes the Kingdom beautiful it’s a never ending
circle of providence.

How do I then serve Jesus – by serving others

 By so doing you and I are co laboring with him, in fulfilling His

mission of Sharing God’s love, ransomed by him from death

 When he calls for radical, self-sacrificing discipleship, he gives

a reason in verse 45: "For [note the word!] even the Son of Man
did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a
ransom of many." Yes, this is a call to act the way he acted. But,
O, so much more! The Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve! Not to be served by whom? Whom does he not
want to be served by? Answer: the very disciples that he is
calling to drink his cup and endure his baptism and to be the
slave of all.
  He is saying: Yes, drink my cup. Yes, share my baptism. Yes,
serve others. Yes, be the slave of all. This is what it means to be
my disciple. But don't serve me! I have not come to be served. I
will not be served like this. I will be the servant. I have not
come to be served, but to serve. In your relationship with me, I
will be the servant. I will serve you. I will work with, through
and for you.

 Do you think you can drink this cup without my help and
service? Do you think you can endure the suffering of my
baptism without my serving you and helping you? Do you think
you can become the kind of person that renounces fame and
human status to serve all other people without my serving
you—day and night all the days of your life? No you can't.

Jesus said in John 15:5?

I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in me, and I in him,
he bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing.

 Apart from me you can do nothing. You cannot drink my cup.

You cannot endure my baptism. You cannot serve each other.
You cannot become the slave of all. To do any of this, you must
"abide in me and I in you." You must trust me to serve you.
Abiding in the vine and being served by Jesus are the same
thing. And both are the same as living by faith in future grace.

 The manifestation and evidence of God Love is revealed in the

grace of the Lord Jesus serving us and ransoming himself by his
death for us.

 The demand of Jesus’ call to discipleship is impossible for a

human being, unaided, to fulfill. We must have resources to
accomplish this kind of life. Those resources come directly
 from Christ and are promised to us if we abide in him. This is
the point of Jesus’ teaching in John 15:1-11. He told his
disciples that even though he was departing the world, he
would nonetheless carry on his life and ministry through them,
his chosen ones (15:16). From John 14:26, 15:26 and 16:13-14
we know that his life would be lived in and through the
disciples via the indwelling Holy Spirit ( Rom 8:9; 1 Cor 3:16).

 His Grace would operate through them by the Holy Spirit as

they went about following Him by obeying all He had taught
them and serving Him by teaching others to do the same.

Matthew 11:28-30
Those who listened to Jesus were agrarian and familiar with his
farming metaphors. They knew the meaning of physical
“burdens.” Jesus is probably also referring to the religious
burdens imposed on people by their religious teachers, who
incidentally, never lifted finger to help. But, Jesus was different.
He definitely had a yoke, but he was gentle, humble in heart, and
his yoke was easy and his burden light.

11:28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I
will give you rest. 11:29 Take my yoke on you and learn from me,
because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest
for your souls. 11:30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is
not hard to carry.”

THE PROMISE
 In Mark 10:28 Jesus was quick to remind the inquiring
disciples that there was a reward for following him. Jesus did
not rebuke Peter for his implied question, “What then will be
for us?” but rather addressed it with a three-fold promise
introduced by a solemn declaration: “I tell you the truth….”
 Those who leave family, friends, etc. for Jesus and the gospel
will not fail to receive (1) a hundredfold what he has lost (in
the new community of faith); (2) to suffer persecutions, and
(3) to have eternal life in the age to come.10The timing on the
giving of reward and persecution is in the hands of the Lord.

Mark 10:28 Peter began to speak to him, “Look, we have left

everything to follow you!” 10:29 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, there
is no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father
or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the
gospel 10:30 who will not receive in this age a hundred times as
much—homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, fields, all with
persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. 10:31 But many
who are first will be last, and the last first.”

The Result and Fruit of Following Him We become like Him by:

 Imitating Him: John 3 v 34-35 A new commandment I give

unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye
also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my
disciples, if ye have love one to another.

 Imitating the faith of a Man of God– copying/imitating is

one of the greatest art of following: 1 Corinthians 11 v 1 “Be
imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ”

 By following someone who is following someone you

really want to follow: Phil 3 v 17 “Brethren, join in following
my example, and observe those who walk according to
the pattern you have in us. “
 By following a group of people who are walking in the
grace of the Lord – Cell families etc 1 Thess 1 v 6 “You also
became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the
word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that
you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and
in Achaia.

 Following a particular church 1 Thess 2 v 14 “For you,

brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus
that are in Judea”,

 Following the good things, the Holy Spirit shows you. 1

Peter 3 v 13 “Who is [f]there to harm you if you are followers of
what is good?

 By following those delegated or appointed by a Man of

God. 1 Cor 4 v 17 “For this reason I have sent to you Timothy,
who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will
remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach
everywhere in every church.

 By following a man of God’s faith and Patience. Hebrews 6 v

11” so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who
through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

 Overcoming laziness, and slothfulness you can follow

effectively Heb 6 v 11